Bats From My Belfry

A Little Joy

2012-02-07T08:02:00.000-08:00

Retta, our upcoming TFT chocolate puppy girl......is a bit of joy in life right now. She's happy, bouncy, full of life and love for everyone. That is, till one of the other dogs thinks she needs to be taught a manner or two. <lol> This happens regularly throughout her day. She's learning. She tries hard to avoid trouble, but seems bent on finding it, anyway. Typical puppy. I did manage to get her web page up and running....you can find it at http://www.skylocke.com/Retta.html Had a hard time while looking for a background that pleased me, so just gave up and made one. Works.

She cheers me up....and right now, I need it. My sight is screwed up, I'm looking forward (not) to possibly having eye surgery. I'm having horrendous stomach pains so bad that I can hardly sleep. My arthritis is giving me total painful fits on a 24-7 basis and it just seems that I'm faling apart at the seams. This is the payment, I suspect, for lack of care and bad treatment of this old body when I was young enough to do do something about it. Sigh....

Pain is the mighty equalizer, trust me on that one. You think you're strong and impenetrable and that you can stand anything. Wrong. I'm just about at my wit's end with this constant pain and inability to function when-where and how I'm used to. NOT the way I want to finish my life.....sitting in a chair taking pills to control pain so I can even walk down the hall to the bathroom. Do I sound like a major Pitty Party? I suppose I do. I get this way sometimes in the early mornings when the night has been a bad one. Last night was.

I'll do better.....I'll look up instead of down. I'll think positive instead of negative. I'll think comfort instead of pain. And I'll try....I really will. I still have things to do. Not necessarily places to go, since that costs money we just don't have.....but I DO have things I want to DO. So I suppose I'd better get to being more positive. I've whined enough this morning.....

Off and running....well, walking slowly will work better I guess....<grin>

It's Been A While

2012-02-05T12:21:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I've added anything. May be even longer if things go the way I expect they are going to go.

Went in on the 23rd of January for a regular eye exam to see if my glasses prescription had changed as much as I suspected. Yeah......ya might say that. Doc told me I had a cataract in my left eye....needed to come out. Lovely. Keith made an appointment with Madigan Army hospital for an exam....then thought it might be a good idea to see if the Pacific Cataract clinic here in Chehlais, Washington, would accept Military insurance. They do, so I got an appointmet sooner with them. Actually just a few days later...on the 31st of Jan.

Found out during the VERY LONG exam that I didn't only have a cataract that should come out, but also my left eye lens is pressing against the eye lining when it's dilated, and isn't "draining" eye fluid properly. So they couldn't do the dilated test....cuz he said the lens might dilate too much, expand and press to hard and could cause instant glaucoma - permanent damage. Oh dandy.

So......rather than argue with the military about insurance crap for this special stuff, I now have an appointment with the Army Hospital on the 28 of February for a possible schedule for eye surgery up there. I have all the results of the Pacific clinic testing, as well as a recommendation for surgery from their specialist. Can you tell I'm just oh-so thrilled at the whole idea. Not so much. Pacific did say that the Army hospital has been doing some amazing surgeries in this area, so they did recommend it.

Had to cancel the motel for the upcoming dog shows in Albany, Oregon.....where I hoped to finish Jaz's championship and now am not going to enter....since driving is running me nuts with the left eye acting stupid. I expect I won't be doing any shows for at least a month or two. Damn. What else in life is fun? Oh, did I forget to mention that driving at night is out of the question, since that's when the damned eye lens dilates and I could cause more problems. Great. There goes puppy classes at the end of the month, unless I convince Keith to drive me. I HATE BEING DRIVEN....and also hate having to ASK to be cheauffered around. ARGH. (Besides, he screws up my side mirrors and the steering wheel position every time he gests into my van.) Geez Judy.....why not just bitch, bitch, bitch. Hey, I'm in a crappy place right now....so I'll probably just whine and bitch for a while.

I've loaded a slew of audio books onto two players, just in case I won't be able to see to read the Kindle. I've also ordered new glasses that should be here next week.....with a guarantee that they will replace them free of charge up to 6 months after surgery. Hope I have all bases covered, but you can bet something will mess up. Murphy's law.

Life indeed does suck now and then. This seems to be one of those suckie times.

The Day After

2012-01-28T07:26:00.000-08:00

It was a bittersweet day yesterday. Happy and yet tears. And this morning is the same.

