~un-productive~

 

thank you all for your birthday wishes to flynt!

 

his birthday being the day it is makes the anniversary of having to send our beautiful cody over the rainbow bridge easier to bare even after four years.

for those readers who don't know we lost cody on the 10th January 2010, within hours of flynt being born and so we like to feel there is some of cody in flynt.

 

flynts true name is

 

Sgurr an Doire Leathain

 

 

 Sgurr an Doire Leathain is one of the 7 munros on the south glen sheil ridge in western Scotland, over the kylerhea river which separates the isle of skye, where flynt was born, from mainland Scotland.

all his brothers and sisters were named for the other monroes and we were all allowed to chose which name to have and we chose this one because of its assorted translations the one the breeder had was 'peak of the broad oak thicket'

 

which for me was just perfect~dont you agree?

 

***

 

today is cool and dry here in this ancient forest, the calm before the next period of rain and high winds due to come later today and over night. yesterday we had almost continuous rain that thundered so loudly on our roof it was hard not to think our roof would come in!

unfortunately just because its a lovely dry day it doesn't mean i can get out and tidy some of the garden because the ground is so waterlogged we cannot walk on anything for fear of churning it up.

 

***

i am a bit out of sync today as i slept until 1.30 this morning~i never sleep that late, i am usually up between 5-6 every morning. i love the solitude of being up so early and having that 'me' time.

but my body was obviously telling me that i needed the rest~but it does nothing to my feeling of losing a big part of the day, my most productive part of the day being the morning.

 

i have a project that needs finishing as a gift for a friend

i need to study the cards from my first reading of my shamans oracle again

i need to make up a batch of my starter for my artisan loaf

i want to sit in the garden for a while...but need to move my garden chairs around first

 

tomorrow i fully intend on getting up early and have a productive day!

 

how has your day been?



-Cody-

Remembering our dear Cody who went over the Rainbow Bridge two years ago today.
We still love and miss you so very much...

~a year in sentences~

Robyn at Villa Maria started this post and i shall carry it on here~

January~my boy is home~we were able to collect cody from the vets yesterday and it feels so good to have him here.

February~blessed imbolc~the great wheel turns again

March~too blogged down to blog!~i am becoming increasingly aware of my lack of blogging of late~i feel i have been so bogged down with everything right now.

April~things~'Do not trouble yourself much to get new things, whether clothes or friends.... Sell your clothes and keep your thoughts'~Henry David Thoreau~

May~posting a day late~we took a beltene stroll to the old clay pits this morning

June~belated spring clean~i have been looking around lately and seeing a distinct lack of color and joy around me~in me, my home, my blog...note i have added a new background...and my spirit.

July~a garden for the fae~i am so in love with our garden right now~from a neglected, smelly piece of land its increasingly become a place where it is easy to see the unseen fae that share this land with us.

August~belated blessings~in the catch up of my week i forgot~*lughnasa blessings to you all*

September~hold onto your hats!~i am still here folks honest!

October~october~october arrived in this ancient forest on the back of howling winds and heavy rain

November~a peaceful day~i had a peaceful day yesterday but struggled with a headache and neck ache which somewhat took the shine off the day.

December~ho-hum~seems the snow has created bother with my blog!

~*~*~*~

what does your year in sentences look like?

*~*~*~

this post was hard for me to begin for the start of last year had us bring Cody home after his operation and we were looking forward to him getting well.

of course that didn't happen and the day draws ever closer to the anniversary of the day he went from us~so the tears, even now are close to the surface as we still miss him so much.

of course we have had little (not so little now!) Flynt to bring up and have fun with and now there is talk of maybe...maybe...finding him a little brother or sister.

new year here in the forest was uneventful for my new year is marked at samhuinn~so i was in bed and fast asleep when someone whose back garden faces our bedroom window let off fireworks, waking me up.

today had a slow start with a walk in the forest~a new route today where i saw lots of trees marked for felling as well as quite a few already felled.

this prompted me to fire off an e-mail to the forestry commission for i am somewhat concerned with the lack of planting native saplings to replace the ones felled.
in some areas there are large, treeless spaces where moss has grown over stumps between the remaining trees~call me suspicious but why has no saplings been planted to maintain the woodland?

