i didn't rescue iley. my other girl, fuzzy, was kind of rescued. she and her sister were the last 2 pups out of an accidental litter. if i didn't take her she would have been "disposed of" she was incredible. looked like a flat coated retriever. so smart. she learned how to work the cows with hubby. (and she was all retriever) her passing was so very traumatic for me.
iley, on the other hand, is a show dog. but we don't show her. her sister is doing very very well on the circuit. we just love her as our companion and pet. i just didn't feel i could cope without the health guarantee. i know things can still go wrong but i have my fingers crossed.
i forgot all about spare kitty. because we are out in the country, city people often dump unwanted pets that end up on our doorstep. dogs don't stick around long cause we have a no kill shelter that i can take them to. cats on the other hand will stay. i feed htem until i can find a home for them. spare kitty however gets to live here because iley just loves him. they play together really well taking turns chasing each other etc. spare kitty also likes to wrap his front legs around her ruff and then give her kisses.

the cast is solid and must remain that way. it's a long story, but between the location of the break and bad bones i'm stuck with it for a while longer. lucky me.

hugs and prayers

Boy, I love all my babies so much it's hard to decide which to pick first. But...I decided to be whacky, so I chose my Tucker, since he's the whackiest pup I have.

Tucker is our Golden Retriever. He's my "baby." Now...you may think I named him Tucker cuz it's a good name for a Golden...but that's not it. See, when I met the breeder he brought all the male pups to me and Tucker is the one who kept leaving thebunch and running towards me, so he's the one i chose to come home w/me. On the ride home, he didn't want to sit in the passenger seat, or sit nicely in my lap. He wanted to tuck his head into my armpit - and he did so, and slept the entire 1.5 hr ride home...hence the name...TUCKER

As you can see in my avatar, he also will allow you to do pretty much anything to him. In this case, he let us put sunglasses on him. He was only a baby in this picture but it's so cute I just HAD to post it. He's the one we pull out when we're in a yucky mood cuz he just does such FUNNY stuff. Tucker is ALWAYS happy. Well, they all are, really. We love them all so much.

Here are pics of my other fur babies, too. They all have their own little personalities...*but let me explain...when I met my SO, i had 3 male fur babies, and he had 3 female fur babies...then we moved in together, so we had kind of a 4-legged furry brady bunch going on. But then I lost my precious baby Riley (who was also a golden) to epilepsy. He was my sweetheart, and I miss him horribly...so now we have 5.

Now I will introduce you to my clan...

First, there is my black lab, Josie. If any of you get a chance to read the book "Marley and Me" - do it! It's the bestest book EVER for dog lovers, and the dog in that book is a yellow lab with the exact same personality as Josie. she's a "lover" and a very FINE specimine of a lab. She's a purebred with papers (like Tucker and our Bailey, who I will get to in a moment as well). She's very muscular and her coat is very shiney. She has not an ounce of fat on her. Only thing is...she has mental issues. See...she has an addiction...to BALLS. So, if you ever come visit, don't throw one for her. If you do, you'll be doing it all day and night.

Next up is Bailey. She's our Chow Chow. She's the only one allwed in the house now. See...she's "the queen." She's the oldest. She'll be 12 next month. Out of the others, Josie is the oldest at age 4 (Phoenix is also 4 - but you havent' met him yet). The others stay outside, and if I had a picture of my house and yard (we have 5 acres and a pole barn) you'd see thy are VERY WELL taken care of. In fact, when any of them come in, or are let out to swim inth pond, they cry to go back IN their pen! Anyway, she's the queen bee. Dad's girl, Mom's baby, the spoiled one...you get the picture. But, like all chows, she's VERY devoted to us. Which means DON'T YOU DARE come at us in a threatening way. And don't you DARE let your dog come onto our property. And don't you DARE pay more attention to us than SHE is allowed to pay. So...we kind of have to put her away when we have visitors. But othewise she loves to be loved on and cuddled. She rarely barks. And to watch her walk, she KNOWS she's a girl...she walks like a girl. And when you say "pretty girl" she knows you're talking to her and sh wags her tail.

Then next to her is Jessie. Jessie will be 3 years old in February. Her and my Phoenix had a little "fling" one night and Jessie had 14 puppies because of it. BIG litter. She wasnt even a year old then. Jessie is a golden/yellow lab mix. The puppies looked like Phoenix. We get emails from many ppl who took them, and they are all awesmoe dogs with good homes. We screened the ppl very carefully. One person drove here all he way from wisconsin to michigan cuz he was looking for just that mix of dog....and he was going to pay for the puppy, too. We gave him the one with one blue eye and one brown eye...and we didn't charge him. Couldn't after he drove that far! Anyway, jessie s a love bug. Her and tucker are "best buddies" and play so hard, you'd wonder how they can manage the strength to EAT sometimes. She also likes to "paw" you. She looks like she's dancng when she does it. Watch out! She hurts if she gets ahold of you!

