Things we take for granted and UPDATES BELOW

Who are you and what have you done with our Shepherd? 

Saturday, March 12, 3:00 a.m.  Just a quick note to update you on The Shepherd.  He is in the hospital with pneumonia in both lungs (is that double pneumonia?  I don't know) but the scariest part is the big blood clot that was hiding in the top of his right lung that they found with the CT scan, which was probably what was causing him to be so short of breath.  They have him on IV antibiotics for the pneumonia and IV heparin for the blood clot.

It's 3:00 in the morning and I'm going to bed.  Phew, it's been a long day.  Send your prayers and good thoughts to St. Joe's South Tower, 4th floor.  He's now in ICU 3rd floor instead - if you'd like to send a card, leave a comment and I'll email you our address -  Thanks.

UPDATE:  SATURDAY MARCH 12 - I spent the afternoon with The Shepherd in his ICU room - they had him on what I would call and "industrial strength" c-pap machine for the first two hours - he basically slept, but I could tell that he hated it.  BUT it was  helping his oxygen levels.  We had a visit from our new minister and Rev. Amy cheered him up lots (Thank you! :-) )  A very wonderful friend took me out to dinner, and,  I called the hospital when I got home and they said that he was doing pretty well.  He will be hungry for breakfast because they wouldn't let him have any dinner - being afraid that the c-pap would make him nauseous - didn't want him throwing up in it! (Ick) Friends and neighbors are helping with the critters, but I figure it's my turn to "step up to the plate" as he has taken care of the place when I've had various and sundry ailments over the years.  I'm getting my exercise, as the closest parking (handicapped - and I have my placard) is about a block from the main entrance of the hospital!!

UPDATE:  SUNDAY MORNING MARCH 13 - I just talked to his nurse and he did not have a very good night. He was on the c-pap all night and they plan on putting him back on it today - they will start IV feeding because they cannot let him have anything to eat or drink.   He is extremely fragile right now.  I'm starting to lose my brave face.  Please everybody hold him in your thoughts and prayers.  We've got to get him through this!

Our friend Nancy G is coming over this morning to help me get caught up on a few things.  It will be good to have another person in the house with me - the cats and I are getting lonely.

UPDATE:  SUNDAY NIGHT MARCH 13, 10:45 pm   What a crazy day - I was able to get a good rest last night.  Our friend Nancy came over this morning and helped me do some cleaning (that needed two people) and put a new cover on our couch.  Then we went off to the laundromat to do a passel of laundry.  Thank heavens for friends.  

Laundry dried and folded, she headed home and at about 3:00, I headed to the hospital.  He looked better this afternoon - his oxygen saturation level was up (his skin is returning to pink instead of grey)  and he was much more alert today than before.  Because of all the breathing apparatus they still were withholding food and were "considering" a feeding tube, which I really pushed for.  They got that in tonight - what a harrowing experience that is (!!) and were set up to start at about 7:00.  I'm really hoping that once he starts getting some nourishment he will begin to recover.  We're a long ways form being out of the woods, I fear.  

Activate lasers! 

We had another very bad windstorm here tonight - with gusts up to 60 miles an hour - it blew over a couple of his trees that are in boxes.  I'll have to have the neighbor guys come help put them back up.  They are blocking my way to the barn, but I can get around them.  The sheep were all pissed off at me because they were just a little bit late in getting fed and I think that the wind might have been freaking them out some. Such is life on the farm.

Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers, and your comments of love and support.  

UPDATE MONDAY MARCH 14 7:00 pm   I have about  3 minutes and need to be on my way out the door for church choir rehearsal.  I HAVE GOOD NEWS for you - they moved him out of ICU this morning!  They are still having problems getting his oxygen levels stabilized, but we'll take what we can.  The sheep, cats and I are doing fine - the cats especially miss The Shepherd.  Well, and the sheep still think I'm the boogie man, but they have started to come running when they hear me hobble out to the barn :-)    More later. 

Down the street from my office

UPDATE TUESDAY MARCH 15, 11 pm   The Shepherd continues to improve - This morning when I went to see him he said he was barely able to move from the bed to his chair for breakfast.  When I left him at 11:30 he had just gotten his lunch and was eating mashed potatoes and gravy "with gusto". He called me at about 5 pm and he had just come back from a walk down the hall and back!  I think he is feeling like he is being "nibbled to death" by all the OT's and PT's and RT's, but he is definitely getting the attention that will continue his path to health.  Maybe I'm being overly optimistic but I think he might be home by Thursday if things keep improving! 

