Tag Archives: Amber

March 22, 2024 · 9:54 am

Friday 3-33-2024

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I received a text last night from Patty, Linda’s daughter, saying that Linda’s other daughter, Kelly, was in town from Nashville. She wanted to know if we wanted to meet them, and Linda, for Lunch Bunch today! I’m really looking forward to seeing all of them, catching up, and giving/getting wonderful hugs. I don’t know if Kay and her husband, Bud, will be there or not. That would be truly wonderful.

After we go to lunch, we’ll stop at the local grocery to get more canned dog food for Amber. She seems to be doing well on the food made for dogs with sensitive stomachs, with more wet than dry food in each feeding, so we’re sticking with that for now.

I’m making it a point to bring Abby in every afternoon for a love-the-cat fest. We are both enjoying it. She is showing no signs that she is in pain. I can’t keep the diapers on her, so I can only let her in when I can make the time to sit and love her, then put her outside again. Since she has always been an inside/outside cat, this is working for us.

It’s grim, gray, 54 degrees and rainy-looking today, so unless it clears up, it looks like I’ll have to wait on weed-whacking around my veggie planters today. I’m hoping we’ll get some good, soaky rains, helping our veggies get a good start.

James Marvin Phelps – boredpanda.com

Today is DAY 34 on my practicing my yoga stretches every day. Yesterday I was feeling cranky/out-of-sorts/hostile/sore/tired and I have to admit I went ahead and put a star on my desk calendar because I tried really hard to work out in the yard and failed to make any progress. I talked myself into counting THAT as my exercise for the day. I sat in my recliner trying to relax and felt guiltier and guiltier. Finally, I got up, got my mat, and did my practice as I should have, feeling better physically and guilt-free. Does anyone else have to fight with themselves to do what’s right?

Since it looks like my weed whacking will need to be postponed for better weather, I may actually get up to my art room this afternoon.

Make this a good day.

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March 7, 2024 · 9:48 am

Thursday Thoughts 3-7-2024

Kacey H. Author – @Kace_writes on X

It’s rainy here today and tomorrow, so I’ll concentrate on inside stuff. No errands to run, other than getting the mail at some point, so nice spans of time to get things done.

Yesterday I finished cleaning up after all the furor over ‘someone’ leaving bloody puddles on Amber’s dog bed in the utility room. This has been a long process of cleaning things over and over, but we finally got Amber’s bed aired out sufficiently and enough washings of the covers, to put things back together. I also hosed out the 4 pieces of Abby’s litter box, though being and inside/outside cat, she doesn’t use it much. I think we’re finished now with the cleanup.

This is Amber and me in 2017. She’s bigger now. She is back on her normal food as of this morning. I fed her normal stuff last night, but half as much as usual, so she’s back to normal this morning. If she makes it through the day with no problems, I think we can say all is good with her.
I ordered cat diapers for Abby which should be delivered tomorrow. These may allow her some freedom in the house, as I HATE having to shut the door in her face when she wants to come in. I’m still arranging for the ‘cat-loving’ sessions, but when I get busy, I can’t let her in and it kills me. Hopefully, these will allow her to be as normal as possible for the rest of the time she has. The vet said the bleeding will continue and probably get worse, so this is the best we can do. She doesn’t seem to be in pain, and she seems to enjoy the special cat-loving sessions.

I had a really nice chat with our son. He lives across the world from us, and is able to live how he wants to – no happier thing possible, as far as we’re concerned. He has a private language tutor, and he says he’s making really good progress now. His tutor and he have real conversations now, with his tutor then telling him phrases, or jargon, etc. to make his conversations more natural to the natives there. He’s meditating and has a site where he guides people into the practice. He has three languages on his phone and is on call to interpret or help others trying to communicate better. He is making music with his instruments or electronic gadgets. He is living in his condo, but plans on also having a house built out of the city at some point. A rich, full life. I’m SO glad to see it!

Sunday we marked 7 weeks since my husband broke his collarbone. I almost forget that he’s still healing, since he’s doing so well. I’m still watching him like a hawk, but we seem to be over the hump now.

