Thank You!

Hi All,

Sierra's peeps here...

It has been two weeks now since our dear Sierra passed away.  These have been difficult days for our family, but they were made easier by all of your kind thoughts and words of comfort.  We have received so many wonderful emails, cards, gifts, calls, and of course your comments left on this blog which overwhelmed us with the depth of compassion shown from each and every one of you.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.  

It is a true gift to have friendship and support from all over the world.

Halloween was one of Sierra favorite holidays as she got to lick all the sticky gooey candy covered faces and fingers of little munchkins who came to visit our house. Unfortunately for Sierra one of her peeps (who shall go unnamed) felt it nessassary to dress Sierra up in all sorts of ridiculous costumes for the occussion.

Here are some pictures of Sierra in years past which made us smile.  This year she probably looked down on us from heaven and said, "Ha!  No more silly costumes for me!"  Poor girl, she really was a trooper about all those costumes for the amusement of her beloved peeps.

Saying Goodbye to Sierra

Hi All,
Sierra's peeps here.
Sierra took the summer off of blogging, and then extended her summer break into the fall.  She was just having too much fun!  There was swimming and hiking- and even a trip across the country.  She really had a lot to write about, just not the opposable thumbs to do it, and her secretary ran off to Sedona and was just plain lazy. 

Now it is with heavy hearts that we must let you know that Sierra passed away early yesterday evening from what we think was a stroke.  We are deeply saddened by her early and sudden passing. We thought we had many more years with her.  She was our sweet girl and will be missed more then can be expressed. We are so sad.  Can the word "sad" even come close to explain the deep emptiness that fills our hearts and our home today? She would have celebrated her 8th birthday next Saturday.  Our young(ish) and healthy girl was fine one minute and then she was gone.  The above picture is one LL took of Sierra yesterday just minutes before her “neurologic episode”.  LL spent the late afternoon in the garden brushing Sierra and taking her picture next to some new plants that had just been planted. Little did she know this would be her last picture of Sierra.  They had a beautiful last day together and Sierra died quickly and comfortably, lovingly surrounded by her "peeps".
Sierra lived a full, healthy and extremely adventurous life. She was an unwavering example of zest and enthusiasm for living everyday to it's fullest. We would be remiss not to show you what her last days of life where like.  So after some grieving time we will continue to blog, sharing pictures of our last summer together.  She did so much!  She would want you to see all the fun that was had, and we think it will be good for us too.  As we share her stories with you over the next weeks we hope time will heal the brokenness, replacing sorrow with appreciation and gratitude for the love that came to us in the form of a little golden pup named Sierra-dog.

Sierra-dog

November 6th, 2002- October 27th, 2010

Grand Gulch Mine

Hi All!  Sierra Dog here.

Tomorrow we're going to Sedona to pick up LL!
We're so excited to see her!

I told Breakfast Man that this is his last chance to slip some airplane pictures onto my blog before LL gets home.  Back in April, when we took family pictures in Sedona, we were on the way home from camping at Grand Gulch Mine, Az.  It's northwest of the Grand Canyon near the Utah and Nevada borders.

On the way, we got gas at Grand Canyon Caverns.

The mine and the airstrip are on the mesa, and this is the canyon we hiked.

 LL got a picture as we landed:

Our friend Dale was already there.

When Breakfast Man grows up, he wants to be just like Dale.
Dale lands at lots of neat places, and has a beautiful shiny airplane.

We checked out the old mine equipment.

Hiked down into the canyon,

and back up this great ridge back to the runway.

Good thing we have an airplane-

 

 this truck doesn't look like it'd make it all the way home.

The Super Trail

Hi All!  Sierra Dog here.

One of my favorite jobs is bringing mail in from the mailbox.  On Thursday I brought in an envelope addressed to Dexie & I.  It had pictures of Augie & Ti, our handsome long distance boyfriends!

One of Breakfast Man's friends wanted to hike Mt. Wrightson, so we went hiking EARLY this morning.

On the way down, we took the Super Trail from Josephine Saddle.  It's almost 2 miles longer, so it's not as steep, but the views are great.  It's a good trail, but I'm not sure why they named it the "Super Trail"- they didn't know that I'm a Super Dog with X-Ray eyes.

A few of my favorite things...

Hi All!  Sierra Dog here.

It's hot in Tucson, so we've been in the pool everyday.

Here are some other places I like to swim:

The Salt River, at Gleason Flats.

Beaver Creek

White River

The Dolores River, near Gateway Colorado.

Rattlesnake Creek, near Klondyke Az.

Oak Creek, near Page Springs.

LL has 2 more weeks of class.  

We really miss her and can't wait till she gets home.

Helpful Household Hints

Hi all!  Sierra Dog here.

LL has been gone to her class for 10 days now. We really miss her. 
Before she left she kept going on about everyone starving and the house burning down while she's gone but Dexie and I are doing fine. 
We've been swimming every day, and our food tastes exactly the same as usual.

In fact, Dexie has gone all Betty Crocker on me, and wants to share a kitchen tip:

The oven is not a good place to store tupperware,

especially if you'd like to use the tupperware again.

Mt. Wrightson

Hi All! Sierra-dog here!

 

You haven't heard from me lately because I've been keeping LL too busy.  Right now she is in Sedona for a few weeks taking a class, so I got Breakfast man to post today's pictures.

We hiked up Mt. Wrightson.

 Dexie says: "Follow the red line to the top of the mountain!"

and off we went.....

 Great view, but we still hadn't reached the top.

Finally! 9,453 ft. above sea level, and Mt. Hopkins in the back ground.

  Looking north toward Tucson and Mt. Lemmon.

Time to head home. That's a long way down.

Siesta at Bellows Spring.

We had a great day!