New Things

I’ve been trying to unwind during this time of Jack’s ill health. I have found walking Lili and Heidi and watching them play brings down my blood pressure and puts me in a much better place.

During the worst part of Jack’s health problems in the last two weeks, I watched the dogs to see how they managed it.

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Lili did her sniff tests of the Police and EMS, and once they passed that, she watched as they took care of her Daddy but seemed comforted that he was getting help. Lili is so gentle and loving. And she sure is Daddy’s girl.

I wasn’t sure what Heidi would do, as this was the first time she had come in contact with the Police and EMS. She did great. She met them at the door with her tail sticking straight up. Oh, I love watching her when she trots along completely on duty!

I must say, both dogs were completely protective of Jack when he passed out. They knew things were not correct, and they went to his aid.

After all the craziness, I tried to calm down and sleep or nap. Lili guarded the house, and Heidi crawled into my lap and guarded me. Animals know so much more than we give them credit for.

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The Friday Five March 17th

Friday FiveI fell asleep on Thursday night at 9:30. I’d had a long day and suddenly found my blanket and Heidi and the warmth I felt, put me right to sleep. So, here we go with this week’s Friday Five.

    • Heidi has been unwell for a few weeks. I’m no novice to healing a dog with tummy troubles, but Heidi finally freaked me out enough that I brought her in for a complete exam.
    • They took x-rays and blood work and examined every inch of her. Her white blood count was high, indicating some sort of infection.
    • The ultrasound was clear, so now we will check one last test on Tuesday.
  • Today is Lili’s 9th Birthday!


    Lili would have been great fun in a Circus. She loves to run and jump and run some more. A true whirling dervish! Winter is her favorite time, as
    she enjoys being able to leap through the snow at full speed. It’s like watching a deer.

    Lili rescued me on January 12th, 2019, when a man broke into my house during the day. He made it to the top of our cellar stairs, but the door was locked and Lili was fiercely barking and was between me and the door. She saved me that day!

    She adopted Heidi and loves to play with her and sleep with her, and when she goes out without Lili, Lili becomes upset and paces back and forth until her baby Heidi returns.

  • Yes, Lili is amazing and we all love being loved by this beautiful and sweet doggy.

    Birthday LiliYes, Lili is amazing and we all love being loved by this beautiful and sweet doggy!

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So, Happy Birthday to our St. Patrick’s Day Baby Girl! 

Good Girls

Monday was a rough day. Heidi had been sick through the weekend, and on Monday morning I called the Vet and took her in.

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She is now on medications and special dog food and tonight she seems to be feeling a little better.

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I had the two girls out for a run in the yard when suddenly I saw two neighbor dogs running our way. Jack wanted to let them make friends, but I’ve watched too many episodes of The Incredible Dr. Pol, which made me worried that things could escalate into a bad situation.

I scooped up Heidi and then I called to Lili. “Lili, come!” While I was running into the house, with Lili on my heels, I was grateful that the one command that Lili knows well is “Come!” and she always does.

It has saved her from a skunk, a fox and stray dogs, as well as our neighborhood dogs that enjoyed their romp through the mud to our house.

2022-05-09_08-37-00Best friends.

The Friday Five ~ March 18th

Friday FiveThis week found me thinking about the past. Oh, I didn’t dwell, but I spent time recalling happy times. sad times, and times when I found great growth in life. So, it was a good week all in all.

So, here is this week’s Friday Five.

  1. It’s Spring and we are having a lot of melting. Our puddles have puddles and everything is muddy and gross. Of course, Heidi thinks this is so much fun and tried to eat the mud!
  2. I was walking the dogs in the yard today and I slipped and fell. While getting up I noted I was wet, muddy, and slightly yucky. The dogs were so impressed. I swear they wanted me to “do it again!”
  3. I have been slow cooking the corned beef all day. I just added the celery and cabbage to the corned beef pot and the carrots, potatoes, and onions are prepped and ready to go.
  4. Lili had a great birthday.
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    She had her usual crunchie food, but today I gave her some poached chicken on top. Happy 8th Birthday to my love.
  5. Heidi is growing by leaps and bounds. She is sixteen pounds now, and such a beautiful girl. She is also my love. I scoop her up in my arms and snuggle her and then I thank God for sending me this cherished girl.
    20220310_163015Yes, I am a lucky doggy Mama. Lili and Heidi are such wonderful companions!

Have a great weekend everyone and enjoy the time no matter where you are!

And Just Like That…Spring

I am not quite ready to believe that we are finished with snow for this year. I recall a time in 1977 while living in Ayer, Massachusetts we actually had a huge storm that dropped nearly a foot of snow where we lived. The power was out and the Spring flowers were covered in heavy wet snow.

snowstormAmanda was a baby and with no electricity, it was a challenge.

tulipMy yard a few years back.

So yes, I am cautious about counting my Spring Days much before May 31st!

We’re having lovely puddles of melting. Heidi dislikes that, but she wanted to go and see our neighbors which required her to ford the puddles. I wish you all could have seen that!

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Currently, she is asleep between my knees as she is spent from having to wade through the puddles!

And lastly, today is Lili’s 8th Birthday. This is amazing as she is still acting like a silly puppy!

