Monthly Archives: September 2011

Waffle Gets Fixed

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Waffle getting snuggles from Bill at the vet

Today was the day that Waffle was scheduled to get spayed. Last night she got home from the puppy swap and seemed extra thirsty. She went into the bathroom and drank out of the toilet which she has never done before. So we gave her some extra water. She wasn’t suppose to eat or drink after midnight. I meant to make sure the toilet lid was down if this was a new trend she wouldn’t have access to it this morning. But somehow I forgot. And she went straight to the toilet this morning and snuck in about 3 laps. I was sure we would have to reschedule her surgery but they said it would be fine. When I was unpacking her bag from the puppy swap we figured out why she was so intent on getting water. It appears that she didn’t get fed before she was return last night from the puppy swap and we didn’t realize it. Because there was a baggie with one of her meals in it. Poor Waffle. Her tummy was so empty and she wanted to fill it with something so she went after water. I felt so bad because we couldn’t feed her breakfast because of the surgery.

Bill took her to Cottonwood Animal Hospital on his way to work. It took awhile because there were so many other dogs waiting to check in too. This afternoon Dr. Porter called and said that everything went well. I was glad to hear that. Then this evening the three of us (me, Bill and Casey) went to visit Waffle. She was a little groggy but she was happy to see us and went spent about a half an hour or so give her loves and cuddles. The labradoddle in the next kennel wanted some attention too but I couldn’t do much for him through the door of the kennel. Casey didn’t like it if I gave Waffle too much attention so Bill did most of the real cuddling with Waffle. Finally we put Waffle back in the kennel and headed home. Waffle was not happy about being left behind and made her feelings known. We get to pick her up anytime after 10 a.m. tomorrow and she will hang out with Bill at work because I need to go to Provo tomorrow and have other errands to run.

Four Blabs (Black Labs)

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Radison, Clifford, Casey and Hallie on the deck

Today we had four black labs at our house for a few hours. In addition to Radison and Hallie we have been puppy sitting Clifford while the Johnson’s are out of town for a few days. Then we added Casey. She has switched to Lisa’s house for last half of the swap. Lisa has been wanting to take Casey one last time before she goes back and Lindsey is really busy and having two dogs means that one of them has to be home in the kennel for extended periods of time. So it works out perfect. But Lisa was going to the temple with her family today and that is the one place that she can’t take Casey with her. So she dropped her off here. It was fun to see one of our little girls for a few hours. It was also fun to have four crazy black labs all in the same place.

Waffle

We got news about Waffle’s future today. The rumor had been going around that she wouldn’t be transferred to the high school program until the next puppy truck could bring the school dogs from Colorado in the middle of October. But we got word today that no the transfer will happen on September 30th. That is less than two weeks away. The morning after Waffle gets back from the puppy swap she is going in to be spayed. The recovery is 5 to 10 days. Then it will only be a few days after that until she will be transferred. Wow that is going to come fast.

Update on Apex’s Surgery

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Apex in All his Glory in the middle of the bed

We got this email on how Apex’s surgery went today:

The vet called and she is done with surgery today.  She removed a melonballer sized of muscle from his leg.  The pathology report will be what tells us if she got it all or if it was encapsulated or not.  If not- we will go back to surgery on Tuesday if need be.  For now – I am going to get him and take him home.  He will be on pain meds for the weekend so he should rest and heal.  I have a to-do list that I can tackle while I am home with him.
I will let you all know more when I get home from the vets on Tuesday night.
Thanks for the prayers !

Apex is having Surgery

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Apex hanging out at the hospital with Sue and her dad

We got some shocking news from Sue about Apex today. He is having surgery on Friday. On Wednesday night she took him to the vet because she thought he might have an ear infection. Well her vet is very careful with Apex and so she checked him over carefully while he was there and she found a “wart” on his knee that she didn’t like the “feel” of. So she tested it and found it to be a cancerous lesion with a wide base.

So he goes is at 7 a.m. tomorrow morning to have it removed and hopefully get a good clean margin. They took a sample yesterday and it came back as a “stranded” irregular cell structure (aka: fast growing tentacle style cancer). They have a specialist coming in from University of Florida tonight to check him over and be there for the surgery tomorrow. I know he is the best of hands.

Poor Sue. Her dad’s funeral was just a couple of weeks ago after a couple of months of being with him day and night at the hospital or care center. She is emotionally already stretched and to have this on top of it has got to be so hard. I’m am reeling from this myself. It brings back so many of the emotions of when Shadow our pet dog was diagnosed with cancer, also a fast growing type. Sue has asked us to pray for them including the vet who is also a christian and welcomes the help. I’ve decided to fast for the next 24 hours. I don’t want this to be the end of Apex’s career. But it would be better for him to loose his leg than for him to loose his life so young. He is only three years old. That is way to young. 

A to Z supplies list

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I got a response from Kathryn and we are going to work out a time when I can meet her at their storage unit and see what they have that I can use. She said we would be able to work out a good price for what I want. So that is good news.

I’m taking a few minutes tonight to think through the supplies that I know I will need for this project:

  • caulk (clear)
  • liquid nails 
  • green paint (check what I have)
  • Styrofoam
  • hot glue sticks
  • white Christmas tree lights
  • turn table (if I can find one cheap)
  • green candy for pine needles – maybe green licorice pastilles like the ones here: Green-Licorice-Pastilles
  • candy for lights – gum drops or other gummy candy
  • miscellaneous candy to create all the fun ornaments
  • round candy – maybe gum balls for ornaments
  • candy for quilted tree skirt – maybe tart n’ tiny
  • candy for garland (optional)
  • candy for covering presents under the tree (one partly unwrapped)

That is all I can think of right now. I’ll add to it as more things come to me. I want to make a final decision on what green candy to use for the tree. But it might be best to see what Kathryn has before I actually order anything. Most of the rest of the candy I can probably get locally because the amount of any one candy won’t be that much.

