Bloopers

I enjoy photography; for as far back as I can remember, I’ve always loved taking pictures.  I especially love taking pictures of animals.  With one dog and six cats, all of whom are ridiculously adorable, I have no shortage of photo opportunities.

What I do have a shortage of, though, is cooperation.  Sometimes it takes dozen of attempts to get one great picture of one of the fur kids.  They have a tendency to move, look away, or blink at the last minute.  Sometimes this results in some very cute blooper pictures.  So today, I give you a few of my favorite bloopers.  

Very Cute!

I ended up changing my "day off" during this week of the A to Z Challenge from Sunday to Saturday. We were having some internet issues last night. Too bad it’s too late in the challenge for a post about AT&T, but at least I do have some pictures of very cute fur kids for you. At least they’re a good way to end the weekend.

When “Failure” Makes You Happy

Do you remember Duke, the dog we picked up from the shelter to foster almost a year ago?  We “foster failed” during the summer.

When Duke came to us, he was heartworm positive, and had a damaged paw.  He made it through the heartworm treatment (which took almost six months before we got the negative test) and into our hearts while he was going through that.

He just fit in perfectly from the beginning.  We love him, Emma loves him, and he does well with the cats.  We had to keep him! 

Duke’s front right paw was damaged when he came to us.  It was initially thought that he’d had a broken leg that didn’t heal properly, but when they did more testing they determined that it was nerve damage (no one has any idea how it happened, and unfortunately he can’t tell us) and that the leg couldn’t be saved. 

His leg was amputated about a month after his negative heartworm test. He went in for the surgery on a Wednesday morning and came home on a Thursday afternoon.  The first few days were rough.  He was uncomfortable, he didn’t like the bandage, we had a lot of trouble keeping the bandage on, he kept messing with the IV site, and we had a terrible time dealing with that once he licked it to the point of having a sore.  But we got through it!  My friend Crystal came and stayed that weekend to help with him.  Nick is an EMT, so is really good at changing bandages, and I became fairly decent at it myself by the time it was over.

During the process of his leg amputation and recovery Duke managed to become a little bit of a local celebrity (or at least had a “15 minutes of fame” thing going on) when the shelter started a chip-in to try and raise some of the money for all of his treatment.  He was very popular at the vet’s office, I tracked his progress on Facebook, people we barely knew were asking us about Duke’s recovery, and I ended up bringing him to work to meet some people.  That grew, and he ended up visiting a few different departments.  Duke loves people and attention, so he basked in his fame. 

Things have calmed down, and we’re happily a six fur kid family.  We have noticed that Duke seems to get some extra attention whenever we take the dogs out.  There’s just something about a three-legged animal that seems to make people want to pet them and meet them.  Duke is fine with that because he loves people.  And food.  And people have food! 

So we totally “failed” as foster parents with Duke, but we couldn’t be happier to have failed.  He just fits in and completes our furry family. 

Still Here

I’m still here, even though I seem to have dropped out of the A to Z Challenge.  I’m thinking about trying to finish it out, even if it’s unofficially, just to get back in.  Good idea or waste of time?

Last week just got really crazy.  First of all, the weather went insane; one day we were wearing shorts and sunscreen and the next day we were wearing coats and gloves.  I don’t think my squash and zucchini plants survived the cold.  I planted them way too early I suppose.  My flowers seem to have made it.  They were still in pots, so we were able to move them on to the screened in porch and cover them up with old towels.  I’m hoping the weather will stay warm enough for me to plant them this weekend. 

I totally blame the weather, but I also got knocked on my butt with some sort of cold/sinus/allergy thing.  It pretty much felt like a herd of angry cats took up residence in my throat and then tried to claw their way out.  Not fun.  I just had no energy and felt terrible. I’ve been going to bed early and drinking lots of tea, water, and orange juice, and have finally started to feel a little better.  Early bed time and chicken noodle soup are still on tonight’s agenda, however.  Aren’t I exciting?

We also had three sick fur kids last week.  Frankie started vomiting excessively and had to go to the vet.  Lots of expensive tests later, it was determined that he seems to have acid reflux. He’s currently on Pepcid, and seems to be feeling much better.  The first few doses went fairly well, but now he seems to think he’s had enough.  He bit the HELL out of me last night when I gave him his pill!!!  I think it’s going to be Nick’s turn today. 

