Goodbye my sweet Tink

Lounging on the couch

Tink is on the right
Bossing the dogs in the camp set-up next door


Enjoying her bed at a dog show in Chattanooga, TN

It's a very sad day at my house today. I have to help one of my beloved babies cross the Rainbow Bridge later this afternoon. I hate it! I know it's best, but I hate it! Oh, how I wish our 4-legged babies could be with us longer.

Tink is our 14 year old Miniature Dachshund that I rescued 9 years ago from a horrible lady that had her only for making money. She is one of the sweetest, most patient, loving little rescues I have ever had. She is very easy going, wants to please and for a baby that lived such a horrible life before I saved her, she gets along well with the rest of my menagerie. She's very sociable and yet, in typical Dachshund style, could be stand-offish at times. She is very protective of her pack, especially me. She was a wonderful companion to my son while he still lived at home, loved him dearly and would *protect* him from any number of *boogey men* that might come into his room at night.

The first 5 years of her little life was spent in a dirty crate, pregnant most of the time. She had 6 litters of puppies by the time she was 5 years old! SIX!!! That means she was bred every time she came into season, starting with her very first one! She came from a horrible woman who is now sitting in jail, thank goodness, after being convicted of animal abuse! HURRAY!

I got Tink a few years before her POS ovwner was arrested. At the time, I was grooming at one of the local veterinarian's clinic and the POS that owned her had brought her in to be euthanized. Her reason? (and I quote) "the bitch only gave me one puppy last time, I can't make money that way" So rather than do what a responsible breeder would do, place her in a loving home, she didn't want to be bothered and wanted to euthanize her instead. I asked her if I could take her and find her a good home. She told me I could *have* her for $150, otherwise, put her to sleep. Well, I wasn't about to give this POS any money for her, so I left the room. I was so mad, but what was I going to do? Anyway, the vet came out and asked me if I really wanted to try placing this little girl and of course I said I would. The vet then went back to the room, told the lady (I use that term loosely) we didn't have time to euthanize her right this minute, but if she would sign the release form and leave her with us, we would euthanize her that afternoon. POS said fine, signed the form and left. The vet then brought little Tink to me and said, "Here, take her and find her a forever home."

I brought her home and began working on her evaluation and getting her adjusted to living a *normal* dog's life. She had obviously rarely been out of that crate. She was terrified outside and would stand there so stiff I thought she would break. She didn't want to stay on the couch, or in a dog bed, or walk around on the carpet or hang out with the other dogs. All she wanted to do was go back to her crate. I had to keep the door to the crate closed just to keep her from going inside. She would sit there, by the door, waiting for me to open it back up. She had no idea how to potty anywhere besides her crate. She was afraid to eat anywhere except in her crate! In other words, her world consisted of her crate. It took me nearly a year to get her housebroken and acting like a normal dog and of course by then, I was so attached there was no way I was placing her. She stayed with me from then on. That was 9 years ago.

I vowed she would live a happy life if I could give it to her and she would not end her life in pain or suffering. She had enough of that in the first 5 years to last 2 lifetimes. So, the time has come for me to honor that vow and keep that promise I made to her all those years ago and let her cross over. She has been a wonderful companion and has brought me and my family joy ten-fold and I thank the Lord above for allowing me to take this little Princess home with me that day 9 years ago.

Goodbye my sweet girl. Thank you for your years of love and faithfulness and companionship. Go play with your old buddies, Pixie, Blarney and Marilyn. Be sure to kiss your *Nanny* for me and tell her I love her. (*to my wonderful Mother: Please take care of her for me until I get there Mom)

Tuesdays At The Table

Now that I am back to blogging, I just had to get back into this meme. I LOVE it! I have found so many yummy recipes through this. These blogging women certainly know how to cook!
To participate post a recipe or cooking hint on your blog, then head on over to Cole's place All The Small Stuff look for Mr. Linky & post the link to your recipe. Be sure to link up to the TATT post. Then, and this is the most important part, check out all the other links for some great recipes!

