Our World Has Changed Forever.

It has taken me ages to write this,so I apologise for the delay.

My Daddy, my darling Daddy.......Gone..

He had the sniffles along with half our village but could not shake it.

Then on a Friday he and mommy left to go to the hospital and mommy came back later to take us for a walk and feed us. She said Daddy was not well so would have to stay in hospital for a few days.
She and Daddy chatted on the phone that evening with us all curled up around her listening.

Then something strange happened. Mommy got a phone call early in the morning and screamed out a loud NO!!NO!! Before rushing out of the house.

We did not see Mom for 6 days but Daddy's friends Matt and Mike came in each day to walk us,feed us and watch some tv with us. Matt told us Daddy needed Mommy so we needed to be patient. She would be back.

Mommy did come home but my darling Daddy didn't. She told us that Daddy had crossed the rainbow bridge and was with Bear Dog now.

When humans are sad they leak from their eyes. Mom leaked a lot all over my fur as she hugged me tight in the following days and weeks. 
I don't know what the words pneumonia,sepsis and septic shock mean but as we lost Daddy they can't be good.

Life changed just like that: 1minute daddy and mommy were planning their forthcoming wedding in May, the next Mommy was having to arrange Daddy's cremation.
Then came the realization that because they had not yet got married her visa meant she would have to go home to U.K..

And with that our little family imploded yet again. 

Mommy knew Harley needed space to run so he was sent to a rescue group. Spook and Simba went to live with uncle Johnny the cat man.

Tuck....deep breath.... our local animal shelter.. said they could arrange foster care for him while mom got things sorted..... Tuck had a lump appear on his face so A.C. took him to be checked out with understanding if it was bad news then Mom wanted him back with her. It broke her heart saying goodbye even though a temporary one. 
Tuck never came back. A phone call to check how he was and where he and Harley were left her collapsed in a heap sobbing. Tuck had been helped to cross the rainbow bridge and now was with Daddy.

Now I could have written a short blog just stating that sadly we had lost Daddy but after a lot of thought and soggy fur (mine) we decided that if we show the devastating aftermath of ignoring the need to see a doctor earlier than Dad did, and it saves other fur families then we have to do it.

So Daddies everywhere...(mommies too) :

Please please get medical help as soon as you realise you are not shaking off whatever bug you have got. You may think you are being brave but...
IT IS BRAVER TO ACTUALLY ADMIT YOU NEED HELP AND GET IT than insist....'dont moan..I will be ok '

I could get political about too many Americans being too scared of medical bills to go to doctor when needed. In U.K. if you are ill you go to your doctor. Yes if employed you make a contribution through your wages(nominal amount) but more importantly if you are unemployed,retired etc you still go to doctor . It's called the National Health Service. Not to be confused with Obama care .
Being newly made redundant Daddy was reluctant to go to his doctor.

He and his family (human and furry) paid the highest price.

R.I.P my darling Daddy....we love and miss you so much it hurts.

I promise I will look as after Mommy.

Hugs and Waggles
Ellie xx 


My next blog will appear shortly.

Heartbreaking news R.I.P Sweet Tulip

Have waited a while to write this as my Auntie Melissa and uncle Scott are heartbroken.

My beautiful fur-cousin Tulip sadly crossed the rainbow bridge.

Tulip did not have the best start in life and with her on going health problems sadly became unwanted and discarded as dogs often do.

She felt that her life did not matter any more....

Well she did matter....she was lucky enough to be welcomed into Scott and Melissa's home. They saw past her medical issues(like you do with family) and just saw beautiful Tulip

From that moment on Tulip knew only love and kindness and became the centre of their family unit. She even didn't mind cats !

She went to work with Melissa, joined in training sessions and enjoyed alfresco lunches with her mom and dad.

Every one who met her adored her. Not least a later addition to the family in the form of her adopted sister Willow.

Finally a lifetime of medical issues paid their toll on her body and she had to leave us.

All dogs want to know they matter,particularly shelter and stray dogs who often live without hope.

Look up to the night sky....... that bright star is my cousin Tulip shining brightly as a Beacon of Hope for dogs who have lost theirs...

Goodnight and God Bless beautiful Tulip

You are loved and missed.

YOU MATTERED

Love and waggle

Ellie. Xxx

Water Police

Hi all,

Spook has assumed the role of 'Water Police' in our house, it seems.

The coolest room in our house is the utility room off of the tv room so we have a big bowl of water plus a bucket of water in there. Spook has decided to lay across the doorway and allow one of us in at a time to drink and sticks his head in the bucket to check the water level after each one. If he thinks we are having more than our fair share he smacks our bottoms!

