Rocky's arrival layout

Been trying to keep busy so finally got around to recording Rocky's story of how he arrived. It's the 2nd part of a double layout with Indy's story being on the left side. They do look nice together in the album.

Today was always going to be a toughie as it was last Tuesday Orin passed away so have made sure I have lots of errands to run etc although I do feel calmer today.

Hounds are all back to normal but as yet no one seems ready to step up to pack leader.

sue x

Each year I do a yearly scrap book which is like a visual diary of special occasions, family get togethers and maybe just day to day stuff. I knew I needed to do this layout and wanted it to be so perfect and special but it isn't the harder I tried the more upset I became until in the ended I just decided to keep it simple. On the back will be printed Orins story.

Today my son is 35 years old, where did that go, can hardly believe I have a child of 35 LOL.

Slowly the pack are settling down although still quiet, guess they're still picking up on our mood which is subdued at best. Really struggling to come to terms with Orin passing away so suddenly.

Have little Ben coming on Wednesday so that should cheer me up and the dogs.

sue x

THANK YOU

We've received so many lovely messages and cards. Knowing that some people do understand how terrible it is to lose a very much loved hound does help. Of course there are those who don't get it and can be quiet hurtful albeit unintentionally!

This was the last photo I took of Orin snuggled up to Elmo, Orin was such a snuggle bunny and always cuddling someone

 

Despite still having 8 hounds there is a huge gaping hole left by Orin, because he was such a clown and always making us laugh at his antics it's so noticeable. The other hounds have been wonderful, giving us the space to grieve and now they are trying to comfort us as we in turn try to give them back some stability.

It's hard to look outside and see the world is carrying on as normal whilst you are feeling so sad and even 3 days later I don't feel ready to go out and be normal. Orin was such a wonderful greyhound and his time with us was way too short but his memories will stay with us forever.

Still on a doggy theme but a lighter note, this is a layout I did at crop of Archie. Archie is my daughters dog and is allegedly a labradoodle with a few extra dreadlocks. Little Ben having grown up surrounded by our hounds had wanted his own dog for so long and they promised him after the honeymoom/holday last year they would start looking. Through some mutual friends they heard about Archie who at just a year old needed a new home.

I think Ben would still prefer to have Gangley or Mojo and has been known to ask if we can swap LOL but as Archie calms down and Ben grows up they will be a perfect partnership, that is if Archie can be persuaded to leave his Mum's side such a Mummy' boy!

Quickly grabbed the camera yesterday to take these photo's of Belle and Twizzle who have hardly left each others side this week. On Tuesday we heard Twizzle making the most awful sad mewing noises totally heartbreaking and since then she has been trying to comfort the pack and us. Twizzile whilst not blessed with the biggest brain has the biggest heart and intuitively knows when you need comforting. You would imagine looking at these photo's that she is an older dog taking care of baby Belle when she in fact she is only 1 year older than Belle.

So thank you to all my blogging friends for your kind words which have been so appreciated

sue x

ORIN BYATT TAYLOR 26/5/2009 - 23/7/2013

I CAN'T BELIEVE I AM TYPING THIS, TO  SAY WE ARE SHELL SHOCKED DOESN'T COME CLOSE. ORIN WAS A VERY SPECIAL GREYHOUND WHO WE ADORED!

We were asked to foster Orin by greyhound gap. Orin was 3years old and terrified of the world and not doing well in the kennels. So Orin arrived here on Sunday 20^th May 2012 and was indeed a very frightened dog.

Elmo loved having a new playmate and the two of them really hit off. Orin gained in confidence with each passing week although unexpected noises would still frightened him. He would also bark non stop when someone he didn’t know would visit until he felt comfortable enough to do a few quick run pasts and then the final run past would involve him giving the visitor a quick lick on the hand.

Right from the start Orin bonded with Eric and was totally 100% a Daddy’s boy, whilst Eric was at work Orin would play with Elmo and then Twizzle when she arrived or when he finally figured out he was a greyhound and not a lurcher like the other two he would spend his days on his back with 4 legs in the air. However as soon as Eric walked in he would turn into the funniest silly clown you could imagine acting the fool and playing about. He totally adored Eric and where Eric went so did Orin

On the 18^th June we knew that Orin had already found his forever home, he had fitted into the pack so well and despite still having some confident issues he was so happy, so we made the formal announcement that Orin would become a Taylor hound. It felt so good having a greyhound in our pack again.

