Molly
I have told you that the vet told us that our sweet Molly has cancer. He helped us clear up the immediate problem she was having with her jaw, got her through a bad period with pain and inflammation pills and antibiotics. This has given her some really happy dog days and we are treasuring each one. Right now she is sleeping, but many times during the day she is barking to go outside, prancing around the yard, barking to come in again, and demanding a treat for doing that. (She’s getting one, too. :0) )
We have always fed her twice a day. She is not hungry first thing in the morning now, ignoring her dish. She eventually eats what is in the dish, plus is hungry for dinner in the evenings.
We keep her in the office behind a gate to protect her from Amber, our 3-year-old, 95-pound yellow lab, who is jealous of her. We are very careful to make sure that we know where both dogs are before we let anyone outside, or let them in again. Molly’s food and water dishes are in the office, safe from others, until she wants them. At least, that is the PLAN.
Lately our animals are getting sneakier.
My husband got distracted yesterday morning and left the gate to the office open after letting Molly outside. By the time he came in with his cup of coffee, Amber
Amber
had come in and cleaned the dish. I insisted that my husband make her another bowl.
Another time I found one of our cats, Abby, polishing off the food in Molly’s bowl.
Abby
The only one who HASN’T tried to eat Molly’s food (at least that we have SEEN) is Smoke
Smoke
We are redoubling our efforts to protect Molly’s food so that when SHE is ready to eat, it’s there. Constant vigilance is required….
Filed under Amazing Animals, Challenges, Family
Shrinking Bunny’s Buns – WordPress.com
I am in the middle of doing a process I suggest everyone do – making a list for your family of important data they would need if you get ill or die. I know, it’s not an upbeat subject, but it’s an important one.
I started this several years ago, when my husband asked, “Where is the _____?” I now have a spreadsheet that lists all of our information for whoever is left between me and my husband, and for our son, who will be dealing with all the details when the second one is gone.
I have a list of what is in our safe deposit box. I have another for what is in our safe. I have a spreadsheet that lists all our financial information, important people to contact, suggestions on how to get rid of our stuff, death arrangements, account information for utilities, etc.
I have on my calendar to update this every six months. I’m having to make a lot of changes this time, and have a list of questions for which I need to get answers, so I’m changing my updates to quarterly for next time. I was really amazed at how much as changed in the past six months!
One of the things on my to-do list from this time is to see what I need to do to be sure that ALL of our accounts are in BOTH our names. I tried to change some information the other day and they wouldn’t talk to ME. (I was not the account holder – I’m just the one who pays the bills.)
If you are already doing all of this, I applaud your efforts. If you’re not doing ANY of this, you might consider getting started. If you’re like ME – you need to get off your duff and update the information and be sure it goes to the places you need it to be.
Filed under Family, Preparation
icatcare.org
“As every cat owner knows, nobody owns a cat.” ~ Ellen Perry Berkeley
Live Science
“I got rid of my husband. The cat was allergic.” ~ Anonymous
PetWebMD
“As anyone who has ever been around a cat for any length of time well knows, cats have enormous patience with the limitations of the human kind.” ~ Cleveland Amory
PetWebMD
“You cannot look at a sleeping cat and feel tense.” – Jane Pauley
Trupanion
“Love me, feed me, never leave me.”- Garfield, Garfield –The Movie (2004)
Filed under Amazing Animals, Family
Cane Cucciolo Wallpaper by Djlcio
“There is no psychiatrist in the world like a puppy licking your face.” ~ Ben Williams
Rover.com
“Properly trained, a Man can be Dog’s best friend.” ~ Corey Ford
The Happy Puppy Site
“You can say any fool thing to a dog, and the dog will give you this look that says, “My God, you’re right! I never would’ve thought of that!” Dave Barry
Wallpaper Access
“My goal in life is to be as good a person as my dog already thinks I am.” ~ Unknown
Petfinder
“The great pleasure of a dog is that you may make a fool of yourself with him and not only will he not scold you, but he will make a fool of himself too.” Samuel Butler
National Geographic
“One reason a dog can be such a comfort when you’re feeling blue is that he doesn’t try to find out why.” – unknown
Live Science
“The average dog is a nicer person that the average person.” Andy Rooney
Humane Society
“When loved ones come home, always run to greet them.” ~ Dog Wisdom
Filed under Amazing Animals, Family
June 14, 1969 – 51 years ago today – my husband and I made the promise to share the rest of our lives. Both sets of parents thought we were making a mistake. We happily made the promises anyway, ‘riding off into the sunset’ together, our whole lives ahead of us.
51 years later, we are still going strong.
Marriage is one of the most important promises you will ever make. It’s the hardest job you will ever have. It’s an evolving work-in-progress that will sometimes require more than you think you have to give. Merging two lives is difficult, to say the least. You will grow and change, and hopefully continue to build a stronger and stronger bond as the years pass. It’s a union that will bring some of the very best moments you will have in your life. Bad things will happen, but you are stronger together than either of you is alone. Sometimes you will feel so close your heart spills over. Other times you want to bite each other in the leg. If you each feel that you are giving 150%, it is probably coming out pretty even. In some ways, I can’t believe it has been 51 years (‘officially’, my husband says, since we dated for 8 years before marrying.) In other ways, it seems we have ALWAYS been halves of a stronger whole.
