Monday adventures for the BT

We have decided to make it a priority to spend quality time with Jordan this week and do things that we know she loves. Today, we headed to visit a small cow farm. First, we stopped by the Freehold Country Store for a bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich. Jordan really likes when we get these (and any of you who've visited us have probably sampled one). Colten ordered extra bacon so Jordan could have an entire strip for herself in addition to a big piece of Tristan's sandwich. She loved it!

Jordan also loves the smell of cows and cow manure. She has visited several farms before, and she always goes right up to the biggest animals, including cows and bulls, to sniff them out. She is totally unafraid of animals that are much bigger than her. Fearlessness has always been one of the qualities I admire in her; she's full-steam ahead, balls to the wall every day. Because she's lost her sight, her meeting of the cows had to depend mostly on her sense of smell, which, luckily, is still working.

Many of the cows looked up and checked us all out as we approached the fence. Two cows in particular took a liking to her. One smelled her, nose to nose (and sneezed on me). Another one decided to be bold and used her enormous tongue to lick the side of Jordan's face. Unbelievably, Colten captured it on film!

Jordan used to take great pleasure in rolling in smelly things, and manure was the jackpot. When she was on leash, it was fairly easy to steer her away from it, but when she was off leash, she would often roll in it and trot back to us feeling very proud of herself. I wore special shoes today so I could walk her right through the manure. This if the first time Jordan has ever had access to cow manure and not rolled in it gleefully—it's just one of those moments when we realize that she is not entirely herself.


We walked across the street to a local farm stand, where Jordan posed with giant pumpkins.








Then, we headed to our local swimming hole, a beautiful spot very close to our house. It's one of our favorite places to visit, to take guests, and to swim. We brought all three dogs there once and they had a great time. We were super lucky to have a mild, warm day—it was almost 70. Colten toted Jordan all over, and she posed for about a hundred photos. She was entirely chilled out as he carried her through the stream in his arms to one rock, then the next, trying to get the lighting right. Back when she could see, she was an amazing model, posing, giving looks to the camera. She's still pretty amazing. Although she cannot see, Colten simply follows where she's looking. She remained calm and never fussed once the entire time. When he brought her over to the rock I was sitting on, she continued to be calm, and she even fell asleep on me. I am trying to stay really present with her, and I found the tears welling up in my eyes. I got very sad that these are the final days of her life, and this would be her final trip to the swimming hole.