Beside our front gate

The sheep girls now come running to the barn when I call them from the path.  And they are almost used to me, enough that they run in, grab a mouth full of hay, stand there, trying to decide if they should dart back outside or grab another mouth full of hay.  Donna and Vanessa definitely have baby bumps but they are a ways away from lambing - maybe 3 or 4 weeks I think.  

I am so grateful that I have my new android phone that I got for myself for my birthday.  It has really been a life saver/godsend to be able to get messages out and to be able to use my email away from home during this time. And since I have it in my pocket all the time, it's handy to be able to take some fun pictures like these last three.  

I've only lost "my brave face" once in front of The Shepherd.  My sister said that was only to be expected, but I know that it won't help him to get better if he thinks I'm "freaking out".  So, we're doing the best we can.  TTYL

UPDATE WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16, 2016  My update for today is "The more things change, the more things stay the same"  We are pretty discouraged today - they are still having a whole lot of trouble getting his oxygen regulated - they are giving him 15 liters (an hour?, not sure) but in order for him to come home, he has to move down to needing only 5 liters and that seems a ways away.  He is annoyed with the food service - he is on a soft food diet - they are worried about him choking, so all the food needs to be soft and maybe have a sauce on it - but he's not big for sauces and gravy, so the dietitian said she would order his food to come "with sauce on the side"  -  well tonight he got his mashed potatoes and gravy with gravy, AND a cup of gravy on the side.  He actually laughed about that.  

Between going out to the barn to feed sheep, and walking from the parking lot to the hospital and back (a block even though I'm in the handicapped lot)  I'm really getting my exercise.  I did decide to stash my walker in the trunk and use that to go from car to his room - much easier on my back than trying to walk all that distance with my cane and people are so sweet - they really scurry around to help me - opening doors or what ever.  Never underestimate the kindness of strangers.  

Thanks again for all your offers of help, your prayers and good thoughts.  Visualize his lungs healthy and strong, if you would.  I think that's what it is going to take.  I am grateful it is "only pneumonia" though - a friend's mom is down the hall with a blocked bowel - Colon cancer?  Maybe...And another friend whose FIL is in with "c.diff" - google it - it's nasty stuff - I think one would be a step up if you had e.coli and like that, it shuts down your kidneys.  I guess I'll take the pneumonia over those other two.  

UPDATE, THURSDAY, MARCH 17 - Hello - nothing really new to report today.  He is getting stir crazy and very lonely - even though I have been going up twice a day now.  Poor guy.  They did turn his oxygen down to 13 liters per hour but he has to be down to 5 before they will let him come home. 

Meanwhile life goes on - I have been going up to see him in the mornings and getting to work at about 12:30 - The last couple of days I have gone after work too - if I leave by 7:00 there is still enough ambient light for me to see to feed the sheep. I just ordered a better flashlight and some solar pathway lights from Amazon.com - he's not real crazy about outside lights, but hey, I'm not real crazy about wandering around in the dark either.  I have the next three days off, so maybe I can spend a little more time with him. 

Happy St. Patrick's Day - we had food left over from a luncheon at work - they had corned beef and cabbage - it was delicious!  I had some for my lunch and there was enough left over for my dinner!  Yum!    

Thanks again for all your notes of encouragement.  I need to go fold some laundry before I head to bed. 

UPDATE, FRIDAY MARCH 18 -  What's that old camp song - "Same song, second verse, a whole lot louder and a whole lot worse" ??  Not a whole lot of change today - although he did go for a couple of walks around the ward and they are trying to wean him down on the oxygen - he was down to 11 (liters per minute) when I left and the Respiratory Therapist said she might have them turn it down to 10 for the night and see if his numbers stayed up. Remember they said he had to be down to 5 before they would let him leave the hospital.  And, he actually ate all of his dinner tonight - chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy (with gravy on the side - ha ha) beets, applesauce and ice cream.  I stayed until almost 9:00 - didn't want to have them lock the front door and have to go out through the ER on the other side of the hospital.  He had some visitors today that cheered him a lot. 

