Is there life after snow???? Well... hopefully we'll find out someday (soon). They sure weren't kidding when they issued the winter storm warning and the blizzard watch. This morning there was about 2 1/2 feet of snow (where it wasn't drifting) and almost 3 feet outside my front and back doors. I couldn't open the front door at all because it opens out. Thank goodness the back door opens in, so I suited up with boots, sweatpants, heavy jacket and hood and tried my best to sweep away enough snow for the pups to go outside.

When I opened the door, my laundry room floor had so much snow fall inside that I was slipping and sliding even with my boots on. Well... after awhile, it was finally clear enough for the kids to go potty. It's still coming down out there and not suppose to stop until after midnight. Oh well... like I always say... God has a wonderful sense of humor... He had me being born in Cleveland and too stupid to move.

Here's a link to the Channel 5 website with pictures of the storm that people have uploaded to the site if you want to check it out. You'll see that one of the pictures with a yardstick, measured it at 24"... I'm sure it's much deeper by now.
http://www.newsnet5.com/slideshow/15528279/detail.html?taf=nn5

Mike and Katie are doing fine. Mike's leg still needs a lot of massaging, but he's actually able to run (in the house) when he's warm enough. What's really sad right now is that we have so much snow that it's impossible not to see the red. I know this sounds weird, but I love to see the first pee of the morning, because it's always yellow. How I wish it would stay that way.

I've been answering the phone, "Merry Christmas" or "Welcome To Winter Wonderland"... well... how embarrassing.. I answered it, "Sorry, Frosty is in the bathroom and can't be bothered right now".... well... when I answered that way, I hear, "Is Joanna there"... a man's voice. Here it was Tom from Ladybug Rescue (where I got Katie from), calling to check on Katie. I was really embarrassed, but I laughed when I explained to him why I answered like that. They have snow down there too (closer to Columbus), but no where near what we have here.

Ok.. well.. gonna go put up my Christmas tree and wait for Santa to appear. :-D

Love, Blessings, Wet Westie Nose and Whisker Kisses and Snow Angels To All

Here are a few pictures of the kids... if you want to see them all... here's the link to Photo Bucket.. they really are great, and I'm soooooo happy my brother let me use his camera. Enjoy!!!
Link To Mike And Katie March 2008

Love, Blessings & Tons of Wet Westie Nose & Whisker Kisses

Boy.. I can't win for losing. Get this.. now my aunt is mad... AT ME!!! Go figure. She's mad because I didn't stay and "talk" with my cousin. I would have stayed and talked, but the way she came at me, I know there would be no "talking" just a horrible confrontation. Oh well... I guess they won't be calling me if they need help anymore. I'm such a horrible, evil person... I should burn in hell for being so mean to them..... (I'm not being serious here.. but I'm sure that's what they're thinking about now). I just pray for them that they could find some kind of peace in their lives. My cousin is mad at the world because she had such a horrible childhood and has never dealt with it. My aunt (God Bless her) has been essentially locked up for 53 years taking care of Pam (and a horrible and abusive marriage until my uncle died) and never having a real life. Please keep them in your prayers.

Now, on a lighter side.

Miss Katie had another poop accident in her bed last night. Eyyyuuuccckkkk. Another bath and another cage cleaning before my coffee. Oh what fun. I think I'm going to put a cork in her at night before she goes to bed. LOL I don't know why this has happened two nights in a row. I "thought" the first night was from the new treats I had given her because Mike had kind of a loose stool too, so those are now history. But.. apparently she must have had some still in her system last night. I'm hoping it's over with now.

Last night I was feeling sorry for Mike because Katie has taken over all of his toys. He doesn't seem to mind, but it bothered me. So I put Katie in her cage for awhile and gave him one of my stuffed animals that he goes after every time he starts his "possession" ritual (a Westie puppy). He LOVED it... he had his own baby again. LOL We played for quite awhile as I pretended I was going to take it away from him, and he sounded soooooo vicious at the thought of it. Then we sat on the floor and just cuddled for the longest time.

I finally let the puppy out, and Mike quickly let her know that the new baby was NOT for her. I stayed on the floor cuddling Mike with my right hand and Katie with my left. How relaxing that was.

This morning was hilarious. After the bath and general morning things were done, both pups got into the play-mode. Mike was relentless going after Katie, but Katie was just too quick for him and ran circles around him (literally). She grabbed his new baby, and he let her. I told him, "Go get that baby Mikey".. and he'd go after it while it was still in her mouth. She'd drop it, he'd grab it, she'd run... oh my gosh this went on for about 45 minutes until they both wore out. I was laughing out loud at them. I guess I really needed to see that.

