Bunny Slippers for a Rabbit

A friend of mine asked me to make her bunny slippers for her rabbit - here's what I made:

And this is Charlie modelling them!

Swimmin with Da Fishes

Yesterday my last goldfish died. She was big for an aquarium goldfish - over 6" long. She'd survived a lot - a little Nemo fin and damage to her gill  from what I suspect was a change in our city water supply and for the past 4 year she's had a bubbly growth coming from one gill as well, which I'm sure must have made it really difficult to swim (especially with her little stubby fin). I'd had her for over 9 years.

I know many people will not understand why I would be sad about losing this goldfish, but I am. Nine years is longer than I've been married and longer than I've had Eco. I still catch myself looking in the direction of the tank almost every time I walk into the kitchen. The tank now is gone, no more fish for us.

Goodbye fishy, time to go swimming under Rainbow Bridge. 

***

Perhaps as a 'reward from the universe' today I was blessed with some happy news concerning another cold blooded creature - a beautiful green garden frog!

 He'd surprised me once or twice when I was leaning down to turn on the tap to water my garden so I went looking on the interwebs to see what I could do for him. Most of the advice was 'build a pond' but I just can't do that right now, so the next piece of advice was to provide some sort of water supply and then wait for a 'built it and they will come' type of moment. And it worked!!

I took a plant saucer and put some it water in it, propped up a ceramic bowl on a rock and looky looky - I have a wonderful visitor! It was hard getting his photo as he scootched to the back of the bowl but you can see he's in there - can't you?  I am thrilled to pieces!! Welcome little frog!

Bunny Sling

Isn't this sweet? 

A local photographer asked me to make her a 'stork pouch' for baby portraits - she wanted a loop at the top so she could hang it from an old branch or fence. Before she put an actual baby in it, she took these lovely pictures with her pet rabbit.

The loss of a friend

Today is a tough 'dog' day because my stepson's  dog was hit by a car and killed this morning before school. She was a little Havanese and just over a year old. He was so proud of all the tricks he taught her and was very fond of her. Jp just left here with Eco to pick up him and bring him here for the day. I feel so bad for him.  I just keep thinking of things I wanted to hear when I lost a dog. But it's different for kids isn't it?

Bootie Call

I decided to switch things up a bit and have been making baby shoes/booties instead of hats. Here's a sneak peek of what I've been working on:

They range in size from newborn to 1 year old. Some need to be finished and some need embellishments and all need better photos, but you get the idea. And after making several of these I think I might soon be able to win the title of Bootie Queen, no? LOL!

And because it's Friday and I haven't posted a picture of Eco in a while, here she is playing with her Christmas snowman toy

Dogs sure know how to express their delight! 

It's electric!

If any of you has a barking dog and is considering an e-collar (shock collar), then perhaps this video may help you decide:

Otherwise the tapping of his feet might just make you laugh a little.

The Good Part about a Bad Spring

As my friends in Texas and New Mexico are dealing with the high heat,  everyone has been griping around here about our crappy weather - and although I could sure use some sunshine to life my spirits, I've recently been reminded of a bad thing related to warmer weather, as of June first we're living with excessive

SHEDDING!

OH MY! 


If you have a Labrador or similar dog then I bet you know what I mean. I swear Eco sheds a pile of hair higher than our roof top  EVERY DAY! 


It feels like this: 

Good thing we have a good vacuum (unsolicited unpaid plug for Dyson). 

The (False) Economy of a Pet

Earlier this week I was cleaning out some old files and came across some receipts from my past dog, Jazz. as well as some other receipts. Before I could afford to live in a house, I rented apartments and ended up having a couple of pet rats. One year my girlfriend gave me  a rat for a birthday present - I have no idea why, I must have said I liked them, most likely trying to be polite about her pet rat - so I was stuck with a cute little beige and white striped rat called, Cindy Puddin' Pop - but here's where costs cannot be related to the value of pets.

