How Can I Refuse?

The weather here has been brutally cold for the past 8 weeks. Temps ranging from -14 degrees to a warm of 10 degrees. Bob won't take Rox out for walks unless it's at least 10 degrees so she has been "severely deprived" (her words).

On the rare occasions when the temp and depth of snow has allowed, they go out for short periods. Rox's shaggy feet gather snow dingles and ice balls. When it hurts she stops and raises her paw. Bob picks her up, takes of his glove and digs out the ice ball. A couple of licky kisses and off they go again.

But returning home is a real show... she comes in the door with a white, ice-ball beard, snow dingles decorating all her feet and her entire underbelly, and uncomfortable ice balls in her toes.

Oh, I should say here that Bob always gets up before me. I'm a Life-Long Late Sleeper and not ashamed to admit it.

Anyhoo, one morning I happened to get up early (before they came back from their walk) and I was horrified to see her condition when she walked in!

Immediately I wrapped her in a bath towel, sat in front of the heat vent and started picking ice balls out from between her toes. By the time I got all the snow dingles and ice balls off her, she was sleeping in my arms, wrapped burrito style.

I held her feet to my skin to warm them and rocked her until she felt warm enough to wake up again and demand her post-walk treat.

See where I'm going here?....

Now, every morning, Bob lifts her off the bed and she runs around to my side and talks to me until I get up too. Ra-roo, ark ark, wah-oooooo......... She won't go downstairs until I'm up and going down as well!

Sometimes it's hard to believe that animals can be so smart - but she continues to train us. I often wonder if she thinks we are slow learners.

Walk, Quilt and Spaghetti Dinner

Today I finished a quilt for Roxie. Only took me 4 years to put the final touches on it.... I asked Bob and Rox to show it; Bob is camera shy and Rox is playing Peek-a-Boo.

She likes it - is laying right on top of it as I type. Won't get under it.

Today it was warm enough for Bob to take her to the park for a walk. For the last three weeks we've had sub-zero weather and hellacious snows which ruled out walks for safety reasons. Rox didn't like it! It was devastating to have to explain to her she wasn't getting a walk. I think she understood, she just didn't accept it!

So today it was 28 degrees with no wind and they headed out to the park. Rox was psyched! Bob says she ran the whole way, darting back and forth on the paths, running from one scent to the next. Usually she will amble part of the way, stopping to look around and leisurely smelling the flowers. Not today... she was just wild with pent-up energy. She LOVES her walks!

And the final high note for the day: we just finished a TASTY, TASTY spaghetti dinner. Full of carbs and wheat, but hey! It tasted divine....

Baby Girl is sleeping, Bob is watching TV and I....... well, I'm going to hijack the TV remote. Wish me luck....

Eats and Blows, 2009

One eats snow, the other blows snow....

Yes, this is last year's picture, but I could have taken it yesterday! Once again this year, Old Man Winter has gifted us with more snow than we deserve... For some reason, Roxie loves it. Bob tries to avoid long walks in low temps but Little Missy just insists.

Rox's paws are heavily covered in shaggy hair/fur... she rolls for me to pick out the snow balls from between her toes, then snuggles until everything warms up....

And then!? Why, treats, of course!

Sweet Dreams Pillow

After her walk in 10 degree weather, and a warming blanket on mom's lap, she retires to the front room. Her comfy bed apparently isn't enough; she moved the pillow into position herself and zonked out in the warm sunny room.

Life is good.

Happy New Year

We are planning a very quiet New Year's Day today. Quilting, a little house pick-up, some football on TV, turkey and scalloped potatoes for dinner....... we're feeling very contented and lazy today. I hope that doesn't mean we're going to be lazy the whole year!

Rox is sleeping in her red chair, under her quilt; well, really, they are all her quilts... sigh...... the weather is cold and snowy and we have the fireplace roaring....

One big change for us this upcoming year is our plan to move to Colorado. We lived there 30 years ago before moving to Michigan, and we loved, loved, loved the open spaces and clean air....

And that is one of the issues we are facing, that we lived here for 30 years....... 30 years of memories, 30 years of clutter, 30 years of wear and tear on the house....... am I looking forward to this move? Well, yes and no!

It seems so profoundly overwhelming and I don't want it to be. So I am doing what all the experts say to do, breaking everything down into small steps. When I was younger, I could do anything. I want to still have that drive, that energy....... I just need to work myself up to it I guess. But it really did come so easily 30 years ago....

And what about Roxie? I'm sure she'll be fine, but with her we have another criteria for house hunting. We need to find a house that has all WE want PLUS one that has good walking trails and parks for Rox. Sort of like needing to be in a good school district when you have kids.... can you imagine the realtor when I tell her our list of wants and then say, "oh and we need trails and parks close by for Roxie, that's a deal-breaker..." Well, it will give her something to talk about at her weekly meetings, I guess!

And so today, while Roxie Girl sleeps, we are going to be getting rid of more clutter so we can move to a place with good trails and parks.........

Random Thoughts with Random Photos

Roxie's one year anniversary with us quietly came and went on October 30. Bob and I feel so lucky to have this sweet little girl living with us. She has settled into our life as if she was always here. We wonder if she still remembers her life before us...

We've taken great pains to make sure she never thought she was just here temporarily. No out of town trips or overnights at a kennel. And I think she finally knows this is her home forever. She certainly thinks this is HER home - she's carefully trained us to know what she needs and wants.

The pictures below are just random ones over the past couple of months. We just yesterday had a major snowstorm with 12-13 inches of snow. Rox is not sure what to think... she went out the garage and into a blowing snowstorm. Stopped and returned to the kitchen forthwith. She told Bob she wanted to go out the front door where the weather was sure to be sunny. Makes sense in a perverse doggy-world way, I think. Each door has it's own weather?