Michelle... thanks for stopping in. I really appreciate the post. That's the one thing I do miss about Mike not having a thread... reading everyone's posts... but some of you have posted here and others have e-mailed me, and I am so grateful to have you all and the wonderful friendship you all offer.

Love, Blessings & Wet Westie Nose & Whisker Kisses

I just had a reality check that I don't think I wanted. I let the puppy out to go potty and watched her as she jumped and bounced around for a few minutes until she was ready to do her thing. Then, Mike wanted out, so I let him out too.

I watched him as he peed right away (as he always does) and then as he roamed around a little before doing the dirty one. Then he peed again (kind of a ritual.. pee, poop, pee and in the house). But.. in between his ritualistic movements, I couldn't help but realize how slowly he moved. His slower pace and his heavy winter coat (which makes him look really heavy) made him look so very old. Instantly, I felt so sad.. sad in the knowledge that he "is" old. He will be twelve in July (I pray he lasts that long) which means he will be 84 years old and has bladder cancer... and his limp makes him seem even older. I just feel so sad right now.

I guess I've just been so use to his movements and rituals that I never thought anything of it until now. But after watching the unstoppable puppy and then Mike... the difference was so extreme that it cut me to the quick.

Mike still plays with his toys and will chase a bouncing ball, but it's not the same. He seems like a little old man rocking in his rocking chair... it's so sad. But he's still my Best Friend and always will be. He's the light of my life and my soul-mate (in canine form). He's my precious boy, my main man, the love of my life.

I know I'll get over this feeling. But right now... it's just too fresh.

Thanks for listening. Love You All

Good Morning All....

It's a beautiful 78 degrees and balmy... (wish, wish)... of course, Mother Nature doesn't realize that 78 is what it "should" be. By the time we went to bed last night there was already about 2" of icy rain solid on the walk outside my door. It continued until God knows what time and then turned to snow. Waking up this morning we had about 3" of snow on top of the ice and it's been snowing ever since. My Mother use to say we sometimes wish our lives away... well.. I don't want to do that.. but I do wish Spring would get here already. I know there's going to be some nasty muddy messes when all this stuff melts, but at least it will be warm and we'll be looking forward to the ground hardening so we can walk outside.

Miss Katie had a gift for me when I woke up this morning. Oh boy did she!!! Seems she had really yucky poopy poops in her cage sometime during the night. Whoa... I really wasn't ready to make a bath for her and washing her blanket the first order of the day... but, ya do what you have to right? Thank goodness she's so tiny... it takes less than 15 minutes to give her a bath. :-D After the bath, she had 1/2 teaspoon of Pepto Bismol soaked in bread... she was quite happy with that.

Poor Mike... he's such a good boy. I love him so very much. He's still has red pee, and it doesn't seem to be getting any better. I just pray no clots... please pray for him. I just got off the phone with Dr. Kari. I called because Mike's leg is still gimpy. She feels (as I do) that it could be from the weather but offered (of course) to see him again to re-evaluate it. Of course to re-evaluate it she's talking about sedating him and checking him for torn ligaments... uhmmmmm... I don't think so. If I have to do that in the future, I would definitely consider it, but right now... I think we'll wait out the weather since he seems much better when he's been in the house and warm than he is when he goes out and comes back in.

My poor guy.. he really is a soldier about everything. At this point in time, and with as terrified as he is about the vet, I couldn't think of taking him back in. I'm also "thinking" about "maybe" if he needs a vet again, since I don't know if his heart would take going back to "that place" that maybe I could find a mobile vet who would come to the house. I'm sure I saw one on Yahoo Yellow Pages when I was looking up the vet's address one day. Oh well.. hopefully we'll "never" need another vet (boy is that being positive or what??? :-) )

Ok... gonna get going. I've got a few things around here that really have to be done (since I haven't done anything for the last three or four days), and then (hopefully) this afternoon, I want to catch up on everyone's thread. I've been gone so long that I'm sure it's going to take all afternoon, and I want to be able to visit everyone with no interruptions.

Take Care of Yourselves.

Love, Blessings & Tons of Westie Nose & Whisker Kisses

Oh my gosh... I've just had three of the most grueling days I've had in years. I feel horrible, haven't even had a chance to check on anyone's thread let alone post. I'll "try" to catch up with everyone tonight and tomorrow.

