This is it! The last day of November. I'm happy that I blogged every day and I hope I can keep the trend going. This is our Christmas card this year. I'm sending it mostly to my dog friends in a Christmas card exchange. It took a bully stick to get Bobby to pose like that with reindeer antlers on his head.

You can upload movies! I had no idea. Here's Bobby and how he chases squirrels.

I finished the ornament for the ornament exchange. We are allowed to make decorations as well; they don't have to be ornaments, but I think mine qualify. They're just ornaments for a tiny tree. I bought this little tree for 3 dollars at A.C. Moore. I made 12 ornaments to hang on the tree, plus a couple of strands of garland made out of beads. This was a fun project and I'm going to have to make myself one, too, at some point.

Bobby saw a squirrel this morning. He gets pretty upset. It's kind of funny.

This is where we placed Java's remembrance stone. It is under a weeping cherry tree and will be so beautiful in the spring.

I keep missing her. I want her back the way she was 4 years ago, before all her back problems manifested themselves. She was so robust. She had the most amazing self-confidence. I think it was because she was so alpha that she figured where ever she was, that's where she was supposed to be. She never got nervous traveling to other places, other people's houses, or even the numerous vet's offices we went to over the years. She had a lot of spirit. Now she's here at home, on the mantel with Barney, Pixel and Ram.

Today I brought Bobby to day care and then I came home and made beads for the ornament exchange. I wish I had thought of doing a little tree like this earlier, I could have auctioned it off in one of the Boston Terrier Rescue benefit auctions that have been going on. Next year, I guess.

I made chili for dinner and I keep eating it by the spoonful. I think I am hungry.

We had a very relaxing Sunday. We went out to breakfast with the newspaper. I had a breakfast sandwich and Robert had raisin bread french toast. I get hungry just thinking about it! Then at home I made some beads and got an order ready to ship out tomorrow. I just bought some new packaging and I think it's really cute and goes with my dog-themed beads well.  The beads I made are for a hand-made ornament swap I'm involved in on the Woofboard. I bought a tiny tree and I'll be making some "ornaments" out of my beads. I'm excited about it. I think it's going to be awesome.

I'm glad that Thanksgiving is over.

It's been almost 4 weeks since Java was put to sleep and I'm still having a hard time. I just miss her. Not the way she was recently, but the way she used to be. She was always feisty until the end, but she used to be so robust. She had gotten very frail and arthritic and of course, lame. I just wish that dogs didn't have to die. It makes it so hard.

Today is Small Business Saturday and I'm going to partake. I've already done some Etsy shopping for my niece and someone has purchased a charm from my store. Yay! Also we are going to buy some presents for Gary and Bobby at the local pet store instead of going to Petco or Petsmart. They have better prices on their food, too!

I am writing this from bed on my iPad mini. I slept at my mom's house and we still have a kitchen to clean up. Martha did a lot of it yesterday before she left. Thanks, Martha! Every little bit helps. I'm not really looking forward to it.


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Location:In bed

Happy Thanksgiving!

I awoke this morning with devout thanksgiving for my friends, the old and the new.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

I'm posting this from my iPad mini. I love it.
I am so thankful today. I'm thankful for my wonderful husband and my loving family. I'm thankful for my friends, many of whom I've never even met in person, but who are as real to me as any in real life. I'm thankful for Bobby for being such a little clown and always putting a smile on my face.
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My iPad is coming today today!

My iPad is coming hooray hooray!

Happy Birthday to me!

A very heavy package arrived yesterday. I could see from the card which was attached to the outside that it was from my friends on the Woofboard. I waited to open it until Robert came home, and when he did, he opened it while I documented the opening.

I cried when I saw it, not just because of my loss, but because it was such a beautiful gift. I love the sentiment on it because it's true. We are going to put it outside by the pond, in a place of honor.

Today I go to the doctors. I'm dreading it a little because I've gained weight. This is going to be a busy week. I am thankful that we're having Thanksgiving at my mother's house. I find it stressful to have it at my house. So tomorrow I'm making the potatoes. Then Robert comes home from work and we make the cranberry, and two pies. Then Wednesday I go to my mom's to help her and we go out to dinner for my birthday. Then Thanksgiving. Then my iPad mini comes on Friday. Wahoo!

I love this picture. A guy and his little dog contemplating the pond.

