**Updated** Caution: Sad story about a sick dog ahead.

**If you are looking for updates I have moved everything here. This post was getting way too long.**

Let me tell you an amazing story about a little dog I know named Zoe. She was rescued from a puppy mill situation in 2005 or early '06, and came into my friend Boomer and her husband Brett's home as a foster dog. Poor girl was in bad shape. She is a long-haired dachshund, but you could hardly tell at first glance. Zoe endured several botched c-sections at the mill, a mouthful of rotten teeth, and had clearly been severely neglected and/or abused by the people in charge. Zoe was afraid of everyone.

As she began to heal, Zoe was placed with an adoptive family. She came back to Boomer and Brett almost immediately, now labeled as "too mean." Weeks of trial and error, back-and-forth trips, and disappointment later, Zoe still didn't have a home.

Not long after the last rejection, Zoe finally found her forever family. Their names were Boomer and Brett.

Boomer and Brett worked tirelessly with Zoe, truly believing that there was a sparkling gem of a dog inside this terrified, mean, bedraggled creature. They didn't give up on her, and never stopped believing that Zoe could do anything with enough love, patience and treats. They were right. As Zoe's fur started growing in, we all began to notice how beautiful this dog really was. Her coat was long and shiny, and there was a sparkle in her eyes that hadn't always been there. Once she realized she wasn't going anywhere, her spunky personality started to emerge. Every milestone was celebrated. I remember Boomer calling me one day to report that Zoe played with a toy, for the first time in her life.

Almost by fluke, Boomer discovered that Zoe had a powerful prey drive and was quite interested in hunting. They started competing in Earthdog events. Little Miss Zoe, with her 5 teeth, quickly worked her way up the ladder and earned an Earthdog Champion title. If you've even been to Boomer and Brett's house, you have seen her strutting around, tongue lolling out the side of her mouth, picking up her sister's toys purely to incite playfullness.



Zoe had emergency bowel surgery last night. She started getting sick on Wednesday night, vomiting and refusing food. There's no blockage, but a sudden and freakish hernia that went very bad. Dr. Britt (kate's vet) did the surgery after having already worked a full shift at the Animal Hospital. When she called late Friday night, Dr. Britt shared that she had to remove a large section of Zoe's bowel and things were still very touch-and-go. The recovery is very risky, and we won't really know for sure how she is doing for a while yet. I did hear that Zoe is awake this morning, though I haven't gotten an update since about 8.

I told you. It's a sad but amazing story. Here's the part where I make my Jerry Lewis-like appeal:
Boomer unexpectedly lost her job just after Thanksgiving. She and Brett are paying their bills and feeding themselves and the dogs, but don't have a lot left over for extras. Like dachshund surgery. When Boomer and Kate called me yesterday afternoon to tell me about the surgery, my first reaction was to try and make the financial part of this experience cause the least amount of stress possible. We're putting the whole bill on my credit card and Boomer will pay me back when she can. Several people have offered their help, and, so, this is how to help.

Give us your money.

No, seriously. I've decided to set up a mini fund-raiser to help Boomer and her family afford Zoe's medical care. I can accept bank transfers and credit card donations through PayPal if you have an account set up there (my address there is laura.c.wolfe at gmail dot com), as well as the traditional methods of cash and check (hit me up in the comments section if you need my address). Any small donation you are able to spare will help Boom and Brett worry less about affording all this, so they can concentrate on Zoe's well-being.

But wait! There's more!

Anyone local who donates will be entered in a drawing to win an awesome prize: my mad photography skillz! Yes, I will travel to one lucky winner's house with my camera and stuff, take pictures of you/your dogs/your lint ball collection for an hour, and then send you a photo CD with full reprinting rights for all images. That's like, a $32 value at least, right?

Awesome Prize Opportunity #2:
Marigrace of Southpaw Dog Grooming has also agreed to donate 1 bath and nail trim (for a dachshund only, no rottweilers or humans allowed!). Anyone with a wiener who sends a donation will also be entered to win this item.

The Prizes Just Keep Getting Better #3:
Lo-Downs member Patty Clay has offered up her knitting skills to one lucky dachshund! She will hand-knit a custom-sized dog sweater for the winner of this prize. Anyone with a wiener who sends a donation will also be entered to win this item.

Can It Even Be True? Prize #4:
Lo-Downs Member Melinda has put together a gift basket for the drawing. It has a $15.00 gift card to Blockbuster, popcorn bowl, popcorn, cheese sprinkle for popcorn, m&ms, twizzlers, milk duds, and chocolate covered raisins. Anyone who has sent money is eligible to win this one.

Out-of-Towner Prize Available:
I did not anticipate getting donations from outside the STL metro area, but, uh, I have. Thanks, Natalia! I know that Boomer has some out-of-town friends inside the computer as well, so I've added a special prize drawing for people who are not local.



It's a quilt! I made it myself!
I know, my list of talents just keeps on growing! This quilt is approximately 40" square, and suitable for hanging, a lap quilt, or a baby, if you're into that sort of thing. Machine pieced in a pattern of my own making, and machine quilted. I call it "Summer Windows," because it makes me think of looking out the window on a perfect, sunny, clear summer day.



