Sad Day

Today we had to put our chocolate lab Miss Maddie to sleep. Wednesday night she was no longer able to fully use her right leg and today her left paw would twist inward when she tried to walk. But she showed no sign of pain. Today was the first appointment we could get to see the veterinarian and she suspected degenerative nerve damage due to Maddie's age (she turned 12 this past Oct. 25) and the posturing of her paws. They offered us pain reduction regime, but also said the nerve damage is not curable and would only get worse.  So we made that hard decision.

I was afraid this might happen so before we left the house I cut up  some cheddar cheese for her (her favorite) and the vet tech checked to see what they had in the lunch room, because why not spoil her now? The refrigerator had been cleaned out, so all she could find was some whipped cream! A first time for Maddie and she thought it was GREAT, cleaning the plate! They also made a paw imprint in some plaster like stuff  that takes 48 hours to cure which is in a nice display box with the Rainbow Bridge Poem and place for her photo.

We stayed with her and I gave her ear rubs, belly rubs and gentle petting as she went to sleep. It was hard, but she had not been able to move around and was not able to do all the fun lab things she did before, even simple things like rolling over for belly rubs, patrolling her yard, greeting visitors, etc.

This is one of my favorite photos of her, she is very perky because I have a piece of cheese in one hand. If you look closely you can see a little bit of anticipatory drool on her right whiskers! I call it "Cheese Please"

Miss Maddie

10/25/2004 - 11/26/2016

Rescued by us 7/5/2008

SNOW!! Plus a bit of stitching.

This weekend, mostly Sunday we had SNOW! Final total here 10.5 inches plus snow drifts in places 16 to 24 inches. The snow was up to Miss Maddie's chest in places which made it tricky for her to do her business, but she managed!

 This is early on in the storm, right now all this area is covered by snow with some 16 inch drifts!

This our our back door this am. You can see where I trampled the snow to get the snow measurements and how much it drifted by the patio furniture.

Those deep areas near the bottom of the photo are the 16 in snow drifts Maddie and I had to get through to do our business, which of course she decided to do in one of the deeper areas of the yard! I had to find an area without drifts to do my measuring, but I need taller boots!!!

I planned ahead and did my grocery shopping on Saturday which left Sunday free to "play" in my studio, get some miscellaneous stuff done around the house, bake, and of course STITCH!!! 

Here is a little bit of what I worked on.

The cross stitch is a Lizzie Kate Snippet called "Hop Squared" copyright 2008 that I picked up this past Saturday on one of my "get it done before is snows" stops. I also stopped at JoAnn Fabrics, Hobbly Lobby and the grocery store....you see my priorities here!

This needlepoint is what I planned to work on, but did not. It is a freebie from the DMC-USA website that my night ANG group is doing as our February Chapter Project. We started it in February and will get ideas on finishing it at our March program. It calls for Satin Floss and Memory Thread, but I am using regular floss and the Memory Thread, I did not feel like messing with the slippery satin stuff!

I decided not to drive into work today on the slippery roads. The boss let me take annual leave, so we will see what trouble I can get in around the house today!!

Duck Pillow!!

May 20, 2012

Miss Maddie & A New start - A Sampler

Well, we had our first oops with Miss Maddie, you can read more about it here.

The last few months I have been working on various WIPs (Works In Progress) and am rewarding myself with a new project! I will be my first sampler of this type and is from Sampler & Antique Needlework which this year is presenting a sampler by Susan Haverson of Cross Stitch It. The sample is presented in three parts starting with the Spring Issue. I first told you about it here way back in January. The Summer issue with part two arrived last week and I thought I need to get started!! I already had all the threads (DMC) and the fabric (30 count cream Northern Cross Linen) and it was on the scroll frame. Nothing to stop me now!!

 Here is what I have so far:

Exciting....isn't it!!

Over all the finished piece will be 25 3/8" by 10 1/4". 

I love looking at samplers, learning the history etc., but I have never stitched one. I hope this is one I can get done in a reasonable amount of time. I have a Scottish Sampler in my stash and hope to do that one next (as in next sampler, not necessarily next project). We will see!!

Have a GREAT weekend everyone!!

Flower Patch and Miss Maddie Updates

Well, Miss Maddie is going much better and mom is happy she finally pooped last night! She is putting some weight on her leg and getting a bit sassy, so I know she is well to being back to normal. This will be the harder part keeping her calm when she feels and thinks she is just fine! Still needs the e-collar when not supervised since the staples will not come out until May 24. Here is one thing she still does best:

Go to Miss Maddie's World for more frequent and detail updates if interested.

Also, I am about done with Flower Patch. I needed to decide if I was going to leave it this way or add the WDW (Weekes Dye Works) Mascara to the center area around the flowers. Well yesterday while home waiting for the dog to poop, I decided to fill it in. I am about half done and ran out of floss, but hope to have the finished photo for you soon.

