thebellagreyhound

Bella

2009-06-02T14:54:00.002+10:00

at peace 16/05/2009

When the time is right I will be able to post about my beautiful girl. Bella would have been 16 this year. She was such a huge part of my life that I am not able to put into words the loss that I feel. A broken heart is not a cliche. My heart is in a million pieces and at the moment I can not imagine life without her in it.

2009-05-12T19:18:00.002+10:00

for Tracey

and for the people that loved her and miss her everyday

For Karma

2009-04-02T20:26:00.003+10:00

At peace 2 April 2009.

Much love to Sian and her family who will forever miss their

sweet, beautiful hound.

For Kea

2009-03-27T23:27:00.002+10:00

15 and a half years ago I took a tiny Staffy puppy home for Christmas. I put a big tartan ribbon around her fat tummy and presented her to mum who fell in love with her instantly.

This week Kea joined her best friend Roxy in heaven where together they can be free of arthritis and eat as much cheese as they want.

Our Sweet Kea loved everybody but she especially loved mum. When mum was in hospital recovering from heart surgery Kea was completely lost. She roamed the house everyday looking for her until she would sadly give up and go and curl up on mum's pillow to sleep and dream of mum coming home.

A visit to mum and dad's house will just not be the same without a silly Staffy jumping in your lap to cover you in slurps. Kea's other best friend Lousie the greyhound now divides her love between mum and dad and with a heavy hound heart must take on the role of the sole canine carer. Both Kea and Roxy know that Lou is up to it though because they were very good at teaching her to be a lap dog and how to sneak under the doona in the middle of the night.

Sweet Kea, you brought so much life and love and laughter to our family that there will forever be a space missing under the table at dinner time.

The family that eats Chinese together.....

2009-03-24T18:52:00.002+10:00

sticks together

Dad, Uncle John, Mum, Aunty Janette, Scott, Me, Matt, Lyndal + 1 and Mat

Mum and Dad just celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary. So in in true Liddle style we had a slap up feast of Chinese. We gave the table's lazy susan a workout that it will never recover from. I think that at one point there was smoke coming off it as we fought each other for the sweet and sour pork. You should have seen the wrestling that went on over the prawn crackers.

When mum was not looking I made sure that Dad got 3 serves of dessert. She was too distracted trying the deep fried ice cream that she claims that she has never had before. I know full well that she has tried it before because I fought her for her serve at the last Chinese Smorgasbord Liddle Family Extravaganza.

After 40 years I figured that Dad can eat as much ice cream as he wants....

My next dog

2009-03-17T20:59:00.004+10:00

Her name was Kitty - she even purred.
Pick me up! Pick me up! PICK ME UP NOW!!

Come closer...I WILL lick you...

I um bewdiful und Iwant to snorgle wiz you

Quite taking pictures and let me love you.

GAP had a promotion on the weekend at a Pet Expo. I fell in love with the French Bulldogs. They just love everyone. They come up to you and just start to lick and snorgle. That is the kind of dog I love. One that likes to pash on a first date and is not afraid to do it in public.

More Hats...

2009-03-17T20:47:00.003+10:00

Yeah I know - it is fecking ridiculaous what she makes us do.

Oh god please make it stop....

I wonder if she broke her arm could still churn out this crap?

They pretend to hate it. But really they LOVE IT.

The hat model

2009-03-12T21:48:00.002+10:00

I am madly knitting for the arrival of my niece. Iris gets to model everything I make. Snorkel is just glad that she gets out of dress ups as she is already wearing enough stuff.

Some Snork News

2009-03-12T21:12:00.004+10:00

Fancy 80's inspired crop top.

Banjo taking care of his sister.

The closest that Gracie has ever come to wearing a racing vest!

Baby Pie gives licks and kisses.

Iris trying to work out if she will fit into the new designerwear.

Peanut Butter + Valuim = Smile

Gracie gettin some Uncle Matsie snorgles.

The Snork is getting better.....slowly. Under her neck and shoulder where they needed to cut out the dead tissue she has open wounds that must be dressed every couple of days. She is being a very good sport about the whole thing and has not complained once. I think that this is because the vet nurses spoil her rotten. As she soon as she gets there she throws herself at them and leans all over them and demands attention. It use to take two nurses about 20 minutes to bandage her but now they have it down pat and can do it in 10.