 

Today I am heading to Keene to meet a friend of mine who lives in Vermont. The animal shelter near her has a scratching post for their kitties that is in tatters. They were looking for someone to repair it. I have one just like it that Gary doesn't use, so I volunteered to donate mine to them. So this is what's happening today.  She's going to bring some of her dogs and we're going to go to Petco with them. I think it'll be fun!

Hooray
it's Friday! Day 16. It's getting difficult to think of what to write
about. And I'm running out of pictures. I think it's important to also
have something to look at when you come to this blog. I think right now
the only person reading this other than me is Robert.



Can I just say how delightedly happy I am about the results of the election? I am so grateful that Mittens Romney is not our president. I don't think I could stand it. He's such a flip-flopper, say-anything-to-get-elected kind of guy. Mean. I'm very happy that Obama won.

Gnorman the Gnome

Today I have to make some things in the studio. My friend who works at Jiko at the Animal Kingdom Lodge is very knowledgable about wine, so much so that she runs the wine tastings on Wednesdays there. She was really nice to me at Woof!Fest - well everybody was - so I want to make her something to say thank you.  Her husband Andrew got take out for dinner for us one night and he never made me pay him back even when I tried to. Plus they drove me back and forth all over the place. So my plan is to bring them some maple cream for their Sunday morning pancakes and waffles, a glass wine stopper (I'm sure she'll never need it, LOL) and we will also treat them to dinner at Jiko.

Oggi e' l'ultima classe d'italiano. Ho imparato molto. Portiamo un panettone alla professoressa per un regalo. Non sono sicura si continueremo. Penso che parlo abbastanza bene per viaggiare in Italia.

Have you seen the pictures from Italy? It's terrible. So much water and flooding. In Venice, no one lives on the first floor because of the water rising, but to see people in their bathing suits in the middle of San Marcos square... Ick.

Iris with a goldfish backdrop

It is rainy today and will be getting colder. We haven't turned off the waterfall in the pond, so we are going to do that this week some time.  Today I have to get my car inspected, have an oil change and have my snow tires put on. I'm not really ready for winter, but I'm looking forward to the holidays. At least the build up to Christmas is always fun. Christmas day is kind of "eh" usually, I'm not sure why. Maybe it's built-up expectations, I don't know. Martha and I were talking about this last night. We both feel the same way.

 

Java loved to snuggle in laundry waiting to be washed.

It is a beautiful day today. It's 62 degrees and is supposed to go even higher. We are having a nice day. We went out to IHOP and had a healthy breakfast. Then we went to the mall and I got to fondle an iPad Mini. Swoon! I want one for my birthday. I'm pretty sure I'm getting one. 

We came home and did a little maintenance of the pond, then sat there watching the fish. We can see several goldfish babies. It is so much fun. I hope they all make it through the winter. 

I bought this cool locket after seeing one on the Woofboard. It's from Origami Owl and you can personalize it by adding charms that have special meanings to you. This one is all about Java. The pawprint, the heart and the bone are self-explanatory. The soccer ball was her favorite toy. The coffee cup represents her name. The red crystal heart is for when we got her: July; and the clear crystal heart is her birthstone. I added the metal disc with the word "love" as well. I had a lot of fun picking this out.

So last night at the auction, we won an Egyptian Dinner. A group of eight of us will go to another member's house who will prepare an excellent Egyptian meal. I have heard lots of excellent reviews from the people who won it at the last auction. I'm really looking forward to it.

Today is the annual goods and services auction at the church we go to. It's always a fun time and sometimes the bidding gets wild. One thing I used to bid on but no longer do is a parking space right in the back parking lot of the church, steps from the door. I no longer bid and win that because when I "owned" the parking space, I was very lazy about going to church. So now I park on the street and go.

Today we removed the nets from the pond. The fish are down deep for the winter, so I don't think the heron will bother them, even if he comes back. We filled the bird feeders with yummy seeds and our outside denizens are happy.

Bobby enjoying his yogurt

It's hard to blog every day, but I'm determined to do it. I'm sitting in the kitchen. We just had our oatmeal for breakfast and Robert has gone to drop Bobby off at daycare. He has been going to daycare a few days a week since we got him. This is because Java wouldn't play with him and now that she's gone, I think it's even more important that he go and have fun with his friends. 

As I sit here, I'm using a blue light to shine on me, in an attempt to prevent seasonal lethargy or depression. I don't want to go through what I went through when Barney died. I think his death threw me a curve as it was so unexpected. We were a little perfect family of 2 people, 2 dogs and 1 cat and all of a sudden it was gone. I have sort of been mentally preparing myself for Java's death since then, and I think that has helped me gain a little perspective on it. All in all, I feel OK. I am sad and grieving of course, but I don't feel the overwhelming despair that I did after Barney died.

