Our Lufthansa Adventure

Yesterday was October 18th and my 3 year old boy Steeler was to be shipped from Philadelphia Int'l Airport to Frankfurt, Germany to his new home at "of Gentle Mind" Whippets. I asked a friend of mine, Gloria, if she'd like to take a ride to the airport with me. Steeler's flight was sceduled for 6:00 pm but I had to have him there by 3:00 pm.

I stopped at Gloria's house to pick her up, had a short "beverage" and we started our journey around 12:30 down the turnpike, for our 1-1/2 hour drive. We left a bit early only cause you never know if there is an accident on the turnpike, you can sit for hours. It was a bit scary though when the Lufthansa Cargo place called me on the cell about what time we were going to be there to ship our CAT. This gave me a bit of cause for concern, but we got it straight that Steeler was indeed a dog, not a cat. This cause for concern made us need another "beverage".

Our actual directions didn't take you to the airport in Philly, but to a business park in Folcroft, which is just outside of Philly. Now being I don't have a GPS, I used Mapquest, and they have never failed to get me to where I needed to go. More than a few times we looked at each other wondering where in the hell we were going, but I kept saying Mapquest always gets me there. We followed the directions explicitly and eventually did make it to the business park by about 2:15 pm. Feeling good about being early, we searched for Lufthansa Cargo. We searched and we searched and we searched. We even called Lufthansa and they said they were off a different road than they had origionally told me.

Panic set in as the time ticked down. If Steeler wasn't at the Lufthansa Cargo area by 3:00 pm, he would be sent home and we'd need to reschedule his flight. Time went on, 2:30 pm, we stopped at a small roadside Crab Shack and it just so happened the nice man was talking to his significant other on the phone and she was home and it just so happened that she was on the computer and on mapquest. What a break. I gave her the new address the Lufthansa lady told me, and she told me exactly where I needed to go.

We thanked the man profusely and off we went. We got right to where we needed to go and were looking for building 48 (they really don't have any signs of what these businesses are). It's now 2:40 and time is ticking. Saturdays, the business park is like a ghost town with no physical activity what-so-ever, so stopping to ask directions was non-existant. We were driving in a deserted business park, or so we thought. Time: 2:45 pm, we saw a guy walking and asked him where the Lufthansa Cargo area was, and we were right behind it, but how did you get inside, is there an office? He said we needed to go around the building and it was right there. Time: 2:50 pm. We drive around the building and wa-la, there is the office door.

Now being we drank all those "beverages", we needed to visit the little girls room badly, so my plan was to go immediately upon arriving at the Cargo office. NOT, time now 2:55 pm and paperwork needed to be done, dog & crated needed to be weighed BEFORE 3:00 pm. I gave them all the paperwork, and ran to the bathroom, ran outside to get Steeler and his crate, Gloria walked Steeler quickly and I took the crate inside. We got him weighed in and the paperwork done by 3:00 pm, just by the skin of our teeth.

With a tear in my eye, I gave Steeler a big hug, told him I loved him and although I would never see him again, I'd always think about him. And he needed to be a good boy for his new owners Joachim and Werner. I left Steeler at 3:10 pm and haven't heard yet if he arrived in Germany. His flight is scheduled to land at 8:15 am this morning, but I'm thinking he may have already landed because of the time change. I'm a nervous wreck not knowing if he's there safely or not. I'm sure he's fine wherever he is, but I'll worry till I know for sure.

Just Another Day In Paradise

Today started like any other day, getting up, getting Tyler ready for school and myself ready for work. The day was a gorgeous one, so when I got home, I changed clothes, went into the puppy pen to play with the babies for a bit before Tyler got home. Tyler gets home, changes and heads outside while I was powerwashing some stuff.

A few hours later, I go outside to feed the puppies and find that little Boulder is lying down kind of funny looking at me. He tried to stand up but was unsuccessful. As I'm running into the pen, he gets up and squats to pee then on 3 legs he hobbles toward the inside. I scoop him up and take him inside and ask Tyler what happened and he states that he was inside with the puppies rolling around and rolled on Boulders leg. I put in a phone call to the vet and off baby Boulder and I go.

My fears are confirmed, his left rear leg is fractured in like a v-shape. They put on a small splint and he has on a teal green bandage. He ate a little bit of food and drank some water and is now resting comfortably in a crate on some super soft cushy blankets. I'll sleep downstairs with him tonight, but he seems to be doing okay except for not pottying since I got home. He is still trying to figure out how to walk with this thing on his leg, but I'm sure he'll figure it out soon. Say a little prayer for Boulder.

