The Photo's Memory Continues

The gentleman that I wrote about a long time ago, the Blog entry about a family photo (The Photo’s Memory) has had a very trying time in the past two months. I cannot get into the details but his health took a bad turn and he had spent some time in the hospital. Here is that little boy, now a man facing issues that he has almost no control over, and sometimes no voice. There were issues that we had to struggle with that had far reaching tentacles. We had moral issues, long-term health issues, liability issues and good practices issues.
What we ran into head on was the moral issues versus the liability issues. Morals are defined as good or right, when judged by the standards of the average person or society at large and morals are based on what somebody’s conscience suggests is right or wrong rather than on what the law says should be done. Liability is defined as anything for which somebody is responsible, especially a debt and legal responsibility for something, especially costs or damages.
It was a horrible tense struggle to make sure we did right by our gentleman. The decisions had to include what would be best for him and not just a financial or easy solution. But those things had to figure into the decision, as they are part of the reality that we live in.
After all the debates our gentleman came home. He is recovering at an amazing pace and he is well on his way to becoming healthy once more. As a life lesson, it is a crappy way to learn for both our gentleman and the staff that work with him. Some of the issues still have to be explored and some kind of guidelines or help will have to exist in order for this not to play out the way that it did. There will be a next time and because of this experience we will be better prepared to do right by the people we serve.

The Swirl of Dogs

To see a herd of happy dogs doing dog things in a cottage setting is truly a summer treat. There is no real rhyme or reason, running because you can, who is chasing who and interacting with everything all at once. This is a dog's life.
Yes the picture is a tad blurry; I didn't try to fix it that is what it felt like being in the midst of purposeful dogs. In and out of the water, shaking the water off their coats and on to the driest person. Rolling in the dirt in-between trips to the lake. Everything was well sniffed and treats for all.
What a relaxing weekend.

Cottage Time

Finally. I did spend some time dipping my feet in the water while reading a book but I also took a bit of a walkabout. I remember walking on the old road (which in fact is just a carved out dirt road that was built in the 20's and has been mostly taken over by scrub brush) as a child and thinking that I was in the middle of nowhere and could get lost or eaten by bears. I still have a little of the same fears but now I know that there are ways and paths to safety. Nothing much has changed in the woods other than my perspective.

Lincoln had a real scary moment. He kept eating grass and trying to hork up something. Then I was being called frantically down to the water and there was Lincoln trying to put his head underwater and then trying to hork up something. He was putting his paws into his mouth, making his mouth bleed while coughing. It appeared he was choking and he was definitely panicking. We did the Heimlich maneuver but to no avail. I tried feeling around in his mouth but he would bite down, not to nip but as a defense mechanism. I did feel something on the roof of his mouth but could not grasp it, as Lincoln would clamp his jaws shut. John ordered his son Kevin to get the rawhide bone and when Lincoln was open mouthed trying to cough up what was hurting him we put the rawhide in and I was able to pull out a piece of wood that was caught in the roof of mouth. At this point Lincoln was shakey and very upset but with lots of reassurance he is back to his old self.
I have more dog stories from this weekend and more pictures that I will have to sit and sort through them all before doing another post.
It was warm, quiet and so peaceful there that even with the multitude of dogs, a 2 year old and various adults it still was a wonderful get away.

The Cottage

I am finally going to the cottage. I will post pictures when I get back and I will now have to refrain from being bitter about not going. I can hardly wait, my bag is packed, my camera is ready and my feet can not wait to be dipped into the water.