Miss Z at 6 weeks old.
On July 27, 2010, a new life came into the world. It was small, warm, furry, helpless. Seven weeks later, it was at an adoption shelter. All that the staff knew was that the furry little girl’s mom was a Siberian Huskie. (We would later discover that her dad was a Boxer.) She had a brother and sister and her sister was also up for adoption, but when I played with her, she wasn’t interested. When I played with the puppy the shelter had named “Kim”, I asked her to give me a sign if she wanted to come home with me. She jumped on me and kissed me one time on the face. That was my sign. I took her home. On November 18, 2021, as she heard comforting and apologetic words, she again gave a kiss and went to her home on the Rainbow Bridge.
Miss Z at 7 weeks old. Her first bath. I could hold her in one hand.
Zenamarie (also known as “Miss Z), was a playful, joyful dog. Her mix combo, called Boxsky was more than a handful. She was inquisitive, and as you can see in the above photo, she looked as if she had all wisdom.
Miss Z learned very quickly. She was totally housebroken in 3 weeks. Most times, she was very obedient – always obedient when it came to sit, lay, high-five, shake paw. She wasn’t so obedient when it came to not barking.
Some mornings, I opened my eyes to see this stare-down.
As the years went by, her black and brown muzzle turned white. It’s strange seeing your furry face age. She hadn’t slowed down her playfulness until she was 5-years old, only reducing it to about 10 minute increments. The life span for her breed mix is 10 years. I was blessed with having her in my life for an additional year.
Miss Z loved her backyard. She played ball in her yard. She chased squirrels in her yard. She chased rabbits in her yard. She pounced on a ground hog in her yard — and she was skunked in her yard. Once, she stopped a burglar of my neighbor’s house who, hearing her bark in his direction, left the television he was stealing on the ground and hauled ass.
Last year she developed fatty masses. They seem to all appear overnight. A trip to the Vet, and they were tested, coming back fatty masses — nothing to worry about. I did begin giving her a teaspoon of olive oil daily and they began to shrink.
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Ray of Hope is a song written by 
We Hold These Truths To Be Self-Evident 