As our pack expanded with the arrival of Twizzle and Belle and later with Indy and Rocky, Alfie couldn’t cope with being the alpha dog and much to everyone’s surprise Orin took over as top dog! This was the dog that used to peep out from the side of the garage to bark at the postman such was fear of people he didn’t know. His journey to becoming top dog and a much more confidant fella was wonderful to watch but he never lost his silliness and would still love to play with Elmo, Twizzle and Belle.

Every morning when Eric went out to let the chickens out Orin always accompanied his Dad and in truth was never really far from Eric’s side even when Eric felt the time had come to let him have his first off lead run up the meadow he didn’t explode and take off as we had expected but just trotted alongside his Dad. Other than Eric Orin’s favourites things in life were footballs and our daughter Vikki. Orin would often be seen running around the garden with a football in his mouth and when Vikki visited he would guide her to the sofa and lay next to her with his head in her lap demanding attention.

Orin was the most gorgeous tiger brindle with a fabulous soft coat and a wonderful silly funny crazy character that once he decided he liked someone would want to sit and cuddle with them or if it was Donna a friend in the village he would actually shower her with kisses and drool all over her. His ability to act the clown brought so much fun and laughter into our lives.

On Monday 22^nd July it was just a normal day and Orin was fine, in the evening he seemed to hurt his back but an hour later had recovered enough to go out for his walk. Normally the evening walk would be about 7.30pm but because it had been so hot Eric and the hounds didn’t go until 9pm. Orin was quiet on his walk and when he came home his back legs collapsed and within minutes he was struggling to breathe. Eric rushed him to the vets and he was sedated and had a tube put in to assist his breathing. X rays showed no injuries no tumours. The vet thought it had to be a pulmonary embolism and started treating him. Orin rallied and was able to breath un aided by 1.30am but by 6am had again gone downhill and needed help breathing. Several more attempts were made to treat him but unbelievable nothing worked or helped and what had seemed to be a normal healthy 4-year-old dog just 12 hours earlier passed away.

Orin was loved so very very much by us and by many other people, his clowning ways brought us so much laughter and joy. To see the shy frightened dog of a year earlier blossom into a happy dog was also so rewarding. His life has been cut unbelievably short and he and us have been robbed of what should have been many happy years ahead.

We will always love you little man and never will you leave our hearts and memories.

HOT!

Okay so I know us brits have spent months complaining about the long cold winter followed by the non stop rain through spring BUT seriously going from cold and wet to boiling hot is truly awful! All winter I worried about the gas bill as the heating was constantly on and now I'm worrying about the electric bill as we have fans going non stop to try and keep the dogs cool.


Is it too much to ask for a nice 21 or 22 degrees! with a little breeze. What do we have 27 and forecast rising to possibly 30 degrees and high humidity... horrible so it is LOL.

Got a photo of 8 out of 9 hounds woohoo, Gangley absolutely refused to come into shot little minx!

It was bone evening hence the intend on all faces LOL.

At Easter I bought Eric a giant walnut whip and noticed last week it was approaching it's best before date so Sunday evening whilst watching the motorbike racing there was a chocolate fest going on. Inside the large one were 6 little ones yum yum!

Had a lovely relaxing day at Bramford crop just what I needed and the new FB page has already generated quite a few orders of cards for greyhound gap funds.

Disaster yesterday with no warning my hard disk failed! Ironically on my "to do list" that day was a back up as I hadn't done it for 3 months. Luckily Eric put it in the freezer and was able to get it up long enough to recover my important stuff! New hard drive coming today, bigger I'm told LOL. I'm always telling everyone you must back up regularly and it was most embarrassing having to admit to Eric I hadn't..... darn it. I almost went into melt down I can tell you.

Oh well back to the chores, one has decided with every door and window open there seems to be very little point in dusting, wouldn't you agree LOL.

