Adjusting

We are adjusting to life without Missy.  Seems so strange to come in and her not greet me at the door.  She did so for 18 years.  I so miss her.  I guess now I will fill in all the holes in the back yard.  I don't want to because it seems like the final act of letting her go.  It is so difficult to let them go.  She was a force when she was younger.  Those rabbits did not stand a chance with her.  And when I got the mouse infestation from the tools shed behind me, she and Daisy were wonderful to watch.  Missy would circle one side of the shrubs, Daisy the other.  One would flush the mice and the other would catch them.  Now both are gone. Daisy only made it to 5 years.  She had spinal arthritis and bone loss in her hips.  She was a product of severe inbreeding and she paid the price for it.  But she was so sweet and infuriating at the same time.  Each time I lose one, I lose a part of me.  I miss them all each and every day.