Took the puppies to Edmonds off leash park during the wind storm.



Today is their birthday... hard to believe they are already 3 years old!

Just a cute shot of Natasha and Louis.

Got a winter blast. Gator really likes her new ramp/ deck. made a path with plywood over to the ramp temp.


We decided to get studded tires for the Prius this year. We got a set of wheels to mount them on. Here is a shot of the stock wheels.


Here is a shot of the new wheels with the new studded tires. The tire store will change them back and forth each spring/ fall for free.


One advantage we have found with the studded tires is that pedestrians actually hear us coming and don't step out in front of us now. They really do help on the slick stuff.

Still snowing...

We took Gator and Bailey to the off leash park in Edmonds WA today.
Someone put in an agility course. Gator and Bailey had great fun running over the wood obstacle.



Of course there were the moments where Gator thought it was fun to play king of the mountain!

Samantha August 1997 to January 2012



We walked side by side
spirit with spirit
exploring our world
from the tiniest blade of grass
To awe inspiring sunsets.



We romped through the snow.
Caught snowballs
and ran glorious circle 8’s .



We ate a million blackberries and blueberries together.



I remember those hugs I gave you and you would look at me with those deep brown eyes and I knew you understood everything.

I see your sprit running right now in a large grassy field, enjoying the sun.



I miss you so much, but I also feel so fortunate you were such a big part of our lives.

Had a bit of exciement. Ginger was chewing on a bone we had given the dogs for christmas, and all of a sudden we realized she was stressing. She somehow managed to get the bone stuck on her lower jaw:



At first we could not just slip it back off since it was over her lower fangs, but with both of us holding her we were able to twist back and forth, and pull it back off... What a talented dog!

I don't know what the plan would have been had it not come off. eek

We got aproximately 8in of snow in the past 24 hours, still snowing.
Here is a video of the snow falling.

The pets all seemed to be having fun...

except Bailey, she was scared of the branches in the woods falling under the weight of the snow...



Since Bailey was scared, Gator took over the fetching duties... hard work!



Seems the cats are staying especially close to the house... This is Natasha:


Ginger was getting high centered, but was insistant on plowing thru a bit of snow:


Sammie was in her bliss:

We recently took Gator and Bailey to Money Creek Campground up US Hwy 2.

The campground was closed, as it always is in the off season.
The pups had a blast running thru all the puddles, and Gator found a snowball that she played with until it crumbled. It was fun watching them romp!

Just an update on the old gals.



They are both doing much better since we started giving them lactated ringers. We use an 18 gage needle and just put it under the skin in her back. We call it being tanked.

They are both on Hills Rx KD formula dog food. Both wet and dry.

Also, they each have a harness that has a handle on their back to assist when necessary. The harness was created originally to assist rescue dogs over rough terrain. They work good, there are 2 straps one across the chest and the other across the belly. Plus a strap across the front under the colar. The straps are all padded. I can actually pick Ginger up by hers.

Samantha has a cancer that she is bleeding internally. Probably a tumor that started on her spleen. We did not want to put her thru surgery or anything, figured at her age it would be too much. She was falling down alot with her front legs, but since we got a handle on the fluids and food she is walking good again.

Suzi takes her on walks around the property.

It it funny to watch Suzi and Sam take their walks, Both Louis and Natasha cats follow along. Evidently Natasha talks the whole way, and shows off her climbing skills. Sam seems quite pleased with these walks.

I was going to take Samantha for a walk, but evidently I don't rate. She chose to stay near the house and watch the cats and I take the walk down the driveway and back.



Ginger is also doing better now that we have the fluids regulated. She has a different type of cancer. It is a type of Luekemia. We also discovered she had ecoli and I think the meds for that helped clear up some of the other infections she had going on.
Someone needs to explain to her that she is frail! When you go outside she lunges down the stairs, and crashes. She lunged one time and I hurt my rotor cuff by grabbing her harness. I think I got hurt because she is so low to the ground that my elbow was straight causing my shoulder to take the brunt of the pull. Due to this and the fact that I am now running the geriatric pet unit the deck is on super duper slow/ hold.

One time Ginger got hurt and could hardly walk, but still wanted to walk in circles while I got her food out. I started attaching her to the coffee table at dinner time to give her a chance to heal. This is working, she is barely limping today. She does get tired quick. But seems to enjoy food and dog bones still.



She has been fighting chronic dairrhea so I trimmed her rear to help with cleaning up easier. I got a bit carried away, and oopsed. Now she looks like a lioness. FYI I do not recommend doggie diapers on a dog with dairrhea, it is more messy than just cleaning the floor...


She also is getting what she considers a special treat: Peppermint flavored Kaopectate mmmmmm nummy!

I got a weather station for christmas. I have it hooked to my computer and have figured out how to post it on the blog. It will be on the right side of this blog. If you click on the weather area it will open a new window showing more details from the station in our yard. Having fun...

Just a slide show of Joe and Carisha's kids (pets) this past year.



note it is a video, so if you got this via email go to
http://gingerthebrave.blogspot.com/

Louis cat brought another live bird into the house. The little bird found a hiding place on a shelf under our wii board. The video is the bird being released.



For those on email alerts, go to the blog to see the video
www.gingerthebrave.blogspot.com

Saw this fisher king at Marymoore.
Suprisingly, I don't know that I have ever seen one there before.

We are running quiet the geriatric dog unit now.


Samantha is sick now also. Her labs say she is anemic, bad liver, bad kidneys, and bad pancreas... she was staggering and falling on her face all of a sudden. She is much better now, but we still have to carry her up the stairs, but at least she waits at the bottom of the stairs for us to come help.

Ginger on the other hand will attempt the stairs if we are not right there, some times she makes it, sometimes she gets stuck on the stairs, and sometimes she flips over and tumbles back down the stairs eek. Ginger has a harness so we can grab the handle on her back to assist her. Ginger is still hanging in, good moments/ bad moments. found out she has e-coli now in addition to the cancer. Her immune system is messed up aslo, but I still cannot keep up with her!


They are both on lactated ringers 2x per day. and pills.


Gator, Bailey, Natasha, and Louis are all doing well.

Suzi took a quick trip to Palm Springs to see family this past weekend.
She used her cell phone to take this great shot of Mt Rainier from the plane on the way down.

These humming birds are sure enjoying the oasis of Palm Springs, CA!

Suzi's parents took her for a hike thru Indian Canyons. The following shots were taken by a combination of Suzi's cell phone, and Mikes.







She was glad she went, but is glad to be home now...