Now for my recipe of the week:

Crockpot Potato Soup

2 cans Campbell' Cream of Potato Soup
2 cans Diced Potatoes
1 pint Half & Half
1 tsp pepper
1 cup Whipping Cream

Mix all ingredients in your crockpot & cook on low 4-6 hours.
Serve with cornbread, crackers, bacon bits, green onions, shredded cheese or whatever else you may want.
Talk about yuuummmyyy! Man did it hit the spot yesterday! And best of all, it's easy-peasy, I like easy-peasy.

So, head on over to All the Small Stuff & add your recipe!

Blessed Be

Retirement, House, Pampered Chef

(little thief showed up just as the sun was going down)

Well let's see, where to start?? Been a while since I've been able to get on here & update you about anything and (for the 5 of you that are having Groomer Angie withdrawls) I apologize. *grin*

How about we start with this?-- WE ARE AT THE NEW HOUSE!!!

Notice I said AT not IN. We are here, but are sleeping in the motorhome for now. I love, love, love it, absolutely, no doubt about it, LOVE it! I knew I would, but I didn't have any idea I would love it out here this much!

(we were using the tailgate for grilling since our stove hadn't been hooked up yet)
I am not the only one, the dogs love it as well. All the barking I heard while at the other house has gone down by about 80%! They spend most of the day, sitting or playing in the 10 x 30 kennel we put up for them with their noses in the air & enjoying the sun. They seem to be fascinated with all the birds & I know they can smell the deer that come through here at dusk & at dawn. They do bark when the squirrels show up. They hate the squirrels. There are no bratty, mean children to pick at them anymore, no horns honking, no skateboards or bicycles running all over the place & we are ALL enjoying it. My blood pressure is the best it has ever been! DH says it's beginning to grow on him, he's always been in the city & is having to adjust to country life & all the things that go with it, mainly snakes. He hates them! So we have an agreement, I'll deal with the snakes when they show up, he gets to deal with the spiders. *shudder*


Our kitchen cabinets should be finished this weekend! WOOT! I am so tired of washing dishes in the bathtub. *grin* But I can do without the dishwasher for a bit in exchange for this serenity. We still have things at the other house to get out here, most of the little stuff is here, but we have some of the larger furniture to bring out yet, our bed, the couch, the entertainment center, things like that. It's all coming together, slowly but surely and now that I am retired, I can work on it at my own speed.



(took this at the old house when the dishwasher broke, picture the same thing here with a white tub)
Speaking of my retirement, all the letters went out last month & it is NOT going over very well with my clients. They are not happy, but I don't know what else I can do. I CAN NOT continue doing this, I just can't. My Doctor has been after me for a while now & I had a bad scare last month that made me decide it was time now!

When I ended up at the ER with heart attack/stroke symptoms, it scared me badly. Thankfully, it wasn't a heart attack, but we still haven't gotten to the source of my stroke symptoms. Tests showed that I didn't have one, but my body is saying otherwise. With a history of stroke in my family, I am not taking any chances, so I'm finally obeying my doctor. I am sorry this is making it hard for some of the clients, but I have to think about ME & what is best for ME, not what is best for everyone else.

I have given everyone a great recommendation. I know she will take care of the dogs in the same way I do & as far as her grooming skills, well, since I am the one who taught her to groom, I am confident that she knows what she is doing. So, I have to find some way to deal with the clients that are continuing to call me & beg me to keep grooming their dog. I have to try to find a way to make them understand that yes, I have chosen to stop grooming dogs just as I chose to start grooming all those 30 years ago. Difference being, 30 years ago, it was a choice, now it's not a choice, I HAVE to choose retirement, for my sake. So....how do I make them understand?? I welcome any & all suggestions since I really don't want to have to change my phone number, I've had the same number forever. I'm starting to think getting a new number is the only way I will get any peace though. To tell the truth, I expected some fussing about me retiring, but not this much fussing. I have to admit too, it hurts my feelings a bit to hear them carry on about them & what are they going to do, while not even hearing me tell them that I Physically! Can't! Do! This! Anymore! or I will end up in the hospital! (to those clients of mine that are reading this, please try to understand it has nothing whatsoever to do with you or your little dog or me not liking you, it has to do with me & the fact that I want to be able to enjoy life, which is something I have not been able to do in a long, long time because of the pain I'm in & my health steadily going downhill)

