Not sure where to start but I guess I will just start chronologically.

My step son’s cat died on the 23 Nov 12.  His name was Kitty.  He died from a respiratory infection. The antibiotics from the vet didn’t seem to catch it in time and he died at home on Cameron’s bed his favorite spot.  My husband was rushing home from work because I told him Kitty was suffering and wouldn’t make it through the night so Matt was going to take him to the vet to be put down.  Kitty died right as Matt arrived home. Cameron was at his mother’s thankfully so he didn’t see Kitty’s last moments.  He was a very sweet cat.  Taz and Kitty got along so well.  I know Taz misses him.  They would play and race through the house.

A cell pic of him lounging on my paint brushes while I try to paint!

 

Then on the 28 Nov my mother in law died.  She had fallen and broke her hip and was due to go home the day after she died.  She was in rehabilitation in a nursing home for several months.  She was a very sweet,good person that wasn’t well in the few years I knew her.  She was on oxygen 24 hrs. a day and had difficulty walking or doing basic tasks.  I’m sure she is doing all the things she missed doing and I imagine her happy and vivacious now. 

She left behind her dog Jake.   My plan was not to get any new animals;  no other family members  offered to take him.  I felt bad for him and he really is a very good, well behaved dog.  He hasn’t done anything wrong since he arrived.

 

It would really be nice if we had more space in the house, and Taz- my cat is scared to death of the dog.  Taz spends his days under my bed for the last 2 weeks now. The dog cannot go in that area of the house…..thanks to baby gates. It’s a barrage of rotating animals, making sure gates are shut.  Argh! I have to put Taz’s food under my bed, he will not come out until at night when the Jake goes to sleep up in Cameron’s room.   I’ve tried holding Taz so he can see Jake with Jake in a crate, or my husband holding Jake. It’s so stressful to me.  I feel horrible for my cat and have nightmares about my cat being jumped on by Jake which I’m sure Jake wouldn’t do.  Apparently my subconscious has its own opinion as I had another one last night.   My rabbits also currently cannot come downstairs as I haven’t tried them being loose with Jake.  Did I mention Jake is a big dog, part Sheppard part lab and a rescue from the animal shelter.  I tried 1x taking him to the barn where I board my horse so he could see barn cats without traumatizing my Taz.  He tried chasing a cat that ran and pulled me across the grass.  Murphy is totally unaffected and fearless and will stroll right by Jake on the floor to get where she wants to go.   She has improved leaps and bounds and is back to her old self since I stopped meds.- Another story for another day.

I know my stress is so trivial in the large scheme of the tragedies going on in the world today. My prayers go out to all those effected with the horrible shooting in Connecticut.  In time I am sure things will improve and my nightmares & stress will fade.   All I want for Christmas is animal peace in my household & Taz to not just live under my bed.  

I've been working on different gifts for Christmas.

I know we can run out and buy stuff and those

 are great too, but to me it seems there

 is nothing more special than a gift

someone took their time to make.

 Lets face it, we can all agree we

 never have enough time.

So when someone gives me

something they sat down and

created it's super thoughtful.

 

 

This weekend I made this carmel chocolate apple

 as a treat for my friends birthday to go

with her card and gift card.

 

 

I've wanted to make Christmas cards and FINALLY

I did.  bunny cards and horse cards.

 

 

Inside

 

 

My sister lost her bulldog so I made this necklace for her as

a little trinket gift.  I had to make myself one with Giddy.

 

 

I made some glycerin soaps this weekend.  I plan on giving them

to the horse barn peeps with a card.

 

 

And I've been crocheting dish cloths.  If you've never used them they are all I use.  They are 100% cotton.  I love them.  Doesn't look like much but one cloth takes me 2 nights to make.

 

I'm getting ready for German Nichalaus Tag.  I will explain in a future post as I'm waiting to pick those gifts up as they are being fired.  Fingers crossed they came out!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wow can't believe it been so long since I posted...

don't know where time went but hectic day to day stuff

 sometimes just consumes you.

I had always been meaning to make planter boxes

for bunny greens at the bottom of my green house. 

