Day 362

Such a happy girl!

Day 360

We made a caterpillar habitat in our old fish tank and he spent all night cocooning! I don't know if I'm more excited, or the kids!

My Molly-Moo

On Saturday, we finally said goodbye to our family dog, Molly. She was 17 years old this spring! She has very literally grown up with our family--my youngest brother was just one year old when she joined us. She was sent, by plane, from my Uncle Everett's farm in Ontario and she was the best dog our family could ever have asked for.

Even with three kids, five piglets and a flock of chicken, she always had energy to spare. She was protective. She would run endless circles around the sand pit while we were playing, always keeping a watchful eye over us. She was smart. She knew exactly how far up the driveway she, and we, were allowed to go. She was loyal--always at my mothers heels and by my fathers side when  he whistled. She was happy. She always looked like she was smiling, even in these last few months of her life when just walking along the hardwood floor was a task for her.

I will love her and miss her forever but there is a part of me that is very glad that she was finally put to rest. It's been hard to watch age take its affect on her over the last few years. It started with a bout of vertigo while my dad was away hunting 3 or 4 years ago this fall, and her health has been going downhill since then. Her hips had been giving her trouble for the last couple of years and they finally gave up sometime last week and my parents had resorted to carrying her outside to go to the washroom. Not a good life for any dog, but especially for our Molly who was always so eager to be wherever we were.

Even through all of this, though, she was still so happy. When I got to my parents to say goodbye on Saturday she was still smiling and wagging her tail as I walked over and was smothering me in kisses. I'll miss her freckled nose, the long silky hair behind her ears that she loved have scratched, her big, happy, brown eyes. So it's still hard to know that she's gone.

I don't know if dogs go to heaven, but knowing Molly, it's hard to imagine that there's not something else for her out there somewhere. I'm so glad that we were able to give her such a loving home for so long and will always cherish the memories I have of her. Herding us in the sandbox, camping, swimming in lakes, her puppies, the way she so instinctively knew that Samantha was something special, something to be protected and would sit with her whole head over Sam's belly if she was ever on the floor, even when having her diaper changed. 

Molly with my brother John

Off on another camping trip

Sorry this one looks funny--I cut it up to use in an album when I was younger. But, like I said, always smiling.

Fuzzy picture, but she's in her glory, roaming the yard, looking out for us.

Camping with the whole Veddar gang. All of our childhood friends (I'm on the left holding Molly) and Molly's late friends Chief and...sorry, I forget what the Wildemann's dogs name was...

John and Molly

Protecting Sam when she was just two months old..

Just so content to be with her.

Oh, miss Molly-moo. I'll love you forever.

RAW(e): Bailey

Harley

This morning Harley was hit by a car and killed instantly. The car took off (of course) but there was a nice neighbour of ours who stayed with him until we got outside to make sure he wasn't hit again.

Harley could be SUCH a pain in the butt at times but he was equally sweet. He was even more cuddly than my Bailey is and he was SO good with Sam. He loved to get into things he shouldn't have. Just from memory I can tell you he's torn into a bag of rolled oats, a bag of cat treats, a bag of goldfish (like the crackers), a bag of cat food, cereal, wheat thins, nevermind licking the remnants out of any bowls on the counter. He loved licking the empty cans of tuna and last week he got wet cat food for the first time and loved it. If I were giving treats to the cats I would have to either hold him while Bailey ate hers or throw one on the other side of the room while I slipped one to Bailey because he would literally eat the treat right out of her mouth. We had to screw the water dish to the floor in the laundry room because within minutes of me filling it up Harley would knock it over and the whole liter of water would spill all over the floor. He was a very stinky cat. It was almost unbearable. He knew where I kept all of my hair elastics and would scour all of the different places as soon as he got in the house to find something to play with. First he'd check my nightstand, then into the bathroom and up on the sink so he could reach the ledge, the coffee table, my purse, the kitchen table. He knew it drove me nuts to see them lying all over the house.

He once stole Jareds wedding ring off the ledge in the bathroom while he was having a shower and hid it somewhere only to bring it back a week later just when we thought he must have knocked it into the toilet and it had been flushed away.

On the days that I would walk to work he would walk with me about half way down the street before he turned back.