OK, enough of that, now on with what I have been doing.

Two words--Pampered Chef! I absolutely adore the stuff! It's like Kick Off at the Redskins' season opener, Fireworks on the 4th of July, Winning Best of Variety at a dog show, Mardi Gras & Christmas all rolled up together! Ok, well maybe that's a bit ridiculous, overboard, exaggerated, but I mean to tell you their products are awesome! My aunt had a Pampered Chef Cooking Show at her house & I went, oh sweet mercy did we eat some gooooood food, all fixed in the microwave no less! So I booked a show of my own (held in my aunt's downstairs kitchen since mine is still not together yet, hers was held in her upstairs kitchen), we planned Baked Chicken, Mexican Layer Salad, & Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake, all made in the microwave!!

Yes, that chicken was made in the microwave! 20 mins & it was done!! The cake was made in the microwave too! The center has those mini Reese Cups in it!!

It was pouring rain that day, I mean a real frog strangler & the only ones that showed up were me (of course), my sister Linda (on the left), my aunt Frances (middle) & Jane our consultant. I was a little disappointed with that, but I figured as much when the rain didn't let up. We didn't care, we all ate good & had a wonderful fellowship with each other that day. I'm seriously thinking about becoming a consultant for Pampered Chef, I could make a little extra money AND would be able to get all kinds of Pampered Chef stuff! :)

I'm also still working on my stained glass & loving it as well, so don't worry about me in my retirement, I'm doing lots of things I enjoy. As I close this longer than I intended it to be post, look what I found at Wal-Mart.......

You know I just had to have them! teehee




Be blessed everyone,

Retirement, here I come

( Bandit Crabtree)

Yes, you read that title right. After nearly 30 years in the pet business, I'm retiring. It's time, in some ways, it's beyond time. My health and my back have gotten to the point that I feel I have to quit before it gets any worse, but I'm ready, I really am. I've thought about it long and hard and yes, I am indeed ready to retire.

(Rio Jackson)

I can't complain, I have been very successful in this business. It has provided for me and for my son, I've met some wonderful people and some wonderful little dogs, I've made life-long friends that, if it weren't for grooming, I would never have known. That's the upside. The downside.......

(Pepper Malcolm)

I am in constant pain, I have discs in my back that are nearly gone. I have scars from bites and scratches, I have carpal tunnel, and a couple of nerves in my hands that just plain don't work anymore from being bitten. Most days, I can hardly move by the time I finish working, much less think about doing anything beyond working when I finish my day. I go to bed in pain and I wake up in pain and it's taking it's toll on everything I do. Grooming is not "playing with little puppies all day" It's extremely hard work and trust me, after this many years in the business, I can tell what it's done to me, physically. I would wager, if you ask any groomer that has been in the business for 15 or more years, they will tell you the same thing. I KNOW they would, 75% of my friends are life long groomers and they DO tell me that.!

(Misty & Josie Jones)

My friend, Paul and I (who has been grooming for almost 35 years now) have always joked that someone will probably have to push our wheelchairs to the table and put the scissors in our hands before it's all said and done. We've been saying that for years, but I honestly don't want it to be true. :) From the looks of things, if I keep pushing myself like this, it WILL be true and how scary is that??

