Karla's Cottage

Molly goes pumpkin shopping

Now that my grand fairies are growing up, I need to treat my dogs more like kiddos.  We took Molly to the punkin patch and I let her be my little kid instead.

Ha, not quite true!  While the doodle enjoyed our trip, this child (verging on 17-1/2) seems to have inherited my joy in outings that other people might consider “for kids”  and had a great time too.

My partner in crime.  
No, in adventures.  Especially silly adventures.

I hope they never outgrow that.  I can see us at 80 and 30, exploring together.

This pumpkin patch has such gorgeous vistas.  It feels like you can see forever into the Kansas horizon.  Doesn’t the sky look limitless?

Well, it felt even bigger after we claimed our perfect pumpkins and hauled them across numerous fields in a driving wind (with tiny dust tornadoes swirling around us and aiming at my eyes). Somehow, even with the wind, and a couple of  too hefty gourds, we had some laughs and enjoyed the walk.  We did not linger at the maze or other attractions, though, by the time we left, that blowing dust was making rethink my commitment to contact lenses.  And doubt my upper body strength.  I should’ve gotten a wagon…

Molly didn’t mind the wind, she met a new buddy who hung out with us for most of our walk.

She met someone who did not want to be her buddy too.

And kept her distance from these potential pals.  

We had just picked her up from the groomer before taking her to the driving dust bowl, I mean, pumpkin patch.  After her hairstyling and bath, she was given a Nightmare Before Xmas scarf.  Sugarwings admired it so much, the groomer gave them one too.  
One of our goals for the day was to find a pumpkin to match Molly’s fur.  This was as close as we could get.  

 

 

The Guncles’ Christmas Gift

Guncle Randy has been wanting to make a jewel tree but hasn’t had time to do it. So, I decided to surprise him and Kevin with a special, Pet Butler tree.

In my decades of collecting jewelry from flea markets and estate sales, I have always been drawn to animal pins  and to initials.  

So, I just happened to have the perfect ingredients to make this animal lovers’ tree, adding in KS for Kev and RN for Randy.

Besides pets, there is a snowflake for Xmas…

A starfish for Florida…

A fairy, and lots of flowers, butterflies and dragonflies to represent their garden.

 And a goldendoodle for the trunk of the tree for my grand puppy, Olivia Ryan.

 

 

 

 

 

I ❤️ The Dog Park

Our city has a magnificent dog park.  Miles of trails through fields and the woods.  Some of the trails are paved, some dirt, some gravel.   Lately, I’ve been lucky enough to find heart shaped rocks in the gravel, like these two little ones.  

I thought it would be cool to use my blue crystal heart as a bowl to collect other rocks in.

This one was in the paved area.

And this little piece of my own heart came running up to me with an exciting greeting.  It’s Wally!  One of Sugar’s babies, and he seemed to remember me.

He lives nearby, in the neighborhood Ryan and I walked through regularly.   There wasn’t a week that went by when Ryan didn’t mention that he hoped we’d run into Wally, who had been one of his faves.  He had actually dog sat this boy for a week for the new owners and was pretty fond of him.

We hadn’t come across this cutey in our many walks, but the week Ry died, his brother took me on a “Ryan Walk” and guess who was there? Wally was out on a walk too!  I am afraid I cried too hard to be able to greet him.  But I made up for it when we ran into him at the dog park.  He got lots of snuggles from me.

In the fall, the bales are harvested in the many fields the trails go through and Molly likes to show off her jumping skills by leaping up onto them. Sugar can also leap into the air, but sees no reason to do it.

Dorothy enjoys the view from way up high, and likes to be sat up there with Molly.  Someone her height doesn’t often get to see the world from this angle.

 

 

Izzy the Brave

Thank you so much to the dozens of people who wanted to help Izzy!  I appreciate the outpouring of care towards this sweet girl, and I know that anyone of those potential homes would have been a happy place for her to grow and heal in.

When Izzy’s owner no longer wanted her, stating that she was belligerent and the puppy biting was not controllable, my good friend, Anette, and I both worked with the owner, helping her with tips and training information.