The nurses have been having a great time choosing different coloured bandage for her. The even went on the internet to find out what number a yellow vest was so they could get it right! She just loves them and I am relieved that when I have to leave her there she is loved and taken care of. The other day after a session Hayley offered her a treat and madam did not want that treat and promptly stuck her snorkel into the jar to choose something better. I told her off for being cheeky but they love her and let her get away with whatever she wants.

She is still running a temperature so they have started her on a course of different antibiotics. They are liver flavoured hence I do not need to coat them in a tablespoon of peanut butter before I shove them in her gob every morning and night. Poncho cottoned onto the peanut butter caper and now will only take his Valium if it is covered in a mound of it. I am sure that they are addicted. Not to the drugs. They NEED to chase the 'peanut butter' every day.

A wild night in for the boys

2009-03-12T20:55:00.004+10:00

It has been pretty hectic around here lately. Gracie is still on the mend and requires her bandages to be changed every couple of days at the vet. There never seems to be enough hours in the day.

Uncle Matsie has been spending the weekends at our house helping with the hounds and pretending to that he does not like me mothering him. A few weeks ago they boys had a few beers and attempted to watch a movie..... it was not even late it was like 8pm!

I was drawn to their state of slumber by a sound that was not unlike a huge chainsaw hacking up gigantic chunks of lumber. The hounds had fled the room for the serenity of any room in the house that was not anywhere near them. Even Bella, who is almost deaf, had left the room for the comfort and peace of the backyard.

It was almost as if in unison they were saying - we are men hear us roar...but only from the couch as we are too tired and fragile to deal with anything else.... and whilst you are busy watching us and taking pictures can you please bring us a blankie?

I don't think they even finished a beer each before it was nuh night lights out. I was going to wake them and then figured it was more fun to take pictures of them and have full control of the remote.

Iris helps Gracie

2009-02-19T21:24:00.002+10:00

Iris big and brave on the track

This is what an Iris sookfest looks like...

Gracie was still pretty sick this morning and so my vet thought that it might be a good idea to give her some more blood. Since Banjo had already given blood this week I took Iris in so that she could help out her sister.

Iris was pretty brave when we got to the vet but when I picked her up tonight she was pretty unimpressed. I think that she might have thought that she was going to the day spa but soon worked out the vet was not all fun and games and spent all afternoon sleeping off her sedative. Baby Snorks is looking better and gave Iris a big sniff and a tail wag when we arrived.

Gracie is looking better tonight and Mike the vet thinks that she might able to come home for the weekend. She is going to have to go back next week but for now she is making progress and that is a good sign.

Iris got hand fed 2 steaks for dinner and sooked off to bed. She told me that she would only donate blood again if she got a pedicure at the end of it.

Gracie Update

2009-02-18T19:35:00.002+10:00

Gracie had another operation this afternoon to remove all of the dead tissue around her wounds. The blood transfusion appears to have made a difference as some of the bruising has gone down. Melissa the vet nurse reports that she is in good spirits and has been a very special patient. Apparently she has been a very good girl and put up with all the poking and proding and not complained once. Melissa lay on the floor with her this afternoon and had a snuggle so I am very sure that she is being looked after with much love and attention.

Gracie the Snorkelface would like to extend many snorkel kisses to everyone that has wished her a speedie recovery. She said that she feels very special knowing that so many people care and when she gets out of the vet she will tap out a personal message to everyone.

In the meantime she is going to continue to watch Louie the one eyed surgery cat with interest and keep snorkeling all of the vet staff that are making a big fuss of her. Melissa said that so long as she keeps 'talking' to Louie that they know that she is still very much herself and things are going OK.

Gracie is a sick Snorkelface

2009-02-17T20:03:00.003+10:00

Her front leg was double its normal size.

A pelican Snorkelface.

Banjo catching some down time after a good old fashioned 'bleeding'.

