everything is orange

hee hee, whoa, duk duk, r u sure we are not on a merry go round because everything looks so orange and swirly now. :) #byebyegabapentin #hellovalium #jaildaynumero5 #donotworryitisreallynotsoorangeorswirly 

jail break

Yesterday a certain little wolf received a scolding. If I could turn back time, I would know now to react differently, but when I heard his little whimper yelps from a room away, my heart sank. The little kielbasa had been doing fine all morning.  Now off the Gabapentin he was prescribed for pain at the emergency hospital, he was happier,  skippier,  and his tail much more waggy.  And he was surprisingly content to lie in the cradle of his little red bun crate, sunning by an open window in an xpen contained space that allowed me to work nearby, yet also sit with him on occasion to enjoy each other's company.  Orders were filled, emails answered. Noon arrived quickly.

"Stay here, my little friend," I told him as I caressed the warm soft fur of his sun warmed face. "It's time for lunchy lunch. I will be right back with both our lunches and they will be very delicious and we can eat them together right here!   Do not go anywhere.  Stay right here and I will be back very shortly." A kiss on his forehead sealed our deal, and I climbed out of tiny chumley's little jail.  

I had been gone for two and a half  minutes when I heard his painful squeaks over the hum of our microwave. Feelings of dread and worry and wonder fueled my fears as I made my way back to the living room.   Did he turn too fast in bed? Did something fall? How bad will it - 

The distance I had expected to dash was halved when I found the little kielbasa on the opposite side of his golden prison, shaken and still on the rebound from his painful event,  with sad little droopy ears and a furrowed forehead and tail now no longer happy as it had been only moments ago. My little wolf had found a weakness in his makeshift prison cell, and successfully shimmied his way to freedom by way of a low lying pathway under my cutting table.  

 

The giant gasp I let out foreshadowed for tiny chumley an imminent shower of disapproval.  "Naughty!" I scolded him, "So naughty!" tiny chumley's body shrank under the weight of the words that flowed, his brown eyes seemingly getting moister and sorrier, and little head melting into floor with each word I uttered.   After my brief scolding, I swiftly but carefully returned him to the safety of his improved gilded cage. 

Thankfully, tiny chumley seems physically and emotionally no worse for wear.  But I remain scarred by the experience, feeling careless and stupid for not having checked for the weakness in his cell, feeling frustrated for being able to comfort tiny chumley in familiar ways, and most of all, feeling awful for having scolded a sweet little wolf who was only trying to make way to his mom. 

Scars of this nature are an unusual thing. They can forever burden us and lock us in a world of insecurity and isolation. Or we can become stronger for having earned them, and use them as lessons to guide us into becoming better, more compassionate souls.  I have learned a lot from having a sweet little wolf in the house.  And I promise I will learn some more. :)

the balloon in the room

Here's a not so well kept secret. I don't like balloons.  It doesn't matter if they are made from rubber or mylar, long or short, tied up into some supercool shape, or so round and over inflated that they are as transparent as my displeasure with them.  No matter how vibrantly colored or happy the message printed on them, balloons for me are the bringer of cartoon scribble cloud storms on an otherwise happy go lucky day. 

It's the anticipation and the unpleasantries of the pop that make me cringe enough to say or do something outside my normal laissez faire existence.   I am that person who is lucky enough to be married to that big boyfriend who will fetch earplugs from the car so we can eat in peace amidst the minefield mix of  Red Robin burgers, balloons, careless children, and hot overhead lights.  I am that person who made Little Madwilly and her brother Takato leave their free helium filled balloon scores behind at the grocery store, lest they become the featured story on the six o'clock news, abandoned as they would have been right there in the parking lot.  When balloons are in the room, I like to do something about it.  I must do something about it.

When tiny chumley first exhibited signs of IVDD, I approached his condition pretty much the same as I do with balloons in the room, only perhaps with an understandably larger dose of worry and urgency. No, I did not put him in the trunk like I did with my nephew's clown-tied balloon sword, nor would I ever even consider threatening him with abandonment in a parking lot.  But much like the problem of having a balloon in the room, I wanted the problem resolved. I wanted him better, fixed forever.   But alas it's not like that for little wolves born with unusually long spines and gnarled short legs. Despite the measures we take to minimize risk, flare ups can and will occasionally happen.

Careful everyday handling, conservative medical management, and quiet time to heal have thus far kept Baxter's balloon from popping, but when the yelps came back on Sunday with mild symptoms slightly different than those we usually see with neck flare ups, it was time to push the reset button and understand if a new balloon had entered the room.

Long story short, there isn't an clear answer yet, which in many ways is a better sign than if it were. After a visit to the emergency vet on Sunday where tiny chumley sat quietly for hours in his little red bun crate and never once yelped under examination, and a barkier visit today with Baxter's regular mobile vet, still with no yelping but with noted concern at how his hind legs were positioning themselves when he walked and turned, we are waiting to see what more there is to see.  Unless things take a severe turn, surgery is not imminent or overtly indicated. A day must pass to let the woozy side effects of gabapentin run through his system.  Another video must be made of him doing the hind leg knuckle test, and walking, turning to the left and right to see what his little hiney legs are up to. And then we go from there.