My friend Misty came and did some cleaning for me - back porch and the little bathroom that The Shepherd uses.  It is nice to have her do the cleaning, but stressful for me because she throws stuff away without asking the significance of the item.  (like my $15  bottle of lavender oil that I put in the water when I wash my yarn - had to snag that out of the garbage sack!)  Our Gardening Angels - friends from church, are going to come spiff up the yard a bit in the morning, so he won't be stressed when he gets home and feel like he has to get out and clean up all the stuff that blew out of the trees when we had our recent wind storms.  We'll be OK as long as they don't dig up the asparagus...

Is it really Springtime?

The past two weeks have been a blur - a blur of pink cherry blossoms, yellow forsythia and that light shade of green that the branches on the weeping willow trees turn this time of the year. 

It's been a blur at work, since we just finished our annual Home and Garden Show - I wasn't able to physically help out at the location, but instead stayed back at the office to get the phones and help people coming in for one thing or another. 

And it's been a blur at home, because The Shepherd has bronchial pneumonia again - started about 10 days ago - he went through one course of antibiotics that normally kick it, but they didn't and we waited too long to get him on something else, so he's gradually slipping down hill.  Do you realize that he actually had ME go out and do chores this evening - what's that old saying "Whoa, momma" -  I just emailed our doctor and the next step is probably a trip to St. Joes.  Send good & healing thoughts this way, OK?  I'll keep you posted. 

Happy Valentine's Day!

I hope you and yours have a very

 fun,

 sweet, 

 romantic, 

what even you want to make of it, 

Valentine's Day!  

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Hey you, anybody home?

Hey you - anybody in there. 

Yes Gracie - I've just been bad - spending too much time on Pinterest and reading and not any time thinking about what I want to put on my blog...

Sorry to all of you very patient readers out there who have probably all but given up on me...

Contrary to the weather in the rest of the country, ours here has been pretty balmy - in fact last week we had temps up into the 60's!    Our witch hazel bush has long since bloomed and the tulips and the Lenten roses are about a month ahead of schedule. 

The Shepherd has a new shearer scheduled to come out on the 27th of February. 


You know what that means, don't you? 

Snow, north'easters, poor nekked sheep wondering why he had their nice wool coats cut off just before the temps dropped into the bottom of the bucket...

Now, I'm not saying it's for sure, but just sayin' - it's happened MORE THAN ONCE...

Poor sheepies.  Oh, well, we'll just hope for the best, huh? 


So, really, I have lots to tell you - at our spinner guild meeting today we had a class on kumihimo - (a Japanese form of braid making)  Now that's a cool craft - very versatile - can be a friendship bracelet for your niece or a lovely pearl necklace for your mom - or heck, for yourself. 

Anyhow, I promise I'll be back soon. (Sooner than last time, I promise!  I'm getting awfully close to my 1000th post.  Anyone want to hazard a guess when that will happen?  I might be willing to part with some of that yummy alpaca that I had processed in December.  

See you soon. 










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Transylvania House Blessing

Where there is faith, 

there is love.

Where there is love,

there is peace.

Where there is peace, 

there is blessing.

Where there is blessing, 

there is God.

Where there is God

there is no need.

This is the Transylvania House Blessing.  It can be found hanging over the door in most Unitarian homes in the Transylvanian region of Romania, on decorative plates like this one, burned into wooden plaques or embroidered with red thread onto white cotton cloth. I have always loved the wording since the first time I heard it and when our retired minister brought this one to our church's fundraiser auction last fall, I bought it.  As soon as I can get a system "sorted out", it will be hanging on our wall in our home. 

A lesson in faith - "Unitarian History in Transylvania  - Unitarianism traces its religious roots back nearly 450 years to 16th Century Transylvania. There, the theologian Francis David (who in true UU fashion was first a Catholic, then a Calvinist before becoming a Unitarian) converted the King and much of the population to a radical theology -- a theology that espoused the oneness of God and the humanity of Jesus, and that held up reason and tolerance as the pillars of its faith. Today, despite centuries of persecution, there are still some 50,000 Unitarians living in the Transylvania region of Romania."  (info from the UU Partner Church website, www.uupcc.org)

Happy New Year!

