What Happened To The Day?

Have you noticed that time seems to fly a whole lot faster than it used to?

Let me show you how my days disappear.

Six AM

Let the girls outside to pee. Give them a snack and put them in their pen to go back to sleep. Take Morgan out front to pee. Then back to bed.

Eight AM  

Everybody up and out. Prepare doggy breakfast and feed them a few at a time. Then back outside.


Nine AM

Give everyone their meds. Human breakfast.


Ten AM

Brush teeth in the following order: Fudge, Noah, Sky, Tess, Lola, Norma Jean and Bailey. Then everyone goes out to run and play while Rob and I check the yard for any necessary pickups.


Eleven AM

Shampoo Samba's infected foot. The infection is gone, but the foot itches and we don't want her to start chewing it again. I wash the foot with a medicated shampoo, let it stay on the foot for ten minutes, then rinse it off.


Noon

Outside for a snack of apple or carrot. We play ball or some other activity. If there's a party, this would be the time for that.

Two PM

Another outing and more play.



Four PM

The best time of the day... DINNER! Then a quick outing. Running is not encouraged at this time.



Seven PM

The  final daylight outing.



Eight PM

Evening meds.



Ten PM

Yogurt time and our last outing. The girls go into their crates for the night and everyone gets a cookie.



Eleven PM

Morgan and Samba go out front for a final pee opportunity.

This schedule doesn't take into consideration baths and haircuts or vet appointments or training or walks. Those all get fit in wherever.

I wonder where my days go? It seems I never get anything done.

Book Review

Mama Pajama Tells  A Story
 A collection of Writings About Dogs and Their Servants
By Patience Renzulli

I want to share a great little book with you. The best part is it was written by one of us, a dog blogger. I discovered the Patience Please blog when she left a comment on one of my posts. Since then I drop in regularly to check on her and her pack. You see Patience has a nine dog pack, as do I. When she wrote her book, she had eight Whippets and a Lab. No wonder I can relate so well to many of her stories.

This book has a little something for everyone. If you have a whole pack, you'll find lots of familiar adventures, such as trying to walk nine dogs at once. If you've tried showing or racing your dog, you'll recognize the people and events associated with those activities. If you have a single couch potato pet dog, you'll still find lots to laugh and cry over. You'll soon feel as if you know each of her dogs personally as she describes their personalities.

I started reading this the night that Tsar died. I was feeling sad and close to tears, but I actually found myself laughing out loud several times, especially when she explained "bungee walking". I bought the Kindle edition, but I think I need the hard copy on my dog shelf in the library. This book will always hold a reminder of Tsar for me.

If you've ever loved a dog, you'll find something in this book to enjoy.  It clearly was written with a sense of humor and abundant love.

More Monkey Business

You all know Bailey's Monkey. He's been an important part of our family for quite a while.

A few years ago I brought home another monkey thinking Bailey might like him, but she paid no attention to him. Fudge carries him around a lot and likes to sleep with his head resting on the big white monkey.

Last Christmas, knowing that Bailey's monkey was wearing out, we brought in a couple of new monkeys for her to choose from. Again she was disinterested and instead adopted her pink bear.

Yesterday Rob and I rescued the little monkey from the street and now he's happily drying in the kitchen.

Last night I finished a knitting project. It was a monkey! I had to give up knitting in December because of pain from tendonitis in my right hand. It was difficult, but I didn't knit a stitch for three full months. Last week I picked up my needles to see if I could knit without pain and started a monkey. I was careful to not overdo it and only work on it a little each evening. Last night I put the finishing touches on her and here she is. She's a pattern by Abigail Originals, but I would only recommend her for experienced knitters. The instructions are incomplete and there are no finishing instructions. You're on your own. I like her anyway.

We just returned from an emergency vet appointment with Samba. She has a staph infection in her foot and three of her toes are swollen, red and sore. It came up almost overnight and now she's taking antibiotics and wearing the cone of shame.

 I guess she thought I needed something else to worry about.

We Brake For .......

We live outside the city. Although you might not think of it as the country, we're surrounded by farms and woods. It can make driving interesting. We've had to brake for big animals like cows and deer and even a couple horses that got loose, but normally we watch for small creatures, especially at night. We brake for raccoons.

We brake for possums.

We brake for rabbits.

We even brake for those pesky squirrels.

I'm a frog lover, so we watch for those times when the frogs are crossing the roads and highways.

We brake for these fellows because who wants to smell like them?

We brake for turtles and get out and either help them across the road or put them in the car, bring them home and release them in the woods behind our house. Rob has brought home dozens of turtles since we first met.

This morning we had to run some errands early. Then we stopped for breakfast. About two miles from home Rob spotted something in the street ahead. We were in traffic, so we went around the corner and stopped. I jumped out to see if I could help.

It was a baby monkey.

We brought him home and gave him a bath. Now he'll be a new friend to Miss Morgan.

It pays to brake for animals in the road.

Adjusting

We're trying to get the household back to normal. The pack is very aware that one of their members is missing and they're clinging to us. We move as one big group thru the house and even in the yard they stay close by.

In the morning I still look for Tsar in his usual spot. I count out too many cookies at treat time and have caught myself filling one too many bowls at dinner. I have to think twice when I sign emails from the dogs, it's no longer Morgan, Tsar and the Porties.

I really intended to sit at the computer and respond to each of you who sent emails and blog comments, but I find the tears starting up and I walk away. I'll  get to it, just not yet.

I did want to share one thing with you. Today we received a card from some special friends. I so love the front of the card that I had to share.

Isn't that a wonderful image?

My Big Boy

We want to thank all of you for your lovely comments. Rob and I read and reread every one of them and it's comforting to know that so many people cared about our Tsar. It's much too quiet here and the whole pack feels the loss. Sky has spent the last two evenings standing beside my chair with his head in my lap. I know he's telling me that he's my big boy now and he's ready for the job.

Morgan made the trip with us on Tuesday morning to say goodbye to her old friend. We felt it would be easier for her to accept his disappearance and though she seems a little sad, we think it was a good idea.

I don't plan to dwell on the last few weeks when Tsar was trying so hard to cope with the tumor growing in his head. Instead I want to share some of the things I'm going to miss the most.

The smile

The snow face

The  playfulness

The sweetness

 The self confidence

 The gentleness

Singing together

The soft cat feet

The melted chocolate eyes

I borrowed something from the Rottrover blog that means a lot to me:

"It came to me that every time I lose a dog they take a piece of my heart with them. And every new dog who comes into my life, gifts me with a piece of their heart. If I live long enough, all the components of my heart will be dog, and I will become as generous and loving as they are."  author unknown


I think my heart must be about 95% canine by now and I wouldn't have it any other way. It never gets easier to say goodbye.

Goodbye Tsar, you were much loved and you are much missed.