Haley/Steeler & Paige/Collin Puppies

Well, while I was away in Canada on my two week vacation is when my bitches decided to whelp their puppies. The first litter of 10 (5 boys/5 girls) out of HaleyWhippt...aka Eclipse SF Let Freedom Ring by Steeler...aka Eclipse Down at the Blue Moon was born the day we left on July 26th. These puppies were a surprise litter, so I wasn't sure when HaleyWhippet was due, so on Thursday I took her to my friends Shelbi & Louise's house to possibly whelp. She stayed there for 2 days until my niece Melissa could go and pick them up. Saturday night around 7:00 pm she started whelping and delivered her 10 babies in 4 hours. Being mom HaleyWhippet did a bit of traveling while waiting to deliver, I named all the babies after cities. The boys are Salem, Baxter, Austin, Reno and Jackson (sold), and the girls are Cheyenne (sold), Seneca, Fargo, Aurora & Shayla, all in shades of blue fawn, blue brindle, fawn & fawn brindle.

The planned litter between Paige...aka Eclipse Wish Upon a Star and Collin...aka Ch. Eclipse SF Bold Chance was born a week later (actually 4 days before her due date) on Sunday August 3rd. We have 4 gorgeous white & fawn babies, 3 girls named River, Rayne & Lilly and 1 boy named Boulder. They have the nature names that Melissa gave them.

Right now the pups are 6 and 5 weeks old, and all are doing great.

Tyler's Mishap

Sunday August 24th started out as any other day here at Eclipse, playing with the current puppies, cleaning up after the big dogs, and keeping an eye on Tyler. Tyler kept bugging and bugging me to go for a walk so he could ride his Razor Scooter while I walked on the road. About 3:30 pm we headed out for our walk with Tyler riding his scooter (it's one of those you put your one foot on and push with the other, like a skateboard with a handle). Up around the bend we went, and as I got to the top, Tyler was already on the way down and picking up speed. I yelled to him to stop or slow down, but he couldn't hear me. He reached the bottom of the gradual grade and all I saw was Tyler go ass over end and the scooter flying. He crashed pretty bad so I started running to him, but he got right up, grabbed his scooter and started back so I slowed down a bit. I thought he was okay until he got to me for a closer view. The whole right side of his face was scraped badly with a bid knocker on his forehead, his right hand had a small cut on it, along with a scrape on his right forearm. He also had two nasty looking round wounds on his left inside foot where the macadam from the road had scraped it raw, pretty deep too.

As we were walking back to the house, a neighbor passed by in their pickup truck and saw Tyler crying as I was carrying his scooter, so they turned around and loaded us in the back of their pickup and took us home. We went into the house and I gave Tyler some Tylenol with Codeine which I had from when he broke his arm two years ago. He was lying on the sofa, crying and crying and crying, so I put some cold washcloths on all his boo-boo areas. I checked out his head more closely, and saw that it was only a bad scrape (there was just a little blood), but he kept saying he had a headache, so to be on the safe side, I took him to the emergency room. They did xrays of his clavical, shoulder, and collar bone along with a CAT scan of his head. All was clear so they did a thorough cleaning of his wounds.

I am so glad I took him into the emergency room cause they cleaned up his wounds so much better than I could. And with the bad bump on his head, I wanted to make sure all was okay inside his head.

The next day was the first day of school, and all the kids and teachers and bus driver wondered what happened to him. I'm so glad they didn't take school pictures the first day!!! I think Tyler has learned a valuable lesson about wearing a helmut and shoes when he rides his scooter again (although he hasn't ridden it since). Thanks to the emergency staff at the hospital, they were so caring and gentle with him.

Till next time......I hope not like this.

The Life & Times of Zoey - Part 8

Zoey's latest setback....and our aggressive approach.

Zoey's Monatana vacation was a glorious one for her. From what I hear from Jonathan, she loved it, and the pictures he posted throughout the summer proved it. However the last two weeks of her vacation, her right leg, hip actually (which is her dead leg) has been popping out of the socket and has been very painful for Zoey. She even bit Jonathan very hard once when he tried putting it back in. On the way home, Jonathan did his routine stop at the home of David & Regina Howton, and Zoey's leg/hip was so bad it took Regina (who is a vet) a bunch of meds to get it so she could work it back into place.

It is extremely painful for Zoey, and over the past few days Jonathan, Debbie and I discussed many options for her. Our options were to amputate her dead leg (she does only bunny hop on her left leg anyway, the right one is just in the way), or put her down. Those were the two options the vet gave us being it was so painful for her. The three of us discussed this very indepth, and cried alot about it, and none of us are ready to let go yet, so we eventually opted to have her leg amputated and once healed fit her up for a wheelchair.

