Marlene

Hi Everyone,

Hope you're all doing well. I'm writing a post today about Marlene. She's our husky mix who we rescued from a bad situation back in October of 2015. We don't know how old she is, a rough estimate is 14 or 15.

I always like to share when our animals are sick, and what we do to remedy them. I think that it helps others out there who might be dealing with the same thing. I've learned a lot from reading other people's pet stories!

Last Wednesday, she suddenly couldn't walk. She kept falling over. Lately she'd become incontinent and started to lose her appetite. Now she was refusing to eat anything and wouldn't even drink her water.

We brought her to the vet on Thursday. They ran some blood tests and discovered she has kidney disease and liver damage. They also diagnosed her with Vestibular Disease - a canine/feline version of vertigo. She was prescribed anti-nausea pills and we decided that getting her eating again would be the first hurdle. They had to give her fluids to rehydrate her and we got some kidney-formula wet food to help support her kidneys a little better. The liver damage is likely caused by the fact that the kidneys aren't working properly and excreting toxins. The liver is having a hard time processing those toxins - especially since Marlene is refusing to eat.

She was also diagnosed with degenerative myelopathy (a disease affecting the spinal cord, resulting in weakness/paralysis of the hind legs); and dementia - but we already knew this by her behaviour because my late pug Winston also suffered from that - and I saw the same symptoms in Marlene.

Vestibular Disease is characterized by eye darting, head tilting, falling over to the side where she tilts her head, wobbliness, dizziness, nausea and incontinence. The symptoms are frighteningly similar to those of a stroke. In the video above you can see her eyes darting. The poor girl was living in a spinning world for 4 days. I had vertigo in my teenage years and it was unbearable. Vestibular Disease can be caused by several things: brain damage or brain disease, inner ear infection, head trauma, toxins or just old age. There is no prescription to cure it unless there is an infection which would be treated with antibiotics. It is supposed to go away after 24-48 hours. If it doesn't go away in that time frame, the diagnosis is not good because it has to do with brain disease. Marlene has no infections.

It's been a 24/7 duty to take care of her, which is hard, but I love her so much so of course I will take care of her the best I can. Her dementia seemed to be getting worse too, as she didn't appear to recognize us or the other pets. She seemed lost. 😟 We were losing hope when it became the fourth day where she didn't eat anything. I called the vet and they suggested blending the food with water and "force feeding" her. I had a large syringe in my medicine cabinet so as Alex was holding her mouth open, I was feeding her. Just like a baby, she wore a bib and tried to spit it all out, but finally she was eating.

This morning, her eyes stopped darting and she's able to walk on her own, but she still tilts her head and wobbles, so we need to walk on the left side of her. She is showing some signs of knowing us again, she came over to me to lie down next to me by my desk.

The biggest challenge at this point is to get her eating on her own. We tried everything imaginable...beef, liver, chicken, pork...potatoes, cheese, carrots, toast, rice, cat food, baby food, McDonalds French fries and even Capt' Crunch cereal! We even tried to give her lollypops, that used to be her favourite treat! She turns her nose at everything. But she is drinking water on her own - a good sign!

If by Monday she is refusing to eat on her own, Alex and I will have some big decisions to make. Would you please keep her in your thoughts my friends? I won't be participating in my usual blog hops/blog parties until things settle a little around here. I hope you all understand! I will still host the Thursday Art Date, but may not be posting too much there, though I think that I need to continue to do some art because it will bring me some joy and get my mind off my troubles!

Dogs and Cheese and a Blogging Break!

Hi Everyone 😊

I hope you're all doing well! I made a Jarlsberg cheese this past week. This cheese is SO good! It's currently aging and will be ready in about 5-6 weeks. I love how milk turns into such yummy good cheese.

My beautiful wheel of Jarlsberg...ready February 15th 2020....gone and eaten by February 20th 2020!

The last time I made this cheese was last December and this is what it looks like when it's all aged with big Swiss-style "eyes"! I can't wait to eat this again, it's my most successful cheese! 

There is a grouse couple living in the trees on my acreage, right next to the house. They mostly hang out in the birch trees. 

Even though the nights are getting cool here, around 10C, the days are still very hot. I made this gif from photos I took when I was walking Jack and Charlie. It's so windy lately, I felt like Jack might take off as his ears picked up the wind!

The skies here are definitely stunning. 

Well my Friends, I finally did THE TASK. I sat down and did a brutal assessment of all the work that needs to get done in the next 2 months. This is just some of it. There is also finding a better home insurance plan, redoing the budget, figuring out Alex's studio, putting up curtains, canning tomatoes, I have 2 doctor's appointments, we have an appointment with our lawyer to draw up our wills, monthly meal prep and shopping, pet care, day to day stuff and ME time. Plus Canadian Thanksgiving and Halloween are coming up quickly! I feel a bit overwhelmed!

