Good Bye, sweet Katie

January 23 my darling St. Bernard Katie left me. She was 12 years, 7 months, and 17 days old. That is a long life for a St. Bernard.
Katie had a good life with lots of love and attention. She was an almost constant companion of mine. When we went to look at the puppies SHE chose me and we were best buds from then on. We traveled together whenever we could. She went to North Carolina with us when we went to visit Dean. She went to Virginia with us when Dale was working there. She went to town with me tons of times. She was well known in several stores around town. When we opened the pet bakery she went to work with me until she started having mobility issues.
For the past several months her mobility was progressively getting worse. By the end her hindquarters did not work at all. I had made a sling to lift her so we could go outside to potty. It was hard to lift her sometimes but I continued to do it, with Dale's help sometimes.
She was a very special pet. I have a vertigo problem and when Kate still came upstairs to sleep I woke more than once to find her laying across me so I couldn't get up. When I would wake I would be very dizzy. Katie knew. She would also keep me from standing when she sinced a vertigo bout coming on.
Pets are much smarter than a lot of people give them credit for.
Monday when I got home from the nursing home Kate was whimpering. She was laying flat on her side in the family room. She had phlegm all aroud her head and front legs. I called my son to come in. I cleaned her up as much as I could and talkec to her. I called Dale at work and he headed right home. I noticed that Katie was bloated and called the vet. The vet said she thought Katie had a twisted stomach. Surgery was the only way to fix it. I could not put Kate through that at her age since the vet said she only had about a 25% chance. It nearly killed me but I had to let her go.
She is gone but will not be forgotten. She will always be my baby.
Thank you for 12 1/2 wonderful years, my sweet Kate. Mommy loves you.

SnowDrop update....

I have finished the body of the SnowDrop and have (barely) started on the edging. It has been put aside for a bit as I need to finish up a pair of socks for my nevvie and I also need to make a couple of pair of socks for me before winter.

Not much going on here. I'll try to get a new pic of the shawl sometime soon, but no promises.

Katie is doing pretty well. She is 12 years, almost 3 months. She is an OLD lady now but she is still my beautiful St. Bernard and a wonderful girl.
The other day when I had her out on the patio to get some cool fresh air she somehow managed to scoot and wriggle her way off of the patio across the narrow back yard and into the high weeds on the hill side. Luckily D has not had time to bushhog this summer so the weeds are really high and thick so they stopped her from going on down the hill.
She did manage to get both of her back feet into dog poop. That was fun trying to get it off of her feet. I finally took a quart size baggy and put water in it and slipped her foot in, held the top closed and massaged the water around her foot. They came clean, thank goodness.
Now I make sure to close the gateway with the bench whenever she is out on the patio. I never dreamed she would work her way off of it since she can't get up by herself anymore. I really thought she was safe. What I know!!
I had gone out on the deck to throw some dog hair out (if I had put it in the trash can it would just have floated back out where I have a ceiling fan on for her along with the AC. When I went out I could hear her woofing but I could not find her. I started to panic and began calling to her. Then I noticed the weeds moving each time she would woof. I hurried back into the house to get my boots on (they have a good grip sole on them which I need outside on the hillside to get Katie up without sliding down the hill myself) and go out and rescue her.
I got her up without any trouble and we made it up to the patio even though I did not have her sling/blanket with me. She was worn out so she lay down on the patio and I pulled the bench across the gateway opening.

The Tracy Shawl....

Well that was really smart. I posted this post with just a title. Guess it saves on the typing.

Went to Columbus today with DH for a meeting. Afterwards he took me to Knitters Mercantile so I could get some yarn for the Tracy Shawl. I got Jojoland Melody Superwash in colorway MS20. Evidently they do not put word colors on their yarn. It is 100% wool and feels very nice. The colors are a mix of burgundies and blues. I am hoping it turns out ok. I really like the colors so it should be fine to me.

I'll take some pics when I start the shawl which won't be for a while yet as I am working on the SnowDrop Shawl. I am on row 63 and I think I am going to have to frog it and start again. I am using lace weight yarn and Stephanie said to use a size 4mm needle which I am doing, but it is just turning out to open looking. So I think I will frog and go down a couple of sizes. I know it sounds like a lot of work is going to be torn out but you start with just one stitch so it isn't as bad as all that. Besides, I will probably never be happy with it as it is so if I am going to put all that work in I had better be sure I like the look.