Initial cost for a baby pet rat was $8. One day my boyfriend had let her out of her cage to run around the couch, he got up to get his food from the microwave and accidentally sat on her. Next thing I know she's dragging her back leg so I take  her to the vet  in a shoebox, which she didn't like. When I got to the vet she seemed fine, the vet figured she may have dislocated her leg but the struggle in the shoebox  probably popped it back into place. Cost of vet visit: $30.00

(Yes, all my friends [including said boyfriend] made fun of me because I could have bought 3 new ones for that price. )

Fast forward several years - I just came across the receipt for the euthanasia of my third rat - yes, thanks to my girlfriend, I ended up getting a set of sisters after Cindy Pudding Pop's battle with cancer - Baby Jane and Madelaine Oh besides paying for surgery from an injury, the cost to euthanize this pet rat (humanely and ethically) -$35.00. Yes, I know what you're thinking.

Fast forward a couple more years - Adoption fee for  Jazz  $100.70. Cost of treatment for severe noise phobia: several hundred of dollars. Cost of cancer treatment: oh goodness, never wanted to total it up and have since destroyed her file. A couple thousand dollars?

Other than animals bred for breeding, show or racing, pets are completely NOT a cost effective investment are they? No they are not an 'investment' at all. But they do provide countless laughs and good times, and my dogs have helped brighten the darkest days and for that they are PRICELESS!!!!!
Thank goodness they provide SO MUCH LOVE and non-judgement and unconditional love! Now, go hug your pet!

Doggie Diapers

So as you recall from my May 21st post about my brother's newest dog, Gekko she has a bit of an incontinence problem so I found this site: K9 Diaper.  Is anyone familiar with this type of product? I think it would probably help everyone in the house if something was there to catch some of the 'random' droplets.

Years ago when I was a teenager, I had a Old English Sheepdog who wasn't spayed and who developed breast cancer(please always spay your dog before she's 3 - I speak from experience). She had a couple of lumpectomy operations and the first time she went in for surgery to remove several 'breasts" my mom converted a piece of lingerie into a cover for her chest which helped keep her stitches clean .... but it was much easier with an Old English because they don't have tails!

By the way, here's Gekko's* adoption sign from the SPCA: 

...didn't they do a good job at pulling on our heart strings? 

*I believe my SIL changed her name from Echo to Gekko 

because my  dog's name is Eco (pronounced "Eeek-o) and they were close  sounding. 

I'll have to verify that though, in case you're curious.  

The gloves are off: doctors vs veterinarians

I was at the doctor's the other day and I asked the him to take a look at something on my neck. He has no problem with my request and puts on some gloves to take a look - now it was just my neck and I do take daily showers so I was a little surprised that he needed gloves but mentally moved on anyway until the next day when I took Eco to the vet for her annual check-up and shots. A nurse and the vet touched her all over the place, lifted up her big flappy Labrador lips and checked out her teeth, lifted up her big flappy Labrador ears to check inside her ears and check some other places and they did it all without gloves! Hmm, my dog gets washed once a month and is low to the ground and runs through all sorts of grasses and plants and my vet doesn't need gloves? But my doctor does?

Interesting isn't it?

I just read an article (I wish I could remember where so I could provide the source for you), which was about how doctors don't touch people anymore. Vet's don't have much choice with their patients since they have to rely on the observation skills of the animal guardian to provide important detail and from what I've seen so far, most people don't have necessarily have good observation skills when it comes to their pets - don't you agree?

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And I know.
To my brother, I acknowledge " it's not as simple as that and the answer is complex."
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To him I say "SNICKERDOODLE!" (he knows what that means)

PHOTO CREDIT: http://www.glovesmd.com/sc_images/content/iStock_000016633257XSmall.jpg

A New Home for Gekko - a successful adoption story

This is my brother's newest dog, her name is Gekko:

She's 21 months old but has spent a year (almost 1/2 her life!) in the SPCA because she had a little bladder issue that no one wanted to deal with. Luckily for her, she was in a 'no kill' shelter and so she could wait until someone took her home. My sister-in-law consulted with her vet and was convinced that the issue could be fixed medically and behaviorally and so they took her home on Thursday. She's on a special diet and they're working hard to prevent her accidents and I truly hope they will be able to fix or at least reduce the incidents of "leakage".