He and Bailey got in the loudest fights. But she loved him. And I'm sure the next few days she'll be fairly subdued. He was the one that gave her a love for the outdoors. He made my sweet, pretty, clean cat into a dirty fleabag lol but I loved him for it. Bailey loves to be outside now.

I will miss him, and though my life will probably seem less stressful, there will be fewer kitty cuddles in my life as well.

Sam will miss him, too. I think I am even more sad for Sam than for myself. He was unbelievably good with her. With all kids. Sam could belly flop on him and he wouldn't even flinch. She'll have to get used to a cat who is a little more touchy about being pulled and flopped on. She loved to love on Harley and though it sometimes landed her in a time-out for the most part she was equally good to him as he was to her. Last week she was walking down the hall with her blankie trailing behind her and Harley got his paw on it and all I could hear from her was "HARLEY NO NO NO HARLEY NO!!!" and when he let go she tagged a quiet "please" on to her demand. They had just discovered a new game. There's a large box of pillows sitting at the end of the hall that I haven't gotten around to putting away that Harley liked to sleep in and Sam liked to close the flaps of the box on him and play peek-a-boo and Harley would meow at her.

We loved you Harley and though we only got to have one short year with you, it was a good year and an important year in Sam's life.

See how much they loved each other?

Harley's infamous sprawl...he could take up as much room on the bed as I could.

He loved to play in Sam's bumbo when he was little.

Kyra and Harley back when he was small enough to carry. See the things he put up with?

Thanks but no, thanks

Why does my cat think I would enjoy seeing the remnants of her evening snack on my doorstep? Seriously, anyone know? Gross.

That's all I'll say about that.

So, my glasses didn't come in until yesterday but here's a picture of them now for you.

Here's what they look like...blurry but you can see the colour.

Me, in my glasses. (Please ignore the nice shiny street sign in the background...it was not stolen...it fell off)

And again.

Aaaaaaaaaaand, that's enough of me on my blog to do us all in. Ciao.

Photo Post

Now that Jared fixed our computer card reader (we had the power source replaced and the computer guy forgot to plug the car reading drive back in) I finally got the photos from the last few months off of our camera card and onto our computer. Now we'll see how long it takes to get them from there to the Costco photo lab...

Anyway, it gave me a chance to look back at the photos we took while I was organizing them all into files on the computer and I ran across some really cute ones with some great memories. Just thought I'd share a few with you here...

^This was one of the first times Sam actually seemed semi interested in the thousands of ducklings surrounding her...September 24, 2008

^And again the next day September 25, 2008

^This was another of my favorites from a day outside October 26, 2008

^Sam and Kyra love being pulled along in the wagon together October 26, 2008

^A rare day in which Bailey chooses to grace Sam with her presence...Sam loves Bailey but the feeling is not so much mutual...Bailey is more or less tolerant of Sam

^Harley on the other hand, is far more than tolerant...far, far, far more than tolerant...the things this cat puts up with...he just wants to be near Sam. His favourite places to sleep are wherever Sam has been...her rocker chair, highchair, on a blankie...anywhere she is

^And then there is Cocoa. Cocoa is a VERY special kitty in our family...Cocoa was the cat my parents had when I was born. She was a Siamese and I don't know who but someone found this stuffed Siamese cat when I was born and it was one of my very first and very favourites when I was a baby and now, it's Sam's. She loves Cocoa as much as I did and carries her around all over the place and dances with and pats her just like she does with her babies

^Bathtime is lots of fun around here and mostly everyone gets wet

^Sam loves to play with Harley after Mom's done unpacking the groceries

^Just a funny face...and I love the vest!

Hope you enjoyed. More to come soon!

Harley

Thought I'd save one post for later rather than posting all I had to say at once so now I will introduce to you our new kitten Harley. Jared and I thought Bailey would like to have someone around that she could play with whenever she wanted to. She is most definitely a lap cat but she also likes to play rough and wrestle and we don't have much time/energy for that with Sam around now like we used to so on the 6th(almost two weeks ago already) we went down to the SPCA to find her a friend. We were there too late on Wednesday so we had to go back Thursday to bring him home. The first few days Bailey was WAY out of sorts, which is what I was expecting. If we weren't home we would put Harley in the bathroom(he had all his food and water and litterbox in there) so Bailey could have the run of the house but everytime we would come home, she would be waiting by the front door and would growl, hiss and then walk away. When we introduced them, I was holding Bailey and Jared was holding Harley and she wouldn't let Jared even come near her when he was home. I guess since he was holding Harley she blamed the intrusion on him.

