Another Level of My Life

I would like to mention that I do have two sons. Both grown. My oldest is 31 years old, married, and has one child. Justin lives in Minnesota where he was born and lived until he was 10 years old when our family moved to Texas.

Trinity is 26 and lives here in Austin, Texas. He is single & working. He has in own place nearby and a wonderful dog named Cheezmoe (I've posted about little Cheezmoe in this blog). Trinity has a troubled past, accident prone, trouble with the law but happily (for me at least) there are no children.

This past Sunday he was struck in the eye/nose by an acquaintance of his. A trip to the emergency room of a local hospital was warranted only after he blew his nose and air went into his sinuses & eye socket. Uggh.

Trinity happens to work where I work and has no car. We carpool. So we both had to leave work at around 1:30 pm. I worry because this has happened before. It goes like this; he has a job, he gets hurt one way or another, then loses his job due to missed time. It worries me because he has just recently found the apartment he's living in and can not afford to NOT have a job. If he doesn't have a job, he can't have his own place, he would somehow have to live with my four-legged family, my boyfriend, and I.

He was perscribed antibiotics & some pain medication but should be able to return to his job tomorrow.

I am angry at the person that was once called a friend by my son Trinity. This is the 2nd time he's lashed out at my son for no (alcohol) reason.

I have stayed calm and am doing my level best to not let this anger get the best of me. What's over & done is just that, done. I can't change what happened any more than I can predict the future in regard to this acquaintence. I can only trust that karma will get this person for his wrong doings. That's it and that's that.

DNT TXT N DRV

Nothing is that important that it can't wait until you get to your destination or pull over and part. It's stupid and it will get you killed.

Smile

If you've got a dog in your life...joys abound!

This is one of my father's dogs, Roscoe.

A Small Change In The Way It's Been Working

Not at all about dogs, my son is starting this new temporary job at the same place I work. I'm hoping things will go smoothly as he will be carpooling with me.

There was a time when this would cause me grave anxiety as he hasn't always been the 'best' son.

I will be coming home for lunch as usual and adding a stop to take his little pittie girl, Cheezmoe out for a quick walk.

He assures me he'll be ready to go when I come to pick him up. I trust him.

Upchuck

I usually make a mad dash from work at lunch to let Alissa & Rascal out of the bedroom for a potty break and to just say "hello" to the pack. On Thursday, nothing really unusual about the lunch break.

I walk in the house, I'm greeted by 3 of the 5 dogs. I make my way to the bedroom door, making sure Rowe-Quinn is sitting calmly as to not snarl at Rascal. I ask everyone if they would like a treat ~ well of course it's chicken feet, they crunch so yummygood.


Sookie inhales hers with barely a 'crrrrrunch, crrunch'. Everyone settles in while I check my email. I hear this deep, oh how should I describe; like a soft beat of a drum. No, wait that noise a particular grouse or partridge makes called ~ ah ~ drumming!!!
Sookie's on the loveseat ~ oh gawd, it's so gross, I can make out what she had for breakfast. Remember I mentioned that my dogs are fed raw meat, meaty bones, & organ meat? Ah, yea ~ right on the top, CHICKEN FEET!!! Sookie quickly snags one of the feet and starts to "re-eat" the damn thing!


Outside ~ if you're going to re-ingest your food ~ oh the smell ~ OUTSIDE! Luckily there was a protective sheet on the loveseat so I flung the pile out the back door.

The Walk At Night

Even though I was quite exhausted from a busy day at work, I had to walk the crew.

Why do dogs like to eat cat shit? I'll never, ever understand this. Rowe-Quinn and Sookie are the worst offenders. If only I could just keep them moving instead of letting them "stop and smell the roses" so-to-speak.

Say WOW to Raw

I'd like to say a little bit about the raw diet (meaty bones & raw meat) that I've been feeding my pack for about 4 months now. The benefits for this is quite astounding.

They eat quite a bit of raw chicken, yes bones and all. The misconception of "never feed your pets chicken bones" should be "never feed them COOKED chicken bones". The cooking/heating (microwave) process dries out the bones that are, in fact, very pliable when raw. They also get some of the cheapest beef, & pork meat I can buy.

For those of my dogs that have pills to take, chicken hearts have the neatest little "pockets" that pills fit in. The hearts are kind of slippery so even if the dogs knew that there were pills in them they slide so fast down their throats, it's too late!

Their teeth get an amazing scraping when the 'crunch' the bones from the chicken leg quarters they get. Sookie (above) has the most amazing smile for a 7 year old girl!

The only problem I have is Alissa sometimes doesn't want to eat the pieces of chicken I give her. I've even been crushing the bones and cutting the pieces into 1" size or so. It's puzzling....but I reckon I'll work through that.

Sugar use to 'bury' some of her chicken in the sheet that I lay out for her to eat on. Can't have that messy, raw food on the carpet now can I? Now she doesn't miss a piece of her meal.

Rowe-Quinn quite savors his food. Studying it, thinking about how to eat the pieces that are too big to gulp.

Rascal, well, he's never turn his back on ANY food. Licks his bowl spotless and then checks out everyone's bowl when they're done. Rascal was suffering from recurring ear infections before I started him on raw food. He's only had one relapse since then and that cleared up very quickly with minimal treatment (cleaning) and no vet visit for a bunch of drugs that would only have made things worse.

