Last Sunday we took Abby and Maggie to the river for a walk. It was such a beautiful day, and we needed the sunshine also.  Both dogs were so excited to go for a ride, and when we got to the river, it was a long walk into the park so we could walk along the bank of the river.  Maggie did the same thing she did on our short walk around the block at home.  For the life of us we do not know what is up with her, except for the fact that she is so afraid of people, and out of her safe place at home.  Abby on the other hand had a great time at the river, she was in and out of the water, trying to get Maggie to play with her, but oh no, not Maggie, she just wanted to stay by our sides, as close as she could get. 

This week has been hard on our family, first Norman passed away, and now my husband’s mother passed away this past Monday on the 22^nd of February. Well, my father in law is here with us, for this week, and Maggie is not doing well, she is so afraid of him, she stays in our bedroom all day, and will not come out.  My father in law loves dogs and has one of his own, and has been trying to get her to be his friend, but she will not budge.  She got scared as a pup by a man coming up to the car window, and scaring her, ever since then she has been afraid of people.

Well, it’s been a few days now, and Abby and Maggie are still depressed over the loss of Norman.  I am sure that things will be better soon, I hope. George looked up depression in dogs on the Internet, and the information suggested that you do something fun with them, to help them get over their depression. So, last evening we took them, for a ten-minute walk around the block.  Abby was her old self having a ball on the walk, but Maggie wined, and wined the whole time, and was slinking like she was trying to hide, but there was no place to hide.  We are not sure if she was looking for Norman, or just what she was doing, however it was quite sad, and humorous at the same time.

This was good for Maggie as she needs to get out more, and she needs to lose some weight in the process.  Continued

To all my followers and readers, we had a very sad weekend. We lost our beloved Norman.  Norman was with us for 15 short years, he was a great dog, and we miss him terribly.  Norman was old, and had some problems, and they proceeded to get worse, until he could barely walk any longer.  The vet suspects the lump on his shoulder was cancer, but at fifteen years old, we did not want to put him through a bunch of tests to find out.  He had arthritis as it was, and it was already hard for him to walk, and his hind legs were starting to give him some problems.  The vet said he was in pain and discomfort, so as hard as it was, we made the decision to put him down, and let him rest in peace.  Both my husband and I are taking this very hard, but we also did not want him to suffer any more than he already was.

Abby and Maggie, are also taking this hard, they are very depressed, and are not doing anything, except laying around waiting for him to return.  We all need time to morn, and remember the good times with Norman.  I am sure he will be waiting for us at the Rainbow Bridge, along with Tippy.

I will get back to Abby’s Antics in a day or so, after I have had a couple of days to reflect on Norman, and his life with us.  May he forever, rest in peace.

Christmas, about a year ago, my mother in law got me some food storage containers, called Fresh Vac. They are wonderful containers. The lids have a silicone seal, and we all know by now, how much Abby likes silicone.  Well, she has gotten three of the lids, and has eaten the silicone right out of the plastic lids, which, now I have to replace.  I am really not sure how she got the silicone out of the hard plastic lids, and I don’t know what it is about silicone that she likes so well, other than the fact some of her first toys had some silicone in them, and maybe she relates to that.

 This past Christmas I bought myself a really cool present.  It’s a Bamboo cutting board with a folding colander built into the cutting board, that way it folds flat for storage, and when you are done using it, it comes right out and you can wash it, or even put it in the dishwasher.  The bamboo board is really long so you can put it right over your sink, wash the fruits or veggies, let them drain and cut them up all over the sink.  Well, I used this one time, washed the colander, and put it on the counter to air dry, and of course, I left the kitchen.  When I returned to the kitchen the colander was gone, so of course, I went outside to retrieve it, as I knew the only one in the house that would take it, would be Abby.  Sure enough, laying in the yard was my green colander or what was left of it.  I went on line to see if I could get another one, and of course I could not, as it’s a special one for this cutting board, so off I went to buy a whole other cutting board with a new colander in it. So now I have two cutting boards, and one colander to use between them.  I make sure now, after I use the colander, I wash it, and put it away before Abby even has a chance to smell it.

