Enforced Rest

I the Reilly dog am on enforced rest .....so not fair !!!!  My bad paw has been giving me a LOT of trouble the past week causing me to limp even worse than I normally do and as a result is it also causing some problems with my back. Yesterday when Mom was giving me a brush she noticed a large lump on my back  (next to my spine above my back hip) - she called my dogtor and we went to see him straight away. The lump thankfully turned out to be a badly inflamed and knotted muscle so I have two new medicines and will be getting daily cold laser therapy on it. The hardest thing though - is I have to rest my paw and back for the next week and that means NO walkies.

Note from Mom - Sadly there is not a lot we can do about Reilly's paws - he has severe arthritis in both front paws which had caused his toes to splay and this leaves the inner parts of his pads exposed which is why he has to wear boots when ever we go for a walk. My sweet boy loves his walk more than anything in the world and is such a stoic uncomplaining guy - I am sure if his only option to go for walkies was to crawl on his knees - he would. For now we will just take much shorter walks from and hope and pray his new medications will help ease his arthritis which also is affecting quite a few of his joints as well. The good news is that the lump we found between his toes last week we were so worried about had just disappeared.

There be Manatees!

Can you believe it - Mom and Dad went all the way down to Blue Springs State Park without us and she even forgot to take Bashful and Sweet Pea !!!! Now admittedly this is one of Florida's silly State Parks - they allow dogs but only in certain places and NOT in the place Mom and Dad went specifically for - to see the Manatees. Sadly there were only two Manatees there today - normally between November and February is when the Manatees head up to Blue Springs but this year because it is so unseasonable warm they haven't arrived. The ocean temperature has to drop below 70 degrees for them to head into the springs and so far it is still at 76 degrees and today here in Florida we hit 85 degrees the hottest ever recorded December day since records have been kept. But at least THEY got to see two manatees and lots of fish and turtles. Mom and Dad visited Blue Springs about 9 years ago and were amazed how much it has changed - the last time they went there was about 20 manatees that day including a little baby one. We are sorry we couldn't get better photos - there was a good breeze blowing that rippled the water making  it hard to get clear shots. There is also an awesome Save the Manatee web site where they have a live Manatee Cam - you can see them playing in the springs if they are there - but they also have some great videos of them too. Did you know Manatees are also one of the few aquatic mammals they can live in both salt water and fresh water.


Notice the white spot on its side - it's a Cowspot Manatee!

This manatee was having fun swimming upside down :)

Sitting on the dock of the bay

It was the perfect morning to be sitting on the dock of the bay - watching the tide roll away (it really was rolling away too and trust us - that dock was a rockin - Bashful and Sweet Pea said they felt a bit seasick!) We also showed the basics of looking out for Manatees but as yet we have yet to see any up in our area.

Spooky Face

Bashful and Sweet Pea were out feeding the geese in MY pond and look what Mom found when she checked the photo - do you see the face on the fence post - wooooooo how spooky is that!

Merry Christmas

We are wishing every furbaby and their peeps a Very Merry Christmas and a safe and Happy New Year. We hope you have the most wonderful day. Our final card count was 114 for us and 3 for Mom & Dad. We also want to say a HUGE thank you everyone who sent us cards and e-cards (we printed those out and added them to our funny twig tree.

For our Christmas present - Mom went a little crazy on Cyber Monday (getting 30% off everything) and ordered us some special treats - these are all soft treats (that is all I can eat now because I don't have any back teeth) and were either bison, venison or lamb - luckily Dweeb loves those too.

Bashful also wanted to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a safe and Happy New Year and especially his Mom and Dad and his brother Bacon - he wishes he could be home with you  :) We also wanted to say a big thank you to them for letting Bashful visit with us.

Our Christmas card twig tree

Bashful wishes everyone a Merry Christmas

Play Day at the Park

We took Bashful and Sweet Pea to MY Hanna Abbey Cowspotdog park today - our first stop was the beach. They admired the view from the sand dunes and then we headed to the water. Being typical Florida it was a beautiful sunny 82 degrees and perfect for strolling along admiring the view. Then we all got back in MY car and headed over to the lake. Bashful and Sweet Pea enjoyed just sitting on a park bench together and admiring all the beauty around them. Being just a couple of youngsters though they could resist having some fun at the playground. They went on the swings, down the slide and climbed all over the little fort and the bridges between them.

Sand dunes view

Rockin it on the beach :)

Driving in the Sheltie Mobile

Denny - "What are you 2 doing?"

Sitting and admiring the view

The Rocks and The Boys

Weeeee - down the slide

Pair of swingers

High up on the bridge

Playgrounds are so much fun :)

Bashful De Vinci Or Card Shark Bashful?

Who knew ????  Bashful saw all of Mom's painting supplies and said he wanted to try and do a painting. Mom mixed him a palette of oil paints and found a little brush that was just his size. He asked Sweet Pea to model for him and look what an amazing job he did - now that is some amazing rock art! Mom is calling him Bashful De Vinci now!  Is there nothing that rock can't do? 

After he finished the painting Bashful and Sweet Pea sat down for a game of cards (And Mom told them "NO" - they weren't allowed to play strip poker) They settled on a game of Texas Hold Em and we are pretty sure Bashful is a bit of card shark - what do think - was he being a cheeky little rock? He may not have sleeves to hide a card in but we think he found some way to stack the deck :)

Skinny Dipping

Can you believe those two naughty rocks went skinny dipping at the beach yesterday but they got a little more than they bargained for. They forgot that the tide was coming in and what was meant to be just a paddle in the shallows turned out be a full blown dunking. Poor Mom was all a panic thinking they were going to drown but instead they were rolling around and squealing with delight. Mom scooped them up and dried them off on their beach towels and guess what - they wanted to do it again - what rock in their right mind would ever want to get wet!

