I Have a Very Old Dog and I Don't Know How Long We Have Left.

I have a very old dog.  His paws are solid white now, along with his neck and jaw.  The rest of him remains black.

He's frail.  He has arthritis.  It's a slow walk now, not a fast run.

We play catch the ball in the yard now, not fetch.  Well, sometimes we do a little bit of fetch, so he will walk a bit.  But it's far from the young days, where he was speedy and quick.  I wonder if he remembers being that way, if he dreams about it still.

If you have an old dog, you'll understand.  This is such a bittersweet time.

Because I know what's coming.  I've been through this before.

It's my job now to be strong and sturdy and solid for him, because this keeps him feeling safe.  All day long, he wants to be near me.  On his bed at night, he will periodically look around, just to make sure I'm there.

For so many years, I know that he has thought of his job as being my protector.  And now, it's my turn to protect him and keep him feeling safe.

There's not room in his world for me to be sad or scared or fretful.  So I can't be any of those things.

I must be strong and confident.  I must be fun and happy.

We had a bad episode recently.  There were a series of thunderstorms that came through here.  Bad ones, lots of thunder and lightning.  When he was young, this didn't bother him.

About a year ago, he started to be scared of storms.  Terrified of the sound of thunder.

So, he was facing night after night of the terrors, and then the roof leaked and a strange man had to come by to fix it.  The back door became so swollen that it wouldn't shut fully and lock; another strange repairman had to come into his world.  Stranger Scents in the house, on the back porch, in his yard.

Two strange dogs got loose in all these storms and kept running up and down the alley, causing my old boy no end of distress.

And then I went off to the grocery store.  I wasn't gone that long, maybe an hour, but I could hear him howling as the garage door rose.  Now, my boy never makes a sound.  The only time I've heard him howl was the night after we had to put his baby sister to sleep last year.

So I knew he thought I was gone, like his sister.

And for the past two weeks, he's been recuperating from that stress.  At first, it was hard for him to get to his feet.  He barely ate that first night.  He slept a lot.

Today, things are better.  He's bounced back but not all the way.

And here's the thing I want to share with you, Dear. Reader.  Not the sadness or the grieving or the tears that I am fighting against.

It's the beauty of all this.  The lessons that he's teaching me in all this.

Things like:

This is how you live life to be happy.  You take the day.  You take the morning.  You take the afternoon.

And you look for the beauty in it.  The face of a smiling dog.  The sun on the leaves of a tree. The heat of the sun on your face, or the smell of freshly brewed coffee.

You must relish life.  A bite at a time.

I thank God for the blessing of being entrusted with the spirit that lives in this dog's body.  I am honored.

Ricky's for Dog Arthritis: Ricky Litchfield Dog Anti-Inflammatories Are Almost a Miracle

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This past Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, was a cold, wet, and rainy day here in San Antonio.  

My old boy was hurting -- and hurting badly.

I had resorted to giving him baby aspirin, which I hate to do because it's so bad on his digestion.  It didn't help much.  The natural pain pills (Aches & Pains) did less.

My Arthritic Dog Was In Lots of Pain 

He had trouble getting up.  Standing, his tail curled under his butt and you could tell he was in pain.  He huddled near me wherever I went.  No smiley faces.

He would venture out only as far as necessary to do his business in the yard, and then scoot back inside.  To lay near me, wherever I was.

He ate little.  He turned down treats.  He stood or he laid down.  No sitting.  Toys? Forget it.

I was so upset, I thought I might be losing him.  He was one month away from his 13th birthday.

So, I went online to see what I could find.  And I prayed a bit (a lot!) while I was at it.

And I found Ricky Litchfield pills online, at Amazon.com.  The customer reviews were so encouraging!  The ingredients seemed to make sense.  (They are Buchu Oil and Salmon Oil - go check them out.)

And they had a vet who was there to answer your questions via e-mail.  A vet.  A real, live vet.  Wo Nellie.

So I ordered Ricky's on a rush delivery and that next day, Saturday, my beloved boy got his first dose of Ricky's.