Here we are, the day after puppies went to their new homes. All three families have checked in and all seems to be going great. The little boys, Chino (in Canada), Tangle (in Arlington, WA), and Mocha (in Lynnwood, WA) appear to be adapting very quickly to their new familes and invironments. Their sister Retta, here with us, is not faring quite so well. Seems she has been being somewhat spoiled by Keith, all with love and kindness, but now thinks she doesn't need to come to me when called.....and runs like a little streaking rabbit.

Nope....that won't fly. Especially when she runs straight to him.....like...."Daddy!!! Please protedt me!". So..... sad as it is to have to do, "depravation" therapy begins this morning. She will stay in her pen, or back here in the office with me, and not be allowed out in the house with Keith at all until she decides that it's ME who she has to mind, ME she has to come to when called, and even tho it's also ME who grooms, bathes, clips, trains, corrects, and unfortunately administers any meds. She is going to have to learn that.....and quickly. Sad thing, we had to do this with her daddy as well. Keith had him to the point that everytime I went near him, he ran and tried to get Keith to protect him. Macci adjusted super well, and very fast.
She's a stubborn one.....so this may take longer than the week it took Macci. I put her food bowl in for her last evening and she promptly poked it and crawled into bed. Even left her a few dry kibbles to maybe munch on during the night. They were still there this morning. Mixed up her normal breakfast and put it down for her. Normally, she dives in. She sniffed it and walked off. The Siege Is On. No treats, no toys, no goodies, and no freedom till she gives in. Sigh......girl dogs can be a pain, eh?

It's going to have to get nipped in the bud VERY quickly. Her three brothers are eating just like they did here, even this morning, according to a report I got at 6am from Tangle's mom. Of course, they have totally different personalities than Retta. They ALWAYS have come running when I called them, always are happy to follow along and explore. They are doing the same in their new homes. Everyone is happy. Except Retta.

Actually, if the truth be known, I don't know if Retta will be staying here with us or not. Aside from this "I Don't WANT To" thing she does, she also has two floppy ears that don't seem to want to go up. She has until she's 14-15 weeks old for them to go up [that's 4-5 weeks from NOW], or I will place her and call it a day. Her ears sadly remind me of Ziva's.....and those are seriously UNNATRACTIVE and very ugly ears. Yuck. A good share of the "breed type" for Toy Fox Terriers is the head.....and the ears, the way they carry them, and the ear set and attachment as well. So far, I'm not impressed with Retta's. I do hope things change, but if not, we'll just have to chalk it up and start again.

ONLY this time, it won't be Macci and Zoey.....I suspect it will be Jaz and Miley. But we'll see. If it is Jaz and Miley, we will most likely have an entire white/black/tan litter.....with drop dead awesome headpieces.

One other thing I find interesting as of this morning. Each of the three new owners knows about the Litter (potty) Box we have used with puppies......and how well they use it (even our other TFTs when they can't get outside). Anyway, Chino's family ( in lieu of putting one together) purchased a Potty Patch setup on their way home yesterday and told me last night that the puppy went right to it and is using it consistently.

Tangle's mom put one together like ours, and she says he prefers to go outside. We'll see how that goes on Monday when she has to go back to work. <grin> I think her only problem so far is that I have them all up and ready to eat breakfast usually by 5:30 or 6am. So she got woke up this morning.....early. He'll adjust to her schedule. (Or she'll adjust to his.......we'll see how that goes.....) Haven't heard from Mocha's mom yet this morning, but it will be interesting to see how he's doing with his pottying.

In the dark of a Thursday Morning......

2012-01-26T07:36:00.000-08:00

It's raining cats and dogs this morning (dont bitch Judy....it's not snowing)......the temp is {{{brrr}}} chilly, puppies are fed, other dogs have been out and pottied and gone back to bed. Me? Once up.....that's it for sleep. So here we are again.....been up for hours and after weeding through a zillion emails and catching up on FB, I'm checking out the perverbial bats flitting up in my belfry again. They're always there....just some mornings they're busier than usual. Not so much today, cuz I'm worried about this darn dog.
Jaz, our close-to-being-a-champion boy, apparently picked up a bug at the Portland dog shows last weekend. It just grabs at my heartstrings to see a sick dog.
Any animal, really, but those we live with 24-7......those we know oh so very well and own their own special place in my heart.....well, when one of those doesn't feel well, it's hard for me to concentrate on even life in general. He's actually a bit better than he was 2 days ago, and he manage to eat a bit of steamed rice with a few little kibbles and chicken broth with some liver juice added. Now we wait and see which end it comes out of. For those of you who don't have house pets, sorry about that.....but that's the way of it.