Last year, on our 50th anniversary, my husband said we had a good start, but that he wanted another 50 years. I have told him that I will do everything in my power to give that to him. We don’t know what is in store in the future, but we will face whatever comes together.
Filed under Cause for Celebration, Family, love, marriage
Thom Jones – PlayBarkRun.com
We found and adopted Molly in 2005. She was 15 in February. She brought a light-hearted goofiness to our home, even making our pit bull, Bambi, smile.
Bambi is gone now. We have Amber, a 95-pound 3-year-old yellow lab now. Sadly, Amber is jealous of Molly – after initially getting along fine – and so we are very careful to keep them separated.
I told you recently that we discovered that Molly has cancer. The vet examined her, cleaned out a really ugly place that had sprung up on one side of her mouth, and sent her home with antibiotics and pain/inflammation medicine for 14 days. We had agreed that if she had some quality time left, we wanted her to have it.
You see her sleeping at my feet as I type. She now rests well. When she awakes, she is full of energy and barks sharply for us to let her out. Many times she barks again within a very short period of time, knowing that she gets a treat when she comes back inside. She is taking great joy now – gaming the system – going in and out countless times each day. Her bright black eyes sparkle and she grins each time she gets another treat.
She is prancing around the yard, hopping around, playful as she hasn’t been in years. I’m playing with her, then spending as much time as I can each day, giving her as much love as possible. She is getting a lot of happy dog days now, and we are treasuring each one.
One happy day at a time.
Filed under Amazing Animals, Challenges, Changes, Family
picturequotes.com
Our Sweet dog Molly is better with the antibiotics and pain/inflammation medicine we got from our vet. She is sleeping now, but actually barks to be let outside and then barks again to come back in – playing the ‘system’ of getting a treat for doing that – over and over. I’m playing right along. The swelling on her mouth has gone down a lot and she actually smiles at me when I hug and pet her. Each day is a gift now.
Molly Resting
I worked out in the yard early this morning, since the heat index for the afternoon is forecast to be 105 degrees F. My husband had asked me to spray weed killer on the north side of our shop. I mixed up a 2-gallon container and hosed everything down there, plus around my garden and under my planter boxes. I have just put Benadryl Ointment on the tops of my feet and my ankles because they are acting like I must have walked through poison-something-or-other. :0(
I also used our heavy duty tomato cages to prop up our now really bushy tomato plants in both brick planters on the far side of the yard from the main garden. We now have little bitty green tomatoes! I hooked up the hose and gave both planters a good drink. We haven’t hooked up our irrigation system for the yard because we have been getting a good amount of rain until the past few days. We are due to get the remnants of Cristobal tomorrow evening, so all should get a good drink.
These are the yellow crookneck squash and zucchini plants I put in the garden recently. They are looking happy, but haven’t started sending out vines everywhere yet.
My husband had a second stroke recently. We went to our primary doctor, who wanted him to have tests, but he refused. He said to me, “Last time we did it YOUR way (meaning testsa and doctor appointments), so this time we will do it MINE.” Needless to say, I’m not happy about this, but he is adamant. (If you look up the word “stubborn” in the dictionary, you will find my husband’s picture.) So we will HOPE that he doesn’t have another stroke for a long time (the time between the first one and this one was almost one year.) I will continue to try to keep him as healthy and happy as possible.
Rick James-Quotefancy
I hope you are having a wonderful Sunday. Take care and stay safe.
I have told you that our son lives and works in Thailand. He LOVES living there. He was in an apartment in Chiang Mai, but decided he wanted to live out away from town, where he could have more privacy, plus create and play music without bothering anyone. He has recently rented a house about 13 miles outside of town.
He is happily settling in, ordering things and having things delivered – although deliveries are a bit of a challenge because the street he lives on has no name. Luckily, there is a unique place that was converted to a coffee shop down the road, so he can give that as a reference point.
Yesterday he sent this picture –
He took the picture through the screen on one of his windows. Impressive!
I tell the bug people who come to my home to spray quarterly to spray for everything – including elephants – since we live in the woods. I’m not sure there is a spray that would deter something like this…
Filed under Family
Beautiful World
“The phrase “working mother” is redundant.” — Jane Sellman
New Animalbook
“An ounce of mother is worth a ton of priest.” — Spanish proverb
New Animalbook
“It is not until you become a mother that your judgment slowly turns to compassion and understanding.” – Erma Bombeck
R.J. Bennett – LinkedIn
“Motherhood has a very humanizing effect. Everything gets reduced to essentials.” Meryl Streep
Journal
“When you are a mother, you are never really alone in your thoughts. A mother always has to think twice, once for herself and once for her child.” ~ Sophia Loren
Soul Alchemy
“The moment a child is born, the mother is also born. She never existed before. The woman existed, but the mother, never. A mother is something absolutely new.” ~Rajneesh
HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!