I've decided to take a Blogging break for at least a month until I can get a handle on my life here. I'm still going to host the weekly art date though! And I will try to participate! So I will see you on Thursday for our art date! The theme is The Old Masters. 🎨 Thanks for understanding! ❤️❤️❤️

A Cow, A Quiche and a Foggy Rainbow

 
Hello Friends! 😊😊😊

I'm a little late with my Sunday post today...so much has been going on. Have you ever seen a rainbow in the fog? I haven't! I wonder if there's a pot of gold beyond those trees? 😊 

Alex and I went for a walk last night. The sky was so beautiful, the Waxing Crescent Moon was bright in the sky!

There were very few clouds in the sky, but they reflected the sunset beautifully.

We sat by the river for a while. I thought the reflection of the clouds in the water was pretty. We heard coyotes too.

I'm linking up today with Eileen's Saturday's Critters post. If you want to join in or check out other posts, just click on the link!

Cow! Not mine! 😊

Sleepy Jack - he's mine and in my heart forever! 💕

Raccoon tracks?

This was such a delicious meal...Cauliflower and Jarlsberg Quiche. Quiches are simple to make. As long as you have a good crust recipe, all you need to do is layer your veggies, a mix of milk and eggs then load it up with the cheese of your choice!

If you have fresh basil to use up, try making my Sundried Tomato and Basil Pesto. It's really good on crackers with a little Cheddar shredded on top!

I found a tomato farm last week and I scored a great price on 120 pounds of Roma tomatoes that I'll be canning for the winter. I have to call the owner of the farm tomorrow to see if they're ready. Fingers crossed this drought hasn't affected them too badly!

🎅🎅🎅 I will be adding this to my posts for a few weeks: Please contact me via my contact form on the right side bar of my blog if you want to be on my Christmas card list! And also please contact me if you have been previously so I can give you my new address! 🎅🎅🎅

If time permits, I'll be posting a small garden update on Tuesday, if not, I'll see you Thursday for our art date, the theme is Still Life! 😊

Days and Nights With Nature 🌲🌲

Hi Everyone! Happy Sunday! 😊😊

I hope you are all happy, healthy and living life to its fullest! We are! We spent a lot of time in Nature the last week and it was a much needed break. I mentioned on my last post that we followed a very dirty sandy road for miles that led to a bog and protected wildlife area. Along the way we found this secluded little spot by the river. We had to climb down quite a ways, but it was worth it. We spent a few hours here enjoying a picnic lunch that Alex made for us. 💚

I'm linking up today with Eileen's Saturday Critters!

We were lucky to see lots of wildlife on those excursions like this bullfrog.

Look at this beautiful turtle. We saw it on the road and had to stop to bring it over to its pond.

There are some BIG birds in this area, we saw some eagles, falcons and herons. 

In this area of the bog, we heard a buck deer rut call. I tried to capture this with my silly little cell phone microphone but all I could capture was the wind and the occasional "did you hear that Alex?" LOL...

This is the sound we heard. It was coming from the trees in the back of the logged woodlot, every minute or two. (For some reason this video doesn't always play but you can click on the "watch on You Tube" link, the sound is at 1:15.)

We were fascinated by these sounds, we stood on these logged tree trunks for nearly an hour just listening and enjoying what we were hearing!

We decided to head home when the sun started to set. I personally don't like driving at night, but we specifically came out to see wildlife and the best time to see/hear them is at dawn and dusk.

Some of you have seen this photo, I posted it last week. On the drive home, we saw a black bear cub running across the road, his mamma was waiting for him in the ditch. Our first bear sighting!

We had to drive very slowly because every few hundred yards, these little brown rabbits would shoot across the road.

When we got home, we sat outside to watch the Perseid meteor showers. This was the second night we sat outside. I was fooling around with my camera and yes Monica, I pulled out the tripod this time 😊! I got a nice photo of the Big Dipper.

I can't be sure, but this could possibly be part of the Milky Way. I still need to learn more about night photography, but this is pretty darn cool!

The days have been so hot and humid! Here I am with Marlene, swimming in the stream. Our Marlene is getting older and she feels more confident when I hold her in the water. By the way, no bathing suits here! I was in there in my shorts, t-shirt and hiking boots!!!

I was SO PROUD OF MY JACK!!! With Alex's encouragement, he actually went for a swim, but we had to throw the ball in to entice him! Although...we discovered that a leech was heading right for him. If you look at the tall green weeds to the right-bottom of this gif I made, you can see a black worm-like thing snaking through the water, that's the leech. I can't believe I got it on camera. I was kind of freaked out a little, but I do realize there are leeches in so many waterways, we just have to be careful and check ourselves and the pets when we jump in the drink!

