Parting Shot

2004-2014

We adopted her in 2004, the vet estiimated her age then to be 5-7.5 years then, love you Lulu Belle!!!

Preparing for Dinner in my Studio

A couple of years ago I moved my studio out of what was once upon a time a master bedroom in our house and into the living and dining rooms.  Hubs was tired of my being holed up in my studio 8-12 hours a day and never seeing me.  Now he sees me all of the time.

Dilemma.  We are hosting Thanksgiving dinner this year, but we no longer have a dining room.  So enters in brilliant and creative idea to host a dinner party in my studio.  I find the idea both exciting and terrifying at the same time.  Tomorrow we will move our old dining room table, a Duncan Phyfe that seats 16, from it's hiding place in my sewing studio and put it back into the dining room where my drafting table currently resides.

The wonderful part is we are doing more purging and deep cleaning so the house is looking better every single day.

Angel got a bath today, she had me worried for awhile as she was shivering and like crazy afterwards but that all stopped after she ate some warm hamburger.   We will be taking her to the vet, hopefully tomorrow, to see what needs to be done next, I'm not ready to send her over the bridge yet, but, she's lost a dreadful amount of weight and which has me really worried.  She made it to 15 which I hear is quite the accomplishment for a Sheltie.

Angels Nest

It's one hot mess, yeah I know this, but don't even try to remove the "nest".  Oliver made this nest for Angel, yeah my 78 pound labradoodle really did this!  And if we remove it he only brings in more stuff for the old one to sleep on, which at this point is fine because I don't have to worry about her trying to get up or down from the sofa and hurting herself in the process.

There's a part of me that'd like to believe that Oliver feels guilty for having destroyed Angels princess bed and this is why he keeps making nests for her, but we all know that's not the case.

We're still hand feeding her, and she's become quite picky with some days not eating at all.  I've been blessed in that my neighbors help me out with her from time to time, like when I have to go places, and they have experience with an elderly dog whose time upon this earth is growing short. 

She's been with us nine years today, yes I got her on my birthday nine years ago she was a rescue, its hard to believe as the time has passed and quickly, her actual age is somewhere around 15/16 years.

Studio Help

Or not so much. Oliver waiting in his kennel, he goes in there when I'm working at my drawing table on projects.  Actually I'm really glad he likes his kennel!

Angel is still with us, I thought for sure she was done for a week ago as I hadn't seen any evidence that she had been eating, etc.  Well it turns out she's been shimming under the gate and has been eating the cats food.  So I raised the gate up a bit so she wouldn't have to shimmy as much.

Angel

She's not doing so well now that she's pushing 15 years or so (she was a rescue we're not really sure how old she is other than 14+ years), she's gone from looking at the bridge to now running towards it, I figure we have a few more days left with her tops.  I made her some food from scratch tonight and she gobbled that right up, so at least she has a full tummy.

Oliver Files: Time Out for Oliver

Time out for Oliver, and of course Angel goes into his crate and won't come out so both got locked inside. He has a fascination with laundry, ie fetching it and then shredding it to pieces preferably while I'm on the phone. They both fell asleep in his crate.

Angel started nodding off at this point, she spent the last two years of Silky's life (our Weimeraner) sleeping in her crate with her so it's not surprising she's sleeping in his crate now.

The Oliver Files: Wanna Dance?

John and Oliver play dancing in my studio while I was stitching away and Angel observed.

Oliver and Angel

Their waiting for their helping of John's homemade spagetti sauce!

Angel

A wee bit of pink tongue sticking out, she struck this pose right after John left to walk Oliver... She was smiling and big time.  Even at 15ish years of age she's still my doll baby dog, all 15 pounds of her!

Oliver Files Week Six - I Think

His favorite place in the house is the family room surrounded by his toys and with Angel of course.

Here he is still sorta damp after his walk in the pouring down rain.  I love his coat, like Angels it dries and very quickly.

We're still learning to not pick on Pepper, Thomas can hold his own and for the most part Oliver is scared of Thomas.

He matches the rug and quite well, don't you think!

My princess, Angel.

Last but not least, Thomas who still refuses to hang out in the family room since Oliver arrived, but it's only been six weeks and he's finally coming into the kitchen again. 

Angel and Oliver Hanging Out

Taken this past Sunday, hanging out while John chips branches, etc.  They were fascinated by the activity.

Oliver and Angel

Chillin on the porch trying to beat the heat!  Notice Ollie has his ears flipped over to cool his head!

Angel

A wee bit under the weather today, she's thrown up several time since early this morning, still eating, drinking, and everything else like normal and even playing.   I'm not sure what she got into this time.

Angel

Angel - hanging out on the front porch watching the traffic go by.

Oliver, Oliver, Oliver - Day Five of Puppy Madness

Sooooooo I locked Angel in her crate, and Oliver is in the kitchen laying on the floor in front of her crate.  Looks like I might be able to get some stuff done today after all!

In other news (ION) Oliver has taking to pushing Angel down the stairs and such and this is not acceptable.  So in a plea for help I brought this up on FB late last night and got tons of suggestions the best of which was to tether him, on his six foot leash, to a very heavy boat anchor! 

So today I will be out and about shopping for a boat anchor!  The second best suggestion was to tether him to a very old very heavy sewing machine.  I will have to test this one because I'm not sure if my sewing machine is heavy enough or not, what it is is large enough, it's in a cabinet, to not make it through my office door.  It is mostly when he's in my office that he feels the need to herd Angel out the door and then push her down the stairs with his paw.

I still feel that this is a dominance issue, everyone else thinks I'm nutz!

Foot? What Foot?

Angel, my studio assistant, sitting on my foot while I work at my sewing table.

Studio Redux 013013

The last of the piles that need sorting and organizing!

My fabric stash and finished pieces need to be sorted and put in their proper places.

Angel keeping me company while I work, she doesn't like having her picture taken for some reason.

Waiting

Angel waiting while I work on a sketch.

Studio Assistant

My studio assistant, Angel.

Family

John, Pepper, and Angel