I hit the 21-pounds off mark this morning, so I’m feeling I’m on the right track with my low-carb diet and my yoga practice. Tonight, for example, we’re having leftover spaghetti. My husband is actually having spaghetti with the sauce I made. I’m having the sauce over zoodles. The fact that I can have the sauces and things I make either over zucchini (zoodles) or cauliflower (cauli-rice) really helps me. I’m also eating a Mission Zero Tortilla in place of the dinner roll I used to eat from the deli. I’m making recipes from Suzanne Ryan’s Simply Keto cookbook. I haven’t found a recipe we don’t like yet. My husband is eating the frozen dinners I recently bought, thinking that, since they were high protein, they were on my diet. NOT! They are way too high in carbs for me. Next time I buy some frozen dinners, I WILL READ THE LABELS!

Hope you’re doing well today.

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October 4, 2023 · 10:39 am

Wednesday 10-4-2023

We just got our mail and put up this mailbox decoration of Catbert, the evil HR director in the Dilbert cartoon series. I was planning to put up our Jack-0-Lantern, but my husband wanted this one. I forgot to take my phone, so I’ll have to get a pic of the front the next time we go out.

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We’re due for some heavy thunderstorms today and tomorrow along with cool fronts that will take the highs into the 70s and 80s. The rain is supposed to start around noon. I’M READY! Woo HOOOO!

Amber is acting much more like herself now, although she is still over-exuberant at times. I went out with her this morning, just planning to walk around with her a bit. I didn’t put her on her leash. She immediately went to a spot in the yard, put her nose down, held the pose a few seconds, then started digging furiously, having probably found a mole, vole, or other ‘ole.’ I stopped her quickly and brought her back in. She seems to be healing well now. She is still on antibiotics and eye cream and I’m washing her wounds carefully with soap and water daily.

“No Rain, no flowers” 8×10 Hand-Painted Inspirational Sign on hard board – $16.95 with FREE SHIPPING to the contiguous U.S. – HandmadeHavenByLinda on Etsy

I hope this Wednesday is a good one for you.

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September 27, 2023 · 10:52 am

Wednesday 9-27-2023

myimagine.space

I’m about to drive down to get our mail. I just got notification that the soft neck-pillow-type soft dog cone I ordered for Amber is in our mailbox! I’m really glad, in that ‘I’ might live through this, too! Amber ran into me just right with the plastic cone this morning. It’s amazing how much it hurt, and I have an impressive bruise on my thigh now.

Amber is getting better daily. We have an appointment for follow-up on October 11th, where we’ll reassess everything, but I’m hopeful the worst is behind us.

We have no big plans for the day. Our weather is nice. We have the doors open and the ceiling fans on. NICE!

Enjoy your day!

UPDATE –

Amber with the soft, neck-pillow type cone. She seems MUCH happier, and so are we!

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September 25, 2023 · 11:41 am

Life is Too Short

This morning we fought our way through what my husband calls, “The Mommy Traffic” where moms are dropping their kids off at school in order to get Amber to the vet’s office for her leg surgery and the fine needle aspiration of the lump in her neck.

We made a quick trip to Walmart and then my husband suggested we have breakfast at The Dari, one of our favorite places in Greenwood. I’m on DAY 3 of my Intermittent Fasting addition to my diet and managed to get a pound off this morning, so I thought, “No.” THEN I started fighting with myself. We eat breakfast at The Dari after we get blood tests for upcoming doctor visits – that’s twice a year. What is one more time in the grand scheme of things. If I do the fasting like I should all the other days, wouldn’t that outweigh one breakfast with my husband? We ate there, both enjoying a big, no-holes-barred breakfast, where every bite was delicious, and we also splurged with orange juice. It was wonderful.

We are ready to leave our trash at the bottom of the driveway when they call and tell us Amber is ready to be picked up. Now is the hard part of the day – the waiting. The lady at the vet’s office said they might call or text with updates, but that Amber would definitely be ready to be picked up after 4pm today. (They close at 5:30). Our vet suspects cancer, so I don’t want to be waiting for a call. The lady said they might or might not know the results of the test today. Part of me is hurting already. The other part is numb. Part of me is watching my cell phone. The other part wants to go somewhere and cover up my head. Wishing I had a magic wand…

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August 20, 2023 · 9:07 am

MORE!

