Tag: Boston terrier

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glamping holidays Life Pets Travel

I Wish it was Christmas Today

Not really. But that little skit from Saturday Night Live featuring Horatio Saenz, Jimmy Fallon, Chris Kattan, and Tracy Morgan playing and singing that little Christmas song makes me smile every time. Look it up on YouTube. “I don’t care what your mama says; Christmastime is here.”

It’s been a busy fall and summer. I’ve gotten out of the habit of posting and I promise to do better next year. A new year’s resolution, perhaps? But I get ahead of myself.

With camping (glamping), traveling (I went to Italy!), tutoring, and grandkids I seem to wear myself out every day! Consider these photos my Christmas card to you.

My setup at a Girl Camper event in Glen Rose, Texas.

Stella and me trying to stay warm at the campsite. She has become quite the little traveler!

Me at the Doge’s Palace in Venice. Behind me is the largest canvas in the world, Il Paradiso, by Jacopo Robusti. Amazing.

A gondola on the Grand Canal in Venice. The gondolier is behind me.

A partial view of Assisi.

The Trevi Fountain in Rome.

At the airport in Rome waiting for the long flight back. Do I look like a tourist? ; – )

Of course I have a million more photos from Italy but not many of just me!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! May all your wishes and dreams come true!

XOXO

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writing

Writing Gives Me Wings

I’m sitting here at my desk trying to think of something to write about.  I could just skip the blog post this week and go to bed.  Or work on my novel-in-progress.  But that would be a cop-out.  The best remedy for writer’s block (I’d rather call it a lack of ideas) is to keep writing.  Or so I’ve heard.  And read.  

Just start typing and the words will come, they say.  Apply the seat of your pants to the seat of the chair, they say.  Be a professional, they say.  Write something, anything, they say.  The words will come, they say.

Of course I want to be a professional.  Isn’t that the opposite of amateur?  Or wannabe?  I’m a writer, dang it.  So here I sit.  Maybe I’ll come up with something and maybe someone will read it.  Maybe someone will like it even.

Stella the Boston terrier
 

I have a sidekick who stays here in my office with me while I write.  It’s late right now and she has given up whining at me to go to bed, so she’s curled up on her gray and pink plaid dog bed (thanks, Muttnation by Miranda Lambert!).  She hardly ever leaves my side, and when I’m watching my grandkids with my mother next door, she stands at the fence and stares at me until she is forced to go inside because of the heat. 

 

Stella at the window


This photo was taken this morning as I wrote in my prayer journal.  Notice she has her favorite ball on the windowsill as she looks for squirrels, birds, and rabbits.  It’s her favorite perch.  

See?  I’ve written a whole blog post without really having an idea.  It’s possible to write even without a good idea.  Now to see if anyone will read it.  If you’re a writer, happy writing.  If you’re a reader, thank you!

Have a blessed week.
XOXO


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Life

Stella: Feelin’ Wella Good (apologies to No Doubt)

Who’da thought when we picked out this adorable Boston terrier puppy back in March we would end up putting her through risky surgery to save her life?  She seemed so healthy.  Until.

Precious puppy!

At four months we took our newest family member to the vet for spaying and docking her unusual long tail.  Boston terriers just aren’t supposed to have long tails, and Dr. B. said since the docking wasn’t done shortly after birth, it could easily be done while she was under anesthesia during spaying surgery.  As much as we hated to put her through that, we knew she would heal quickly. She went through the surgery like a champ and challenged us, even dared us, to keep her quiet the first week of recovery.

Comfy in her kennel with her pink blanky

The time passed quickly, however, even with her having to stay in her kennel more because she tended to be too playful.  I had noticed that she seemed a little thin, and that when she inhaled during breathing, her sides would suck in harder than seemed normal.  Dr. B.’s new colleague, Dr. H., noticed the abnormal breathing as she examined Stella’s incision.  She wanted to take an x-ray, and her suspicions revealed a hernia in Stella’s diaphragm that had allowed her abdominal organs to move into her chest cavity!

So playful!

The doctors think that the surgery caused a difference in pressure which sucked the intestines, liver, and other abdominal organs through the hole in the diaphragm and around her heart, collapsing one lung. At first we thought we would have to take her to a specialist in Dallas but Dr. B. decided he could perform the surgery, and we trusted him to do it.

