It`s over 30 years now since the last of our three sons left home - one by one they found their way in the world and each time one of them left I felt a deep sense of sadness.  But you`ve got to let them go and when the last one went, we began to fill the hole by having golden retrievers.  We`re now on the fifth one - Barney.

And in what is turning out to be a difficult week, Barney was taken very ill yesterday with a nasty bout of hemorrhagic diarrhoea.  I`ll spare you the details but poor Barney was in a bad way - not eating or drinking which, for a retriever, indicates something quite serious.  So, off to the vet`s yesterday afternoon - loads of medication - but no effect, so he went back to the vet`s last evening and was kept in to be re-hydrated, have blood tests, etc.

We don`t know but we hope he might be back with us tomorrow; but not having him around the house, not doing the twice daily walkies and not living with his daily routine has pitched us into another feeling of the empty nest.  It`s easy to take things for granted - even dogs - but you don`t know what an important part of your life they are and how much you miss them until they`re not there - even for a day or two.