A Flyover Blog

Welcome Baby Bonnie

We added another member to our family this past weekend besides my great new brother-in-law, Dan. This is baby Bonnie, an 8 week old Schnorkie. (Mom's a Schnauzer; Dad's a Yorkie.) She was born May 10. She's going to live with my brother David and his wonderful pet-loving family. This little girl will never have a lonely moment again, Michael and Whitney will see to that. I hear Sandy stayed up with her the first night and sang her lullabies.

They brought her over to meet us Friday evening. Sam was mesmerized by her - thought she was the coolest thing since McDonald's french fries. Buddy was a typical Yorkie; he pretended she didn't exist for a couple of hours, then curiousity got the better of him. Welcome, Baby Bonnie!

Buddy's Turn

Buddy reminded me that Sam's been getting a lot of mention lately on this blog, mostly for being a nervous wreck. On the other hand, Buddy, our 5 pound Yorkie, has nerves of steal and has done more than his part to make our transition to this new house fun. Here he is looking out the window at his big new world.

Here's another shot of that window. Sam likes to stand on back of the couch. That's Buddy in the lower right corner, standing on the cushion.

It's hard to get the little guy to sit still long enough for a picture. But I put him on the staircase and got this shot. 

This is the way it works at our house: if you do something to Buddy - like give him a bath, or trim his toenails, or take his picture - you have to do the same to Sam. Here's our clown, Sam, posing for his picture. He's a camera  hog.

Here's Mitch at the top of the stairs with the boys. Buddy sat quietly on the step but, as usual, Sam got a case of the wiggles and licked Mitch's ear. I hope you are having a peaceful weekend at your house!

He's Back!

If you're a regular reader of this blog, then you know I've been posting a lot lately about our Teddy Terrier, Sam. Sammy has been on doggy Prozac for several weeks because the whole moving process totally freaked him out.

I am happy to report that 2 days ago, Sam woke up and suddenly realized he was living in a cool new house and he had nothing to fear. He's back to his comical, fun-loving self. Here he is with Mitch (who is sporting a sunburn from helping me garden.) I pulled Sam off the Prozac; he doesn't need it anymore. Life is good.

Settling In

Thought I'd better post a progress report. We've been in the new house a week. The boxes are mostly unpacked, though I still can't find anything. My arm and hand have been killing me, so I'm a bit behind my own (self-imposed) unpacking schedule.

Those of you who know me won't be surprised at this - we were in the house two whole days before I discovered that I failed to pack the eating utensils and the cooking utensils, too. Not high on my priority list. Good thing we haven't sold our old home yet; I went back earlier this week and got them. There are still some odds and ends at our home in Tiny Tourist Town. I hope to get all those packed up and moved this week.

Sam, our Teddy Terrier, is adjusting slowly. We pulled him off the doggy prozac yesterday, but he saw a fly today (he's terrified of flies) so we gave him another pill this evening. Buddy, our Yorkie, loves this house, thinks we should have moved years ago. Other than a bad spell our first night - he lept off the couch, hit the hardwood floor with a thud and bloodied his mouth - he's been a champ.

In the six nights we've been here, 2 of those were spent under tornado warnings - and the tv hadn't been hooked up yet, so there was no live radar. We muddled through with radio storm trackers and frequent phone updates from my brother, David, who lives in Nixa.

We absolutely love this house. I found the camera, so I'll post some pics later this week. You're all invited to stop by on your next trip through Springfield!

Poor Sammy

It was one of those weekends at the Raymer house. Mitch's mom has mild bronchial pneumonia, so we spent the past several days checking on her - she lives 35 miles away. Good news - the antibiotics have kicked in and she's feeling much better.

So is Sam, thank goodness - who is a far more demanding patient than Mitch's mom. We have 2 dogs, Buddy the Yorkie (our 5 pound tough guy) and Sam, pictured here at Christmas. Sam is a Teddy Roosevelt Terrier which, if you've never seen them, are short stocky little clowns. Sammy adores his family (especially Mitch) fun and food. He's also the most phobic dog I've ever met. Seriously. Poor little guy is absolutely terrified of flies, windshield wipers, and his own bodily functions. He falls apart if he belches or breaks wind. I kid you not.

Well, Saturday he developed a case of turbo-diarrhea brought on, I suspect, by that tarter fighting treat I gave him chased by some watermelon he begged from Mitch. (Our dogs love fruit.) Mitch made a trip into town Sunday and came back with Pepto Bismal in 2 forms - good old pink liquid (which my dogs can spit a distance of 25 feet) and Wild Cherry tablets. Wishing to avoid the whole "pink spew" scene, I got creative; I crushed 2 Cherry tablets and mixed the powder into half a teaspoon of plain yogurt. Mitch told Sam it was cherry yogurt and he gobbled it up. That did the trick! Today he feels great.

Every now and then, I wonder if we should have had kids and, if we did, how they might have turned out. On those rare occasions all I have to do is look at poor phobic Sam... and I know we made the right decision.

Thursday Thirteen-Week 9

Last month one of our dogs, Sam, did the TT list for me while I was ill.  Our Yorkie, Buddy, has not forgotten this. He insisted on doing his own list this week.  Here it is...