I gained all the information I needed about switching my dogs to this diet when I was researching Homeopathy. The list owner told me in no uncertain terms that my Rascal needed to be on a 'species appropriate' diet. I signed into a Yahoo group called Rawfeeding. You don't even have to ask questions once you're on the list. You just need to search the archives and it's all there.

My Son & Cheezmoe

My son is going through a really tough time right now. His girlfriend broke up with him just before Christmas (nice right?). He was scared, upset, nervous. But, he had a job, friends, and is a good young soul.

He found an apartment near my home, near his job and they didn't care if he had a pet, dog, cat, pit bull, low rent, top of the world!

The other day he lost his job ~ he's depressed, scared, hurt, but... he's not alone. He has his Cheezmoe (and me of course). She's just the absolute sweetest little girl on the planet. Just look at that smile!

Mornings

Mornings are the most exciting time for my dogs. They get their biggest meal in the a.m. I'm barely awake and I'm wacking chicken with a hatchet on a piece of plywood. How did it come to be, that 5 living creatures care what mood I'm in, care so much about my touching them, praising them, FEEDING them.
I'm so lucky.

Sleep Time Bed Time

It always lends me to wonder about my dogs 'thoughts' when it comes to who sleeps where at night. They know they can sleep on my bed with me or without me there. In fact, I encourage it because it helps to keep the peace. There's no "it's MY spot", "No~I sleep there!" It gives them options of where to lay no matter where I am in this small duplex too.

Sookie was my first dog and I know she feels it's her 'given right' to be closest to me at bedtime. However, she's 'polite' enough to wait until I invite her (this is all strictly my interpretation-anthropomorphizing if you will).
Lately, or since the fight between Rascal & Rowe-Quinn, RQ has been either judging the time or listening to my words & tone when I say, "well guys, I should probably get to bed", or something of that nature. Factoring in, the time of day, activity level in the house (Tim's already gone to bed). Because Rowe-Quinn will rise from any of his usual spots near my computer and make his way to the bedroom to get the spot that will be nearest the upper portion of my body.

He won't budge from this spot, he won't even open his eyes when I have to scootch him over so I have enough room.

He's adorable & my Sookie's such a good sport.

Shed All You Want Now

Living With 5 Isn't Always Easy

For the most part, living with my pack of 5 (Seven if you included 2 humans) has been quite peaceful, not serene because there's always someone moving around the house. (Below is Alissa & Rascal)
Since my two boys fought I've had to seperate them when I'm not at home. But other than that, life with them has been good. Rascal usually just backs away and/or submits to Rowe-Quinn's growling and threatening postures. (Rowe-Quinn below)

I've always know that Rascal could hurt RQ if he really wanted to. And... he did. Rowe-Quinn's ear will probably never be the same. I have to wonder though, why does he still growl at Rascal? Why hasn't the alpha status changed? It doesn't appear to have change. RQ still growls and Rascal still avoids.
I'll probably never leave them alone together again.

Oh How I Wish I Could Write

I guess I'll just have to settle for pictures. Stories in photos, that works for me. Last February 2010, it snowed in Austin, Texas. I've lived here since 1989 ~ this was the first time I'd seen this here.

Only two of my dogs, Sookie & Alissa have ever seen snow.

Rowe-Quinn, Rascal and Sugar had never seen the stuff. They found it fascinating.

Me ~ not so much. But I froze my fingers off to get these photos of them enjoying the cold, wet, messy snow.

It's Going To Be A Quiet Day I Suspect-Update Dogs Healing

Cold & rainy today. Probably not too much to say.

Rowe-Quinn & Rascal are both healing nicely. Very little residual affect. RQ has scabby skin where his wounds were. The swelling of his right ear has gone.

Alissa & The Vet

Although I've been feeding my dogs raw food for only about 4-5 months, they've been doing wonderfully. One of the things I read (thanks Glenda) was that carbohydrates are problematic for anyone (or animal) diagnosed with Epilepsy. Another great reason for feeding my dogs raw meat and meaty bones. I've been able to cut back on her dosage of this (in my opinion) heavy-duty drug.

Alissa needed to see her vet, Dr. Farmer, in order to get her perscription for Epilepsy (phenobarbitol) refilled.
The vet was amazed that we've cut her already 1/3 the dosage perscription into a half of that!

Her general exam went great. They've got an amazing vet tech there named Dwayne, Alissa stopped shaking while his experienced, mature arms were wrapped around her. You see, Alissa is very shy around new people. Very shy. With Dwayne's arms holding her while Dr. Farmer checked her ears, her heartrate, her temperature, etc. she remained calm and comfortable.

I recommend the Animal Medical Center to anyone that is looking for a new veterinarian that is low cost, sensitive, caring, and that has a wonderful staff.

Glucosamine Source

Who knew? My dogs LOVE them.

Early Cat Warnings

Shhhhhhh ~ She's Sleeping! Really.

Alissa & Cheezmoe Hanging Out - Sort Of

Alissa was actually playing the 'patience' game with Cheezmoe. She knew that within moments that bone would drop and she'd show Cheezmoe how quickly it would be hers. Alissa's the dominant girl in the house. She rules quietly and swiftly. The only thing(s) that faze her are people she doesn't know.

Keeping Vigil

Pit Bull sitting my son's dog Cheezmoe! My son had just stopped by to 'borrow' money and ask if we could keep Cheezmoe one more evening. Cheezmoe watched him drive away. She misses her man.

Nursing Wounds