Exam Week

Remember final exam week when we were in school? Remember the anxiety?

This was exam week for me and I was feeling the anxiety as I do every year. This was the week that all the Porties went to the vet for their annual check ups.

 Each year Dr B and I discuss any health issues and what to watch for. We discuss diet and set up goals for the coming year. Last year weights were on the high side, teeth needed attention as did ears. After last year's visit I started brushing teeth daily and set a routine for ear cleaning each Sunday afternoon.

Then everyone got sick during the summer and the routines fell apart. I was concentrating on the sick dogs and getting them all the care they needed. As Samba and Sky got sicker my day was eaten up with running them outside every hour, coaxing them to eat and giving medications. I lost eighteen pounds during their illness.

This week we took the dogs in groups of three. The first batch were Tess, Bailey and Norma Jean. They all behaved very well considering how excited they were. Each of the girls had lost nine pounds since last year and the doctor was pleased. Bailey has a couple of cysts, one on her neck and one on her back, that we'll watch and remove if they grow.

The second batch to go were Lola, Noah, and Fudge. Lola had lost six pounds and Fudge and Noah were exactly the same weight as last year. They had each lost a lot during their recent illness but have gained it back. Lola has two cysts, one on her hip and one on her muzzle. Fudge has a large cyst on his chest, but it hasn't changed since last year. Lola had a bad case of wiggles during the exam due to a thunder storm going on outside. It made the blood draw a little more of a challenge but we managed.

One of Dr B's specialties is dentistry and this year he said that Tess and Noah both need cleaning, but we're doing well with our brushing on the others. He also said the ears all looked good.

The blood reports came back yesterday and they were all perfect. No problems showed up at all. It's a huge relief to me after last year's disasters. We'll continue with the routines we have in place since they're working for us.

In May Morgan will go in for her check up and the pups will be spayed toward the end of May. Then Sebastian will have his visit in July to mark his being with us for a full year. Looks like we did Ok on our final exams this year.

Bzzzzzzzzz

Do you hear something buzzing?

Mac does.

What is that buzzing?

No No Bad Dog

Rob has always liked Bonsai trees. When we lived in Maryland he took a class on trimming them and we had several on our deck. Only one survived the move to Missouri, a thornless honey locust tree.

Instead of keeping it in a pot, Rob planted it near the garage door and kept it trimmed to about three feet high. It was a pretty little tree for a while. The location proved to be unfortunate. The boy dogs saw it as the nearest object to use to relieve themselves in the morning, but the tree didn't seem to mind.

Then last year Norma Jean decided it was the perfect plant to practice her pruning skills on. Almost every day we had to chase her away from the little tree, but she would chew on it at night when we couldn't see her. This winter it looked like the tree was gone, but in the last couple weeks it's making a comeback. It's just a couple of skinny sticks with leaf buds, but Rob hopes he can bring it back. To do this he needs to protect it from the boys and Norma Jean. He put a little fence around it.

Last weekend our yard started looking like spring again. The trees are beginning to flower and Rob noticed a couple of caterpillar nests that he wanted to remove. Sydney and Mac were very interested in this procedure and watched him closely.

When Rob and I sat on the swing to watch the girls play, they became aware of the little tree inside the fence. They went to look at it and we told them "no".

Sydney wandered off to find something else to do, but Mac couldn't forget about that fence.

We both told her no and threw her ball for her, but Mac is a very determined girl.  She would glance at us to see if we were watching, then approach the tree.

 Several times we chased her away, but she was drawn back to it.

Finally, even as we shouted at her, she stuck her head thru the fencing.

Before we could react she was squeezing her body thru.

Finally she was inside and probably thought she was safe.

She didn't expect me to reach in and lift her out, snap her leash on and tell her she was a bad girl. Why do I think we'll be going thru this again soon?

Earth Day Everyday

We missed our Earth Day post yesterday because the earth gave me a major allergy attack and I spent the day snoozing on the couch. We think we should be kind to the earth every day, so it doesn't matter if our post is a day late.

We were expecting a storm with high winds late last week so Rob cut down some branches that might pose a threat to the roof or windows. Whenever he cuts branches, it's an exciting time for the dogs.  Here is our Branch Manager checking out the newly downed limb.

Sydney got right to work on fixing the broken branch. It's too big to play with so she started breaking it down to good chewing size pieces.

The Assistant Branch Manager came over to help out, but she has a short attention span.

Once they had smaller pieces to work with, the fun began.

They work well as a team.

It feels good to relax after a job well done.

Our Winner

We have a winner in our 1000th post giveaway.

I'm fascinated with the random number generator and sometimes play with it for no reason. I try to guess what number it'll pick. For this giveaway I considered using it, but it seemed so impersonal and detached. I thought about other methods of selecting and finally came up with a hybrid method.

I used the random generator and selected three numbers.  If they'd all been the same person, that would have been it, but they were all different people. I put each of the names on a piece of paper and let Fudge make the final selection. He loves doing this and is good about choosing one and giving it to me.

The winner is Tammy at Fairlight Farm. She shares her blog with three collies, Ashley, Minty and Carly and she knows the trials of raising sister puppies.

There are also lots of cats.

There are sheep and chickens too.

If you haven't visited Tammy's blog yet, you have lots of laughs and tears in store.

Tammy, please email me with your address.

Our 1000th Post

We did it!!  We hit 1000.

When we started this blog five years ago, we never ever thought that we'd have 1000 posts. Who knew we had so much to share? We all want to say thank you to all of you who have shared with us. We wish you could all be here today to celebrate with us. Even though Fudge and I have done most of the 'talking', all the pack has contributed and they all want to be part of this.

Morgan

Fudge

Tess

Lola

Bailey

Noah

Norma Jean

Sebastian

Sydney

Mackenzie

We also have a winner. We'll tell you tomorrow who it is and how we picked them. Now we're off to make more mischief to blog about for another 1000 posts.

Why?

This is not the post I had planned for today. Once again we as Americans and world citizens are grieving. Once again we ask why? Once again we lose some of our innocence and some of our freedom. Once again a faceless big bad wolf has struck at all of us.

When September 11th happened, Rob and I were living in Missouri, but we're both native New Yorkers and wherever we are or wherever we live, we will always be New Yorkers. We both felt as if our home had been attacked and our family was hurting.

Today we feel it again. Our beloved Boston has been attacked and our family is hurting.

Not long ago it was Connecticut and our family was hurting.

It was Virginia and our family was hurting.

It was Colorado and our family was hurting.

It was Oklahoma and our family was hurting.

When will it stop? When will we start thinking of each other as our family of humans and not see each other as different and scary because of who we love or what we believe or how we dress? Why can't we put as much energy into knowing each other and accepting each other as we put into hating and trying to control each other? Why should who you love threaten me? Why should my religious beliefs threaten you?

How can we enjoy our dinner at a nice restaurant knowing that our neighbor may have nothing to eat tonight? How can we dream sweet dreams knowing that a child in our town is sleeping in a car or on the street because he has no bed? We humans feel superior to all other forms of life because of our brains, but why don't we use them more wisely? We have the ability to solve these problems and make life better for all of us. Why don't we?