Aside from their actual passing, I can think of nothing more troubling to little wolf ownership than when our little ones are medically compromised.   But it's a balloon in the room that I will gladly endure, time and time again.

Mother's Day is May 8th :)

tiny chumley's voice in the cyber world will be in whispers for the next few days, due mostly to the social demands of the real world and random walls in our house that desperately need painting. hopefully, things will come together quickly, and we will be back on schedule next week.  

in the meanwhile, with Mother's Day now less than a month away, please feel free to visit our little etsy shop to spy and score tiny chumley's latest and very royally cute Mother's Day card :) 

hee hee, mom, well, I know I just had one but when we are done with all our work this week, well do u think maybe we can celebrate with more frenchy fries?

frenchy fraiku

tiny frenchy fry,

so tasty and delicious.

please, I want some more :)

- baxter, 9.3 years old, on a sunny Sunday afternoon 

#trueWolfStories part 2 (guts and glory)

 




...so i'm like "hrop thith one thoo?? dhad, you're kiddingh hme. the whole reathon hwhy hwe hwent thlooking hin hower backhyard hwas hthoo theck and hthee if there were henny more. i caughth hit hfair andh thquare." 













 

then the hungry wolf in me decided, "hnope. hnope. hnoth afther hlast thime no thirree. hnot gonna hrop it. hen-oh-capithal peeth."
































it seemed like things were going nowhere, but then i had an idea. "hey hmom, hdo u hrememberr hwhat hwe talkedth habout hearlier? hafter the hfirth bunny? hif u hlet me do hthat hthen i hwill hrop it.  do hew haff a hdeal?"


"i hthaid, do hwe haff a hdeal?"

yesssss!

and that, my friends, ends the reenactment portion of our #trueWolfStories for today. thank u anton the little lion for volunteering to play the role of bunny numero dos. 

now duk duk, if you would pull the blinds so we can start the video portion of our - what's that, lil pink puppy? oh yeppies the second bunny i caught was like a whole week older so naturally it was bigger, just like anton here. it was probably my biggest catch to date as a wolf, really. i know, so impressive, right?  and, yeppies it hopped away, back into the periwinkle patch where i cannot tinkle in for the next few weeks because mom says they need to get bigger and smarter.   any more questions?

well, lulu the tiger, u see, me and duk duk pretty much knew mom would never let us record and post what we really would want to if i ever caught a bunny and gave it the real wolf treatment, so we came up with a discreet but awesome design we could use to post a picture of my wolfy success facebook and instagram, and we came up with a plan on how we could make a video that would pretty much capture the essence of what we know would happen when a wolf uknowhats a bunny, without it, being, well u know, too #rawwwry. so mom agreed to let us do all that. speaking of which, without further ado, please now enjoy the video portion of our #trueWolfStories.  Ladies and gentlewolves, me and duk duk present to u, guts and glory. :)

#trueWolfStories as reenacted to friends (part 1)

...so she finally comes back to the deck and by now i'm at the door waiting to for someone to open it and i'm like, 'hmom, hlooky!! hno hinner hfor hme hthankth cuth i cauth hmine! hcan hyou pleeth hopen hthe hdoor hnow htho i can heath hit inthide hon hmy hthnackie blankee?'  

only i do not think she could hear a word i said over all that screaming.  then,  when she finally stops and tells me to u know what...

..i'm like, 'hrop it? harr hyou hidding hme??'  but i do,  because i thought maybe she just wanted come close and see it better because really who would not want to see that, right? especially since otherwise i am pretty sure all she could see were tiny feet sticking out, what with my mouth being so ferocious and wolfy big.

anyhow,  i dropped it, but she stayed where she was standing and she called me to come to her which i'm like, well, okay, duk duk's inside and none of the dopeys are out, so yeah, sure, let's go get dad bcuz i bet he will want to see it too.
 
so mom carries me to the front where dad was mowing the lawn and she blah blah blahs then dad blah blah blahs and then we all go back to admire it but dad gets the shovel and next thing i know and long story short, no bunny stew for dinner ...



 










...but yeppies.. (ptoo)... thank u, blinky,  for volunteering to help me with my reenactment and maybe now if u could just lie still on the plate i brought for just another minute,  just so everybuddy can get a feel for size, yes?  yes like, oh yes like that... now, where was i? oh i know! what happens a week later.... (to be continued) :)

back seat wolf

hee hee well yes, mom, I do have a very nice snoozer bed. but, well, aside from the fact that I spied a snackie u dropped weeks ago on the floors down wanted to get at it...well,  aside from that u see..