Who do those rocks think they are?

Can you believe those two rock-heads taking over MY blog like that. Well while they were having fun on the beach we left Mom to chaperone them and went off exploring a little on our own.

Now you know odd things occasionally wash up on MY beach - horseshoe crabs, shells and such but today we found a bunch of these guys - they are puffer fish. We counted 8 of them scattered along our beach and are not sure why just these types of fish should wash up - Mom said maybe some fisherman caught them in their nets and just threw away (there were a lot of shrimp boats out this morning skimming just off  MY beach). They were certainly odd looking and don't worry - we kept our distance from them and we know they are poisonous.

We also got to watch two ships come in within minutes of each other - the first was the Vessel HOEGH DETROIT is a vehicle carrier built in 2006 and currently sailing under the flag of Norway it is 229m in length and has a beam of 32m. The second ship was the Vessel SEA LAND EAGLE  it is a container ship built in 1997 and currently sailing under the flag of Hong Kong. SEA LAND EAGLE is273m in length and has a beam of 32m.

Puffy Wuffy Fish

Another Puffer Fish

Shrimp Boat coming in

Exploring the boulders

HOEGH DETROIT

SEA LAND EAGLE

Rockin the Beach

Today Bashful and Sweet Pea headed to the beach - the first stop was to visit some distant cousins called the "Boulders". Poor Bashful and Sweet Pea said they felt like 'chips off the old blocks' next to them :) I (the Reilly dog) was there to chaperone them of coarse and I as am still on enforced paw rest we all just relaxed on the sand.  Bashful and Sweet Pea had their own little beach towels and even took their beach umbrellas! After they had sunbathed for a while they spread out their picnic blanket and Mom gave them a picnic basket she had prepared for them - it was full of nice fresh fruits. We think they both enjoyed the beach so much they didn't want to leave!

Meeting Sweet Pea

Not only is Bashful visiting us but we had a new friend here waiting for him and we must admit they seemed pretty smitten with each other - her name is Sweet Pea. She was so excited she almost rolled off the hill that surrounds her Bonsai Tree when she saw him. She and Bashful chatted and chatted and then they went to visit the "Great Shell" to hear the whispers of the ocean. Sweet Pea told him that tomorrow she would take him to the real ocean and they could play in the sand. Now we should tell you about Sweet Pea -  we found her gathering moss a few weeks ago at MY park. Do you notice her unusual dot pattern - it looks like she is covered in lace - that is why Mom noticed her and picked her up to come and live under the Bonsai Tree. We think these two are going to be inseparable while Bashful is here :)

V.I.R - Bashful

Oh my DOG - we have such an important V.I.R (Very Important Rock) visiting us for the next few weeks. Now some of you may not know about Bashful - he belongs to our very good blog buddy Bacon (the pot belly pig) and he has travelled all around the world and visited many countries. For the next few weeks he is going to be adventuring with us and we have so much to show him! But first things first - we have been busy preparing for his arrival and Mom knew he had just come back from another adventure so she figured he would like a good nights sleep and look what she made him - his own very special bed! It has a little memory foam mattress and pillow and look at the little paw print sheet and duvet cover she made for him. We even added a nice pine scented tree for him so he could have a little aroma therapy while he slept and it must of worked because he didn't wake up until 9.30 this morning. Mom said we had to walk around on tippy paws and were not allowed to bark until he woke up - what the dog!!!   Check back tomorrow and see what happens when he meets a special friend we had waiting for him :)

Bobo the Bozo

We headed off for a walk on the beach the other morning - it was kind of gloomy and overcast but still nice and warm. Mom was loving the ocean churning and wanted to capture some of the waves crashing behind us. She managed to get one good photo when something distracted us - then all of a sudden we were photo bombed! This it turns out was Bobo and he had been following us down the beach (with his Mom calling and chasing after him the whole time). With the wind blowing we couldn't hear her calling behind us. He just bounced up to us all excited and we weren't at all sure about him - but he turned out to be a VERY friendly chap - actually more like a hyperactive energizer bunny :)

Whoop-A$$ Wednesday

The Card Count

Us - 83 ------ Mom and Dad 1 (Thank you Dawn :)  

Our Christmas Card Tree

Our tree all lit up :)

 

An update on the paw - All that POTP worked - the biopsy showed no cancer cells, also no infection so no foreign body like a splinter or grass seed. It did show high levels in inflammation though and the vet is sure the lump is basically like a rheumatoid nodule and related to the arthritis in my toes. If it continues to get bigger I will have to have it removed but for now I am on house arrest (no walkies for a a few days until the inflammation settles down) Thank you every one for your positive vibes and prayers :)

POTP for My Paw

On Friday Mom noticed a lump between my toes (it is a bit bigger than a large pea and on Friday was very red looking - the redness has now faded) Mom called my Dogtor straight away and he was able to see me that afternoon. He wasn't sure what the lump is - it feels hard but doesn't seem to be attached in any way - so today I am going to have it biopsied - the sample will be looked at by another dogtor who also works with Dr W -  she is excellent at cytology and then they will send it off to specialist cytology vet for a second opinion if they need too. Mom is a wee bit more then worried and this is above the place I had a lump on the underside on my pad. Anyway - Mom is asking if you so could you send me some Power of the Paw for my paw as we know POTP work wonders. Don't worry my friends - it isn't slowing me down any :)