Zoe, my bath mate— When I need a bath she lays on my used clothing and keeps me company.
Well, all surgeries are over for the year (I hope, anyway). DH is home from the hospital after a two week stay. My physical therapy is complete; his physical therapy is ongoing and we’re just trying to live our lives again.
The girls didn’t know how to function with their daddy away for 2 weeks. It was very quiet around here. I went to the hospital most days, but he never came home with me. The dogs were suspicious but very quiet and well-behaved. Maybe they thought I’d lose them, too. The first couple of days he was home, they remained quiet. It was as if they were afraid they’d run him off again. He’s been home almost a week now so they’re back to full volume and demanding his attention once more. All, it seems, is right with the world again.
Every morning of his 11 year life Dusty was up when I got up and running around the house, happy as a clam. Then he would get in my lap and sleep under the blanket until I got ready to get dressed and start my day. Yesterday morning, I got up as normal and went about my morning routine: take my pills, put Zoe out to potty, feed and medicate her, then sit in my recliner to receive the dogs as they come to say good morning. All as usual except Dusty didn’t come running into the living room for attention. I assumed he was sleeping in; the house was quiet and DH was still asleep.
But Dusty never came to say good morning. I opened the door and looked in the back yard but he wasn’t there. He didn’t answer to my calls. I started toward the garage to check there as DH responded to my query from the bedroom. He got up and went into my office/sewing room to check the dog bed, met me coming down the hall and told me to go sit down; Dusty wouldn’t be coming. What? Dusty was wrapped up in his blanket in his bed but he was no longer alive. I couldn’t believe it!. He hadn’t been sick or acting any differently the night before. He was happy and energetic and loving, the same as any other day of his life. And then he went to sleep and didn’t wake up. Unbelievable!!!!!!!!!!!
We lost Bandit January 5th to a brain tumor—complete surprise out of the blue!!!! Then, Dusty left us in another complete surprise situation. As DH said, it was the best way to go if it’s your time; just go to sleep and don’t wake up. But the survivors always wish they could have said goodbye, or “I love you” one more time. I hate that the last time I felt his warmth was after his heart had stopped beating. I hate that I’ll never get to cuddle him again or have him lick my face or feel his warm body sleeping in my lap. When we took him to the vet this morning for cremation it was the last time we’d see his beautiful face, the last time we took him to the vet, and the first time he’d never come back home to us happy and excited.
We are devastated! The female canines are very quiet, as is usual when one of the pack leaves us. Dusty was our last male. He was a force to be reckoned with, a joy to be around, 5 1/2 pounds of happy optimism. He filled every room with happiness and excitement. They even loved him at his vet’s office. Loss of his big personality has left a huge hole in our lives so we won’t be normal for a while; our world has ground to a halt. All we can do is love these little girls as much as possible until we all heal inside.
The top photo was two weeks ago. Bottom is yesterday. The swelling inside my eyeball is still coming down. I don’t have to go back to the retina specialist for a month. I started going every day, then every other day, then once a week, then every two weeks. This is the first time to wait for a month. I think that’s pretty damned cool!!!!!!!!!!! Still on two steroid drops four times per day but he says if the improvement continues he’ll start working me off them. My vision is at 20-60 and we don’t know if it’ll get better or not. Before my cataract surgery in August the surgeon told me they’d get me as close to 20-20 as possible. Four days later I was completely blind in that eye. Five months later and I’m still trying to get my vision back and I no longer go to that first doctor; in fact, he has resigned from the practice. I wonder if he messed up more patients than me.
This is what the right eyeball looks like inside. This is where I’m trying to get now.
Still working on getting Zoe’s digestion back to normal. Poor baby has had a lot of issues the past couple of months. We’ve changed food, put her on probiotics, 3 stomach medicines and now oils. Currently she is doing great; I hope she continues. She’s only at 3.5 pounds so it doesn’t take much for her to lose ground. The vet said not to let her lose any more weight.
Mimi is failing bit by bit. She will be 17 years old next month. She’s getting grayer, weaker. Her hearing is gone, eyesight dimmer and dementia shows its face occasionally. She has spells with her breathing where we’ve wondered if she’ll survive the hour. Still she comes to us for attention, gives back love and licks, and cuddles closer and closer. We carry her, cuddle back, whisper sweet nothings in her ears, take her on car rides, give her treats, and whatever else we can think of…or she can.
All our fur babies are aging; some more than others. (But so are we.) We know we can’t keep them forever, and, at times, think it’ll be better when we don’t have such a large pack to deal with in our advancing years. But I don’t want to hurry up the process. Each of them are their own dogs. Each has their own idiosyncrasies, foibles, personalities, auras. They’re all loved immensely, cared for distinctly and extremely, spoiled to the nth degree, and are parts of this family. This week we celebrated three of their birthdays; we were behind. Khandi’s birthday was December 4th, Dusty was October 1st, Gypsy was August 18th. So we made 2 trips to Petsmart, one ride down Seawall Blvd., trips through the Starbucks drive through, and ordered more toys from Chewy. I don’t know who had the best time: them or us??? It’s been a good week for all. Even in the midst of buying medications and going in for doctor visits and testing, there was fun to be had. That’s the excellent part of having pets. No matter what happens their love is unconditional.
