Tiny Airedale

I finished up a project that has been in the works for quite some time.  A few years, actually.  It's a tiny, needle felted Airedale.  I'm not quite sure why I'd set it aside without finishing it but here she is.  my tiny, 3 1/2" little cutie...

I feel like she still needs something but I can't quite figure out what it is.  So, I've decided she's finished...unless I come up with any ideas on what might make her better.

A little red collar might be cute.

I love her ears and her adorable little behind.

I'm naming her Salsa after our dear, sweet Airedale that passed away recently.

This is number 34 in my create 52 challenge.

Sweet Salsa

I was doing pretty good at getting more regular with blogging and then life got crazy again!  It's been good and sad.

The good is that our daughter graduated with her master's degree in May and has moved back home.  We're so proud of her!  She's working hard now to find a job.

The sad is that our sweet dog, Salsa, left us just over a week ago.  Her health (kidney disease) had been declining and took a sharp turn downhill to the point that we had to let her go.  There was nothing that could be done to help her and it was obvious that it was time but it's been so much harder than I'd imagined.  She'd been with us for almost 12 years and, since I stay at home so much, she was an almost constant companion.  It feels like there's a hole in my heart and in our home.  It seems like she should still be here, or on the back patio looking sweetly through the window, playing with her toys, and just being the sweet, smart, happy, and beautiful girl she always was.

I've cried and cried.  Late in the afternoon of the day we let her go, I thought it might be better to put our sad energy into a hike rather than just sitting at home and crying.  So, that's what we did.  Hubby, our daughter, and I hit the trail.  I hiked in honor of her and thought of how much she would have enjoyed it.  We made a heart around a flower that was sunshiny like her.

She was the sweetest, smartest, happiest, and most beautiful dog I've ever had.  She was even adorable when she needed a haircut!

She was even more beautiful after she'd been groomed.  She was so cute!  People often said she looked like a stuffed animal.  We even experienced people stopping their cars when we walked her so they could ask about her.  She was a great girl!  This picture was from a camping trip.  She always loved to go bye-bye!  I miss that beautiful face, sweet eyes, and her smile!

She loved laying her her little cot/hammock when we went camping.

She loved going for walks and hiking.  We got her some boots a couple years ago.  It protected her feet on trails that had lots of rocks or gravel.  And, it kept her from getting hurt on all our Arizona trips when the pavement was blazing hot.  She walked funny with them in the beginning but soon realized they were great and didn't mind wearing them.  Adorable!  There's that smile!

She was my walking partner at home.  She walked great on a leash and rarely pulled.  I could tell that she loved going for walks because she'd nose bump my hand and look up at me like she was thanking me and telling me how much fun she was having.

She knew a ton of tricks...she could, sit, lay down, shake, high five, hit something (like the bell we hung by the door for when she wanted to go outside), weave through our legs, cha cha (go back and forth between our knees like dancing), spin, rewind, and so much more.  She was awesome!  And, she is SO missed!

Walking, Running, Riding, and Restoring

I always try to find the good in things.  So, in the midst of all the stress with the things going on in my life lately, I've found increased motivation to get out to walk, run, and ride my bike.  Lots of good ways to restore my sanity, relieve some stress, and get healthy as a result.  A win, win, win!  

I always carry my cell phone with me.  And, being the picture taking fool that I am, a lot of pictures get taken along the way.  Here are a few from the past few weeks.  They're all from Instagram....that's why they have black frames on them.

My walking partner, Salsa...

We love going to the Santa Plateau in our local hills.  It's a beautiful place!  And, it's a great place to ride a mountain bike...

It's also a great place to go for a walk or hike.  Gorgeous!

I think I could sit on one of these benches all day!

There are seasonal pools of water there.  They call them "vernal pools".  They're currently looking quite beautiful!  I love the walkway that goes over them.  Sometimes they're filled with fairy shrimp, tadpoles, tiny frogs, and little snakes.  I love it when the pools are there!

My husband and I were mountain biking there last week and came around the corner and saw a pig!  It was out for a hike with it's family.  It seemed very happy.  It would stop to nibble some grass and then look up to see they were ahead and start running to catch up while it grunted softly.  Funny and cute!  I have to say....I've never seen that before!