About 10 days ago Gracie and Banjo were playing in the backyard and both of them got a bit carried away and they gave each other a bit of touch up. Banjo came off without a scratch but Gracie got a couple of holes in her side and under her neck. There were only small holes and did not appear to need the vet so I patched her up and she seemed fine. Last week the holes became infected and I took her straight to the vet who opened them up, cleaned them out and then stitched her up. She bled really heavily after the operation and the drains they put in her were seeping a lot. This eased up a few hours after she came home so the vet was not too concerned about it.

After a few days later she was not getting better and her face and neck became very swollen and she came out in a bright red bruise. The vet removed the drains in case they were making the wounds worse and put her on more antibiotics. On Monday morning Matt dropped her to the vet as the wounds had opened again and the tissue was weeping and smelt really bad. My vet was baffled as to why she was not getting better so he kept her in to run tests. She was so swollen she looked like a pelican not a beautiful Snorkelface.

Her blood test have shown that she is low in protein and iron but they still can not work out what the underlying problem is. Today they decided to try giving her a blood transfusion to see if that would help the healing so Banjo stuck up his paw to go and help his sister out. Mind you since he is the one that caused the problem he was giving her blood whether he liked it or not. According to the vet nurses he loved every minute of being at the vets and was not phased at all by getting a big needle in the neck. He had a lovely day out and got to sit next to Gracie's cage and eat treats that he conned out of everyone that looked at him. Plus he got to eye off the cat that lives in the surgery and is spolt rotten. Mind you the cat is way smarter than he will ever be and he was muzzled the whole time so who knows what he thought that he would get away with a surgery full of people watching him. He is pretty but not so bright. I might add the surgery cat only has one eye and is still more on the ball than he will ever be.

Gracie wagged her tail and cried when we came in and she looked very happy to see us. She still has a puffy little snout and her neck looks raw and very sore. The vet nurse reports that she is in good spirits considering everything and has not lost her appetite so that is a good sign. All of the blood tests have come back OK (nothing sinister showing up) so at the moment no one can work out what is happening to her.

I miss my little Snorkel. I just want her home with us being a spaz, running around the house with one of my bras in her mouth looking all smug and pleased with herself for finding a bra.

Hurry up and get better Baby Grace because Banjo needs you and he is very sorry that he played rough with you. He promises that you can have all of the brain that you share with him whenever you want it. Besides, he has model looks so a brain is no good to him anyway.

Sleep Over = Riot

2009-02-03T17:55:00.004+10:00

Tamale with the original 'stink eye'.

Omo did not have the stink eye. He actually kept his hat on for hours....well at least 5 minutes.

After 10 hours sleeping Tamale was still in this position on the end of our bed.

What do you mean move?

Tamale snorgeling with B1.

Omo likes the home made touch and goes for the knitted toys. He is such a hippy.

No store bought toys for him.

This why we love getting to stay at Aunty Brooke's.

She makes us wear stupid hats at Christmas and in return we get to do

whatever we want whenever we want to do it.

It really is a win win situation

Kiddies

2009-02-02T20:02:00.004+10:00

Lyndal my Sister-in-Law with Jessica.

Jessica does not believe that there is a baby in Lyndals tummy.... Well little Miss know-it-all you are going to b WRONG in a couple of months.

Me and Jessica. She has been wearing that dress for 3 days straight.

I told her she was a grot but I was proud of her.

Jess trying to work out why her mother will not let her hold the budgie. I saw what she did to the guinea pigs and I understand why her mother will not let her near anthing small and fragile. She likes to show her love by sqeeeeeezing things.

Billie trying to work out the same thing. He is just unco. Bless him.

Or he would try and feed the bird to the cat.

A rare moment of sibling love with no fighting! And no biting.

In true ranga style Icca has a temper and knows how to use it.

Me and Billy - he is already a ladies man.

A few weeks ago I got to spend some time with my god kiddies. Every time I see them I ask them who their favourite Aunty is. If they say someone else it is getting logged away in my memory so when they want to borrow my car or get me to cover for them when they want to go out on dates I will say - Hmmmm let me see, I seem to remember that at least once in 2009 you answered - "Aunty Emma is my favourite". So then I will say - "Go call Aunty Emma in England and see how much help she will be to you".

