Ruby died

Ruby, our beautiful 120 pound Great Dane, died this evening.  She had been having some gastro issues (not uncommon for her) and Tammy had scheduled a vet appointment for her in the morning at 8:15a.m.  However, when we went to check on her…she was gone. 

Ruby was a clown.  I named her after my paternal grandmother; Ruby Lee Riddle Newman.  She was one of the goofiest creatures that I have ever met, and she loved her family very much.  She would let Kennedy (who weighs not even half of what did) pull her around by her collar. 

Ruby had some mischievous adventures in her short life.  When we lived in Albuquerque, we had a pool in our back yard.  When she was about 6 months old, she jumped in the pool; and obviously did not have the instinct to swim.  Robert hoisted her out before I even knew what happened.  It bruised up her belly and she was having a lot of trouble walking.  So..we whisked her off to the vet where she made a fool out of me by running around the vet’s office uncontrollably.  Then, last summer, on a very hot desert night; the gate to our fence got blown down.  I went out back to let her in and she was gone.  I was a lot like a crazy person driving all of the west side of Albuquerque looking for her.  When I finally found her it was like a Hallmark card.  I threw the Suburban into park on a main street (98^th) and jumped out of the truck.  Ruby came flying across the road to me.  We literally stopped traffic. 

A part of my heart died tonight L