Monday Mischief: The Christmas Card Wreath

Well it was a busy but productive weekend. Mom and Dad finally got into Christmas mode.

Friday they left us home and took the great niece and nephews to the Christmas tree lighting. The little ones got to visit with Santa who arrived on a fire engine to open the festivities. We didn't get to go because it was incredibly crowded.

Saturday we finally got to see Santa at the Baypath Rescue fundraiser. Can you believe it Santa remembered us!! With all the dogs he sees we didn't expect he'd remember us. I guess he doesn't see many Shelties and who knew Santa has a thing for Shelties. Santa even remembered to rub Katy's side so she stopped being scared. We got to our picture taken with Santa and then we got to go shopping in the store that hosted the event. We found lots of cool toys to suggest for Santa toys and we also pointed out some bully sticks that might be interesting.

Mom and Dad finally got our card wreaths put up and the first one only has our cards in it so far. I suspect we'll fill the first one before Mom even gets one card in it.

They also got the tree up this weekend so the holiday decorations are coming along. Next weekend we are helping one of the great nephews celebrate his birthday. We love birthday parties because Dog Dad always gets us cookies to celebrate with the birthday child. The tradition is the birthday kid gives us the cookies before he/she has birthday cake. We don't get bakery cookies often so we are looking forward to it.

Happy Chanukah to all our friends celebrating. We hope the holiday is filled with joy, happiness, and wonderful memories as you celebrate with family and friends.

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Terrific Tuesday: The Christmas Cards are Arriving

Yesterday our box was filled with Christmas cards and Dog Dad hasn't even dragged our card wreaths out of the attic yet!!! We are so thankful to our Blogville friends and look forward to decorating our wreath with all their wonderful cards.

We actually had a much better picture of all our wonderful cards, but Mom quickly realized all the addresses were showing and decided that wasn't such a good idea.

Monday Mischief: Putting out the Holly Buckets

Mom was quite excited when she moved here to find she had Holly bushes in her own front yard. Oddly they seem to have the best berries in the summer, not the winter as all the fake Holly she's used over the years assured her she'd find. However, this year has been so warm that the bush is very berriful and Dog Dad decided the day after Thanksgiving would be a great day to do its winter trim.

The weather was very tropical for New England on the Friday after Thanksgiving. Mom was out in a short sleeved shirt and her sandals. She hates putting shoes on when its muddy. Mom loves putting out the Holly buckets full of Holly and ornaments to decorate the front yard. She and Dog Dad just never have done the whole Christmas light thing, but she does enjoy having something outside. A few years ago Santa's elves found their way home. Other outdoor decorations have not survived the brutal snow storms, so Mom recruited a gnome planter to help. She may be checking out some outdoor sales to see what she can locate.

We were very helpful supervising and making sure nobody got hurt while working with the pointy Holly.

Mom helped us send out all our digital Christmas cards this weekend to those who requested e-cards and to all those living outside the United States. We have an appointment with Santa on Saturday and hope to get our paper cards made up after that so we can get the rest of the list mailed.

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Happy Thanksgiving

We wish all our friends in Blogville a very happy and healthy Thanksgiving. Mom preposted this since she and Dog Dad will be busy hosting Thanksgiving for family.

Mom was truly thankful to be able to take this picture of Bailey happily stealing all the Thanksgiving toys. Katy happily stole them back later for those of you concerned. It has been a special gift and we are cherishing every moment.

Wordless Wednesday: Our First Christmas Card

Our first card arrived on Saturday from Reilly and Denny the Cowspot Dogs. We are putting it in a safe place until the Christmas Card wreaths come out some time after this weekend when Dog Dad bravely enters the attic and digs out the Christmas decorations. The only card we've sent out so far was a Hanukkah card. We are waiting until we see Santa on December 5th to get our Christmas cards made. Then we'll do a mail blast to get our cards out for the Blogville card exchange, family, friends, etc.

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Monday Mischief: Holding on to the Leaves

How can Dog Dad take away all these fun comfy leaves?

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Thankful Thursday: Bailey's Vet Visit

Bailey went to the Vet on Tuesday to have a check up and see where things are at with his Lymphoma. You see according to his diagnosis he wasn't supposed to be here much past the beginning of Oct. Halloween came and went and he is still chasing Katy around and eating all his meals. He looks like a skeleton, but a pretty healthy one by all accounts. So, we decided it was time to talk to his vet and see what else we could do to make him comfortable.

She quite frankly is shocked. Our Vet is not someone who tends to get excited and exaggerate, but she used the word miracle. She doesn't want to give us false hope, but he is not progressing in the way you'd expect a dog with Lymphoma, not getting chemo, to progress. That doesn't mean the signs won't come, but everything says they should be here now. Seeing him doing this well is a miracle. While he's lost muscle weight, he still is the weight at which he was diagnosed. She was stunned to find him still playing, eating, having regular stool, and frankly living his life to the fullest. She isn't sure what to make of it, but she did suggest we focus on trying to put some weight on without risking him starting to vomit. Vomiting would be a very bad sign. So we increased his beef and rice and he's getting between meals vet recommended kibble, which so far he's been able to keep down and he hasn't turned his nose up after one meal, which was a previous problem.

She debated reducing his steroids, but at this point she didn't want to ruin what is working. He's already on a reduced dosage from his original plan.

Each extra day has been a miracle. Bailey loves Halloween and we thought that would be our Blessing, getting to watch him greet the kids one last time. However, he's continuing to fight. We don't know how long this miracle will last, but there is a good chance with Thanksgiving so close that Bailey will get in his favorite tradition of watching the football games on the couch and getting lots of attention from extended family. Being even more optimistic we booked a visit with Santa for a dog charity fundraiser for December 5th and included Bailey on the list for the photographer. There will be no issue changing to Katy, so it seemed a safe risk.

The Vet gave us credit, but honestly I credit Katy. She has evolved so much since Bailey got sick. She has always been close to him, but now she takes so much more responsibility for their relationship. She will curl up and rest with him when he is really tired. However, she will poke and prod him until he plays with her when she thinks he's just being a cranky old guy. She'll steal his bones or a toy, knowing he can't resist stealing them back and thus keeps him interested in life. She finds things to explore outside and insists he will help. If anyone has provided Bailey with the will to live and to fight Katy has been at the heart of it all. She is not going to let him go without a fight.

We thank all of you for your prayers and good wishes. We certainly have benefited from them. We ask that you continue them as we would love to keep Bailey with us through Christmas and as long after that as God is willing. We are making the most of each day and perhaps that is the blessing in all of this.

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