I had my Omelet Shawl with me and the ladies in the store really loved it. One was very impressed and asked if it was hard to knit. Really it isn't, it is just that the pattern is so involved that you can't really memorize it. Or at least I couldn't.

Katie and I are sitting outside. It is cool enough that she can stand it, probably in the high to mid 60's. She gets to stay outside so little now that summer is here. Whenever it is cool enough I like to bring her out. She does love the outdoors....when it is cool. LOL I would love it more if the bugs would quit eating my ankles.

Another weekend came and went

Friday was D's birthday and then of course Sunday was Father's Day. The kids took us out to dinner for his bday and then we had a cookout here at the house for Father's Day.

When everyone started coming in Katie wanted up in the main part of the house with us. I wasn't sure she could climb up her ramp now but decided to give it a try. She came up fine with a little help from me. When she got into the kitchen she came on into the dining room and lay down between D's and my chairs just like she used to when she could come up the steps by herself. She was happy as a clam when she got in there.

I got D a cover for his Holland grill for father's day. Or at least I thought I had gotten him a cover. When he opened the bag up it was actually a bag to carry like a small portable grill in. I guess I will have to try again Thursday when the bakery opens. I tried, honest I did. There was no one at the bakery who could tell me anything about the covers and they were all in bags so how was I to know? No problem, I'll just exchange it.

Katie went for her weekly laser today. It really does seem to help her. She almost always needs my help to get up on her feet but once she does she can walk on her own. I have to help her when she goes to potty because her legs just won't hold her up long enough to do the job. I will help her as long as needed. That is what we do.

Until later.

The Birthday Girl

Monday was Katie's 12th birthday. I am so blessed to still have her. In human years for a large breed dog she is now 90 years old. That is quite an accomplishment. Way to go, Katie.

Her health is still good. Her biggest problem is mobility. She has quite a bit of trouble getting to her feet. I have to almost always help her up, but once she is up on her feet and gets her balance she is still able to walk unaided.

I had ordered special doggie cake mix and a bone shaped pan to make her a birthday cake. I ordered it a week and a half before her birthday but it did not come in time. It actually shipped out Monday. Anyway, I made her a brownie cake in a bone shaped tin that I have. The brownie recipe is a doggie brownie. It uses carob instead of chocolate and the sweetener is only 3 T of honey. It REALLY tastes good!!! I had been wanting some chocolate so I ate a bite when I was serving it to the girls. It was good. LOL

The storm that we had pass through yesterday really upset Kate. She would not settle down. She just kept chirping (she has a paralyzed larynix and she very seldom barks anymore, it just comes out sounding like a loud bird chirp) and wanting up then not knowing where to go so she would lay down again. I was going nuts not being able to make her feel better.
The storms are over and she is doing ok today.

Supposed to be another scorcher here today, in the upper 90's. Guess Kate and I will stay in the house today. She has already been out the morning to go potty and we won't be going back out again until it cools down this evening. Luckily she has always been able to hold her potty for long periods of time. There is no way she could go out when it is so hot.

SummerTime and random thoughts.....

Well, it is summertime by the temperature. It has been hot as can be here the last few days. I am not going to complain, though. It beats all the rain and cold that we had been having.

Yesterday it was up in the 90's, which may not sound too bad to some of you but that is way over what we should be having now. Today it is only going to be in the 80's. Since it is supposed to be so "cool" today I think I will try to get the lawn mown. D has decided to let me mow grass again. When I start having headaches and trouble breathing I am sure he will make me stop again. I really enjoy mowing. It was always my "quiet time" when the kids were young and at home. I would get on my mower with earplugs, a hat, sunglasses, and a mouth mask and just mow to my hearts content. The kids would leave me alone while I was mowing. :)

Kate is still hanging in there. I always have to help her when she goes to potty and I have to help her up more often, but we are doing ok. She will be 12 next Monday which is 90 in large breed doggie years.

