Two Goodbyes

A few years back Mark's grandfather died of old age. He was cremated and his ashes were buried on family land in Quebec. The acreage had been given to Mark's cousin Dean by their grandmother, who wanted to see it remain in the family. She planned to be buried next to her husband when she died.

Dean, the guardian of the family property, also happens to be some sort of Mormon priest, so he officiated the ceremony. Things seemed to just fall right into place.

Last year Dean's mother happened to drive past the acreage and to her horror, discovered a 'sold' sign in the yard. Dean had sold the property he had been given without telling anyone in the family, and had left the province, the property, and his grandfather's grave behind without a backward glance.

Poor old Gran was incredibly upset. Her husband was now buried on someone else's private property, and she could not rejoin him there when her day came, or even potentially visit his grave without a stranger's permission.

And the family land does not belong to the family any more.

Even though she had given it outright, she would have paid Dean to get it back had she known what he was going to do.

Mark's grandpa's ashes were dug up and brought back to Nova Scotia, and we all attended his second funeral and burial this past weekend. It's been a long saga for Mark's Gran and her two daughters, but now it's over with.


Dean did not attend the second burial. Nobody knows where he lives now.

In other news, our intrepid foster dog Oland (ROOO! BORT!) is going to a new foster home on Monday. We're switching him up for a new model!

Our rescue group takes dogs out of the local pound, and there's a dog at the pound in danger of being euthanized. The dogs are normally taken from the pound and placed in quarantine at the farm of one of the group co-ordinators. The dog in question is an 80-pound pit bull though, and the co-ordinator is a tiny little gentle-mannered retired school teacher. She does not have the strength to walk the large and strong pit bull, so cannot take him at the farm.

You all know the soft spot I have for this underdog breed. When I heard that the pound had a pit bull, I offered our house as a last resort. We are NOT set up well to quarantine a dog, and nobody knows if he's good with cats, dogs, or even people. He would die otherwise though, so we'll make it work, with the help of the other group members of course.

It should be an adventure! We'll get him on Monday if all goes well.