New Project – Christmas from A to Z

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I got news this morning of a new project and I’ve decided that I’ll use this blog to journal the process. Not just what I get done as I progress but the thoughts and ideas of what I need to do to get there. So what is this new project? A sculpture made out of candy! Several years ago I made candy window displays for a business in downtown Provo every Christmas. It was part of a project sponsored by the Provo Arts Council. It has been four years since I decided not to do another window. The project in Provo had one more season and then it was discontinued. Now South Jordan wants to start up the tradition and this year will be a small start toward that goal. Lori with South Jordan contacted me a couple of weeks ago to discuss the project and I went before the Art Board last night to propose the idea and it was approved. Now I have about I have about 10 weeks to get a project done that I figure will take about 100 hours. Currently I’m both excited and overwhelmed. I have lots of other things on my plate too and I’m not sure how to keep them all handled. Having better focus is certainly one of the ways.

I decided to make a Christmas tree decorated with things about Christmas starting with the letters from A to Z. Here is what I plan to have on the tree:

  • angel
  • bell
  • candy cane
  • drum
  • elf
  • frankincense
  • gingerbread
  • holly
  • ice skates
  • Jesus
  • Kris Kringle
  • lights
  • mistletoe
  • ornament
  • poinsettia
  • quilt
  • reindeer
  • star
  • tree
  • unwrapped
  • virgin (Mary)
  • wisemen
  • xmas
  • yule log
  • zipper

So this morning I’ve check the garage to see what we have kicking around there that might be useful. I found a piece of pvc pipe that should work for the internal structure of the tree and a large round of plywood that might work for the base if it isn’t too big. I sent off an email to Kathryn who was in charge of the candy windows in Provo to see if they have anything left that they would be willing to sell me at a fair price. I am most interested in one of the turn tables that they had. I’d love to have the whole sculpture rotate but I don’t have the budget to buy a new turn table.

Week Long Puppy Swap

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Waffle and Casey in the kitchen

Today was the start of a week long puppy swap involving all the puppies in the club. Casey went to spend the week with Lindsey for evaluation since she will be returning to guide dogs soon. And Waffle went to the Allegra’s to be handled by the youngest member of our club Ceely. We are going to miss our two sweet girls. A week is a long time to be away from them. Waffle is as tall as Casey now and she will probably be taller when she gets back. He neck and head are so small still that the adult dog collar still slides off her head.

Radison and Hallie sharing the same doggy bed

We brought home Radison who is about 10 days older than Casey. We have puppy sat Radison a couple of times before so it was fun to have her back. Lauren, Radison’s raiser made sure that I knew that Radison needs cuddle time every night before she goes to bed. Radison has a cute little white patch on her chest. Our second pup is Hallie who is one of the younger puppies in the club. Interestingly Hallie is Banta’s half sister having the same dad. They seem to be good pups and are getting along better with each other than I thought they might.

Casey

Also I took Casey into the vet to day to get her Rabies booster and her other annual vaccinations. We are suppose to go ahead and do these if they are due more than a month before recall. Casey’s are due 2 days more than a month so I went ahead and took care of them. When I weighed her she was just 48.8 lbs. I knew that she had lost weight (which she needed to do) but I hadn’t realized that she was below 50 lbs. now. She really isn’t a very big girl.

Utah State Fair

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Waffle and the sheep

The Utah State Fair was our outing today. This was Casey’s second time to the State Fair as we took her and Banta last year. She handled everything very well but couldn’t care less about the animals. Waffle was a different story. She found the animals very interesting and some of them were equally intrigued by her too. She did great with them and remained very calm. The rest of the fair was a different matter. Waffle had several panic attacks where she would bolt to the end of the leash with her tail between her legs and spin around when she got to the end. We couldn’t pinpoint what was scaring her but after a few moments of having her just stand quietly she would be ready to move on. Our best guess is that it was some kind of sound she was reacting to. We didn’t stay too long after Waffle started having trouble because it was clear that she had had enough.

Healing Fields

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Waffle and Bill walking through the Healing Fields

Today we took the girls to the Healing Fields in Sandy. It is right by Bill’s work and it is a fun opportunity to expose the pups to lots and lots of flags. Plus it is a neat thing to experience all the flags, each one representing a person who was killed on September 11, 2001. This year each flag had a tag attached to it with the name and a short bio of each person. The flags were also group by the location where they died.

Puppy Number Five

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When I talked to our CFR last week she told me there were no ‘d’ or ‘e’ puppies available for the October puppy truck so we decided to wait until the November truck and hope for the best. Well I got a call today from our club leader and she said that Barb had check on the younger puppies and there are no ‘d’ or ‘e’ litters for that truck either but that she had a yellow lab female that she would really like to get placed in a home next week, would we be interested. Wow! Part of the reason for waiting was because I have a couple of big projects one of which has to be done by November 15th. So after some thought, prayer and discussion I call Lindsey back and told her we would take a new puppy next week. The only other thing we know about her is that she is from a ‘y’ litter. So know we starting to guess on what her name will be. Hopefully she will be a good puppy and it won’t be to difficult to get my projects done and take care of a new little girl. So one week from today puppy number five will be joining our family.