RIP Saffy

I'm so sad to say that Saffy died yesterday. We had a scare last February, so we were lucky to have an extra 11 months with her. Here are a few of the last pictures I took of her, from after a snowstorm on December 30, 2012.

Bath Day

The dog baths were a bit hurried by an unexpected storm that popped up with lots of thunder and lightning. It quickly got quite dark out!

But, we did get both dogs considerably cleaner. Oh, the indignity of being photographed standing in dirty bathwater!!

The best part, as far as Saffy is concerned, is the toweling off. She wriggles in delight! I never get a focused picture of this part!

Just one picture of Silas as the storm was building up. He is shedding like a wild animal you might see in a nature documentary! I'm glad all that hair is outside and not in our tub!

Carrying On

We still find ourselves looking for Bandit, walking down the stairs in such a way as to not step on him or closing the outside door like we have OCD to keep him safe indoors. Saffy and Silas have been confused and a bit depressed and look for him in the recycle bin where he loved to sleep and check the place his bed used to be. We've been looking through old pictures. I'm glad I took so many and only wish I'd remembered to just run the video recorder now and then. I can't believe that I have only found 2 short videos. Here are some more scans that predate the digital cameras and blog.

This was the night we brought him home from the shelter. He strolled around the house checking things out. He was snuffling loudly as he had a cold and we can still recall the amplified sound of that as he investigated under the fridge! After a brief look, he seemed to completely relax and make himself at home. He loved Jeff's soft fleece top.

Another pic from the early days.

The first of many beds. He was always appreciative of new beds and toys. The toy next to him was his favorite 'foot long mousie'.

About a month after his adoption, we brought home Saffy and they bonded straight away.

Don't they look like trouble here?!

These pictures are in a big box of prints I still have to scan and organize sometime, so perhaps I will post some more at some point. I also have a lot taken with the first digital camera that predated the blog too.

But now, I'd better do a garden update as we are in the peak of the growing season! The garden has gotten way ahead of me over the past few weeks. I've been picking, but have not properly kept up with tying tomatoes or weeding. It won't really affect the harvest, it's mainly just cosmetic and makes it harder to walk around in the garden. I also have to mow, so excuse the shaggy edges!

The peas have gone by and Jeff recently pulled out the support fences. Soon, I will mow over them with the lawn tractor and rake out the debris to add to the compost bin.

Here is a view of the very wild tomatoes. They are sprawling every which way and they are loaded with green tomatoes. I spied an almost ripe cherry tomato today.

Some of the green tomatoes.

Some of the peppers need staking after a downpour. We must have had some wind too? If you look closely you can see the jalapenos starting to grow.

This view shows eggplants in the foreground and more tomatoes in the background. We ate our first eggplant (an asian variety) with dinner last night and it was delicious! It was a very early setting one though, so it may be awhile before we get more.

We are at the height of zucchini season now and eating them for dinner most nights.

Everything has grown so vigorously that there isn't much room for walking between the rows. From left to right in this picture are plum tomatoes, zucchini and tomatillos. There are already many husks formed on the tomatillos.

I haven't been taking as many flower pics this year, but they are blooming very well. At the moment we have veronica, butterfly weed, hollyhock, ox-eye daisy, hyssop, and some more I'm forgetting at the moment! Also, there are some pretty pink hues from the flowering yarrow

and coneflowers.

There were some visitors to the neighbor's yard this morning--about 15 babies and a few adult wild turkeys! The babies are quite cute.

I just hope they stay out of the garden!!

RIP Bandit...

Just a little post to let you know the sad news... Bandit's health failed quickly over the past few days and we couldn't let him suffer. Here are some scanned photos that predate the blog and my digital cameras, showing him in his prime.



He was probably about 13 years old and lived with us for 11 years. The time went too quickly and he is so loved and missed.

Hanging Out in the Yard

In between working on some projects and the garden, we relaxed a bit in the yard on Sunday.

Here is a newly sowed portion of the garden. Hopefully we can remember to keep it watered enough until things come up!

There are quite a few butterflies around, though I haven't gotten a very good picture yet. They are lingering rather high up on the shrubs and rarely stay still for long.

Silas decided some of the trees needed trimming and did his famous leaps to reach them.

Success! A branch to shred.

Saffy is so much lazier. She wanders around eating grass clippings. Fortunately, she's leaving that row of romaine lettuces alone on the edge of the garden! You can see her shaved patch from surgery is growing in.

What she loves best though, is being carried or being a lap dog. She is SO spoiled! Here she is contemplating planting a puppy kiss on Jeff.

Happy and smiley as Jeff carries her over to a lawn chair.

How many labradors get to be lap dogs?!

Oh, life is so hard!

Saffy Videos

Here is another attempt to get a video of Saffy eating up her pills! I think this one came out a bit better.