( Honey Harry)

So, after talking all this over with my DH, we have decided, the time has come. If I am going to have any quality of life at all, I HAVE to. I will be doing this slowly at first. I'm not going to just stop all at once, I will be phasing out so to speak. Letters will begin going out next week.

(Ginger Patrick)

I won't just leave everyone hanging without a groomer. I will be sending out a recommendation, along with an index card with the information their next groomer will need in order to give the dogs the same clip I have been giving them. All you have to do is take the card with you to your first appointment and they should know how I have been grooming your pet and what clip you are used to getting.

I am recommending my sister, Linda. I taught her to groom over 15 years ago and she is wonderful with the dogs. She won't mistreat them and since I taught her to groom, her technique is the closest to mine that you will be able to find in this area. She is good to the dogs and she knows what she is doing. She's located in Bristol, VA and her shop is called Family Pet Grooming. You can find her in the phone book. Or you can contact me for her information. (I'm reluctant to put her number and address in here for all the world to see) At any rate, she is the only one I would recommend AND she grooms cats too.

(Baby Evans)

I want to thank all of you who have trusted me with your babies. Thank you for letting me enjoy them and for sharing them with me. Thank you for your friendship over the years and for making my career a successful one. I will never forget the joy some of those little kids have brought me. Don't worry about me "missing it" remember, I have enough of my own kids that need grooming to keep my hands in it. :)

I am looking forward to the next phase in my life, spending quality time with DH, working with my show dogs, working on our new house, working on stained glass projects and just plain enjoying life surrounded my the loves of my life. I will continue to post in this blog, after all, I will still be alive and doing things, just not grooming. So be sure to keep my blog in your favorites and see what all we have been up to.

(All of the kids in this post have gone to the Rainbow Bridge. They are just a few of the ones I miss and will miss.)

Workman Problems & Crazy Woman Update

I've had a few people ask me how the new house is coming and whatever happened with the crazy lady that used to live there, so I figured it was about time I gave everyone an update. Hope it doesn't turn out too long, but if it does, remember ya'll asked! :P Problem is, where to begin?

The remodel on the house is still not finished!! (*insert a vision of me screaming and pulling at my hair here*) Do you realize how hard it is to find someone that actually WANTS to do the work you ask them to do? And in a timely fashion?? Apparently, you get one or the other, but not both with most folks. Thankfully though, we have found someone that does just that, at last! This guy has done more in 2 weeks than the last guy did in 2 months! Hey, we don't know anything about remodeling a house, I'm a DOG GROOMER for crying out loud, I can "remodel" any dog you ask me to, but not a house. DH has owned his own food business for the last 34 years and now runs our automotive repair shop, WE. DON'T. DO. HOUSES! At any rate, we ended up telling the last guy to hit the road and found someone else to finish the job.

(*Living Room before and after floor is finished now*)

Carpenter #1 was nickel and diming us to death, needing this, needing that, finding this on sale and that on sale, things we did not need, but that he thought "would look good" in the house. It got to the point that I felt like he was working on HIS house, not ours and he was beginning to see it that way himself. After nearly 2.5 months there, the only room that was completely finished was the living room! None of the other rooms were ready to move anything into, the kitchen was still without the cabinets he was supposed to build and no sink. The Spare Room still didn't have the closet enlarged and a door put on, nor did it have the trim put back up or the tile put down. The Bathroom was/is still sheetrocked, no paint, no medicine cabinet, no trim. The Dog Room still needed trim, tile on the floor, another closet fixed and the door worked on. The Hallway still needed tile put down, panelling replaced and stairway worked on. My Stained Glass Studio still needed paint, trim and a door. The only rooms in the entire house that didn't need something done were the Living Room (which really only needed to be tiled and paint touched up) and the Master Bedroom (which we weren't doing anything with other than paint and that was done) 2 months and every room he was working on was still only half finished! Then to top it all off, the weekend we let him go, he called and asked if he and his wife could go camping out there!! For crying out loud, you sure that's not what you have BEEN doing? Needless to say, in the words of an old Roy Clark song that comes to mind Thank God and Greyhound He's Gone!!