Not such a favourite Aunt now is she? Hmmm?! I am evil but it is important that they get their priorities right now. After all, I was the one that bought them each a bottle of Scotch for their 1st birthday with strict instructions that it is not to be opened until they turn 21. So that we can enjoy it together. Or they can put it on eBay and buy themselves what they really want like a bass guitar or a trip to Nepal. I mean Scotch that will age nicely is a way cooler present than a poxy pair of knitted elephants or a crap jigsaw puzzle. Priorities. It is all about priorities. And ME getting to be the favourite.

Shallow? Moi?

Just imagine what I am going to be like when my niece comes along.

I am going to be out of control.

For Mufasa

2009-02-02T18:18:00.002+10:00

I know that I like to make out that my life is all about me, but really without my peeps it would be dull and boring. In fact it is my peeps who get me through the day when I am feeling 'special'. They point out that I am not going to put back on 20 kg just because I skipped the gym and drank wine with them, and they understand that some moments in life can only be expressed through the wonder of interpretive dance.

A couple of weeks ago one of my main peeps decided that he needed to teach me a lesson--a lesson about life and how precious it is. Mind you, I am pretty sure that he sees it from more of a 'manly' point of view; he thinks that he just taught me a lesson in how to harden the feck up.

The story goes like this. He was having one of those days where his veins pop out of his head and his eyes change colour. I am not kidding. They go from blue to lime green in a matter of seconds when he is pissed off. I knew that he would not bother to eat dinner that night, so I popped over to nag and mother him and basically piss him off a bit more until he had no more fight left in him and let me win 'bestie of the year'. He was so stressed and cranky that you could almost feel the waves of anger coming off him. I knew that nagging was not going to help, so I did what all good women who can not cook for shit do--I went and bought Thai take away and a six pack.

After dinner he was still simmering, and I knew that this hissy fit was a good one because he did not even enjoy South Park. Usually SP makes everything in the world good again, but on this night it was not even causing a smirk. About 9.30, he started to complain that he had pins and needles in his left hand. Within the hour, he had it in his foot ,and it was spreading up his leg. He tried to pass it off and be a bloke about it, but in the back of my mind I remembered an email that I read ages ago about the signs of stroke. I made him smile at me (nuh, no lopsided grin). I made him say his name and date of birth (nuh, he knew those). He rolled his eyes at me a bit and then told me that he was started to feel numb and he had a headache. He also told me he felt dizzy. At this point we immediately went to the ER.

At the ER he got his chest shaved into patches and sticky heart monitor type things stuck all over him. They drained litres of blood out of him, and he had a CT scan and chest x-ray. He had every person with the letters '-ologist' after their name poke and prod him. He had an MRI, an ultra sound on the veins in his neck, and a stress test on his heart. After 24 hours of probing, he was admitted. All of the specialists gathered around him and said the words that no person at the age of 39 wants to hear --You have had a stroke.

He was lucky, it was a 'mini stroke'. It was the stroke that they call a warning sign. Kind of like a good hard slap in the face with with a giant piece of frozen cod. It was the warning sign that said, "if you continue to stress, smoke, not exercise, not eat properly, have high cholesterol and blood pressure and generally live your life like you are 25 and full of piss and vinegar, you are going to die. And you will die soon because you will have another stroke, and it will be the Mt Fuji of all strokes."

After a few days he was lucky enough to get most of the mobility back in his arm but his left leg is still a bit gammy; he still needs a walking stick. He had lost some vision in one of his eyes, and this was also slow to return but is almost back to normal. The physios in the hospital did not hold back on him because of his age and gave him a 'fun' exercise routine that involves such items as green putty and and a green piece of rubber that he had to do various things to.... like throw at me when I make fun of him for being a cripple. The putty he uses like a stress ball to get his hand muscles working. The dogs thinks that this is the best piece of exercise equipment ever; they like to stalk him when he has it in case they get to 'taste' it.

