Floss

HY NOW?

Well its not enough that I have Stage 4 Cancer my hair fell out after 20 radiation treatments and it has caused other health issues,, that I have a huge hole in my leg and now a 3 ft rod with 3 screws in it...and if I try too stay up doing things...which I can do I can prepare most of my meals but we are taking turns doing meals my sis and I and trying to navigate the medical system,,,Home Nurses calling all odd hours...Physical therapists who don't show up etc...MY poor Floss seems to be on her last leg. Literally she cant walk and even with help she is unable to stand...

We got her in that little compact car Somehow my sis managed and we did a walk in visit to the Vet...IT took 3 hrs total to get her in and out...He x-rayed the hips he said its more arthritis than ACL..

He gave her a steroid injection  and she starts Prednisone tomorrow...But she has not offered to try to stand...or walk...she is incontinent

we have a diaper on her but I don't want her living that way so In the next couple of Days I have a very tough decision...to make...

How can someone's life completely implode in just a few weeks??

I just want a change for the better in some small way!!

AND Annie is showing signs of diabetes, I think my sis is over feeding She had none of these symptoms prior to now...

Why me why now? There is a limit to what one woman can bear.

She was 14 On July 4th...

 

So...

HAT DID I DO TODAY?
It was sunny and beautiful...
I really needed a day of just catching up...that normally means Im doing things to benefit my everyday life like splitting wood...this way I can be warm and my dogs can be warm and we go on toward another day in the best way we know how.  So I split most of what I have now I have to cut a new tree...its' going to warm up some but I will need to burn wood at night so I must cut a tree I will look for a dead tree..

I also tackled a problem that I have ignored for way too long...MY dog Flossie.  I normally keep her hair clipped up a bit..but somehow I didn't keep to my schedule and now here it is Winter and she just  could not go on with this thick mat of hair.  Brushing it out just is not even possible.  I try, trust me I do, but she has  Spanish Water Dog in her bloodline,,,,and her coat is resistant to brushing, bathing, and just about all attention.  Now that she has really entered her senior years, she can't stand up for grooming, or clipping.  She can barely walk due to a couple of things...an ACL ligament tear, that healed and then re-injuried, and the other legs arthritic.  So today I hoisted her up on the porch table and clipped her almost to the skin!! NOW I can get some shampoo down onto that dry flaky skin.  I brushed and brushed and you can NOT get to that skin...and then she gets impatient with the comb catching in tangles.

So I skinned her. She looks horrible...BUT it will grow back I don't normally clip her this close but I really need to get this dead skin off her.  I want to work some conditioner into that skin....
I brought one of the flannel doggie blankets that used to be Casey's to lay over her so she won't be cold....I put it in the dryer and got it toasty and she was soooo relaxed.  She ate a good dinner went out for a pee break and has slept since coming back inside. I will have to take her out about 9 as normal....she won't go out and do her biz unless I walk with her these days she wants to go out and come right back in maybe pee but not doing #2.  I think some dementia is present also...but mostly it's she doesn't want to walk around and make it happen...So I encourage her and sometimes I have to put the leash on her to get her to keep moving so nature can take it's course.  

So tomorrow I will bathe her in my bathtub...I hope I can put a piece of screen over the drain to strain out the hair so it won't clog up my tub!! I will put an old towel in the tub for her to stand on...hopefully she can sit at least while I bath her.. IF it should warm up enough for me to do it outside and carry warm water in a  bucket I will and then dry her and bring her in and blow dry her and then wrap her in a warm blanket...

She has no jacket...she is a long haired dog and never needed a jacket but tonight she needs one....when she goes out so I will try to find something to rig up for her for now...SHE seems so happy to have all that long tangled hair off her body...I hope I can be better at maintaining it at a length that is good for her..

Another thing I found was she has lots of fat tumors...I hope they are all benign Annie has one large one on her belly I showed the vet when she went for the ear infection he said it's only a fat tumor just under the skin...and so I think Floss's are the same.   