Not so good pet news...as many of you know, I post a few times a year about Charlie's allergic reactions to (what we think are) spider bites. Well, it happened again. Poor girl, her face balloons up and her eyes swell shut. The telltale sign is that she scratches her snout mercilessly just before she starts to swell. When we see that, we have only a few minutes to pump her full of Benadryl while she can still swallow. It's FREAKING SCARY...but the Benadryl works and as I type this she's completely back to normal. Oi.

Oscar is such a sweet cat...he's so affectionate and easy. Whenever he purrs, he REALLY vocalizes...it always makes me smile to hear him so happy! I was cleaning the bathroom when he decided to join me and show me some love! 💓

I haven't only been frolicking by the river lol...I spent three days taking down the old curtains that were left here, washing windows and installing our sheers and curtains. The house will take a while to become our own, but we are slowly getting things installed, repaired and organized!

My Sunday post wouldn't be complete without some food photos! Every month on the 14th, Alex and I have a fondue dinner - we celebrate our monthly "anniversary" that way. It's been 7 years and 5 months now, and we had our favourite Smoked Cheddar and Apple Cider Fondue. We had it with a nice wine from the Puglia region of Italy. (See Linda? We don't follow any rules for "pairing" wine either!! 😊)

After one of our Nature days out, we wanted something hardy and comforting...pasta it is with lovely and delicious fresh shredded and "petaled" Parmesan!

Last night I made Chinese food: Stir Fried Rice, Garlic Noodles and Sweet and Sour Cauliflower (served in a pineapple!).

Oh strawberries and cream! How I love thee! 🍓🍓🍓

Thanks for stopping by my Friends! See you on Thursday for our art date, the theme is Night Scene! PS: I wanted to let my Friends know that I'm back to responding to all of my comments! During the move, I couldn't find the time, but now I do because I love it so much, so check back for a response. Sometimes it takes me a week, but I will always reply!!

🎅🎅🎅 I will be adding this to my posts for a few weeks: Please contact me via my contact form on the right side bar of my blog if you want to be on my Christmas card list! And also please contact me if you have been previously so I can give you my new address! 🎅🎅🎅

Enjoying Life!

Hello Friends 😊😊😊 Happy Sunday! 

How is everyone doing? Have you noticed new features on Blogger? One that I really like is that the default photo is now "Extra Large" so I don't have to go each time to re-size it. One that I really DON'T like is the automatic double spacing when you press enter. If you don't want a double space, instead of "enter", you can click "shift" and "enter". As I type this, the "left", "center" and "right" align buttons when clicking on the photo don't work anymore. I had to highlight the photo and use the buttons up on the toolbar to center them. I sent feedback, I hope they fix it.

Someone asked me how I got my Blueberry Pancakes so even in size...here's my secret in the photo above! 😊

I decided to walk across the stream the other day. I didn't get a photo of it, but to the left, there is a bit of a rock dam to access the Crown land on the other side.

I'm the not first person to have crossed the stream, there was a trail right on the other side. I decided to check it out.

I walked for about five minutes until the trail opened up to the other side of the stream. This side is quite shallow, very beautiful and serene though!

The girls went into the water, but of course, Jack just pulled back and observed! Looks like a deep conversation going on in the canine world doesn't it? 

Wet dogs - I love this photo! 😊 After a long walk and a swim, the dogs needed a rest! They joined the cats for an afternoon of lounging.

Charlie

Dana

Jack

Leo

Marlene

Oscar

The monthly shopping was brutal. I have to get used to new stores and what variety of food they offer - also the pricing. New Brunswick food prices are much higher than Quebec. I decided to join Costco to see if I could save money that way - and I will - but the amount of people there (without masks too) is very surprising. I'll have to travel 90 minutes each way once a month in order to save money. It's worth it, even with the extra gas expense. Living in a rural area is like paradise to me so I don't mind the once-a-month drive!

I made some easy dinners last week. We are so busy with the house that I don't have the time I used to for making dinners. One night, we had leftover pancakes with Toasettes and Iced Coffees. 

I had leftover Goat cheese, so I made Goat Cheese and Nectarine Toasts. This is a spin on my Ricotta and Strawberry Toasts. Delicious!

And just before shopping day, I emptied the fridge as much as I could. I made a pasta dish with basil, olives, Feta, Mozzarella and Parm for me; and a Linguine Puttanesca for Alex. Comfort food. 😋

Thanks for stopping by! See you on Thursday for our art date, the theme is Swipe!