Life in Southeast Alaska

****Bizkit Update****

Well Wednesday we took Bizkit to the vets where she was sedated and we had to drop her off at for 9.10am. Andrew left the cat basket in the car boot and we took it just before we had to go. It was painless putting her in this time but on the way to the vets she was not a happy bunny. At least this time she did not get too upset to wet the car seat!

We picked her up and apparently her anal glands were packed solid, not just liquid but absolutely packed and were terribly swollen - Praise The Lord she was sedated, poor biz :(. the vet had to shave that area and she is bruised in that area of which the vet could not understand why and neither could we. He suggested that perhaps she was so sore that she was rubbing her bottom along the carpet to try and relieve some of the pain or maybe she was attacked by other cats or another animal - but to be honest she has hardly been out. We do have a few foxes around but dont know. The vet also asked if anyone "had kicked her up the backside" and we said no and again, she hardly seens anyone when she goes out and of late she has hardly stepped foot ouside anyways.

We were told that she isnt allowed food for 24 hours and not to go out for 48 hours - and just to give her bland food for now of chicken and rice which we picked up a few packets from the vets.

We arrived home and bless her she could hardly walk and was all over the place and disorientated - it was hard to watch. Due you know though she sat at the bottom of the stairs determined to go up them and I kept saying now. She eventually wobbled up to half way and I sat with her as she just laid there, I then moved and she came down the stairs and just made it to the bottom. She did go back up later and I looked everywhere for her and couldnt find her and then I noticed her in our office hiding underneath a set of plastic containers I have on wheels:

Hope

Hope is Marty's daughter.  She was born 11-01-1999.  She takes after him in the being able to warn me before I go into anaphylaxis shock.   Hope was trained, but did not become a registered service dog for a few years.  She worked at home but Marty went out every where.  as Marty got older Hope started sharing his out side of the home work.  Marty still went out he loved to go to crowded places, while Hope does not do as well in crowds.  She is over protective.

Hope is the only dog working for me at this time.  Hope has only one litter of puppies before I fixed her.  It was to hard on me to watch her give birth.  Alex will be taking over some of her work when he is done training.  Medical alert dogs never stop working until they are called home to God.

Here are some pictures of hope:

I will share more pictures of her when I load more.

Not Feeling Well...

I will get back to posting in a day or two. I'm not feeling well enough to compose a full length post. 

Warmly, ~Melissa

Marty

Marty was born 1-17-1995 he past away on 11-07-2008.

Marty was a service dog for anaphylaxis for my self.  He also warned my daughter before her asthma got to bad.   Marty was 12 weeks old by the time I figured out what he was trying to tell me.  after I did I trained him to be a service dog.  He passed his test at 11 months old.   Marty fathered over 100 puppies in his life time.  Our top breeding dam had very large litters.  Her biggest was 17 puppies.   We also studded Marty out to approved females.  They had to have at least 4 generations of no health problems and have the right type of owner.   We were going to freeze Marty's sperm , but we then decide against it.  We ended Marty's line.  There will be no more dogs from his line unless we decide to breed his granddaughter.

Marty was a well love dog by many.  His favorite place to go was Disneyland.  He love to go on the rides and see his favorite workers. The employees at Disneyland gave him treats , always had to come see him.  When there was a ride he could not go on he went with the employees to be spoiled while we rode at ride.

Marty has been on t.v. and in a few magazines and made the front page of the paper.  He saved my life many times and our daughters also.  He made the front page by fighting a German shepherd who jumped our 5 foot fence and held our youngest daughter by the neck and would not let go. Our daughter was 4 at the time.  Marty was not even 2 years old.

Here is pictures of Marty:

Buying one of our puppies

Thank you for your interest in owning one of our "Golden Blessings".

We offer high quality puppies from high quality parents.

Our dam Gracie is a registered service dog for medical alert.

Our sire Alex is almost done with his training to be a medical alert dog. He comes from a champion line. 

For their first litter we are offering these pups at a lower cost than what the next litters will be.  

We have a litter of 4 females and 3 males.

Females are offered for $550.00 limited registration, $650.00 full registration.

Males are offered for $500.00 limited registration ,  $550.00 full registration.