My fish don’t say much. They don’t do tricks, or make people say, “Awwww!” They are pretty, though, and they are very appreciative when I feed them twice a day. They get in the corner together, blowing bubbles at me and wiggling their sweet little bodies in anticipation.
I wish that gold fish weren’t quite so industrious about making it necessary for me to clean the aquarium. I have now added an ammonia filter to each of the filters in the tank, hoping that that will add to the time between cleanings.
I have to do it – changing out everything in the tank, rinsing the stones, changing the greenery and the decorations, filters, etc. before putting the fish back in – once week, but it was almost a day later this time. Maybe I can stretch it to 9 days… I do like the water clean and sparkling, though, and though nothing is said, I think the fish enjoy it, too.
Filed under Family, Housekeeping - Maintenance
“Here’s lookin’ at YOU, kid.”
My fish don’t say much. They don’t do tricks. I need to clean their aquarium out once a week, even with the two filters I’m running now. But they DO gather in the corner when they see me coming, wriggling their little bodies and blowing bubbles at me, hoping I’ll drop flakes in their tank.
I lost one recently. :O( He had the balance problem I read about. I was sad to lose him, but I’ve learned a lesson that will help the other two – not to sprinkle the flakes on the surface of the water. An article I read said to put the flakes in some water from the tank and saturate them completely before adding the water and food to the tank. This is supposed to avoid the development of the balance problem due to gulping in air along with the flakes.
I’ve cleaned out the tank so much now that it is almost down to a science. I can empty it, change out or clean everything, and have the fish back swimming in about half an hour.
Filed under Family, Housekeeping - Maintenance
Cartoons by Ron Leishman
When you are my age, the more celebration the better. (I will be 73 on Monday, March 9th.)
My friends at Lunch Bunch made me feel really special yesterday and I’m still grinning.
When we walked into the Pizza Barn, this was one of the things on the table –
I put them in the center of our dining table so that my husband and I can enjoy them together. The first thing he said at breakfast this morning was, “These are lovely.”
Spring-Scented candle and holder. I wish you could smell this!
Ceramic OWL candle or tealight holder. This has a peach and mango candle. Delicious!
Kitchen towels with attitude!
And beautiful birthday cards.
TWO pieces of chocolate sheet cake with chocolate frosting.
My lunch was free.
Conversation, laughter, and hugs from long-time friends. (we have been meeting every Friday for Lunch Bunch for almost 19 years now – a true gift.)
My husband and I indulged in hot dogs with BUNS and Fritos last night for dinner – I haven’t had those – or the cake – in over a year now.
And Monday my husband is taking me for a lobster tail lunch at Red Lobster – a celebration of another year of life, PLUS having over 1400 subscribers to my blog now.
“I’ve enjoyed every age I’ve been and each has had its own individual merit. Every laugh line, every scar, is a badge I wear to show I’ve been present, the inner rings of my personal tree trunk that I display proudly for all to see. Nowadays, I don’t want a “perfect” face and body; I want to wear the life I’ve lived.” — Pat Benatar
My husband has lived with me for over 50 years now. He describes me as, “Mean as a snake.”
Grunge
As he has lived with me so long, he probably has a point. I hope, though, that if I AM as mean as a snake, I’m pretty like this one. :0)
AND on our last anniversary in June, he DID ask me to spend ANOTHER 50 years with him. I guess he really LIKES snakes….
Vector Stock
This is an image of how I look and feel right now – I have melted into a puddle. Here’s why –
We just got home from running errands. We opened the mail at the dining area table as we usually do. My husband opened one of the packages. He had ordered another tee shirt. Usually the tees are gun-related or cartoon characters. (He has toned down buying the political ones that might get us attacked, and also the slightly pornographic ones…. )
Anyway, I expected another gun-related tee. He turned it around –
I hugged him, then hugged him again, thanking him for the nice surprise. He said, “It’s the truth.” That got him ANOTHER hug.
I then went to start gathering trash for the week. I came back into the dining area. He had changed into the tee.
I said, “You changed your shirt.”
And he replied,
“You changed my life.”
NOW you understand why my husband is a keeper (even though he drives me NUTS at times) and why my self portrait for the day is a melted puddle.
Filed under love, quality of life
I cleaned out the aquarium again this morning. I think it’s averaging once a week for three fish. That seems excessive to me. I got a new filter yesterday and have installed that today. I’m hoping that this will do the trick. I kept the old one, though, because I’m thinking I may use BOTH of them. I may also get a second aerator…
Anyway, my fish seem happy and healthy. The smallest one is having some equilibrium problems, but seems to be doing well, otherwise. I read that this might be due to the fact that I was sprinkling their fish food onto the surface of the water. I have now started putting the food into a cup of their tank water, then pouring the water into the tank.
I have spoken to them about the article I read that said that goldfish were ‘particularly prolific poopers.’ They didn’t say much about my observations, though.
So I’ve decided to quit griping (are you smiling in relief now?) and just clean the tank, trying to find ways to keep my ‘prolific poopers’ as happy and healthy as possible.
Filed under Family, Housekeeping - Maintenance
creativeartworksblog 