Please don't hesitate to email me (laura.c.wolfe at gmail dot com), contact me via facebook or in the comments here. I am doing this as a completely personal venture because Boomer is one of the most amazing, open, and selfless friends of all time and I'd like to support her the best way I know how.

-Laura

Pumpkin'd

Spent some time this weekend feeling under the weather and decorating pumpkins. I stuck these on the outside of our patio fence and I've gotten a ton of complements on 'em from people walking past. Here's hoping no one gets a wild hair and goes on a pumpkin-smashing spree.
Aunt Bobbi crafted Frank and Rita some adorable sweaters which make them look like candy corns. I can't say that either of them are thrilled to have to wear clothes, but the sweaters are awfully cute.

Dogged

Franklin is quite meddlesome most of the time. That's pretty much a dachshund hallmark, but dam it can get annoying. I've been working diligently to wash, iron and fold a boatload of fabric that I recently procured (for a good value!) and Frank insists on being in the middle of everything. Generally I don't mind, in fact, I think his tenacity is kind of cute.

This weekend, however, he's been acting especially bad. I don't know if it's because he's bored, or what, but in the past 24 hours he's:

• Chewed 3/4 the buttons off my favorite green sweater, leaving big holes behind
• Mounched the strap off of one brown T-strap shoe. My only brown dressy shoes, of course.
• Terrified the neighbor's cocker spaniel
• Gotten into my craft supplies and helped himself. See below:
  

Even Rita has been badder than usual this weekend. She was definitely an accomplice in the craft supply heist; when I walked in she was chewing on a pinecone (no idea where that came from?). Last night I dropped her leash and she took off towards the rabbit patch and hid in the bushes for 10 minutes , while I wandered around looking for her.

One of Jeremy's big things as we look for a house is having a space to himself where the dogs can't go. Now I can understand why.

Assholes.

Bugs of Summer

Just this past weekend I was lamenting the fact that I hadn't seen any junebugs yet this season. Last year the dogs had so much fun chasing and catching those lazy buggers. Bobbi once said that junebugs are "the drunk drivers of the insect world" and she's totally, completely right.

Well, just in the past few days I've started seeing junebugs all over the place. We also encountered some pretty serious mosquitoes at the Muny last night. But the best part?

Franklin ate his first cicada of the summer this morning. Yum.

Procrastinatrix

As evidenced by my last post, I'm procrastinating on my projects by starting new ones. To be fair, my container garden was looking rather wimpy and the porch needed to be cleared anyway. I started a whole gang of seeds in April; sadly, none of them lived long enough to be planted outside. I did some cleaning and organizing outside yesterday, including getting rid of some stuff and consolidating what I had. I'm trying to cut down on my non-consumable purchases, so I planned to buy plants only for the containers I had.

This is the first time I've gone plant shopping with a map. In the past, I've just kind of wandered around and picked up things that I liked, or bought based on what kind of bargain I could get. That method generally ended in disappointment, badly composed container plantings, and an excess of marigolds.

It was actually kind of awesome to choose plants with intent. I don't spend a lot of time pre-planning my purchases for any kind of shopping, and I'm getting totally sick of coming home with a whole pile of stuff that doesn't go together in the least.


I wasn't really planning on buying any perennials, but when I stopped to get a closer look at this one, I couldn't resist:


I also picked up this one, which seems to be called "Tickseed." I'm mostly posting here in hopes of remembering the name next year, if this happens to come back.


I also spent some time washing the sliding door yesterday. This isn't the best picture, but I'm really happy to have wiped off all the dachshund nose art. Frank and Rita are working on a new masterpiece, though, so don't worry.


The dogs have been really groan-y today. I'm not sure if it's the heat, or what, but all Rita wants to do is make frog legs and lay around. Franklin harassed a toad yesterday and got a foamy mouth for it. Poor guy...it kind of serves him right.

Greta

This little girl slays me. She and her 3 older siblings (all white boxers) showed up at the Lucky Dog photo shoot a couple of weekends ago. So. cute.

Woof.

Franklin make a new friend the other weekend. Grommit is an English Mastiff who is one of the gentlest dogs I've ever known. Even though he outweighs Franklin by, oh, 170 pounds or so, Grommit got down on the floor to greet Franklin and let him have a few sniffs.

The funniest thing was that Grommit drools. A lot. Every time he put his head down to check Franklin out, the ween would end up covered in dog spit. Who needs a shower?

Speaking of showers, Franklin ended up in the shower with me a couple of nights ago. He was pissed. I figured that as long as he was in there, I might as well soap him up. Yeah, not the best idea I've ever had...

Lush Puppy

Franklin had a few laps of Irish Cream last night. We figured that he would do the same thing he always does when we offer him alcohol*: sniff it, stick his tongue in it, then jump off the furniture and run away as fast as he can.

Nope. He loved it. It made him sneeze, though.

We spent the rest of the evening keeping the dog away from our glasses and watching him try to figure out how to get liquored up.

