Come Party With Us

Today is a warm, sunny, almost spring day. A perfect day for a party. What shall we celebrate? It's Samba's tenth birthday today. It certainly seems like last week that we drove to Kansas City to meet her plane, but here we are ten years and nine pups later. Come join us. Today we have mini cinnamon buns on the menu.

The whole pack joined in today. Here you can see Morgan's injured leg. She's getting around well on it and has only a slight limp.

Fudge and some of the others each want to be first to get their treat.

Rob has to remind everybody to be on their good behavior.

Look how nicely they're all sitting.

Samba, as the birthday girl, got to enjoy hers first.

Everybody waited for their turn. Notice that Tsar is right in the midst of the group. He didn't want to miss anything.

Everyone agreed that cinnamon buns are just as good, maybe even better than cupcakes.

Here's a short video showing Tsar moving around the back yard. You can see that he's doing well getting around. Considering the severity of his condition, he's had a pretty good week. We're hoping for many more of them.

Thanks for joining us at our party.

We Are Family

I've been in homes where family photos are standing on a table or mantle and portraits are hung on the wall. I've admired the children's school pictures or sports shots. It's nice to be surrounded by family. Rob and I don't have children, but we have fur kids and we have photos on tables and portraits on walls. Want to see?

At Christmas we received a portrait of Gracie.

Here's one of Bentley. We had a sofa just this color and his spot was on the end, just as in this painting.

I have to admit that I'm an Ebay junkie. I can spend hours looking at things for sale on the site and I feel an adrenalin surge when I'm in a bidding war. But I've also found some wonderful artists on Ebay and worked with them to get some neat paintings of my kids. Here's Morgan.

This is Bailey as a pup.

And this artist, Yvonne Carter, has done several for me. First one that resembles Fudge.

She's done two of Samba, one large piece and one tiny one. I also have a painting of Morgan by Yvonne.

I love this painting. I think it catches Samba's naughty spirit.

I found this at a street fair and at first glance it reminded me of Monty. It says " Once in a lifetime, a friend come along, Who is a once in a lifetime friend". That was Monty, there'll never be another just like him.

On Etsy I found a sweet little pin that reminded me of Morgan. Check out her shop here. She has lots of dog breeds and I highly recommend her work.

The day that Tsar was diagnosed, a few weeks ago, I received an email from Cafe Press where I often buy sweatshirts and gifts. They were offering to take a photo and make a wrapped canvas from it. I sent one of Tsar. The communications were wonderful. They had trouble with the first photo I sent and instead of just doing  a shoddy job, they explained the problem and gave me the opportunity to send another photo. I did and we were so pleased with the result. This is a large 16x20 canvas of Tsar that we'll hang in a special spot.

I plan to do more of these with the other dogs. Check them out, it's easy and they turn out beautifully. They also offer lots of sizes.

So you can see I have lots of family photos and paintings around the house.

Be Careful What You Wish For

Do you remember this fellow? This, of course, is Bailey's monkey.

He's been her best friend for years and has gone everywhere with her.

He got lost once and we searched all over town for him and Bailey was delighted to be reunited with her buddy.

Well, last Christmas I took a good look at Monkey and he appeared pretty well loved. He was torn and worn and dirty. He's experienced a lobotomy and disemboweling at Bailey's paws and jaws. So I looked around for a replacement friend.

I found several possibilities and put them all in the Christmas gift pile.

But Bailey stuck by her old friend, Monkey.

Then a couple weeks ago I noticed that when Bailey ran outside she grabbed a new friend, Bear.

Now Bailey always takes Bear with her. She carries him everywhere just as she used to take Monkey.

You can call me silly, but it makes me sad to see Monkey left behind in a heap on the floor. He was a good buddy for a long time. He experienced snow and rain and mud and vomit, all without complaint. I 'm kind of fond of the little guy.

But, there is a bright spot. At bedtime when Bailey goes into her crate to sleep, she grabs Bear, but she also takes Monkey. He gets to curl up with her and share her dreams.