Tomorrow is going to be a bittersweet day, that's for sure. We'll be delivering three puppies to their new owners about 10:30 in the morning. We decided it would be easier on the puppies if we drove closer to the owners, rather than have them come all the way to us and then spend the better part of their first day with their new family member.....in a vehicle going home. Easier on the puppies, to say the least. This way, Keith and I will be gone longer, but puppies and their new families should be home before WE get home. Three little gorgeous TFT boys will hopefully have super great homes. We always hope, and with a few exceptions over the years, it's been that way.

Mocha is going to Lynnwood, Washington; Chino is going to Abbotsford, BC in Canada, and Tangle is going to Arlington, Washington. All close enough, but still far away from here where they were born and have spent the first 10 weeks of their little lives. Retta, the only girl, is staying here with us and will miss her brothers. I suspect we'll have an addition to our bed by tomorrow night if I know my husband. I think I would prefer her in the puppy pen, but we'll see how that goes. The first few nights are usually a real stresser for babies, so I hope she's just gutsy enough to rough it out on her own. If not, well then......I can always put a little crate alongside the bed. DON'T WANT ANOTHER TFT IN THE BED. For crying out loud, there are 7 of them in there now. Well, not all night, usually, tho....they transfer to the office off and on. Crates and a heater in there.

I'm rambling. Didn't mean to do that..... again.....cathartic I'm told. Guess I'll go read my Kindle for a while till Keith gets up so I can go in and take a shower without annoying him with the noise. Sometimes I wish we didn't have a huge doggie bathtub taking up the shower in the second bathroom. Oh, the sacrifices we make, eh?

Onward and Upward - I hope

2012-01-24T06:00:00.000-08:00

Full four days of dog shows in Portland, Oregon, are done and overwith. Phew. We were hoping against all odds to possibly finish Jaz's AKC Championship, but alas.....we did get one 4pt major from the 4 days of shows. He still needs 3 single points to finish.
The points were pretty much spread around, except as usual, the Pro Handlers got the lion's share of the wins. Don't know what to say about that except "that's the way it goes". As an owner-handler, we do our best....train our dogs, love em at home, and try to present them to the judges in a manner that shows their best attributes. Sometimes we win, sometimes we don't. In this case, Jaz has gained weight and that NEEDS to come off. ( I keep telling him he's not "fat".....just a bit "fluffy") Also, he was a poop two of the days....one of which he absolutely hated the judge and didn't want her near - let alone to be touching him. Go figure. Hey, maybe he didn't like her underarm deodorant....who knows. Ya deal with it the best you can and still try to keep a happy, well adjusted dog in the process. UNlike the pro handler who is traveling with the dog, and has no emotional ties to them, I CARE about how this dog is going to end up in the long run. The pro handler is there for the wins and the money. Period. He didn't deserve to win two of the four days.....and guess what? He didn't. He won the points on the first day, wend RWD on the second and the last two were just a waste of time and gas. Yup.....just another day (or four) at the dog shows.

Found out yesterday that I have cataracts. Lovely. I have an appointment on the 31st for a full evaluation at the Pacific Cataract and Laser Vision Center in Chehalis, WA. They'll dilate both eyes and spend 2 hours poking, pressuring, checking and telling me why I can't see. Then we'll see about an appointment for cataract surgery. I'm just so thrilled about that....not. Next person who tells me the "golden years" are great is going to get slapped.

Everything inside or out has either shifted, dropped, drooped, broken, slipped, cracked, deteriorated, aches, hurts, won't move or sticks in place. Yup.....good old "golden years". Ain't that just crapola.

Been up since 2:30am this morning. Nuther thing about getting old.....can't sleep much. Legs cramp up or knees hurt, so what's the point in just laying there w-a-i-t-i-n-g for the clock to chime the hours away. What the heck....come in here and see what kind of trouble I can get into.

God, I'm in a mood this morning. I sound like a grumpy old bear. So guess I'll wrap it up for right now and wait till I sound more human than grouchy old animal.

Beaded Stuff.....

2012-01-19T08:03:00.000-08:00

Just finished THE KING..... Lion pendant. Pic of it on our Facebook page at
https://www.facebook.com/editprofile.php?sk=basic&success=1#!/media/set/?set=a.2496727899728.2110819.1298773312&type=1.