13 Things About Buddy

1.  I'm not too crazy about baths.  Mom uses no-tear shampoo on me that smells like fruit.  This is me when my hair was still short.  It touches the floor now.

2.  I weigh 5 pounds.  Sam weighs 24 pounds.  I have to watch out for Sam - sometimes he runs over me!

3.  I was here first. I am 3 weeks older than Sam.  Sam belongs to me.

4.  My teeth are pretty crooked so I only eat small things.

5.  I am not afraid of anything! Sam? He's a coward.

6.  My favorite game is hide-and-seek.  You hide toys and Nylabones and cookies, and I find them!

7.  I love fresh fruit!  Especially peaches, strawberries, apples and mandarin oranges.

8.  Once, I knocked a turtle dove down in the yard and gummed it pretty good.  It was fun, until mom said, "Bad Buddy!" and brushed all the feathers out of my hair and gave me a bath.  It was a long day. (P.S. The dove was okay, just slobbery. I have those crooked teeth, remember.)

9.  I don't like to be cold.  If I get cold, I curl up next to Daddy... and if he's busy, I curl up next to Sam.  Sam's always warm.

10.  Staying home is okay, but I prefer to Go! Go! Go!

11.  I have a big job - I take care of Mom and Dad and Sam.  I think this house would fall apart without me!  Sam? He mostly sleeps.

12.  All of Sam's toys are bigger than me.  All of my toys are tiny... except for one.  I have a nemesis, a stuffed cat named Mrs. Norris from the Harry Potter movies.  That is my special toy.  I beat it up when I'm feeling really tough.  It's pretty slobbery, too.

13.  I love people!

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Hi! I'm Sam

This is Sammy's baby picture; he's 10 weeks old here.

After we lost our Basenji, Kate, Mitch decided he wanted a smaller dog that didn't have such an aristocratic pedigree - preferably one that didn't throw up on him in the car.  So I began scouring the countryside looking for a smallish pup that would be a good companion.   I called "dog people" in a 300 mile radius looking for a puppy.  Nothing.

Three weeks went by before we got a lead.  We heard about an elderly man that had a Rattie puppy.  He was retired and lived alone with his dogs and a cat.  Mitch and I phoned him and drove straight over.  When we arrived, I spotted this roly-poly little pup laying in the grass with a cat. I instantly knew this was not the puppy for us. It looked like a chunky guinea pig and it had a crooked Harry Potterish scar on top of his head (I suspect from the cat.)

Disappointed, I headed back to the car. I turned to say something to Mitch and saw him sitting on the ground playing with the pup! It was love at first sight. I gently tried to talk him out of it, thinking he was just being a softy.  FYI: I can't take Mitch to Pets Mart on Saturday Adoption Day anymore, because he just can't stand to see all the homeless dogs! But Mitch was adamant; this was the puppy for him.

He gave the old man $100. The old man took the collar of his cat and put it on the pup, and gave Mitch a can of Pedigree dog food. (I think I saw it sitting in the garage the other day.) I got in the car knowing that in a few days Mitch would come to his senses and realize he bought a guinea pig, not a dog. And when that happened, I'd be the one standing in front of Pets Mart trying to find this pup a good home.

I knew Buddy, our new Yorkie puppy, would back me up in this decision - but he sided with Mitch!  The instant he saw Sam he lit up; he thought we brought him a new toy! So, there they were - little Buddy, who weighed less than one pound, and Sam who weighed 8.  They have been best buddies ever since.   Sam is grown up now and weighs 24 pounds.  His life philosophy is Everything, Right Now, All The Time.

Meet Little Buddy

This is the littlest member of our family.

Buddy is 3 months old in this shot and weighs almost 1 whole pound!  He is my 3rd Yorkie.  I love this breed's personality and have had one since I was eighteen.

I bought my first Yorkie, Crumpet, with gift money I received for high school graduation. Crumpet was incredibly sweet and intuitive, and literally kept me alive through some very dark years. Crumpet lived to be 14 and died a year after Mitch and I were married.  He adored Mitch (which was one of the reasons I married the man - dogs know things.)  Anyway, I think Crumpet stayed with me long enough to know I was going to be okay, then his tired little heart just stopped.

Shortly after Crumpet died, I found a lively little guy which we named Biggie Bo.  And since Mitch was raised with hunting dogs - and Yorkies aren't really "guy dogs" - we bought a Basenji pup a month later.  We called her Kate.  Kate and Biggie were inseparable and she really depended on him.  When Biggie died of lymphatic cancer, Kate was lost; she died 7 days later. They were both 10 years old. I have heard stories of animals dying when a companion they are close to passes - just like people sometimes do - but I'd never experienced it first hand.

My office is at home and I found it impossible to work; it was eerily quiet without Kate and Biggie - and much too sad.  So, Mitch and I decided to look for two more puppies to share our lives with.  I phoned Biggie Bo's breeder, Mary Jane Patrick of Patrick's Shamrock Kennels to see if she still raised Yorkies.  Not only did she still raise them, she had a puppy that was Biggie's nephew! Mitch and I drove out to see him that afternoon and took him home with us. 

Buddy is the scrappiest of my 3 Yorkies, and the smallest. He is all grown up now and weighs 5 whole pounds! Did we ever find that second puppy, you ask? Yes we did, several weeks later.  I'll introduce you to him next.