I am knitting on the Omelet Shawl in a KAL and also doing WendyKnits Mystery Shawlette KAL. I have one more part for Wendy's shawlette and it will be done. The pattern will come out around 4:30ish today. The Omelet is coming along faster than I thought it would. I have made it all the way to Chart D and am about half way through that. I have the rest of it and Chart E to do and I will be done with it Chart E has 34 rows and about a gazillion stitches. The Omelet started small and ends big and the Mystery Shawlette starts big and ends small. I am not really sure which approach I prefer. It is nice to have each row grow less as you go along but then it is also nice to start small and get a feel for the pattern before you have a gazillion stitches.

We got the pool opened over the weekend. We still have not put the steps in. Maybe we will do that tonight. I wanted to get it all vacuumed before we put the steps in. The auto vacuum doesn't work too well after the steps are in. It always wants to hang up on them, silly thing.

The ramp....continued

D got the ramp extension all finished and in place. Now I have to be very careful when I go out into the garage as the extension is permanently attached to the step just out of the door. I know I am going to fall off of it sooner or later. I told D that I need to make a signe and tape it to the window of the door (just at my eye level) to remind me to be careful of the step.
Kate is doing fine for an 11 1/2 year old St Bernard. We need to get her up into the main part of the house so we can have our annual Christmas picture taken. Maybe this weekend we can do that.

Sliding....

My Katie and I had a thrill last Saturday.
It has been snowing all day long and we had about 2.5 inches, which is really a lot for us this early in the season.
I had been gone off and on most of the day so when I finally came home for good for the night around 10 pm I let Katie out to pottie, went into the kitchen to put my purse and knitting down and told D that I was going out to make sure Katie had no slid over the hill. Our back yard has no yard now due to the pool, the hot tub and my deck but it does have a rather large hill. I was just a tad late going out to check on her.
She had evidently squatted to do her business and had slid about 1/3 of the way down the hill. I still had on my dress shoes which are rather slick on the bottom so when I tried to carefully get down the hill to Kate I slipped and fell and slid to her. She seemed to be ok, was not struggling, just laying there waiting for Mom to come rescue her as I have done countless times in the past. I got myself up on my feet and went around to the rear of her and tried to get her up. I kept slipping so I could not get her up. Finally I just v'ed my feet around her hiny and began to yell for D. Every once in a while Katie would help me yell by going "Woof". Every time she would woof we would slide about an inch down the hill. I kept telling her to be quiet and not bark that Daddy would be there to get us soon.
Our house is rather well insulated. If you pull up in the drive and blow the horn we cannot hear it in the family room. I knew there was no way Dale would hear me but I yelled and screamed anyway. I figured that my MIL or my daughter would probably hear me and call to find out what was wrong. They didn't.
Dale had gone on upstairs to change his clothes. The dressing room is in the front of the house, naturally. When he finished changing and came back into the bedroom he noticed his dog sitting up on our bed looking out the window. She never does that so he went over to see what she was looking at and saw me standing part way down the hill.
When he came out he was in Christmas shorts, a sleeveless tee and his house slippers. He asked what I needed. I told him to get some shoes on that were not slick so we could get Kate back up the hill. He asked what I needed to get her up and I told him to bring her harness. (She has a car seat harness that we use when she goes in the van, and I thought that would be the best thing to use.) He went in and got it and changed and came out to help me.
I somehow managed to get her harness under her and before I could actually fasten it D took hold of her and she got up. With me pushing from behind and him gently tugging we got her back up the hill to the patio and she walked on in to the house on her own.
I was really worried that she might have hurt herself since she is old now (11 1/2 years old, which is very old for a Saint Bernard) and is having some mobility issues. She has hip displasia.
I gave her an extra pain pill before bed and the next morning she seemed to be just fine.
Monday she went for her weekly laser treatment on her hips and knees and there does not seem to be any damage done.
We decided that we needed to make her a ramp so that she could go out in the front yard from now on. So Monday evening Dale was working on a ramp extension from my embroidery shop door out into the garage. I have a ramp I use to get her in and out of my van and I suggested that he just build a sort of cheater ramp that we could attach the car ramp to and make it dual purpose. He had just about finished it. He was out in the woodshop hand sawing something on it when the saw jumped and cut his knuckle. He came to the house and asked for some steri strips to fix it up.
When he showed me the cut I told him that it was going to have to have stitches. This was about 8:10 in the evening and the urgent care at our clinic closes at 8, bummer. We called our son to drive us to Chillicothe to the emergency room there (I don't like to drive after dark out of my comfort zone). On the way there we decided to try the other urgent care clinic in town first. We got there at 8:45 and they didn't close until 9 so we got lucky. They stitched him up (4 stitches) wrapped it up and sent us on home.
I think that this is the end of the Saturday night saga but then he hasn't finished the ramp thingy yet.
I take Kate out to pottie and don't let her get near the edge of the little bit of level we have out back.

