DRUM ROLL PLEASE

Today the little man has become a fully paid up member of the Taylor pack and will now be known as ELMO. Did you notice I haven't referred to him as Cane for a long while LOL. Last week's scare over the tumour that was actually this

a piece of plastic, calcified as it has been there for so long made us realise just how much we love him and so there you have it! Not quite a greyhound even if you squint but we love him.It's been many many years since we haven't had at least 3 greys and here we are with 4 hounds and not one a proper greyhound LOl. Maybe fate will sort it out for us.

We must be totally mad to adopt a poopie who chews, jumps, steals etc etc but the flip side is he makes us laugh and he doesn't have a bad bone in him! ......... and this house needs to hear laughter again!

Elmo is fully recovered and his wound that wasn't stitched is healing amazingly fast.

A few finish projects, finally the cover to My journal your Christmas

Layout of Ben's 's birthday

Layout of Harvey's birthday

Both shown here as digital but they have become hybrid in real life as I prefer them to have extra depth in real life.

I'm back guys!

Poopie came home and cried all evening, probably the GA making him feel odd, slept all night and is firing on all cylinders this morning.

 Have to bathe his wound which wasn't stitched in the end,  with hibiscrub 3 times a day and he has antibiotics and painkillers, back on Monday.

Vet gave us the offending piece of plastic, hard to tell what it is and is about an inch long. Shall have to take a photo of it if he ever goes to sleep this morning LOL.

He's not HP with me as I've been doing the bathing bit and it stings.

Alfie and Mojo were really out of sorts yesterday so guess they missed him LOL.

Hoping for a nice quiet scrapping day with my friend, well one can but hope and as it has been a really strange week I think I deserve a play day LOL....

and little man says thank you all for all your good thoughts xxx

GOOD NEWS!

The vet has just rung and it's not a growth or tumour !!!!

It's a piece of plastic that had become wedged in between the molars, must have been there a very long time as it has caused extensive damage and the operation was much longer than expected. Poor boy also has a nasty ulcer and inflamed tonsils. Vet was surprised that he was still able to eat.He will need a course of antibiotics which will also cover his wound which she decided not to stitch in the end as sometimes it causes more problems in sight hounds because of their thin skin.

Vet said what a fabulous dog he is and what a testament to his character that he had made no fuss at all. I feel quite guilty as normally our hounds have full ear and teeth inspection by us each week but because looking after Jim then Lucky had become so time consuming the weekly checks fell by the wayside and so we didn't have any idea what was going on other than wondering why one side of his face looked different when he first arrived.

I cannot even begin to explain the relief.

How I've longed for a few quiet hours since he arrived, well now I discover it's way to quiet without him and I can't wait till we can collect him at about 6pm. Suspect he's going to be very sore for a while so lots of TLC.

Sometimes good can come out of bad !!!

Friday

Best day of the week is Friday because I get to chill out and scrap with Dawn!

Cane wasn't very well in the night and spent the morning doing this

but by lunchtime he felt better and had a mad half an hour doing this

whilst I tried doing this LOL.

Lucky has been back to the vets today and Tom is really pleased to see her looking so much better. Tomorrow we will start decreasing the steroids and keep paws crossed. Before Lucky had her leg amputated she weighed 37kg and was quite stocky for a greyhound, last week she weighed 31kg and today 28kg! we have never seen her look so thin and can only hope the higher dose of steroids kick starts her appetite!

Off for a wander around the town tomorrow morning, then in the evening we have friends coming over for a meal. Hope the little man behaves himself

An improvement

I am pleased to say at last Lucky is improving! the steroids have made her hungry which is a good thing because she has lost a fair bit of weight. Lucky is also now able to go outside unaided and get on the sofa. We shall still return to the vets on Friday as we need to start reducing the steroids gradually but it will e a balancing act as we don't want the poly arthritis to flare. Here she is finally looking chilled out.