Next to her is my Phoenix. I named him that because he has one blue eye and one brown. "Phoenix" in one of the indian dialects means "glowing eyes" so that's why he has that name. He is a sheppard/husky mix. And look at that curled tail! All the puppies had that brendle coloring and that curled tail. None of them looked like Jessie. Phoenix used to be quite mean...but that's cuz my ex taught him to be. Now that my ex is gone and my current SO and I have worked with him, he's a sweetheart. he loves to give kisses. He also loves to eat chewies...but will swallow them whole if you let him. He steals tucker's all the time. Tucker just holds his in his mouth and hides it from the othr dogs while they're eating theirs...tucker then lays down and when Phoenix is finished with hs, he walks over to Tucker and takes it out of his mouth...and poor tucker just opens his mouth and LETS HIM!

And the last picture is my Tucker all grown up...cuz I wanted you to see what a fine specimen of a golden he is as a big guy. Although eh's only two years old. I get asked all the time if I want to breed him....but he "isn't breedable" if you kwim! I wish he were. He's absolutely perfet. Vets tell me that all the tme, too...about him AND Josie, really. Bet the two of them together would make some awesome puppies, even though they wouldn't be purebreds...but that was too much work...and a huge mistake that won't happen ever again.

Anyway, those are my fur babies, this took me WAY too long to type, my hands are killing me, and I have to get my work done so I don't have to work on Friday. Hope I didn't bore you. I know I have a lot of furry kids to talk about

And that doesn't count my dragon, my son, or my SO!

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Those are just plain lillies from my backyard that I took pics of last summer using my Nikon Digital camera. I messed around a little with Microsoft Picture It Software and WaaaLaaa! Thank you for the kind words. I am sooo amateur. But it make me happy to do it.

On another note. I have found that as of recent - more and more of us are bonding (for lack of a better word) than we probably ever would have on the old site) and I am not really sure why. We have as many problems if not more and yet we feel compelled to take care of our fellow RSDers everyday. I feel it has become a daily ritual and need for me to come on here and make sure all of you are okay. I think the world of all of you and if anything should ever happen to any of my dear dear friends I would be devistated.

Yes Anna that now includes you too!!

Chin Up

Mark

Mark, Your flowers are gorgeous, especially the lily. I would definitely frame that one, but I think all of them are worthy of framing.

I love everyone's pictures of their babies. I had a bloodhound that i dearly loved, but he got out of his pen and a car hit him. I was so sad, and have been looking for another one. I love beagles, and bloodhounds, and most all dogs, unless they are really mean. LOL

I hope you all have a great day! Smiles!

Janet

Hey mark, have you tried picasa for editing pics? It's a free download from somewhere on either google or yahoo. Just go to google and search for picasa...not picasO but picasA...I like it much better than any other editing software and get a LOT of compliments from the pharmacy when I go to pick up my pictures. It's very easy to use and takes all thepics from your computer and organizes them into the program also (cuz I'm horrible...mine are all over myu puter!). I think I'd make all those black and white and put them in black frames!

Mark, i was wondering..... if maybe, perhaps.... i could "borrow" the picture of the lilies.... See, i paint/draw/sculpt quite a bit and that picture just really inspires me I promise i would send you a picture of whatever i end up creating when im done!!!!

I am just sooooo thankful for finding this place. I really was at my wit's end a few days ago and just knowing that there is someplace i can go and people understand EXACTLY what im going through is a huge relief. So thanks a ton, even if i cant exactly give to much advice back to you all, it just means more than words can express.

Anna

Hi all,

Very quickly (in a rush) - just wanted to say how *beeeaaauuuutiful* we all look now - thanks, Mark, for getting us to do that.

We have the handsomest bunch of beasts in the world! And as for the pets..

P.S. (*So* many of us have dogs - you don't think you get RSD from dogs, do you Just kidding...I think...)

all the best

Absolutely my dear!! You go right ahead and enjoy!! My pleasure!! Anna, never feel like you have to offer anything in return. But soon enough you will find yourself jumping into a thread to offer advice or suggestions based on your own experiences or life lessions. We are so glad you are here with us!!!!

And Artist your right this is alot of fun! I think that it simply says alot about RSD and folks with pets. We have alot of love and warmth and since people can be cruel well we than share it with who we know can appreciate it! OUR BELOVED PETS!!!!.

Happy Thanksgiving and love to all!!!!

Mark