I found this design printed on a white ladies t-shirt a couple of weeks ago on Ebay. I had to have it! Love it. Here it is beside the dog who inspired the purchase, my Dusty:
My little Dusty Man is my arm-candy. He goes everywhere I go in the house. He’s always in my lap, in my bed, and in my arms. Spoiled doesn’t even play a part in his dictionary. He feels entitled, not spoiled or just deserving of all the attention. LOL I’m not supposed to be out of his sight for any longer than absolutely necessary. He watches me like a hawk and doesn’t miss a thing. Love that little fur-boy…….
On another note, Winkie (now Rowdy) has been adopted and is happily learning to live in a home with his new mom instead of a kennel in a vet’s office. Daylight and dark are those two! So happy for you Rowdy-Man!!!
Daisy is still doing well at the sanctuary. They’re going to start getting her to adoption events and see if they can find a home for her. Fingers crossed for her!!!!!!!!!!
Been doing some serging and some machine embroidery. Made some blankets for kids and embroidered a blouse for a birthday party. Finished my last class about Babylock sergers and have gone down to Mom’s and showed her some tips, took her some supplies, thread, spool winders, etc. Showed her alternate ways to thread the Evolution and how to use decorative thread on a serger. It’s been fun.
Trying to work on xmas somewhat, too. Tomorrow I have my car in for its first oil change then have to take Jolie to her doctor’s appointment for another blood draw test. She’s been having some really rough days followed by some not so rough days, but I’m at the point where I expect any day for her to just go to sleep and not wake again. Poor girl!
Well, it’s time good little girls and dogs head off to bed. Try to write more tomorrow. Night. Night.
Okay, they’re out of the boxes and the sewing room is changing every day. I sold another serger today so I only have one more to sell and it’s posted everywhere I could think of. It’s now packed away in that black and gold rolling case on the lower right of this picture. Can’t wait to gain back that space as well. Before long I’ll actually be able to create something in there instead of buying, selling and reorganizing.
Today was a day of errands, deliveries and friends. I went to the Before Inventory sale at my local fabric shop and bought 16 spools of embroidery thread in colors that I was lacking. It seemed as though I had colors for children and floral designs but no browns for animal prints. The design I test-stitched for a shirt for Ronnie the other day (81700 stitches!) should have been shades of brown with it’s 22 thread changes but it ended up very gold, beige and gray. Not good. Since I intend to stitch dog prints for our dogs (and maybe to donate) I’m sure to use some of those hues I purchased today. (Let me at ’em!!!!!!!!) I’m actually going to do an inventory tonight and go back for more thread tomorrow….and this was sanctioned by my dear husband. He thought the price sounded right, too. I’m so glad he’s so agreeable.
Tomorrow is more errands and laundry that I didn’t get to today, but I hope I have time to sew tomorrow. I want to try an embroidery design. The embroidery attachment and all the hoops are in that gray, molded-plastic case on the bottom left and have yet to be unpacked. We actually had to take pictures of the inside of the case (at the dealer’s urging) because there is no diagram of how to put it all back in the case once it’s removed. The dealer said he suggests that all his customers take pictures before unpacking and has seen ladies use their cellphones to photograph them prior to starting a class. Isn’t that strange? Tonight I’ll start going through the books for the machines and inventory my embroidery thread. My assignment is to read every word of the books and watch all the movies (the Ellisimo has movies on it that explain how to do things in case you get stumped), then to try all the stitches about which I’m comfortable. If I get stumped after that my instructions are: 1) rethread the top and bottom threads, 2) reread that section of the manual, 3) rethread once more, and 4) go get a glass of wine and walk around for a bit. If I am still stuck I then can call for help. LOL I really love number four!
Here I am again and it’s after midnight. I have thread to inventory. G’night, All………
I thought Ronnie was a nice looking man when I met him. Now, almost 13 years later, I still feel the same. Even with age creeping up on us I still love to look at him. <sigh> Saturday we were married for 11 years and I can honestly say they’ve been the best 11 years of my life. We both put so much into our marriage, and consequently, we reap a lot from our efforts. I love you, Ronnie Lindsey!
Yesterday I went xmas shopping for the first time in years. My family is so used to getting gift certificates in the mail that they won’t know how to act with a wrapped present. Of course, we’ll still be mailing some because most of our family lives away. Be back later; got busy.
Miss Buffy after grooming today. She was proud and excited to be out and about. I think she knows how pretty she is, too, when she’s freshly groomed because she struts. LOL Good girl!
Not a bad day. A little bit of rain and more errands so I never got any sewing done but it was a productive day nevertheless. I’m happy with it anyway. I’m tired and about ready to put my body to bed. Good night, all!
Welcome to our world. I just moved here from Blogger and am trying to learn a new system–please bear with me. Today’s feature is Maximus Bigamus Dogamus, aged 12 months, weight 80 pounds. Max has lived here with us for most of his life. At the ripe young age of 8 days he woke up from his nap to find a new, quieter bed to sleep in and a big brother who adored him. Bandit would sit by his crate every day and watch him sleep. If he stirred, Bandit would let me know something was up so I could check on Maximus. It was love at first site….and still is.
Texas Lady 