That is about all for now. Have a great week everyone!!

Miss Maddie is home after surgery!

Miss Maddie is home!! Yippee, happy wags all around! Visit Miss Maddie's World for a more detailed update.

She sleeps! Busy healing.

Miss Maddie has a blog!

Call me crazy, but I decided to start a blog about Miss Maddie and her TPLO surgery and rehab. If you are curious it is Miss Maddie's World - which was taken as a blogspot name so I used this http://lifeasalab.blogspot.com/

Only one post for now, but we'll see how it goes. Thanks to all of your well wishes for her. She's a kisser so, kisses to you all!

Miss Maddie's ACL & TPLO Surgery

Today Miss Maddie is having the TPLO surgery to repair her torn ACL. We bought a 48" crate for her recovery. We thought about an exercise pen, but we were not certain she would not try to jump out. The crate we had for her already, was too small and she could not turn around with her e-collar on - she could get in but no turning. I investigated other collars, but feel safest with the e-collar (aka megaphone, cone of shame, etc). We also felt that if she is going to be in the crate for weeks that a bigger one would be nicer since she can move around a little bit, but not a lot and no jumping. For the first 6 weeks she must be confined to allow the bones to heal.
I will hear at noon or later how she did and we will probably pick her up tomorrow afternoon. She was not a happy camper about no breakfast, but I was surprised she was not too vocal. She did hang out in the kitchen by her bowls though and any hand near by was checked for milk bones -even at the vets office!

I will let you know more later.

Bookmarks, Scissor Fob & Miss Maddie

Just some random items for a Friday, a Good Friday at that!

I decided to try and make the Hungarian Embroidery bookmark on even weave and found this 22 count in my stash. In the photo the top bookmark is the project from Monday's Foothills EGA chapter program done on 18 count (I think) aida. The bottom is done on 22 count evenweave. I made this for a Christmas gift for someone who shall remain nameless.

I got a bee in my bonnet and decided to make a simple scissor fob out of felt. The ribbon is not orange as the picture looks, it is more bubble gum pink...sigh.

We had a nice warm sunny day yesterday and I took a close-up of Miss Maddie looking out the front door. It is a close up because I was sitting on the floor right next to her enjoying the view too!!

HAPPY DAY EVERYONE!!

Miss Maddie Needs Surgery

Well, we scheduled Miss Maddie for TPLO surgery on May 10. Little does she know what she is in for!! But after 4 months of rehab, she should be a very happy camper!!

Have a great day everyone!

Miss Maddie Has Been Limping

I will have fun stitching post later today or tomorrow, but I thought I would share the not so fun news that Miss Maddie tore the equivalent of her ACL and needs surgery! It has a 4 month recovery half of those spent in a crate it seems. Not to mention we need a first born child to sell in order to help pay for it! She is still young enough and otherwise healthy (she is only 7 years old) so she has some good years ahead, if we have the surgery done. Without the surgery she could get better, but would always have a limp and not enjoy running and playing, so we are saving up to get it done. Oh, boy!!

Do as I Say, Not as I (don’t) do

Here in the states when we change from or to Day Light Savings time it is suggested we also change the batteries in our smoke detectors. I even reminded my blog readers on my blog. But did I do it???? NOOOO!

So last night at 3:50 am, I am sound asleep and hear this beep and a female voice that says “low battery.” Having been sound asleep, and hubby still sound asleep, I wonder if I dreamed it? So I lay awake for a bit, but finally fall back asleep. Then at 4:20 am I hear a beep and the female voice saying “low battery.” This time hubby wakes up too, and of course if we are up so is the dog.

I go downstairs for a 9 volt battery. No battery, so I go upstairs and take one out of the clock radio in the guest room, hoping it has enough oomph to make the alarm happy until I can get a new battery. We screw the alarm off the ceiling and peer into the battery slot and see three AA batteries. So, down the stairs I go for the correct batteries.  Batteries replaced, alarm screwed back on the holder, step stool put away and the dog calmed. She was shaking and right at the bottom of the step stool! She HATES the low battery beep. At the other house she hid under the bed for the entire night once.

By this time it is approximately 4:30 am. Hubby can’t go back to sleep and decides to go to work early. I lay there for about half an hour and finally fall asleep only to be woken by the alarm a half our later at 5:30. I see lots of coffee in my future today!

Because all good blog posts should have a picture, here is Miss Maddie in her Christmas finery, sent by my friend Sandra who lives in NY State.

zzzzzzzzzzz - she does that so well!

BUSTED!! Dec. 12, 2011

Just as I suspected!

Caught in the act when I was home sick earlier in the week!

Miss Maddie and her menagerie!