Here's what she's getting...



Saffy only has one speed setting: full speed ahead. This is not always the best option when in the cone, like trying to go through doorways!! Given that she's been wearing it for a week now, I don't think she's ever going to get more graceful in it... (There is sound, so check your volume level.)

Saffy Eats Her Pills

Saffy continues to be so enthusiastic about her pills that we don't have to hide them in treats. She just eats them plain! I wish I'd gotten a better video including a view of the large green antibiotic pill and the half of a small white one for pain relief, but she was too fast for me and I barely got any of it on the screen!

Conehead

Poor Saffy! She loathes the cone. I made the mistake of taking it off her thinking it would be ok off in the living room with us watching her, but she was too interested in the stitches. Then, after we put the cone back on her, she moaned and cried so pitifully. Once she knew it could come off, she was trying to insist we remove it for her again! We had to be tough and not give in even though she was really working on our emotions. Now, it's on for the rest of the 2 weeks...

She has been crashing into door frames, furniture, Silas, Bandit and knees. She just about scoops Bandit up with it and plows him along!! She hangs her head, so it catches on the ground and the steps into the house. She has figured out how to eat with it on. She lowers it down around her food dish, all the way to the floor and eats inside it. It keeps Silas and the cat from being able to steal any of her kibbles!

We are keeping her well dosed with pain pills and we haven't seen any signs of pain other than an occasional wince when the leg gets bent all the way. She already wants to trot and canter around the yard and we are having to keep her on a tight leash. She still manages to bounce in place quite a bit.

She's loving all the extra attention and treats--she doesn't know that some of those treats have pills inside. Actually, we've found out she will just eat up the pills alone so we don't have to be sneaky like we thought we'd need to be. They are not flavored to be appealing either!

Annual Vet Visit & An Operation

Monday, we had the big annual vet visit for vaccinations and checkups. The vet sends photo postcards of each pet to remind us to book the appointments and I scanned the pics to post here.

Saffy was intent on the Hand That Held the Cookies.

Silas has a funny expression here. I guess it's a look of wondering if he's going to get a cookie or have a needle jabbed into him.

Bandit actually was getting treatment for an ear ache on the day of this picture, but it is still pretty cute.

We gave everyone baths the night before, even Bandit. He's a weird cat as he likes water! He purrs and arches his back as he's rubbed with shampoo and is very relaxed in the tub. He likes getting cocooned in the towels after and even lets me use the hair dryer on him.

The vet appointment came just at the right time as Bandit is having one of his scratchy spells where he digs at his neck and causes bald spots and cuts. That is apparently an allergic reaction (to what, I have no idea...maybe cat hair?!) and is treated with a shot. So he should be feeling a lot better soon.

Saffy has had a bump on her hind leg for awhile and it was not a problem until last Friday when she worked on it until it became a sore!! The vet said we could bring her in the next day to have it removed, if we wanted, and we were relieved it could be done so quickly. Still, it is nerve-wracking to have a pet put under for an operation. She did not like skipping breakfast in the morning! Silas did not like being left behind. She will have stitches for about 2 weeks and we have three different kinds of pills for her. She ate the first one right up--Jeff hid it in a peanut butter sandwich he made with dog cookies! The cone will take some getting used to. She doesn't know how to sleep with it on or walk through doors or hold her head up enough so it doesn't drag and catch. We are helping her get around and now we have her restng in the middle of the living room with her toys around her for comfort.

Between those two suddenly having some issues, I was just waiting for Silas to come up with something, but fortunately, he's in one piece!

Everyone is generally in good health, thankfully!

Happy Easter!

Easter has been pretty low key here since I've been sick, but we are still having a good day. I made more Paprika Sirloin Wraps as pictured in the previous post. For a special treat, I made the Coconut-Lime Berry Cake from Everyday Food mag, issue 82. The berries go on top of the batter and sink in as it bakes. I used frozen ones instead of fresh and it worked well. I partially thawed them first. The magazine says that wrapped and fridged it keeps 5 days--HAHAHAHA! It's not likely to be around for even 2 days!

Ready to eat!

On the way downstairs to check on my seedlings, I took a picture of Bandit. I thought you might like to see him asleep in his favorite spot--the recycle bin! He enjoyed an egg for an Easter treat. He just knows when we are about to give him an egg--it's impossible to surprise him with it!

The most recently sowed seeds are now up or at least in the process of sprouting in the case of the Cilantro and Dill.

I thought I'd show some progress shots. Eggplants and lettuce:

Tomato jungle:

Peppers:

Outside, the peas are growing well. You can now see the rows of green. The row to the left takes the longest time 'til maturity, so it is a little behind the others, but it's up more than it looks in this picture.

I hope you've had a good Easter too!