Lucky started having problems 2 years ago after her yearly jabs, poor thing had so many different tests as she lost all the fur on her tail and paws, nothing really got to the bottom of it and best guess is the vaccinations caused her immune system to start attacking her body. The rest we have kind of got under control now but the poly arthritis continues to flare, the chemo isn't supposed to effect it but I will be happier when she is finished with it. 2 more cycles to go.

Cane is and has been a pain in the bum! he's being a very naughty little man chewing stuff ie dining room chair, flower display etc etc etc need eyes in the back of your head. Then he looks at me with those brown eyes.... what a sucker!

I've ordered him a bed, not sure why really as he's more than happy to share everyone Else's LOL.

Hopefully a nice scrapping day tomorrow.

Round up

I would say we awoke to this but actually we haven't really been to sleep!

Where to start!

Lucky had her chemo and came home, everything fine. Saturday morning after a restless night she wouldn’t eat and was really off. Eric insisted I go to crop but promised to ring me if Lucky didn’t improve. By the time I got to crop he had sent me a text with a photo of her eating her brekkie, followed by another of her chilling out on the sofa. So I thought okay whatever the blip was is done but I came home early anyway as I still felt a bit uneasy about it and again she wouldn’t eat, had a miserable evening, followed by an awful night. Lucky basically shivered and shook, or puffed and panted. Her temperature was very high so we called the vets first thing as we really didn’t know if the chemo was causing the problems or the poly arthritis, so off she went to the vets. Not easy as we had 5 inches of snow over night.

So the vet is fairly sure it's a big flare up of the poly arthritis and nothing to do with the chemo. He's given her a massive steroids injection which should calm it down and make ducks feel more comfortable!

It seems the little man rather likes the snow and he and Alfie were roaring around the garden like mad things, whilst Mojo and Gangley took one look at it and decided they didn’t need to go out in that.

Eric took these photo’s yesterday, he has been playing around with the settings on the camera in a bid to try and pick up more detail on Cane, being black doesn’t make for good photo’s.

So whilst I was at crop (Thank you Janina had a lovely day) I did 2 hybrid layouts. Some of the stuff is printed direct onto the cardstock and other bits are printed, cut and layered. The first is one of the last photos of Jim. We had called the kids to let them know that Jim would be leaving soon and they both rushed over for a final farewell. I made them both promise no tears, as I didn’t want Jim upset, so behind the brave smiles is a lot of heartbreak! Second layout is the first time I’ve finished my yearly album with a review. 2011 was such a difficult year for us I felt it needed reviewing and putting to bed! Not great photo’s but light here is awful today.

Hoping Lucky might sleep for a while now so Eric and I can catch up on a few zzz’s!

Thank goodness it's Friday!

Most Friday's Dawn comes here and we scrap, chat and chill out, we both spend the week looking forward to a relaxing day and boy did I need it today! Cane was blooming hard work yesterday. Not naughty just full of beans and didn't nap at all.

Lucky had a much better day yesterday so we decided to go ahead with the chemo and she's at the vets now. Hopefully home about 6pm.

So today Cane has been really good and spent the day in the dining room with me and Dawn, sticking his nose into everything of course but at least he was more chilled out and I even got to cut and glue all my pages for the Journal your Christmas. Just need to do a bit of trimming up and then punch the holes and it will be done.

Today's photo Cane being mothered by Gangley this morning, my dining room is very small and on scrap days I have to squeeze lots of dog beds in as well as they all like to be in there with us LOL.

I have been injured! I was throwing the ball for Alfie and Cane when Dawn said how rubbish I was and decided to show me how it should be done, unfortunately for me she found my head ouch! poor Dawn was mortified and said OMG hope you don't get a bruise, well I do have a sizable lump!

I plucked up the courage to nip to the Post Office yesterday, first time Cane has been left,  was only 10 minutes and when I came in he was curled up on the sofa with my slipper as a pillow. I had convinced myself he had probably destroyed the house in 10 minutes LOL. Progress I hope.

Off to crop tomorrow, so Eric can take over poopie watch.

A good birthday

So Mojo started the day with a bit of sunbathing, he's probably think will that darn black dog just go LOL

then had a beef boneand yup there's Cane right next to Mojo.

and finally birthday cake!

