An even dozen.

I was looking at the scrolling photos of my dogs the other day - the ones here on my blog, the little thing-a-ma-bob off to the right that scrolls through various photos - and I was noticing how many of the pictures are of them in costumes or clothes. I immediately felt the need to tell everyone that we are NOT those people! We don't typically dress the dogs up. But I suppose on the rare occasions when we do we feel the need to capture it on film! Anyway, if made ME feel the need to show you how truly dignified my dogs REALLY are, sans clothing.

When Tom and I helped co-found Blue Dog Rescue almost 10 years ago we had two dogs. Seven and Preacher. A very reasonable number of dogs. But over the years of fostering some just seemed to stay. We certainly never meant to have 12 dogs. But that's where we're at. And we adore each and every one of them. We have probably fostered 200+ dogs over the years so I like to tell people that keeping 10 out of 200 is not so bad!

Anyway, here they are, in order of arrival, the loves of our lives:

Seven.

We adopted Seven from the local Humane Society in 1998. She is the absolute love of our life. She's the Princess and knows it!

Preacher.
The Big Man. If you've read my blog before then you've heard all about him over the past month. He is a sweet, gentle soul who loves every single person he ever meets.

Ozilinne.

Ozo. Our very first foster and maybe the big glaring sign that we shouldn't foster because we'd want to keep them all. But thank goodness we didn't pay attention to the sign. Ozo has the happy-go-lucky of his Golden Retriever part and the independence of his Chow part. EVERYONE loves Ozo.

Clarence.

This little man is the love of MY life. He has soooo much personality rolled up into his little chihuahua/dachshund body. He's a little gangsta and considers himself The King. I have his paw print tattooed on my foot so that he walks with me wherever I go.

Pasqual.

The Notorious P.I.G. When we were fostering him and took him to adoption days kids would tell their parents that we had a pig for adoption! Pasqual was the first pit bull in Blue Dog Rescue and he won over everyone he met. He is the Pit Bull poster child!

Vincent.

My baby. We got Vincent and his four littermates when they were two weeks old. Their mom had been hit by a car. Tom and I brought them home and bottle fed them. We almost lost Vincent one night when he went into hypoglycemic shock. I slept with him on my chest all night. Since that point he has been my dog through and through. He is my guardian and protector. Where I go, he goes.

Clishy Marie Shew.

Probably the most energetic dog in our house. She wants to know what is going on at all times! And the best hugger in all the world!

Veruca Jane Shew.

While her sister is the hugger she is the kisser. And she prefers your nose if that's okay with you. Oh, and a beer if you'll share that too!

Monkey Shew.
Sweetest little boy ever - all he wants is a little attention of his own. In this pack you do have to kind of assert yourself to get attention - and he's just not that assertive. So we try to go the extra mile to give him the love and belly rubs he deserves.

The Business Man.

Oh, Ferdabidnee. The dog is even sillier than he looks. We joke that he should really be a cartoon character. His tongue sticks out and he's cross-eyed. He's not particularly nice to strangers and he has a liver shunt. He's a little train wreck but he brings laughter into our lives every single day. I wouldn't trade him for anything!

Horatio.

Our little chug. Another foster who came and just refused to leave. And while I didn't want 11 dogs I wanted life without Horatio even less. Every night it is his job to announce Bed Time. And he does so my garbling bizarre noises and dragging his belly on the floor. And when he does it they all know - "It's bed time!"

Jessica Beatrice.
She was going to be a "quick" adoption. She was NOT supposed to stay. But she wormed her way into Tom's heart by being pitiful and pathetic and only loving him. So there it was. She became number 12!

So that's us in a nut shell. It is crazy but it works. And what am I most proud of? That people come to my house and say "Wow, it doesn't smell like dogs!"

Round four

Not a great picture I know, but how freakin' cute is he sitting on the couch like he thinks he's a person?!?!? Round four of chemo was yesterday and he seems to be handling it beautifully. When I went to pick him up he trotted right out wagging his nub like crazy. He got into the car with not too much help from me, came home and ate some lunch, and took a nap. Happiness.

Dog and Jewelry updates:

The chemo fund/close out page has been updated with all kinds of new goodies! My favorite being these new Mono-Stone necklaces. This one is rock crystal. It's a new design so you might be wondering "Why the close out page?". Well, sometimes I'm not sure, will they like it, will they not and I just don't know if I want to make it part of my line. Sometimes I just make things and then never make them again...so many reasons. So, take advantage, they may never come again...or, if you love 'em, let me know!