Bobby can make himself into the tiniest ball. Here he is sitting next to me on the couch.




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Blue Jay

Tufted Titmouse

These little birds are so bold

I think this one is a House Finch

Hairy Woodpecker loves suet

Female goldfinch in her winter plumage

I think this is a sparrow.

Blue Jays squabbling

 

I love the birds that frequent the feeders in our yard. They have been super active the past few days, I think because it has been so cold. Here are some pictures I took through the windows and doors that look out into the back yard.

That is all.

 Java going to the sea for the first time

 

I haven't been blogging much this year. After we went to Las Vegas in January, Java didn't seem to be doing so well. That kind of took the wind out of my sails and I had a difficult winter.

 

Java and me 

She eventually bounced back and did very well until July, when we found out she had pneumonia. I have never seen her so sick. She slept in her crate all day and didn't enjoy her toys like she used to. When she started playing with her toys again, I knew she was getting better. 

 

 

The Woof!Fest group picture

In September, she and I traveled to Maine for Woof!Fest 2012, a gathering of on-line friends from a Boston Terrier Forum. Java did a lot of watching from her stroller, but she had her ballie and would play with it in the room.

Java in her stroller, watching.

All these pictures are from that trip. She was doing pretty well even then. She had a lot of gusto for her meals and would stomp and bark for them.

I knew it was time to let her go when she hadn't played with her ballie in weeks, she no longer wanted her meals and she had a hard time breathing just from walking a few feet. That was the clincher.

 

Bobby hunting Frogs

In the meantime, Bobby has moved into top dog position. I think he's liking it. He got some new chew toys yesterday that he hadn't been allowed to have because we couldn't give them to Java. Plus last night he slept on the bed all night for the first time. He was such a good boy. He stayed curled up in the same place all night.

The Last Battle

If it should be that I grow frail and weak
And pain should keep me from my sleep,
Then will you do what must be done,
For this -- the last battle -- can't be won.
You will be sad I understand,
But don't let grief then stay your hand,
For on this day, more than the rest,
Your love and friendship must stand the test.
We have had so many happy years,
What is to come can hold no fears.
You wouldn't want me to suffer so.
When the time comes, please, let me go.
Take me to where to my needs they'll tend,
Only, stay with me till the end
And hold me firm and speak to me
Until my eyes no longer see.
I know in time you will agree
It is a kindness you do to me.
Although my tail its last has waved,
From pain and suffering I have been saved.
Don't grieve that it must be you
Who has to decide this thing to do;
We've been so close -- we two -- these years,
Don't let your heart hold any tears.

-- Unknown

 

It's hard the first few days after suffering a loss, not only because your loved one is gone; but your routine is all kerfuzzled. Java was very high-maintenance, requiring pills before and during meals. So now when we feed Bobby it's like "zip zap zing" it's done. Now we can just let Bobby outside to do his business, whereas we used to have to go outside with Java to express her bladder. In a way it's very freeing, but in another way, I miss it.

I have done a lot to repurpose Java's things. I sent her dresses, t-shirts and jackets to a friend who recently adopted a girl dog for the first time. She will have fun dressing her new girl. I brought her medicines, blankets and pee pads to the vet's where they'll be used for patients and for their owners who can't afford the medicines. I brought her old collars, leashes and harnesses to a collection for the animal rescue league. I kept her most recent collar as a memento. Her crate and other large items we are keeping as we know we'll be reusing them in the future.

The pond in early spring

Our pond was very successful this summer. We had lots of birds visit the waterfall, including a pair of scarlet tanagers. The fish had babies and so did the frogs.

This fall we have been battling a great blue heron who comes to the pond and wants to eat my pets. I know that when you let a pet outside it becomes part of the food chain, but there are plenty of other fish for the heron to eat. We did lose one fish to him, and it scared the other fish so much that they didn't reappear for a week. They hunkered down in their caves for protection.

We installed a ScareCrow, which is a motion-sensitive sprinkler that is supposed to startle the heron if he comes too close. The time he ate my fish it didn't go off, so we installed a net and we have only seen the heron once since then. I think it may have foiled him and maybe he moved on.

 

A frog relaxing on the net over the pond.

On Monday, we made the agonizing decision to let our Java go. I'm very very sad, but I have to keep thinking that when one door closes, another opens.