She appears to be a Borador - border collie/lab cross (with maybe some Rottweiler?) but we'll soon have a better idea of her breed make up (the SPCA also thought she had some Catahoula in her) because my brother has sent in a canine DNA test to determine her breeds. It doesn't really matter does it? She's a lucky girl who gets to live in a wonderful home. And like many rescued dogs she seems to be very grateful for the opportunity to be in a forever home.

Isn't that a wonderful adoption story?

Amazing Dog Survival Stories

Here are two stories from the news this week both about dogs surviving after their owners were killed - the first one is here in BC where Jake the pit bull was found after surviving a fatal car crash by his owner. And the second one , Barney the Vizsla was found in the water in the Gulf of Mexico. Both dogs were injured but both dogs did their very best to survive. I'm sorry to say their owners succumbed to their injuries.  My brother told me of a similar story about a dog was being transported from Alberta to BC when the driver was in an accident but the people didn't go looking for the dog for about a week and he said "they DID find the dog. It stuck its head out from behind a boulder and was glad to see them. Thin but happy.  THAT was the extra part that ticked [ my brother] off. Poor dog hung around waiting for them." I know it doesn't always turn out that way.

Why did I tell you about these dogs? One because I am absolutely amazed by their incredible stories, two because we like happy endings and three because they are so similar and happened within days of each other. Either these types of events don't happen too often or they don't make the news too often, but I found it odd to hear them within days apart. Aren't these dogs incredible?

Animals loose in the car can be a dangerous projectile for the owner and a distraction and in some cases are the reason the owner died in the crash (they survive the crash but the dog lands on them for example) and seatbelts are available for bigger dogs and soft sided carriers are available for smaller dogs and I wonder if Jake from the store above had  been restrained would he had died in the icy waters? Or perhaps he would have had less injury and found by the rescuers sooner? I don't know the answers to these questions, and I don't know how to make it better, but I am happy these two guys made it through the ordeal and I hope they live a long and happy doggie life, don't you?

A Happy Halloween

Well I must say, this was the smoothest, least stressful Halloween in about 10 years. The biggest difference of course was not dealing with a super freaked out noise phobic dog! You have no idea how difficult that is, especially since I'd be dealing with it at least 30 days before Halloween. But that's all in the past now - Eco reacts to the firecrackers but has no fear of them. In fact a couple of times last night we were out in the back yard playing ball as we always do and she continued to play as she always does. Firecrackers continuously went off in every direction last night, but none were too close so I didn't have to worry about my house going up in flames. Whew! Maybe I'm actually start to like Halloween again.

Today is All Saints Day and is to be a solemn day, which it feels like since it's raining hard on a cold, dark Monday  - blah, what a way to start the week. To me, November first means I'd better get cracking if I'm supposed to make Christmas presents!

How about you? How was your Halloween last night? Do you have lots of things you're planning to make for Christmas?

Good-bye old Friend

This morning when I got up I found my canary, Mr. C,  had died overnight. Poor old guy, he was 14 1/2 years old. He was a Red Factor Melanin and was a beautiful red/bronze. We he was young, he was an absolutely amazing singer - he would sing loud and strong all day long, with a great repertoire of songs - it was truly amazing - but he had suffered some sort of 'stroke' about 4 years ago which stopped him from singing and flying.

What makes this bird even more special is the fact that it was one of the last canaries my parents bred before my dad passed on. My parents had carefully selected his parents, watched over them as they nested, laid eggs and reared their young. My dad had ringed his leg, and picked him out just for me knowing he would be a good pet. The last few years he didn't look so pretty and I'm pretty sure he was blind and most likely deaf as well. He spent his days eating, drinking and sleeping and occasionally chirping. He was such a fighter I couldn't do anything but provide him the best care I could for as long as he needed it. This is most likely the last canary left from my parents aviary.