My theme for the new year.

Happy New Year to my blogger pals - I am grateful to you all for your friendships.
Six more posts and I'll be at 1000!  Wow - who'd a thought.

We went to our friend Nancy's for her annual New Year Day Celebration.
Good friends, good food and great music.  Who could ask for anything more.

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Adventures in Knitting

My first swatch

I decided to use this yarn to make a hat for a friend. 

I've always been pretty content to crochet and have made, in my opinion, some pretty nice scarves, but the hats I've made, well - they generally ended up either being too big or too small (See the Goldilocks connection...) and only one hat was "Just Right" and I measured the heck out of that guy's head because it was a cap for him to wear after chemo and I wanted to make sure it was perfect, and it was. 

K1 P1, K5 P1

But the person I was making this hat for was not available to have a head measurement, and I didn't have any idea what size hat he wore or anything. 

I remembered a hat that friend Yvonne had knitted for The Shepherd several years ago on his birthday.  It was stretchy and would fit what ever size head it was on.  Got me to thinking - "Hmmm - maybe friend Yvonne could teach me how to knit."  Now that is a GOOD friend - yes, she was available on a day I was, and after a quick trip into town to get knitting needles per her instructions, I was all set. And, so, as Shania Twain sang - "I gol' darn gone and done it"  I learned how to knit. 


She helped quite a bit to get me started, she did the cast on so it would be even, & etc. and I knitted my first swatch.  Envision, if you will, the little kid, working on the project, with the tongue stuck out of the corner of the mouth, concentrating...  That was how I looked, but it got easier when I switched to a different needle set where the needle part was white bamboo instead of brown - (see my problem here.  Or rather, I couldn't see - yarn was the same color as my needles - oops) - fixed that, and off I went, with a little help from one of the ladies at my spinner guild who saved my sorry backside with I dropped a bunch of stitches.  Crochet is SO SO much easier! 







But, I persevered, and here it is.  All done.  Washed it up and it has a pretty brown "alpaca halo" to it.  

Already making plans to make one for my friend Diane.  She tried it on today and liked it.  So, knitting hats may be my new super power - gotta do something to get rid of all that yarn..........

Merry Christmas!

My sister makes me a wreath for Christmas.  This little snowman is selling snowballs for 5 cents each...I hope he doesn't have any ideas of selling them around here - ha ha. 

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night...

What's been on my wheel -

 A couple of years ago, some friends of ours gave me 4 or 5 Alpaca fleeces.  Two of them were this lovely coffee color - in fact, the critter's name was Java - two were that pretty rose grey color, and unfortunately the black fleece came infested with moths - it went in the dumpster.  But when John was meeting up with Chuck from Evergreen Fleece Processing to take him the last of our Shetland fleeces, I decided it was time to get those fleeces out of the living room so I took them along with.  The results were about 8 lbs of lovely alpaca roving. 

This lovely Alpaca fiber has 20% Merino and it is a dream to spin.  I have about 5 pounds of it.  There are also about 3 lbs. of straight rose grey alpaca roving (not blended with wool)   If you are interested in buying some fiber, or having me custom spin you some yarn, leave me a comment.  :-) 

Happy Thanksgiving!!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

 

Did you know that this is one of the luckiest turkeys around right now?  

He is headed to Washington DC, where Pres. Obama will officially

"Pardon" him from execution and then he and a buddy turkey will go off

to live their lives in luxury at a farm in Virginia.  Nice job if you can get it....

Golly, I almost forgot - We hosted a Spin-In

 Back in October - Holy cow - almost a month ago! - my spinner guild "Spindrifters" hosted the NW Regional Spinners Assoc. Board Meeting and Spin-In.  I was on the planning committee - we had been working on this since early in the summer.

Although our attendance was not as high as we would have liked, we had about 60 people turn out, and I think everyone had a great time. 

I was in charge of getting our vendors - for what good is a Spin-In without great Vendors?

Niki K. from JNK Llama Farm in Bellingham
was there with her lovely llama fiber.  

Of course, The Shepherd was there with our award winning Shetland Fiber. 

My friend Janet was there with Dorset fiber and some lovely shawl pins that her daughter makes. 

Allen Berry, woodcarver, was one of the first vendors I contacted.  His hand carved wooden items are  beautiful! 