The other morning, I was cooking breakfast, and had put some sausage in a frying pan. I turned the stove on, and the sausage started cooking.  I walked away from the stove for just a minute, and when I returned to the stove, about two sausage patties were gone. Abby had put her paws up on the stovetop, and reached into the hot frying pan to get the sausage.  While the sausage was cooking I made some scrambled egg mixture in a bowl. I had put the bowl of egg mixture all the way to the back of the counter; I turned my back for just a minute again, to set the table. Abby had stood up on her back legs, and reached with her front paws to get the bowl, tipped it over all over the counter, and onto the floor, and as many of you know, egg is the most horrible thing to clean up.  I made another batch of scrambled eggs, and we did have breakfast, or what was left of it.

Needless to say, this was not a good morning for breakfast, however Abby had a great one.

I had gone to Costco, and bought a whole cooked chicken for dinner one evening. After dinner, I had pulled the rest of the chicken off the bone, because I thought I would make some quesadilla’s for dinner later that week.

  So now it’s latter in the week, and I am in the kitchen making the quesadilla’s.  I had everything on the counter, and I had just made a couple of quesadilla’s I went to tell my husband that his dinner was ready, now mind you, I only went maybe twenty feet, to open the door to the garage, to let him know to come in for dinner.  My husband went out back to get something really quick, before he came in, and when he came in the kitchen he had a zip lock bag in his had (or what was left of it), and asked me what she (Abby) got, at first I said I did not know, then all of a sudden I looked at the counter, and saw that, the bag of Chicken was gone.  In the very short time I went to the door to tell my husband, Abby got the bag of Chicken off the counter, and beat cheeks out side, and had it eaten before I could make any more quesadilla’s for dinner.  Thank goodness, I had made sure there were no bones in the chicken meat. I had some left over hamburger meat, so I was able to make more quesadilla’s; they’re just not the same as chicken.   Continued

Last night I was watching TV with my husband, and I started laughing. He asked me what I was laughing at, and I said that Maggie and Abby were playing Hide and seek.  The people we bought our house from, put an addition on, in the back of the house.  It’s a large addition, but they had to leave a section of the bearing wall that separates the dining room, from the family room addition. This wall is only 18 inches wide. Well, Maggie thinks she can hide her 108-pound body behind the small section of wall, and that Abby will not see her.

 Maggie was peering around the corner of the wall, looking for Abby to come back in the house, and down the living room so she could attack her, but Abby went back outside.  Maggie got up, and went to the patio door to see what Abby was up to, and then Abby started to come inside again, so Maggie went to hide behind the wall again to wait for Abby.  Abby came in and saw Maggie, picked up speed, and ran as fast as she could by Maggie so she would not get pounced on by Maggie, then of course the chase was on. It’s so funny that Maggie hides behind this wall, when she is so big.  I think, she thinks, that if Abby cannot see her face, she is hiding, and Abby cannot see her.

Well on Saturday, we took Abby to the vet for a recheck.  She seemed fine to us, but low and behold her temp was at 103, again.  The vet gave her a good check and thought maybe it was because she was upset, as Abby did not want to be at the vet’s office again.  The vet went ahead and gave her the rabies shot and told us to watch her.  This was a different vet than the one we saw the week before.  This one said that maybe Abby got a hold of some raw fish (like Salmon), and that could have been the reason she got sick.  She said that it’s a mystery, and we may never know what caused her to get sick.  Abby today is doing very well, and back to her old self.  Now on to more of Abby’s Antic’s

You know, Abby is so funny.  I can be home with her all day, giving her attention, playing with her, and so on.  Well, If George and I go out in the evening we pay for it when we get home.  She does not get into trouble while we are gone, its after we get home that she gets into trouble.  When we get home, they all get treats, we get settled, and are usually watching TV, when all of a sudden, here comes Abby with unopened mail, or magazines or what ever she can get her teeth into, out to our family room, and looks at us like “How dare you leave me for the evening”.  We get what ever she has from her, (hopefully before she rips it up into little pieces), which is a struggle, and she is pretty good for a little while, then she gets something else, which she is not supposed to have, like a steak knife out of the kitchen sink.  She is so tall and quiet, that she can get things on the bottom of the sink; we have learned that everything has to be picked up, and the dishes done, so she will not get something she should not have. Continued