Little tinker managed to get a huge bite of it, off the plate, then it was shared out and all gone in seconds LOL.

My daughter surprised me and came over for lunch yesterday (she bought lunch and flowers with her) and took Cane and Alfie in the garden and wore them both out, so I manged to catch up on a few bits, thanks Vik, she really is a sweetheart!

Lucky still very stiff and sore! had to increase her steroids again and given pain relief, she did however enjoy the cake!

Cane continues to be good, learning the ropes and pulling at my heart strings. Of course the time will come when he has to be left, as I have several hospital appts looming, can't crate him, think I'll probably ask someone to come and stay with him but I must start leaving him for a few minutes each day and start increasing the time I'm away. Don't think going out to hens and collecting eggs counts as he follows me from window to window. Smart dog!

Video's of cake demolition!.

I love you

Yesterday I had to unexpectedly go out and had no choice other than to take Cane with me, poor little chap cried, suspect he thought oh no I'm off again! but when we came back boy was he happy and ran round giving all the dogs a lick and even Mojo wagged his tail and let Cane cuddle up to him!

Cane has whippet in him and that means he is allowed to walk no that's not right, it's his god given right to walk over everyone LOL, he doesn't half push his luck. So far no one has told him off!

We seem to be short on sofa spaces so Alfie decided to be a lap dog!

Lucky is still sore and stiff despite upping the steroids! but I think her wrists are slightly less swollen today.

Now why would you decide to have a cooking frenzy whilst watching a poopie, beats me but this morning I made a vegetable stew, a quiche, veggie sausage rolls and rock buns! feeling a tad tired now and have a friend arriving shortly so nap today!.

Maybe I'm trying to prove to Eric I can still function whilst looking after you know who LOL....

When Eric left this morning I heard crying and went to investigate expecting it to be Cane but no Cane was busy playing and Alfie was the culprit! Cane is making good progress on all fronts and is really just the sweetest little man despite being exhausting. I am really getting way to attached to him.

Mud mud horrible mud!

Where we live the earth is clay, which means in the summer it's like rock hard and splits open and in the winter it just turns to mud and when I say mud I mean mud, my whole house feels like it's coated in blasted mud. One is very fed up with wiping wet dirty muddy pasws!

Anyway Cane has had a good weekend and I sense a thawing in Mojo's behaviour with him, only one blot on the copy book which was partly my own fault. I had been reading and went off to make a cuppa taking my kindle with me but leavings reading glasses behind, went back not 5 minutes later and specs have gone to doggy heaven, probably met up with the pair Alfie chewed when he first arrived! He's met lots of new dogs and shows no fear or aggression, has started to greet humans and hounds with licks across your face and seems much more settled. Spoke to Lisa about him crying when Eric goes out and both she and Eric agree he's not crying for Eric but his source of walks has gone out. So the plan is when going for walks leave by back door when leaving for other reasons ie work leave by a different door. We shall see I suspect he smarter than that.

Lucky's poly arthritis has flared up and she's been very stiff and sore all weekend, we've increased her steroids and keeping everything crossed she will be well enough for chemo on Friday. 

I seem to spend all ay chasing my tail or checking up on Cane and have not been very productive but today for the first time since he arrived I managed to have my  after lunch rest as he was sparked out LOL.

Seriously how can that be comfortable but he was like that for over an hour LOL.

Round up!

So Cane has been here 1 week today!

He's learning the ropes and doing quite well, still need eyes in the back of your head but there is a problem developing. When Eric leaves the house Cane cries, started off just a few wimpers but has escalated each day and this morning was a full blown hissy fit! I suspect he sees Eric as head of the pack and as such is his security. He hasn't cried when I've popped outside to do hens etc but I am goinng out this morning and wonder if it will provoke a reaction. Other than that the pack seem to be getting used to him and make allowances for him being so young. He sure has livened things up around here.

Lucky is now off all her medcation and is coping really well, she seems just like the Lucky of old, of course we are still worried sick as we know Sandy only lived for 7 weeks after her amputation from th bone cancer but hope Lucky will do a Jim and have a couple of years.