I didn't eat dinner yet.  I have no interest in eating I had a snack when I came in around 2pm and I guess it killed my appetite.  

Repair

ORKED...

Speaking of the tv antenna...the wire had been chewed of all it's insulation in 2 places mouse or squirrel? I never see mouse but I see squirrel daily! So it's working wonderfully not even one shaky channel...Im thrilled..I do need to rescan, but I will do that tomorrow.  Only 4 channels are missing.  I also have to rescan the tv in the bedroom.  I had a spare cable wire in the shed so didn't cost me anything.  

I split some wood for the fire...it always amazes me when I see people in the PNW and Canada barely tap a piece of firewood and it splints perfectly....I'd like to see them split red oak like I have, it will shatter your spine if you're not careful....they have Spruce, and Douglas fir, and Larch.  OMG they have no clue...we have no softwoods here even our Eastern Red Cedar is hard to split...and the Pine is too sappy to put in the fireplace.  

I laugh at them when I see them split firewood they act so manly LoL. Boy when you take a swing at a piece or red oak, you get quite a shock.  Better still let them try some Hickory or Maple...that stuff is hard...

I would love to have some Doug. Fir to burn in my fire...I think Aspen is pretty hard one of the harder softwoods.  So I only split enough for one night and I have 2 pcs left to burn and it's nearly bedtime. I guess I burned 12 - 15 pcs tonight.

I hope to watch Dateline if it's on.  I like the mysteries...I have to go out with the dogs, Floss won't walk and do her business anymore at night if I don't go out and make sure she walks enough to make it happen, she will rush out and back and then have an accident in the house...but when I go out with her and encourage her to stay out long enough to make it happen, then she has no problem....its been raining so I hope it's quit now.  

Labor of Love

eekend finally..

Not that it really matters to me, but it means I am at home.  I just don't go out on weekends anymore since 2 things:

1. Its too hot to enjoy being out doors

2. The population has tripled since Covid

I don't know where all these people came from?  I really don't understand.  My close by spots I used to go like Goodale Park, The River Park, if you go on weekends, you can't even find parking...it's crazy..and before Covid I never had an issue with crowds.  

Anyways I have plenty of homestead chores to deal with.  The morning walk this day started at 07:30 and it was clammy to say the least..I wore my floppy hat to keep the sun outta my eyes on the return trip, since they cut all the trees on both sides of the road it's very exposed for the majority of the walk.

Poor Flossie...today was clipping day.  I'm pretty good at many jobs, clipping is NOT one of them.  I used to clip horses as part of my job when I worked at the Hunter Barn right out of high school.  People would bring their horses in and pay us to clip them  I have clipped MANY a horse, been bitten, almost kicked and stepped on in the process...Many of the horses had to be given a shot of tranquilizer  about 30 mins prior to the clipping so they didn't get too stressed and start to panic, and we put cotton balls in their ears so the sound didn't scare them..

It was not  difficult but you had to know a little bit about what you're doing...DOG clipping completely different ball game.  Their hair is soft, a horse has coarse hair,  Flossie will not sit up or stand she insists on laying down...and did I say it's 100 in the shade, so my glasses puddle with sweat and  it's like I just want to be done with this; Poor Flossie..

She looks like she had a really bad fight and Lost with Edward Scissor Hands..lol  One thing I noticed is dog clippers are JUNK...I can't tell you how many pairs Ive gone thru in the 12 yrs of having this dog. IF you know what's good for you Never get a long haired dog unless you can afford the $120 grooming bill...every other month.  I sure can't so I do it myself...thank goodness it does grow back..

IF she would be still it would help she moves I dip the clipper and Oppppsssss
"don't worry, that will grow back."  Good thing she is not going anywhere anytime soon we did the whole shots things last month. That was a rodeo.  First mobile vet to do a clinic since the pandemic started so the line was triple the norm...