It's January 11th now, so it's been around six weeks.  I CANNOT TELL YOU HOW BIG A DIFFERENCE THESE PILLS HAVE MADE FOR MY DOG.

Results From Six Weeks on Ricky's Arthritis Pills Have Been Amazing

These have truly been a life saver.  Today, my pup and I played fetch outside in the yard.  We're back to doing this all the time!

• He has a better appetite that he's had in years.  
• His fur is thick and smooth and glossy.  
• He smiles all the time.
• He's waking me up, not to go outside to pee or poop, but because he's ready to play and start the day.  
• He's gone and found a green ball that he hid Lord Knows When (or Where) and now we're playing with it, as well as his stuffed squeaky toy.  
• He rolls in the grass.  
• He chases squirrels.  
• He jumps into the back seat of the car again -- and we're bouncing along the path at the park now.  (We're walking at the park again!) 

Part of a Plan -- But a True Answered Prayer

Now, this isn't the only thing that my boy gets.  He gets really good food that I cook for him.  No grains.  He gets a probiotic daily.  He gets vitamins and he gets Osteo pills with gluco, perna, etc.  

But I am thanking God every day for these Ricky's pills.  They are a God Send.  

I share this with you Dear Reader, in case you are investigating how to help your arthritic pup, too.  I lost a beloved pup at 10 years to Rimadyl-produced liver cancer -- I won't go near Rimadyl.

Legal Stuff

This is boring legal stuff that applies both to my Everyday Simplicity web site as well as my Everyday Simplicity blog.  Just so you know ….

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It’s All Me.

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I own both this web site and blog and I am the only person who contributes to them.  If you visit or shop here (I have plans to sell stuff on the web site at some point), then you accept the following terms and conditions.  Please read this information; hopefully, most of the annoying legalese has been edited out.  I’ve tried, at least.
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Texas

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I am in Texas.  The laws of the State of Texas apply to all that I do here, and by visiting my site or my blog, you agree that the laws of the Lone Star State apply, as well, should any controversy arise between us.  Heaven forbid, right?

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Disclaimer

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I am providing information here that I think may help you because it’s helped me.  Information regarding living a simple lifestyle, with all that entails.

Everything provided on my web site and blog is provided on an “as is” basis, and I’m not making any representations or warranties, expressed or implied, about the operation of the site or blog or any of the information, content, or products included or referenced here.   

If you use my site or blog, then I hope you enjoy it and find it helpful to you as you simplify your life.  However, I’m not giving you any guarantees here.  By reading my site or blog, you are expressly agreeing that your use of the blog or site is in your wheelhouse and at your own risk.  I’m not your doctor, your lawyer, your therapist, or your grandma.

Insofar as all applicable law allows, I disclaim all warranties, express or implied, that this site, or its servers, or any email sent by me, is free from viruses or other evil and harmful things.  I will not be liable for any damages of any kind arising from the use of the site or the blog.

Now, as for as the substance of the stuff found on my site or blog, I research things and try to be as accurate as possible.  Still, we’re all only human and so here’s my legal lingo on this issue:

I do not represent nor do I endorse the accuracy of any of the information found on my site or blog, and this includes the information that can be found on any site or blog that is linked in my content.  

The information contained in or accessed from any hyperlinked location is out of my control and I am in no way warranting what those site owners or bloggers are doing or may have done with their stuff.  Anyone reading my site or blog acknowledges that if they rely on the stuff that they find on third party sites as hyperlinked in my content is at their sole risk. 

Privacy Policy

I do not collect information here like some other sites or bloggers choose to do, using services like FeedBlitz, for instance.  I do not provide newsletters.  I do not collect personal information and I do not have any kind of mailing list database.   If you send a comment that may have too much personal information from my perspective, then I may edit that personal stuff out of the comment before it’s published to protect your privacy. 

Using Content Found on my Site or Blog

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1.      Copyright

All the content placed on either the website or the blog – and this means the written content as well as the graphics, images, data compilations, you get the idea, is my property.  I own it. 