So despite the wee man being full of beans I did manage to do the class kit from Bramford crop designed by janina, I have made some changes and under the photo there is a lot of journaling. Despite it being a less than flattering photo of me I wanted to use it and record how grateful I was to be celebrating Christmas with my family and not in hospital like the previous year. 2011 was a very difficult year for us both with lots of health problems and losing Ruby and Jim, hence the need to record it all. When I first started scrapbooking I was very into telling the story about the photo, then got caught up in making pretty pages with the latst papers and lost sight of the importance of the journaling, so this year I intend to re focus on it. The funny thing is when I look back at old layouts, I'm not seeing if the page is pretty and laid out well, it's the journaling I'm interested in. So back to basics!

The paper used for the layout is Kaisercraft, Faith and Festive range.

Looking forward to a mooch round town this morning and leaving Eric on poopie watch LOL.

Cane's first scrap day

Most Friday's Dawn comes here and we have a scrapping day.

So today was Cane's first foray into scrapping, he was into everything let me tell you LOL but actually I did manage to do a layout. Tried to take a photo but light had gone so will do that tomorrow. Can't say it was as chilled out day as usual as he was full of beans all day but still enjoyed it.

So after investigating papers and glue he had a little rest, my dining room is very small but all 5 managed to squeeze in LOL, this photo has 3 of them in it.

Then he had a go at being a bookend with  Mojo

and his new coat arrived today!

I'm taking a few hours break from poopie watch tomorrow and shall have a wander around town with Dawn. Will be nice to relax as Cane is into everything, loves slippers and teddies, as soon as I hear him running I just know he has something he shouldn't LOL.

All in all I think he is progressing well EXCEPT the crying when Eric goes out just for a few minutes turned into 20 minutes today! so obviously he does have issues, which is why he was returned to Gap after just 1 week. Not that I want him to cry if I go out but come on I look after him all day and he doesn't even notice if I leave!

You've heard of Godilocks and the 3 beds

Well here's Cane and the two beds LOL.

First up Gangley's, nope that really is too small.

So then much to Mojo's horror he tried Mojo's, nope that's just to big!

Night time he sleeps on the sofa with Lucky but looks like he will have to have his own bed soon.

Mojo is still quite put out that he's still here and Alfie would prefer it if we put him in the toy box and just brought him out when it's time to play chase in the garden! Gangley and Lucky take turns Mothering him.

House training going really well and no major problems other than needing eyes in the back of my head.

Got Dawn coming to scrap tomorrow as usual, can't see me getting a whole lot done. Maybe Dawn will take pity on me and do the poopie watching LOL.

Never a dull or quiet moment in this house at the moment, that said I've got loads done because when the little chap is recharging I rush round doing stuff.

Getting harder by the day to maintain any kind of detachment from him!

Lucky's results

Vets have rung and Lucky's blood tests are back AND it's good news, everything is as it should be, vet very happy so Lucky will have her 2nd chemo session on the 3 Feb! Today she jumped both in the car, had her walk and jumped back in again and had walked further. Paws crossed it all continues to keep improving.

Cane was very good last night and told go to bed and he did LOL. Still getting a bit upset when Eric leaves the house but quickly gets over it.

Today's photo Cane recharging LOL.

Mojo is really out of sorts today, not sure if he's poorly or put out with Cane, so he decides to hide!

Where's Mojo

here he is hiding under a cushion, silly sausage.

Someone is coming out of his shell

So today sees a much cheekier Cane, very vocal in his demands for other dogs to play with but when I left Alfie and Cane in the garden for a run this morning Alfie was being a bit full on and the little man ended up hiding under a table, so didn''t get the tired out poopie I was hoping for. His whippet side is also emerging and has to be physical pushed out the door for a wee because it's raining and whippets don't do rain!

Also today we have had a few glimpses of the SA we were told about when Eric took Harvey to school this morning (well what else are grandparents for) and each time Eric has gone out Cane has cried, I can go outside and see to hens etc with no cries LOL.