Long story short (well..I'll try) ... Sunday afternoon (and into evening).. finished Claudia's taxes, and then she took me grocery shopping (what a sweetie she is). By the time we got finished, I had a headache and pretty much stayed away from the computer.

Yesterday, my aunt (the one who wanted me to put Mike down) called and asked me to take her to do some errands and shopping (her daughter would pick me up, and we'd leave from her house and then she'd take me home afterwards). We do this on occasion because my aunt is 83 years old and caring 24/7 for my 53 year old cousin who's severely disabled, and my aunt seldom gets to have a day out or a break. The older daughter lives with the two of them and the three of them can't really go out in this weather together since Pam can't take the cold.

Anyway... my aunt and I spent almost 5 hours together, and when we were finished doing everything she needed to do, she wanted to stop at Arby's to get some sandwiches. Long story short (or is it too late?)... she was walking into Arby's and tripped on a broken sidewalk that was up about 3" higher than the rest. If you've ever seen an 83 year old woman fall flat on her face.. it's not pretty... scary as hell. OMG... I was so afraid she had cracked her head, but her guardian angels were holding her up because even though her glasses and face hit the sidewalk, her head was spared. Her only pair of glasses broke, and she had bruises all over her face. I could have died.

I got her into Arby's and "finally" got the bleeding to stop. She didn't want to go to the hospital, but I wasn't going to take her home like that without being checked. (Her daughter... who is soooooo overprotective of her mother and won't even let her take a bath without checking on her two or three times while she's in there... she drives her mother absolutely nuts) would have freaked. Well... I called the squad (under her protest) and told them she didn't want to go to the ER, but I felt she at least needed her vitals taken (she has extremely high blood pressure). They came, and although her blood pressure was high, she seemed to be ok to go home. I tried to get her to go for x-rays and a ct... but she's "really" stubborn and refused.

By the time we got to her house, I was right.. Kathy totally freaked... I knew she was going to blame me... but even though I knew better, I also knew it wasn't anyone's fault. Well... Kathy wasn't as bad as I thought and drove me home without incident.

After I got home, the stress from the day must have hit me, because as beautiful as it had been (60 degrees), I was freezing and had to turn the heat all the way up to 75. I put my flannels and bathrobe on before I could even pretend to be warm. By 7:00, I was so tired and had a headache and by 8:00 I went to bed.

Poor little Katie got so confused with the break in schedule. By the time I let her out for me to go to bed, it was raining, and she just didn't want anything to do with going potty. So I put her in the cage and set the alarm for 10:30 so she could go out (at a more normal time)... the rest really helped, and Mike and I stayed up for an extra hour so she could play for a while after pottying in the rain.

WELLLLLL....... today was another day... phone rings at 8:40... it's my aunt... will I take her to the ER... she's had a headache all night, couldn't sleep, and face is all swollen. OMG.. I'm thinking blood clot. Cousin picks me up... go get my aunt... cousin stays with sister... go to ER... get out of ER 5 1/2 hours later (thank God everything checked out fine except sprained wrist). During the time we were in ER... cousin calls FIVE times... keep telling her we're waiting for her to go to CT... waiting for CT report to come back... waiting for more x-rays... she ends up screaming at me on the phone telling me it's "her" mother, and I have no right to tell "her" yada yada yada and then she hung up on me. I did nothing wrong... never raised my voice.. nothing, just answered her questions. She just has this horrible fear that I'm taking her mother away from her. I'm sure it stems from the fact that it's so hard for the two of them to go out together, and when something like this happens, she feels she should be with her mom. Hell, I'd feel the same way, but I'd be happy there's someone who could help and sure as hell wouldn't feel like they're trying to take her away from me (and even if I did feel that way.. I'd wait until I knew everything was fine before I'd bitch about it). The last time she called, I just handed the phone to my aunt.. I didn't want to deal with her anymore.

By the time we left the hospital... I decided I didn't want my cousin to drive me home... not in the mood she was in.. she can be downright evil-sounding. I don't need that crap in my life, and like Dr. Phil says... if it bothers you... don't do it... or don't go there. So I opted not to deal with her.

