14 is the new....something

Bubba, our rescued Clumber, is 14 today. Various sources report their lifespan to be around 12 years. I know a few who have made it as far as Bubba, but not many at all. He's not in great shape, what with bad hips and IBD and deafness, but he still eats with typical Clumber enthusiasm and barks at me if his meals are not prepared with the alacrity he deems necessary.

He was supposed to be with us just a short time. A foster, really. I was worried about bringing a dog that old with a hearing problem into a house with very young children, but my fears were unfounded. It was soon clear he wasn't going anywhere. Though we've had him less than two years, he's part of the family. We're just trying to enjoy every day he's with us.

high maintenance

Every week I fill these boxes. For the dogs. True story.

Though this is the glorious four months of the year when I am younger than Mr C, I still feel ancient on a daily basis. But it's nothing compared to my dogs. Bubba, our rescued Clumber, will be 14 in December. He totally acts like he's 98, sleeping 98% of the time. Penguin will be 12 in January. She's in better shape and if she could see, you'd never guess her age. That is at least in part due to the pills I put in the box. She also gets eye drops and ointments 2-3 times a day.

It's hell to get old.

a very nice little word

Benign. Nice little word, don't you think? It was my favorite word two days ago, when we finally got the results of Penguin's biopsy.

A few months ago I found a tiny lump in Pen's shoulder area. I took her to the vet, where they aspirated the lump. Nothing troublesome was found and we agreed to just keep an eye on it. Then the lump got a little bigger. Not huge, but a little bigger, about the size of a marble. (The biopsy report says 2cm but that surprised me. It didn't feel that big.)

Since it was time for her annual exam anyway, I made another appointment and took her in. This time when they aspirated the lump the composition of the cells was different. Still not screaming "cancer" but worrisome enough that my vet thought it worthwhile to put an 11 year old dog under general anesthesia.

I was in for a big shock when I picked her up from the surgery a week later. The incision was enormous!

Apparently the thick and loose skin of her breed made the giant incision necessary. So there you have it, FrankenClumber. She was groggy when we brought her home but back to normal within 24 hours. Though I had five days of pain meds for her I stopped giving them when she started trying to climb the dining room table on day three. She was not a dog in pain, that's for sure.

We thought the biopsy results would be back in a week but it took more like 11 days. The vet's office received the report via fax while I was in having Penguin's sutures removed. And there was that beautiful word...benign. She's a happy dog and we look forward to more healthy time with her.

[Can't believe I forgot to throw in a plug for the Clumber Spaniel Health Foundation. We're young but already doing great work to improve the health of Clumbers everywhere.]

welcome to misery

While I like typing Eureka! (a little too much, really), a more apt description might be "misery". As usual, the people and their agendas are over-shadowing what should really be our focus. I don't know how it happens but it is regularly clear that the dogs are secondary to the agenda. 

Nothing makes me sporky like the national specialty. And today it's going to rain. Perfect! And just for good measure, Eureka!

Eureka!

This post is coming to you from Eureka!, Missouri, site of the 2008 Clumber Spaniel national specialty show. I arrived a few hours ago, missing the kids, spouse, and dogs back at home. CD always behaves as though flying solo is effortless so I am refusing to worry about them. Miss them? Yes. Worry? Not this time. 

As a result, I will attempt to keep the complaining to a dull roar when he goes away for the first two weeks of June. You heard it here first. Hold me to it.

click clack coma

It's been forever since I posted a picture of the kids. Bubba got in there as a bonus. Eleanor's hair is long enough for pigtails now, and Oliver looks more grown up every day.

Tuesday nights require Scholastic DVD since CD has a conference call during the time he usually amuses the kids while I cook. Tonight I left the job to Randy Travis and his excellent narration of Click Clack Moo. I wish I had audio of Oliver's imitation. "Cows that type? Hens on strike? Whoever heard of such a thing?!"

ashes to ashes redux

My dog Piper went to Bong today. She had been there before, on a very happy day when she was first introduced to birds. Today was a little different, but she didn't go alone. My dear friends Helen and Otto took half of her ashes along on a training session and scattered them in the fields and the water. (What happened to the other half is explained in an earlier post, though you'll have to dip into the comments for details.) They say a true friend is one who will help you hide the bodies. I think a true friend will scatter your dog's ashes for you and take pictures.

re-entry roundup

After 12 days of togetherness, it was back to the real world for everyone in the family. Kids to their respective day cares, and the adults to their offices. Though we're going at 110% at my office to get ready for the semester to start next Monday, it was still a welcome change. I think all the daycare teachers were bracing for the worst but at the end of the day all reports were positive. Eleanor was fussy on the drive to fetch Oliver. I suspect she fought to hold it together while at school, then fell apart once she was with us. Overall, re-entry was a lot easier than I expected. Maybe keeping my expectations low is the best strategy.

