Thoughts from a Rough Weekend

That's me, sitting beside my Uncle Roger, getting some petting from cousin Ryan

Hi all, Lily the Corgi here.  Mama says she won't take much time to type for me today because things are too hectic and have made her too nervous and crazy.  Usually this kind of talk makes me just want to bark at her to sit herself down and get to work, but this time I understand.

Yesterday, my Unce Roger (who is married to my mama's sister) was in a terrible motorcycle crash.  He left home before noon to ride to Missouri to referee a bicycle race.  Since it was Aunt Cathy's birthday, mama and daddy were putting us dogs in our room hours later so they could take Aunt Cathy out for birthday dinner when the phone rang.  It was Aunt Cathy saying that a policeman had showed up on her doorstep to tell her Uncle Roger was in the hospital in intensive care.  Mama and daddy rushed over to pick up Aunt Cathy and they all went to the hospital.  They don't let doggies in to intensive care so I haven't seen Uncle Roger myself, but mama and daddy say he is a mess.  Until this afternoon he even had a big machine breathing for him.  He had to have surgery to have part of his guts removed, his arm was snapped in two and he has lots of broken ribs and bruises and all sorts of nasty sounding injuries.

Our new brother Darby had surgery last week; they call it neutering.  Mama says Uncle Roger's surgery was much more serious than neutering.  Daddy says Uncle Roger would probably disagree with that.  I'm a corgi, not a doctor, so I just don't know.  I'm just glad they say Uncle Roger will be okay, even though it will take him a long time to get all better.

Uncle Roger is the daddy of my cousin Quincy the ancient wiener dog.  

Quincy is pretty frightened and confused right now about all the chaos going on.

Mama doesn't like motorcycles.  When she used to work in a hospital, she says she saw too many people who were smashed up while riding them, but Uncle Roger is a very careful rider--everyone says his being so careful to always wear his helmet probably saved his life yesterday.  One thing that caused a lot of trouble yesterday with Uncle Roger's accident was his ID.  When Uncle Roger rides his motorcycle, he doesn't carry his wallet in his pocket but puts his ID in a pack.  Apparently, the crash threw the pack or something and the police officers couldn't find the ID, so for the longest time, no one knew who Uncle Roger was!  That's why it took so long for them to come and find Aunt Cathy.

Mama says this is a good reminder to everyone to have their ID on them at all times.  Of course, Uncle Roger didn't do anything wrong by having his ID in his pack and he couldn't have known it would get lost, but sometimes people forget about their ID...and about ID for doggies.  My sisters and I all have cute little ID charms to wear on our collars.  The rescue is going to give Darby a more special type of ID called a microchip.  It is a little magic button thing that will go right under his skin and somehow when a vet puts a scanner over it, mama and daddy's name and phone number will show up.  That way, even if Darby is lost, someone can always find out where he belongs.  I don't think Uncle Roger will get a microchip, but it is a really good idea for pets!

Mama says she may be gone tomorrow night to sleep at the hospital with Aunt Cathy and watch over Uncle Roger.  I won't like that much, but maybe it will give daddy and Darby some well-needed bonding time.

This is my Uncle Roger on his motorcycle, at a bike race.  Sometimes, Uncle Roger rides the bicycles in the races, but as he's gotten older, more often than not he rides the motorcycle to referee the races.

Well, there were other happenings since I last wrote.  On Monday morning, some men came and cut down some of our trees.  Mama said the trees in the front yard were dead because sometimes when the wind woud blow, limbs would fall.  Daddy said one day a limb was going to blown down on our house and break the roof and then we'd be in a world of hurt.  So,the trees came down.  It was very interesting with bucket trucks and saws, and chippers making all kinds of noise.  We weren't allowed out in the yard but mama left the wooden door open so we could watch out the glass door.  Sadie and Lucy barked--A LOT.  The yard looks nicer without the dead trees, I think.

One day last week,it was 1/2 price ice cream day at Sonic, so after the sun went down and the weather cooled off just a little, mama and daddy took us down there to have ice cream cones.  Wow! We don't get ice cream very often so that was a real treat!  So refreshing on a hot evening.

Sadie and Lucy had cones too; they just weren't as cute and photogenic as Darby and I were.

Okay, mama says that's all she's typing for tonight, so I guess I'm done.  Mama is tired and could benefit greatly from a good sleep with a few cozy dogs snuggled next to her so I'm going to take her to bed.  Please keep a good thought for my Uncle Roger as he heals from this bad accident and for Aunt Cathy while she puts up with him (I love Uncle Roger but he will surely be a pain as a patient!)

Til next time, folks, hug each other and appreciate each other; it can all change in the blink of an eye.

Love ya,

Lily the Corgi

Stay cool, everyone!

Dog Bless America

I really am a richly blessed corgi.

