Dogs and Cats

I once heard a comedian explain, "Dogs are great man. You tell a dog to roll over and he just does it. You say that to a cat and he's like, 'What?! On the ground?! I don't think so, I just licked this clean!' You tell a dog to do something and he just does it. You tell a cat, and he takes a message, and gets back with you...." You've probably heard similar comparisons as they are all over the internet. I think they are funny.

Well, I have a new one. Andy is a dog, Suzy is a cat. Andy is a puppy, really. He's cute like a puppy. He crawls on all fours. He chews on everything within his reach. He will eat absolutely anything in front of him. To further prove my point, I found him in the dog's dish this morning. He whines when he's sad or excited. He sleeps about anywhere. He loves to crawl up into my lap and snuggle. His nose is almost always wet. ;) He tosses his own toys out so he can "retrieve" them (see Easter post for example). He is quick to forgive and thinks I'm the coolest thing in the world. Yup, my son is a puppy.

Suzy is a cat. She likes things HER way. She doesn't want anyone else "in her spot". She likes her food "just so". She will cuddle with you and enjoy it, but it's on her own terms. If you wake her up, she will hiss at you. She's soft and cute like a kitty. Hmmm... it all makes perfect sense now. I thought I was bringing home a puppy from the hospital. I instead have a cat. I just need to change my expectations. Suzy is great cat. If anyone can make me a cat person, it will be my sweet Suzy. ;)

Happy Monday!

Easter 2009

This year, we once again went to Rob's parent's house for Easter. The kids really enjoyed it. We went to church and then let them have their baskets. I was shocked that they both napped. Then, we hunted eggs and had a great Easter supper together. Thanks, Grammy and Pawpop for making our Easter so fun!
Andy's eggs were filled with puffs. Suzy enjoyed finding them for him.
Her favorite, as expected, was the chocolate bunny. She picked it out herself at the store for me to put in her basket for the Easter Bunny to leave her.
Suzy wanted to wear her rain boots since it rained that morning. So funny.
It was a bit windy as well.
She looked so cute in the Easter dress Grammy bought her.
NOW can I hunt the eggs???!!!




Andy really liked all the colorful eggs. Look out, Suzy, here he comes!






Suzy was enjoying feeding the puffs to Andy.
It was funny to watch him play fetch with himself. He would try and capture the egg, but instead it would shoot out from his hand. He'd then chase it all over again. It was pretty funny.
I hope you had a Happy Easter!

Happy Birthday Pawpop!

Rob's dad, Pete, had a birthday last week. Suzy LOVES birthdays. We had so much fun celebrating. Happy Birthday, Pete! We love you! (How can you not love a man who will so willingly wear such a fun hat... really... He's so much fun.)
Andy dressed for the occasion as well.
But then he needed a bath after the dinner. He likes to really experience his food.

Suzy baked the cake with me at home and then she iced it with Grammy. Grammy let her wear her apron that she used to wear with Suzy's Great Grandma.
She wanted a blue cake for Pawpop with sprinkles. Everything must have LOTS of sprinkles.
She even placed the candles. Such a great helper.
Everyone sang.
Suzy helped blow out the candles.

Pawpop was so sweet. He gave Suzy the first piece. She was in Heaven!
I just love their hats here. Pete is such a great sport.
Happy Birthday Pawpop!

Good Friends

I am so blessed to be surrounded by good friends. For the first two to three years I lived in Austin, I felt so lonely and I didn't think I would ever have friends like I did in Indiana. Granted, I am still very close with many of my Hoosier friends. But, I'm finally making some good friends in Austin now. It just seems to me like it was a hard city to break into. Our church has been a huge blessing for us in this area. It's so great to have friends who have children the same ages as ours. Our small group continues to be like an extended family for us. One of my new friends, Wren, has a little boy who is just a few days older than Andy. They are so adorable together and I just think the world of Wren. She is so sweet and I just don't think she has any mean words at all in her vocabulary. Always looks on the sunny side of things. Such an uplifting blessing to be around. She watched Andy for me a few months ago and the boys had a great time together. It was kind of a trial run to see how she would do watching the kids while I traveled. Luckily, it went great! I'm sure it was exhausting. But it looks like they had a ton of fun. Andy just adores her and so does Suzy.


Our little duo. I can just think of the fun these boys may have together as they grow older.
Last week while I went out for work, Wren came over to the house to watch both kids for me for THREE whole days! It was awesome. I had a great tour and the kids had a blast. I'm hoping that maybe Wren has recovered by now. But, I'm not sure. She said the kids were good but that she needed another lap for all the cuddles. Here's a typical Suzy pout. I'm guessing this was post her nap. Not sure since it was Wren's camera. Andy and I wake up saying, "GOOD MORNING!" and Suzy and Rob wake up saying, "Yes, yes, it's morning."
The little brothers.... Mischief abroods...
This looks like trouble.
Andy moves on. He's been there before. Braden, however, is very curious. Hey, sleeping beauty!
"How can you say I'm a pest?" Such an adorable little face. I can just hear the Suzy complaints... "He's looking at me! No Thanks! I don't like that! You're in my way!"
At one point, Wren even had a neighbor girl dropped off. She joked that she was running a drop in daycare for a bit. Some would say this looks crazy. I think it looks like fun.
I love this photo. Braden: "And it was like, 'Swoosh' right in. Nothing but net. Really." Andy: "Yeah, I'm not buyin' it." Reminds me of two old men telling stories on a porch rocker...
Thanks again, Wren, for letting me go to work and feel like something other than a snot covered Mommy for a few days. Love you!