Called my brother to meet me at aunts house to drive me home... we got there about 1/2 hour before brother did so we parked on the corner of the street so I could avoid cousin.... aunt was really worn out and still hadn't eaten or even had coffee so I took her home, pulled car in garage and told her to tell cousin my brother was picking me up because (lie) I didn't want aunt staying home alone with disabled cousin while (irate) cousin took me home. I stayed outside and lit a cig to wait for brother... cousin comes STORMING out of house screaming at top of her lungs... "MY mother was in the hospital, and I could call...." as soon as I heard her first words and saw her face... I picked up my hood and started walking .... she followed me screaming and swearing the whole time for about 4 units (townhouses)... when she realized I wasn't going to talk back (and her mother was yelling for her to stop) she turned and went back into the garage... I could hear her screaming more than 1/2 way down the street (screaming at her mother now). My brother got there before I could get to the end of the street... my poor aunt.. she doesn't need or deserve this... she stayed outside the garage door until she knew I was safe in my brother's car.

Sooooooo... that's what's happened to me and why I haven't been around. My poor puppies have been really tolerant of everything going on. I felt so bad that yesterday, I didn't even have the heart to correct Katie for messing in the house. It wasn't her fault the schedule was messed up. Mike is so wonderful... he's tolerant ALL THE TIME!!! I just love this boy soooooo much. I look at him, and my heart melts. He is so good and so understanding. I know "someday" Miss Katie will learn... but I'm sure it's going to take her a very long time... right now, she's just concentrating on being a baby. LOL

She was suppose to get spayed today. I guess everything really does happen the way it's suppose to. Yesterday I couldn't find a ride to pick her up, and then I heard we were suppose to have a huge ice storm and lots of slipping and sliding this morning, so I rescheduled the appointment (can't get in again until April 28th :-( ) I was really pretty upset that she will more than likely go thru a first heat. On the other hand... things work out the way they're suppose to... if we had taken Katie.. I wouldn't have been home to get my aunt's call, and I don't know what she would have done.

I'm not looking forward to Katie going into heat (she'll be 6 months old on the 7th). It's been a "very" long time since I've had an un-altered female. I don't know how long it lasts or how Mike's going to react (I might have to keep her in her cage to keep "my" sanity).

Hi Judy... We're going to try to get back into a routine. Of course now with the cold, windy rain.. Katie doesn't even want to be outside (I don't blame her.. I just let her out and she almost got blown away). She didn't pee, and I'm 99% sure she's planning on doing it in the house this time.. I've just got to watch her so close.

Hey Debs... You got that right... thank God for Pepto Bismol. I hate the stuff too.. the only reason I even have it in the house right now is because Katie had the poopy poops after her rabies shot, and the vet told me that's what I should give her. I'm glad I got it.

I miss chatting on Skype with you too... hopefully tomorrow will be a more "normal" day, and we can chat for a bit.

Ok... I'm gonna go get something to eat. I'll try to catch up on the threads in a little while. I hope everyone is doing well and all the PINs are healthy and getting the treatment they need.

Love & Blessings To All of You

Thank you sooooo much for your love and prayers. Mike is feeling better today. He really had me going last night... about an hour after I posted here, he started the "possessed" look again, and I knew he really had an upset stomach. I didn't want him to have to go through a half hour of his searching, whining and scratching before vomiting, so I put 1/2 teaspoon of Pepto Bismol (sp?) on a piece of bread, and he ate it right up (wouldn't touch it from the spoon). Thank God it worked. It took only maybe five or ten minutes, and he calmed down. We went to bed a little while after that, so he was able to sleep it off at a time when he would normally still be going bonkers waiting for the final moment of upchuck.

Poor little Katie couldn't figure out why she had to be in the cage... after all, she hadn't done anything wrong, and mommy and Mike were still awake. She just didn't realize that her big brother didn't feel good and wanted to be left alone, but she handled it well when she saw all the attention Mike was getting. I think she finally figured out that he needed me more than she did at that particular moment in time.

Things are working out really well with them. In the morning, she goes out to piddle before Mike even gets up. I keep her on the leash when she comes in so she can play but not go wake Mike up (he sleeps in my room and God help the person, or pup, that wakes him up in the morning before he's ready LOL).
When he wakes up, she goes back in the cage for about a half hour while he goes out and he and I wake up a little. Then she goes out... poops, and she's back in the house running around like she's a Nascar racer.

You should see them now. Mike is curled up on the lazy boy, and Miss Katie is very comfortable rolled up like a caterpillar on the corner of the couch. Of course, when she wakes up, her battery will be recharged and we start all over again. :-D

Deb, Michelle, Judy and Jennifer... thank you so much for your prayers and comments. It's almost like being on Mike's thread. I love hearing from you.

Ok.. on with our day.. the sun is out and it's warming up a bit. It's suppose to be 55 tomorrow, so I'm hoping that (even with the snow) we'll be able to go for a little walk to blow the stink off of all of us.

Take Care and God Bless