The other day he went too far though as he refused to let the kitten pass to have a drink!!!

I watched carefully with mom who told Spook off for being bossy and to let Simba have a drink and decided to help him by standing guard between him and Spook as he slipped by to the water. Spook was furious and tried to smack the kitten,missed and smacked my nose instead!!

I gave him one of my sternest looks and standing behind spook barged him out of the bathroom by kicking him up the bottom, every time he tried to stop I gave him another kick to keep him moving until finally he gave up and jumped in his bed glaring at me.

Smack me would you! I don't think so !!!

After checking the kitten was ok I went and sat next to mommy who was trying not to laugh....

"Ellie, I think you enjoyed kicking that cat a bit too much!" She tried to scold me but was finding it hard to keep a straight face....

Seriously???? How could I ever enjoy kicking THAT cat TOO much !!!

Love and waggle,

Ellie xxxx

You must hear Spook's story

Oh my goodness, I completely forgot to share spooks story with you so will put that right now.

Spook is a beautiful grey cat with a white ring round his tail and is about sixteen years old. He is very aloof and hates being picked up or cuddled and used to remain in the background all the time.

Now don't get me wrong, when I was adopted I was not fond of cats so Spooks aloofness suited me fine.  Whenever mom was not looking I used to give him a sly kick which would make him hiss which then earned him a telling off as my kick had not been noticed. Later I got a bit blase about it and got caught so now the parents watch me more carefully!!

Anyway, Spook used to belong to a previous girlfriend of Dad's and was so huge he could not even manage to jump on a chair!! If he miaowed he was given food non stop. Even then he was not friendly.

His owner and Daddy parted company and she decided to go back to south America to be closer to family and left Spook behind. Daddy found out and quickly drove to her old house with a friend to rescue Spook.

When Tucker joined our family, Spook surprised everyone by strolling out of the bedroom and walking up to Tucker introduced himself nose to nose . Tuck loves Spook and checks on him before bed each night..he won't settle until he knows where spook is.

Mom has been working on him and he has slimmed down and can now jump on counters and clear the stable doors into kitchen and hallway. He has taken it upon himself to teach the kitten to jump them too,however try as he might simba still crashes in to the top so can spook has decided to spend each night teaching him  while we try to sleep...crash...crash...crash grrr
Each morning spook jumps on the bed, looks back at the kitten then at Dad...."the boy is an idiot dad" then settles down for a day of snoozing!

Mom caught him the other day shyly playing with one of the kittens toys with a look of wonderment on his face. There is hope for him yet !!

Love and waggles

Ellie xx x

Could I be any cuter?

Happy Halloween!
Look at how cute I am with my feline sibling and my adorable momma. Stay safe out there.
xo,
Ellie

Show and Tell..Ellie style!

Greetings All,

The boys have been showing Mom how clever they are at fetching tennis balls that have been thrown in the yard. 

Mom tried to include me but I decline to chase a tennis ball and instead just sit and watch for a while then go back to the patio and lay down watching the world go by instead which is much more interesting in my book!

Dad took us outside one morning and the boys again vied with each other to show off their newly acquired skills while I disdainfully looked on.

I looked up at Dad when he sat down for a rest " What's sooooo interesting in a tennis ball Dad?"  my expression asked him as I gazed curiously up at him.

" Ellie, It's like a Show and Tell .... they just want to show me something they are interested in"

My ears pricked up at that.... Show and Tell? Now why did you not say that!  Makes a whole lot more sense now.

At that moment our local family of ducks waddled past quacking loudly which I love to watch.

Then I had a light bulb moment go off in my head! And trotted off.

Afterwards Dad said he nearly had a heart attack when he looked up and saw me trotting down the drive towards him with my tail swishing happily and a silly grin on my face, carefully carrying an equally surprised fluffy duckling who was gazing at Dad emitting a little quack now and again before leaning back to stare in my face !!

Now THIS is Show and Tell !!

"Ellie !!!" He called out as he scrambled to his feet " Put that duckling back!!"

Oh-Oh...... I carefully lowered the duckling onto his feet and gave him a regretful nudge with my nose and watched him give himself a little shake before waddling off as fast as his little legs could carry him quacking loudly.  Momma Duck was waiting patiently at the end of the drive with the rest of her brood completely unfazed as she knew I had no intention of hurting her borrowed baby!

I have not often seen Dad lost for words but this was one time he was !!

I glanced at the boys as I trotted past on my way back to the porch.... Tennis Balls pah

I am way out of your league LOL !!