Can you believe it?

I never thought to see gas this low again. Just over a month ago, Sept 28, we filled my van up and gas was $3.83, that is almost a $2 drop. It is nice to see the price go down but it is also scary. Time will tell.

I am still down here in VA but I have both of my dogs with me. Betsie, the smaller dog, now sleeps in Katie's old cage. Yesterday when my little friend A and her Mom and brother came to visit me A decided that she wanted to play that Betsie's bed was her house....

At one point Betsie was in there with her but I must have missed that picture. It was cute and Betsie was very careful to not hurt A.

Katie says, "Just let me lay here and keep watch."

Later in the evening Betsie got into her little hidey hole and took a nap.

That is the fireplace in my room. It is a gas one so it is just a flip of a switch and I have a nice fire. Only bad thing is that it has been too hot this week to use it. Well, D did turn it on Monday morning but it was so hot in here I could barely breathe so I had to shut it down. Looks like we will be in this room pretty much the rest of the year so I should get to use it.

Back in Virginia

We got back to VA Sunday evening. This time I have both of the dogs with me. It is so good to have Katie along. I really missed her when she was at home and I was here. She is a good dog and a good traveler. Her one big problem is that she is mouthy. She has to bark at anyone new she sees until I tell her to hush. Betsie hardly ever barks.

I got a new "toy"/work item. Here it is. Is'nt she pretty? It may not embroider as fast or as large as my commercial machine but she is portable. This way I can get all those shirts for D done that I just do not have the time to do when we are at home. Monday it took me about half of the day to figure out how to run her, how to set up the design, and which presser foot to put on so I only got 4 shirts done. Yesterday when I started I had all of that figured out so I managed to get 12 shirts done. One thing about her sewing slower is that I have time to knit a row or two between having to change shirts. (So I am getting some knitting done this week.) I have 4 more XL's to do, 17 L's, a pullover sweatshirt, a zip sweatshirt, and 11 fleece beanies. I hope to get all of that done before we go home this weekend. Then next time we come down I hope to have some longsleeve tees to do up. It makes the day go so much faster with something to do.

It is a little after 9 so it is time to go "shopping" for the day. I have to get a few things for dinner tonight and I need to find some silicon spray for my embroidery. Also, I go out at this time so Wilma can come in and clean without having to work around Katie. (Katie is too big to fit in the dog cage.)

Audrey and Marit, I mailed out your PIF packages last week. Aud, yours may be there now or in a day or so, Marit, I don't know how long it will take for you to get yours. Hope you girls like what I sent. :)

Maybe more later.....

Back again.

Can you believe it? We just got home from VA around 5:30 Friday evening, got a call around 6 that we had to be back in VA the next day as D has to work today. Soooo, we slept in our own bed one night and back on the road.

Thankfully they just put all new mattresses in the hotel last Monday and they are nice mattresses. This Super8 is 8 years old but to look at it you would think that it is only a couple of years old. They really keep the place clean. I am very impressed with the place. This little town only has 3 motels in it and this is the best of them. We have been here so much here lately that the ladies at the front desk made a special reservation for D and I and put us in the biggest regular king room. It is probably about 6 foot longer than the normal room, which may not sound like much, but when you only have one room to live in for two weeks it means a lot. I makes for more room for me and Betsie to move around in during the day.

The staff here are all very friendly and super nice. They are love Betsie and make a point to pet her whenever we are out walking. I take her walkies 2 to 3 times a day for 30 minutes.