I know you may all think we are being greedy, but some of you have met Zoey and know her love of life and her silly spirit. She still loves to destuff her stuffies, and roll around in the grass in the back yard, so the decision was made on her spirit alone. August 12th was the surgery and the vet said all went well, exceptional in fact, and Zoey is awake and alert (as one of our major concerns was would she do well under anesthesia?). She spent two nights at the vets cause she wanted her on TOTAL crate rest. Jonathan took in her favorite bed to lay on and her favorite blanket to be covered with. When he went to get her on Thursday evening, she was standing up, had peed and was ready to go home.

Zoey came home from the Vets last Thursday evening and she is doing wonderful. Jonathan says she was sooo excited to see him. Once home, he took her outside, set her down out in the back yard, she stood up, sniffed, peed and took off. That is great news.

Back in March, he had called me to tell me he was worried about her spine cause when she walked (hopped) her spine just went this way and that, and he was very concerned. Back then we had the same discussion, wheelchair or euthanasia. When she took off yesterday in the yard, she went straight and narrow. We now think that the dead leg was hampering her ability to go in a straight line.

It was a tough decision, that included a lot of tears, to come to with Zoey, but now knowing she is feeling good again, has made it all worth while. For how long, we don't know, but because of her fighting spirit we will do everything possible for her, as long as she is happy and pain free.

Just a short note for everyone. It was discussed at the Midwest that there are people going around at the dog shows with spray bottles and spraying the dogs in the faces. This happened to someone with another breed that Amanda was talking to, and her dog came down with the EXACT same symptoms as Zoey, but unfortunately her dog died within 48 hours. That's how fast this poison works. So beware at dog shows. People are evil. Zoey's love & spirit for life is what has kept her alive, I know it. She didn't know she was supposed to die, I'm sure of it!!!

We know a wheelchair is in Zoey's future, so I have been researching them, and have found that Eddie's Wheels look the best. Lightweight and specially fit for the dog, not machine made, but individually made for each special need.

Jonathan and I truly appreciate the financial support given by Zoey's co-owners Dan, Bruno & Debbie. They said they would take care of Zoey's medical situations until the end, and they have kept true to their word. I love Dan, Bruno, Debbie and especially Jonathan, for without them, Zoey surely would not be here today.

I just spoke with Jonathan tonight and he says Zoey is doing wonderfully, gets around great on her three legs and has once again made snow in Florida (destuffing her toys in a frenzy).

YOU GO GIRL!!!!!

A Childs Innocence...lol

A little girl asked her Mom, "Mom, may I take the dog for a walk around the block?" Mom replies, "No, because she is in heat." "What's that mean?" asked the child. "Go ask your father. I think he's in the garage."

The little girl goes to the garage and says, "Dad, may I take Belle for a walk around the block? I asked Mom, but she said the dog was in heat, and to come to you." Dad said, "Bring Belle over here." He took a rag, soaked it with gasoline, and scrubbed the dog's backside with it to disguise the scent, and said "OK, you can go now, but keep Belle on the leash and only go one time round the block."

The little girl left and returned a few minutes later with no dog on the leash. Surprised, Dad asked, "Where's Belle?" The little girl said, "She ran out of gas about halfway down the block, so another dog is pushing her home."

If you ain't laffin'... You ain't livin'

Canada Vacation 2008

Two glorious weeks in Canada, out on the lake fishing, back at the cabin drinking and visiting with old friends is just the best vacation one could ask. This Blue Heron was our special visitor just about every morning, and Tyler even took to some "bird-watching". The "pirate ship" came into the bay on the last day we were there. Tyler and Paco enjoyed their time together too.

We didn't have quite the excitement that was had in 2006 (see Canada Vacation 2006), but our cabin neighbor Donny had his boat capsized by 4 big yachts that went through. He said it was like a 6' tidal wave and with his little boat, it just took it right over. Luckily there were some people fishing close by, and they got Donny and the boat pulled to shore. Donny lost the fishing pole that his father gave him right before he passed away last year and his tackle box, he was unharmed but extremely shook up. We too are glad he only lost some material things and not his life.

The fishing was not good at all. Trolling through the water was like dragging a rope. No bites or nibbles at all. We were lucky enough though to catch enough Walleye, Bass & Perch to have several fish frys with my mom & dad and friends Steve & Gloria.

