Archive for Bandit

Long Weekend!

November 15, 2009 at 7:25 pm · Filed under Bandit, Daisy, Family, Jake

Daisy was good again today-I used the spurs again and she pretty much did everything I asked without a whip.  I think that I need 2 things, though-first, a little bit longer spur.  The ones I have are pretty short.  She’s already not really listening so I’m going to have to increase the size a bit to make them a bit more intense to make her listen.  Second, I’m going to need something I can use for shows.  The cool thing about this is that they are required in the upper levels, so it’ll look like we’re a little more advanced in a strange wey :)   I’ll have to find some fancier ones, though. 

I went out for dinner last night with Kurt, Vanessa, Kellen, Vanessa’s sister and her husband, and Vanessa’s friend and her husband for Vanessa’s birthday.  Kurt wanted something alcoholic so he ordered something called “Joe’s Drink”.  Sounds manly enough.  Nope-it came in a martini glass with all sorts of fruit attached to it and it was a reddish girly drink.  he was embarrassed.  That was probably the best part of the night :)   We had some sushi, too.  I have tried it before, but only a couple times and I hadn’t had any with real seafood in it since I can’t eat fish.  We had some with crab in it and it was very good!  I’ll have to explore this sushi thing more LOL!  Kellen was adorable-laughing and smiling the whole night.  It was SOOO cute!

One thing that was really cute last night was Bandit-I was getting ready to leave and he thought he was going to come, too.  I guess he really likes going on the weekends to see his girlfriend at Mom’s house.  He was very disappointed when I made him stay home, but he survived.  He’s really doing good-last time we were at Mom’s, he let everyone pet him.  He was shy, but he did it!  I guess he’s starting to really like the attention.

Lastly, Jake’s swelling is gone completely.  I gave him some Benadryl yesterday in addition to the regular stuff he gets and it seems to have done the trick.  Either the Benadryl worked or regurgitated wheat product is already part digested and doesn’t take as long to get though LOL!  Maybe a bit of both….

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Bandit Napping

October 28, 2009 at 11:18 am · Filed under Bandit

I got this picture of Bandit sleeping the other day and it just cracked me up-though I’d share :)   What kind of dog sleeps with his mouth open?

I guess he was relaxed....

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Pictures :)

October 25, 2009 at 12:48 pm · Filed under Bandit, Jake, Uncategorized

Daisies

Daisies

Autumn Leaves

Autumn Leaves

Jake Loves The Fall, Too!

Jake Loves The Fall, Too!

Bandit in the Sun

Bandit in the Sun

Jake Napping as Mom Plays on the Computer

Jake Napping as Mom Plays on the Computer

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Back up and running-Bonus flu advice:)

October 25, 2009 at 7:23 am · Filed under Bandit, Daisy, Jake, Uncategorized

So Bandit knocked my computer off the table last week and I thought he destroyed it. His legs got tangled in a cord and he took off-the computer went with him, at least until it hit the floor. I was surprisingly NOT mad at all. I guess I’m used to doggie things happening around the house! Anyway, it wouldn’t turn on for a while so I took it apart :) Yes, that’s right-I went in and unscrewed things, took out the memory, looked at the motherboard (but thought better of actually removing that), put the memory back in, then turned it on and it worked! For a few minutes at least. It kept freezing when Windows was running. I tried everything in the book to get it to work again, but soon realized that it kept trying to fix some index that wasn’t happening. It only froze while I was in Windows so I reinstalled Windows and here we are-good as new. Actually LIKE new, too. I’m glad I backed up all my stuff before it hit the floor because I would have lost a lot of information. I haven’t put all my files back on here yet, but it’s running, I got a better version of AOL, and it actually seems better than before.

Other than that, things have been pretty quiet around here. I’ve been working with Daisy a lot-planning on doing more today, Bandit’s pimple has pretty much gone down and is growing hair back, Jake’s leg looks good (as good as it will anyway), and Tabasco is coming out more frequently now. I don’t know what prompted her to come out more often, but she’s getting along with Bandit and she seems a little more at ease. Maybe it was the catnip-playdate :)

I started taking Lyrica for the pain in my hips, too. It works GREAT!!! I have had pain in my hips for a while now and we decided it was arthritis. A while after that started, the pain would go all the way down my legs. It was so bad sometimes that I couldn’t sleep-it actually hurt more when I was sitting or laying down. So we decided that it was a pinched nerve in my back. I’m not one to take drugs myself, but I was hurting really bad so I tied this one. Now it’s so much better! I find that it was really putting a damper on everything! When I got off Daisy before, I’d hobble back to the stall-now I walk normally. When I got up in the morning I would limp down the stairs and now I can just hop up and go. Muuuuch better :)