Friday when we were going home we had to stop and get gas and can you believe these prices:

We thought we would never see gas below $3 again. This was down here in VA, at home in OH it is $3.13 a gallon. I didn't have my camera with me when I saw the prices in Ohio.

When I was packing clothes to come back down here I took a break to go out to lunch with D and our kids. I hadn't seen them in a week and I won't get to see them again for 2 weeks, so it was a break that I was very glad to take. When I got home I found this:

I had left my lingerie drawer open and Coley climbed in it. He even stayed there while I went down and got the camera and came back to take a picture. He is a very intellegent cat, he is sleeping on my hand knit socks. LOL. Love the little baby.

I'll leave you with a picture I took of Katie, my very special baby.

Katie is thirsty

Katie loves to drink from a faucet. Until the last year or so she always got her drink from the sink in the powder room. She loves the running water.

Is it September (almost) already?

I am a baaaadddd blogger. I have great intentions but I just don't seem to come in here and post like I intend to. It has been about a month and a half since I last updated. So here goes.

The Foot:

It is coming along nicely. I am off of the crutches, thank goodness and am back into my surgical shoe and limping around nicely.

I managed to fall off of my crutches 3 times, fall over in the laundry room once while balancing on one foot and turned the walked over once. I was really on a roll, or should I say a fall? Luckily I did not break anything else when I fell.

My animals:

I have a new critter. Two weeks ago I purchased a Booda Cat Litter Box at a pet store in Chillicothe. They had had to order it for me as they no longer carry them in the store on a regular basis. We had been in Columbus all day and it was late when we got home so we did not unpack the van. As a matter of fact, we did not do so until Sunday when we were getting ready to go to a family reunion.

When D got the litter box out of the van he dropped it and it fell apart. That is when he realized that there was a small critter in the box. (I found out about a week later that it is a Robo Hamster.) When I saw it I told D that we would take it back to the pet store when we went to Chillicothe the next time. Wellll, in the meantime we put him down in a cat litter bucket with a cup of water and a bit of cat food, I had nothing else to feed him. Since there was not critter litter in there, he soon became a really stinky mess and I decided that there was no way I could take him back so I decided to just keep him. D put some hay in the bucket along with a flat rock and wedged the water cup down into the hay. This really helped him out a lot and after a day or so he didn't look so bad. When I finally got back to Chillicothe to get a cage and other stuff for him he didn't look half bad. I told the clerk there what had happened and she said that probably some kid had put him in the litter box. I said that I was going to bring him back and she said no, never mind. I asked her what they cost and she told me $25.95!!! Can you believe that for a little hamster?!

Anyway, D's dog has taken a liking to Crit and will sit for long periods of time and just watch him. She also takes great exception to any of my cats trying to come and look at him. I may have to take him out to my office to keep the cats safe from Betsie. The cats cannot get to him but Betsie just does not care. She does not want them near.

A few pics of Crit, Betsie, and Cole.

Katie has an infection/fungus/? on her foot and I have to put a glove on it if she goes out to potty when the grass is wet. We went to Wal-M Friday evening trying to find some child's shoes that we could use for her foot. We found a pair of knock off Croc type shoes but her foot would not fit into them. D tried a rubber glove that he uses for washing the vehicles but it would not stay on. Finally I tried a latex cleaning glove and it worked. When I put it on her she pouts and acts all mistreated. She is so funny. She is 9 years old now and that is old for a St Bernard. I have talked with people who have had St's live for 12 to 14 years. I can only hope. When I took her to the vet because she was limping I ended up with a $253+ vet bill. She is worth every penny of it. Even D did not complain. I guess St's aren't that popular because they are a high maintenance dog. They don't eat alot but they do have health issues and when they need meds it is mega doses. I love her, what more do I need to say.

The owls:

The owls I told about in the last post seemed to have moved on. Then the other night D and I saw one of them. Again, it was dusky and we could not get a picture of it. I still have hopes of getting a picture. I am fascinated with them.

Guess that is it for now. I have pictures of some finished socks, maybe I will be back tomorrow to post pictures of those.

Happy Labor Day to everyone who celebrates it

Funny, but no pictures.

