So I've been MIA more often than not...dial up warning.

Though I do still make time to see what has been posted to the group. I call it my relaxation & wind down time. I'm usually exhausted and my typing sucks on a good day but really goes down hill when I am tired. So what has kept me away? Life and death.

On April 21st my DH came home to find our GSD dead in his bed. He came and woke me up with that shocking & heartbreaking news. The great late Zaiden was only 9.5 years old and this was completely unexpected. (I was expecting a very sick ferret to pass away anytime.) It took a bit to just wrap my mind around it.

The great late Zaiden.









Ready to get brushed with the furminator. He always lost about 20 lbs of fur in the spring.
















Now that I have posted every photo of him I could find in photobucket I still don't think I took enough. During all this I was hand feeding my ferret Pixel every 3 hours as she had adrenal disease (a cancer) and somehow holding on even though she was skin and bones and weak. She finally gave up the fight on Mother's Day. At least she waited until I was up and able to hold her. Her photos are on Cd's so will not post hundreds of them. That is the death part of things... now for the life.

My sister teaches vet techs. in Orlando and as part of the program she and the students run a rescue. A lady called about a feral Siamese that needed help. She got him, they named him Simon and she decided he belonged with me. So now I have a feral Siamese adjusting to living with people, ferrets, birds and DOGS. lol He is adjusting well and is beautiful. He came here on a tractor trailer from Florida.




Oh and BTW there are some adorable GSD puppies up for adoption in Florida. They've been hand raised since about 2 weeks. http://www.angelfire.com/fl5/vetsandpetsfl/updates/

Well the other life and what has really been keeping me busy is Sabine. A beautiful GSD puppy that is related to the late great Zaiden. A great grand-niece. I had gone to see if they had any puppies or were planning on breeding any. (They don't breed their dogs very often.) They had a beautiful, unique (to me at least) little girl that was 5 months old. I really wanted to get one around 12 weeks but she stole her way into my heart. So I have been puppy training and playing catch up with her. She is doing wonderful and learns fast.


Sabine the day we went to get her.









And now in her new home.



I love her "cape" and red ears but thinking she might lose the cape.










I also love the way she raises her foot when something has her curious.










I need to get her a tether-ball. lol That would be the ball she was learning fetch with and turned into her own tether ball. lol

Oh and still have to normal life stuff of gardening, cleaning etc. So will mostly likely be MIA more often than not still. So please keep posting my sanity savers, your beautiful, thought provoking, informative and wonderful photos. Adding, BIA's daughter's blog is also a sanity saver for me. My 2 must visit places.:)

The late great Zaiden puts me in touch with the dogs I have mourned over time, as I see time moving back to when he was little.
And Sabine - the new puppy - so visibly related to him allows the pain to heal and joy to return in your life.

The beauty and liveliness of the photos brings your present pre-occupations right into my face, and I swear, I bought "German Shepherds for Dummies" at a discounter day before yesterday, because I'm thinking about a baby for me. The last one I raised wrong and she was dangerous and therefore very high maintenance.
Can't let that happen again.

Simon, the feral cat, looks scary to me. Stunningly creature like beautiful though. I don't know cats, have never had one. I'd have a door open when I'm in a room with him.

Thank you CC for the rundown of the activities. I'm pleased and surprised you have time to come see us at all :) but I'm always happy when you do.

Looks like you have a good amount of land for them to run off that energy.

I am so sorry about the unexpected loss of your great dog, CC.

healing though of course she can't replace Zaid. She is keeping me busy.

I know it is hard losing a pet unexpectedly. :cry:

Sabine looks like a lot of fun and I am trying to visualize all these together...... a ferrel Siamese? You are really brave! What a gorgeous cat.

mean, just scared of people. He is settling in and loves the laser pointer & kitty TV. He is even leash trained if you can get a leash on him. My sister has her student volunteers leash train all the rescued cats. I am not forcing Simon to let me touch him as I want him to break through that fear on his own. I think he will do that sooner than later since he now comes to get my attention when he wants to chase the red dot. lol The funniest part is he isn't sure if he should chase the ferret or run away from her. He will chase her until she looks at him, then he runs and hides. He is entertaining. :)

Sorry for your loss, but at least she went fast. It's horrible to have to watch them slowly and painfully fade away.

Thank you for the beautiful photos. Any idea what happened?

we have no idea. He was fine then just gone. I have finally stopped trying to guess since I would never know if I was right now anyway.

Sabine is a great name for such a pretty doggie.