Today is the shortest day of the year with winter starting at 12:30 am tomorrow.  It is so nice that the days will start to get longer.  I am missing Squash a lot today.  Maybe it is because all the kids are home from college and there is a lot of activity.  He used to love to be in the center of it all.  Everyone used to get down on the floor and hug on him.  Squash came to live with us in the summer of 2006.  V and the kids were on their summer vacation down in the Myrtle Beach area of SC and found him walking along side a busy road at about midnight.  He walked right up to them and said ‘take me with you.’  The story goes that a toothless guy they spoke to said the dog had been living in the grave yard for a long time and that people feed him scrapes.  So they took him to a vet, checked for a microchip, and had him cleaned up/shaved (thus the name Squash, because his big old body looked like a summer squash) and asked around but no one claimed him.  So they loaded him in the car for the 8 hour trip home.  V never said anything and the kids are like, ‘well aren’t you going to ask if it is ok?,’ and V said, ‘I know it will be ok.’  At that time we had Nikki, my buff 17 year old Cocker Spaniel, 5 cats and 3 guinea pigs. Well they get home and V says, ‘your present is in the car.’  And there, sitting in the back seat, is 80 lbs of Squash.  It was love at first site.  He was the kindest of dogs and so well behaved.  The vet thought at first he was probably 5 because of his teeth, but over time we figure he was more like 7.  We discovered after about a year that Squash was diabetic and required insulin 2X a day for the rest of his life and he went blind from the disease. He I had perfect dog/human trust, and somehow, I gave him those shots, every day.  He past last February.  What a gift he was!!!  We were so blessed with him.

Sqaush E Bear, 2006, when he first came to live with us.

Squash E Bear, in his last year (Feb 2011)