Rest In Peace My Friend.....9/26/2011

Our beloved Boxer, Kaia, had to be put to sleep September 26th after almost 9 years of smash mouth, giving it hell living.....She was born in Ely, MN and passed away in Bend, OR....We will miss her dearly and all her nicknames she has picked up over the years: Grumpy and Ghetto Bitch to name a few....I can say I have learned as much about living from her as I have from all my years of education, living, and from my family....

She was always happy, loved everybody, and always went 110% once she decided to commit to something...Some of my favorite memories are of her attacking skunks(minus all the work to clean her up), jumping on the back of a huge black bear in our backyard in Duluth and chasing him up the street with neighbors thoroughly amused (you can say she had a little "honey badger" in her..."she really didn't give a fuck."), eating any and all the shit she could find, her excitment whirls that came with food, family, and friends showing up, going for 20+ mile mountain bike rides, running with us for hours, endless road trips, trying to jump over a culvert only to come up short and smash a few of her teeth out on a concrete wall..then to get up, wag her tail, and try it again successfully. Most importantly how she loved with all her heart!! My friend you bring tears to my eyes just thinking of you..and I hope I can live as happy a life as you....Here are a few photos, hope you enjoy:

 Molly and Kaia...Kaia always had a hard time keeping that left side of her lip from getting stuck on one of her teeth..

 One of her last walks on the Oregon Coast...Our last trip there with her..She loved running around on the beach and getting into dead things..

 Running free high up in the Cascade's..

She LOVED winter and once the snow was on the ground she paced until we let her out to play...I frequently feel the same way...

 Here she was with her eyes and mouth swollen shut...She went head long into a mosquito nest down on Chester Creek... We did not think she was going to make it through this one...

 Sometimes she would rather follow behind me instead of being in the canoe....She was a great swimmer once we taught her....This first time I threw her off a dock into Boulder Lake she sank straight to the bottom...once she hit bottom, about 6 feet,  I could tell she barked because a few bubbles came up so I had to jump in and get her out...After that she learned to swim and that the bottom of the lake was not for walking on...

 Her she is making sure her puppy brother, Finn, is warm and falling asleep...They were best of friends..

She loved Skippy and would lick the bottom of the jar until her tongue was bleeding....

Classic..somehow under a blanket and her tongue sticking out....R.I.P. my friend....We will forever miss you!!!

Cheers to all the wonderful friends and their pets that mean so much....

Monty J. Nelson Copyright.