It was about 70 degrees and sunny that day.  Beautiful!

I love all the big, old, oak trees up there!

I was up early yesterday morning.  I opened the blinds in our living room and the sun was streaming in.  Penelope was soaking it up and looked like she was meditating.  Good job, Penelope!  A good reminder of something I need to do more of....stop, close my eyes, take some deep breaths, and meditate!

My Morning Walk

Salsa is such a great little walking partner!  Besides being extremely adorable, she's also very enthusiastic and always excited to go.  That turns out to be just the motivation I need on mornings that I'm considering the lazy alternative of not going.  She gets into the habit of it very quickly and almost expects it.  If I say the word, "walk", she bounces up and down with happiness.  Or, if she thinks I'm wearing some sort of clothing that looks like "walking" clothes or shoes, she gets excited about that too.  How could I let that precious girl down?! 

The trees surrounding our neighborhood are currently in an extreme bloom!  They must be really happy with the weather or something because I've never seen them bloom quite this much!  The ground, sidewalks, and gutters are covered in tiny yellow blossoms and pollen.  And, the trees are buzzing with bees.  Oh, and the air is very fragrant!  Luckily, it doesn't seem to bother my allergies.  Whew!

Salsa's Miracle

Our Airedale, Salsa, injured her ACL/knee last year.  The vet thought it was bad enough that she might need surgery.  Before sending us to a specialist, he gave her some prescription meds to see if it would help.  Luckily, it did!  She got better and stayed that way for a long time.  However, she injured it again in September and it was worse than before.  She couldn't even use that leg and held it up when she hobbled around.  That put pressure on her good back leg to the point that she started just laying around and we had to help her up.  This time, the meds didn't help and they even made her feel bad.  We could tell that she was in a lot of pain and a little depressed.

We really didn't want to go down the surgery path as it's about $1,500, takes a year for recovery, and the ACL/knee often gets re-injured.  Salsa is such an active girl and still very much like a puppy...even at nine years old!  So, the odds of re-injuring it would be big!

We had done a bunch of research on other options the first time she was injured and had found a brace that sounded like something worth trying.  It's a bit expensive but MUCH less than surgery and the results for the dogs that use it are great!  So, we did all the required measurements (each one is custom made), placed an order, and kept our fingers crossed.  It almost seemed too good to be true but we wanted to believe it would work!  Luckily and amazingly it did!  It's called the MuttKnee Brace.

We put it on her right after it arrived and she immediately put some weight on her injured leg and danced around a bit.  She still limped a little but we started taking very short walks with her.  We were careful not to over-do it and the moment we noticed that her leg was starting to bother her, we'd turn around and come home.  At first, the walks were only past the neighbor's house and back.  But, within a week or so, she could walk all the way down the street and back and could soon go all the way around the block!  She continues to improve.

It's incredible that something so simple can work so well and can even prevent the need for surgery.  I'm shocked that vets aren't prescribing these instead of medications and surgery!  The custom made brace includes a sleeve for the injured knee and a cuff for the other one.  Or, you can get a sleeve for both.  That's what we did because we were concerned about any injury that had been caused while the her good leg compensated for the bad one.  They also sent a cuff, in case we decided to switch to that.  The two sleeves have straps that go up over her back and connect to one another and then to a harness that they provide.  This keeps the braces in place and prevents them from coming off.

At first, we had her wear it during the day time and took it off at night.  Now, she's doing so well that we only use it for walks.  She's even able to go upstairs again!  She's back to being our happy girl....active and able to move around...a LOT!

We held off from any trips to the groomer while she was injured and while we waited for the brace. Then, we waited for her to get strong enough.  She had gotten to be quite shaggy!  She was finally able to go to the groomer a couple of weeks ago and came back smaller (without all that fur) and extra happy!  Here she is after we her grooming visit...

She's smiling!

She felt extra good after getting groomed and ran around like crazy...with her brace on!  She finally settled down enough to get a photo to show what her brace looks like...

She's extra cute when she's groomed and I've been taking photos like crazy!

She's such a cutie!  We love her so much!  Look!...She's smiling again!

