You get up and Sleep

Aren't you supposed to let sleeping dogs lie?

You get up and Sleep - song: Joe the Lion, artist: David Bowie, album: Heroes

I Feel Free

Sandy always goes out to the barn with me in the mornings to feed the horses. I open the back door and she runs right out. But she waits until I come outside too before she takes off out to the fields in back of the barn. Sandy loves to play outside. Here she is running around in the snow. 

Sometimes, she comes in to the barn or out to the horses to check things out. She likes to chase at the horses. I yell "no" and she stops bothering them but I think they are used to her and kind of expect it. They kick at her if she gets too bothersome. She licks up the grain they spill when I feed the horses their morning rations.

When I'm heading back to the house, I call her and she comes running back to me, at full speed. Sometimes, I play a game with her and see if I can make it back to the house before she does. I always make sure I have a head start but, boy, is she fast!

Sandy never seems to get cold. She loves to roll when she goes outside, especially in the snow. Notice her "snow" face? I think she must have been eating snow.

Here's Buddha all bundled up. He's so little that his small sized blanket coat is too big on him. When we have deep snow, I have to shovel a path or he gets swallowed up. He doesn't like snow at all and gets cold so I usually carry him and stick him in my jacket after he does his business.

I Feel Free - song: I Feel Free, artist: David Bowie, album: Black Tie, White Noise

how much I missed her

Someone once told me that it didn't happen if you don't blog about it. Well, I've been kind of living by that recently. But it doesn't help. It still happened.


In October, Gunnar went in for surgery on an abcess on his forehead. He was riddled with cancer in the sinus area and had pieces of disintegrating bone floating around. The vet recommended putting him to sleep so I let him go right then.


Shortly after this, Daisy started sneezing and spraying blood. The vet said it could be allergies, cancer, or something unknown. He treated her with antihistimines and antibiotics. We hoped it was an allergy because she seemed to be improving...


Then she began misting blood out of her nostril again. I called the vet about it. This bleeding went on for five days. I locked her up in my bathroom and had to do a washdown of everything in there because of the blood. She was spraying so much blood around the house that my son and I decided to put her outside.


My daughter was with me for the night and in the morning we went out to see Daisy in the dog run. Previously, she and Gunnar had dug big holes in their yard and they used to like to lay in them. Well, overnight, Daisy had fallen in one of the holes and couldn't get out. My daughter and I picked her up and carried her into the house. We took off her sweater and covered her with a blanket. Daisy wasn't doing very well at all. She was crying and shaking and had trouble walking. I asked my daughter what we should do?


We gave her some warm beef broth and a raw egg. She seemed to be settling in, no longer shaking, and she could walk some now. She kept looking for some place to go, the back corner of my dining room, behind the couch, somewhere, away from everything. She was staggering and restless.


My sons had gone off to their schools. Then, my daughter needed to leave (escape?). I was all alone with Daisy. Was there any chance for her to get better? I wasn't emotionally ready for this after having dealt with the loss of Gunnar so recently. What should I do? Winter was coming and I knew she couldn't be outside. She couldn't be inside spraying blood everywhere either.


This was probably one of the hardest decisions I've ever had to make. All my children were conveniently absent so it was all up to me. I didn't want to have to do this alone. I really, really wanted someone to be there with me, to say that this was what I had to do.


I called the vet's office. He said that it was the right time. I loaded Daisy into the back seat of my car. I carried her into his office. They were waiting for us. I carried her into the examining room and put her on the cold steel table. He told me that I was doing the right thing. He could see how debilitated she had become from a few weeks before. He patted her and she looked at him with her sad, brown eyes. He gave her a shot in her paw. I thought it was funny that he dabbed the area with alcohol first. She tried to pull her paw away because it stung. He continued injecting. She lay her head down in the palm of my hand. I stroked her head. I watched her beautiful eyes close. I felt her final gulp as the life ebbed out of her. I noticed her ribs shudder. She was still warm and I continued to stroke her head. I didn't want to leave her. The doctor stayed with me and stroked her too. He told me she had crossed over and was now at peace. It was a peaceful end to one of the sweetest dogs I've ever had.

What are the chances of both my GSPs getting nasal cancer at eleven years old, at the same time? I used to call Daisy the 'sin-eater' because she would lick Gunnar's open wound on his head. Did she catch it? My son says she got sick because she wanted to join Gunnar and my husband.

I was watching Buddha laying in front of the wood stove like he used to do with Daisy and I was wondering what he thought about his missing friend.