Anyway, what I wasn't expecting was how fast Bailey would get over it! By Tuesday they were already cuddling in Bailey's favorite sleeping spot and running around endlessly chasing each other and wrestling. If Harley ever does stop to rest, Bailey is right there cleaning his fur. And he's great with Sam. He's so much smaller so when she pulls on him like she does to Bailey, he actually moves closer. And Sam finds it hilarious to watch the two cats wrestle with each other! So in the end, we definitely picked the right kitten for our family and Bailey is really enjoying having a friend around the house who has nothing better to do than play with her.

Good-bye Simon

Well for whatever un-known reason our second Guinea Pig Simon died yesterday. I heard him attempting to squeek as we went to bed on Tuesday night and got up to check his food and water. Both were fine but I filled up his food a little more anyways. I realized I hadn't really seen him as much lately as usual...he had been spending a lot of time in his hut over the last few days. Anyway, the next morning I checked on him and he was still fairly quiet so I took him out of his cage for a bit and he just kind of sat around not doing much(he's usually quite skitish). I put hay right in front of him, his favorite treat, and he wouldn't eat it. So I sat with him for a bit and then put him back in a freshly cleaned cage and walked past a couple hours later and he was laying on his side in the same spot I had put him down in :(

For those who don't know, Jared and I got our Guinea Pigs the day we got home from our honeymoon so it's kind of sad now that they're both gone. But, now that we have Sam it's kind of a good thing in a way as well. I was worried about how it was going to work when she started crawling. I would literally have to be sweeping the hall every couple of hours if I was going to let her explore the house and I DO NOT want to be a mom who always needs to have her kid at arms reach. Supervising, yes. Being a human playpen, no. There's a reason they make them. I want Sam to be able to explore everywhere she can go when she finally learns how to move herself. So it's kind of nice not having to worry about the floor being dirty when she starts moving around. But still sad that they are both gone. Goodbye Melvin and Simon! You were good guinea pigs...dirty...but good!

Melvin

Simon

Bailey's Adventure...

Caleb came over on Wednesday night and the three of us sat down to watch the amazing hockey game(five goals within 6.5 minutes of the initial face-off!!!) and after 10-15 minutes I noticed our door was still open a little bit...it doesn't shut normally...you have to give it a little shove. So I went around the house to make sure the cat was still inside and she wasn't. So I headed outside in the darkness of nine o'clock with her cat treats. I walked out the back of the carport into the back yard calling her and shaking her treats to no avail. I went down to the intersection about 75 feet south of our driveway checking for road kill with, thankfully, no avail. So I walked back to the house just in time to see Bailey sauntering in from the backyard and straight down the steps to the door and she sat there waiting for me to open it...this is the same Ninny of a cat who sat in my lap when I let her out 2 weeks ago...I have no idea where she went or even how long she was out for. Oh well. She's fine. And still a Ninny.

February Weenie Roast

It may be hard to see but, yes, that is us having a weenie roast in february! Last night we set up our fire pit, bundled the girls and headed outside for dinner. We started setting it up in the afternoon when it was so beautiful here which is probably why we thought it wouldn't be a bad idea. It was cold. But good. Eventful. But still good. So, just to finish a quick post, here's a pic of me with Sammy all bundled up and a picture of what my Ninny of a cat does when I finally let her come outside.

Goodbyes and almost Goodbyes

So, a lot has happened since my last post. That night, or I guess early the next morning, Jared's Grandpa Loewen passed away out in Saskatchewan so we made some quick arrangements so that Jared could get out there for the funeral to be with his family. So, he and Tasha drove out on Friday night. I wasn't able to go a)because financially it just wasn't going to work for me to take more time off of work since I'm not getting many hours right now as it is and everything is counting towards my Mat. leave right now and b) I can't fly anymore since I'm in my 3rd trimester and sitting in a car driving for 17/18 hours straight just isn't so comfortable anymore. So, it was really hard for both of us to have to be apart at a time like that but I had work and Dad's calves to distract me here at home.