Once again Tyler was barefoot and barechest for the whole 2 weeks. I don't think he even had his shoes in the cabin. He did meet a friend, 9 year old Anna, a cute blondie with which he built sandcastles with, went fishing off the "boat" while it was docked, and just played in general. It was nice for him to have someone to hang with for a week. He was quite bummed the day she went home, he moped around the whole day!!!

Owners of the Perfect Vue Resort, Larry & Joanne are great hosts. They let Tyler do lots of things he might not get to do like hit golf balls into the lake. Along with Gloria who got a small lesson in golfing from Larry, he hit most of the balls into the weeds alongside the lake!!!! Larry & Joanne also let Tyler hang out with them in their house and he even helped tend the store. My mom went over to the store to get some eggs and out comes Tyler and says, "what can I get for you?" Mom says, "eggs", so Tyler rings for Larry in the back room so he can come and ring up the sale. They said he was a joy to have around.

Tyler caught quite a few small perch off the pier ranging in size from 3" to 6". None big enough to keep and eat, but we caught enough for him to get his fill of perch throughout the 2 weeks. None the less, he had a fun time catching these little ones all by himself.

Gloria and I had made plans to have my dad take us out fishing so we could go on the lake where we wanted to go and to catch all the fish, so we could say na na na na naaaa na to the men. But we didn't do well at all. I think I caught a few but nothing impressive, so we had to go in with our heads hung low. We decided then that we would do a bit of socializing and with too much socializing, Gloria felt the need to dance...lol.

Saturday the 2nd was the annual Legends of Perfect Vue Fishing Derby. It's $20.00 per person to get in the derby, and they payout 3 place for the 4 heaviest fish from 14" - 22". First prize is usually around $700.00 on down to about $300.00 for 3rd place. And for the 2nd year in a row we were within ounces of winning 3rd place. Oh well, maybe next year. They cook hamburgers and hotdogs after the derby and there are tables upon tables upon tables of things (wine baskets, beer baskets, personal care baskets, tackle boxes, t-shirts...etc) and every name is put in the hat and everyone gets a prize. It is a well done Derby and one we look forward to every year.

Sunday the 3rd, I was invited by the locals to play Newfy Shoes. This is I am told, the National Game of Newfoundland. I thought it was just something the locals made up, cause it doesn't look like no National Game of Anywhere. There are two square milk crates with a 6" high piece of 4" diameter plastic pipe mounted inside. You toss heavy 2" diameter washers about a distance of 20' and try to get them in the pipe (5 points) or milk crate (3 points). It's kind of like horseshoes, easy huh?, nope, it's a LOT harder than it sounds.

It's $2.00 per person to enter and they draw for teams so there are no two ringers that are paired up, maybe by chance though. There were about 25 teams in this round of Newfy Shoes which came to about $50.00, winner take all. Of course I was a beginner at this, and I was paired up with another beginner that never did it before either. Tammy and I did okay though, we skunked our first opponents 12-0, it was great taking out a couple of locals (men no less...lol, talk about an ego buster). We went down to the last 3 teams, but got skunked ourselves in that last game. It was great fun, and I'll be making a set for myself and the drunks that I know (oh did I mention that the more you drink the harder it gets!!!). Thanks to locals Jack & Donna for inviting me to play along, it was at time I'll not soon forget.

For 2 weeks we had thunderstorms on and off, and one night it poured sooooo hard the roof leaked right in my bed. I was getting dripped on my butt while I slept, I thought I peed in the bed. You could sit and watch the thunderstorms come in from afar. It was kind of cool to watch. The weather probably only reached 80 degrees every day, with a few cooler days. It was wonderful weather for this time in Canada.

One of the last days, Tyler was out on the boat in the back cove of Mallory Bay and he had his big boy fishing pole and he was so excited he caught, hooked and reeled in a 3 pound Bass all by himself. It was quite a thrill for him.

It was the first trip to Canada that we took without Emily, but Paco came along and she met a few friends of her own. Steve & Gloria's new Bichon Frise puppy, Samuel Adams, was a playful if not sometimes downright pain in Paco's tail, companion and they played together quite a bit. Paco also got to play with Larry & Joanne's new Labradoodle puppy Irish who would come over to our cabin just about every morning for a romp with Paco. Paco's other companion (well not really) was this DSH cat that had two kittens about 8 weeks old. She was very protective over her babies and when Paco showed an interest in playing with them, momma cat decided to stalk and chase Paco around for a while. We watched in hysterical laughter Paco running with tail tucked between her legs and momma cat chasing her. It was way too funny.

I'm already looking forward to next years trip.