Katie Update

Well, I think we have a decision. We will replace her left eye with a prosthesis on the 30th to alleviate the pain and pressure. We've decided we love the dog more than the house, so we will put paint on the walls with Rob's next bonus instead of now. We have drops (three times a day) for her right eye in hopes of maintaining her vision for up to three years. Once the vision is gone in the right eye, Rob does not want to continue for fear of something happening with the kids. Sigh.... That's all I have to say about that right now. It' so fitting that it's such a rainy, gloomy day. I'm looking forward to getting away tomorrow at the Buffett concert in Dallas. I'm going as the Scarlet Begonia girl.... Rob is going as... Rob.

The Story of Katie, my sweet Special Needs Pup

If you've spent a lot of time at our house, you've probably heard the story of Katie. She's our crazy dog that people will often ask me why in the world I have such a crazy dog. Well, like many things in my life, it's a good story. Or at least, I like to tell it. ;)

It was February of 2002. I used to live way out in the country and the "jug dog" was becoming a quick legend. One of my neighbors spotted me on my morning run one day and warned me about this "Rabid dog runnin' 'round wih (pronounced as it looks) a jug on is head. Why, I clocked 'em wih my truck goin' 35 mile an aer." O...K.... If the dog has a jug on it's head, I'm pretty sure I can defend myself.....but thanks for the warning.

Sure enough, a full SIX WEEKS later, I saw what I thought was a dog with a jug on it's head. What the heck is that? I wondered. This dog was completely skitsed out and wouldn't get anywhere near me. I kept wondering if it could possibly be the same dog. How was it still alive? How did it eat? Drink? Now, I was on a mission. I had to save this dog. I called animal control hoping to get a tranquilizer and some help. Turns out, the dog had already been shot once and ran away before it was caught. How it survived the night, I will never know. So, they said they would not come out again, I was on my own.
I chased her around for about a week and realized it was futile. So, in March, I got my vet involved and got some tranquilizers. I stuffed them in hot dogs and set them on top of rocks. I had to place them elevated, as her nose did not clear the jug. Then, Nala and I waited for her to take the "bait". I'll never forget this day. It was St. Patty's Day and in Indiana, that can mean freezing rain. So, I've drugged this dog and now I have to catch her. Well, Katie had other plans. She didn't want to be caught. Drugged or not. I literally chased this dog up and down the hills for over two hours. Then, the sleet started. Great. A different neighbor, my favorite one, came by at this point. He had helped me try and chase for a while and then began to tease me and tell me to let it go. By now, there was no way I would give up. I had drugged this defenseless dog and if I gave up, the coyotes would kill her for sure. And it would be my fault. :( So, chase some more I did. I could get so close, but I just couldn't capture her. At one point. We both sat down next to a barn, exhausted. I looked over at this pitiful dog, within arms reach, and tried to reason with her. I slowly raised my hand to capture her, and off she went again. Stupid mutt. So, I did it. I gave up. Nala (my other dog) gave up long ago and had been sitting in Uncle Frank's nice warm truck for the past thirty minutes. They were both warm and dry by now. I was soaking, cold, and exhausted. As I neared the truck, Frank says, "You finally giving up?" I answer, "Sadly, yes. I just can't do it. That dog is too stupid anyhow. It can just die for all I care." Not exact quotes, a few @#$s and it would be. Then, Frank starts to laugh at me. So insensitive. I give a few more @#$s and he says, "Look behind you." That @#@$ dog was following me! I eventually lured her home with hot dogs like Hansel and Gretel. I had a big fenced yard and was able to contain her until she FINALLY passed out from the drugs and exhaustion.
Poor dog was in really bad shape. Can you see the tranquilizer on her right hind end? The tip of the dart was actually still in her, just broken off. Ouch!


