Dweeb #3

Thankfully this one isn't going to be living with ME - but he is the newest member of our extended family - he is Dad's daughters new dog and is called Maximus or Max for short - personally I think Dweeb #3 is much better.

Max has been living at the Vet Tech School in Madison Wisconsin (used as a guinea pig I am thinking) and has been rescued adopted by Aunties Elise and Tara.  We hear he is about a year old and is a boxer mix.  All I can say is I am glad he is going to be living in Wisconsin as I think we would have some serious 'top dog' issues.

Anyway - congrats to Aunties Elise and Tara - there is nothing like a furbaby to make your home complete.

An update

I have been off to suffer the tortures of the VET and he says I have severe staff infection - it basically runs along my whole right side from my tail to my neck -  they have given me Keflex antibiotics to fight it, some different kind of pills for the itching and a special shampoo I have to use for the next three days - WHAT - you mean I have to have a BATH every day for the next three days - someone grab my paw - I may well faint at the very idea of it. All I can say is allergies suck and I want to go hide in my den.....pppplllllllleeeeeeaaaasssssseeeeee Mom!

What the DOG?????

Do you have a den?  I do, it is Mom and Dad's walk in closet. I LOVE being in there, it is dark and cosy and has all the smells of my Mom and Dad - it is my safe place and when ever I want some 'alone' time or want to 'disappear' - that is where you will find me. I even get to use Dad's sneakers as a pillow - sigh.  Well last night I was in MY den enjoying some alone time when Mom came looking for me - and she was NOT happy when she saw me.  See MY den is where I go to hide when I want to scratch at my itchies - where Mom can't see me and tell me off for scratching at them.


When she saw me she got soooooo upset - see I had not only been scratching at my side but gnawing at it with my teeth and it was all bleeding and covered in sores and was the deepest darkest red Mom had ever seen.  (This photo was taken this morning and the deep redness had subsided quite a lot). Mom quickly went into Nurse Mom mode grabbing gauze and saline wash and cleaned it all as much as could and then she did something so humiliating I can barely even talk about it.

Mom got one of Dads t-shirts and wrapped me up in - making me look like a weird wuzzy dog wearing a ghost outfit or something!!!! She said I couldn't be trusted not to keep gnawing it and she had to do something to protect me until she get me to the vets.  The VETS - what the dog - I was just there on Saturday and she is taking me back there again!

The shame of it .......I told Mom there was NO WAY she could embarrass me by putting these photos online but she isn't very happy with me at the moment and the WORST of it - she has banned me from MY den - saying I can't be trusted in there alone for the time being......BUT BUT BUT it's MY den - my safe place - I NEED MY DEN. Mom can a be one tough cookie when she sets her mind to it though and then she said something that really sent shivers down my back - she said I might even have to wear a "cone of shame" for a few days because of this!!!!!!!!!!!!

We will give up update after we have been to the vets.

Getting out and about

I decided Mom needed to get out and about today even though I was actually quite comfortable snoozing on the bed with her (YES - I saw Dweeb#1 using the foot stool to jump up on the bed and figured out I could do it too).

Then Dad said the magic word - PARK!  What we didn't know was we  were being conned, buttered up and dooped even! Before we went out Dad said we had to look pretty - okay I can handle a brushing I thought - NO WAY - we ALL ended up getting baths - can you believe that!!!  The indignity of it!

So after suffering through the water torture and getting dried off we headed to the park.  It was another beautiful day although much colder  (only 58 degrees) which made it totally perfect for a walk in the park for us. It seemed to me to be a pretty short walk and Dad kept looking at his watch - then he said "Come on boys - we have a appointment at the V.E.T.S   What the dog!!!!!!!!  We suffered the tortures of a bath only to end up at the vets!!!