Without all that extra fur and with the drop in temperatures, she's been getting a little chilly with all that extra fur shaved off!  She was happy to have her red jacket on to keep her warm!

If you or someone you know is interested in this amazing brace.  You can find the MuttKnee Brace website HERE.  You can also find them on Facebook HERE.  We're so happy with how much it helped our Salsa!  In fact, it's helped hundreds of dogs!  So, I'm excited to share about it in the hopes of helping other dogs and saving their owners lots of money over surgery.  What an incredible invention!

Celebration Road Trip

My dear hubby and I will be celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary this December.  I feel even luckier now than the day we got married.  I see now, even more than I did then, what a great match we are.  He's more wonderful than words can express, we work great together as a team in life, and we have a ton of fun exploring the world together!  It's been an awesome and amazing ride over these first 25 years and I'm excited to spend the next 50 or more with him!  

I'm sure we'll do something special to celebrate on our anniversary.  However, his job is going to be keeping him a little extra busy for the next few months.  So, we decided to celebrate a little early with a road trip.  We hit the road for a two week trip to explore some parts of the west that we haven't seen or seen much of.  We took our RV/trailer (aka our little home away from home or cabin on wheels).  That meant the pets could go with us.

Little Penelope gets a little unhappy/nervous about traveling.  We found some treats at the pet store that have herbs to help calm her.  Luckily, they seemed to work.  Here she is happy, relaxed and rolling around on my craft studio floor just before we left...

She traveled better than ever and actually even seemed to enjoy it.  Yay!

We're not a big fan of long driving days.  So, our first stop was going to be Las Vegas.  It's only about five hours away (with stops).  That made it so the next day would be shorter too.

We drove through desert that I've seen lots of times.  So, I took advantage of travel time that I wouldn't be watching the scenery and I did a little yarn ball winding for my next project...

We had reservations at the Las Vegas RV Resort.  It's very affordable for a place with full hook-ups...a must when it's so hot there...and it's very nice.  This was our second time staying there.  

We pulled in, set up, had dinner, popped open a bottle of wine to toast to our trip, and headed to the pool.  It almost felt too hot to go swimming and the water was warm but we had the pool to ourselves and had a ton of fun.  They had a volleyball net set up, a ball, fun-noodles, and a squirt gun/tube.  We hung out down there for quite a while.  I think it was about 95 that night.  Here's a pic of the moon that I posted on Instagram that night...

We took advantage of their nice shower facilities and went back to get some sleep for the next day.

Here's a picture of our adorable little Penelope "helping" me put sheets on the bed.  We had the AC going but I think she was hot and the cool sheets must have felt good on her belly.  It was cute and funny how she had her back legs stretched out behind her...

It was still pretty warm the next morning at sunrise.

Salsa was enjoying a little attention...as always.

She tried her cute little head tilting trick in hopes of scoring a morsel of our breakfast.

But, as usual, it didn't work.

We headed out early, topped off the gas tank (ahhh...lower prices than CA!) and hit the road.  Next stop?  North Rim, Grand Canyon.  A first for both of us and we were so excited!

I'm still sorting through photos but I hope to have the next stop posted soon.  Stay tuned!

A Date with the Dog

Last Saturday night, hubby and I went out on the town and took our dog Salsa.

What?!  A date with the dog?!  Yup!  She had just been groomed and just had to show it off.

We took her to the Lazy Dog Cafe in Temecula.  They allow doggies in their outdoor dining area.

They just have three rules....no begging, barking or biting.  They even have a menu for dogs.

Salsa had already had her dinner but she enjoyed watching us, the other people and 

other dogs.  She was such a good girl and really enjoyed her outing.

We did too!  The drinks and food we had that night were SO good!

We started out with a special drink they're currently serving.

It had moonshine, berries, peaches, mint and....hmmmm?...I'm not sure if it had 

anything else.  But, it was good and cute too as it was served in canning jars.

Looks like Salsa thought it looked good.  Looks like she was licking her lips!

This was super yummy....sweet potato tater tots with jalapeno aioli.  Yum!!!\

I didn't take a picture of our dinner but it was super yummy too.

It was a sweet and spicy shrimp dish with broccoli and rice.

It was flavorful and delicious!