And speaking of the chemo fund, we go in for round 4 of chemo tomorrow. Luckily this is a drug Preacher has had before and did well on. So we are optimistically apprehensive. This last week has been great. He rebounded from his hellacious week like a champ! He's eating well, getting around great, being a goof-ball, everything we were hoping for. So, good thoughts for tomorrow. And I'll keep you posted!

Just stuff

My dogs kill me they are so cute. I would love to imagine a serious conversation going on between Horatio and my bedside poodle lamp, but in reality I think he was staring at a moth that was flying around under the shade. Orrrrrr, we could assume that he and the poodle were having a very meaningful discussion about the pure bred dog vs. the mix-y mix. I think Horatio might have a more compelling argument being that he is so ridiculously cute in his "chuggy" way -that's chihuahua/pug for those of you not in-the-know. Before you think that is some new kind of "designer" dog it's not - it's a shelter dog. THE perfect dog.

Now, having gone on and on about the fabulousness of the mixed breed dog, let me update you on my precious Preacher Man, (a pure bred Great Dane and equally fabulous!). He is doing so well. I hesitate to even say that because I don't want to jinx anything. But he has been eating like a champ, his personality is back in spades, he is putting weight back on. It's great. And we got to skip chemo this week - hallelujah!

And lastly, on the work front, I am now starting to gear up for ACL! It's three months away and I have got beaucoups of work to do! I have got to get myself back into the swing of things. With all that has gone on with Preacher my focus has been waaaaaay off work. Now it's time to get busy...how many Giant Round Necklaces does one need for an audience of 65,000 people anyway?

Peace

I made this ring a couple of weeks ago at the request of my friend Charlotte. Charlotte and I joke that she is the real designer behind my work because she often has very specific ideas about jewelry she'd like me to make and a lot of times I end up including it in my line. She has great ideas!! So, this ring is an example. I love it! Of course I want one in Pink!

Knock on wood...

...today is a good day. He's eating. See. He's taking it right out of my hand. So, here's what I wonder. Has he totally got our number? Is that why he will pretty much only eat grilled hamburger meat? Oh, and freshly grilled hamburger meat. Don't dare refrigerate it and re-heat it. No. That will not work. Freshly grilled, not boiled which is better for him because the fat is left behind in the water. But truthfully, boiled hamburger has to be one of the grossest things ever so I can't say I blame him for not wanting it. And sure, I would love for him to be getting some healthier things in his diet, but right now we just want him to to eat. So it's a good day.

No chemo this week. Another reason today is a good day! Assuming all goes well we don't even have to go to the vet at all this week. Oh, knock on wood again. Knock Knock. And if it continues to be a good week we start chemo again next week. Today, I can breathe. Fingers crossed for the rest of the week.

the rocky road

Round three of chemo has sucked. Round one and round two went so well, I just wasn't mentally or physically prepared for this. And obviously my poor Big Guy wasn't either. The day after the last chemo we went back to the oncologist because he was so nauseated he wouldn't eat or dring. They refered to this reaction as gastro toxicity. They did send him home but by that evening he was really feeling bad. He gave us a good scare. We rushed off the the emergency clinic. They kept him over night and gave him fluids to try to get him past this gastric reaction. He ended up having to be hospitalized after the trip to the emergency clinic. Tom picked him up from the EC in the morning and transferred him to the oncologists office. Unfortunately he had signs of yet another bad reaction to this latest chemo drug. He had hemorrhagic cystitis, which basically means the drug caused toxicity in his bladder and he started to pee blood. So they had to put a catheter in and flush out all of the urine and then flush it with saline and then put some kind of "anti-inflammatory cocktail" into his bladder. This all happened yesterday morning. The good news is that since then there has been no more blood in the urine. Hopefully that means there is no significant damage to his bladder. As of this morning they said he was drinking on his own but hasn't eaten anything. So I just cooked him up some chicken and boiled ground meat (nastiest thing ever!) and am going to take it to him soon. The hope is that there will be no more blood in his urine today and he'll be able to come home tonight.

It's been a roller coaster for sure. I never wanted to put him through anything like this. But now that we are here and the oncologist still feels we can get him past this and he still is in remission...well, I am trying not to second guess myself too much.

Round three

We had round three of chemo today. It was eh. Not as great as the last two. Although I am not sure if I am a very good judge. The day of chemo has been a little poopy each time. This time just seems poopy-er. His chemo drug du jour was Cytoxan. Apparently it can cause bladder infections if it stays in the body too long. So they give the dogs lasix to flush it out. That = lots of drinking and peeing. Lots. Poor boy. He can't even rest. As the day progressed it eased up a bit but he just seems so restless. Today is the first time I have wondered if I am doing the right thing. I hate second guessing myself. The last two weeks have been really good. So I think I am probably over reacting. Like I said, chemo day has been a poopy day every time. So tomorrow could be, hopefully will be, much better. And it's not like he's throwing up or anything. I just can't stand him feeling bad even a little bit. So, with all of that said, I hope I haven't over extended myself in asking for well wishes and good thoughts - we still need 'em!!