I had to have my monthly allergy shot which I don't really mind as it helps my itchy scratchies and we found when he was having a bath that Dweeb#2 (Denny) had very sore and extremely red back feet this morning. Mr Vet think he has some sort of contact allergy so he got an allergy shot too and also had a cortisone shot his his knee which he is still limping on.

Fellow furbies - take note.  When ever the Moms and Dads do something wonderful for you - seems to me there is ALWAYS a price to pay! Personally I think ALL baths and vets visits should be banned and only visits to the parks and pet stores should be allowed!

My pretties

It is another beautiful day today so we thought we would let the Mom out to enjoy some sunshine and share with you some of the flowers that are still blooming in our garden.

Mom was super excited to see the dahlias blooming and are they ever gorgeous!  Check out how big they are too! The other pretty flowers are cosmos and were from seeds Mom just "threw" in a pot.

Just Too Wonderful Wednesday

 Yeah - you can tell Mom is bored - two posts in one day!  We TRIED keeping her in bed - we really did but she kept looking out at the sunshine and said it was "calling to her". It is a stunning clear blue sky day and a lovely 85 degrees but even Dweeb's #1 weight wasn't a match for her determination to be outside for a bit.

We said she could only go outside is she rested in her outdoor recliner and Dweeb #1 took his job very seriously and sat on her legs again making sure she didn't move - that was UNTIL her saw a doggie on the other side of our fence and he was off to tell it to keep away his MY garden.  Then Mom started mumbling about the plants needed watering and the veggies needed checking and she was off.  Mom LOVES her plants and she said she couldn't stand to see them wilting. 

She went first and checked the veggie garden and can you believe it - here it is nearly the end of October and we have all these wonderful fresh tomatoes, peppers and parsley. There was even a couple of apple cucumbers but Mom couldn't reach them.  (Mom grows the peppers for dad cause he loves them even though she's allergic to them) Mom's favorite are those little yellow cherry tomatoes as they are low acid and don't hurt her mouth like the red ones do.

Next we went to check on MY tree. This is the one Mom and Dad bought just for me so I would have a shady spot in my garden.  It has grown a good three feet and filled out quite a bit this year and look at the beautiful color - you can see why it is called and October Blush maple - it is October and it is blushing!

After that we "dragged" mom inside so she could get some lunch. Getting her to eat is a lot like keeping her rested - near impossible. She couldn't resist having a cheese and tomato sandwich though with those yummy fresh picked tomato on it.  Okay- we admit it - we did taste half of it for her - had to make sure it was safe from any lurgies - but she ate the other half so that good.

Tomorrow we will share some pics of all the pretty flowers still blooming in the garden - but first Mom needs a nap and we have closed the blinds so the sunshine can't call to her anymore.  We are thinking of Goose with all that snow you had - hey maybe we should swap places - we LOVE the snow and cold and you can have the warm sunny days.

Westful Wednesday

 Dweeb #1 is making sure the Mom stays in bed - he sleeps on her legs so she can't move. If she even twitches though he is wide awake giving her that "I am watching you" stare.

You are probably wondering where we are - we are on the floor next to the bed - it's not that we aren't allowed to be up there it is just that it is very high and we can't actually jump on it.  I guess we could if we tried but why exert ourselves to do that when we can just lay on the floor and be in Moms way if she tries to get up.

We should mention that Dweeb #1 can't jump there either - he actually jumps on a foot stool at the end of the bed and then jumps across.  [note from Mom] - oddly enough neither Reilly or Denny has ever shown any inclination to jump on the furniture or any of the beds - they seem to like keeping their feet firmly on the ground.

Dweeb Report - Keeping Mom Amused

It's a tough job but someone has to do it - keeping the Mom (or other Mommy) amused while she is confined to bed.

Dad left a little packet of yummy cheesy Doritos for Mom encase she got peckish but we convinced her that we needed to do a taste test on them for her  - as you never know what terrible "lergies" (dog speak for bacteria) could be hiding on them.
 