Amber woke us this morning, barking. She sleeps on a big bed in the utility room downstairs behind a dog gate. Usually she sleeps until one of us comes down groggily making our way to start the coffee. We got up and dressed, not sure why she was barking.

We let her out, with her barking like a maniac, but didn’t see anything in the garage and nothing in the yard that we could see of concern. She then barked to get back in and be fed.

She met me in the bedroom, just finishing making the bed, greeting me with a happy grin, lots of nuzzling and tail bashing into furniture and me in her glee to begin another day.

We ate and finished morning chores. I came in with my coffee and sat in front of my computer. All of a sudden, Amber was here, wagging her tail and smiling at me. We talked a minute and I petted her. She continued. I asked her if she wanted to go back outside. She ran toward the door. I obligingly got up and went to the front door, opening it. She didn’t follow me. I finally decided she didn’t want to go out. She followed me back to my computer chair.

She has had her breakfast. She got the rest of my husband’s cereal and milk.

The answer: SHE. WANTS. MORE!

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June 12, 2022 · 10:28 am

The Challenges of Amber

This is Amber and my husband. Actually, she has gotten larger since this picture was taken, but it gives you a reasonable idea of her size. She weighs about 90 pounds.

I spend a lot of time loving her each day. She has her ‘rituals’ during the day and it’s very hard to distract her from them. For example, she comes to me when I’m at the computer, getting my attention and then staring across me toward my right pocket, where she knows I carry dog treats. She doesn’t have a subtle bone in her body. It’s very clear that she isn’t worried about ME, wanting love, or wanting to go out, or anything else – just a cookie.

This morning I was slow to respond to her drama. She climbed up – the front half of her in my lap – and nibbled on my ear. When I laughed, she used her front paw to encourage me further, catching me just below my neck with a couple of claws. She really got my attention with THAT. I’m not sure if I’ll have marks or not, but she did NOT get a cookie for that.

Yesterday she was jumping up and down beside the truck, as if she were on a trampoline, waiting for me to open the door for her so she could jump in. I started to open the door and she came down with both feet on MY feet. I was in sandals, so I really felt all 90 pounds of her. I now have bruises on the tops of both feet.

I have learned the lesson well that when she is in the yard with me, I need to pay attention. She suddenly decides she should join me. If she is across the yard, she starts running. I try to either get beside a tree, get up against something, or at least turn to the side so she doesn’t run smack into me, knocking me flat on my back. Kneeling down doesn’t help – it just allows me to fall down from a lower spot.

Amber will either keep me young or put me in the hospital. It’s never boring.

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May 10, 2021 · 11:29 am

Nuts!

Amber, our 4-year-old, 95-pound yellow lab, is driving me nuts this morning. She won’t settle down, and I have tried everything to try to make her happy. I hugged her, talked to her, petted her, gave her a treat, let her outside, let her back inside… She has crawled up as far as she can with me in my office chair over and over. She doesn’t seem to be hurting. I got up and took her outside, walking around the house, and out to the garden with her. She will get on her bed in the office, and then this is what I see.

And then she is up in my chair with me again. I sat down on the floor with her. She nosed me, but didn’t sit with me. She had her breakfast before I gave her the treat. She has access to water. I have no clue why she is so restless this morning. Arrrgh!

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October 6, 2020 · 4:33 pm

Fresh Fish

I just finished cleaning the aquarium. When all was back together, they did their one trick of piling up in the corner, blowing bubbles at me and wriggling their sweet bodies, telling me it had been MONTHS since anyone had fed them.

Apparently, we are neglecting ALL our animals. One of the cats tried to trip me on my way into our office to the computer – her way of telling me she wanted some treats.

Abby

Smoke

And Amber, our 95-pound yellow lab, just tried to crawl up in the chair with me, trying to be cute and licking my ear.

Amber

It’s obvious that we have a whole houseful of neglected animals we really should be paying more attention to…

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September 13, 2020 · 10:35 am

Too Much of a Good Thing

 

 

 

This is my husband and Amber, who thinks she is a lap dog. This was taken in 2018, when she was a year old. Now she is 3 and weighs around 95 pounds. Unfortunately, she STILL thinks she is a lap dog. We have to be on guard all the time to keep her from inadvertently hurting us.