One more note to everyone here-go get your flu shot. This year has already been worse for our office than the peak of the seasons before! We have people coming in and throwing up about 2 or 3 times a week, and that’s for a cardiology office! I know that the flu shots are in short supply right now and they’re running out everywhere, so go out and see if you can find some somewhere. As far as H1N1 goes, if you can, get it. May as well be protected as much as possible. They do not recommend that you get both at once (mostly because if you have a reaction it’s harder to tell which one did it, but a lot of people have gotten both at once and are fine), and they do NOT recommend the H1N1 in the nasal mist form for people with any kind of chronic illness (heart disease, diabetes, cancer, etc). The mist form is weakened viruses and the shot is dead viruses. Go for the dead. You don’t want to chance getting something where the weakened virus could come back somehow. Also, believe it or not, the hand sanitizers work BETTER at killing germs than just washing your hands. I personally have been using hand sanitizer, then washing my hands after that. When you use the sanitizer, use about a quarter sized amount, wipe all over your hands including under your nails and stuff, then let it air dry-don’t wipe it or wash it off till it had dried. Keep healthy, everyone! And if you’re sick, STAY HOME!!! Don’t go spreading it around-it’s going to be bad enough without the extra help. Plus, if you’re sick, your immune system is weakened, leaving you more susceptible to other viruses.

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My Computer Sucks

October 21, 2009 at 10:07 am · Filed under Bandit, Daisy, Uncategorized

I’m having some computer problems at home again. I swear that my house is where bad people who were reincarnated as laptops go to serve their punishment. I’ve gone through 4 laptops in a year. The first one had a coffee accident-I spilled a cup of coffee on it. It sizzled for a while-like literally made sizzling noises-then shut down for good. It reeked of burnt coffee….  I’m not sure what happened to the second one-it became possessed one afternoon and started shutting down on its own.  I’m pretty sure it was a virus, but I couldn’t get it to clean, so I brought it back to the store and they gave me a replacement since it happened within 2 weeks of getting it.  The third one (the replacement) was some sort of manufacturer’s defect (I think). It kept shutting down for no reason after about 5 minutes of being on. I returned it and got the one I have now-a different brand, since I had such bad luck with the ones before. This one has lasted almost a year, but two days ago Bandit got a cable stuck on his leg and took off, bringing the laptop to the ground. It turned off immediately. After taking it partially apart and plugging the different parts back in, I got it to turn on, but now if freezes up after a few minutes and I have to shut it off. I’ll have to bring it in somewhere to see if I can have it repaired. A laptop I had before all these was one from work-I still have it because it’s funny to look at. It actually still works, too! There are keys missing from various dogs walking on it and the screen is separated from the base and held on by just the cable that brings the image to it. It’s pretty sad looking.

Well, aside from all that, Bandit’s little abscess opened up when he scratched it again, but it’s since scabbed over and is growing hair back so I’m a lot more positive about it. All swelling is gone and it’s just healing now. I’m sure Jake had something to do with the initial boo-boo, but whatever. Dogs will be dogs.

Daisy is doing good, too-we rode last night and once she worked out of any stiffness from the weather and cold, she went very well. She’s been so responsive lately, too-and holy energy!! She’s the little energizer bunny lately. It’s so much fun to ride her when she’s like that. Oh-she did another one of those “dressage princess horse” moves again on Sunday. We were riding outside and it had rained recently so there were puddles on the ground. I made her walk into one-she took one step into it, yanked her head down to see because she realized her hoof was wet, sniffed the puddle, took a step out and to the side (despite my attempts to make her go into it), and walked around it. Well, she can’t do that at a show! I made her go through it a few more times, much to her dismay, but she did it. That’s my little queen….

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Little Miss Princess

October 17, 2009 at 1:43 pm · Filed under Bandit

Daisy used to be a trail horse. She would go through streams, over logs, tromp through whatever came her way. Now that she has become a dressage horse, it seems that she has developed a “princess” attitude. It kind of cracks me up because she was NOT like this when I got her. She used to roll in mud and come in with caked dredlocks in her mane and mud coated legs up to her knees. That isn’t the case anymore-which is good, don’t get me wrong, but sometimes it’s just funny.