I'm in, I'm in! Holy crap, I'm in.

Just found out that I was accepted into Austin City Limits Music Festival aka ACL. I am vacillating between thrilled and scared half to death! It is October 2-4...so I have approximately three months to make enough jewelry to fill a booth for a three day show that brings in over 65,000 (yes, three zeros) people. uh huh. Okay, I've got to go now...

News and a cute baby bird...

First of all, drum roll please, Preacher is officially in remission! Whoo Hoo! He had his second round of chemo today. When they called to let me know he was ready to be picked up they also told me that the doctor feels he is in complete remission! Now we just continue on with the course of chemo (six months) and try to keep him that way. Last week when we took him in he was dragging big time. He felt like serious poop. Today, when I picked him up, he came running from the back room pulling the tech behind him and didn't see the glass door in front of him and ran right into it. Like Mother like dog. If you don't know that story...I'm glad! :)

The photo is of a baby bird in our back yard. Now, I am not a fan of birds. I am actually a little afraid of them. But baby birds are pretty precious. And the whole sweetness of leaving the nest...it's so sad and symbolic. Anyway, a momma made a nest in a lantern on our back porch. Not sure how many babies she had, but this little guy hopped out of the nest a little early. In my back yard that can be a dangerous thing. I scooped him up with a pot and plopped him back into his lantern. But not before snapping some photos of his fuzzy little face.

round two

Well let me start by saying another huge Thank You! I have received many jewelry orders that also include well-wishes for my Big Man. And people asking for continued updates. So, just a quick update: He is doing GREAT! His energy level is back and his apatite is back and then some! Tomorrow is round two of chemo. We are hopeful that it will go as well as week one. All thoughts, prayers, e-mails...well, it is all still wanted and appreciated!

The Preacher Chronicles

I suppose I should think about changing the name of this blog if all I am going to talk about is Preacher. But he is about all that is on my mind these days so you are stuck with him as well. So, major progress in the last two days. His chemo was Tuesday. He felt pretty poopy Tuesday night I think, not worse but not better. But yesterday and today? Sooooo much better. If yesterday was good, today was great! He is eating Actual dry dog food which he has not eaten in well over a week. Tonight we were talked into leaving to go to a movie. I knew it was a good idea to get out but I was a nervous wreck. I called my dad and asked him to go check on him while we were gone just so I could actually go without having a panic attack. So we just got home and he actually RAN, well, maybe it was more of a trot, but still he came trotting to the door to greet us! My body was torn between crying, laughing, or jumping up and down. I settled on giving him huge hugs and kisses by the ton.

people DON'T suck!

Doing all this dog stuff over the years I have gotten a little jaded about people. You know the saying, "the more people I meet the more I like my dog"? Well everything we have gone through with Preacher has restored my faith in people. My friend Robyn, who I met because she and her family adopted a dog (Mr. Pink - Yay!) from us, posted THE nicest thing on her blog and her facebook page. And so many people have called and e-mailed, dropped off food he might eat, offered up hugs and help. My friend Casey went with me to the oncologist today and I don't know what I would have done with out her. She heard all of the things that I missed while I was still processing the last bit of info. Long story short, as awful as this has all been, the people in our lives have made it so much easier. We love you all.

ps Preacher had his first round of chemo today! 90-95% chance of achieving remission with chemo in lymphoma patients. Good news.

Metalsgirl.com update

Okay, I hope this is taken in the spirit that it is intended and not overly solicitous. But if you have been reading my blog you know that my Great Dane, Preacher, has lymphoma and will *fingers crossed* be starting chemo soon. So I have updated the Metalsgirl website and added tons upon tons of close out items to help us with the costs of chemo...maybe i should rename the close out page "the chemo fund"...it's a thought! Anyway, I have also added a couple of items to the One of a Kind page as well - like the necklace pictured above. So, shop away and know that your purchases are helping a very good dog!

Painted Man

A few months ago I commissioned California artist Gwen Rosewater to paint this portrait of Preacher for Tom for his birthday. To say we love it is an understatement. It is him. The eyes are what truly amaze me. She is beyond talented. And here's another cool thing about Gwen - if you want to have a painting done of your dog and say that you heard about her from Blue Dog Rescue she will donate 25% of the price of the painting to Blue Dog. how cool is that? She is a big believer in rescue. Check out her website - her paintings are lovely. And the fact that she did such a lovely job with my Preacher man makes me adore her.