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Saturday, October 31, 2009

Happy Halloween!

Sam wishes all his friends a safe and Happy Halloween!

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Product Placement...

...currently happening at our house! Penn - please call for Sam's rates and availability!


On a side note - does anyone know how to add .pdf files to Blogger? I've been trying to add a few of the recipes I've collected, but cannot figure out how!

Thank you!

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Happy Birthday, Sam!

Sam turns seven years old today! Unfortunately, we cannot celebrate the way we wanted to! His runs have gotten worse again, even though his coughing and sneezing is clearing up.

We did get him a present though! I think he really enjoyed his surprise.


First off, Sam got to wear his special birthday scarf!


He was very excited about receiving his gift.


Uh-huh... A rope and what else do I smell?


These are all mine?


The rope will have to wait until later!


Ummmm.... How do I get them out?


Oh, I will figure this out!


Do I have to share these with anyone?


I'm gonna need a bigger mouth!


I'm not sure, I think he may have all 12 under there!


Thank you Mom and Dad for my presents! Thank you everyone for my birthday wishes!


And for those of you who asked about the recipes I wanted to try - I will get them posted this weekend!

:)

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Weekend Update

Sam is feeling just a bit better today, although he is still not well. His poops are still not quite normal and he seems very tired. The medicine is helping control his coughing and sneezing, but his nose is very runny.

Since Sam is not well enough for any special treats we will postpone his birthday a couple of days. I've been collecting recipes from Sam's friends in hopes of making his day very special. Since his tummy is not quite normal, we've decided not to take a chance!

However, even though Sam understands about missing his birthday, he doesn't want to miss out on Halloween! We have been very busy this weekend decorating pumpkins and getting his costume ready.

Here Sam is inspecting the pumpkins. Since I am very dangerous to myself when armed with a knife, I decided to paint a pumpkin instead. Aaron and I went to Hobby Lobby and found these very life-like fake pumpkins. We still bought a small pumpkin, but it will stay just as it is - unharmed.


Here is the first template for the pumpkin.


Then the second...


The painted cat side - Sam was very nervous around this cat!


The finished dog side... The pumpkin is not quite done yet, I need to add a few small decorations.


I am making a few modifications to a childs bee suit for Sam. Here he is modeling the hat - this is actually the first smile we've seen on him all weekend!


The wings:


Modeling with his pumpkins:


"Ummmm, Mom? This isn't going on my blog, is it Mom? Mom?"


In other news, we are still busy taking care of my sister's pets. We snapped this picture of Caspian playing with the bones of his victims. Sam would like to point out that we should never turn our backs on cats!


My ornamental pepper plant bloomed. I had no idea these things would bloom! I thought the flowers were rather pretty. They are only about a 1/4" in size.


We managed to get one more of the stray cats spayed - another female!


We have three more to do. The one on the far right has already been spayed. The other three still need to be done.


Sam had a very close call, too! Aaron and I thought about giving him a bath this weekend...


...but decided he could wait until he is feeling a little better!

Thank you everyone for keeping Sam in your thoughts. My little guy is still pretty sick, but every day seems a little better. I will keep you all posted!

Friday, October 16, 2009

Back to the vet...

Update:
Sam and I are home from our vet appointment. He has an upper respiratory infection. complete with sneezing, coughing and has a very a runny nose. He's received shots, antibiotics and cough medicine. First diarrhea, then vomiting, then more diarrhea - and now this! Sam is now resting, with strict instructions from Aaron and I not to over-exert himself!

Original Post:
Sam is not feeling well again. For the last two days he has been sneezing and coughing. We have an appointment with him at the vet this afternoon, but until then we are making him get plenty of rest!


The poor little guy is tired of being sick.


..."I think I'll sleep now"...

Monday, October 12, 2009

Sam is recovering

First off, thank you to everyone who asked about Sam this weekend. We've been enjoying having him home and spoiling him like he deserves. He is still not fully recovered - his poops are still not quite normal. You know you are a dog lover when you want to wake your husband up at 4 AM to tell him your dog's poop is starting to look better!

In the meantime, Sam has been getting plenty of rest:


Eating nourishing home-made meals:


Receiving lots of lovin':


I've also been taking him for walks in the morning. They are quite a bit shorter than what we normally do, but I think Sam really enjoys them. This morning we met a very nice Pomeranian named Scarlett. Sam was a real gentleman - he laid down so that she wouldn't have to look up at him! Of course, I didn't have my camera!

Aaron and I are also taking care of my sister's dogs and cats while she and her family are away on vacation. Meet Sam's cousins!

Suzy is 14 years old, and a real lady!


Molly is a Golden Retrieve mix - she is a sweetheart!


This is Prince Caspian, a cookie-eating, sock stealing, maul-your-leg-like-an-angry-rottweiler cat. Everyone adores him, and he knows it! Sis, do you know your cat goes on the counter when you are away?