Now, on to Carpenter #2~He's been there for 2 full weeks and we have tile on all the floors, the Bathroom only needs painting now, the Spare Room is trimmed, the closet is finished and he will be adding a box type thing to the ceiling to cover that awful, tacky looking air return hose from the heat pump that the previous owner didn't bother to do anything with. The tile in the Dog Room and the Spare Room is called "Sunset" I love it! Wish I had found that for the Living Room, but that's ok.

(*ugly return hose in spare room being covered*)

The Dog Room now has a fixed door, new tile, trim and is ready to go. The Hallway looks great and just has a couple of minor things to finish up. The staircase still needs doing, but I haven't figured out what I want to do with it. Any ideas? Hardwood? Tile? Anything but carpet.

(*hallway before panelling was put up*)

I found this cute border tile to put in each doorway, I love it! It breaks the tile up nicely I think.

The Kitchen is the last thing he is doing and he's due to start on that this week, so keep your fingers crossed that we will be in there by the end of the month! I hope so, the kids are out of school now and apparently we've had about 10 more move in the neighborhood over the winter! The dogs HATE it! And the noise is even worse than last year! It's driving me crazy! Those of you that have been around for a while know what kind of problems I have here with the neighbors and this neighborhood, so I won't go into that in this post.

We've also had the driveway widened so the motorhome can get up in there and had a french drain put in to stop the water from coming into the house. That guy was finished in 2 weeks as well, so we have managed to find at least 2 people that do thier job!

(*shot of our driveway before and after the widening*)

Ok, update on crazy woman that used to live in our house. I posted here about her husband committing suicide in the out building on the property and the fact that she had his urn buried on the property? And how she was constantly coming to the house to "visit" him, nose around, then write notes complaining about things? Well, we got her to come remove his ashes and take them with her. I know that sounds harsh to some of you, but this woman was/is just a little on the crazy side, she really is!

(*the hole the urn was in*)

She had left her number on a couple of the notes and after one such trip of hers and the neighbors calling us to tell us there were people coming and going at all hours up there, we called her and asked her to remove him. She threw a FIT! Telling us how that "house was MINE before you all bought it!!" And that she had every right to come up there to "visit" him. We informed her that we have talked to the Sheriff's Office and we have No Trespassing signs up and that she was breaking the law coming and going as she pleased. We set a date to meet her there and had a Deputy on hand to make sure things stayed calm. Let me tell you, she did NOT want the Sheriff's dept there AT ALL! The woman is a bonafide NUT! She had the Deputy looking at us as if we had horns and pointed tails, convinced she suffered from Lupus and was unable to do anything (she could traipse around through the woods nosing around the house just fine until he arrived)

(*below you can see the nut and the Deputy coming out of the woods*)

She spent alot of her time trying to talk us out of making her remove him. But we were adament, move him! See, I would have considered letting her leave him there and come visit if she called first and let us know she was coming, but as time went on, she was getting more and more weird. Almost like she blamed us for buying HER house. She questioned and complained about work being done, she saw the old carpet laying outside and wanted to know why we removed it. She had looked through the windows and wanted to know why we painted and why we put tile down, what was wrong with how she had it? Then she started in on "Well you know how my husband died don't you?" We told her yes and she said "You don't have a problem with the fact that he did it right here on the property?" Started about how she and the kids missed the place and how much her husband had loved it and he wouldn't have liked what we were doing. DH had told her we had signs up and a chain across the driveway now and that we didn't want her there. Her answer? "The chain doesn't matter, I park at the curve and walk through the woods anyway" It was getting so I was really beginning to worry about what this woman would be capable of, especially if she decided that WE were the reason for all her troubles because we bought the house. Having her remove her husband was the simpliest thing to do in order to stop her from coming and going as she pleased. So far, there haven't been any signs of her coming back. We have cameras set up all around the house now with the security system and can watch from anywhere we have an internet connection. So far, so good, I think we are shed of the crazy lady. Keep your fingers crossed that it stays this way.

