Lightning Strikes Twice

Once again we have lost another dog due to kidney failure.  Four months and one day to the date from saying goodbye to Girlie Girl, we said goodbye to Hank.  I have had the honor of owning Hank since he was 8 weeks old.  He was 13 1/2 years old.  We lost him on August 15, 2011.  It is hard to have to loose a dog quickly and just as hard seeing the decline over two weeks.  I could never say which was easier or which was harder.  I long to see my old friend again, but know that he is no longer suffering.  We love you Hank Beagle!

Recovering from Christmas company

Getting some lovin'

Waiting patiently at the Emergency Vet.

Dawg Days of Summer

Well, summer officially came around 3 weeks ago, but you would never think that based upon the temperatures that the South has been experiencing since late May.  I cannot remember the last day that the high was less than 90 degrees.  But, I love the heat. 

It has certainly been a strange year fishing.  There have been very few King Mackerel caught this year near the coast in SC.  Fish that are typically caught in the fall, such as Spots, have been running in the past few weeks.  And there have been lots of slow days on the water.

We were fortunate to spend some time on the boat in June with a friend and went out to The General Sherman wreck.  We need more experience finding smaller wrecks / reefs as we had a hard time actually locating the wreck.  Even though we never could anchor up directly over it, we did manage to catch a good number of black sea bass, but all were too small to keep.  Overall, it was a great day on the water.  Wind and waves have kept us from heading out in the boat lately, but hopefully as the month goes along, we will have the chance to go out some.  

Also have fished with Grown Dawg's son and his wife and caught a good number of spots and whiting.  Lots of fun fishing with them, that is for sure!  Even got to see one of the large sharks that hangs out a Cherry Grove Pier feeding on scraps.  Always entertaining.
On the non-fishing side of things, we have had a purple martin couple build a nest on our front porch.  We officially have four babies in the nest and a couple of very attentive parents that are caring for them.  It was amazing watching the adult birds build the nest as well as check on the progress of the babies every few days.  Can't wait to see them get big enough to fly!

Hopefully we will have better fishing and boating news in the next few weeks.  But the water and wind has to cooperate!

Memorial Day

Today is the day we remember all those men and women who were so brave as to give their lives so that we can enjoy our freedom.  Typically on Memorial Day, most people have the day off of work and spend time with family.  Here in the southeast, LOTS of people head to the beaches / lakes.  I have been fortunate enough to work on our local Army base and interact with soldiers every day.  I can only imagine the impact that deployments take on family members.  One of my co-worker's husband is deployed now and she not only works, but has three children and two dogs that she takes care of when she is not working.  Her strength is really amazing. 

Fortunately, I only know one soldier from the area that gave his life for our country . I had the chance to work with his wife.  His name is Scott Dyer and he was killed in action October 11, 2006 in Afghanistan.  Here is just a little about Scott. 

CW2 Scott W. Dyer, 38, an assistant detachment commander, assigned to 3rd Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group here, died from injuries sustained in support of combat operations.

He deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in August 2006.

A native of Titusville, Fla., Dyer enlisted in the Army Nov. 11, 1987, as a cavalry scout. After completing basic and advanced individual training at Fort Knox, Ky., he was assigned to the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk, La. In 1993, Dyer volunteered for Special Forces training and upon completion of the Special Forces Qualification Course he was assigned to 3rd SFG as a Special Forces engineer. He served with the 3rd SFG until January 2002 when he was assigned to the 96th Civil Affairs Battalion, here, as a civil affairs engineer.

In 2003, Dyer volunteered to attend Warrant Officer’s Candidate School and graduated in June of that year. He was reassigned to the 3rd SFG in February 2004 as an assistant detachment commander. 

Awards and Decorations

The Meritorious Service Medal, Army Commendation Medal, Army Achievement Medal, Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Afghanistan Campaign Medal, Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Armed Forces Service Medal, Humanitarian Service Medal, NCO Professional Development Ribbon, Army Service Ribbon, Combat Infantry Badge, Master Parachutist Badge, Military Freefall Jumpmaster Badge, Military Freefall Parachutist Badge, Air Assault Badge, Ranger Tab and the Special Forces Tab. His posthumous awards include the Bronze Star Medal for valor, and the Purple Heart.

Thank you to all current and previous members of the Armed Forces for what you do.

Lessons Learned

We finally got the boat.  We put it in the water the day we got it and spent a few hours on the water.  It was a weekday and not a lot of water traffic, so we thought it would be a good time for the 'newbies' to go out.  Things went pretty good, but we had some difficulty with getting the boat on the trailer.  After multiple attempts, we finally got it trailered and had to fix it's position.  We did some damage to one of the bunkers, but that was easily fixed fortunately.  David Perry is a good man to deal with!

Got to spend some time with Growndawg's son and daughter-in-law at the beach.  We were able to fish some, but not much was biting.

It has been an unusual spring as far as fishing has been concerned.  It doesn't seem like there have been any large runs of fish like there have been in the past year or two.  Whenever I start to feel like I know something about fishing, then everything changes and I realize I don't know much of anything.

Hopefully we will be catching more fish soon!

All Dogs Go To Heaven

Today was a sad day in our world.  One of our real dogs, Girlie Girl,  had not been eating well over the past week and so we decided it was time to go to the vet.  While I was there with her yesterday, they did blood work and an ultrasound of her kidneys.  The vet compared her blood work to some that was done in January and based upon that and the ultrasound findings, it was determined that she was in liver failure most likely secondary to cancer. 

Cancer is a horrible disease for all of God's creatures.  We could have gone down a long path of surgery and possible chemotherapy, but it would have had the same outcome in the end.  With heavy hearts, Grown Dawg and I came to the realization that it was best to have her put down.  She was one of the best dogs that any human could ask to have.  We were blessed to have her as part of our lives for 9 years.

She went to Heaven this morning around 10:00.  She will be cremated and we will spread her ashes at the beach.  We took her there often with us and she loved the time there.

Here are some pictures of our Princess Dog.

At the beach!



Bone time.




Laying in 'her spot' on the rug. 







Laying in the sun.  One of her favorite things.