I don't have any luck planting them in my fenced

 in garden the babies are so tiny they squeeze

 in the fence and eat it all before it even grows.

So I had a thought.   One person trashed these drawers.

 

 

I lined them with Styrofoam insulation to keep the soil warm.

My thought was to keep soil from freezing in Michigan winters

 and keep moist soil from rotting the wood on the drawers.

 

 

I sealed the seems with caulk and drilled holes in bottom for drainage.

 

 

Then painted with green paint I just happened to find

 in the mark down bin.  Notice how it matches

 the green in my green house trim.

How perfect was that find??

 

 

And voila... Planter boxes!

 

 

They fit under my growing benches, doubling my

growing spaces and barely cost me anything which

I  always love a good deal!

 

 

 

 

More Miss Murphy...

So vet #2 said she has no idea

 what else to do with

Murphy and said there is not

 certified avian vet in Michigan, 

and referred me to one in Ohio. 

He is a 4 hour drive away one way.  

I'm not putting her through an 

8 hr drive in one day.  She was stressed

after the 3 hr drive to Ann Arbor and back.

Plus I think she couldn't take it physically.  

She tires easily.

So the vet in Ohio was kind enough to say he'd look at all her records and tests.  I rushed and mailed them out Friday , and that will be vet #3's opinion and then I may see another vet that was recommended locally.   Why do I keep running to vets you may ask?? Well by looking at these photos you can see how well she looks physically.   These were taken this weekend. Nice feathers, weight and coloring....but she acts sick and very unlike herself.  I had a Blue fronted amazon before her that died from liver problems.  Gidgy looked nothing like Murphy.  She couldn't even produce feathers and looked horrible. I have hope that Murphy can pull through if just given the correct meds that work for her.

If not I will know I truly did the best I could...

Murphy update...

New vet said Murphy's blood work numbers came back wonderful, but by her behavior there is something not right. So another top avian vet is going to an avian conference and is going to seek consultation on Murphy at the conference(can't get any better than that eh?) so she said keep giving the antibiotic and then she will advise plan of action once she gets some consultation.

So after their consultation.  The concensous was that her numbers could be how they were and she still have liver disease.  We are giving her an antibiotic and as of today and antifungal med.  We are trying to see what will work.  Very frustrating and discouraging. 
Although I want to make her better, maybe what will be, will be.   We all have a limited amount of time here.  It bums me out that I can't seem to help her with all my efforts.

A year ago today

I lost my beloved Giddy suddenly...

Tears roll down my cheeks as I post this.

  He was one of a kind,

and to me there will never be another bun like him.

He was my buddy and I miss him terribly.

My Murphy to a new vet

Murphy hasn't been feeling well.
  I can tell as she's not active at all and if given

a choice she will stay in her cage all day.
Which is really unlike her.

I was given a referral to the following vet clinic.

Animal Kingdom Veterinary Hospital

I'm told that the vet I'm seeing is one of the leading vets in the country and consults the Detroit Zoo.  I called to see if I could afford to take Murphy there for a second opinion and was surprised to hear their price for an office call, and x-rays ran the same as the vet I was using.  I want to see if this vet  would prescribe the same treatment.

So we will be going to this vet on 11 Aug.  It's about 1 1/2 hrs. away.

I want to know that I did all I can and gave her a fighting chance with her liver problems.

Like I said earlier, Murphy doesn't like to leave her cage.  She loves to look out the window, so today I rolled her cage in front of the door.  She truly enjoyed it and came out

to sit on top of her cage.

She actually made little happy noises.  She hasn't talked at all since she hasn't been feeling well. I try really hard to do anything that she likes and make her happy.  It's really heart breaking to me to see her go from a loud busy vivacious bird , to one that sits quietly and doesn't want to be with me.  Very sad, but at least to day she had some enjoyment.

What's up in my Garden...

Last weekend I enlisted my husband Matt to help in extending

my flower bed since I have filled up my flower beds.

After

I was so thrilled to find this red Echineaca plant at

a flea market.  I have been looking at every green house I went to for the past 2 yrs with no luck.  This color was just developed.  Yay!! 

 A special flower that is planted right above where little Basil was buried.

