In Rememberance.

My Bailey on the left and Bev's Cricket on the right.

They were the best of long distance friends. When

Cricket would come to visit they played so hard, they

could hardly breathe, their little tongues dragging on the floor.

Cricket always pulled at Bailey's ears, leaving them swollen

and a little sore. She learned to grab him by the hind leg,

or go up underneath him when he got bigger than her, to pull him down.

Bailey's been gone for 2 years now. Just this week poor

Cricket was diagnosed with cancer and had to be put to sleep.

Bailey and Cricket are back together again, running like they used to.

That I am sure of.

My Beautiful Bailey is Gone.

Geary and I sure never saw this one coming. Our sweet

Bailey passed away this morning from complications with

medicines and a Pancreatic condition. She died at the Vet's,

poor Dr. Martens had to tell me, I don't know which could be

harder...the giver of bad news or the receiver. They gave

her a bath and wrapped her in towels so we could bring her

home. I brushed her coat for the last time, rubbed her ears

and kissed her little head. We wrapped her in a soft fleece

blanket and I sewed the seams around her. Geary found a

spot in the field by the barn, in the shade of a tree and we

buried her there. That's where she always went to explore,

and eat the bugs or roll in turkey poop. There will never

be another one like her, she was everything to us.

I'm going to miss her so. My heart just aches.

Sept. 18, 2000 - July 28, 2009

My Mom went to Mexico....

And all I got was this stupid hat! And she has the nerve to put it
on me so she can show other people. But I'll tolerate it, because
that's the sweet dog that I am. And I do look kind of cute, even
if I'm not a Taco dog.

Yes Bailey does hate hats. But I love to dress her up.
Finally I got some pictures done. I still have loads to do,
But I thought I should share these now before its ancient history.

Our ship the Norwegian Spirit. One of the smallest ships I've been on.

Leaving the port in New Orleans. That day was as cold as any
winter day in Michigan. Pretty nuts. I remember going outside
on the deck later in the evening and slowly feeling the temps
warm up. What a relief that was!

First night out we got our name tags and gift bags. Heather had Lorelei
as a helper. I finally got to put a face to the name of Lori.
She was so quiet...didn't she post about how she cusses and talks
all the time? That was far from the truth. She's a sweetheart and
I really enjoyed spending time with her.

First stop Costa Maya. The dancers were so colorful and looked like
they were having fun. I wanted a twirly skirt like the women were
wearing. Lucky for me and everyone else around I couldn't find
one. I have no shame when it comes to making an idiot out of myself.
Do you know you can look really scary in one of those bright red
table clothes? That's all I got to say about that!

Santo Thomas de Castilla

Altuna Ha ruins in Belize. One of the coolest places to visit.
Amazing to think that you are walking in a place built thousands
of years ago. Image what it looked like back then...all fresh
carved stones, they had a market place in the center of the temple.

Cozumel, Mexico
I have many more things to share. Please come back and look.
Check out my Flickr page, there will be lots more there.

Good News!

This is an old picture of Bailey, but its one of my favorites.

She doesn't get those snowballs on her feet like she used to,

cause her Momma bought her boots to wear.

Aha...spoiled brat.

Just to let you know, my Aunt had her surgery and made it into

recovery. She is stable and we are on our way to see her today.

It took all of 12 hours and 5 Doctors to do this task.

Bone was take from her shoulder and a metal plate put in

her jaw to replace part of the bone. Lymph nodes removed,

with only one having enough to be biopsied.

But that was attached to her jugular vein and part

of the vein had to be removed. Thanks for all your thoughts

and prayers, she's got a long road of recovery ahead

and needs those prayers to help her through. I

totally believe in the power of prayer.

Again, thanks! I'll be back the beginning of next week.

Unless I find a computer in the lobby.

(It's like going through withdrawal not having a computer).

Shaking the Snake - Not X Rated

OK, its not the best of titles...sounds pretty porno like to me.
But its what Bailey spend our time in the winter doing. She
drags the toys to where ever I'm at and squeaks them till I pay
attention. She must be really bored tonight, cause she's
driving me nuts. But she makes me laugh and that's a good thing.
I hold on to one end of the snake and ask her what's that?
She shakes it as hard as she can and growls like a big dog. She's
pretty strong, I've lifted her in the air while she hangs on.