I did get a picture of my dessert.  We decided to order more drinks instead of something sweet to eat.

I ordered a special drink I've only seen on their menu...a Phuket.  It's like an herb garden in a glass.

It's made with pepper vodka, coconut rum, basil, jalapeno, and candied ginger.  Yum!

Hubby had a Moscow Mule.  It was pretty tasty too!

Salsa has gotten a lot more snuggly lately.  While we were at the restaurant,

she went back and forth a few times between us to spend time next to each of us.

Sometimes she even sat down and leaned against me.  So sweet!

She never did lay down though.  I think she didn't want to miss any of the action

of people walking by and other dining doggies.  Eventually, I think she got a little tired.

Salsa, hubby, and I had a great time!

I even got to sear my new, high shoes!  They're actually comfortable.

I didn't think it was possible to have comfortable heals.  But, these really are.

I've been working on improving my wardrobe over the past year or so and platform

heels are something that was on my list.  I'm not sure the style of these would have

been tops on my list but when I tried them on it was no question....I had to get them.

I also wore a whole new outfit and I finally got to wear my Diamond Flowers Shawl.

It was perfect!  So pretty and just a tad bit of warmth that I needed in the evening breeze.

We topped off our outing with a stroll around the shopping and a little window shopping.

I love evenings like this!  It was wonderful!  :-)

The Results are in...

I took Salsa to the vet this afternoon to have her foot checked and re-bandaged.

When I got there, they took both of us to an exam room instead of just taking Salsa to the back for her bandage.  The assistant said her test results were in and that the doctor will explain them to me instead of calling.  Hmmm?  That had me a little worried.  Salsa might have sensed that because she sat close to me and leaned hard against my leg.  She's such a sweetheart.  I snapped a picture...

The lab report showed that it was a malignant melanoma.  But, in the words of the vet, "it sounds much worse than it is".  This type of cancer has a very low likelihood of reoccurring and it doesn't metastasize.  That's good!  The vet said he was surprised when he did the surgery to find that it was worse than he'd expected.  But, he feels that he got all of it.  This one seemed to grow fast.  So, we'll be checking her feet and between her toes at least once a month to make sure it doesn't come back. 

She got another new bandage and this one seems to be more comfortable for her than the last.

I'll  take her back again on Monday for another check.  They said it's healing very well and that this should be the last bandage.  I'm sure she'll be very happy about that. I know that we will.

Salsa's Surgery

Our Airedale, Salsa, went in for her every-other-month grooming appointment a few weeks ago.

When she was there, they noticed a growth on the bottom of one of her back feet.  It looked just like the black skin her pads are made of but it was growing between the pads and was wrinkly like a raisin.  It wasn't there the last time.  It wasn't bothering her either because we never noticed her favoring that foot or licking it.  

We took her to the vet to have it checked out.  The vet said it can be common in older dogs (she's around nine years old) and that we could just keep an eye on it.  He took some measurements for future reference and we headed home.  However, the next day it broke open and started bleeding.  Uh oh...we were about to leave for a week in Utah.  I called the vet and he said we could either bring her in for surgery before we left or just bandage it up and wait until we got back.  The second choice was what he advised would probably be best.  So, we went with that.

Luckily, it only needed to be bandaged a couple of times and it stopped bleeding.  We were even hoping it would turn out to be OK and that surgery wouldn't be needed.  However, when we got back home, it started to bother her and she wouldn't stop licking it.  So, in for surgery she went.  While she was knocked out for surgery, she had her teeth cleaned and her nails done again too.  He sent the growth in for testing to see what it is and what to expect from it.  We're hoping it's benign.

She came home with her leg bandaged and a severe case of the drowsies.

She could barely hold her head up all evening.  She'd work hard to lift her head and it would immediately start tipping over until she fell back down and just laid there again.  It was kind of cute.

She did pretty well when we took the cone off and wasn't messing with the bandage.  Whew!

When the drowsies wore off she became very snuggly.  :-)

And, yes....a bandage is a pass to lay on the sofa!  lol

I had to take her back to have her bandage replaced yesterday.  They said it's healing up quite well.

I need to take her back on Thursday so they can look at it again and possibly re-bandage it.

