Category Archives: Critters

Good-bye my faithful friend:

Posted on by
Tank from Coultrain Rottweilers
Tank 2003 – 2008

No matter how many good-byes you bid to the dogs you have shared your home with, it never gets any easier.  It was taken this long for me to come to grip with the reality.  Tank has left us in the middle of August.  We had just returned from a bit of a holiday in Stone Mountain park. We woke in the early morning, to his cries of pain; he lost conscientiousness and never returned to us. The vet told us it was a form of meningitis/encephalitis. Only with further tests could he identify the type. Even there was no guarantee Tank be himself, after the time it would take for proper diagnosis and treatment.

I so appreciate the compassion of Dr Spitzer and the staff at North Peace Veterinary.

Good-bye Tank, you were so faithful — always at my feet — ever ready to please. You were a wonderful example of your incredible breed.  You will be missed

Spring in the North . . .

Posted on by

is happening at it’s best. . . again. We woke up to snow on the ground this morning. Terribly depressing, but beautiful! The new leaves pale green gleams through the bright white of the snow. Holly (our 8 1/2 year old Rottie) is the happiest of our crew. She has snow to roll in again. Earlier this week I caught her standing in a puddle, staring down at the remains of her snow bank. Sigh, she says.

I’m so glad she enjoys life now. With the abusive start she had in life, she hasn’t found much joy, but over the last couple of years she has more than made up for it. We went through the terrible twos and the adolescent rebellion all in the last couple of years. We are probably the only dog owners who rejoice in a bit of rebellion! It is so good to see; for years there was no one home behind her eyes. We only saw a spark at rare intervals – usually when she had mud squishing between her toes!

Now she romps and runs, all full of herself. Poor Tank, he would say over-bearing . . . who would have thought our Holly-bear would become an over-bearing Rottie female.

Kustom Krafts Holiday Stitch-Along

Posted on by

This year Dyan Allaire whipped up a cutie for her group’s SAL. Since I didn’t get going on last years I decided to jump right into stitching. Considering he was stitched with a migraine he looks pretty good doesn’t he!

I still haven’t the courage to start stitching a piece from one corner and work down/up. I hold those who work huge realistic pieces from the top corner and work down, block by block, in very high esteem. My brain is very much a measure, measure and measure and count it again type, so I find security in folding a piece of fabric in quarters to find the centre. Much safer for me to start in the middle and work outwards! Watching myself work around in a circle from the centre point must mean something to somebody. All part of my circle the wagons and rotate the house into the back security plan, would be my guess.

And rotating the house into a nice earth bank is just what I wish we could do. The north wind is bitter as it blows straight down our lane to the house. Fortunately it looks like we will be only getting a few days of -30C. Temperatures at -30 with a wind chill aren’t kind to man or dog. At least Little Bit is build low to the ground and most of it passes over her head. Tank (aka poor ickle-rottiekins) feels every blast; he has no where near the winter coat Holly has. And Holly, being Holly, loves to give Tank a bad time out there. She races around and rolls in the snow- oh how I love to see her enjoying life. Who would have thought our poor rescued Holly, who was such a shadow, would now be such a brash 8 year old. Tank probably would say overbearing, but it is joy mixed with sadness for us. She was treated so poorly the first year and a half of her life that it has taken her well over six years to recover and develop some attitude. Poor Tank, surrounded by over-bearing females. No wonder he is so glad to have Steve home from camp!

Happy Holidays

Happy Holidays 2006 © Dyan Allaire

Wishing you a very Blessed, very Peaceful time of renewal.