So, he was gone for, I think, four days and four nights. Since he already had the time off work for Thursday and Friday to go hunting with Caleb he just decided to take Wednesday off as well. So I got to spend a grand total of ONE day with him before he was off again for another three days and three nights. That's the weird thing about getting married and finding that one person you're made to be with...you've spent your whole life up to the time you got married sleeping alone and then all of a sudden, and it doesn't take long, things start to feel, just, unsettled and not right when that person isn't there sleeping beside you at night.

Anyway, so Thanksgiving was just me my mom and my brothers again this year. My dad is always gone hunting during this week every year. It's a very long running tradition. So, it's always been just me, mom, and the boys for Thanksgiving. Then, last year, I think Jared was here, but, my brothers went hunting with dad last year so it was just me, mom and Jared. Weird...my idea of Thanksgiving is so not normal! My whole family hasn't been around for Thanksgiving in many, many, many years now. Even extended family...Dad's family is out in Ontario and Mom's family is just down in Bellingham but that means that they don't celebrate Thanksgiving when we do.

So, anyway, my point was...our dog Molly(my parents dog, we've had her for over 13 years now) was perfectly fine on Thanksgiving...then the next night, her back legs were doing something funny; like she couldn't quite keep them under her. They kept sliding out and to the sides. Which, really, wasn't all that alarming because she is getting really old and her hips have been getting slowly worse for a couple of years especially with the laminate flooring in the house. So, anyway, next day, Wednesday, I got a call from my mom in the morning saying that she couldn't walk at all and that she thought that she had gone blind all of a sudden during the night. Now, her eye sight too has slowly been going the last couple of years but this was just weird. All of a sudden in one night meant there was something wrong. So, me and my mom were talking and she wasn't sure what she should do. Molly is a part of our family. She's like the fourth child. We got her from my uncle in Ontario when my little brother was less than two years old. Dad had her flown out on a plane from Ontario. Anyone who has had a true "family pet" will know how my mom and I were feeling.

Mom just wasn't sure what to do...there was no way we were going to sit here and watch Molly going through all of this. She was terrified. Shaking from head to tail when Mom tried to take her outside to go to the bathroom. She had no idea what was going on. Her eyes were really twitchy like she was trying to see but just couldn't. But, Dad is gone this week and it seemed truly out of the question to have her put down while he was away. Especially with no way to reach him.

Long story short, when I went over there after Jared left tonight, Molly was fine! I mean, not completely back to normal but when I walked in, she looked right up at me from the couch and started wagging her tail! Mom had done some internet research today and had figured out what was wrong. It's called "peripheral vestibular syndrome". We had never heard of it before but it sounds like it's really not all the uncommon! It has something to do with a loss of the dog's equilibrium which is why they can't stand and there eyes get all shifty. It comes completely randomly and usually goes away on it's own in two-three days or possibly up to three weeks time. It can happen to middle aged dogs but usually more often in older dogs. It can happen more than once in a dogs life or it could just be the one time. After this syndrome leaves, sometimes the dog can be left with a slight head tilt but will usually go on to live out the rest of their lives completely normally! Weird, right?

Anyway, it was quite the scare but we are all very relieved that it looks like she's going to be just fine!

And this has turned into a really long post.

The Woes of Aging

We've had our dog, Molly, in the family since my littlest brother was only a year or so old, about 13 years now. She's a beautiful Border Collie who is just the most lovable and sweetest dog you've ever met. But, alas, time is wearing on her :(. Apparently, my little brother was playing fetch with her the other day and when she went to take off after the ball, she just collapsed onto her chest. I guess she must have pulled something in her front leg somewhere but she won't put any weight on it at all. When you take her outside, she hobbles about ten feet and then just collapses onto the grass and lays there looking so upset.

If anyone out there is a pet lover like me and has had a pet for so long it lierally has become one of the family, you'll know how heart wrenching it is to see her like this. You want to do everything in your power to help her feel better and make things easier on her. I tried tying her leg up in a scarf, like a sling, so she wouldn't have to put any weight on it and it might heal better and faster, but she got so frustrated that she couldn't keep her balance like that, that she just kept pulling her leg forward and out of the scarf/sling.

In other news, this weather is amazing. I love sun and I love the heat and I LOVE having an incredibly cool basement to walk into after being outside.

Photo Update

How in the world did they get so big so fast???