Hi all, Lily the corgi here, hoping your Independence Day celebrations were awesome!  I know some of my fellow doggers get all freaked out with all the fireworks going off, so I hope everyone made it through all that with as little stress as possible.

Around here lately, stress has been my middle name.  Lily Roisin Stress Salamon. I must first apologize that all the wildness going on completely caused me to miss writing my blog last week.  I told you last time that I'd had a little seizure event; turns out that was not a single isolated seizure.  Last week I had a couple more of these episodes and my mama was SUPER upset.  You see, mama and daddy's first corgi girl, Audrey the Fluffy, had a single seizure that no one could control and after several days of solid seizing, she died.  So the other day when I started having the second seizure, mama got really worried; then I turned around and had another the very next day and my mama became ninja mama.  Long story short, she switched us to a new vet and now I am taking the same kind of pills that Lucy takes...even though mama says my seizures are much more dramatic and impressive than Lucy's (of course.)

Still on the subject of doggies, last week, the dog rescue texted mama and asked her to take pictures of our foster dog so they could get him transported to a rescue in Colorado.  Oh man, I knew we were in trouble when I saw mama type her reply.  "No."

Welcome to the family Darby Guinness Salamon

Yep, my worst fears have come true.  I always knew mama would end up adopting one of these little sad sack fosters and this is the one.  So, the rescue went ahead and got him snipped and heartworm tested--and, of course, he is infected with heartworms.  Officially, mama can't adopt him just yet because the rescue doesn't adopt out doggies with heartworms; they'll work with mama to get him treated and then the adoption will become final.  I guess he isn't too bad, as far as brothers go.  And daddy says this means we won't be getting anymore fosters; because Darby is so scared and nervous, daddy says he won't have other dogs here to upset Darby.  I must say, that all sounds like a big plus to me!

While all these health and family issues were getting ironed out, mama kept letting strangers in our house to tear up things and make things and change things inside and outside our house.  We've had a TON of things to bark at around here!  Mama and daddy started the craziness by ripping all the carpet out of our living room and bedroom...just cut holes in it, ripped it up, rolled it up and threw it outside.  Highly unusual behavior for humans who seemed to baby this carpet stuff by sweeping and washing it all the time.  Well, in a few days two men came to the house and started opening boxes in the hallway and used the boards inside to make a new floor. They call the new floor "hardwood" and I like it, mostly.  I can run and slide on it which is lots of fun.  The only bad part is that when I try to jump on the bed or the furniture, my feet get all slidy and sometimes I don't get enough traction to jump up that high.  I still like them; they are nice and cool on my tummy.

Lucy and Darby snoopervising the carpet tear-out.

The guys who came to put in the new floors were nice guys but I was a little scared of them.  I'd just had one of those seizure things when they came and I wasn't at my best, so the least little things scared me and their loud tools made me very nervous.  They were still patient, though, and they petted me a little when I allowed them to do so.  I liked that they both spoke that pretty language I used to hear when we lived in west Texas.  I always found their language very soothing; mama calls it Spanish and I think it is very pretty.

Tomorrow another man is coming to cut down trees.  Now to me, this just sounds shameful.  Trees are meant to be used as a shade, bathroom facilities, and squirrel holders; I see no reason why trees should be chopped up and removed from their original places.  Mama and daddy say these trees are dead, however, and need to be cut or they will fall in our beds as we sleep.  A man already came the other evening and pulled a lot of unruly plants in our front flower beds.  Our flower beds look so much nicer, but the neighborhood feral cats are upset--some of them had been using the bushes as a hideout.

Finally, this past holiday weekend, my Aunt Christy and her 3 kids came to spend a couple of days and nights with us.  We had tons of petting and holding and holding and petting.  Yesterday, the whole family came over and we all played and visited and romped around and then the humans cooked on the grill thingy on the back porch.  We doggy family members got to eat wieners cooked on the grill and whatever we could scavenge from the babies.  When it was time for the fireworks, mama and daddy put us in our newly floored "dog room" and shut the door so we couldn't hear much of what was going on outside; we felt safe and secure and Darby didn't even get upset enough to poop in his crate--that's progress in my book!

Cousins Kyle and Alicia slept on the couch, and I happily took my place right between them!

As you can tell, it has been lively here...lots of construction and gardening, food and family, health and crazy happening all at once.  It's been loud and confusing and hectic and now it is all settled down and I realize what a lucky, lucky girl I really am.  Not only do I have shelter, but I had a very nice and beautiful home.  Not only do I have a dog pack to run with, I have a family who loves and cherishes me as I am.  I am one contented and thankful girl. I guess that's what it means to have independence...I'm free to come and go and do what I please, but I prefer to stay right where I am and where I'm loved very much.

Take care of each other, everyone, and remember to do all you can to make sure all doggies have the freedom to live their lives in safety and good health and happiness like I do.  Til next time...

Love ya,

Lily the Corgi