Our guild put together 5 or 6 gorgeous and highly anticipated raffle baskets.  

Doug & Yvonne Madsen from Spinner's Eden Farms were there with their prized CVM fiber.  They host the Wonderful Woollies spring fiber sale that we take part in.  

There was lotsa spinning going on -

Lotsa laughing, and lotsa hugging.  It was a great day.  

And there was lotsa buying going on too, and since I was the one who got all these vendors out, of course, I had to buy a few things.  Like this adorable fabric bag that is just the right size for my crochet hooks and accouterments.  



Just look at this adorable fabric with the little Japanese kitties. 

And I was very excited that Scarlet from Huckleberry Knits was willing to be a vendor. She lives here in Bellingham, but sells all over the US through retailers and her ETSY Store 
Of course I had to support her booth!  (Of Course!) 

All in all, it was a great day. 





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Three Beautiful Things

 Hello effurrybody!  Gracie here - I was out
helping Mummy take pictures in the garden last
week. The Shepherd says that Somebody needs to snooopervise her to make sure that she doesn't trip on something and fall on her casaba.  I'm very good at snooopervising. 

We went out in a hunt for beautiful things, and thought we'd share some of them with you.







We found a little fairy cap mushroom growing in the mulch bin...

One of the last marigolds in the garden.  Such a pretty summery color. 

More 'shrooms - the caps are almost as big as dinner plates! 

Ok, so I lied - four beautiful things - more Sweet Gum leaves - oddly enough, Mummy found out that Sweet Gum seed pods contain shikimic acid, a major ingredient in Tamiflu. 

Herbalists have used Sweet Gum tea as an herbal treatment for the flu and the Cherokees made a tea out of the bark.

So many things from nature that we don't know about that heal or harm.

Have a great weekend!  XOX  Gracie!


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Blog Blast for Peace

 

This is the 10th year for the Blog Blast for Peace

The picture is from Pinterest.   

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Happy Howl-o-ween!

 

 Crazy things growing in the garden - 

Crimini, that's a big 'shroom

Nobody will mistake this cauliflower for mashed potatoes - no wait there are purple potatoes now too - maybe they might.  No, wait, how could ANYBODY mistake mashed cauliflower for mashed potatoes???  Pinterest fail...

Sweet gum leaves in the fall are my favorite - I could take a picture of each one that comes off the tree.

 Kansas City could have used this bat sized zucchini tonight.  9-3 - how sad.  Hopefully they'll pick up the pace tomorrow. 

Look at this sweet little Meowlaweenie kitty I found out in the garden. 

My friend Misti has been helping me with some cleaning - so far we've attacked (I say "we" in the royal sense, ha ha) the dining room, the kitchen and today, the "music corner" in the living room. 

I'd like to have her help me with my wool room, but I don't think she understands the concept of "stash" - so that might have to wait. 

Have a great Howl-o-ween and don't eat too much candy! 

Life, Miracles and Chicken Soup

Some of my faithful readers may remember a couple of years ago when I had a "little heart issue" that landed me in the hospital.  Well, last month, I discovered, it was back.  This time, I knew what was happening and after it hadn't stopped after a couple of weeks, I ended up going into my cardiologist office on 9/28, (to eliminate the panic that had ensued from my GP's office in 2013) -  Pulse rate - 130 beats per minute. 

They kindly confirmed what I had suspected, and changed some of my meds, that didn't work after a couple of days, so they had me come in and meet with a Nurse Practitioner.  Very nice lady who happened to take a copy of my EKG out to talk to one of the docs in the office when the Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiologist  Dr. happened by, and just in a moment of grace, saw my EKG and said, "Well, I can fix that" - A cure - who knew? 

That started me on the path to a Cardiac Ablation that was performed on Monday Oct. 12.  The pretty flowers above - they are from my sisters - to wish me well after this very successful procedure.  I have to tell you that from the time I walked into the Surgery Center at 7:30 a.m. on that Monday until the time I walked out the door at about 4:30 p.m. (*pulse rate 63 beats per minute) I felt loved and cared for.  It was really an amazing day and, quite frankly, miraculous.  (And,  I was able to be back at work on Wednesday afternoon to be at a dinner meeting that I had been working on for 6 weeks).