After my hospital appt yesterday I popped into vets and bought him a collar, ID tag and bell. The bell was supposed to be so we could hear him indoors and more so when he goes into the garden when it's dark. Well 30 minutes later said bell was removed after driving us nuts LOL, so I put some ribbon through it and shall just slip it on for going out in the garden at night.

Just one photo today, can you see his new collar, the colour blue really suits him, he has such a beautiful shiny black coat and no I haven't polished him. I don't do polishing of any kind LOL.

Cane was really good last night and only tried sneaking out of bed once, a finger point from Eric and he went back to bed and stayed there.

Anyway despite being a bit more work today I have still managed to do some cooking and baking and some journalling for a layout, so he can't have been sooo bad.

Lucky has just had her blood tests done and so paws crossed they will come back ok and the 2nd chemo session can be booked.

A good day

Incoming is making good progress and has had a good day! no accidents indoors, mainly due to me setting the timer on the oven to remind me to put him out LOL. Had a real good roar around the garden with Alfie Bear which left him needing to recharge for quite a while.

Eric was feeling a bit tired so after tea tonight said I might just have 40 winks and look what happened.

Lucky on the bed,what's that all about she hasn't been on the bed in 3 years! and she jumped up without help Quickly .followed by Alfie and Cane but there's more

in the bed with Daddy are Mojo and Gangley, (slightly cut Gangley's head off there oops).

So ok if you're not doggy people you'll probably find it odd we let them on and in the bed but they are our family and are allowed. Not at night I hastenen to add, night times they all have a bed in our room of course LOL.

Lucky has also had a really good day and is off to the vets tomorrow for her blood test and if that comes back ok should have her 2nd chemo session next week.

One is ever so slightly tired from being on poopie watch all day and may be turfing them all out so I can retire.

Incoming has arrived

Had a lovely day at crop which really cheered me up and by the time I got home Incoming had landed!

Cane left the kennels in Stoke abaout 10am and went to Donnington where he was handed over to Jackie who then brought him down to Cambridge services and met up with Eric to bring him home.

So what can I say, he wee's, poo's and chews! typical poopie LOL. He was re homed but after a week returned because of his severe separation anxiety problems, so isn't really house trained yet. Lisa from Greyhound Gap has asked us not to fuss him but to let him find comfort from the pack and not humans. Completely understand the theory behind it especially as he does have problems but oh boy not easy to do.

He slept all night and enjoyed his walk this morning and brekkie and is already watching and following the other dogs to see  what he should be doing. It is exhausting watching him  all the time, we have tried to move things we don't want chewed LOL.

He seems a sweet intelligent little chap and I hope we are able to help him with the SA. I had forgotten Alfie Bear has issues with black dogs and he is now a very sulky suluki! I expect by tomorrow he will be over it and wanting Cane to play. We've been told he is probably about 12 months old.

We're now about to let Cane have a run in the garden off lead, then he's having a bath, he's not dirty just has that kennel smell.

Part 2

Cane had a good time running and playing in the garden, Alfie joined in playing ball, so maybe he's feeling a bit happier as well.

Next up the bath or rather shower! Surprised us by being very relaxed about it and now smells clean.

Then he had a play with Gangley, expected her to grump at him but seemed to really enjoy playing with him and then Mothering him afterwards.Then he decided to try Lucky LOL.

and yes you've guessed right he is currently sleeping, so that's why I'm quickly doing this.

I'd say his first 24 hours have gone far better than expected.

Lucky has also had a good day, slept last night without pain relief and walked further this morning with no rests.

Eric has managed to clean out the hens and tidy the garden and I have managed a quick trip to Tesco's and a bit of washing so not as bad as we had feared, we thought we would probably have to spend the day watching him constantly. That's not to say he doesn't do poopie things but so far no major problems or damage!

OK a few photo's LOL

Cane- probably a greyhound x whippet and 24 inches to the shoulder so quite small.

getting ready for a walk

brekkie

graden time

bath time

making friends