Views from Caira Sue’s house
Chicken basted rawhide, Yum.
Polly, Poppa, Caira Sue and the bone.
Rescue kitten, Pirate George. Arrr.
A good cuddle with Poppa.
Archive for December, 2009
Happy Holidays!!
Happy Holidays from Adam, Mary and Caira Sue!
We have had quite the week. Caira Sue was a little blue after we had to put our 16 year old cat to sleep. I know, it seems strange, but that cat was a constant in her life and they slept together. Caira was actually walking around quite worried about him for the last week as he got weaker and sicker. So, she was sad. So, we did what we know cheers her up.
We bought her tennis balls!
Our very good friend, Neezar Samara, is an amazing photographer. To see his great work with people and places check out his website:
http://www.samaraphotography.com/
So, yesterday the lighting was nice enough and the weather beautiful enough to make Neezar long for a frolick in the leaves. Ok, maybe he didn’t frolick (he’s really not the frolicking type. I mean, he’s a manly man who will probably kill me for using the word “frolick” anywhere near his name. So no, he did not want to frolick…), but he did ask if he could take pictures of Caira Sue playing. Caira Sue? The most awesome and beautiful dog in the WHOLE WORLD?!?!?!?! (Just our opinion? Naw!) We headed straight to the park with the new tennis balls!
So, I’m not sure if it will work, but I am posting the link to his AMAZING and INCREDIBLE pictures here:
http://www.pictage.com/client/event.do?event=778289&emailFlag=true
I don’t just say they are amazing because he is my friend. If they were lousy, I just wouldn’t post it. This guy has great talent, and I feel like he really captured Caira Sue’s spirit. He is interested in doing more animals (and of course people, objects, etc). If you like his work, give him a call or an email.
I’m sure my house is going to be decorated with Caira Sue portraits before the end of January!
Anyway. Enough about THAT.
My husband has taken to calling Shelby, Shelby Fawcett. You know, she is beautiful. But it’s that amazing TAIL that she just sweeps around so that everyone will look at her! I wanted to show you all the resemblance…..
What do you all think? In doing this research, I found out there are many websites on how to achieve Farrah’s, I mean Shelby’s awesome hairstyle. It seems that even Paris Hilton is jealous of Shelby:
http://www.divavillage.com/article/id/47079/section_name/Hair/title/Farrah+Fawcett+Hair/pg/1
Pretty cool, eh?
Really? At 1 am?
I just finished baking pumpkin bread to bring to the vet tomorrow. Yes, I baked pumpkin bread for the UC Davis vet…wouldn’t you? We’ve had 5 amazingly awesome months with our girl. He deserves a bit of pumpkin bread. Anyway, this isn’t about the bread. Or the vet. It’s about how I climbed into bed to go to sleep when Caira started staring at me. Intensely. Staring. at. me. I said “you gotta go out?” (even though she just went out) nope. still staring. “your water is right there, you already ate dinner, what do you want?” Staring. Then tail wagging. Giddy tail wagging. (is that possible? you all know what I mean).
I couldn’t figure it out. Maybe she heard the rescue kittens getting into something. Sigh. I got out of bed and opened the bedroom door.
Whoa! Excitement! Caira is dancing her way towards the kitchen. Spinning, Tailwagging, excitement. “Caira, it’s 1 am, what is going on?” I tried to get her to go out the back door. nope. I gave her a snack. Yum, that was nice. Staring. Giddy tail wagging. Then she jumped around in a circle and grabbed her rings. OH yes! Caira Sue wants to play tug at 1 am.
Mind you, all evening she slept on the bed while I was AWAKE. Now that I want to go to bed, she’s playing tug with her rings. Sigh. Yes, you got it. I played with those rings for about 2 minutes. Then I gave her a bone to chew on.
I’m not wrapped around anyone’s finger. Or paw. Or whatever. Sigh. Ok, maybe a little bit wrapped.
We’ve made it this far…
Today marks 5 months since Caira Sue had her right shoulder blade and leg taken away from her and sent in for tumor research.
My sister and brother-in-law are in town visiting and yesterday we went to the coast. I know, lousy weather…but they came from Maine, so to them it’s warm!
We went for a walk on the beach and Caira Sue had a blast. There were lots of smashed pumpkins (some kind of Pacifica tradition? I wasn’t sure) and Caira had to pee on every single piece…not sure what THAT was all about.