During our time at home, thanks to both kids taking a post-lunch nap each day, we got a lot done. The clean-out is about 75% complete. The two rooms that remain are critical when the new windows arrive in a eleven days so we can't afford to lose momentum. We didn't get all the pictures we have to frame sorted but we did take one very important portrait for framing. I can't wait to get it back and hang the pair of them in the living room.

I am experiencing a few more problems with re-entry into blogging. My plan was to blog a little less, get the quality up, and have a little more time for reading and commenting on my favorite blogs. So far? Epic FAIL. I'm not even getting more sleep. I will be working on this in the coming days. Thank you to all the terrific bloggers who have continued to read and comment here, despite my appalling lack of reciprocity.

One year ago, we had a special guest in our house. When we "flunked fostering" he became a permanent resident. Bubba is doing pretty well for being a 13 year old Clumber.

Finally, my fingers may be writing checks my cooking skills can't cash. Uncle Crappy has challenged me to a crab cake cook-off. His original tweet was too damn irresistible. You can't throw something like that out there and not expect someone to respond. Should be interesting.

helpful

Sorry for the lack of photographic evidence tonight. I was too busy trying to figure out how to properly adjust my MacBook so Aunt Suzy could witness local events. Oh how I long for the old iSight cameras that clipped on and were nicely adjustable. What the heck am I going to do at Christmas? But I digress...

It was the dogs' turn for a present tonight and Oliver was sure they needed lots of help. Bubba slept through the whole thing but Penguin was sniffing around. Still, she wasn't interested enough to dive in so Oliver happily did the honors. He's such a helpful boy.

In lieu of photos from tonight, I offer an interesting comparison: Oliver and Eleanor pictured at the same age, or as close to it as possible. In this case, both kids are about 19 months old. Eleanor is significantly bigger but both know how to enjoy themselves.

only looks like a vibrator

Penguin and Bubba received the oddly phallic "furminator" as their gift today in our 24 days of Christmas. I tried to get Pen interested in helping to open the gift, thinking it was treats and would therefore smell good. I should have just listened to Oliver when he told me Penguin and Bubba don't know how to open presents so he would do it for them.

I think the motivation for this gift was likely the pile o' hair Aunt Suzy removed from Bubba during her visit. Don't blame me if the poor guy is bald by the end of the week.

piglets

It was CD's turn for a present today in the 24 Days of Christmas. Suzy sent one of his favorites, Twiglets. Oliver called them "Piglets" the first time he tried them, but they are a favorite of his too. Eleanor tried one and seemed to like it too.

In other news, it is Bubba's birthday today and he is 13 years old. That makes him the oldest Clumber to live with us. Chewy made it nearly to 13 but missed by just a few months. He started as a foster dog last January but we flunked that little exercise and he never left. Though his IBD prevented any sort of gastronomic celebration, the kids sang "Happy Birthday" to our completely deaf old guy anyway.

homework? at my age?

Instead of being a good little blogger, crafting a post worthy of my readers, I watched Casino Royale tonight, because that's what you do the night before going to see the movie that starts moments after Casino Royale ends. I'm thinking this was a good thing. Though the jury in my head remains out on Daniel Craig, I had thoroughly forgotten most of the plot and absolutely all of the details.

A bit more about Daniel Craig.... I know I'm supposed to swoon for him, and he does have rather nice eyes, but I'm just not there yet. He's not Bond for me. I'm a Sean Connery/Pierce Brosnan girl. Craig reminds me of a guy who would be more at home in a Brooklyn bar than Monte Carlo or Scotland. But I'm willing to give him another chance.

And in the realm of random Bond trivia, I happen to know the producer's ex-boyfriend. 

third dog

There really isn't a third dog in there. This is just what Suzy took out of Bubba tonight. And people wonder why there are tumbleweeds in my house.

As expected, the Capitol Steps show was amazing. As much as I am looking forward to the end of this election season, it sure is giving them great material to work with. I have no doubt that the next batch of leaders will give them plenty of fodder too. Along with death and taxes, that's something we can count on.

bacon-wrapped dog food

The recipe for bacon wrapped cornish hens from A Year of Crockpotting is appealing on so many levels that I want to go to the store and get the ingredients right now. If I thought there was any hope of finding a replacement glass lid to my crockpot on that shopping trip that's what I would be doing instead of just telling you about the recipe.