Emma went back to the specialist on Friday, and they repeated several tests.  We’re still waiting on the results of one more test, but they’re leaning toward a behavioral issue.  I’m still deciding if I think that’s accurate or not, and we’re currently researching a few different things to try for her.  We will also talk to her regular vet before beginning any new medications; he’s a really good vet and has more of a history with her than the specialist. 

We were hit in the parking lot as we were leaving.  All three of us are fine, and the car is fine. The woman who backed into us just seemed like a total idiot, and tried to pet Emma without asking first (which is a very sore subject with me).  Between feeling terrible and being worried about Emma, let’s just say that I definitely was not at my most charming.  At least everyone was fine. 

Duke has developed the very bad habit of eating anything he can possibly scavenge when we go out for walks.  I promise we’re not starving him, in fact the vet wasn’t terribly pleased with the amount of weight he has gained since we’ve had him.  But he still scavenges for anything even remotely edible when we walk him.  Unsurprisingly, this causes him severe gastrointestinal problems sometimes.  He needed to go out about every hour and a half Saturday night.  Nick and I took turns taking him out, but I’m a light sleeper and it takes Nick a while to go back to sleep, so neither of us got much sleep Saturday night.  Duke has some medicine now, and seems to be feeling much better.  I just hope he stops his scavenging.

We rented The Book Thief from Redbox and watched it over the weekend.  It was excellent!  I loved the book, and thought they did a really good job with the movie.  It has been a while, so I want to re-read the book now, but from what I remember, it seemed like the movie stayed pretty true to the book.  Have you read the book or watched the movie? What did you think?

I’m looking forward to catching up on all of your posts that I missed last week, and hope everyone in blogger land is doing well.

Shivering & Sleepy

Doesn't she look thrilled to go out?

I assume that most of you are being hit pretty hard with winter weather.  I know we are!  We mostly dodged the snow.  There were snow showers off and on for most of yesterday afternoon, but nothing really stuck.  The wind sounded much like the big bad wolf trying to blow the house down.  And it’s cold.  It’s crazy cold.  We dropped down to the single digits last night, and with the wind chill it feels like negative temperatures today. 

Nick came home from work sick yesterday with a nasty stomach bug, and spent the evening on the couch, with Duke as his self-appointed guardian.  It was really sweet the way Duke stayed right with him.  Duke likes me just fine, but Nick is definitely his person.  It works out well, because I am Emma’s person. 

I really hate the cold weather.  I dread going outside for anything, and it just feels like it sucks all of my energy.  I understand why some animals hibernate during the winter.  I’m fond of the idea myself. 

All of the fur kids were in sleepy, cuddly mode last night.  They seemed fine with the idea that we went to bed early, and cocooned ourselves in fleece sheets and blankets.  If you have to wake up because the wind is howling so loud, it’s nice to wake up surrounded by purring cats and a snoring dog.  They just look so cute all burrowed down in the warmth!

Always happy to go out! 

Emma was not at all impressed at having to get up and out of the warm bed this morning.  I kept hitting snooze on the alarm because I really didn’t want to get up and face the cold. Emma looked very approving every time I did.  She seemed to be suggesting that I just keep right on hitting snooze until the warmer weather is here to stay.  Unfortunately that wasn’t an option.

Duke doesn’t seem to mind the cold, and is always excited to go out for a walk.  He’s happy to take his time sniffing around even when the wind is icy and cuts right through you.  Emma tried to assure me that she was fine, and wouldn’t need to go out again until summer.  She could wait.  Really.  I didn’t buy it, so I bundled her up into a few sweaters and out we went. 

I’m pretty sure Emma set a record for how quickly a dog can take care of necessary business and be ready to go back inside.  Duke took his sweet time.  I think Emma is going to have words with him today. 

We’re not supposed to get any snow for the rest of the week, but it isn’t really going to warm up much either.  I’m very ready for warmer weather.  I’m tired of shivering and feeling sleepy. 

I hope you’re all staying warm!

Mid-Week Cuties

Happy Hump Day!  Here are some adorable fur kids to help put a smile on your face:

Smile, It’s Finally Friday!

So it’s finally Friday, the end of a long week.  It’s time to smile!  I thought this would be a great day to share some pictures of some smiling fur kids, in hopes that they’ll help you start your weekend off with a smile too. 

Milo, smiling while semi-napping next to Howard.

Frankie, having good dreams napping next to Howard.  Starting to see a pattern in  cuddling up to Howard...

Roxie, one of the transport dogs; she's smiling because she's on the way to her forever  home.

Annie, a dog who stayed with us during her journey to find her forever home.

Emma's so happy!