Last night as I was laying down to sleep I had thought about taking him out of his cage today and photographing him as best I could, but I didn't get the chance.

That's just how life works isn't it?

 Mr. C - July 19, 2010

It's not the end of the world, but....

Through the many computer crashes, and/or backups and/or computer changes and/or whatever, it seems that all my photos from 2009 are missing. This includes all the puppy photos for Eco. She was such an adorable little thing and although not my first dog - she was my first puppy.

Eco was born on a Friday and so every Friday until she was about 7 months old, I would take several body measurements, weigh her and take her photo in front of a yard stick to document her weekly growth. I thought it would be great to put all the photos together to demonstrate her weekly growth. (It was actually my brother's idea).

But now, I'm pretty sure that I don't have those photos. I've been through 2 hard drives, 2 thumb drives and countless DVDs and I can't find those photos. Friends and family,  if you have any photos you can send me I'd sure like to have some. It's not the end of the world, I know, but I'm very sad that I've lost all Eco's photos + plus whatever else I did in 2009.

so sad.....so sad.....so sad.....so sad.....so sad.....so sad.....so sad.....so sad.....so sad.....

Edit: My mom just sent me this one.

Animals & Pets

I have always had to have animals around me. When I lived in apartments and couldn't have a dog, I had a canary, or a pet rat (don't say 'ewwww'). In fact, when I first rented a house, I had 2 canaries, 2 dogs and 2 rats! In recent years I've had Siamese fighting fish, several gold fish, Mr C (my canary) and of course the dogs.

The appeal of the aquarium has waned and so I had decided to shut it down slowly by not replacing fish as they passed on. The two remaining are quite healthy and so my plan is taking longer than I had thought, although goldfish actually do have some funny characteristics and they sure are pretty, so I don't mind all that much. My 13 year old canary is also hanging on, but the loss of the dogs has been difficult and although we've been talking to a breeder, it'll be several months before the adoption can take place.

In the mean time, I've been feeding the crows. I know many people hate crows and think they're too noisy, but I don't. I grew up in an area rich with animals and crows are just a part of life, like spiders and squirrels(although I'm not too fond of the latter). We recently purchased a small bird feeder and some wild finch seed and had some success with the little birds. Then last Monday the hummingbird arrived and so Jp came home with 3 feeders for them - success! We're visited several times a day by two kinds - Anna's Hummingbird and the Rufous! It's so much fun to watch.

Jp also bought a tube feeder which we filled with seeds for chickadees, finches and nuthatches and a pole to mount it on in the yard. Since then, there has been a chorus of song birds in our garden and sometimes every perch on the feeders have some little bird eating - even in the steady rain yesterday. It's been a joy seeing all these birds eating to their hearts content and all the songs they are singing to thank us. The squirrel (he's not welcome, and he's slowly getting the message) feeds on the dropped sunflower seeds and this morning there were 8 crows eating the dropped seeds and nuts as well.

Jp suggested that we were like those old retired couples - you know, the ones that are thrilled to sit and watch the birds, having nothing else left to talk about except the weather and the birds. Oh boy, I hope that's not what just happened.... we're too young for that! We still have so much more to say and do!

The moment a little boy is concerned

with which is a jay and which is a sparrow,

he can no longer see the birds or hear them sing

-Eric Berne

A bird does not sing because it has an answer.

It sings because it has a song.

- Chinese Proverb

Cat lovers?

This is quite a good video - An Engineer's Guide to Cats - it's 7 minutes long:

Cat yodeling is a new concept to me.

"Kittens, inspired by Kittens"

For my anniversary week (yup, it's not just one day), I think I'll go back into the archives of my life.

