A Year With Kelley

One year ago today – July 17, 2009 – I drove to Kelley Point Park in North Portland extra early. I wanted to walk with Nicholai and Izzy before the three digit temperatures of that week's heat wave hit. Since it was Nicholai's last summer (J), I didn't want to let a day go by without a fun excursion of one sort or another. Pulling into the parking lot just before 6:00 a.m., I noticed a black Chevy Avalanche sitting in the middle of the lot, motor humming. Soon a door opened, a dog's feet hit the ground, its body hidden behind the door. In a moment, the door closed and the Avalanche sped away, leaving the little dog staring after it. Long story short (see Introducing the Little Sisters, Feb 20 post), the little reddish-blonde pup I wasn't going to keep, is now our sweet third dog, and bears the name of the park in which she was momentarily abandoned.

Kelley seemed to be out to create record medical expenditures in one year of life. Not including spay surgery, her veterinary bills have cruised effortlessly into the four figure column – what with several days at Dove Lewis emergency hospital just before Christmas due to salmon poisoning and most recently her wayward adventure with foxtail in the nostril. Good thing she's so damned cute!

Kelley has become a wonderful companion. She's gone from lanky and uncoordinated to rippled with well-defined muscles. She's friendly to everyone – human and beast. She can and will play all day, and then loves nothing better than to snuggle up on a warm lap.

To the louse in the black Chevy Avalanche: you didn't know what would happen to your sweet dog, just left her off like so much garbage. Well, clearly, she's the better of the two of you, and your garbage has been our gift.

We're glad to have Miss Kelley; she's been a joy for our family, if a tad expensive.