Happy Spring Like Weather?

Just when it was starting to get nice and warm, we got another dump of snow, about 15 cm. We just had our street plowed and then the snow hit

I am running out of room to shovel it!

 Daphnie was not bothered by the snow, and preferred to lie out in it

Solid Comfort

Some people think my dog, Daphne is spoiled. I don't think she is, but what do you say?

Why Me?

Today, I drove a friend into Edmonton and got back about 1:30 pm. As Daphne was locked in the house all morning, I took her for a bush walk. I had just stopped the car and let her out when she bounded off the trail after something, likely a small bird.

However, it was a skunk! She came back a few minutes later, whining, rubbing her eyes and rubbing her head on the ground. Yep! She was skunked! She was also coughing, sneezing and trying to throw up. Definitely not a happy camper!

I loaded her back into the car, opened the windows and headed for home. My car now smells like a skunk farm. I headed to the vet for the latest in skunk odour removal. They said to forget tomato juice as it doesn't work.

Instead they gave me a recipe that does:

1 cup of lemon juice,
1 cup of dish soap, Dove or Palmolive
1 cup of baking powder.

Mix them all up together and use as a shampoo, rubbing it well in. Then rinse

It worked very well, but I may have to repeat tomorrow. There is still a slight odour.

I sprayed the car heavily with Febreze, but figure on driving with the windows open for a while.

ALL my clothes and 3 dog towels, and jacket went into the washer with 2 power balls. That seems to have worked!

 I hope none of you experience this experience, but can recommend the home made shampoo.

Caught in the Act!

I taught Brooklyn how to pick blueberries a few years ago. It seems that she also likes tomatoes.

 She ate quite a few before I got to the camera.

 She was very gentle, and just lipped off the ripe ones. How do you get mad at this?

Spa Day for the Princess

Bending down and combing Brooklyn for an hour every second day was kind of hard on the back, so I decided to take her to a doggie groomer for a bath, blow dry, and trim, with emphasis on removing the heavy undercoat that Retrievers get.. Note the long belly hair and excess leg hair. Nope, I did not opt for the wax job. :-}

Before

The next three photos are the after shots. She looks a lot better and hopefully, a lot cooler.

It will be a shame to take her over to the park and swim her.

 Her coat is just like silk at the moment.

 Happy dog!

SWAMP DOG 2

So much for the water being too cold, and the ducks being uncatchable!

 The chase is on again!

 You can see how the trees are turning to their fall colours.

 Gonna get da duck, gonna get da duck!

 Needless to say, no ducks were hurt in this photo session.

Monday Morning Walk

Swamp Dog! 

Exercising her ducks

Follow the leader

Don't give up! ( Notice the duck laugh)

A Good roll to finish it off.

Too tired to chase these. Besides, they are faster than ducks!

Quite a Week!

For me, Wednesday and Thursday are a bit of a blur.

I decided about noon on Wednesday to go for a horse ride. I took Alpine out because she was next in line for a ride. she was very compliant in the paddock, so I started to ride her around the Acreage. No problems. The second time up the driveway at a fast trot, she ducked her head and bucked! I had no time to get my weight back, so departed the horse on the second buck. Normally, I can ride through this, but not this time. I went over the handle bars about 8 feet up, and landed flat on my back.

The Cause

The next thing I remember  is Brooklyn licking my face and head butting me to get up. I looked for Alpine and saw her up near the house walking back to the corral.

The Heroine

I managed to get to my knees just in time to see Elaine leaving the house to catch Alpine.

This was the first time that I didn't want to get back up on the horse, or should I say, couldn't?

I managed to get up the hill, un saddle her and get her back into the yard with Biz. I put the tack away then went in to lay down for a bit. My back was pretty badly bruised and I had a few cuts on the inside of my arm. I was dizzy and Elaine decided that I was going to the hospital.

They took X-rays which showed nothing broken as far as they could see. However I was in a lot of pain so they shipped me over to Hinton for a CAT scan, thinking that I may have damaged liver, kidneys or?  It turns out every thing was OK except for a partially deflated lung, which they said would recover by itself.

The new resident at the hospital gave me a real going over for not wearing a helmet. She was not too receptive to the fact that I did not hit my head, but managed to tuck it.

They gave me a couple of pills, anti inflammatory and pain which made things bearable.

Thursday after noon they released me to go home.

Now, Elaine has been suffering from the onset of Parkinson's disease which has severely limited her mobility and ability to eat or drink. The medicines that they have prescribed so far have given minimal relief so far. Friday morning they stuck her in the hospital to try and get to the bottom of things. This was not quite an overlap, but close.

The ex patient (me) is now the one doing the visiting.

All in all, quite a week!

Anybody Want A Mousicle?

After almost two years, this was the result! One pounced on, but not eaten Mousicle.

Yep, I am a Good Dog!

Honest!