Crusty Tattered And Torn

Simple, Soulful, Soothing

And Then We Went Back Sunday Night

Mother's instinct;

cannot explain it, but we

know what we know,

and I am not his mother but

 I knew Howie was just not right.

Although he was walking around 

and waggin' his tail and poopin' and peeing and 

eating and drinking,

this pooch had something wrong.

Sunday night around 9:30

he refused to get out of his bed,

and I was so afraid that if I went up to bed,

in the morning

he might not be with me any longer.

Sooooo

off again driving cross town to the emergency vet.

I opened the door saying

"we're back" to Angela at the desk.

This time he POOPED on  

the door stoop, not even making it into the 

room. A very crowded room of people

found this to be hilarious and of course

Howie was acting like all was well.

After hearing his story, Angela and

several other pet owners weighed in that he was 

just depressed and quite a few believed he 

was having "visions" of a returned ghost Justice....

I hesitated about a second and

even though there were two critical cases

ahead of me, we waited the 3 hours,

(now almost 1:00 am)

AND

the vet found that Howie had hurt his neck

and the behavior was due to pain that came and went.

When he got excited, car trips, vet trips etc

 his adrenalin activated and he pushed through the pain.

I recalled that he refused to use the doggie door

since Friday and the vet and I had an ahah! moment 

of he did not want to lower his neck!

Closer examination and BINGO

Lots and lots of $Benjamins$ later we came home

 and within a couple hours of meds he jumped on the couch

for the first time in three days,

and went into a deep dopey sleep.

I started weeping I was so relieved.

They advised I keep him off the stairs,

 and keep an eye on him,

since he would be "high"

so I slept (barely) on the couch.

This morning he is following me everywhere,

and very active in between pills.

I'm exhausted 

or the word of the weekend 

"pooped"

and now I have a stiff neck from couch.

Ghost Justice watches over him

and we'll both be sleeping the day away.

I am so grateful.

Saturday 2:00 A.M. Scare

Upon my return from the market 

early Friday afternoon Howie 

greeted me in his usual way jumping 

and twirling and begging for treats.

I had found some new organic Bakery brand 

treats and gave him two.

(sweet potato and carrots healthy crap ya know)

He and I then took naps and later in the 

day I noticed he was walking and acting funny.

It turned very hot here in lala land

and I thought he was panting and 

being lethargic because of the heat.

He slept for hours and then around 10pm

 he seemed to rally a bit and jumped 

on the couch with me. 

Hours later as he jumped down he whimpered 

and then he really began to act

completely out of character.

By 1:30 a.m. I knew I could not wait and loaded

him into the car for a run to the all night

emergency vet. 

I was weeping the whole way over thinking

I cannot do this again, not so soon after losing Justice.

how will I ever tell Hannah?

how will I ever afford more vet bills?

As we got out of the car he perked up a little

and was wagging his tail again.

The gal at the reception desk unlocked the door,

as they had been waiting for me, and Howie

charged into the room

WHERE HE PROCEEDED TO 

POOP

A GIGANTIC PILE OF POOP.

A PILE THE LIKES OF WHICH I HAVE
ONLY SEEN HORSES AND ELEPHANTS

DEPOSIT.

The gal looked at me, and then at the 

pile and said

"NOW THAT'S A HEALTHY POOP!"

As soon as he was finished 

he jumped all over the girls 

and explored the entire facility.

I meekly inquired...

"so he was just constipated?"

Howie and fiber have issues?

Bless those girls they did not charge me, 

and be grateful

I'm not sharing a photo.

I'm too old for this shit...

or Howie shit..

sigh

The One Where She Falls Out Of A Tree

The One Where She Falls Out Of A Tree

Yep

that would be me

Suffice to say I was an idiot,

 and did something really stupid

and got banged up,
bruised and battered.
Couldn't even admit my stupidity to 
DD and when I finally did,
boy was she mad at mama, 
and then she tattled to big brother.
(and when Annie reads this I'm gonna catch hell)

I'm OK now,

for the most part.

SO what the heck have I been doing

and where have I been?

Reading
I check out about 20-25 books a week.
(I watch very little tv 
and I am a fast reader)
Currently re-reading 
A PRAYER FOR OWEN MEANY
an old favorite.

Purging
 (can you believe it - still?)

Girl pals are having a sale here today, so

I've been doing preview sales
 to closest buds, and

treasures are flying out the door.

Spring Cleaning

Since I'm selling off pieces that means 

rearranging and discovering where all the 

dust bunnies have been hiding.

Sewing

Pillows for a friend and

pillows for me to change things up a bit.

Dug out an unfinished quilt that I was dying to make

and decided I should finish it before I actually do.

I have lots of stuff I've been thinking about,
and percolating upon, and I will
probably share a few rants and 
musings soon.

Thank you for all the kind comments 
and emails about our sweet Justice.

Howie is never more than 6 feet away from me
these days. He was always a sweetheart,
but this new mellow, clinging-hugging pooch has 
pulled my heartstrings into
a knot that will never untie.
He likes to be close
REALLY close

I'll be back soon

Z

There Are Tough Days

Justice and Liberty

We loved them well

and we received unconditional love in return.

Libbey has been gone 10 years,

but she is still so very much in our hearts.

Justice left us today.