At any rate, she is firm that her walks continue; we just have to pick the snowballs out of her face and feet when she comes in. She's comfortable with this - she gets wrapped in a warm blanket while we pick off the snowberries, then she rests there for about 20 minutes until she warms up. See the picture of Bob holding her post-walk.

This is a picture out our sun room of the snow from BEFORE the 12-14 inches we got yesterday. I may be repeating myself, but I do feel a tad better when I say I HATE MICHIGAN IN THE WINTER.... sigh........... there see, I do feel a bit better.

As I'm writing Rox is curled up in her bed with two quilts. She does know how to snuggle, that's for sure.

Gratuitous Pictures of Beauty

One must forgive the gratuitous use of photos when they are posted out of love.... there are days when I just cannot help myself.

Fall is here, one of my most favorite times of the year. Cool, but not cold yet; the sun remains although thoughts of grey skies temper my smiles. Soon the Grey Skies will arrive and joy will hibernate until next March. I hate Michigan winters....

The picture above is classified. It is Roxie's secret path to the back yard. A hard left turn out of the sunporch puts her on this path to the way back. Bob's such a good daddy - he keeps the path clear when the snow comes and when the hostas overgrow.

If she makes another left turn at the stones, she heads directly under the bushes along the north side of the sunroom. This is her foul-weather potty area. She can do her bidness under the bushes and avoid the snow and rain. Always good to have a "sheltered sh*t spot".

Cute butt. Can't help it. She's my baby....... the River Otter Boo-Boo area is growing back hair, hopefully in time for cold weather.

As if she's deliberately forcing growth of her hair for winter, Rox has gone in and out today, hoping the cool weather will stimulate her follicles. Here she is checking west for ... well, for something.

Bob and Rox continue their walks each day, now wearing Hunter Orange. When they walk in the state land areas, hunters might mistake the upright, two-legged animal for dinner, so Bob carefully dons his orange hat. Sadly, his orange vest from 30 years ago doesn't fit anymore.... I'm working on an orange vest for Rox so she won't be mistaken for a wild turkey on a leash.

Pepe Le Pew on a Recon Visit

Poor Baby Girl got only one trip out tonight, although she still got her three treats.

Most of the year we leave the outer screen door open about 8 inches in our sun room, making it easier for Rox to go in and out. The cooler weather has just made us change our minds.

Bob let Rox out for her first trip and she immediately did the circle and sniff bloodhound maneuver. Bob says he smelled skunk! Could Pepe have come into the sun room and left without causing a problem?

Another call to arms - we rushed for the Flashlight-That-Shines-To-China (now also called the Flashlight-For-Coshing-River-Otters, or just "weapon" for short) and searched the porch for the sniffee. Rox had no luck finding Pepe on the porch so we assume his visit was just a recon trip. If so, he'll be sorely disappointed to find the camp has closed the gate.

She made it out and back without getting sprayed, so we decided to maintain our good luck and keep her in. Hope she did her bidness in the first trip tonight....

Remembering Gilda Radner...

For those of you who are about my age, you might remember Gilda's phrase "if it's not one thing, it's another"........ and my trite response is "truer words were never spoken".

Rox was incontinent of urine twice. Once Wednesday night and once Thursday night. In our bed. After a session of Humpy Humpy.

Sound icky? Bob thought so.

So it went like this: Rox and Bob were in bed (the old story about her not sleeping with us ---- well, that's a story for another time). Rox likes to show she's the boss once in a while by doing the Humpy Humpy. In general, we ignore it, giving her a bit of freedom to "show us who's boss", as it were. After she laid down to sleep she made a pee-pee.

The first night Bob found the wet spot but didn't know how it happened. Thursday night he saw her lay down, pee, then jump up like she'd ... well, just pee'd in bed! She was surprised and ashamed. We know she was ashamed because she hid under the bed.

Urinating while sleeping is one symptom of urinary tract infection in dogs so we saw Dr. Putt today. Turns out Baby Girl has lots of bacteria in her urine, not as many white cells as expected, and tons of struvite crystals. What does this all mean?

Rox has a bladder infection that we caught early and the crystals in her urine are precursors to bladder stones. An xray showed no stones yet, and they may never develop. Some dogs have crystals and never get stones. But most do. So....

Antibiotics for bladder infection and a change in diet for Crystal Girl. And mom has a new project researching crystals and stones and high urine pH and etc......

Rox may not have any pain right now, although we have seen one instance of "scooting" that looked like she might be trying to "scratch her pootie". For those of you who are unfamiliar with canine anatomy, the pootie is where the urine comes out on a female. It's a much more fun word to say than "urethral opening". For a male dog, the urine comes out of his winkie. Life is so much more fun if you know the secret language!

Off to research --- Rox is sleeping dry as I type.

"Sleeping dry" = code for no pee-pee.

The Dark Side Prevails

Seems our girl can tell time... or can she?! She has always gone out for her 3-times, 3-treats bedtime potty break at 9 PM. Sometimes it's 8:50 or so, but never later than 9...

So now the days are shorter, fall has arrived. And Baby Girl comes to get us at...... 8 PM !!!! She's shifted a whole hour now that it's getting darker sooner.

I have to wonder how she does it - it is exactly one hour earlier.... the only thing that hasn't changed is the 3 trips, 3 treats ~

We're pretty sure she thinks she's pulling one over on us.... she always looks so proud of herself accepting the third treat.

Sshhh, don't tell her --- we break one treat up into three pieces!

Folks peeping in our windows will scratch their heads at two people laughing hysterically and one dog smiling smugly.....

No harm, no foul.......... We all three go to bed happy...... :-)