Now folks..no ducklings were injured in the making of this blog... I am part lab so have an incredibly soft mouth...DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME KIDS !!

Love and huggles

Ellie xxx

Oh No! Not Another Kitty!

They have done it again!!  Seriously my parents are not safe let out on their own......I can handle Tuck and Harley being rescued, but a kitten? Seriously??

It started with Dad going with Mom to check on the truck he was buying from his friends  garage. I was left at home babysitting the boys ( SIGH)
As they walked towards the new truck a little ginger kitten walked up to them as bold as brass miaowing loudly and insistently. He had a couple of his sisters in tow who were timid and held back. Mom said hello to him and then ignored him as she and dad walked around the truck. This kitten did not give up and followed them everywhere staring intently into their eyes as he talked to them. The garage owner explained that he was one of the feral cats that lived under an adjacent building and that they were considered a nuisance and often ended up being poisoned. He had tried to catch kittens and re-home them with limited success. Dad took one look at Mom and stated "NO!" firmly. If I had been there I would have backed Dad up whole heartedly. Mom however just nodded her acceptance and bent down to say goodbye to the little guy, who was still following her everywhere and talking loudly to her, and wished him good luck. Then she climbed in the car with Dad and they drove away. 5 minutes later Dad got a phone call from the garage owner. He had said to Gus that if he caught the ginger kitten to give him a call ( without Mom hearing) Apparently they put the cat trap down and the kitten had launched himself into it!

And so my life was turned upside down by their return home carrying a cage with a hissing, spitting, ginger lion cub. The hair on his tail stood out so much he resembled a toilet brush! Though thinking about it now it could have been the result of having 3 interested dogs sniffing the cage!!

Mom and Dad prepared themselves for the long road for this little guy to become tame....It took all of 20 minutes!

Dad wrapped him in a towel and took him out of the cage and held him against his chest so he could feel his heart beat...5 minutes later he was lying there contentedly purring madly.

We all gave him a sniff then lost interest and went back to our own comfy beds.

The kitten was bedded down in a cardboard box and fell fast asleep.

I was blissfully dreaming in my bed when something woke me up....bleary eyed I looked around and nearly had a heart attack! I had given birth to a puppy!!  Hang on..that is not a puppy...that's...that's......OMG !! The cheek of it... the kitten had decided to share my bed with me!  Oh no,no,no.. not on your life young man! Mom came out of the bathroom to find me standing by her chair looking at her and then back at my bed in which an certain ginger young man had by now wriggled into the middle on my bed and lay on his back sleeping. " Mother... MOTHER!.. remove IT now please!!" I spluttered indignantly.
Mom lifted him out and I quickly got back into bed and made sure there were no gaps for him to sneak into!
Kitten was put back to bed... but 5 minutes later Mom found him lying back to back with Tuck in Tucks bed which given the size of Tuck was not the safest place to be. However before Mom could remove him Tuck woke up and realized he had a bed guest and obligingly got up, turned around and re-settled himself so that the kitten could sleep safely between his feet.

The following day The kitten discovered Harley was long coated and thus wonderful to snuggle into. Poor Harley would fall  asleep and wake up with this feral kitten between his front legs or cuddled  into his belly but from that moment on their  bond was sealed. They play together, they sleep together, they check that each is okay and give each other little kisses when they greet each other. If Harley is crated as part of his training then the kitten will be found either lying on top of the crate or by its door keeping him company. When Harley was shut into a bedroom while workmen were in the house the kitten was found lying with his leg under the door gap resting his paw on Harleys as if giving him comfort.
Who  would have thought two feral animals would have bonded like this...the world is a magical place at times.

I love their bonding with each other as it takes the heat off Tuck and I who watch their antics with amusement from the safety of our beds.

The kitten has been named Simba but only answers to Sim-Sim, so not only has he chosen his new Mom and Dad but also his own name lol

Despite Dad authorising his rescue Sim-Sim has adopted Mom as his human and will only sit on 'her' lap. Often Harley sits on the both of them to be included and its quite amusing to see him lying on Moms lap with a gold tail sticking out from beneath him followed by a reversing kitten who is  trying to wriggle out from underneath.!

The week after Sim-Sim came to live with us Dad and Mom drove a friend back to the garage to pick up his car and looked to see how  the other kittens were doing. Gus shocked them when he told them that the very night they brought SIm-Sim home , someone laid poison down and he found all the kitten dead the next day. It was almost as if young Simba at 6 weeks of age knew he was begging for his life that day.

Tuck and I are now glad that at least 2 feral souls are now in a safe place.

Love and Huggles

Ellie xxx