One pup is already sold, but we do not know what sex yet as the puppy is yet to pick out the special needs child yet.   We are letting the puppy pick him out.  This puppy will be trained by us to be a service dog to this young boy.

All puppies come with:

A health guaranty, Akc papers, Current vaccines, Puppy care package, Vet checks, Health certificates, Micro chipping, Dewclaws removed.

Shipping is an option if it is needed at a cost of $300.00. A crate is included in this cost.

If you are interested in buying one of our puppies please message me.

The puppies are 3 weeks old today

The puppies are 3 weeks old today.   They are so cute.  They are coming out of their shells now and are trying to play and they wag their tails now.  It is so cute! 

They have started eating baby food.  We are watching to see who has a strong early service dog way.  So far we have Josph and Hanna who are showing it the most.   Their mother is a service dog  and their dad has to finish up some of his training to become a regestired service dog. 

One of the future owners is coming over to see the little bugers next week.  We can not wait for this day.  Their son will be receiving the one who show the service dog type and we will be training it for just him. 

God Bless, mj

First Day of Finals

Enjoying My Moment

Updates On Our Move And Happenings

   It has been crazy for me. I am so tired and just don't know which way is up or down. My house is a mess. I have boxes everywhere. I have been like a mad woman trying to keep up on dirty finger prints on the walls and I have totally given up on trying to keep the hard wood floors clean. I no sooner get done washing them and then we have snowy/wet weather and the floors are a mess all over again. I hate hard wood floors and I can assure you that once we move I am getting carpet EVERYWHERE! When the kids are grown and moved out then I'll do hard wood floors.

   WE are trying to plan for next Thursday to go to Michigan to look at houses. I don't think we'll meet that deadline, but that is when DH wants to go. I'm being more realistic and thinking the following Thursday.

   The main house we still love hasn't sold yet. Please keep us in your prayers for it to stay empty... is that wrong to ask? Is it wrong because we should think of the sellers and how long they have waited for it to sell? ... some how i feel guilty asking for prayers for it to stay empty... but we would like to buy it so it won't be empty long if the inspection is alright...

          So my house is almost completely packed. I really just have pans/pots and everyday dishes to pack. We are giving/throwing things out that we don't use or think we will use anymore. this is really hard on the kids and so I have been throwing their stuff away at nighttime when I don't have to listen to the whining and complaining that they "really do use it and it is so important to them."

    We haven't done school work in weeks. I feel like we are behind so much with school. I can't wait to get moved and unpacked so we can start up again. We will have to school through summer a bit. It is a sacrifice we are just going to have to make no matter how much they don't like it. besides, I like doing school through the summer because we can do so much more with science/nature studies. weather unit are especially fun during summer. 

   I feel like I've been such a crappy mother these last few weeks. I've been on everyones tails to get things packed and to purge with things. I've been so tired and cranky from cleaning. I'll spend a whole day packing/cleaning/ everyday chores, etc. and it just feels like I have accomplished nothing. I'll look around the house and see how much more I have to do instead of how much I have done. It doesn't help much that I'm doing it all on my own and DH doesn't do what I ask him. I ask him to take care of the outside stuff like going throught the shed and preparing the camper for the move, but he isn't doing it and now it is crunch time and I'm going to get stuck with it all. I've already told him that I will call the junk yard about the camper if he doesn't handle it. I'm not being stuck trying to find a place to store it here in PA. So you can see where I might be a bit crabby and loose my cool with the kids... Stress, oh the stress... wish i had friends to come over and help me with some of this... I just pray to God to give me the strength. It is, or will be, all worth it in the end.                    

Learn To Hand Sew - A Basic Running Stitch

Basic Running Stitch

Secured Knot & Tie Off

With the economy the way it is, I wanted to re-teach myself hand-sewn stitching so I am able to mend clothes. 

Doug has a hole in the pocket of his coat and the pocket of his scrub pants.  Instead of throwing them away, I'd like to learn to mend so that we can save money and get the most out of each piece of clothing we have.  What more inspiration did I need, than to be able to extend the life of the clothes my husband needs while also watching every expense we have that he works for.

Granted there ARE some area's we need to work on concerning cutting back, but I think we are on our way.

Walk with me as I Re-learn the stitches my mom once taught me as a child.  Feel Free to share your thoughts on Mending as we go.

Blessings to Everyone!