Celebrating Carly
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Thank you all for your kind words upon hearing of our loss of Carly.  You don’t know how much it helps to know that you understand how much we loved her and miss her.

Carly joined our family in 1998.  We had gone to the local SPCA to find the perfect new dog for Butterfly, who had recently lost her little dog, Rosebud.  She was learning to live life on her own, since my father had recently suffered a massive stroke and was in a nursing home for what would turn out to be the rest of his life (almost 6 years).

Carly had been scooped up off the streets of a city near Sacramento, California, as a pregnant two-year-old stray.  She had been given a thorough checkup, spayed, and put up for adoption.  The day we showed up, there were not a lot of adult dogs available.  Our choices were limited, but something drew me to this little dog who darted to the front of her cage and offered a paw.  I sat on the floor, opened the cage door, and she scrambled out, eager to pour herself into my lap, lick my face, and encourage me to take her home.

I looked up at Butterfly and asked, “What do you think?”

“I think she likes you,” said Butterfly.

“But do you like her?” I asked.

Butterfly shrugged, “She seems nice enough.”

“I think she’s perfect!” I declared.  “You’re taking her.”

From that day forward, Butterfly had a new shadow.  I’m not sure how she came up with the name Carly for her (and neither is Butterfly), but that’s what she was called from the first or second day.  Carly clearly had had some training and was a pleasure to take on a walk or a hike.  No leash was needed because you could depend on her to come when called, to not chase off after animals, and to do almost whatever you asked of her. 

She was also quite content to spend the day at home in the garden.  She followed closely at Butterfly’s heels and either slept nearby while Butterfly toiled, or contentedly chewed on a stick.  It didn’t take much to keep Carly happy.

Every day I knew when the newspaper delivery was imminent.  Butterfly walks to the end of our ½ mile long driveway each morning with a couple of the dogs to retrieve the papers;  as they got close to our house to drop them off, Carly would race to my kitchen door for her “treat” – which was a half carrot.  You would have thought it was a piece of steak, as excited as she was each day to get that carrot!  She would dance at the door and take off around the house to find a spot in the sun to lie down and enjoy her prize.  I called it her “drive by”.

At night, Carly felt it was her job to keep Butterfly in line.  She knew, somehow, when the Jay Leno show was over.  She would always wake up Butterfly (who would have fallen asleep on the couch) and let her know it was time to go to bed.  

Carly understood Butterfly’s routine so well that it was almost eerie.  When Butterfly would get ready to leave for a day in town, she would open her door and command the dog, “Go home!”  Carly would obediently race down the hill to my house, where she would quite happily spend the day being my shadow.  Along about 3 PM, she would start checking out “her” house to see if her mother had returned from her gadding about.  If she happened to be still in the house with me when Butterfly returned I would simply open the door and tell her, “Go home!” and she would race back up the hill to Butterfly.  We always laughed about the dog with two homes.

Carly absolutely loved going hiking with us.  She started yipping and running in circles as soon as she saw Butterfly picking up hiking shoes.  Once outside, she would tear down the hill to my house and set up a fuss until I came outside with all of our hiking gear.  She would circle the car and then head back up the hill to collect Butterfly.

Here are some typical shots of Carly on the trail:

water hole on Stevens Trail

bringing up the rear onStevens Trail

By Butterfly's side at Feather Falls

cooling off in the American river

taking a breather at the Bear River

Do I get to ride, too?

Carly, Barney & Hellan at the end of a long hike.

Sadly, after Saturday’s encounter with a rattlesnake, Carly reached the end of the trail.

Dusty (our truck) was a suitable hearse.

Electric Horseman brought her home from the vet, where everything possible had been done to save her.  He dug a grave in Butterfly’s garden where we could lay her to rest.

Digging in the flowers

Butterfly was not home so Electric Horseman and I had to make the decision about where to dig the grave.  I thought that Butterfly might like it to be right below her new “ladder trellis”.  This is where she is planting her newest clematis (a blue double one I gave her for Mother’s Day) and a pink mandevilla.  No matter where you pick to dig around here, you run into big rocks not far below the surface.  Electric Horseman picked them out and piled them up.

Flowers waving in the breeze

We should all be so lucky to have such a pretty resting place.

All of Carly’s canine friends were in attendance to pay their respects. I had already let all the dogs see Carly uncovered inside the box, so they maybe would know that she had died.  I’m not sure they understood (do we even understand?).  With the exception of Mayday, they each clearly knew that something had severely changed.

Mayday, however, was not the least bit interested in what was happening.  She has one mission in life and that is to fetch.  She even brought her stick along to the funeral.  It was more like a tree branch.  Since she can practically carry a whole tree, we have all learned to stay out of her way to avoid getting our legs whacked.

Carly’s friends move in to see what’s going on.  Mayday still pleads with me to throw the stick.

The shadow does its work ...

Electric Horseman begins the grim task of covering Carly, and returning her body to the earth.

Of all the dogs, Lucky seemed most disturbed at this step of the process.  He watched carefully.

Lucky was just not going to leave.  He and Carly had always gotten along quite well, and maybe he hadn’t had time to say a proper good-bye.

Interestingly, when we got all done, Hellan seemed the most upset and tried to dig at the grave.  I had to call her away and distract her while Electric Horseman covered it with rocks to discourage any other animals from disturbing it. 

Soon enough Butterfly will think of the perfect plant to mark the spot where Carly rests.