Monday, October 15, 2012

I miss Nina!

On 9/28, I went to Reid Park Zoo.

On 10/1, I went to the season opener of the butterfly exhibit at the Tucson Botanical Gardens.

We went to Apple Annie's Pumpkin Farm on 10/6.  We always enjoy our time there picking apples, going on the tractor ride to get our pumpkins, enjoying pumpkin ice cream, getting fresh tomatoes and other veggies to take home, etc...

On 10/8, I went back to Reid Park Zoo.  It was somwhat uneventful for me that day so I stopped at the Tucson Botanical Gardens on the way home and took pictures of the butterflies again.

10/10/12 - One of the hardest days of my life.  I took Nina to a scheduled vet appointment to get her bordatella shot.  However, she had been having trouble breathing for a couple of days so they did some x-rays.  She had a lot of rocks stuck between her stomach and intestines and she had severe heart disease.  I made the difficult decision to put her down that same day.  I cried my eyes out.  Nina was "my" first dog.  We adopted her on 5/17/03 shortly after we got married.  We drove to Michigan to get her.  She was 3-4 years old at the time.  Thus, she lived to be about 13 years old.  She had numerous health problems that were developing over the last couple of years.  It is still hard to believe she is gone.  I have had a dog all of my life.  I want another dog and I want my son to grow up with dogs.  Paul does not want another dog, though.  He says he likes dogs as long as they are not his own, meaning he does not want the expense, the dog hair all over the house, etc...  My first choice would be a golden retriever mix, but they tend to be larger dogs and I would prefer a medium sized dog.  There are some golden retriever rescue groups in the area, but they seem to have mostly older dogs.  I want a younger (but not a puppy) female dog who will be with our family for many years.

I attended another photo safari at Reid Park Zoo on 10/13.  The problem was that I showed up on the wrong day!  I was signed up to go on 11/3, but I had both days written down in my organizer.  I had scheduled it a long time ago so I did not remember to take off the October date on my calendar.  They let me stay, though.  I did not get many good pictures this time around. 

After I got home from my photo safari and after Paul got his flat tire replaced, we took a drive to Sierra Vista and went to Ramsey Canyon Preserve.  I did not realize what I was getting myself into.  I had no idea it would be an uphill hike and I did not wear the right shoes for it.  But, I made it all of the way to the top.  On our drive out we even saw a momma and baby deer.