Some  More garden pics of what I've been up to...

front flower bed

Another view.  The terracotta Rabbit plaque I hand carved and 

 really like how it looks hanging on a sheppard hook. 

I'm not liking the brown spot in my bush.  Will trim out when it cools off.

It was 99 today, too hot for bush trimming.

Some stepping stones I've made that I will sink into the grass or should I say ask my husband Matt to dig for me.  Ha Ha!  I do the fun stuff and he does the hard labor for me.

More garden pics to come!

I was commissioned by Mary in North Carolina
 to paint this painting of her sister
and brother-in-law.

It will be a  20th wedding anniversary gift.

Thank You Shell for referring me! 

Below is the photo she wanted me to reference.

I'm grateful for the opportunity and I hope the painting is a happy surprise on their Anniversary!

Farewell Basil...

My little Basil has gone to be with Giddy

Basil passed away this morning.

We was a good little Guinea Pig.

He would squeal when her heard

 the crackle of a shopping bag cause he knew

 that the usually contained salad yummies.

 He was sweet and would allow me

 to give him a bath, hair cut

and nail trim.  His hair was curly and would grow up to 4"- 5" long.

  I opted to keep it short and neat and clean.

He was a snuggler too!

_________________________________________________

I think Giddy being the sweety he is, was there to greet Basil

and the two of them are keeping each other

company as they did here.

This is how we do it...

Every night I lay on the floor in the bunny room and watch something on TV and these are my cuddle buddies. This is our quality time.  Taz is the one on my left side

Don't they look sweet??

 As long as I'm there to chaperon her

Gwennie is pretty good and hasn't bit Bennie.

She ignors him and he isn't

overly pushy like Giddy was.

Gwen is a cuddle girl with me but she doesn't like other buns.  Not sure what happened to her as she a rescue.  She's come such a long way.  She never had a home and was at the rescue for 4 yrs. when I adopted her.  She was found outside and was pregnant.  She is good girl, doesn't get into anything and is out all day in my art room while I'm at work.  She has her little quirks, and I have learned she hates this one bowl.  If I feed her with that one she will throw it around, spilling food all over her cage, so I don't use that bowl for Gwen! LOL

Poor Tazzer

Last year I took him to the vet and he got 3 teeth removed that were infected. I could tell he had bad breath so I took him to get them clean and  pull any if there were any bad ones.  I was shocked to here that he had to have 4 removed.  They had exposed nerves.  Poor guy also had a bladder infection.  He's only about 7 yrs. old. 

I got him from the Humane Society

so I don't know his exact age.

Poor baby when he came home. 

 I'm glad to say he bounced back much quicker with this surgery.  They used a cold laser on all the sutures and it

increase the healing time dramatically.

I could tell a big difference in this

 recover from last years.

Happy Birthday Benny!

Little Benny is 1 today!   So he's all big and grown up now! (sniff sniff)  No more baby bun.

He's a sweet giant boy about 20 lbs.

  Loves his yummies.  He gets so

excited while I get their breakfast  or dinner meal ready he runs around the small room in circles.  He likes his head

petted.  A more reserved personality than my

last flemish giant, but not a mean or angry

bone in his body!

He's can be shy.  He has his little routine and

likes to stick to it.  He shows his happiness with

happy hops which I find adorable with his big size. 

 He doesn't like to go outside like Giddy

 did, which is kind of nice in a way.

  I  have no worries about him

 getting lost or munching down my plants.

He is the best boy.  He was the easiest rabbit I ever potty trained.  He took to it immediately and never had a accident.  He's not a chewer or digger.  So he has the run of the house all day.  At night my buns go in their houses.

So Happy Birthday Big Benny!

We went to the zoo, zoo ,zoo

Went with my 4 year old niece Ella and her

mom (my sister)  to the zoo.

Ella and Mama in the Butterfly house

In the snake house which she wanted to see!

and kept asking to go to. Why I don't know.

Ella and I riding the Carousel

A fun and exhausting day.  I don't have kids and I'm not used to traveling with a four year old, wagon, lunch, juice boxes, and  hand wipes. The most I have to carry is a purse.  LOL!