A little bit more crocheting, a visit to the doctors and a Maggie update

It's been another busy week with Maggie.  I want to document more about her but this is my 'making things' blog so I am going to encroach on Boris's blog for a while to do it. I am sure people reading this one aren't really interested in Maggie's exploits even though she is the cutest thing in the whole wide world!

For the past six months the arthritis has gotten a lot worse, to the point of really debilitating.  My husband is the one with autoimmune disease which attacks his muscles and nerves and is limited to what he can do but it had become so bad with me that he was actually more active than I was.

My annual appointment with the doctor was due so I went to see her and told her my tale of woe. She said as this summer had been so humid people like me were really suffering.  Shr renewed my blood pressure medication, added a diuretic as my legs had been swelling a lot more than usual and gave me a weeks supply of steroids.  She said they would help a lot with the arthritis.  Well, I am on my second day of taking them and I already see an improvement which is great.

As for my hobbies, I am half way through Granny square 8.

I plead getting the new puppy, helping my husband with his project and arthritis as my excuse for lack of making things and am hoping things will settle down and I can get a bit more done soon.

Just one Granny square this week!

Well, Maggie is adorable and we love her to bits.  She has thrown us right out of our routine and we are trying to adjust to a new one to include her.

She needs lots of going outside to do her business and our yard isn't enclosed so that means we have to be with her.

She loves to play but we have to supervise because she just wants to bite everything, especially my trouser legs!!!

She will play with her toys and we interact with her to keep her exercised but she will not take no for an answer when she bites my trousers.  Trying to research a solution for that.  I offer her a toy as an alternative and that works for a short while but back she comes!

Her potty training is going well but that's because we have been vigilant in taking her outside.  She doesn't bark to let us know that she needs to go unless it is at night when she is in her sleeping crate. She cries then when she wakes up and needs to pee.

So our first week with her has been hectic but we are enjoying having her so much.  She is only 6 weeks old and we have a long ways to go.  We are in for the long haul.

Only managed one Granny square this week but hey, it's better than nothing!

A little surprise this week!

If you read my blog then you know we are senior citizens, my husband isn't too well, I am arthritic and we live in the country and are pretty isolated.
Boris, our wonderful and faithful dog is getting on too and we know we could be targets for robbery so we knew that we would have to get another dog sometime soon.

My husband has been researching breeds and we decided that an American Bulldog would be perfect for us. They are loyal family dogs and protective. He also wanted an all white one. Unfortunately, they are a little pricey.  We have been checking out rescue places to adopt but have never found one.

My husband was browsing Craig's list on Tuesday and came across an advert for a white puppy American Bulldog in a town not too far away.

She was 5 weeks old, which we thought was a little young to be being sold but we went ahead and texted the owner that we might be interested and we got a reply right away.

She had told us how much she wanted for the puppy which wasn't outrageous by comparison to what we knew was the going rate.  We offered her less if we liked her.  She accepted and we arranged to meet.

The owner didn't want us to go to her place, she wanted us to meet her in the local Walmart car park and bring the puppy. Umm!

When we saw the puppy we were smitten.  My husband's birthday is soon and he said he would be happy to have her as a birthday gift.  This is great for me as I don't have to worry about what to buy him now.

The owner told us she breeds these puppies but we suspect she is not a professional breeder.  The puppy had three patches of what looked to be some sort of skin infection and the owner told us she had taken her to the vet and the vet had told her it was a bacterial infection and to bathe her twice a week and apply the ointment which they prescribed for the puppy.

That seemed to be reasonable but when we got home and checked the ointment it was out of date.

The next day we had a hospital appointment so we took her with us in her crate bed.  I stayed with her and let her out to do her business and gave her her food while my husband went and got seen.

I called our vet and made an appointment for the next day as we needed to know she was OK and to get the skin patches treated.

We took her to the vet and they gave her a good checking over and proclaimed her to be in perfect health.  Phew!  They took some swabs from the patches and could not find any sign of a bacterial infection so they suspect it may be ringworm and gave us medication to treat her.  She also got her first shots and they wormed her.  They also told us not to bathe her unless she got dirty. The seller I think had come up with her own diagnosis and treatment so I am glad we got it checked out straight away and have the correct treatment.

Her tummy was a bit upset Thursday and yesterday, I suspect from the shots meds and worming but today she has been much better.

She eats very well and we have her on a schedule whereby we are taking her out often to potty with Boris and she does her business outside when we do.  There have been a couple of accidents but we are still getting used to her and her to us and I am confident she will get the hang of the potty thing very quickly.  She is very bright and very energetic and loves to play but she also naps in between feeding followed by play sessions.  She sleeps in her crate bed at night and I do have to get up and take her out usually about 1am to potty but she goes right back to sleep afterwards.  She is a bit of a chewer so I dug out Boris's toys which he never really played with and put them through the washer and she loves to play with them.

So, so far, so good. We named her Maggie. The extra exercise is good for me too, I am walking a lot more than usual which can only be good.

Boris isn't too impressed with her yet, he is keeping his distance.  She is trying to be friendly with him but I think she isn't endearing herself to him when she tries to bite his tail.  He has already blogged about her!

www.boristhehandsomestdog.blogspot.com

Soooo, I don't think I am going to be getting up to my sewing and knitting room much for a while so I guess I will be making a lot of  granny squares which is OK for now.

Leather knife sheath and granny squares

The past few weeks have been busy.  Three hospital appointments with my husband which are all day happenings, outside work on the land including mowing, fertilizing, spreading seed, some re-organising of the workshop, shopping and general house wife type things.

It felt like I hadn't done any craft work though because I haven't been up to my sewing room in forever but that really isn't the case.

We made a sheath for my husband's new Damascus steel knife so he can wear it on his belt or inside his boot when he is outside working.  Leather work is something we can do together.  It gets interesting at times as we both think we know better than the other but it's all good natured and between us we get the job done.

We usually sit down after evening meal and watch TV for a couple of hours and my fingers were itching for something to do while doing this.  I have embarked on a crochet blanket made with 12" x 12" granny squares.  I started about 10 days ago and have four made and another is nearly finished. We don't watch TV every single night and sometimes it's only an hour but I am enjoying the simple task of making these squares a lot.

I have quite a lot of the beige yarn so will make as many as I can with it.  The yellow and brown not so much of hence the small areas in those colours.  After these are all used up I will decide what other colours to buy.

I have also been trying to keep up with the blogs I follow as I so enjoy reading them.