Birthday LiliNow she has a playmate, although one who is much craftier than she is!

Happy Birthday, Lili!

Fun, Fun, Fun!

Yesterday while I started to deep clean the kitchen and family room, Heidi and Lili began to really kick up some dust playing.

20220302_162533Me and my baby!

Heidi is so funny to watch. She runs around so fast, like a speeding roadrunner. But her favorite game with Lili is that she runs around the island in the kitchen over and over and over, while Lili tries to follow her. Then when she knows Lili is falling behind, she turns and jumps out in Lili’s face, surprising her.

I just stood there in the kitchen, silently watching until the laughter burst out from my lungs!

Lili is so patient with Heidi and allows her to play these silly games with her.

It does my heart good to see the two of them playing so nicely.

After the big play session, it was time to crash with Mama.

20220301_150147A sleepy puppy!

20220301_150518Baby Feet.

Woooops!

It’s not often that I write about Lili and her klutziness, but Monday found poor Lili in one of her worst incidents yet.

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Our weather was warmer on Monday, sneaking up to nearly 50 degrees. This means more melting of the ice and snow in the yard.

We always snowplow a walking area and pooping area for the dogs. Today’s warmth turned all of those places into soggy, grassy, muddy areas.

Heidi needed to go for a walk and so I thought we would go around the house and see how Jack was doing sweeping up the sand on the drive. We have so much sand we could fill several sandboxes. (That is if it wasn’t mixed with salt!)

As we rounded the corner, Lili saw us and raced up to greet us, then she turned to begin to run back toward Jack when she slipped and caught three legs, and her belly in the mud!

Once I got to her and made sure she was okay, I saw that my beautiful white shepherd was covered with mud.

Jack took Heidi into the house, and I took Lili into the garage where I could hose her off.

But oh my goodness, what a terrible mess she was. It’s moments like this that keep me from being a fan of mud season!

A Dog’s World

I have been working to get Lili to accept that the puppy is here to stay. Lili didn’t seem to mind the puppy, but she was like a new fiancee going to meet her future inlaws. Lili has been on her best behavior. Afraid to do anything wrong.

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I knew the day would have to come when Lili got sick enough of Heidi to let her know, that she wasn’t going to accept ankle-biting, ear-biting, and other obnoxious treatment from this young whipper-snapper.

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That day was yesterday. The pups were up early and then Heidi was like a whirling-dervish. Go, go, go!

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She ended up biting at Lili’s ankles and this time, dear, sweet, Lili turned around, and growled and snapped at her. I was monitoring, so I could see that this was doggy-puppy instruction, because immediately Heidi backed off and stared at Lili. She tried again. Again Lili growled and snapped her mouth in the air. This went on for a moment or two and I called Heidi and told her to stop. She left poor Lili in peace and then played with her bones and toys.

Later in the day, Heidi was playing tug of war with me, and Lili came over to see what we were doing. I got Lili to take the rope and for several moments they played with the rope together before Lili walked away. But this is a start!

Aside from this, Heidi is still in puppy learning mode and doing well. It’s now two weeks since her last accident, which is encouraging. She never used the pee pads I bought. In fact, I don’t even put them down. So I have 48 pee pads that will go unused.

Is Heidi completely toilet trained? No. But she does know where to go and has started to go right to the door when she needs to go out. Since I decided early on to devote myself to doing this and training her to the leash, coming when called, etc while she was still young, I have been very busy. Even during the Flu. Even during snowstorms. But the progress is amazing.

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So the girl is not just beautiful, she is also smart! How did I get so lucky?

The Friday Five ~ January 21st

20200206_160117Here we are another week gone by. It’s been so cold here in New Hampshire that Jack and I live in long underwear with layers over them, and for me, a blanket too. Besides freezing up here, this week, this is what’s going on in my world.

  1. On Monday we called to order oil for the tank. We were down to just below a quarter of a tank, and with single-digit- below zero temperatures we knew that wouldn’t last long. On Thursday we were very nervous about running out, then the Oilman cometh! 219 gallons later, we are no longer worried about that and having to deal with freezing pipes.
  2. It’s been fun to watch Lili and Heidi become friends. Although Heidi can still bug Lili when they play.20220119_160133
    Mostly, they play together nicely. Lili allows Heidi to lick at her and snuggle her.20220116_093908

    Heidi will roll on her back telling Lili that she means no harm. And Lili starts playing once again.

  3. Heidi went to the Vet on Thursday for her shots. She weighed in at 11 pounds. I guess this means she’s eating well here and likes her new home. Our Veterinarians love her and joke that they would take her in a heartbeat!
  4. I am slowly starting to feel better from the Flu. This has been a tough one to kick. I am sure glad I went and was tested for Covid, Strep, and the Flu, or I would have mistakenly thought I had Covid.
  5. I’ve been home for a few weeks now, but aside from the dirty clothes that I removed from my suitcase, the case is not unpacked. I plan to set aside time tomorrow to unpack it and put the case away. I don’t see myself traveling now for a while.

So there we go. This week’s Friday Five. All good and positive things as we head into the weekend.

I hope you all are well and enjoying your days. And most of all, I hope that Covid departs very soon!