My dogness here we are are offering our lives to save the Mom - it's a tough job!!!!

Needless to say some of us (well one of us) is not so stupid as to offer our lives up just willy nilly so we let Dweeb #1 go first :) :)



Being the Dweeb that he is he wasn't even concerned about the threat that hung over his head by consuming a POSSIBLY deadly infected Dorito. Nooooooo his whole focus was on the yummy cheesiness of the the morsel. Can you believe he even convinced Mom that he had to have a couple of the morsels just to make sure they were okay.

There was a lot of crunching and slobbering but he didn't suddenly drop dead so we deemed it was safe for us to try them too. (Mom tried to get pictures of this but we gobbled them down so fast all she got was "blurs of fur" as she called it).

We convinced Mom that we had to keep trying the cheesy morsels.....I am sure you ALL know how these things happen - it is ALWAYS the last Dorito that could be the bad one. I am pleased to report that through our diligent efforts we can say the entire bag was PERFECTLY safe.  Dog oh dog we were brave - right down to the very last one!!!!

Mom had a kind of sad expression on her face when she looked into the empty bag - we thought at first she was sad that she hadn't got to have one - but then we realized she was just humbled by our complete devotion to keeping her safe and sad that she didn't have any more to give us.

I wonder if we should point out that there are more little packets of Doritos in the cupboard?

An update

Hi every furbody - sorry we haven't been around but they rushed Mom into hospital on Thursday afternoon and she had surgery that evening to release all the fluid that had built up. I have been very busy keeping my Dad calm and the dweebs in check - I gave them all a stern talking too and told them "everything will be okay".

At this point they still don't know what caused all the fluid and there was no sign of any infection - just a build up of fluid. Mom now has an open wound again about 2" x 2". Her surgeon is back from overseas and she will see him again on Friday - until them she is on strict bed rest and powerful antibiotics (they cost $136 per tablet and she has to take 14 of them!!!)  A swab she had done yesterday showed some sort of bacteria - they don't know what it is and there was just a teeny tiny amount of it - but her surgeon doesn't want to take any risks and wants the wound all clear by time he closes it again.

Dog oh dog..... I was so happy when my Mom came home I started singing for her - I knew all that Tornado Testing Thursday singing would come in handy one day. We will try to check in now and again but I will busy looking after the Mom for the next few days...keeping her in bed and resting is going to be hard but I am just the dog for the job :)

Just not fair

Late yesterday afternoon mom noticed her abdomen was very red, sore and swollen (where she had the surgery 4 weeks ago) she called the doctor straight away and it appears she developed a huge abscess yet again. Mom is very worried as her surgeon is over in Croatia and won't be back until Monday. She is seeing his stand in this morning. Please send lots of power of the paws for our mom - the last thing she needs is more surgery because if they have to remove the mesh and release the muscle they just fixed she will be back to square one again and have to go through the whole thing again. They will make her wait 8-12 months before they try again though. Hopefully massive doses of antibiotics and drainage can save the mesh. Sigh - I am one unhappy doggie at the moment.

It's finished!

Yes! The Mom did and I am so proud of her - her first painting in  nearly three years.  Mom says it was a bit like riding a bike - you never forget but you are bit wobbly when you first get back on :)  I have never been on one of those bike things so I guess I will take her word for it.  Remember you can click on the pictures to see them bigger. Now of coarse there is a story that goes with the painting but the painting itself also tells the story. 

You see the 2 suns - they represent the dawn and dusk, then of coarse there is the kookaburra in the middle laughing because he enjoying the sunshine so much. The spirits are shown pushing the sky up to let the light in. The painting contains only 7 colors which represent the colors of the Australia desert. Mom has already started the next one so stay tuned for an update on that.  Here is the dreamtime story about why the kookaburra laughs.