...to stay in tip top shape, even on short car rideys like this one, a growing wolf really needs to stretch his ferocious legs every so often. :) 

plans within plans

hee hee, yep u got us mom! we were totally trying to april fool u into believing we would actually want 2 read something, but in retrospect i guess it was a pretty lame-o idea bc u know us so well. hey, speaking of well, well i guess me and duk duk will put everything away and maybe we will just lie here in the nice warm sun for a while.  so, if u do not mind, maybe me and duk duk will catch up with u in the sewing room in, o, i dunno, maybe a few hours?. :)

(...annnd, she's gone!  phew! okay, duk duk,  let's hurry up and do this!)

"Danny Dunn and the Homework Machine", by jay williams and raymond abrashkin.  boy u r right, duk duk,  finally, i think we have found a book worth reading.  i sure hope it comes with technical drawings, dontchoo? :)

three cups for a quarter

hee hee hee, almost ready! oh, hey little miss julia, when u come back with with the sugar, cups, and spoons, do not forget the poster board and markers so we can make our sign and then we will be ready for business! :)

matters of fact

Despite all the yellow pollen around him, tiny chumley and his bright brown eyes get extra glinty this time of year when we go outside. it's the start of digging season, the little kielbasa tells me with every ounce of yearning that his little body can muster. time to work on our holes for this year's daffodil plantings.

It doesn't matter that the daffodils we planted in prior seasons haven't finished blooming yet.  It doesn't matter that he knows a paw wash and a wet nose wipe will be the end to his otherwise very satisfactory excavating adventures. And  It doesn't matter that when I stand outside in all that pollen - watching and often helping my little bulldozer clear roots and rocks so that his paws can dig deeper - it doesn't matter that the orifices in my head become an itchy, inflamed, and runny mess.  

All that matters, is that he digs the holes he knows he must dig.  And having a happy, sated little wolf is all that matters to me. :) 

 

mom, if u r ready to have me dig again just whistle ok? oh and maybe unlatch the gate if it is not too much trouble :)

(as tall as a giraffe)

 
 

sometimes i wish i were as tall as a giraffe,

and if it were just a little cheaper,

i'd be okay with being just half. :)

- baxter, 9.25 years old

 

please don't chomp the toesies

okay, mom, u may photograph my ferocious wolf arm and paw, but please, do not chomp the toesies :)

strawberry funday

..hee hee, ninety eight, eleventy threeve, five hundred gibbensie sevix, ocho cinco diez...

um, sorry, mom, I know u asked me to set the table but can it wait bc if I can hold out for another twenty fouree two seconds, then I win and madwilly said this strawberry is totally mine :) 

nyah

..and that, mom, is concrete, irrefutable evidence as to why it was not me making all that racket just now, but that dopey roscoe that lives over there. so nyah.  nyah, nyah, nyah nyah nyah!

hey speaking of nyah, how bout u, me-nyan-dad all hop in the car and go get ourselves a super swirl nilly chocowafer cone with rainbow fetti sprinkles and a maraschino cherry on top? each. bcuz, u know, diets are what tomorrows are for. 

(crickets)

okay, i am very sorry i nyahed you, mom, and i promise i will not do it ever again. now may we please get a fun fun cone? :) :)

vitamin D

 

mom, you know how they say you are what you eat...well, i just wanted to ask, well, okay, i like my kibble and all but...

....do u think maybe i could start eating more dinosaur meat? :)

thank u and please give the little misses my regards

...hee hee hee, hee hee hee, and then duk duk, hee hee hee, hee hee hee, and then duk duk got up and everybuddy could see it was all smooshed there on his...hee hee hee o what happened yesterday was so funny I cannot stop laughing mom..

hee hee hee.. wait, do u smell something? (sniff..sniff sniff..sniff...sniff sniff sniff)  (sniff sniff) hmmmm...(sniff..sniff sniff)...is that? is that what I think it is? (sniff sniff sniff)...

eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeew...

 hey cassie, I know u r standing way over there in your yard but we still smell your cooties way over here in my yard and your stink is totally ruining things so can u please either stand downwind more or take a bath already? thank u and please give the little misses my regards.  

reading music :)

..b sharp, b sharp, b sharp,  pee flat, half snake, d, d, d...pee flat, b sharp, falcon, pee minor, half snake, b, d, b sharp, b sharp, pee minor..

karty kar

 

uh-huh, yes i see.  yes, paws free starting is a very nice feature. and the interior does feel really roomy...oh, very serious i woiuld say. probably in the next month or so, really.  well, probably not a trade-in because u really cannot find a pedal car as cool as ours anymore. but,  for every day we were thinking an upgrade would be nice. something with a roof for when it rains, and maybe something bigger so we can haul more stuff.  this karty kar is practically perfect, i think.  what with the kart in back, it can haul at least a trebuchet, and probably a walrus, too, right mister? o pardon me, hang on a sec...
 

(pfweeeeEEEEooOOooOOoooot!)

hee hee, fooo-whee that was so ripe,  my friend duk duk would have totally passed out on that one.  well, mister, at least we know now that the air circulation is very good. now let me just see how the turn sig-

hey hey, wait, i am not done ...no, i am very serious about making a purchase in the very near - no mister really...mooooooom!

candy dish

mom, are u sure these are for guests only? :)