Today I got to the stable and Daisy was outside with the girls in her good-sized pasture. There are 3 girls that go out together and one of the, Kieda, is pretty much the alpha mare. The pasture is soaked right now because we had rain the past few days. The mud is deep and the hoofprints are all filled with water, so you get a good idea of how muddy it is out there right now. I needed to get Daisy to take some aspirin and come in, so I went out there with a scoop of aspirin in my hand and called her. She called back then started up towards the gate from the way-far back of the pasture. Kieda stopped her-she walked right in Daisy’s way and Daisy just stopped. I called again and Kieda got in the way again. I figured that this was not going to work so I opened the gate and walked along the very edge of the pasture to get to where Daisy was. The electric fence runs right there, so the horses don’t usually walk all the way next to the fence and it was a little drier than the rest of the pasture. I carefully made my way to the middle of the pasture and edged my way over to Daisy, who just happened to have stopped up on a bit of a ridge where the ground was raised slightly and wasn’t quite so muddy. Kieda moved in and wanted whatever I had because she was sure it must be good if Daisy’s mom was going to come all the way out there in the mud to give it to her. I shooed her away and gave Daisy the aspirin. Of course Daisy won’t eat it. Kieda moved in again and I shooed her away again. I tried feeding it to Daisy once more, who turned her nose to it like it was poison for the second time. Fine, I figured-I’ll just get her to come up to the gate and we’ll feed this to her in her stall. “Come on, Daisy,” I said and grabbed her halter. I let go and Daisy and I started working our way back up. I got to the dry area by the electric fence again, and here comes Daisy. She takes her head and neck and SHOVES me over away from them fence. SHE wanted to walk on the dry part. Well, since I’m not going to win, I let her have the dry area and I walked back up through the ankle-deep mud in my show boots. (I know-don’t ask me why I went out there in my nice boots. Guess I didn’t figure she was such a priss)

We went in, gave her the aspirin (which I had to hollow out a pear and hide inside to give to her), we waited about a half hour, then I massaged her for about 15 minutes (which she loved), then we went for a ride and we had a pretty good time. We cantered in her good direction and it was slow and balanced, so I was excited about that. During our ride, I decided to take of my coat. I’ve done this a million times before with no problem, but this time it spooked another horse. I gave my coat to Diane to put down-she laid it on the edge of the arena. Daisy was freaked. She wouldn’t go near that coat. It wasn’t there before and it shouldn’t be there now, so she won’t approach it. We eventually get her to go past it without a fight and all was well. Aside from that, it was a good ride (by the way, the coat wasn’t scary anymore once I got off-I was actually able to put it right in her face and she didn’t even flinch). Hope tomorrow goes as well! Well, minus the walking in mud and getting scared by a coat, that is.

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Bandit’s Zit

October 14, 2009 at 6:11 pm · Filed under Bandit, Daisy, Jake

Yes, I guess dogs get pimples, too. I’m not 100% sure that’s what this is, but it seems to be getting better and that’s what it looks like, so that’s what we’re calling it. This thing started as a little scratch or something last Sunday, so I think it’s actually a small abscess. It grew under the skin and when I played with it, it was kind of pussy. YUCK. It came back and is still there, but the scratch has healed over and it’s just kind of red now. I’ve been putting antibiotic ointment on it and the swelling has gone down quite a bit. If it doesn’t go away within the next few days, we’ll go to the vet and see if it’s anything to be concerned about. It is very confined to one small area, so I’m not too upset yet.

Jake is doing good-the swelling on his leg has been back and forth, but it’s mostly good. Nothing exciting there. He has had a LOT of energy lately-he’s picking play fights with Bandit all the time and just having a good time. It always makes me smile when he does stuff like that :)

Daisy has been a little sick the past few days too. She was just not herself yesterday, and today she was bloated pretty bad. I lunged her today and she was pooping and all, so I don’t think it’s anything serious. She got her Adequan shot yesterday, too. I gave it to her in the neck, so I was really proud of myself :) She is SO much better getting it in the neck than getting it in the butt. She would tense her butt up so hard that it was difficult to get the needle in. With the neck, it must not hurt as bad or something. She doesn’t tense her neck up at all and she just takes her treats as she gets her shot. Good girl. I’ll go riding tomorrow and we’ll see how she goes then. When we lunged tonight, she was a little stiff and inflexible at first, but she started to loosed up after a little bit. I think she should be ok by tomorrow.

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Updates On Everything :)

October 10, 2009 at 2:09 pm · Filed under Bandit, Daisy, Jake

I guess I haven’t written anything because of the lack of good coffee. That’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it :) I’m going to call the place and see if they have any suggestions as to where to bring the machine or if it’s just cheaper to get a new one. Hopefully I’ll get around to that today.