In for a penny

As everyone knows we as a family are big supporters of Greyhound Gap, 8 of our 9 hounds came from them! Our son will again be doing another long distance walk this year to raise money for their ongoing kennel fund appeal. Details to be announced shortly.

Lisa the founder of greyhound gap has set up a new FB page called Friends of greyhound gap, it's a place where people can sell things and give a percentage of any money raised to the day to day costs of running greyhound gap, which I might add are enormous,. Greyhound gap is a small charity and relies totally on volunteers constantly raising money.

I  have decided also to have a new FB page called Suzy's Sanctuary and offer my cards for sale. Feeling very apprehensive about it but as they say in for a penny LOL .............Will try and make the page look a bit neater and prettier over the weekend, wanted to strike whilst the iron was hot.

Finally managed to do this layout, it's been inside my head all year and just never got round to doing it! it records my daughter Vikki's constantly changing hair colour and style, she's been the same since she was a teenager and her husband Mathew never quite knows what he'll come home too.

Off to Bramford crop tomorrow and very much looking forward to it.

Hounds are all well and happy. We finally decided taking down all their beds each night was becoming too much work so raided our large collection of duvets, put them into covers and now instead of beds dotted around everywhere there are 5 huge duvets folded over, looks neater, takes less time and they love it LOL. I think every part of our daily life and routine has been severly looked at in an attempt to improve time and work LOL.

sue x

Life can be bittersweet

On the hound front life is GOOD!

On the family front life isn't GOOD to much bad news has been hitting us and lots of other less serious things but still a worry.

I find myself feeling happy surrounded by so many lovely hounds and then remember the other stuff that is going on and feel guilty for feeling happy and content.

A few of my favourite photo's from the last week or so. No crafting stuff LOL been a bit busy but really ant to do Indy and Rocky's pages documenting their arrival so paws crossed I can find some craft time this week.

Sue x

 

 

 Always guaranteed a warm welcome home even if you only popped out for 5 minutes LOL

 Indy's first off lead run up the mead

 Indy is a dream to walk

 Hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil aka Elmo Belle and Twizzle LOL

orin, Rocky and Belle peeking over the stable door, Belle can actually jump in and out at will little monkey!

eek! now we are 9!

Spoke with Rocky's owner last night and as he very much wanted Rocky to stay with us (and we wanted him) he's agreed to pay his insurance for the first year. So Rocky is now Rocky Taylor and the doors are closed, shutters down we are full! LOL. I swear Rocky knows as he's been acting the fool this morning and charging around the garden having fun LOL. Then he did his first roach!

 Someone is very pleased with himself me thinks LOL

 Last night Eric was fixing a PC and Indy decided to help, Indy's idea of helping is laying his big head on you, I often have to try typing with his head on the keyboard.

So that's it as they say, all is well in the Taylor house.

Sue x

super weekend

On Saturday we took Indy out on his own to the big village event of the year. Live music on the green from 2pm till 11pm (okay we didn't actually stay that long LOL). Music was brilliant and the good weather brought out the visitors in their hundreds.

 Indy behaved impeccably! not even worried by the helicopter that flew over several times and it was only about 100ft up so the kids could wave at the crew! I don't know how I've managed to make Indy look so small on the photo'sLOL.

 Indy made lots of news friends

 listened to music

 and on the way home called in to see our friend Donna and her two GSD's. Here's Fynn

 and Codie

 Sunday I took Gangley over to meet my sister's new puppy, at my Mum and Dads. Had a lovely morning with my parents, sister, niece, daughter, grandson and brother all totally impromptu!

 Miss Daisy May  is a Chihuahua crossed with a whippet and one side of her is brown and the other side a tiger brindle, just like someone has drawn a line on her back face and tummy, she is very cute.

 I got lots of cuddles!

 Whilst Gangley worked the deck taking turns to sit on everyone LOL.

Came home and made a curry pie again! and choc chip cookies then we sat and watched the moto GP as it was actually too hot (seriously it was) to do any outside chores.

Rocky is continuing to be really good and is starting to come out of his shell and show us his cheeky and fun side. The pack feels settled and happy (she says touching wood)

Rocking looking rather pleased with life me thinks, I wonder why?

And that was a lovely weekend.