The hospital let him out after a week because they figured that he might go insane with boredom in the rehab ward with all the other stroke victims who average around 85 years of age. But they would only let him out if he had someone where to go where he could be watched in case he fell or had anther stroke. So, he won a nice, relaxing stay at Karana Downs, and the hounds thought that all the Christmases had come at once because he was home all day with them feeding them Schmackos. For the first time in a long time, I was allowed to nag and lecture, and he had no way of escaping or ignoring me. Nor could he stick his fingers in his ears and yell "la la la I'm not listening!" He did try to smack me with his crutch a few times, but I got him back by reminding him about how the physio made him tuck his jammies into his undies so she could see the movement in his legs better. She was a hot blond sassy physio so I am pretty sure that it hurt him more than it hurt my stomach muscles from laughing when I recalled this series of events.

He is on the mend now and back home in his own unit with a fridge full of my cooking (ie ,one container of pasta and sauce) and bathroom full of medicine that I call daily to remind him to take. I can be cynical about a lot of things, but I know that there was a reason that I needed to go and see him the night that he had the stroke. Maybe I had a feeling in my waters....or maybe there is a power bigger than all of us that sent me over there to make sure that he was going to get to hospital in time. All I know is that life is short, and our bodies are just like cars. If you don't put the right stuff into them and look after them they will cease up and breakdown at the worst possible time.

I love my best friend. Watching him struggle to get up and walk that first day in the hospital was like being punched in the guts and keeping a big happy smile on my face. Watching the most capable person in my life struggle to open a bottle of water broke my heart and still I kept the smiles up. I waited until he was passed out from exhaustion and then cried my eyes out in the family room. A nice old lady sitting near me told me that it was going to be OK because God was taking care of us. I explained to her that he was not my husband but my best friend. For the first time someone seemed to understand the concept that boys and girls could be best friends no matter how old they were. The hospital staff were completely baffled by our relationship. Even the hippy social worker gave me curious look when I explained that we were 'besties'. And this is what the nice old lady told me -- She told me that she believed that life partners were not just people that were married. They were people that shared their lives and would continue to share their lives until they were old and grey just like her. The more I thought about this comment the more it made sense to me. Life peeps are the people whose names you can count on one hand. They are the people that you dial the most on your mobile phone and the people that are allowed to see you at your very worst. They are the people that you let hang your undies on the line when you are too sick to do it yourself.

I have one life partner that is going to get snorkeled to death if all of my (and the doctors') nagging does not make him change his life. If he ends up in hospital again, I will so be taking pictures of him in the rehab ward with his bum crack showing and his jammies tucked in his undies, and those pictures will be going straight to Facebook. Just try me, Mister. I am NOT joking. And these photos? They're going in as is. I'm not touching them up like the ones of me in Bad Girls with Good Dogs.

NYE - the undies know how to party

2009-01-11T23:09:00.002+10:00

The traveling undies came to our NYE party - they drank a lot of red wine, ate steak and chatted up a nice pair of boxer shorts.....they are soooooo going to hell for having 'lose morals'....

Then and Now - Me and my Dad

2009-01-07T22:54:00.005+10:00

2007

2008

What a difference one year and 25kg's make...

I feel like a show off but when I look at these pictures I feel as though

I have earned bragging rights....

Tag!

2009-01-07T22:25:00.002+10:00

Poncho - sleeping with one ear up and one ear down.

He has his back to me so he was probably in a bad mood after having his nails cut.

I was tagged by Alex (Katy had to help with this as I am blogtarded and am bad at computers (folder? like what folder? like a folder on my desk or a folder inside the magical computer)!

I now tag the following to post the 6th picture of their 6th folder and give a brief description of the picture:

ihatetoast
itscharacterbuilding
geminiandchristie.
nuttinbuthounddogs
genjiscorner
gorgeousgreyhounds

Go forth and tag you crazy greyhound bloggers!!

Aunty Brooke

2009-01-07T22:17:00.002+10:00

This is my niece or nephew..... Or niecphew!!

Gallstones Suck

2009-01-07T20:08:00.007+10:00

Uncle Matsie - you can all have a smacko because none you have GALLSTONES

gross gross gross

I have Gallstones. I am in pain. I am in big, serious freaky pain that makes me pass out and then wake up with a greyhound licking my face. They are not being kind I might add, I am usually in the shower and they think that this is a fun game.