Last evening my girls and my son were regaling me with stories of what I did in the hospital when I got to my room after surgery. I really think that they were exaggerating. LOL

The kids told me that as soon as I got to my room I had to have them put MY socks on me and put MY pillowcase on my pillow. (I sleep on a satin pillow case and I took one to the hospital with me.)

My DIL said that I kept shushing her. I do remember telling her to shush once or twice, but I don't remember as many times as she said. She said that at one point I even shushed nurses out in the hall. I guess I wanted quiet!

At one point in the afternoon my hubby went to get something to eat. (I don't remember a thing of this.) I had been holding his hand and when I woke and no one was holding my hand I panicked, so I made my son and daughter hold my hands. I was told that I looked at my DIL and told her that she was one of mine now but I was sorry I had no more hands to hold so she could hold my toe. (I told her that she really should feel honored as NO ONE touches my feet. LOL)

I also kept telling my daughter to sit down. For some reason I did not want her standing up. If I thought I saw her standing I would immediately tell her to sit down! She said that the nurses had to work around her as I had to either be holding her hand or she had to be sitting on the foot of my bed.

Everyone had told me that I would not be allowed to go home until I passed gas. I guess that was praying on my mind as I am really not a gassy person but my husband makes up for me. :) I told my DIL that if she stayed around long enough that day she would here me f***. Then I said oh wait maybe you can here me now and I did a raspberry with my tongue. They were cracking up. (My son and DIL have been married for 9 years and she is still waiting to here me. Unusual girl that one is. LOL)

I have talked about my dog Katie on here lots of times. I had taken a little stuffed Boyd's stuffed St. Bernard to the hospital with me. I lost it at one point and had my son looking for "Katie". When he finally realized what I wanted he found it.

They were so glad for their Dad to get back. My son told his Dad that he could hold my hand now as his arm was breaking from the way that I was holding onto him.

I guess I am a cheap drunk when it comes to anesthesia. It doesn't take much to put me out and keep me out. I had my surgery around 8 am on Monday and didn't really wake up until Thursday evening.

My DIL told my son that if she ever needed to have surgery she was not allowing ANY of the family in her room until she woke up completely. LOL. I really made an impression on her! I told her last night that she might not be like I was. It all depends on how she takes to anesthesia.

One thing is for sure I kept the family well entertained while they were there with me.

The day after my surgery when hubby came to see me I was still mostly asleep. He would have to wake me between bites of my lunch. I was still so groggy that I would take a bite and before I could get it chewed up and swallowed I would fall asleep. I don't think I managed to finish a meal while it was hot for several days.
The day we went home I remember leaving the hospital parking lot and then pulling into our drive and it is about a 40 to 45 minute drive home.

So are some of the highlights of my hospital stay.

Everyone have a good day.

A glorious Sunday afternoon

It is a glorious Sunday afternoon and I am not sure what happened. I put in the title and must have hit the wrong key because it published instead of going into the body.

I have off loaded pictures to this laptop to put on this post, but guess what? The little icon to add pictures is not here. Is it me? Has it been so long since I have posted that I have forgotten where to find the icon or is blogger being mean today? At this point I am not sure. When I can figure out where the icon is I will add some pictures to this post of just start a new one and put them there.

A little over a month ago we had a lovely dog show up here at the house. I fell in love with her when I saw her and told my hubby that she HAD to be a mix of Saint Bernard and German Shepherd. When D took her to the vet she agreed with him that that was probably what she is. So she is a Saint German now. LOL She is such a noodlehead and such a good nurse to me. Since I have come home from the hospital she has been amazingly gentle with me and will even lend her support if I get shaky on my feet and this pup is not a year old yet!! She is even more atuned to D so I would hate to think how protective she would be if he was hurting. D named her Betsie.
My little black cat has appointed himself as my personal and ONLY nurse. He will not let the other cats come near Mom and doesn't even want my Saint Bernard to come too close. He barely left my side from the time I came home Wed afternoon until last evening. I had been sleeping down here as D had not gotten my stool to get into bed made and Cole was my constant companion. He was here if he was not eating or outside for a few minutes. I guess since I was able to go upstairs to sleep last night he is not as close on duty today. He has not been here with me for about an hour now. I miss the little guy.