RIP Daisy, you are greatly missed!

how much I missed her - song: Sorrow, artist: David Bowie, album: Pinups

Here I stand, foot in hand

This is the view from my house. As I look out my kitchen window to the north, I can see Lisa's flock of sheep, llamas, and goats in the distance. This is the very woolly Svetlana.Just to the right I can see South Mountain. This is what I see when I look out my bedroom window to the west. I love my little stone wall! While I was looking outside, I saw these birds on the top of a telephone pole. Does anyone know what they are?
This is looking to the west from my kitchen window. My barn is at the far right. This photo was taken just a few days ago. Almost all of the snow is gone now.

Because of the snow, Gunnar and Daisy had to stay inside. I took the opportunity to get some pictures of Daisy.

Terra was showing exceptional attitude. Not to be left out, here's Gunnar.

And, of course, here's Buddha. He is giving High 5's. You can see how hairy his toes are in the last photo. He spreads his claws like a cat.

Here I stand, foot in hand - All the Madmen, artist: David Bowie, album: The Man Who Sold the World

Now tell me I was a fool

What a morning I had yesterday!

Here's what happened.

Every morning, I take my two big dogs, Gunnar and Daisy, out to the dog run for the day. My little dog, Buddha, cannot stay outside with them because he is too small. He's only 4 1/2 pounds! He tries to get out of my sight and make his escape. He can get out of the dog run by going through the fence or under the fence, all different ways. Then, he likes to run out back, through the fields and trees, to visit the neighbor's dogs. This always annoys and worries me because he has no idea that there are animals that could eat him, like coyotes and hawks. I have to go and get him and he hangs his head and cowers, all sad, but not ever really sorry, because he'll take off again the next chance he gets.

I often bring him out to the dog run, and watch and wait until after he does his business. Then, I take him back to the house before I go feed the horses. Yesterday morning, to save time, I brought him along to the barn with me. I even put him on a leash to keep him from running off. I use a retractable leash so that he can feel like he's free. Once I got to the barn, I found the perfect place for his leash. In the middle of the breezeway, on the support pole, there is a hook made from a horseshoe. I hooked his leash onto the hook but I didn't know what to do about the long leash. I was afraid he would go under the barn door into the stalls but I figured that he'd be too scared. I suppose I should have fastened the leash so that it would stay short.

Because it was windy, I left the horses in and fed them. Then I went into the middle stall, Scout's stall, and gave him some more hay. Buddha was good and just stood near the hay rather than coming over to the stalls.

Well, I didn't latch the stall door and Scout charged out. He ran towards the hay and I saw him get his feet tangled in the cord of the retractable leash. Oh no!! I had no idea where Buddha was!I couldn't watch.

However, Scout just turned around and ran back to his stall, miraculously getting free of the cord about his legs. Somehow, Buddha had stayed clear of killer hooves and Scout didn't panic with the cord about his legs! I hurried out to the aisle and Buddha was right there, wagging his little hairy tail, safe as can be. What a miracle! What a dumb idiot I was!!

Tis true, God watches over the innocent and the ignorant.


Now tell me I was a fool - song: That's Where My Heart Is, artist David Bowie

It Couldn't be Done Without Dogs

As promised, here are some more photos from my Santa Fe car trips. My photography went to the dogs in this post. ;)

Enjoy!


I think this little dog was a framework for a chia plant or something.

Lots of people go out walking their dogs in Santa Fe. I couldn't get over the color markings on this Poodle so I had to meet him. His name was Jester.

Here is my favorite. Don't you just want to take him home?

It Couldn't be Done Without Dogs - song: '87 and Cry, artist: David Bowie, album: Never Let Me Down

Outside the Pale

Yesterday was snowy and cold so I decided to do some picture taking from inside my house. This is looking out to my barn. The horses are all in their stalls eating their breakfast.

I decided to let the dogs go for a run. Being German Shorthair Pointers, they love to run and hunt, and they needed to get some exercise. I haven't let them outside for the past week because of all the mud except for walks to go to the bathroom. Daisy came back after about 20 minutes but Gunnar took quite a bit longer because it was so cold. I hoped all the neighbors would be inside and not complain about my loose dogs. Finally, Gunnar came running back.

He's almost 11 years old now, so there's nothing better than crashing out after a good hard run.

I love how all my dogs cozy up in front of the fire.

Here's some more horsey photos. Scout and Annie are munching on the old log.

Here's Annie standing at attention. I wonder what she sees?

Here's Nadia, looking at something. Everyone likes to hang out in the den where it's warm. Here's Simba.

Outside the pale - song: Goodbye Mr. Ed, artist: Tin Machine, album: Tin Machine