I feel much better now, and hopefully this will be the end of that issue. Oh, and the kitties - they stuck to me like glue for about three days after I got home.  I think they took their nursing skills very seriously!  And many thanks to all of you out there who included me (and my doctor & his team) in your prayers last week.  I'm sure it made a difference! 

One Pot Chicken & Vegetable Stew

So, what you always need when you're feeling down, is Chicken Soup, right?  I put this recipe together about a month ago - I was in an "email club for Chicken recipes" from Pillsbury.  Most of the recipes looked pretty good, but used a lot of pre-made items and mixes - and I mostly cook from scratch.  So when I saw a recipe for a "one pot chicken & vegetable skillet" - I thought - maybe I can improve on that - we still had LOTS of zucchini and I had some other vegies in the fridge that I could chop up - and ta-da "Chicken Stew" was perfected.


 Last year for Christmas I got myself a Williams-Sonoma 7 qt. Non Stick Dutch Oven.  I had (ahem) "destroyed" my big soup kettle by draining all the water out of my green beans, but unfortunately putting the pan back on the burner with the burner still on.  Ahem - really toasted that pan.  So I'd been on the lookout for a new 7 or 8 qt. pan, and boy, let me tell you, this is a nice one.  You can see more about it HERE

This pan is perfect to cook soups or stews or a "fricassee" - It also is great to steam ears of corn, cook a nice pork loin roast (because you can brown it and then tuck it in the oven and let it finish cooking).  I use it a lot. And without further chatting, here is my recipe 

One-Pot Chicken and Vegetable Stew

This recipe is based on a Pillsbury 30 days of Chicken & Vegetable Skillet recipe.  I like using fresh vegies instead of frozen. 

Ingredients

2   tablespoons olive oil

2   boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces

1   medium onion, finely chopped

1/2 tsp Tastefully Simple "Garlic Garlic" granules

2   cans (14 oz) Hunts Fire Roasted diced tomatoes, undrained

1   Russet potato, diced

2   medium zucchinis - diced

1/2 head of cabbage roughly chopped

1 14 oz can of chicken stock

Salt, pepper, Seasoning Salt, Mrs. Dash original seasoning, any other herbs or spices you might like, to taste

Directions

1. In a non-stick Dutch oven, heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil over medium heat. Add chicken; cook, turning occasionally, until chicken is browned on all sides. Remove from skillet to plate.
2. To same pan, add remaining tablespoon olive oil and the onion; cook over low heat until onion is softened and golden.  Add the Tastefully Simple Garlic Garlic granules and any other spices or herbs you might like.  (you could use fresh garlic here - I just prefer the taste of the Tastefully Simple product)
3. Add potatoes, zucchini & cabbage.  (I have also added chopped carrots here)  Add canned tomatoes to pot; cook 5-10 minutes longer. Add the chicken stock.  Cover and cook until vegetables are tender crisp, stirring as  little as possible so you don't mush up your vegies.
4. Return chicken to pan; if desired, season with salt and pepper. Cover; cook 10-15 minutes longer, stirring occasionally.
   Buy a nice loaf of crusty Italian bread to go with this and you'll have a tasty supper.  It probably makes enough for 6 or so people, or 2 people for two nights.  Enjoy. 
   
   

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Happy Birthday to my darling FurBabies -

George & Gracie's "Gotcha Day" was July 9, 2011.  We were told by the lady who gave them to us that they were born "sometime in October 2010"  - So I went with the best date 10-10-10 - a very lucky day indeed. 

They still sleep like this - all curled up together.  It's the sweetest thing I've ever seen.

George loves to help me with any project I'm working on - here he was helping to wrap Christmas presents.  His current favorite thing to help me with is typing on the computer.  

And any comfy spot he can find to sleep is good with him.  

Gracie prefers The Shepherd's side of the bed.  But I'll often wake to a crushing sensation - as soon as I figure out that I'm not having a heart attack or something like that, I realize that all 14 pounds of her is balanced on my chest.  Breathing issues soon arise...

So, happy birthday, my darling little FurBabies.  You have brought us much joy...

 and lots of small dead animals. 

To celebrate they got special dinners & extra Party Mix.  And maybe just a little Half & Half poured over their pate... 

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