Saturday, February 16, 2008

My Husband and Pumpkin

SIL came over this morning, and helped me publish this picture. Yea.
I'm not really sure how he did it, but think with practice could do it again.
Youngest GS is turning 7 today. DH and I are taking him to the Build-A-Bear workshop and Chic-Fil-A for his gift.
It's sunny and warm this morning.
Sara in Florida

Friday, February 15, 2008

Dog food

About 3 years ago, our daughter did a lot of research on-line on dog foods. She found one that sounded good, and put her dogs on it. It's Innova Evo, and is made with meat and vegetables, no grains at all. There's a red meat one and a chicken one, and we feed it to our dogs, too. Much less doggie doodoo in the yard, and they're thriving on it. She thinks it's because dogs and cats (there's also an Innova Evo cat food that our Arwen is on) are not designed or engineered to eat grains. The closest place to us that sells the foods is in Corpus Christi, so when we go, we get the large bags of each kind and alternate feeding it. Our dogs are very happy with it, too, and eat it up eagerly. Jane, we feed ours twice a day, too.

Pat in Rockport, TX

Thursday, February 14, 2008

QUILT SHOW

My guild's show (Smoky Mountain Quilters Guild) of Franklin, NC is having its bi-annual show in August this year rather than October. I haven't been participating in the planning so have little or no additional information. I'll pass it on when I get it. They couldn't get anyone to chair the project for October. We have now switched to a co-chair arrangement and since only one volunteer is able to do it in the fall the new date was chosen. The job is a huge one and getting two to carry the burden is a great idea. Both of them have been members only about three or four years. One of them is a grandpa who started making quilts for his grand children about the time he joined. The other one has been around for a similarly short time and she works for Head Start. Great to see the enthusiasm of the newbies. After last time I decided that my committee chairmanship days were over so I'll be a worker bee this time. Sara participated last time and Jill from Portland was a ribbon winner. We love to have entries from as far afield as possible. Get busy ladies. We'd love to have visitors too. I can put up four folks. That is, if two of them don't mind an inflatable mattress on the floor of the the sewing room.

I'll post the guild web site URL after this. You can keep up with that and down load entry forms etc.

Jane in NC

SARA

I concure with Kathi. While my pooches turned their noses up at Science Diet they loved Pro Plan. That's the top of the line Purina feed. I read long ago in Gun Dog Magazine that one should avoid any dog food that does not list meat as the first listed ingredient. Also avoid corn. The reason for the latter is that while the corn contains as much protein as other grains most of it is not absorbed and adds significantly to the volume of doo-doo in the yard. I found that by using any of the lamb and rice or other meat and rice or barley produces less in the way of feces to clean up. The stools are also firmer making it easier to clean up.
As for canned food my vet and I suspect all others as well as professional kennel people avoid it. If it gets to be too well established as a habit it may be hard to break the pattern. The hard dry stuff is much better for the teeth and GI tract. I feed twice a day and find that Shadow doesn't get nearly as frantic with hunger as the dogs we had previously. She weighs at about 32-34 lbs. and is in great health. She used to get a rounded cup of feed twice a day plus a toy dog sized milk bone which Al started calling it desert. As she aged I cut back on the quantity and switched to senior food. She gets 3/4 cup twice a day now at age 11.5 years. I do admit she gets treats but if she starts putting on the pounds I cut back. The treats are always dry doggie treats and I've recently found one that is "lite". My vet also says that most dogs who lose teeth in their old age have had what she calls a "crappy" diet implying canned mushy stuff and table scraps.

Pro Plan is sometimes hard to find and when I can't get to the pet store in Asheville I use Purina One. Just read the ingredients list and cut out the mush. As Kathi says, cut out the treats and she'll get hungry enough to eat whatever you offer her. I used to get annoyed with a neighbor who gave treats to my toddler which always resulted in not eating a meal. Several years after we moved away I went back for a visit and her then kindergartener who had been Lisa's pal was so obese she couldn't hang her arms straight down from her shoulders. She burst into the house while I was there when she came home from school and demanded a fried egg sandwich. Dad promptly jumpted up and made one. And her mother was a nurse! Down right tragic.
Of course, make sure your pooch gets lots of exercise just as you do.