Miss Maddie was funny Sunday. She ran down the stairs from the kitchen into the family room and picked up beaver. She then dropped it and ran a few steps to pick up rabbit. She then went to the back door and dropped rabbit and turned back to pick up duck.  Out she went with duck! Decisions, decisions!!

Halloween Dog

I remembered I had this little black witch's hat and wondered if Miss Maddie would wear it. Well she did! She was such a little trooper and did not complain or try and get it off all night. Our first lab would have pawed if off right away. I gave here a couple of baby carrots as her treat for the evening.

You may notice she has her best friend duck with her!

Always safest to trick or treat in pairs you know ;)

Miss Maddie turns gray followup

In case any of you are wondering how Miss Maddie looked for her first visit to the new veterinarian. Well the paint was all gone by Saturday. Most had just wore off and I gently brushed her ear and got that all off. So she was her pretty little self on exam day.

But, I noticed a couple of weeks ago she had turned itchy when ever petted and the doctor thinks she may have an alergy. She also had a gunky (my non-technical term) left ear. Possible infection which could be also food alergy related, or water in the ear at some point. So, since we had her groomed not too long ago, can't say for sure the cause. Now we are treating the ear, which she handles quite well, and giving her generic zyrtec. Since we recently moved and changed her food and had her groomed, can't tell for sure if it is an seasonal alergy or food. But if she is still itchiy come November/ December we can narrow it down to a food alergy. Isn't doggie ownership fun???

Miss Maddie Suddenly Turns Gray!

I came home from work yesterday and it looked like Miss Maddie had suddenly turned gray while we were at work! 

No, silly girl pushed her way through the door jam that had wet paint! Saturday she gets her annual booster shots and meets her new veterinarian for the first time. What an impression she will make! But I bet she is not the first dog they have seen with paint on their fur!

Kids these days!



EUREKA! June TUSAL & Miss Maddie

The ort jar has been found!! And I placed all the orts I have accumulated since the last new moon into it. Last Friday (May 27), I had the California Closets Office System reinstalled into my new studio, and I spent the Memorial Day Weekend unpacking and putting things away (I will post more on this later) and I found the jar.

In a post that seems to have gotten lost in blogger land, I mentioned that I was a pilot stitcher for a possible future EGA Group Correspondence Course (GCC) and while I could not post pictures yet, my ort jar has orts from it. The dark peach, periwinkle, green and mauve threads are from that; I also discovered a WIP from 2006 that was well over half done and I pulled it out to work on (also a planned future post). It has some peach thread too. I see some lavender in there too and I am not sure what that is from….hmmm. Anyway, things are about back to normal after the move. We still have a few things to take care of and slowly but surely it is getting done.

We bought a tri-level with basement style house (also called split levels in some parts of the country) and I leave you with a picture of Miss Maddie at the top of the stairs that lead from the family room to the kitchen. She is mostly on the landing coming up from the living room that also have stairs (unseen in the photo) that lead to the bedrooms on the upper level. She seems to like to find a spot where she can keep track of everything (unless she is in one of her "caves"). She has a few spots in the house that is surrounded by walls and/or furniture that we call here cave. She seems to like some peace and quiet once in a while.

WOOF!

TUSAL - May and Miss Maddie

Well, the ort jar is still in a box, but I did do some stitching this month and I have an ort pile (rather small, but orts none the less).

The dark green ribbon that almost looks black is really a nice green, but my lighting was not so great for this picture. I am still trying to find a good photo spot in the new house. I also put in a large paperclip to give you an idea of the size of the pile.

Now on to Miss Maddie, who seems to be enjoying the new house and her view out the front door. Note she has brought rabbit to enjoy the scene and fresh air too. I have sad news to report on "duck". Regular readers may recall that I replaced her duck after 16 months because it finally developed a seam rip and all my sewing stuff was packed. It had lost the "honk" many months ago, so I decided Maddie would get a new duck at the new house. She did, it lasted two weeks and developed a rip!! I did notice when I bought it that it did not appear to be quite the same duck as the old one and I guess I was correct. So now she has two ducks in the hospital and none to play with! But she likes rabbit too.

Happy Stitching EVERYONE!!

Miss Maddie

I meant to post these picutures last week, but life got in the way. I think you may like them anyway! As you may recall from prior posts, Miss Maddie broke a nail and was bandaged and e-collared. After three days I took her in for bandage removal but it had not healed enough so she came home looking like this:

She only had to be e-collared when left alone. She had to keep the bandage on until the following Monday (four days). This meant she could not run and play and all potty trips were on leash. We were hoping and praying that when she came out of the Veterinarian's back room she would be bandage-less. And she was - look ma (and pa) no bandage!!

She is a good dog and has the sleep part of her day down pat.