A week later, she contacted us again, saying, nope, no way, come get this dog.  Anette is the owner of Izzy’s father and Izzy had gone to her as pick of the litter.

And what a pick!  Lil Iz was a strong leader of the litter.  She was curious, smart, and outgoing.  Not to mention, as beautiful as she was silky soft and cuddly.

Anette jumped in her car and was on her way to central Nebraska to pick up that pup within minutes, she called me from the car for us to make a plan.  Legally, the puppy was hers to take in, I was hurting and so worried, I felt like I had to have her back in my arms.  Anette is a soft hearted breeder who understood that after raising this baby for 8 weeks, I loved it and also that if Izzy had problems, she might respond more to me.

I got busy making appointments for personal trainers and vets. The description of her behavior was troubling because I knew she had been good natured and learned commands when with me.  I though I’d have to work with her for weeks for obedience training.

 
Instead, I found a well behaved, non-nipping, sweet dog who was terrified.  She recognized me right away and came running across the yard to me.  

When I bent down to pet her, she literally screamed in fear.  It was a high, screeching yip, that did not let up.  We discovered that she was frightened of hands, doors, small enclosed areas, people, and loud noises.  But I also saw Anette’s little grandchild gently taking a stick out of Izzy’s mouth and her being happy for his attention.

While extremely skittish around my home and dogs all morning, she slowly opened up to our love.  I started calling her Izzy the Brave to give her some positive reinforcement for overcoming her issues.  She was being curious again, slowly approaching new things, looking to me to ask if it was okay, then bravely checking it out.

I knew then that what she truly needed was not just training but a lot of love.  If I were to be in charge of the process, she would bond with me, then have to go through it all again with the new family who eventually became her forever home.

I wanted to hold her close.

That was great for me, but not her.  I found a great couple who already had one of her siblings from two years ago.  They will bond with her and focus on the retraining themselves, so that she does not have to readjust to multiple families.  

While I hated having everything go so wrong for the poor girl, I was thrilled to have had her in my arms again, and to now know that she is in the arms of a family who will always treasure her.

And it meant a lot to see how many wonderful people reached out and offered to take this sad, scared baby into their own hearts.  Thank you.

 

 

New Looks for the Doodles

Molly and Sugar were both way over due for new doos. Sugar couldn’t get a haircut for 4 months because of pregnancy and nursing. And honestly, Molly was so dang cute as a fluff ball so furry you couldn’t even tell if there was a dog in there or not, that I was enjoying her as she was.

With the heat in Kansas, it just wasn’t fair for me to leave her that way just because I thought it was adorable. 
Once she was shaved, we discovered there was barely anything under that mop!  She is a tiny thing.

Sugar looked sleek under her mountain of hair too.

Do you see the little heart/hole in the sidewalk that she found for me on our walk?

Here is a close up.  I’d never have noticed it if she hadn’t called my attention to that spot.  Thank you, Shuggie, I love you too!

Before her Sugarbabies went to their homes, they shared a heart with me too.  This is a crystal that I’ve had in the yard for years.

I had no idea that one side was heart shaped until the puppies flipped it over while playing with it.

Of course, I took that as an ‘I love you’ message from them.

I hope those little puppies know how much I loved them too. My yard seems very empty without their lively personalities.

My time with them seemed much too short.  Saying good bye was rough. 

 

Saying farewell

By this weekend, our dog population will have dwindled down to just four,  Dorothy (who is getting tons of attention after losing her brother), Molly, Sugar, and Honey.

The pups are starting to leave for their new families.

Sugar is ready to say goodbye.  She has been sleeping on the blankets that go to their new homes, and letting me rub toys and blankies all over her to get the scent nicely saturated.  But is avoiding anyone trying to nurse.  She is over it.

The bags are packed with necessities and goodies to take along.

As hard as it is to say goodbye, I do love seeing the pups meet their new people.  They seem to know that person is theirs now.

While it is hard for me to watch them go, it might be even tougher for Molly.

She cannot stand to have them out of her sight.  I see a lot of games of fetch in my future to distract the poor girl through her sadness of losing her rollicking, lil playmates.