Now this is not me, but reminds me of me and okay, this little video makes me laugh - the creativity of this little girl is quite intriguing.

I had this book when I was little, but I also had the companion book, "Puppies" which I think I spent more time looking at - because I was a dog lover at a very early age. Enjoy:




Okay, this is not about kittens but another video I like. Oh and I haven't been there either, so it shouldn't be in my reminiscing post, but you know what? IT IS! ah ha ha!



I found the videos on BoingBoing.

1. My dreams are vivid and rapid each night but I gave up long ago trying to interpret them when I realized they were an amalgamation of things I watch on TV and some of the day's events - you know like when Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte and I go shopping, or when I have coffee with Phoebe and Rachel. So if you're like me - do not, I repeat, DO NOT watch Trainspotting before going to bed! Man I had some crazy dreams last night. I think I even had a baby on the ceiling! Does this happen to you?

I also watched Tommy Boy but thankfully that wasn't part of anything - maybe because I was knitting while it was on and it was earlier in the day.

2. My nose is almost healed, although the cartilage was hurting all day yesterday and it was itchy, it's looking much better.

3. For the last 2 nights, Jazz is now sleeping until 4:30 am - this is good news because prior to this weekend she'd wake me up at 2:30am, 3:30, 4:30 and 5:30. Still still wakes me up at 5:30 but that's not so bad because my alarm goes off at 6:00am anyway. I did sleep in (sort of) on Saturday but I was up at 6:00am on Sunday - am I the only one who gets up this early on the weekend (for no reason other than habit)?

4. Although we didn't go anywhere this weekend, I did finish 1 sock and the last towel of the embroidery tour on Craftster, this one is for a lady in Saskatchewan and the theme was 'bright and happy'. The owner of the towel put the word "Friendship" on it as well, so I tried to combine all of the elements, here's what I stitched:

5. Sunday's inspiration card:

6. Today's inspiration card:

Now team, let's get out there and have a fabulous week! boo-ya!

15 more days!

So I've been taking my antibiotics for my sore throat and I am feeling better. The cold is gone and the throat doesn't hurt. And I have a bit more energy back too, although I'm still sleeping funny (but that's a whole other story).

I took only Jazz out for a walk in the snow yesterday. I don't know what it is about that dog, but she just love, love, loves going for a walk and the weather doesn't make much difference. Okay, she's not too happy when she gets rained on but I think she definitely prefers to be out there. Although about 15 minutes into our walk yesterday she slowed down a bit, right after she spent about 5 minutes sniffing the air - I have no idea what scent she picked up or perhaps her age slows her down now, or maybe her feet got cold? I did have her in a t-shirt, well it's more like a half shirt, so I don't think her body was cold. Perhaps she had some road salt on her feet. I'm not sure why she suddenly changed her mood, we went straight home after that.

So here's what I did over the weekend:
I finished making some Christmas presents which I can't show you for another 15 days!
I wrapped all the presents I needed to mail this weekend.
I wrote up all the Christmas cards.
I boxed up and mailed the Christmas presents (except I forgot one at home, and now I'll have to stand in that dreadful line up again!)

And now all the holiday crafts and presents that had to be sent out, I can knit for myself. Yay.

On Saturday we had to be in Langley and JP brought me to a store on Salt Lane called Knitopia. Apparently he had been in there a couple months ago when he was looking to buy me a wool winder (everyone say 'awwww' - isn't he sweet?) So the boys went to the German deli a couple of doors down to have a Reuben Sandwich while I shopped. Except, without my pattern books with me, I find it hard to buy wool so I did what a lot of knitters do in this situation - buy sock yarn. There is no pattern on the ball band with this yarn and it's quite a fine yarn, I started with my 56 Stitch, 56 Row sock but quickly realized it was going to be too small. So I've switched to another sock pattern. Since it's a self striping yarn, I 'm not going fancy with pattern - just stockinette as the yarn will do the rest! I'll post pictures when I've made some progress.

Hope y'all had a good weekend too.