Now, this post is long enough, but I leave you with a shot of me & Peggy Sue napping on the couch, never mind the circles under my eyes, I have been having the worst time sleeping lately and it's beginning to take it's toll.

Until next time, be blessed friends,

Trophy Photos

Now that things have finally settled down to a small, containable riot around here, I thought I would post some pictures of the trophies I made for our show. Total made: 18 Fan lamps and 4 Table Lanterns. The first photos are of the 3-sided Table Lanterns that I did for Best in Show & High In Trial.

I didn't think to make sure to get a shot of the entire trophy table, I'm hoping maybe one of the other club members took one. I also didn't have lights on in the Calla Lily ones, but the shots turned out nice. The fan lamps were made for Group 1, High Combined and Best Junior Handler.

The Calla Lily lamps turned out very nice, I was really happy with them. I think I'm going to make one for myself. :)

The flower is a deep wine color, hard to see it, because the picture makes it look black, but it really is a beautiful color.

I hope to get a post written showing the steps it takes to make one of these lamps soon.

Next project.......

Bull Terrier trophies for my regional club's speciality in November, and another fan for a fellow blogger who fell in love with the ones I was making.

I am going to open an Etsy shop as well and hope to start selling different things online, lamps, suncatchers, tissue boxes, clocks, etc. I have lots of ideas floating around in my head.

I have a program on the computer that will let me make patterns and I hope to be able to make things with the less common breeds of dogs. It's hard to find things for breeds like Bull Terrier, Chinese Crested, Dandie Dinmont, Bullmastiff, Irish Wolfhound, Japanese Chin, just to name a few, I hope to remedy that in a small way at least.

This program is wonderful, if you can dream of something you would like in stained glass, the program makes it possible. :)

Until next time,

Why I hate to vacuum....

Ya'll thought I was only kidding about the Bullies not letting me clean house in peace, didn't you??
They do the same thing with brooms, mops, window cleaner spraying, etc, etc, etc.



I'll be back later with the story of how our dog show went last weekend.

Home again

We're back from the show weekend, tired, cranky, hurting and glad it's over. Pappy showed his hiney BIG TIME!! Needless to say, he didn't show since I was not about to let him act out in the ring in front of the whole place. More later about the weekend, right now, I have to go back to work. (Dang it)

We're Outta Here!

We're off to the dog show, be back the first of the week!

Ya'll behave now! :)

Angie

A different kind of blog swap

I finally had a little time to sit and read some of my favorite blogs. Normally when I'm working on my stained glass I do all of it in the spare room (can't wait to get in our new house where I'll have a little studio to work in, but that's a whole 'nother story) Anyway, when I get down to the foiling portion of the project, I bring the pieces in the living room and either watch tv or surf blogs while I'm foiling. You can see someone is always on my lap while I'm trying to do something, here's Peggy Sue our Toy Poodle watching Andy Griffith with me (look at the tv screen)

Well, I found the cutest little blog and she is having a blog swap that is right up my alley. The 2009 Dog Swap Now, I know you've all seen the swaps most blogs have and probably participated in a few of them. This one is a little different, instead of getting a partner that you find cute little things for and swap people things with, in this one you get a partner and you swap doggie things for your dogs! Now how cute is that idea? I signed up right away (does that surprise you? haha) and can't wait to find out who my partner is.
There is a spending limit and a limit of up to 3 dogs. So head on over to my new friend Sprinkles' blog and read all about it, sign up and join in the fun! I can't wait! This is such a cute idea! A big thank you to Sprinkles for doing this!

Now I'm off to work on some more trophies on this rainy, gray day.

In the words of Andy Taylor on the Andy Griffith Show....Ya'll Act like somebody today!