Cornish hens are a favorite of mine. And they used to be a favorite of the dogs, until Penguin developed an allergy to chicken. See, we give raw food to the dogs at our house. Raw meat, raw bones, the whole nine yards. (You feed your dogs BONES, Kim? What are you thinking?? Don't you know chicken bones are dangerous? Here's the story:  Cooked poultry bones can be deadly. Raw are a-okay.) I used to drive many hours to Eberly Poultry two or three times a year and get a couple hundred pound of turkey necks, chicken backs and cornish hens. The hens were always the best. They were "split for the grill" in the summer and we humans often dipped into the dog food for dinner. Half a hen was a perfect balance of muscle meat, organ meat and bone for the dogs, or a nice meal for CD or me. Whole hens could be cut in the back and pierced with two wooden skewers making an X to stay flat on the grill too.

Then Penguin's chicken allergy reared its ugly head and there hasn't been a cornish hen in the house since. I think that was an error on my part, one that I will have to remedy soon.

stuck

Bubba, our twelve year old adopted Clumber, landed himself in a bit of hot water this afternoon. Now that they are loaded with fruit, he's obsessed with the tomato plants. We have erected a number of barriers to keep him out. With his very touchy digestive system, we don't want to take any chances.

After letting him out into the backyard this afternoon, I came back in to do some work. When I realized he should have been asking to come in I went back outside, expecting to find him in the tomatoes since he has been very persistent in getting around whatever we put in his way.

His luck ran out today. He was trying a route behind the air conditioner and must have lost his balance, not surprising given his dodgy back end.

I had to climb in with him and lift him out, but getting a photo first was irresistible. Fortunately, he seems to have forgiven me.

Guesses

If after reading yesterday's post you guessed "another sock and a whole lot of poop and barf", "Penguin", and "both ends", you would be entirely correct. The good news is she is clearly feeling MUCH better than yesterday.

Oliver still claims to not be feeling well, and despite taking a nap at school today asked again if he could go to sleep early (7:05pm). He's not pooping all over the place, and especially not at school, but he's still not at all himself. I heard there was a lot of angst over the school potty and many tears throughout the day.

I'm predicting two dogs and a kid to their assorted, and right next door to each other doctors tomorrow.

a pin in my balloon

Those four poops in the potty yesterday? All you experienced parents, just stop laughing at me right.now. You know a case of the squirts when you hear about it. Me? Not so much. When he kept saying, "I'm not feeling well" every time we went to the potty I foolishly thought he was just learning to read his body's signals. Clearly not. He's really not feeling well.

Today Oliver came home from school with four bags of dirty clothes. I lost count of how many outfits the bags contained but there are at least three pairs of pants that are not ours.

Back at home, Bubba pooped all over the dining room. I got some more advice from a vet friend about what to try. We might finally get an IBD diagnosis.

And the end to a perfect day? Penguin barfed up a sock, one of mine, that had been gone since late Spring. Not at small sock either. Good times around here. Any bets on what's going to be expelled next, by whom, and from which end?

going home

Jill, the rescue Clumber, is going to a forever home tomorrow. I could not have imagined a better future for her. The new owner has had other Clumbers and has the complete trust of our rescue chair, even saying she would give her own dogs to this woman. High praise indeed. 

It also makes me happy to know Jill will be nearby, with someone who promises to keep me posted on how she's doing.

Now I just have to find a way to get Jack to New Jersey, the next step towards a long term foster home.

Eleanor's new words:  zebra, bee  (and more catching up: no, yes, hi)

rescue me

I have two new rescue dogs tonight. They did not come with names so we're calling them Jack and Jill. They do not appear to have any experience with leashes and limited experience with people. The little girl is coming along well. Her little tail wags all the time. The boy has a long way to go, but I think he will be okay eventually. They are both about three years old.

At the moment, the boy is barking his fool head off in my garage. Could have something to do with the girl being in full standing heat, at the other end of the garage. Ugh. We'll be taking care of that in the next day or two, once my vet can give them a few vaccines and tests. 

If all goes well, they will be in foster homes by the end of the week.

one of a kind

Both the kid and the outfit are one of a kind. Those are Clumbers, of course, on the ribbon.

Here's a plug for the new CSCA webstore. It's a far cry from the same old same old that shows up on eBay. You won't find this outfit but you will find lots of other items that feature the same ribbon. New items are added frequently. Shop early and often!