Most dog owners can not control their pets...and when you see a 150 pound lab making a bee line for you and your dogs in a LINE of dogs,  as he is dragging his leash behind him and an elderly man is running trying to catch him, all hell breaks loose!  Pitbulls being held by 6 year olds charge, while women holding  Chihuahuas scream, Collies bark , Beagles break into song, bitches with pups growl , uncut males attack each other, even CATS in carriers all suddenly in fight mode.  Run for  your life...it's Gawd Awful stuff..

Between all of us we managed to get the scattered line reformed and the lab under control and the old man running didn't have a coronary right then and there... my biggest fear!  

I suddenly called from the back of the line "is my test result done Im ready to get outta here." yes it was and finally I paid for my heart worm tablets got my papers and GONE...omg what chaos.  They take the cats inside the mobile van and close the door, you can sometimes hear the ruckus as the cat zooms out of the crate and attacks the vet..lol  they literally can't give the shots, so they give the owner a tranq. tablet to give the cat and come back next time.

So it is that Flossie looks like fresh roadkill I feel bad but it's better than all that long hair making her hot and I can not bath her with all that long hair the water never gets to her skin...she has some Flat Coated Retriever in her mixed with possibly some Irish Setter, and Lab, she is real mutt but a lovely dog. 

Flossie 2012...

This is her normal coat between clippings I take the scissors and have her lay down and trim around her like a cardboard cutout...that helps keep debris from getting in her fur, like briers, leaves, and twigs, but she brings all kinds of trash in with her every day..it's a given pine needles will be in her tail  or leaves in the back end I call it the Bustle...omg its a job keeping her free of tangles and hair mats. I check her often and I just clip them out with scissors. 

She hurt her ACL a few yrs back and so she limps around and now at age 12 she has a lot of white in her muzzle and face..




Here she is relaxing inside after the clipping today...I can't hold out to clip and shampoo her in one day so I will try to shampoo her tomorrow..it takes for ever for her to dry...and I have to keep her in the porch or she will wallow in the sand and be a mud pie..

YIKES

IM so glad she cant see what I did to her back,  It will grow in a bit in a weeks time...It's like when you get a bad hair cut and you have to wear a baseball cap!

...and down below...this was 2 days ago trying to find her nails  under all this hair to trim them..

And here is what happens when I try to work on Floss's feet ANNIE sticks her head in between my legs to try and watch omg...

Once when I trimmed Flossie's feet up I got side tracked and only did 3 of the feet, the hair becomes like a "furry slipper" and she walked around with ONE big fuzzy slipper for about a month it grew so huge...my son finally said "if you're not gonna finish her feet I will do it...So I did it..lol 

When I took these dogs in 12 yrs ago I promised them 2 square meals and a snack a day now they don't even get the snack..as they are both too fat!  She has always been a goof ball...

here she is doing her upside down dog act..

I love my dogs and I try to take good care of them but no one said they had to LOOK the part, they trust me to know what's best...we have shared some wonderful times together...


Floss in front and Annie in the back at one of the Many Waterfalls we hiked to...2013


They are my family....Annie's hair is easy to care for just brush her out and she is good to go...

IT's a lot of work...but they are worth it. I Lost my precious Casey on Apr 17th and I still cry every single day for him, what a wonderful little light he had inside...losing aging pets comes with the program but I'M so not ready for it...Casey's passing threw me for a loop and I'm still in mourning for him. 

I want my girls to be happy and healthy but I know if nature takes it course within the next 3 to 5 years if I don't go first they will probably not be with me anymore.  So I cherish each day with them..

I know some of my Writtn's post get pretty heavy, I don't like to censor myself so it's always gonna be an Up and Down Highway, so keep your seat belt handy it can get bumpy.

So now it's evening and I'm done for the day...Im currently watching PBS and a show called Walk in the Park about the Rocky Mtn National Park...it was not that long ago I traveled thru that park, camped and enjoyed myself I had all 3 of my dogs with me, so  it was a challenge, but I pulled it off and we all had a good visit into the park. Before we arrived in the park we boondocked in the National Forest and the girls and Casey played in the snow...swam in a mountain stream and barked at moose thru the window...
Me and My family.