Preparing to see Shasta's Body

Posted by Jessica
May 25 6:15am: I was really tired when I went to bed. I fell asleep really quickly but didn't know why I woke up at 6:15am. I lay in bed till 7am waiting for the sun to rise so that I can see Shasta('s body) sooner. No on was up yet. I didn't want to make much noise and decided to sit on the massaging chair to unwind as I waited. The chair faces out to the other section of the balcony. The balcony is like an "L" shape with a thick base at the bottom of the L. From the living room, I am able to look out to the top part of the "L" shape balcony. If I want to see the bottom of the "L" shape balcony, I will have to step into the balcony to see round the corner.

I was on the chair for about 1 hour...just spacing out...i did get up to make a cup of coffee. I imagined where Shasta would have laid down with me in the living room. Dogs are habitual creatures. Gavin and I pretty much know where shasta will lay down depending on where we are in our own apt.

Example, if Gavin and I are on the couch in the living room, Shasta will be at his bed in front of the TV. If either one of us walk into the bedroom, Shasta will follow the person to the bedroom, find out what the person is doing and then he will return to his bed in the living room. If the second person decides to leave the living room (meaning, no one is in the living room except Shasta), Shasta will then get up and follows the 2nd person.

When I got out of the chair and walked out to the balcony wall...I was looking to see where he would have leaped from. It only took me a second to find the spot. I see his paw prints on one section of the wall...the rest of the same wall does not have his paw prints. I looked across the wall and there are the pigeons on the wall on the other side of the building.

Shasta probably heard the pigeons frequently and wondered what they were. Shasta had jumped over barriers which landed him into a flower bed behind the barriers. We have yelled at him when he did it. But the border collie mix in him has the agility and that's fun to him to jump over barriers. He must have thought that the wall is the same - it has a flower bed for him to land his paws. It didn't.

My second brother came by around 10am and said that he has called the pet hospital and has made an appt for us to see Shasta's body at 10:30. Everyone was up by then and we got changed and headed out.

I told my brother to pick a place for lunch as today is my mom's 66th birthday...it is definitely not a happy one for her and everyone. My family had focused their attention on me but I didn't want to forget about my mom's birthday. Previously, we were thinking about having a BBQ to celebrate her birthday..but we didn't. Someone up there probably already knew that there's not going to be a celebration today and guided us into that decision.