Why The Kookaburra laughs
Long, long ago in the Dreamtime the earth was dark. There was no light. A huge grey blanket of clouds kept the light and the warmth out. It was very cold and very black. This great grey mass of cloud was very low- so low the animals had to crawl around. The Emu's neck was bent almost to the ground; the Kangaroo couldn't hop, and none of the birds could fly higher than several feet in the air. Only the Snakes were happy because they, of all the animals, lived close to the ground.

Eventually, the birds decided they'd had enough. They called a meeting of all the animals. The Kookaburras had a plan: we will gather sticks and push the sky up! All the animals agreed it was a good idea, and they set about gathering sticks. The Kookaburras, Magpies and other birds each took a big stick each, and began to push at the sky.

The Emus and the Kangaroos, the Wombats and the Goannas sat and watched as the birds pushed the sky slowly upwards. They used the sticks as levers, first resting the sky on low boulders, then on small hills. As the animals watched the birds pushing and straining the sky reached the top of a small mountain. It was still very dark, but at least the Emu could straighten up, and the Kangaroo was able to move in long proud hops. The birds kept pushing the sky higher and higher, until they reached the highest mountain in the whole land. Then with a mighty heave, they gave the sky one last push! The sky shot up into the air, and as it rose it split open and a huge flood of warmth and light poured through on to the land below. The animals wondered at the light and warmth, but more at the incredible brightly painted beauty of the Sun-Woman. The whole sky was awash with beautiful reds and yellows. It was the first sunrise. 

Overjoyed with the beauty, the light and the warmth, the Kookaburra laughed with joy. As their loud laughter carried across the land, the Sun-Woman rose slowly, and began her journey towards the west. Now each morning when the Sun-Woman wakes in her camp, she lights the bark torch that she will carry across the sky each day. It is this torch that provides the first light of dawn. To celebrate this wonderful event and to wake everyone up to see it – the kookaburra greets the Sun-Women each dawn with his loud laugh and that is what we still hear today.

Wordless Wednesday

Thank you berry much

Mom and I went on our adventure this morning - just the two of us. We went to MY 'little' park (the one with the tree top board walk. It also has a nature center, a butterfly garden and a 'native garden".  Here I am in the native garden area - which is really cool as all the plants have name tags which makes it so much easier to find them at the plant store if you really like them.

Anyway, the other day when we were there Mom saw this beautiful purple flower, (her camera battery died so she couldn't get a photo of it then)  it is so soft and feels just like velvet. Mom wanted to find out what it was and after a bit of searching we found it's name tag. This gorgeous plant is the Mexican Sage bush. Here are the flowers close up and then you can see the whole bush.  We don't know if it is an edible type of sage but it sure is pretty and the butterflies love it.

The other thing we saw lots of today was berries. I told Mom I was berry happy we were having an adventure by ourselves today :)  We saw berries that were purple, red, orange and white. The branches were so heavy with them they were just about hitting the ground. I guess they are not tasty berries though as the birds didn't seem to take any interest in them.

It got Mom and I to thinking that these would probably have been the types of berries that native Indians would of used many years ago to make dyes for cloth. We did notice that all the berries were very hard (which is probably why the birds don't like them). That means if anyone was going to use them they would probably of had to boil them and then the color might of come out.  It sounds good in theory :)

 And finally - the thing Mom had been waiting to see - a beautiful tree in its fall colors. Silly Mom - if she had looked in our own back yard she would of seen that MY special tree - an October Blush Maple is turning red too!  Mom says we often miss what is right under our noses.

Motivation Monday

With all Mom's sickies over the past few years it has been A LONG time since she did any painting and I decided it was time she started again so the other day I took her to the craft store and we bought some supplies.

It has been a struggle - with Mom's back it has been hard for her to find a position to either sit or stand in that doesn't cause major ouchies but with lots of encouragement from ME - we are slowly getting there. Here I am checking on the progress - yes looking good so far Mom

Well don't just sit there Mom - this picture is only half way done - there is still lots to do and I am sure every furbody and their peeps want to see what it looks like when it is finished.