Unfortunately, she decided that she doesn't like the new bandage and is having to wear the cone again.  Poor Salsa!  No fun for her...or us!  She keeps smashing into walls and furniture with it.  Argh!

We'll get the test results back in about a week.

The picture quality isn't the greatest on these because I took them with my cell phone.

"A" is for Airedale

I've decided to play along and participate in Basically Benita's challenge of taking

photographs of things that start with the letters of the alphabet...a different letter each week.

It sounded like fun and could push me to think of new things to photograph.

Although...I ended up with something this week that I photograph quite often...

Salsa!

She's an "Airedale" and how about that "Adorable" "Airway" (nose) she has?!

I had a hard time coming up with things that start with "A".

Maybe this will be a little more challenging than I thought!

I'm still in though.  It sounds like a lot of fun.

I'll try to do better next week.  :-)

If you'd like to join in on the fun, I'd love to know so I can see what you come up with.

And, be sure to let Benita know.  I think she was planning to share the posts of other participants.

She did awesome this week with the letter "A".  Pop over for a visit to see.  Be sure to say, "hi"!

Penelope Post

Time for a new post about our little Penelope.  We've had her for over two weeks now.

A lot has happened and she has learned so much.

She started sneezing a lot during her first week here.

That meant she got to take her first trip to the vet.  She was a brave girl...

It turned out to be a feline cold...very common for cats that come from shelters.

No problem though.  Her lungs were clear and she didn't seem to have developed any infections.

We took her home with a tube of L-Lysine gel to put on her food to help her immune system.

The vet trip was only the beginning of her travels that day.  Later that afternoon, she got to go on her first camping trip!  Other than screaming at ear-piercing levels on the way there and back home (sure hope that improves over time!), she did great.  She really liked being in the close quarters of the RV where she could see us and know where we were just about all the time.   She enjoyed the sun streaming through the windows.  She took lots of naps and did a lot of snuggling.

She tried to stay up late but just couldn't keep her eyes open.

She fell asleep one evening as she sat on hubby's lap...

She even snuck in a few naps on Salsa's bed!

The close quarters helped Penelope and Salsa get to know one another and start to become friends.

We figured that, because it's Salsa's bed, it was only fair to share.

So, we told Salsa it was okay to lay on the bed too.

They didn't lay there very long after that but it shows how far they've come in a short time.

When we took Penelope to the vet, she still only weighed 2 3/4 pounds.  She hadn't gained anything in the first week.  She wasn't eating much...probably because she wasn't feeling well.

But, a week of rest did her good.  She's eating like crazy now and feeling great.

So, I thought it was time to weigh her again.

She's checking the scale to make sure the setting is right...

And, checking it again while she was on it to see what she weighs.

Wow!  She has gained about half a pound.

She knows where her litter pan is and has been a very good girl with using it. 

As far as we know, she hasn't had any accidents.  She gets to roam the entire house, even at night. She's still learning about sleeping through the night though.  She wakes up every night around two or three a.m. and starts walking on us, purring loudly, and licking our faces.  After a while, we usually get her settled back down and she sleeps until six or seven. 

She learned a VERY SCARY lesson... We have a loft above our living room with a half wall.  

We tried to keep her downstairs as long as we could but she eventually snuck around the barriers.

I was sitting on the sofa in the living room below when I heard her bell jingling in the loft.  Next thing I knew...I saw her little body come flying over the wall with her legs flailing.  She tried to jump up and onto the wall but jumped a little too high and far.  Hubby raced over to stand below and try to catch her.  Luckily, I have a quilt draped over the wall and it saved her life as she was able to grab onto it with her claws.  As she hung on the side, I tried to calmly and quickly get to the loft to rescue her.  But, as I reached the top of the stairs she had already gotten back onto the top of the wall and walked over to meet me.  WHEW!  Since then, she still goes up there.  She even seems to think it's funny to race toward it and leap onto it when I'm looking...like she knows how it gets me.  Crazy girl!  And, she thinks it's a nice place to hang out.  I'm just glad she knows about it now and should, hopefully, be okay with it.  She is a lot more sure footed now than when we brought her home.  And, cats are usually pretty skilled at things like this.  Fingers crossed!