Seasons

The calendar says it's still winter, but it looks and feels like spring. Today the temperature may hit 80, does that sound like winter? When we made a trip to the back yard this morning we found other evidence of spring. The forsythia is blooming.

The rose bush is budding.

The crab apple tree is starting to open it's buds.

The bleeding heart is pushing up in the rock garden.

This fern weed is green and lush. Pretty isn't it?

I'm reminded of a song  by The Byrds from the 1960s, Turn! Turn! Turn!


To everything - turn, turn, turn
There is a season - turn, turn, turn
And a time for every purpose under heaven


A time to be born, a time to die
A time to plant, a time to reap
A time to kill, a time to heal
A time to laugh, a time to weep


The reason that song is stuck in my mind today is because of the events of the weekend. When Tsar visited Dr B on Friday, things looked pretty good, considering the severity of his condition. We agreed to cut his prednisone back starting Saturday. I gave him no pred on Saturday morning and Rob and I watched his condition deteriorate before our eyes. By Sunday morning we were back to where we started three weeks ago. He couldn't stand without help, stumbled when he walked and stared at the ground unresponsive to us.

I gave him 20mg of pred and 20 more in the evening. Again we watched the change happen before our eyes. By bedtime we were almost back to Friday's dog. Today he's still a little shaky when walking, but he's alert and responsive. A consultation with Dr B confirmed our fears. The rapid decline points to a brain tumor and as we've decided against invasive tests and surgery, we'll just keep Tsar as comfortable as possible until he tells us that it's time to let go.

Quality of life is important to me and this photo taken about 10 minutes ago shows that Tsar is not in pain and is still enjoying interaction with us and with the rest of his pack. All my dogs in the past have told me when it was time and I know Tsar will, too. Till then, every day is a good day.

One, Two, Three

A warm, sunny afternoon and Bailey brought her wubba to Rob to throw for her.

Hmmm... that looks like fun, thinks Samba, and she joins in the game.

Throw it, Dad.

They both chase after it.

Can I join in? asks Lola .                                                                                      

The three of them look so much alike.

Samba claims the wubba as her own prize.

My Alphabet Song

I have my own version of the alphabet song that we all learned as little tots. Here's mine.

ACL and OCD,
MMM and GME.
We're half way thru the alphabet,
And that's as far as I want to get.

For those of you who are frequent readers, you know what I'm referring to here. For anyone new 
dropping by, those are all conditions that my three oldest dogs are currently dealing with.

This afternoon we had an appointment with Dr B to assess Tsar's progress. Keep in mind that we don't really know what is causing Tsar's problem. It could be inflammation in the brain or it could be a tumor. I was understandably anxious going into this exam.

When Dr B entered the exam room he noticed immediately that Tsar's response to him was normal. Tsar usually looks at him suspiciously and backs away from him. He reacted just that way today and this is a good thing. Tsar was able to move his head all around and follow movement with his eyes.

Next Dr B picked up Tsar's back legs and made him walk across the exam room on his front legs. He was able to do it without collapsing or losing balance. Tsar did not like this game at all and shot the doctor a nasty look.

So, Tsar's front legs are stronger than they were, and the problem he's having seems to be a placement problem rather than a weakness. Once he gets moving, he's fine. The swaying we notice at times is just from tiring easily.

We're going to cut his prednisone back to alternate days, the same schedule that Samba is currently on. If this is inflammation we're hoping that his body will adjust and start picking up the slack on the off days. If we're dealing with a tumor, the symptoms will start creeping back and we'll have to change plans. I have to start observing weekly trends now instead of noticing each day and sometimes each hour. Dr B know me too well and knows that I observe the smallest change in behavior. He reminded me that we'll have good days and not as good days.

In the meantime, here is a picture of my miracle girl, Samba, playing over the weekend. She can catch her ball in the air and carry it to us. You'd never know she was sick to watch her at play.

If only they could all do this well.