After I cut off the "jug" this is what I found. This was a few days later after the infection had cleared up. The jug had literally grown into her throat.
I took her immediately to the vet to discover she had given birth a few weeks ago but never delivered the after birth. She couldn't stimulate it since the jug was on her head. So, lots of money later, I have a dog I don't even want. And, she's crazy on top of. Completely aggressive, stupid, and as unhappy to be owned as I was to be the owner. I tried to take her to the pound, but they said they would just put her down. I couldn't live with that, especially with all I went through to save her. Initially, I named her "Not Mine". I did not want to name this dog, because I didn't want to keep her. But, no one else wanted her either and after a few months it became evident that she was, indeed, mine. I named her Kida. It went nicely with Nala. She was in a crate the majority of her time until I could trust her not to chew through a harness or eat Nala. She was the wildest dog I have ever seen. I eventually had to change her name to Katie because she used to bolt from me so frequently I was always yelling, "Katie! Come back here!" Kida just didn't roll off of my tongue as easily. This dog could escape anything. She even scaled a fence. She didn't jump it, no, she climbed right up it. I had to sew chicken wire to the top of my fence - facing inward like a prison camp, so that she wouldn't escape and be able to have minimal freedom. Eventually, she began to learn some manners and is now a very pleasant house dog.

Back to the jug, it ended up being an automatic dog feeder dispenser. I took the above photos and sent them to the manufacturer in hopes of sparing this fate to other poor animals. I'm guessing she was just really hungry and raided someones feeder one day and got her head caught as she tried to get the last little morsel. Anyhow, I was shocked to find a big box from the manufacturer a few weeks later with a free automatic dog feeder. Seriously, did they think I would actually let my dog use one of these horrific devices? Did they seriously think that Katie would ever get near one again? Sheesh... When I read the note, however, I realized that because of my story, they completely re-vamped the plastic portion to make it a break-a-way panel to prevent future entrapments. Yeah! They had sent me samples of the new design. I donated them, anyhow.

Over the years, Katie has become a great family pet. We love her. She sleeps with us. She eats the table scraps from the kids. She has her own stocking at Christmas. She's our sweet Kater Gater. We joke that Nala is the princess and Katie is the court Jester. She's still pretty stupid, but it makes her funny. And entertaining.
Katie's Christmas bunny. She's by no means the perfect pet. She barks at everyone and anyone and is very jumpy and jittery still. We still can't trust her with strangers or children. Our own children, she is very tolerant of, as they are a part of her "pack". But in all, she requires a lot of love and patience already. We happily give it to her.
Before Suzy was born, we did everything we could to help ease the transition. We even hired a "dog whisperer" to help us. I know, crazy. But I wanted to give her a fair shot. Rob said that the first growl, and she'd be put down. She had already attacked a dear friend's little puppy and it was pretty traumatic for everyone. She ripped through blinds trying to attack a UPS guy. We couldn't take a chance with our baby.
She really surprised us and deals beautifully with the kids. Suzy adores her and Andy is starting to laugh at her as well. She doesn't seek them out, but she knows where they are at all times and is very protective. She's a great guard dog. Here she is letting Suzy wipe her nose.
She has special needs, but I love her. It's a bit of an occupational hazard.
So, why the long post? I'm trying to sort some things out and I need some advice. I feel like you need background for that. As you know, last week I had pink eye. Literally overnight, Katie developed a very blood shot eye as well. Could I have passed it to her? Surely not. So, I took her to the vet and was given some pretty grim news. She is completely blind in her left eye. We were hoping to save it and prevent the spread to her right eye. Unfortunately, we didn't get in soon enough. Who knows, even being seen on Monday by the doggy Opthamologist may not have helped anyhow. I can't look back. All I can do is look forward.
Our options are to remove the eye, or give her a prosthesis. A normal eye pressure is 15. 20 can cause migraines in humans. Katie is at 45. The optic nerve has been severed and the eye definitely needs to come out. It is estimated to be acute glaucoma. We will know more after pathology. Untreated, she will likely be totally blind in her remaining eye within 8 months. With treatment, we can prolong up to three years if we are lucky. So, here's my delimna. Rob says he won't risk having a completely blind dog when Andy is so mobile and young. What if he sneaks up on her and she snaps? It's a valid concern. I respect him for thinking of the safety of our children. But couldn't I just work really hard at keeping them separate like we did when Suzy was an infant? What if it makes her more mellow like the vet suggested? I can't think of anyone who would adopt this dog from us. I tried when she didn't have medical issues, this is just another big strike against her.
If we decide to treat the other eye and prolong things, what are we prolonging them for? If we are going to eventually have to make that decision anyway, why are we waiting the 8 months to a year? Blindness is my own personal biggest physical fear. I have a very dear friend who is facing vision loss as I write this. Am I supposed to watch Katie go through this to further help my friend if it comes to that? How do I explain these things to a three year old? Especially when her favorite bible story is how Jesus heals the blind. I am totally anticipating her rubbing dirt in Katie's eyes on a regular basis. ;) How do I explain if this miracle doesn't happen? How do I explain death? She already talks about how our neighbor dog, Hershey died way more than I think might be appropriate.

Oh, I hate when life gives me decisions like this. I am so grateful for all that we are blessed with. I know this isn't a big deal in the large scheme of things. But for me right now, it really stinks. Any thoughts? Do we prolong things? Do we go for broke and hope for a miracle? Do we just end it now? Do we give Suzy time to learn compassion and inevitability? Help! :)