*Um, not that we try and get the dog drunk every weekend or anything. Franklin has only tried the stuff twice in his life.

Perfect

Do you see this? I was wrapping Kate's birthday present along with all my holiday gifts last week, and I managed to (accidentally) cut and wrap this paper in such a way that the design matched up perfectly at the seam. It was so, so satisfying. Yep, I'm a dork. I was so taken with this event that I knew I needed to document it. So, here you go.

I have the entire week from 12/21-1/02 off from work. I'm even getting paid for it this year! We will see if I get any crafting done. My biggest goal is to clean all the crap out of the spare room so we can have some space to get creative.


And this? The only photo that turned out from the Frank 'n' Rita photo shoot. We will be trying again.

Merry Christmas, y'all.

Hanukkah Wieners

We celebrated the first night of Hanukkah last night, and both dogs got special magen David cookies for the occasion.


Even though Rita Bean is Christian, she seemed to enjoy last night's festivities. More presents to come!

Dyllan, pissed, again

I seem to have a jillion pictures of Dyllan, dressed up in some sort of crazy costume, looking pissed. Last weekend's Gateway Lo-Downs Meetup was no exception, to be sure...


Also, Boomer managed to accomplish this amazing feat with only a few treats:

Big News in LauraLand

No, I'm not pregnant. Gah.

I have a job! A real, honest-to-goodness, career-starting job. I've been working as a contractor for my company since December 2006, and my permanent offer finally happened on Friday. It is, of course, contingent on my background check and drug test coming back ok. I've never been arrested, have good credit, and passed up the opportunity to um, eat some poppy seed muffins last weekend, so I should be good ;)
I probably won't post any details about my company or my job on this blog, but feel free to email me if you'd like details.

To celebrate, I went to Target and bought the wieners their Halloween outfits. They both got the same thing, because none of the costumes really matched very well. I tried them on when I got home, and they are freaking cute. I will try to take some pictures while we are at the Hallowiener Meetup on Sunday.


Franklin and Rita are currently warring over the one Nylabone we have in the house. Frank's idea of fun is to grab it, wave it in Rita's face, then run as fast as he can in the other direction. She's taken to chasing him through the house, and barking at nothing to distract him. When he abandons the bone to see what's going on, she grabs it and starts gnawing.

Oh! Also, I went to Florida to see my BFF, Bobbi. You can see my entire collection of photos if you're my friend on Flickr, but here are some highlights:

Outside of the Dali Museum in downtown St. Petersburg with Tessie and Amanda. I'm not really sure what is going on in this picture, but that bench was definitely designed for laying on.


Bobbi and I acting like art students in front of the Dali Museum. There was a guided tour going on right behind us while we were inside the museum. Being the asshole that I am, I couldn't stand it. Luckily, I had my iPod with me. I popped in my earbuds, cranked The Magnetic Fields, and saw some Dali.

Ok, I have three loads of laundry waiting to be folded around the apartment. To work!

Me: Rita!
Rita: Woof woof woof woof woof woof rooooo!
Me: What are you even barking at? It's five thirty in the fracking morning. There's nothing out here.
Rita: Woof.

Also, happy birthday to me! I'm 25 today!

Dog Report

Last night, I was sitting here doing my accounting homework. Rita, who has been mooning around our apartment(s) for nearly six months now, happened to catch a glimpse of herself in the mirrored closet door.

She started making this low-pitched wookiee noise, all the while staring at her reflection and raising her lip a little. Suddenly, she freaked right out!

Rita discovered the dog that lives on the other side of the mirror!

Either it is the most threatening thing ever, or her best playmate. She spent close to an hour barking and bowing and freaking at that dog, who just wouldn't back down!

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The dog sitter came today to take Franklin and Rita Bean out while I was at work + class:


I love that the report indicates what "business" both of the dogs did. That's my kind of pet sitter!
"Laura, Took me a while to get leash on Rita but once she saw Frank and I were going out she let me put the leash on her. They did not eat for me, though. But both sat in my lap outside. Look forward to next time."

I am such a dork...

Weiner Wrap

My boy dog, Franklin, has a real problem containing his liquid excitement. I was sick of apologizing to all my friends when he peed on their hands, couches, carpet, doormats, etc. I sewed together a little belly band for Franklin when were getting ready to go someplace new. It worked great at catching the little squirts, not so good at absorbing an entire housetraining error. The weiner wrap is made from scrap fleece and flannel, with a moisture barrier nylon piece in the middle. Franklin doesn't exactly like it, but he hasn't tried to take it off, so we're ok.

I've been busy. Can you tell?

I also have been working on a quilt for k8's birthday...which came and went in early January. It's finally done, and I must say I'm pretty pleased with it. I used inkjet photo fabric that went right through my printer for the photos. The piecing was fairly straightforward, and once I got going on the machine quilting, the whole thing went together in a week's worth of evenings.

Franklin and Rita Bean Clearly enjoyed the new dog pillow I stitched up for Rita Bean's crate. The color is great, and I was able to pick up yards and yards of fleece at Hancock Fabrics for $2.99/yard in January. More fleece projects to come...