Snowdog

It's not Friday, but it's been a while, so...



Cordy loves the snow - it's the only time she's finally a comfortable temperature. Plus, she's just such a good dog that she often gets inadvertantly ignored while we deal with the other pets. So she deserves some time as the star.

It's been a while...

Sorry 'bout that.

Esperanza went off to her new home just great, but then Kaylee got sick. It's called Famlial Shar Pei Fever, and if you want the details, you can read about it here.

She's doing OK now, but it means that she has a very good chance of dying of kidney failure before she's six. She's three now.

So we've been taking a lot of time with our family lately, just hanging out and doing some stuff that needs to be done to make sure Kaylee will have as long and happy a life for as long as we've got her.

In addition, Jeff starts a new job next week - in town, so no more 1.5 hour commutes to and from Dayton. It's in my office building, so I expect to be taken out to lunch on a regular basis. :) It's with a private firm, so the total hours will probably end up being tha same, but at least he won't be so far away in an emergency. And the money's better, of course.

Esperanza

Esperanza has arrived. Meet the sweet girl here.

Bath day

Bath day is a sad day at our house.

New foster coming

Looks like we'll be getting a new foster on Saturday. Poor little Esperanza is from Franklin County Animal Shelter, and she'll be killed on Saturday if Shar Pei Savers doesn't take her. We're only a temporary foster home, but it's better than dying.

She's only about two years old and is just about blind from eyes that have not been taken care of, horribly infected ears, and skin issues. The poor girl. Probably from a backyard breeder who sold her puppies to petstores so unsuspecting people could buy a $1000 puppy that would need $500 in surgery so it wouldn't go blind. Idiots.

We'll see how she is. I'm taking her straight from the shelter to the vet's.

Let them eat cake

It's my assignment, for my mother-in-law's birthday, to make the cake. Now, I'm not a cake baker. I do cookies and bread, and even pies. But not cake. But I have managed it in the past, so I'll try my best.

MIL said she liked my coconut macaroons the best from all of my holiday cookies, so I've been looking for coconut-type cakes. So far, I've found:

• Rich chocolate layer cake (suggested by a co-worker)
• Coconut sour cream cake with a lemon cream cheese frosting
• Almond Joy cheesecake

All easy. All pretty quick. Big pluses in my book.

I think I'm leaning towards the coconut sour cream cake. It looks simple and something I could do the day before, which is a big plus in my book. I think I'll make it in rounds so I can make it a layer cake. Then I'll see if I can't find some lemon curd to put between the layers. The lemon should cut the coconut taste enough that non-coconut lovers should like it, too. If I was making it just for me, I think I'd go with lime rather than lemon, but not everyone likes that.

But I miss you

Indy isn't doing so great these days. He's had separation anxiety for a long time now, and he's had some good patches and some bad patches, but this is a really bad patch.

For a while, we even thought we could lower his Prozac dose, but I wouldn't even consider it now. He's back to ripping up his nails and pads trying to claw his way out of his crate, and he howls almost as soon as I leave the house in the mornings.

In addition, any change to his schedule now really, really freaks him out. He's not being particularly nice to the other dogs, though I can understand the desire to nip at Kaylee - she's a bit of a brat.

And yesterday, he lunged at me and knocked me down. He's jumped up on me before, but never like this. It really upset me, though I wasn't hurt. I think Indy's getting a bit more aggressive - though I know he's not dangerous. He just seems to be having trouble controlling himself. He tries, though, and that's one of the reasons it upsets me so much. I know he can do it, but his wacked out little brain just won't let him.

I know he's not getting as much exersize as he should be right now, but he wasn't before he started acting up again, either. I guess we'll just do what we always do: wait it out and hope he gets back to a good place again.

Mom rocks!

For Christmas, my mom got me a new sewing machine, since my old one was not able to handle the kind of heavy-duty sewing that I do. My new one is a Euro-Pro Silk & Denim 7100 and it's amazing! Thanks, Mom!



First, I made a fabulous new purse and the machine handled the vinyl (over the bottom half of the outside, the straps, and the inside pockets) without a hitch. The vinyl came in handy today, since it's raining like it's trying to drown us. Plus, if I keep my keys in one of the outer pockets, it's really damned hard for me to lose them. :)

Then, I made Kaylee a new harness, since her old one has stretched so much that she can wiggle out of it and it can't be tightened anymore. The machine handled the layers of heavy nylon webbing just fine. (Kaylee has to have a specially-made harness both to help keep her from pulling and so she doesn't chafe under her legs.)

Thanks again, Mom! I can't wait to see what else I can make...