I kinda like this one. It's different and now I can get started on a similar one with a gorgeous little Gray Wolf head I have. I also am thinking of a design to go with my Golden Dragonfly focal.

So many things, so many ideas...so little time. It's frustrating.

2012-01-19T07:16:00.001-08:00

Ponderings

#1 Where to begin.....certainly not way back at the "beginning". I don't expect I have that much productive time left in my life to muse and ponder that far back. So, I suppose we will just start where we are. - Today. - December 2010.
Just had a birthday a couple months ago. Age is setting in more each day and the big 70 is rapidly approaching. Pretty soon we won't be able to just say we are "almost seventy"...we will have to begrudgingly admit to the depressing number and all that goes with it.......and sadly accept all the disheartening "baggage" that accompanies old age. Trust me, the aching joints and faltering memory are staunch reminders EVERY day.
I remember 30 - ah yes, now that was a "wow! I made and and still look pretty good!". And then came 40. (Argh) Still looked presentable, but I admit I actually forgot to renew my driver's license on that less than stellar day in a conscious or an UNconscious attempt to deny that Mother Nature had actually done that to me. For God's sake....FORTY IS HALF OF 80. Now that was scarey.
After that, the years just sort of slipped by, each seeming to be shorter than the one before. And now, approaching 70, a year appears to be about as long as just a few months was in earlier times. Why is that? Why do these "Golden Years" slip away so rapidly and time flits like a Swallow in spring. By the way, the next person who says that the "Golden Years" are your best had better duck. I may be getting old and wierd, but I can still use my fist. POW!
Knowledge - now that IS one of the perks of age. Well, mostly, anyway. I suppose it depends on how much you listen, see, learn and absorb along the way. I hear people saying they wish they knew at age 20 what they know at 60. Now that's really dumb, you know? What fun would life be if you didn't learn along the path getting to where you are when you're my age? Not that you know it all when you get old, not even by a little bit. I still learn something everyday and enjoy the process as much as I always have. I sometimes take longer to process a lot of details, but in the end, it usually sinks in and I've successfully added to my brain trivia.I do know those folks who think they knew it all at 18 and seem not to have bothered learning one whit more than that. What a waste. Life is a challenge, no doubt about that. But it's also like reading a REALLY good book and not hardly being able to wait to finish one page before turning to the next.

Here we go again........

2012-01-19T07:13:00.000-08:00

I suppose if I could sleep.....wouldn't that be lovely.....I wouldn't be up in the middle of the night straining my eyes and brain (what's left of both of them) and yammering away for possibly no one but me to read. I'm told it's cathartic.....might make things better. Who knows. I suspect that's all made up stuff, but we'll see, eh? "EH"? I think I spend too much time talking with Canadians. (pretty funny....eh?)

The nasty snow from the 18th of January - yesterday - is melting and dripping off the roof like a drizzling, irritating faucet that you cannot shut off. Went to bed at 10:30 last night and the bloody non-stop dripping drug me out of bed at 2:30 this morning, grumbling and NOT happy with not being able to sleep. The dogs all thought I'd lost my marbles. But, habit took over and they dashed out the doggie door to potty. Took one look at the slushy mess coming off the roof and the second slushy mess in the back yard............and nosedived back into thier warm beddies. Smart dogs.

Dog show in Portland today. Late ring time in the early afternoon. At least the freeways are clear, I'm told, so that won't be a problem. We're hoping to get at least ONE of the four available majors for this boy of ours, so he will be close to finishing his championship. I do hope enough folks and their dogs show up and are not kept home because of the weather.

I hear puppies up in the other room. They know I'm up and are expecting their breakfast. I have these dogs eating between 5:30 and 7am, so I suspect their new owners are going to call me bad names for a while till they get the babies onto their own new schedule that fits. Retta's ears are seriously "thinking" about standing. Thank goodness.... her three brothers have had UP ears since they were 5 1/2 weeks old. Here they are turning NINE weeks old tomorrow and hers are just now getting around to it. I think she's just too busy doing everything else to be bothered with a silly thing like upright ears. We do hope.
She is such a nice puppy. SMART to a fault. It's going to be a challenge, you can bet on that. She climbs like a monkey. Pretty funny to watch. Doesn't like her nails dremeled, but stands right there for me to use the electric clippers on her face. Interesting. Very opinionated, but a super good kisser.

They're making their wishes loudly known out there, so I'm off to fix breakfast for them. Good old kibble, raw ground turkey and raw hamburger. Carnivores one and all.

Hope this blog thing works.