This is a crab she spent some time around….he was dead and missing all but two legs, but that didn’t thwart her one bit.
Later my brother-in-law and I took Caira for a little cliff hike.
They enjoyed the view looking over the cliffs. The view was nice, and it really wasn’t too cold. It was very peaceful watching the big waves coming in.
On our way back, Caira took off up into the trees. I thought she was after a rabbit and I had to use my mean voice to shout her name. Oh no, no rabbit. Caira Sue ran up into the trees to grab a tennis ball. Really? I think she can smell them from 100 ft away!
So, another good day playing, hiking and chasing balls. Yay, Caira Sue!
This crazy emotional week
This week has been a hard week at the Caira Sue household. I’ve been sick with the flu. Adam has been busy working, leaving the house at ungodly hours like 5 am and coming home late. I’ve been reading a lot of sad moments on tripawds. Caira started to seem really down to me. And we all know that Mars is in retrograde right now, which makes us feel stuck and weak. I was feeling it. All of it.
On Tuesday I took her to a new dog park….I was in a different area taking my father-in-law to an appt, so I thought I’d look for a good place to play for an hour. Anyone who knows Caira knows an hour is nothing.
After 20 minutes she started to slow down. Then she did a horrible nose-dive flip on her good leg. It looked awful. Of course she kept going….but it was really awful. I made her take a break. She wouldn’t stop panting. After 20 minutes? How many mets does it take, I wondered? The whole time I was smiling at her and encouraging her to stay near me. There were a couple other people there with little dogs…not normally Caira’s cup o’ tea, but she tolerated them. Their owners kept telling me what a great dog I had and I thought, yeah…for how long?
She walked out slowly. She stopped every 5 steps and laid down in the grass. She’s never been that dog. My. Heart. Broke. I thought, great….she has cancer spreading to her lungs and she can’t breathe and now she’s injured her one and only front leg. Plus my flu was getting worse again, not better. I called Adam. All he could say was, “oh, god, mary.”
Yesterday I slept until 4pm. Yeah, I got up to feed the animals, but I went right back to bed. Caira slept with me the whole day. I kept putting the heating pad on her one shoulder. I just didn’t know what to do. And my head was full of flu goo. In the afternoon I took her out to the front yard, which she usually loves because that’s when the sun is shining best there. My father-in-law was sitting there with his neurotic terrior. Caira walked out there and just stood. Caira Sue just stood there. She didn’t go anywhere, she didn’t smile. My. heart. Broke.
So was I projecting? Was I feeling terribly emotional because I’ve been sick and not eating for a week? Was I depressed and worrying about her lung mets when I had promised myself I wouldn’t do that to myself or anyone else in the household? Was it the whole Mars issue?
Today we got ready to take my father-in-law to the same appt. I looked at him and said “I’m not sure whether to take her. I’m worried about her leg.” And he said “Caira Sue always loves a good ride.” Of course, he’s always right. Pop is always right. I pulled out her harness and she grinned big from ear to ear and did her little “I’m going out!!!” dance. It was adorable.
I decided not to take her to the dogpark. I DID take her to this little walkway near a school. There’s dog waterfountains there….so hey. I thought we’d go sit in the grass and enjoy the sun.
Girl took ME for a walk! She kept pulling, and wasn’t tired at all. We got over near the baseball cage and I sat on a picnic table. I let her off leash so she could sniff. OH! Big grins! Caira Sue found her a softball. I tossed it 10 feet. I wasn’t having her running and nosediving. She was sooooooooooooo happy. Then she proceeded to roll in the grass with her softball and strip it of the top layer! Ok, time to go before the owner comes looking for their ball……
She spent all day with us, and never slowed down, never acted down, or in pain. We ran our errands and she was happy to come to the ones she could go to, or guard the car. She danced her way right back in the house this evening. She just kept looking at me and smiling. It’s like yesterday only upside down and backwards. Which is good thing.
All I’m saying is….deep sigh of relief. I guess it’s not the cancer. She’s still breathing. I guess the heating pad and day of rest helped the soreness from her nosedive. I don’t know. Maybe I was projecting. Maybe she was reading my illness off of me. But today is today, and it’s a beautiful day.