"We Can Celebrate"

Those were Dr. B's words this morning, "We can celebrate".


He was talking about Samba. Today was her checkup, the first in two months. It was last November when she was first diagnosed with MMM and March when the facial paralysis began.


Today the paralysis is almost gone. She has a normal blink reflex in her left eye and almost normal in the right. She has feeling in her lips and and when he pulls them down, they spring back to their normal position. She no longer drools.


Her coat has grown back in, no more bald spots and though it's thin and the texture is abnormal, those should both improve with time.


Her muscle tone is good, reflexes perfect and she's very alert and active. She still has a bit of a pot belly from the Prednisone, but as we continue to decrease the dosage, that should go away. The areas where the jaw muscle were destroyed feel almost normal on top of her head. The surrounding muscles have filled in the area and are taking over the job of the damaged muscles. The muscles under the jaw are a bit slower to fill in, but they are also improved.

Samba can eat normally, yawn, carry a ball and catch a frisbee.


Dr B says he feels confidant we haven't sacrificed quality or quantity of life for Samba with the treatment we've chosen. Those words are like music to me.

Sky Gets A Surprise

In August of 2008 Lucy died. She was a 12 pound Chihuahua/Pomeranian and slept in little cloth basket type bed.

After Lucy was gone, we invited Sky to sleep in the bedroom and he tried to stuff himself into Lucy's little bed. It didn't work very well and we decided to get Sky his own bed.

We bought him a similar style bed that was twice the size of Lucy's. He curled up in it and slept there for quite a while.

But Sky was a growing boy and pretty soon even his new bed was too small. Still he would get in it every night even though his head and legs hung over the sides.

Today the man in the big brown truck brought a box to the door.

What could it be?

A couple weeks ago Anny had a contest on her blog. The prize was a gift certificate. All we had to do was look at the items offered by the store and tell what we would choose to get with the gift certificate.

I noticed that the store had a big selection of dog beds and I said I'd get Sky a bed that fit. Guess what? We won!!!

The store had over 400 different beds so it took Rob and me several days to narrow the choices, but we found one that looked nice and big and it had an attached pillow.

When I took it out of the box I told them it was for Sky and strangely Sky walked over and laid down on it. I fully expected Fudge to try it out first. Right now I'm in the office typing and all the dogs except Sky are stretched out around me. Sky is upstairs sleeping on his new bed.

He likes his pillow, too. Sky and I both say a big thank you to Anny and Piper and Dommy for helping Big Sky get a good night's sleep on a bed that fits.

Before I forget, this is Baby Bobbi Bear. He took two evenings to complete. The instructions are easy to follow. For those of you who don't like sewing seams, there are none. He's made all in one piece except for his ears and they are easy to attach because they follow decrease lines. He makes a cute, soft and easy baby gift. He can also be made in almost any type yard, sport, DK or worsted. I made him in worsted and he's about 14" tall.

Where In The World Is That Monkey?

This is getting serious. Monkey has been gone for almost a week.


Bailey is very worried about her friend and is asking everyone to watch for a little lost monkey that may be wandering around in a daze.


I'm focusing the search closer to home today, mainly because yesterday it was 101 degrees and today's forecast is for 103.


Has anyone seen my Ipod?


Where would I go if I was a lost monkey? Maybe I'd read a good book in the library.


3 D movies are fun. I wonder if one is playing around here.


I know kids can waste a lot of time on hand held games, I wonder.


Maybe he met a friend for a little monkey business.


Because Bailey is so upset, I'll make an extra effort to find the little guy. You've seen those tiny little flashlights they use on CSI when they enter a dark house. I always wonder why they don't just turn the lights on. Maybe they don't learn about light switches in CSI school.


I have my own version of the CSI flashlight. I keep it in the garage near the back door. If I don't get the correct head count at night, I use it to find the stray dog that doesn't want to come in with the others. Taking my trusty CSI floodlight and a stick ( there was a snake in the yard in the spring and I don't want to reach under a bush and meet him) I set out to find that pesky monkey.


In the far corner is a rock with a large weed growing over it. Is that a monkey tail behind it? Do you see it?


I pulled the weed back and there he was. Rob and I had both walked past him dozens of times over the past week and didn't see him. Fudge did a good job of hiding him.


I gave him to Bailey and she had to sniff him all over to be sure he was alright.


He's OK and Bailey is happy to have her friend safely back with her. Don't you love a happy ending?

Searching For Monkey

Monkey has been missing for a long time now. We decided that we need to think like CSI to find him. So we decided to follow every lead till we find our missing Monkey.

Someone said they thought they saw him climbing over the fence. So that's where we started looking, but we didn't find him.


Someone else suggested he might have climbed a tree. We looked, but no monkey.


I know that the first thing to do when someone is missing is to check the hospitals, so we went to All Creatures to see if he had been in an accident.


If he had been brought to the hospital, Nurse Melissa would have done an exam to be sure he was in good condition.


When someone has been missing it's important to check them out carefully for any hidden injuries.


Monkey wasn't at the hospital, so we feel he hasn't been injured.


There is a possibility he's in disguise, making it hard for those who know him to recognize him.


Someone suggested he might be planning to travel, perhaps air mail.


Someone else was sure they saw him stealing a car.


Would our sweet Monkey steal a car?


It was suggested that he might be catching a few rays in this hot weather.


We headed for the elementary school where it was reported that he was seen on the monkey bars.


This seemed like a good place to play, but no monkey.


Could he have gotten hungry? Five days is a long time to be missing.


Do you suppose he stopped at Ziggy's for breakfast?


I asked if they had any bananas and they said no, so I guess he wouldn't have eaten there.

Where can Monkey be? We'll have to keep searching till he's safely home.

Monkey Come Home!

Monkey is missing and Bailey is heartbroken.


Sunday afternoon Bailey carried him outside. Then Fudge decided he wanted Monkey and there was a tug of war. Fudge won and the last time I saw Monkey, Bailey was chasing Fudge trying to get him back. No one has seen him since.


When I ask Bailey where Monkey is, she looks all around for him, checking all the usual hiding spots. She hasn't been able to find him.


Fudge isn't talking. When asked, he just smiles and walks away.

I've walked around the yard a couple times each day, but haven't spotted Monkey and when Rob mowed the other day, he didn't see him either.




I think we need our friends Lucy and Beau to help us.


Bailey really misses her friend and I promise to go out this evening and look for him again.