When she has floppier toys they hit her in the head. What an idiot,
sometimes I would like to be a dog. Cause I can be an idiot too!
Yep, me and my buddy Bailey.....

Bailey the Magnificent Leaf Magnet!

It's like magic...the way leaves stick to Bailey's head. Dozens of

them and they always end up in the house, in the car, even in my bed.

She is a leaf magnet. Sometimes there are as many as three or four

stuck to her chin. But they don't bother her a bit. I can usually find

her with her face stuck into a pile sniffing for something good I'm sure.

After a couple of days she smells like an old wet pile of leaves. That's

my girl! We had a great weekend, lots of food for our tailgate party.

It was a perfect Fall day. Monday I go with my sister and niece to

check out a prospective college for next year. It's hard to believe

she's graduating.

My week in a nutshell

Let's see, this week went flying by. The 18th was my little girl's eighth

birthday. Happy birthday to you Bailey! She's getting to be my little

old lady now...such a Schnauzer!

I bought a birthday present for my mom from Nancy at

roundrabbit, I couldn't make up my mind so I got two...one for

mom and one for me since my birthday is two days after hers.

I'm thinking she'd like the apple blossoms best. Blue is her

favorite color. It'll be late getting here...but she'll understand.

She already gave me my present...a mug from McDonald's that

holds 14 oz. of coffee and I get free refills till the 31st of December!

I love their coffee...um, um, um, unlimited refills....

I'll be bouncing off the walls for sure.

I got crowns (temps for now) put on my front teeth and now I am

speaking with a lisp! Not just a little one, but I have to really

think about what I'm saying...its like I have mush in my mouth.

Geary says he couldn't tell the difference..hahaha!!! So I do a lot

of singing in the car and talking...you know "she sells seashells...

blah, blah, blah." Sometime it works.

But the good news is....my SON is coming home! I haven't seen

him in three years, maybe four. He called to say he was getting on

the bus and would be here tomorrow night. I am so excited! He's

been saying he was gonna come home for months. He's got more

patience than I do....he's taking the bus all the way from Colorado.

So there it is, my week in a nutshell............

RRRRRR Matey!!!

My Mom let me jump in the water today. But they

all laughed at me 'cause my butt has gotten so big

over the last three weeks that it kept sinking in the

water. But I showed them, I made it back to shore

and out again a couple of times. Now I'm really stinky

and I have to have a bath. What's a porkchop? That's

what everyone is calling me....I thought my name was

Bailey.

UKC Show

I had the best fun yesterday and unfortunately I have

no proof of it. How did I leave the house without taking

my camera? By the time I realized it, I was too far down

the road to do anything about it. We spent the day at

the Kalamazoo Fairgrounds watching all the dogs at the

UKC Premiere Dog Show. There were Agility contests,

Obedience, and the Dog Judging classes. And all these

others:

Dock Jumping Loved it!

Weight Pulling

Terrier Races How did I miss this?

Sue, Kayla and I saw all the different types of

breeds that you don't normally get to see anywhere.

The really fun thing about the United Kennel Club

is its for ordinary everyday people owners. If you

know what I mean. But one disappointing thing

was the lack of Mini Schnauzers. Speaking of which

my girl Bailey is doing pretty good. I have to keep

her down for 10 more days and by then the poison

should have left her system. She is still feeling

punished, as I won't let her do anything, but she

loves me just the same. That's what dogs do, love you

unconditionally forever no matter what........

