Despite the gorgeous weather and the abundance of birds at Malheur Monday, I only stayed there for about four hours before I turned around and drove the 400+ mile home. Skye who finally seemed able to travel after visiting a new veterinarian had a sudden relapse that evening and kept me up the whole time we were camping. Finally, at midnight I decided that I needed to return home and get him back to the vet. It’s a good thing I did because otherwise I might never have gotten him home.
Although the Prednisone made him feel better temporarily, he relapsed as soon as the drugs were reduced, relapsed to the point that he couldn’t walk up the stairs and had trouble getting in and out of the house. After much thought and much agony, I finally decided that it wasn’t fair to try to keep him alive because I was going to miss him so much. So, I had him put to sleep today.
The reality is that he has been my closest companion since I retired a little over ten years ago. Most of the time we’ve been in the same room or linked by a leash. Since Leslie’s still working, I spent more time with him than with anyone else.
The highpoint of our adventures together came at Malheur last year,
and Skye, who never liked to get his feet wet, seemed particularly at home in the deserts of Eastern Oregon and Eastern Washington.
I bought my new Honda Element because I thought it would be the perfect camping vehicle for the two us and had planned several trips this Summer before he became ill.
Malheur is a wonderful place, and I’m thinking of returning next week for a few days, but I doubt I’ll ever be able to bird there without wistfully remembering the wonderful times Skye and I had there.