All tuckered out.  Look at that tongue!

To watch her now you’d never know how close we came to losing our sweet baby girl.  She’s just as active and mischievous as ever, thanks to two perceptive and skillful veterinarians. We hope to enjoy little Stella for many years to come.

Looking very thin before her problem was identified.
Now healthy and happy with Daddy.


XOXO 

#Bostonterrier #puppy #dog #veterinarian #pets #veterinarysurgery #congenitaldefectsincanines


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Pets

Time to Wake Up, Boston Style!

I like my naps.  Ask anybody in my family and they will agree.  When I was working and after my children were old enough not to need Mama’s supervision or transportation I would enjoy a nap every afternoon after work.
 
 
Afternoon naps refreshed me and let me stay up a little later, sometimes late enough to greet my husband when he arrived home from work after midnight.  That was a good thing since I usually only saw him Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays.
 
 
Now that I’m retired and don’t have to get up before dawn, I usually only nap on Sundays.  But I don’t nap alone.  I have furry babies who love to nap with me, as long as I get up in time to feed them.  I don’t have to set my alarm.  They wake me up!
From left:  Fur babies Molly, Whitey, and Maggie
 
Whitey starts the process by sliding off the bed and then jumping back on and rolling around, which wakes up the others.  Then he starts barking at them, getting them to play.  While I try to stay asleep with the covers over my head they run around all over our king size bed playfully barking and nipping at each other.
 
Whitey and Molly waiting for dinner
Then Maggie gets tired of the play and begins to stare at me.  I pretend to be asleep as long as I can, until she impatiently punches me with her paw.  With her ears at attention she stares at me until I peek at her and then pull the covers up again.  She punches me harder and then begins to pounce on me with both feet.  
 
Maggie resting on Mama’s her chair
I throw the covers back and roll her over, tickling her on her belly while she playfully pretends to bite.  Whitey jumps in the middle between us while Molly waits patiently a few inches away.  I continue to roll Maggie around and tickle her until she is panting and then I turn my attention to Molly who bends her head to the bed sideways and nips at me while I poke at her playfully.  Maggie playfully attacks her while Whitey bounces all around the bed.
 
Message received.  Time for their dinner.  Better than an alarm clock and so much more fun!
 
Do you have fun habits with your pets?
 
XOXO
Categories
Life Pets

Meaningless Drivel Monday: Random Labor Day Thoughts

It’s a good day when all the socks in the laundry folding basket have mates.
Wouldn’t you agree?  Yes, I am folding laundry on Labor Day.  And the hubster is working.
And so is the son-in-law, so Daughter and I are home.  I fold laundry while she plays video games.  Nice, huh?  The good thing for her about being home is no housework, right?
So I am quietly folding laundry, pondering topics for today’s blog post, and Daughter screams (hollers):  “Ack!  There’s a red wasp!”  
 
Now, red wasps in our neck of the woods are the horror, with their angry aggressiveness and mean stings.  I still have a scar on my forehead where I was stung at the tender age of four!  That sucker chased me down.  CHASED ME DOWN.  Tha horrah!  
 
But I digress.  Aforementioned red wasp is indeed inside the glass door flitting around in a panic, able to see the great outdoors but unable to get there.
 
 
Several options flash through my mind as Daughter says, “Again?  How are they getting in?”  She had to call her grandmother over from next door the other day to help kill one while we were gone.  Our doggie door gaps a bit, so I am sure the wasps are getting in that way.  Who wouldn’t find a way inside where there is air conditioning?
 
In a flash I decide against the flyswatter and the bug spray.  I had to act quickly.  No time to fetch said weapons.  I pick up a nearby flip flop, open the glass door, and coax the beastly insect to freedom.  It all ends well.  No violence, no noxious fumes, everyone happy.
 
Next issue at hand:  convincing my three dogs that dinner is still over an hour away.  Stop staring at me with those sad eyes!  She’ll give in. . .she always does. . .
 
“Feed me, Mommy!” say Whitey and Molly.
 
“Did you say ‘time to eat’?” Maggie asks.
 
What are YOU doing today?
 
 
XOXO