A Bad Story with a Happy Ending

I'm back from the Bead and Button Show,
haven't downloaded my pictures yet, just being lazy.
I almost didn't go after all that anticipation.
Wednesday night I was out in the back planting the
rest of my plants before leaving for the weekend.
I wasn't watching my dog, she usually stays out in the
yard while I plant. So while I was watering the container
I look over and here is Bailey chomping on something
by the garage door. So I yell at her, go over to see what she
was chewing on and darn if it wasn't a piece of rat poisoning
that WAS NOT suppose to be in that garage for obvious reasons.
So I gather the pieces, grab the dog, run to the phone and
start calling vets. And of course since its 9 at night,
all I get are recordings! RATS, double RATS!
Finally I find an emergency vet service in Kalamazoo
(40 miles away). I start forcing peroxide down her to
make her vomit and Bev comes to drive me to Kazoo.
On the way she throws up once in the towel (gross...all
foamy). We get her to the vets, rummage through the
vomit in the towel...she ate way more than I thought.
They make her vomit one more time...this time she
brings up more grass and a baby bird...where did she
get that? I swear she'll eat anything that doesn't eat her
first. I mean she swallowed that baby bird whole. The vet
looks at me like I'm the irresponsible parent that I am.
Makes me feel awful, cause I totally love my little girl.
So we give her a dose of activated charcoal and vitamin K
pills. I have to keep her really quiet for three weeks so she
won't bleed out on me. I really feel like we caught her
soon enough, but how much poison does it take in her
system to kill her? I didn't ask, mainly cause I don't want
to really know. I've been carrying her up stairs and down
the stairs, putting her on the couch, taking her off the couch,
I am about broken myself. As for the poison, its out of the
garages for good. Back to the sticky papers for the rodents.
And Bailey is sitting like a Queen in my arms, enjoying all the
attention she's getting. Clueless.

Taking a break

Well we made it through the dreaded tax day. Lucky for
us we squeaked by without owing too much and even
getting a little back. Now we can wait for that little
stimulus check that's coming. Can't wait to see how they
figure on getting the money back and probably a little
more. I don't want to sound bitter, but I am realistic.
Just wanted to show off my little girl Bailey. She so
wants me to leave her alone! We're getting rested up
for tomorrow...its suppose to be 70 and sunny...WAHOO!
I was thinking today that the one thing that tells me Spring
is here for sure hasn't arrived yet. The hummingbirds
usually dance in front of the picture window to let me
know its time to put the feeders out. Haven't seen them
yet. Sunday I planted seeds to get a jump on gardening.
I don't do a plot, but I have these containers called
Earthboxes. Its unbelievable how well they work.
I grow just enough for Geary and I...oh and Bailey too.
I have to watch her cause she'll pick the tomatoes off the
vines before I do. She loves the green beans too.

My beautiful beads are here! These are the wafers from

Humblebeads that I won in her drawing. Aren't they

sweet? Today Heather did a post with a bracelet design

for any of us who are living on a budget. Which I never

thought I would have to say, but I am one of those people.

I really have to steer clear of places that I used to go to...

like the bead shop, yarn stores, fabric stores, you get the

picture. No point in torturing myself. Heather shows us

how we can still have beautiful things if we are savvy

shoppers. Thanks Heather...you savvy shopper you!

Bailey Got Boots!

Bailey's Christmas Boots! All they need are
beads or maybe some bells and they would be
lookin' good!


She won't wear a hat, but I could bribe her with
biscuits and she let me put the boots on. Didn't
take long for her to be off and running!



Bailey loves pouncing on the snow banks that
Geary plows. She's getting ready to leap!

Just a reminder to myself!

Can you believe its November already? Last night we
got our first really hard frost. For the first time in
months I haven't broken out in a sweat
(that m-pause thing). The leaves are almost off
all the trees and Geary said he's mowed the lawn for
the last time. It gets pretty chilly at night but I'm not
turning on the furnace yet. Geary's fantasy is one that
we get to move to an island for the winter.
( What?...I thought I was his fantasy)
Not sure when that one will happen. Bailey is just happy
doing whatever. She really likes the snow.
Chews on the mounds of snow, sticks her face right
in the soft stuff and comes up with balls all
stuck to her beard. I took this picture few years ago.
It made it on TV during the weather,
so she's had her 15 seconds of fame.
People even asked me if it was my dog they saw.
What I'm saying is that getting colder all the time.

This was what winter looked like last year. Just a
reminder for myself. That's why we are taking a
trip to Las Vegas, that and we always have a good time
there. Warm sunshiny weather and a visit with my daughter.
We haven't seen each other for a few years.
Its gonna be a fun time! Later....
I want to finish a necklace to wear, a good luck charm,
maybe?

Happy Birthday Bailey

Happy Birthday to you Bailey!

Today Bailey turns seven...where

did that time go? She is the love

my life and truly my best friend.