The latest example of this is that she comes and sits beside me each morning while I am at the computer, answering email, writing posts for the blog, etc. I pet her and love her, and then tell her ‘down.’ She complies quite nicely (unless we have people here. When that happens she has never met me and becomes completely deaf to commands.) I again concentrate on what I’m doing and all of a sudden, I have half a lap full of exuberant Amber trying her best to climb into my chair with me.

Thank GOODNESS she eventually responds to “DOWN!” albeit reluctantly. She is WAY too strong for me to have any control trying to grab her collar and pull her down. I think my chair would actually either break or roll and then fall if she managed to get up with me. I have a ‘backstop’ of a short set of shelves on my right, so I don’t think we can roll FAR. We have this test of wills over and over each morning, and we aren’t making much progress in getting the idea across that I do NOT want her in my chair with me.

I’ve tried getting down on the floor WITH her, encouraging her to come sit with me. Her only response to that so far is that she comes over, keeps pushing until I tumble over backwards, and then she leaves.

I won’t quit my day job to even think of being a dog trainer… She is definitely too much of a good thing.

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July 15, 2017 · 11:55 am

“Place!”

We’re making some progress on teaching Amber to stay on the dog bed in the living room while we’re spending time together in the living room. She’s really antsy, but she’s getting the idea. It’s to all our benefits, because this allows her to spend much more time with us. Otherwise, she’s busily driving Molly nuts, dive-bombing her, licking her, trying to get her to play, putting a paw on her, or chasing her, if Molly won’t settle somewhere. There’s also the issue of one or more of the cats taking exception to her chasing them.

We say, “PLACE!” and lead her to the dog bed, making her lie down, and then saying, “Good Dog!” and giving her a treat. We might have to repeat this a couple of times, but she’s getting the idea!

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July 13, 2017 · 4:56 pm

Weed Trees, Tomatoes, and Wall Hanging

Inhabitat

Today is proving to be a busy, productive day.

This morning we awoke to Amber in distress after having eaten something bad again. She’s like a vacuum cleaner inside or outside, and it’s worth your life to try to keep her from eating TOO many weird things. Anyway, something hadn’t agreed with her, so we were out with the hoses and dog soap first thing. She seemed to be feeling fine otherwise, and ravenously hungry, so we fed her half a can of her lamb/rice sicky dog food. She has done fine the rest of the day, so hopefully this was a temporary problem.

I then got out with the loppers and tackled more weed trees. I actually felt as if I made a bit of progress, even though I only lasted half an hour in the sun, opening up another small section of our view. I’ll keep doing this each morning that I can, and then doing a 2nd session in the evening when the sun is starting to go down. I found some sturdier shoes to wear for this activity, so wasn’t sliding around so much.

I’ve started to seriously prune my tomato plants. I told you it looked like a giant had sat in the middle of the two large tomato plants in the nook planter beside the porch. I’m cutting off dead stuff, pruning leaves or limbs that are hanging way down, etc., trying to make it easier on the plants that are left when I finish. I’ll also put fertilizer on them, plus Sevin to keep the critters off. Before I started the pruning, I was able to harvest several more tomatoes. :0)

This afternoon I was out in the shop working on the metal sun/moon wall hanging. My husband was working on a small roll-around jack, putting on new casters, and we had Molly and Amber out there with us. Amber was driving Molly nuts for a bit, but finally calmed down.

I figured out a method that my husband said looked ‘really good’ on doing the shading that is such a big part of this piece. I took the sponge end off one of my sponge brushes and am using that, instead of a brush, to do the shading. I should be able to get gradations of shading with this, plus – it’s FUN!

About 6:00 or so, depending on the sun, we’ll get back out in the yard. We’ve switched to eating dinner pretty late now in order to give us an hour out there to get something done. (We find that we last a shorter and shorter length of time in the direct sun, and it’s taking us longer to recover than it used to.)

I’ll try to get some pics of the opening view in the back yard, the tomato plants, and the metal wall hanging tomorrow so you can see our works in progress.

I hope you’ve had a good day, too.

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