It is protected by the copyright laws of the United States as well as those copyright laws established in other countries.  It’s exciting to think I have readers in other countries and therefore need to mention international copyright laws.  Love that. 

If I have released something into the public domain, then this will be clearly stated and explained in the blog post, or on the web site page. 

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2.     Licensure

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I’m fine with your personal use of the content on my web site and blog and I officially grant you the limited license to access my site and blog and read the stuff and maybe even save some of it for your own self.  That’s cool, I like the idea that some of this stuff will help you and you want to save it!

However, I have been the victim of thieves taking my stuff and then selling it as their own stuff and that’s not right.  Even worse, I’ve had scoundrels take my content and then put it into pdfs and send those puppies out to try and entice people to download those things, which are traps for their malware or other evil plans. 

So, here is the official legal lingo that points to that sort of evildoing:  I do not grant a license to anyone to take my stuff and modify it, even a part of it, unless they have my written consent on a paper document and my official pen and ink okey dokey to do so.

I do not license anyone to reproduce, copy, duplicate, sell, resell, or in any other way use or exploit for their for-profit or commercial purpose anything on either my web site or blog.  I do not license any downloading or copying of anything found on the site or blog for your own commercial use, period. 

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Comment Policy

Comments are great.  Love them.  However, I hate spam and trolls, too.  So I have things set up so I have to approve comments before they appear on the web site or blog.  Anyone is welcome to comment, submit suggestions, reviews, ideas, new info, etc. and questions are always great. 

However, I reserve the right to edit the stuff that appears on my web site and blog.  This means that I reserve the right to omit and not publish anything submitted that is illegal, vile, obscene, threatening,  hateful, or objectionable, and this includes (legal verbiage warning) submissions that are or may be defamatory, invasive of someone’s privacy, possibly infringing on someone else’s copyright or trademark, or in some other way potentially harmful to third parties.

This reservation of my rights also includes the right not to publish on my site any submissions that have or may include software viruses, political stuff, advertising aka commercial solicitation, mass mailing, or other things that you might consider to be “spam.”

If I think you are using a phony email address, then I reserve my right not to publish your submission.  In fact, if I think that your submission is in misleading in any way as to your real identity and purpose, then I reserve the right not to publish it. 

As for comments that do get published, by submitting your stuff you are allowing me an irrevocable, non-exclusive, free, and perpetual, right to use that submission on my site and blog, which includes my ability to publish it, modify or change it (for instance, to remove personal information and protect your privacy), translate it, distribute it, and display the content throughout the world in any media. 

This includes the right to use your name as you submitted it with your comment.  You are warranting that the stuff you submit is your stuff, and that you own the rights to that comment’s content.  If you have been sneaky and it’s not really yours, then you will indemnify me for any and all claims that might result from your bad acts here. 

Bottom line, I cannot and do not take responsibility and I assume no legal liability for any comments or other submissions that are posted and published here that come from any third party.

Also, if you try one of my recipes, that’s great!  But cooking in your place and being safe is up to you and at your discretion.  I will not be legally liable for any harm or injury suffered by someone who uses a recipe found on my site or blog, whatever the cause. 

Same goes for trying out any spices or supplements or dog stuff that you read about on my site or blog.  Try this stuff and use it at your own discretion and after you’ve done your own research.  I will not be legally liable for any harm or injury suffered by someone or their pet using a product recommended or discussed on my site or blog, whatever the cause. 

Questions

If you have any questions on any of these things – or about anything else related to my web site or blog, then please feel free to get in touch with me and ask!  The current contact information will be located in the Contact information sections of the web site and blog.  (Same stuff in two places.)

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Changing Stuff

I reserve the right to change my mind.  I may change anything on the site or blog and that includes this Legal Stuff from time to time.  (Legally, I’m reserving my right to modification.)

And if anything here (including the Legal Stuff) is found to be invalid, void, or otherwise not legally enforceable for some reason, then that specific part of the site or blog, will be severed and removed but everything else on the site and blog will not be affected and will still be cool, i.e., it remains valid and enforceable.