I went to my Dr but as I was too busy freaking out thinking about how my body has been invaded by something as gross as 'stones', I did not really concentrate on what he said. So when I got home the only things I had to offer as a reason for my pain was 'Gallbladder and Gallstones' and I had no idea what it all meant so I did what all good children with ADHD do - I googled it.

Gallbladder
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (or the encyclopedia

for people like me that can only sit still for about 5 minutes)

The gallbladder (or cholecyst, sometimes gall bladder) is a small non-vital organ which aids in the digestive process and stores bile.

See NON-VITAL! I knew that little fecker could come out and I want it out.

In medicine, gallstones (choleliths) are crystalline bodies formed within the body by

accretion or concretion of normal or abnormal bile component. A gallstone's size varies and may be as small as a sand grain or as large as a golf ball.

OMG - that sounds foul. Crystals should be on fancy brooches. Not inside your organs. And I am sure they are NOT grains of sand they are the size of a softball.

I have been fighting it for a few months now, trying to be brave but Sunday night found me passed out on the floor and I was forced to call Uncle Matsie to come and rescue me because I was fairly sure at that point that I was going to give birth to a gallstone the size of Africa. Matt had gone to see a gig (a gig that I was supposed to be going to and I was pissed off that I was too sick to go) and since Banjo and Gracie are useless in a crisis, Matsie was the only one who could talk sense into me. Actually he kind of yelled at me... it went like this...

(Uncle Matsie fights his way through the hounds that are bouncing off the walls to greet him to find me spread out on the floor in the hallway)

Mat - right get up off the floor I am taking you to the hospital

Me - no I am alright just get me a wheat bag

Mat - shut the feck up you are going to the ER

Me - you can't make me la la alala I'm not listening

Mat - (yelling) you are going to the hospital RIGHT NOW YOUNG LADY DO NOT ARGUE WITH ME (big booming army like voice)

Me - ok

I then faffed about for about 10 minutes trying to find a suitable ensemble for the ER. Mat's face went purple so I quickly put on my gym pants and headed out the door before he tried to throw me over his shoulder wearing nothing but boxer shorts and a bonds t shirt (me not him, HE had time to dress accordingly for the hospital).

A couple of hours later I got a shot of morphine and was secretly glad that I listened to Uncle Matsie. Even though he did tell me to 'toughen up' when the nurse tried for the third time to find a vein. I have sooky veins that disappear the moment I set foot in a hospital. Mat has been trained in the army to stick needles in people and offered to give it a go. Fortunately at that point the nurse found a whopper of a vein and I was hooked up for the goodness of sweet sweet pain relief.

So 2009 has started with a shot of hard drugs and a gallbladder full on runes. It can only get better from here....

Out to dinner

2009-01-03T18:28:00.002+10:00

Brooke, Gill (Mom in law), Matt and Uncle Matsie
They were actually trying to mum a bunger off Matt but I told them they
were too young to smoke...

Matt's is visiting for a few days and we decided to hit the local gold club for a slab of steak. The precious poodle undies decided they felt like a night out too. I offered them a bite of my steak but they were more interested in getting their picture taken in public. They are so 'it's all about me'.

Where to next.....stay tuned.... Unless Katy comes and stabs me with one of her knitting needles and the next place they show up is at at my wake.

Murphy has a Blog!

2008-12-27T14:01:00.001+10:00

http://murphyslaw-bronny.blogspot.com/

Xmas Undies Part 1

2008-12-27T13:39:00.004+10:00

I am dead sexy. And drunk.

On their tree!

In the room where my niece or nephew was conceived!

The undies came with us to Xmas dinner at my brother house in Keperra. They were there for the big announcement...I am going to be an Aunt! Scott and Lyndal are expecting their first baby in June. The undies had a bit of a pose around their house. They really liked me 'modeling' them. They said that they like a women with a bit of meat on her bones. Katy does not have enough junk in her trunk.

I got to have Omo and Tamale hang with my hounds for Xmas. Snork is in love with Omo. Tamale said she does not mind sharing him because she has her eye on Banjo....

2008-12-18T20:52:00.002+10:00

HangingInTheKitchenUndies

KoalaUndies

ILoveLampUndies

KFCFridgeUndies

I wonder where the undies will be this weekend.....