And who will their mommy hunt tasty tidbits for!?  She brought this critter right into the house to them.  At least the mice and birds she catches have been delivered outdoors.

I will miss their endless fascination and curiosity.  Oh and the enthusiasm!  They kept things lively around here.  I loved to show them new things to watch their excitement in exploring it.

I loved taking care of them too, the bathing, and brushing, and medicating.  I was rubbing Neosporin onto one fluffy boy’s fat tummy after another while sitting out on the patio and visiting the other day and someone asked if I actually enjoyed all of that work.

Yes, I do.  It doesn’t seem like work to tend to these babies’ needs.  And they are here for such a short time, I try to savor all the moments.

Maybe it is from raising kids, then grandfairies and looking back at how fast it all flew by.

My lessons have taught me to look for smiles and love where I can find them, and treasure each one. 

 

 

A little bit of painting

While the cuddle bugs have kept me very busy, I still have managed to do a few creative moves.  I spent time pour painting again, and tried something very different.  I enjoyed crafting this circle of women so much, I think I could repeat the theme with winged fairies in pastel colors too.

I’ve been doing puppy portraits too.

And I turned some pours into landscapes. Although this one looks alien.

This one is soothing. 

And here is a masterpiece!  Although, I haven’t sat it out yet, 8 of the 9 pups were spoken for by the time I got the sign ready.  I used this sign on a door in my yard for Sugar’s first litter and sold most of the pups this way.

It needed repainted a bit because of changes and touched up from storing it, but was a minor task to fix up.  Now, I need to set it outside and see if I sell that last, sweet boy.

Puppy Time

I promise, these guys really do have soft pillows!

But yesterday, they preferred rocks.
It was their first, big day out and they were so into being outdoor dogs, they embraced every aspect of it.

Including using the upside down fire pit as a den.  They also discovered it makes a good slide while playing King of the Hill.

But the day wasn’t just about playtime.  We got some work done too.  Here they are working as hard as they can to master Crate Training.

I put a kennel in their sleeping area and propped the door open for them to crawl in and out.  By the time I am ready to shut one in with the door closed, they won’t even notice.

Puppy Portraits

Last year, when Honey had 8, look-a-like pups, I did diagrams of them so I could learn their markings and try to figure out how to tell them apart.  
The diagrams were used for watercolor paintings and I ended up putting them into their puppy books.  I didn’t have time to do Sugar’s litter then because, well, 16 pups kept me hopping.

All 16 got baby books, and I am doing that again for the latest litter.  I also thought it would be nice to paint the little guys, but 9 pups is still quite a few to do, so I found a shortcut, with my friend, Beth’s help.

When I did the previous paintings, I’d posted a picture of one of the drawings on Instagram.   Beth saved the photo and printed multiples for me on watercolor paper.  Ta-dah! What a great shortcut!  I was able to start painting the drawings with help from photos I’d taken of the dog’s markings.

I used acrylics instead of watercolor, so I could make adjustments and cover up lines when needed to change the pup’s appearance a bit.  Basically, they look a lot as tiny babies, but there are more differences than just color and markings.  This little black one has a more narrow face and was thinner.

Four done, five to go.  It is nice to have the drawings on my art table, ready to work on when I get a chance.  It’s a slight cheat, but hey, it’s a copy of my own drawing, so not a big cheat, right?

I’ll leave you with some of the latest pictures of my babies.  We still have four boys available if you are looking for a new family member.

I ❤️ Puppies

Ta-dah!  A puppy heart!

And a puppy Oreo?

We got carried away.

Beth, Karla, and I started out with line ups, trying to pet sleepy puppies into oblivion so they could be placed in a row and not wriggle around waking each other up and messing with our design. 

First was just the girls.

Then the boys.

And then, ALL of the babies were put in a row.  That is an accomplishment.  


I was pretty pleased with the heart, too. 

Afterwards, we tucked them back into their nest and left them to snuggle up on their own.

Karla looked over and noticed they had formed a heart all by themselves!

I said that they are very smart dogs and learned tricks quickly.  Plus, they had excellent trainers.