10 years from now I will still miss her.

Howie will search for her.

I will remove one bed,

and one bowl from our home,

but Justice will never leave our memories.

Canada Geese Gift

Driving home today and here were maybe 75 Canada Geese

grazing on the lawn in front of my kids grade school!

And yes, they are Canada Geese, not as most people say

Canadian Geese. 

That drove my dad crazy.

Anyhoot almost wrecked the car as I 

swerved into school driveway.

This is NOT a normal site 

here in lala land, so cars everywhere were 

pulling over and out came the iphones.

 A geese gift

Brunch party last Sunday was a blast,

and the best ladies I know were happy and fed

and so kind to me.

Another year with oldgreymare.

Merry and Bright

These two make an entrance each year

Advent I made many years ago

Vintage copper lamp from my folks

Real cotton bolls used as snow

I had scraps left over from my

 leaf garland last month so I made a paper chain.

A little here, a little there

ho ho ho ho ho?

Dearest son gave me these canisters for B-day.

no flour but flowers 

Star theme is repeated on porch,

and burlap shows up everywhere all year long.

Stars on porch

There are lights in the garland.

Painted burlap banners I create and sell.

These stars and hearts are also on the tree in this room, and the adjacent porch.

ho x 5

Helen Philpot Thanksgiving letter to the family

I could not say it any better or 

disagree with one word.

(Though I do still have my own gallbladder)

I especially love # 2 #5 #7 #9

2015 Thanksgiving Letter to the Family by Helen Philpot Dear Family, This will be my first Thanksgiving without my gallbladder.  And I just learned that we have one more special needs eater in the family. I'll tell you what, this year I will meet you all halfway.  I'll make the same meal I make every year and those of you with vegitarian, vegan and gluten issues can stop eating halfway through the meal.  Problem solved. The other rules around the house will be a little lax this year as well.  What can I say? I'm feeling generous. 1. I have new floors. If it's raining outside, leave your shoes outside.  If it's not raining, leave your shoes outside. Molly, those spikes you call heels better not come near my floors.  Leave them at home because if you leave them outside the kids might use them for lawn darts. 2. If you have children, then you are called a parent which means you should be parenting.  Just because you don't care what your house looks like, doesn't mean I don't care about mine.  Keep an eye on your kids so I don't have to keep an eye on my things. 3. Despite modern advances in the food industry, turkeys are only so big.  We are a large family and because of modern advances in the food industry our asses are big as well. So this leaves us with the need to achieve a delicate balance between how much we CAN eat vs. how much we WILL eat to make sure there is enough for everyone.  Please monitor your children (see rule 2) and make sure they take only what they will eat.  And if you don't get enough, don't worry.  There's always pie. 4. I absolutely cook with bacon and bacon grease.  I use lots of butter, cream salt and even a little sugar.  Thanks to the advances in modern medicine, you can bring your medical prescriptions with you  and leave your dietary restrictions at home.  5. Upon arriving at my house look for the basket on the entry table. Deposit all cell phones in that basket.  Upon departure, you can take the damn thing with you, but in the meantime maybe you can try having an actual relationship with your loved ones.   6. You needn't bring anything, but if you insist on bringing a dish, then go ahead and bring it.  If it's good, we'll make room on the buffet.  If it's jello salad, we'll make room in the trash. 7. Speaking of trash, mine gets picked up on Wednesdays by a truck .  Your children's gets picked by you today. (see rule 2) 8.  Unlike the Trump's table, everyone is welcome at mine.  Just let me know in advance if you are bringing guests so I can make sure we have enough food to go around.  9. The best photographs are the ones I am not in.  Point your camera in a different direction.  If you want photos of me, I have plenty to share that were taken in the 1950's.  Back then the camera was kinder to me. 10. If you want to talk politics come sit next to me.  There's a good chance I'll either convince you to change your politics or change your desire to talk about politics.  And if neither happens, I can always turn off my hearing aids. Happy Thanksgiving everyone.  I am thankful to still be here.  I mean it really.

Oldgreymare more ho-ho-ho

Top of pie cupboard 

in DR

Brown tree in LR

Stocking gift from Bloggie friend Rebecca, I love it.

Next to MY chair

MY chair space in den

Next to my chair on other side

Stocking garland I made a few years back.

Had all these bakelite/celluloid buckles....

Angel gift from bloggie friend Carole.

Darling daughter has promised for three years to

write titles on books

because my handwriting is so awful.. 

still waiting...

Added frosty brown ferns and twigs to fall display so

I would not have to remove just yet.

Memory bowl turned festive

on coffee table in family room.

Mulled cider candles.

Loose ornaments are balls

pulled off of PB 2014 sprays bought 70% off.

Cut down sprays are also in florals

 and tucked into  tree.

I never seem to leave sprays as is.

I only see them as "parts". 

ho-ho-ho

Oldgreymare Christmas

Christmas is creeping into old grey mare

Lots of greens and browns

Touches of red in Family Room

as I pulled out my House of Hatten 12 Days 

of Christmas collection this year.

Made lots of florals for bedrooms and kitchen area

This large dining table bowl changes with the seasons.

Frosty right now

Took ornaments over to Piper Zane

 today including some of these.

Taking it slow and easy

Lots of pine cones and greenery

Happy Thanksgiving everyone