Lili Marlene ~ March 17th 2014 ~ August 21 2024

My sweet Lili was born on St. Patrick’s Day. When I picked her up at ten weeks, she was an eleven-pound ball of fluff!

May 03 14 006I always wondered why she became so attached to Jack when I was the doggy chef and walker. But from an early age, she made it clear that she was Jack’s dog.

May 10 14 025She grew so fast that she had grown into her ears in no time—such a pretty girl.

June 08 14 004Lili was a fantastic dog. She looked after Jack when he was doing yard or snow plowing. And the day our house had a daytime break-in, Lili saved me.

Birthday LiliShe was beautiful and intelligent and always allowed Heidi to believe she was the Alpha Dog, although Lili knew that she was, in fact, the Alpha.

So, goodbye, sweet Lili. I will miss you always and forever.

2024-04-19-19-09-16-666

Lili ~ Part ~2

I thought I would do a quick rundown for those following the medical disaster my two doggies and I have experienced this year.

Heidi is finally well. She is on good food and medication and is returning to her sweet and happy self.

Meanwhile, Lili went to the Vets. I brought a urine sample, and they checked that and ran a blood panel. It was then that my sweet girl flipped out.

She fought everyone, including me. They’d never seen Lili have a nervous breakdown, and they were impressed. And not in a good way.

20231221_144004

They asked about her behavior at home, and I told them it had worsened in the last year. There are days I am afraid she will accidentally hurt me.

So  Lili got her prescription for antibiotics as well as a drug akin to Prozac and a tranquilizer if she was having too much of a breakdown.

I’ve been watching Grey’s Anatomy, and two main characters refer to friendship as “she’s my person.”

I think Lili’s person was Jack. Since he died, she gets out of control like this. I so wish I could sit her down and explain things to her. This truly makes me sad.

I know Lili loves me, but I know she misses her daddy.

I will go in a couple of weeks for my cardiac testing. Nothing gets your attention faster than being told you have congestive heart failure. I am on some meds now, and there may be more in my future as I am reminded almost daily that I am an elderly woman now.

Lili

For the last few days, Lili has been feeling poorly. She wakes me in the night as she frantically begs to go out. With all the wildlife in our yard after dark, I am not thrilled to grab my flashlight and take Lili outside. However, I did, and what I witnessed made me even more concerned.

I knew I needed to act quickly when a ten-year-old dog got diarrhea like this. The poor girl kept going and going and going.

I immediately put her on Heidi’s food for the weekend. I noticed a change immediately. I slept through the night, and Lili’s painful belly disappeared.

I am so glad. I can’t stand to see my fur babies not feeling well.

2024-04-19-19-09-16-666Darling Lili

The above post was written last night. This morning, I got up, and Lili had wee-wee’d all over the kitchen. Trust me, when a large dog wee-wee’s like this, it is a huge mess. And there sat Heidi in her crate, waiting to go out.

I put both dogs out, got my electric hard floor cleaner out, filled it with deodorizing cleaner, and cleaned the floor.

Tomorrow, I will bring Lili in to see our Vet. Lili’s history of accidents is that she never had them. Once she was housebroken at three months, she was good to go.

So Heidi is doing well, and now I have Lili to worry about. Heidi and I are keeping our fingers crossed that Lili will be well.

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.

blob

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.

30710763_1810349852362230_4938681845974827008_n

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!

2022-04-01_11-08-51
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.

2022-05-09_08-35-48

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

2022-05-09_08-36-20

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.
    20220206_150654
    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!

20220310_162912
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.