Anyway, all the critters are doing good. Jake is fine-still always hungry. I’m watching him doze off now. It’s sort of funny because he really wants to stay up so he keeps closing his eyes, then opening them, then shaking his head just a bit. He just now gave in and put his head down. Bandit is asleep on the window ledge. We did a fun thing today-Bandit loves the cat, but the cat never wants to play. She will hide behind the couch where Bandit can see her but can’t reach her. So today, I put some catnip behind the couch, too. She’s been meowing back there and sticking her paws up to touch his nose on and off for hours! They have had a great time.

Daisy is doing well, too. Monday is her shot day and I’m not looking forward to it. I’m going to give it in her neck myself for the first time, I hope. She doesn’t like it in her butt, and that’s the more dangerous end, so this way should be better. In the past, when Diane has given it to her in the neck, she’s been fine, so I’m hoping for the same reaction. She’s been going good with aspirin, but I’d like to get rid of that. Otherwise, she’s been fine. We’ve been working a lot on the trot and less on the canter and it’s been working. Hopefully by next year I’ll have a really nice steady and collected trot. The canter has improved, but I haven’t done enough to really know for sure that it’s a lot better.

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Nooooooo!!!

October 5, 2009 at 11:49 am · Filed under Bandit, Daisy, Family, Jake

My coffee maker broke this morning :( I got about half of what I usually drink out of it, then it died. I’m emailing the company now to see if it was under warranty, but I’m pretty sure it is way over a warranty time. It was a Tassimo, too, so it’s not going to be too cheap to replace. The good news about it is that the price on those things has come down dramatically, so it won’t be TOO bad. Anyway, I dragged myself into work, made like 3 more cups, and I’m back in waking mode again.

It was a nice weekend-I rode both days, and Daisy was pretty good. We cantered quite a bit yesterday because she had so much energy, so I’m hoping it wasn’t too much for her. Diane wants to do a lesson tonight, too, so I’m really hoping she’s ok from yesterday. I’ve been concentrating on keeping her head down because that’s where we have our issues for the most part. Once her head goes up, she stiffens and we get all icky. We’ll see if we can get her head trained down more this winter. It’s funny, though, because when she DOES carry her head for me, she looks great! I know it can be done.

Bandit went with me to Mom’s house last night again. He was pretty comfortable, too-he gave Pop a kiss on the fingers as soon as we walked in! He was still shaking, but it was ok. Kurt sat next to him and petted him on the loveseat, too! It was a big night for the little guy. As soon as we got home, he crashed :) He actually went upstairs first-just like Max used to do! He went and put himself to sleep before I was up there, then when Jake and I finally made it up, we snuggled all night. He’s such a cutie. Jake never wants to snuggle, so it’s not like there’s a jealousy thing, either. In fact, if Jake is in my spot on the bed and I want him to move, you can’t just tell him to move. You have to be more cunning that that. You have to make him NOT want to be there anymore. So I’ll look at him and say, “Ohhh, Jake! I’m going to snuuugle with you-what a sweeeeet boy…” Then you move in and lay down right next to him, petting him and telling him how cute he is. He gives me a disgusted look for a minute, then turns his head away. Finally he gets up and moves to the other side of the bed. Score-Mommy.

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Dang Sneaky Dogs….

October 1, 2009 at 8:47 pm · Filed under Bandit, Jake

Well, Jake’s leg is swollen up again.  This will again confirm that grains are bad for mast cell cancers.  I got home last night and my pantry door was cracked open.  I have to admit-this is my fault.  I was rushing out the door and something fell and blocked the pantry door open just a little from the inside.  I couldn’t get it open any more or shut anymore so I figured it would be ok-I was in a rush.  Nope.  Jake strongarmed his way in. 

When I got home, there was a bag of Splenda on the couch on the dog room-opened of course, and spilled pretty much everywhere.  This was much like the flour incident from last winter, but this stuff is sticky.  Fortunately there wasn’t as much to spill.  I go into the next room and there are two formerly full boxes of Special K ripped to shreds on the floor, the now empty bags on the couch in that room.  I had a bag of pita chips that was unopened, and I guess the guys couldn’t get it opened either because they had tried over and over, effectlively mushing the chips into a powder on the inside of the bag.  One of them also ate an entire bag of unpopped microwave popcorn.  I assume it was Jake-I’ll know by tomorrow, if you know what I mean. 

Anyway, He had plenty of stuff that would have been an allergen and here we are tonight with a swollen leg again.  He had an upset tummy this morning, too-you could tell, again, if you know what I mean.  My whole upstairs smelled of doggie farts.  He got some Tums this morning along with his usual dose of allergy pills and an extra Benadryl.  I feel bad for him, but dang it!!  And the clincher is that he was STILL hungry when I got home!  I know Bandit was the one with the Splenda because that was on his couch and and Jake most likely wouldn’t have let Bandit near his claimed stash.

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