Georgie. My sister rescued her. She is very shy, and Sam is pretty sure she is the epitome of evil! What do you think?


We really missed Sam while he was away. It wasn't quite the same finding both shoes together, a clear path to walk through the house, and nothing to walk around when you are trying to cook. We wouldn't trade having Sam for anything!

This is a small example of how our floor looks. Sam has most of his toys pulled out and spread over the floor. He also made sure to beat up his pillow when he returned. Our friend Austin gave Sam the Coke bottle. Sam thought it was a great present!


We think Sam is very happy to be home too!


P.S. We did find Rhome, Texas! :)

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Commercial possibilities

Hello all, Aaron here. Christine wanted me to mention that Sam has lost 7 lbs over the past month…You may recall that prior to his recent troubles Sam had been under vet’s orders to lose weight, and undoubtedly his ongoing illness has been a contributor to that loss; but I think his progress was admirable, even before this bout of Yorkie’s Revenge.

Thinking about that got me to looking closely at my Sam’s shaved belly this morning and I began to wonder if it bothered him, laying there on the cool tiles without a protective layer of fur…was he aware of how odd he looked with his pink skin on display? And once his morning walks resume will the other dogs make fun of him? Will they shout hurtful things like, “Hey Sam, uh, most guys go bald on top first!” or “Sam, uh, uh, nice pink belly ya got there!”

Dogs are often mean, but very seldom are they quick or clever.

I thought about how I might ease some of his embarrassment and hit upon an idea. So, after a trip to the garage for an old sheepskin seat cover, a couple of shoe strings and voila, I had it! The Tummy Toupee.


Looked pretty good I thought, could even have commercial possibilities. It’s warm, protective, only slightly unfashionable, and lacks vermin. An all around winner! Kind of like Ugg boots for your belly.

I began to have fantasies of financial independence, where late night Tummy Toupee infomercials become the stuff of legend and Hollywood stars are battling to appear in our life story, entitled:

Shave it again Sam, or How to be Hairless and Happy.

I saw Sam being played by Brad Pitt, with Wilfred Brimley taking my role.

Alas, it was not to be…Sam took offense to the whole concept and refused to play along, even when I suggested that instead of Brad Pitt and Wilfred Brimley, we go with Rupert Grint and Salma Hayek, respectively…sure, it would require a minor rewrite, but I felt it was doable. Sam still said no.

However, I’m not ready to give up on my dreams. Sam and I will capitalize on this opportunity somehow…


I wonder if GoldenPalace.com is still buying ad space?

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Sam has returned!

That is the good news. We had one very traumatic day. It started out with the "t" word, which pretty much caused both Aaron and I to panic - me a little worse. Even though Sam was eating all right and had no more blood in his poop, our vet could not stop the diarrhea. She called this morning to let me know she suspected a tumor in his intestines, and recommended we bring him for an ultra sound at the oncologist. She wasn't entirely sure this was the case, but wanted to rule it out as a possible suspect. It was a joy to see him again and to have him in the truck with us, although he smelled pretty rank after 5 days at the vet. We didn't care!

Sam was in heaven at the Oncologist, where he was reunited with his favorite vet tech Jenny. He also got to meet a new doctor, Dr. Jones. They kept him for an hour and did an ultrasound. To our relief the ultra sound came back clear. Talk about wanting to cry again! We were supposed to bring him back to our vet, but decided enough is enough. We brought Sam home. He still has the runs, but we have been supplied a variety of pills and such to give him along with a detailed menu. Sam will be eating better than us for the next week!

We still don't know why he has the runs, but both vets agree that with time his stomach and intestines may settle enough to solve the issues. I won't feel completely relieved until he is 100% better, but Aaron and I are both very happy to have our boy home again!

First off, Sam got a bath. He smelled terrible! Of course, he wasn't happy with the whole thing...

He then spent some time reuniting with the carpet!


They shaved a rather larger patch of fuzz for his ultrasound!



We are just happy to have him home!

Monday, October 5, 2009

Day 4...

Still no Sam. The vet is thinking maybe tomorrow he can come home. He is eating well, still not vomiting, but still has the runs... They are hoping that this will right itself today.

They did say that they have been spoiling him, and that every time they go back to check on him that someone is sitting with him. I really hope so - Sam is very used to being the center of our attention!

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Day 3...

Well, we are heading into day three with still no Sam. Since it is Sunday, it is very hard to get a hold of the vet to find out how he is. Last night, she called and said he was eating, with no more vomiting or blood in his poop; but said that he still had a bad case of the runs (which is how this whole episode started). We are missing him very much!

I took these photos with my cellphone. This is Sam behind bars:


You can't see it so well in this photo, but he has white medicine all over his face!


On a brighter side, we did commence with operation Spay/Neuter. We managed to catch two of the cats this morning. Momma and the shyest kitten (which turned out to be female) have both been spayed. We have four more to catch, if all of the remaining kittens continue to show up. They are resting at my Mom's house, ready to be released tomorrow morning.