Hope Carl's thyroid situation resolves without too much fuss.
Jane

Kira update

Just got back from the vet. I'm happy to say the vet was very pleased with Kira's progress. She (Kira) even showed off by putting that foot down just a bit (toe touching) on the floor. Her staples were taken out today, and now we go back in five weeks for a final (I think) check.

I was really happy, also, to see that Kira lost a little more weight. The diet is working! Before surgery, she was 87 pounds. By the time we made the appointment we had gotten her down to 82 pounds. Today she was 79.6 pounds! Yeah! That ought to help out with her leg. Now how come I can't lose weight that easily?! I guess I need someone to hide my food and just put out the diet stuff...

On the quilting front, my sewing has come to a halt, as we are putting ceramic tile in the hallway and closets outside of my sewing room and that means that stuff from the closets is now blocking my sewing room. Ah, well--temporary inconvenience for a permanent improvement. Meanwhile I'm handquilting DH's birthday quilt, so that's good.

Sunshine today after yesterday's storm that brought a foot of snow and ice. Nice to see the sun!

Jean in VT

DH,dogs, this and that

Big sigh of relief here. I went with DH to the specialist Dr. yesterday afternoon. It looks like the large lump is inside the Thyroid gland. He will have to have blood tests to determine thyroid function and a biopsy between now in the end of Feb. The nurse didn't believe the lump was 4.4 CM, as she said the thyroid was about 5CM. When the Dr. read the reports Faxed over from the family Dr. sure enough that is what the report said.
I still can't find the digital camera. I believe it is either burried on DH's workbench in the garage, or still somewhere in DD's back yard.
The tree house is coming along nicely. (that is what we were taking pictures of in the yard). Only the railings to go. The boys are already using it, playing Tarzan.
I know lots of No. America is having record cold and snow. Burr. . . we had lots of rain on Tues. evening and yesterday until about 6PM. The sun is out today, but windy and about 36. That is warm to Rosey and others, but cold to me.
Today I go to Dermo. Dr. and then for a bone scan. I feel about 90 something going to all these doctors, but at least can get them over with for the rest of the year.
Having a hard time getting puppy Pumpkin to eat her dog food. Any suggestions? Maybe we are giving her too many treats between meals?
Dry Iams dog food mixed with canned food. Maybe the canned food isn't any good?
OK, off for 30 min. to work on the "Shake your booty purse" made from kid's jeans. Fun!
Sara in sunny, but cool Florida

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

This and that

Rosey, thanks for passing my posts along to Celia. She e-mailed me, and her Riley sent Kira a very cute doggie get-well e-card! We quilters love our pets as well as our fabric.

Kira seems to be doing quite well. She moves right along at a good clip now on three legs. I don't think the leg she had the surgery on is as stiff and sore anymore either, from the looks of her. She gets the staples out tomorrow. Yuck. I hope everything will look good to the vet, as I know she's not getting the 45 minutes of PT each day on that leg that the paper from the vet said she should. Do you know how long 15 minutes seems when you're just sitting there moving a dog's leg back and forth? ? Kira is not amused; us either. We'll have to make more of an effort to spend longer on it. She sure seems to have good range of motion though.

We are getting quite a storm today. It seems as if every school in the state is closed today. Right now it's snowing, but I guess we're supposed to get a mix of sleet and freezing rain in there too. The schools just said forget it. This may be a good day for me to work on the handquilting on DH's birthday quilt (from last year!!)

Good wishes to you all,
Jean in VT

Sunday, February 10, 2008

Sunday/Storms again

For Jean in Vermont, from Celia in NB: "please just mention that I am hoping all goes well for Kira and Jean in VT. Thanks again, Celia"

It's stormy here again and there are road closures due to blowing snow. I went into town to see a movie, found the highways closed going north and decided that I would feel uneasy in the movie theatre if the blowing snow got worse, which it has and I couldn't get back from town. The police had barracades up on the hwy. going north and there was no way I can sneak up into the backroads without going on the hwys east or north before hitting a backroad. Seemed sensible to turn around and come back home. Which it was and is. The wind is whipping the snow up around the fields outside and it's very cold. Another storm predicted for Tues. as well. I'm speaking to a group of women further north that day so hope the weather is drivable. It's been quite a winter for storms in Southern Ontario but not unpleasant if you can stay in by the fireside.

Glad Jane is back online. Will you light up the metal detector going through airports now, Jane?

Rosey