I think Mom needs a bit more encouragement guys - will you help me?  This painting is all about how the Kookaburra got its laugh - we will tell you the story when the painting is finished - but we have to get Mom motivated to do that.

Really - I just don't know what the Mom would do without me!

For all of those who LUUUUUUVVVVVV me!

I asked other Mommy to take some photo's of me today - I don't trust that Reilly - BIG DOG anymore and here I am - in all my cute and adorable glory!  Gotta Luv Me!!!!!

Deny's Day

 Hello - it is me - Denny and today I am sharing my adventure with you. We decided to go in search of some red leaves - Mom has been seeing all the beautiful pictures on the bloggies of all the pretty fall colors so we thought we would check out the park and see if we could find some too.  Being the nice little guy I am - I said Weilly and Jackie and his Mom could come with us too.

We went to our 'little' park today - the one that has the boardwalk up in the tree tops but we went the reverse direction today and started off in the flat area. 

We would show you pictures of the little lake - but at the moment it looks more like a puddle. Mom says she has never seen it so empty and wonders what has happened to all the turtles and fish. 

This is the bridge that actually goes over to the two halves of the lake - but there was not a drop of water under it today.

Here we are checking to see if there are any ducks around - but I don't think there was even enough water for them either.

After we crossed the bridge we went up a little hill and into the trees. We did see that little bush on the right with a tinge of red but no real 'red' leaves yet.  Lets keep looking Mom

Weilly was looking over his shoulder and telling Mom to 'hurry up"  He can be a bit of grumpy old dog at times - don't tell him I said that though!

Can you see the next bridge way off in the distance - that was where were heading next.

We finally reached the next bridge and this is where the boardwalk up into the tree tops starts. Weilly REALLY wanted to take the path on the right - that is the one that is a dirt path that leads to the lookout.  
Mom is a bit wary at the moment though - see we went on a dirt path the other day and Mr Jackie managed to stick his face into some sort of bush and got covered with sticky prickles.  We got some in our legs too so mom says we need to stick to the main path for the time being.


Here we are starting our climb into the tree tops - sorry Mom - I still don't see any red leaves though.

Mr Jackie was way out in front - that boy always seems to be in such a hurry to go "somewhere". Mom chuckles and says he runs twice as much as we do on the same walk as he is like the 'energizer bunny' and just keeps going and going.

He wasn't as fond of the boardwalk though as there isn't a lot of good sniffing to be had and he LOVES to sniff at EVERYTHING.

We discovered that going UP the steps to the next level of the boardwalk is a lot harder then coming down them.

Mr Weilly is so careful - he takes one step at a time where as I like to bounce up  two or three at a time. I couldn't do that today because we were on our double walker so I had to go at the 'old dog' pace.

We have to be VERY careful that we don't pull to hard and it would be very bad if Mom fell on the steps.

And finally - we made it to the tree tops. Here we are with Jackies Mom - but sadly no red leaves - just some brown ones.

Mom said she doesn't mind - she still loves seeing all the shades of green.

Maybe we can check out the big lake tomorrow Mom and see if there are any pretty leaves there.  For now though, we are all pooped puppies so I am going to find a nice comfy spot and have a nice long snooze.

Gnosh Gnosh - Chomp Chomp

Mmmmm mmmmm mmmmmm we love when Mom goes to the market and finds us these big tasty bones. They don't have them very often so it is always a special treat and she buys extra for when we have a "rainy day".

We spend HOURS chomping and swapping bones cause you know the bone one of the 'others' has is ALWAYS better than the one you have.

Mom says we are such good boys though because we NEVER fight over the bones - not that anyone would be brave enough to take ME on - I am the BIG DOG, the alpha dog, the supreme leader and not to mention the cutest and most adorable and modest doggie in the household!

Okay - I have had my break - time to get back to some more gnoshing and chomping.