The Puppy Saga

We have really great news! Wrecks is fully vaccinated and alive:) The only thing we need to do is his monthly heartworm preventative and he should continue to live a healthy life.

Unfortunately Penelope (1) died of parvo after having her for only 4 days. The breeder is holding a replacement pup for us and we will be picking her up soon. We decided to have the breeder keep her until she was vaccinated because we are pretty tired of taking care of sick dogs and having them die! So, we will post pictures of Lady Penelope (2) as soon as possible.

GOOD NEWS!

The vet said that aggression is not a sign of distemper. So far Wrecks has not shown the normal respiratory signs of distemper. If we can manage to keep him as healthy as possible there is a chance that he will only have a mild case. Though it is not likely, there is also a chance he will not have distemper at all. It is still a waiting game. I can't wait for it to be over anyway it happens. I am losing so much sleep and have lost 10 pounds in 2 weeks. Nightmares are happening every night. Uggghhhhhh!

This is my son's birthday cake disaster...

It was a beautiful cake I made complete with a racetrack and hot wheels cars. Daughter was hungry I suppose because I hear a scream from son,"(daughter/sister) is eating my cake!" Sure enough, I walk in and she has fists of cake. *sigh* now it is a mud derby...but still tasted OK. No one had seconds.

Puppy update

Wrecks is finally having solid poop again. We are happy to see that and put him on regular dog food again. Last week we had to feed him a special a/d prescription dog food with mega doses of nutrients. For the last 3 days I have been cooking chicken and rice for him as a transition food. We ordered a special herbal remedy for distemper to hopefully help him get through it. I am skeptical but will try anything rather than nothing at this point. We really want him to survive. I am concerned because he has been fairly aggressive lately...biting me and my daughter. I left a message for the vet earlier and hope his recent increase in "activity" is not a sign that it is getting to his brain and spinal cord. If that is the case they will recommend putting him down as well.

Literal Doggie Downer-in memory of Daphne and Jack

I did not post this before because it was not a lighthearted subject. However, I want to post just in case someone has the same experience as me.

My husband bought me two West Highland Terriers as a Mother's day present. He gave them to me a week early and the little boy quickly became ill. We did everything we knew to do for him and took the vet's advise but Mother's Day morning he died in my arms on the way to the emergency clinic.

We researched for the best place to buy a replacement pup and found a woman breeder whose son went to school with my brother. I trust this breeder and know she is not a puppy mill breeder. In the meantime our little girl pup was diagnosed with kennel cough and we treated her for that and made sure she was well before picking up the new pup.

The new pup came home and was here for a week. The two bonded very well and were a great pair. Then little girl started having seizures. The vet indicated a likely diagnosis of distemper which is a fatal disease. This means also that the kennel cough was a misdiagnosis and was likely the first signs of distemper. Nearly 80% of all dogs with distemper will die and the rest are likely to sustain permanent damage. We chose to have her put down to protect the new pup the best we could. We are currently waiting for her lab results to come back do an official diagnosis. The kids are very upset that their dogs have died. We should know by Monday next week if Wrecks has distemper.



A time line review:
Week 1: boy and girl litter mate puppies
Week 2: boy pup died and only have girl
Week 3: Buy and bring home a replacement boy pup at the end of the week (meaning we waited almost 2 weeks before bringing a new one home)
Week 4: Pups do great getting to know each other and are the perfect pair and inseparable.
Week 5: Girl pup begins to have seizures and is diagnosed with possible distemper and we put her to sleep. Now we wait to get her test results back and to see if boy pup 2 gets distemper.

The Painted Bird

A friend of my mom gave me a book as a sixth grader...this book has stuck in my mind, title long forgotten. I happened to be shopping with my mom and his young (15 year-old) daughter and I mentioned the book. Loving daughter asked me what the book was about but I refused to inform her in the presence of my young children because the scene in the book I remember is not appropriate for young ears!!! (probably was not appropriate for my 6th grade mind either but the guy didn't have a child then much less a daughter so who can blame him?!) What I remember is the main character having a....moment...with a farmer's wife. The farmer came home and discovered the situation prompting leading the farmer to spoon the main character's eyes out...with a spoon (hence spoon his eyes out). Mom's friend's loving daughter called him even though he was sleeping (because he works nights) just to let me ask him what the title was (!...now she wants to read it...!). He said he is now embarrassed for letting me read it at such a young age but I don't mind because I want to read it again. After all he also gave me the Lord of the Flies and a book on Kadafi if I remember correctly. I always did love a good read (especially as a 6th grader :P )!

...Oh, the name of the farmer vs. main character book was The Painted Bird...

A wormhole to the past...

I called a (good) racing friend of mine from years ago. I never stayed in touch because of my wifey and mommy duties however, darling husband now wants to autocross so I ventured to call him -my good friend- because, with all the racing talk in the house memories have sparked. Someday we will cross physical paths again...this is a small racing world in my neck of the woods!!!

The pups

We are proud to announce two new additions to our family! Daphne pictured above and Wrecks (picture coming soon) both carefully and lovingly named by our ingenuous 6 year-old son. Little girl was inspired by his adoration and love of Daphne the feminine and ingenious sleuth from the classic Scooby Doo. Little boy narrowly escaped the brilliant name "Slingshot" in an all out family naming war...I also lost by getting an anonymous "NO!!" on the name Alistair. Also on the final list were the names:

Max
Fred (following the Scooby theme)
Rex
Floppy
Sparky
Monkey
Scooby
Shaggy
Rocky
Killer
Champ
Buster
Bubba

Rex was the one name we all agreed on however, loving son decided the spelling should be "Wrecks" instead of "Rex" because it is HIS dog and we wouldn't let him name the pup "Slingshot". With overwhelming relief the tag was made to finalize the toughest pup decision thus far!

WELCOME TO THE ZOO WRECKS AND DAPHNE!

Can you see it? See that look in my eye? That is the glint of my mind bubbles containing strings of thought. These are constantly moving and rearanging themselves leading to some very...elicit amusings. The other day I was pondering a bug, then with an all too familiar *POP* a bubble burst exposing a string of thought. That thought floating in my mind like a strand of cotton candy floating out of the candy maker mixed with the other strands creating a fabulous story! My children, living in a land far, far, away in a different time and different world were mounting a giant flying bug to begin their quest to find a missing pet.

It happens all the time...then *POP* on to another... I love life, it is so full of wonderful experiences.

Atlanta, heads up!

Atlana beware! I am coming and I will be behind the wheel. Hubster and I are preparing to club autocross our new STI. It is a beaut though the fin is a bit much. In fact the fin might just be great for hanging the laundry out to dry during our Sunday drives. I think a comforter would fit just fine!