~remembering Cody~

~six months ago today we had to let our beloved Cody pass to the Rainbow Bridge~

~the turning wheel*further~

such a lot has happened in such a short space of time and it is only now in the last few days things have slipped into place within my mind and i am finding peace from the darkness that has been here and finally accepting everything that has happened~it is still hard and each day brings new tears but yes, i am finding peace.

everything that has happened seems,to me,to have happened at significant times.

the sudden loss of our beautiful Cody was at a point of darkness~the waning of the midwinter moon, but at the same time at the turning of the wheel where the darkness,still strong,slowly wanes and welcomes the light.

my path has shown its strength at this time and i feel joy that i saw the darkness and came through it feeling stronger~knowing i came through the darkness means i can face it again one day.

~further~

my word for 2010, which came about from a thread in a forum i belong to~when the thread started i had no thought for a word and it wasn't important to me, but suddenly this week the word came to me. some of you out there may well recognise this wonderful bus and this is where my inspiration came from for my word.

photo by joe mabel

to me 'further' is a reminder to always keep moving forwards and not become stuck in the present or the past

so i shall move further forward in my life and down my chosen path~always with cody tucked deep in my heart

~moving on~

~Cody~

Cody came to us on the 3rd Jan 2005, at about a year old; from a breeder keen to get rid of him-he already had two previous owners, both who had returned him.
From the look of him, covered in a thick layer of dried on mud and goodness knows what else, he had been kept in some kind of outside cage.
He didn’t even know his given name.
Of course we could never say no, so he was welcomed into our home.
Three baths later he was a lovely shiny black and white and it was time to find him a good name~he chose it himself really. Keith said 'Cody', a character in 'American Chopper' and out of the few names we had tried it was the only one he, Cody, responded to, so Cody he became.


~*We soon found out what a true character he was*~

He was, and remained to the end, a collector, a helper…anything within reach and of the right size was fair game…tea towels, socks, bits of paper, sandpaper, coal, small logs, plant pots, gardening tools…one day I found him looking a little sheepish and trying to sneak indoors, when I got closer I found that the chirping noise I had been hearing was coming from inside his mouth! I held out my hand and into it he dropped a tiny, baby sparrow that had fallen from its nest in the eves of our porch. There was not a mark on it.
From the beginning Cody was truly loving, if a little insecure-he would never stay in a room alone if one of us were somewhere nearby and always wanted to be as close to us as he possibly could.
Our 'thing' has always been camping and Cody settled into our camping life and was soon loved by all our camping friends-to the extent that one friend, Graham, would make two breakfasts on camp, one for him and one for Cody-a slice of bacon and a bowl of tea.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Since we had to let him go over the Rainbow Bridge we have had a non-stop e-mails, phone calls, texts and messages-little Cody loved everyone and touched so many lives in his own short life and was loved by so many in return.

He has been gone from us for just over two days now and the hurt and loss and grief had not diminished in any way.
We both start and end the day in tears and tears fill odd gaps during the day and night, with any little thing setting us off and the small moments we had with him at the end have become such treasured memories

~playing with his Christmas toys and collecting the post
~our last snowy walks together
~his last moments in our snowy garden ~ he was standing and wagging his tail in the hope of another walk
~a cuddle with dad on the sofa
~on his last drive to the vet, sitting on the back seat he turned his head and rested his nose against my mouth, giving me what we always called a 'seal kiss'
~his little face and tail still wagging as we left him, giving him a tickle under his chin-his eyes were bright and he looked as if he were saying 'hurry back soon to take me home'
~on our return to the vets, although he was sedated, he was alert enough to know that we were there with him, his eyes moving from each of us constantly


***It is a comfort to know that during his last moments he was comfortable and at peace and he fell asleep with us holding him close and telling him how very much we loved him***

~***~

No matter how many years will pass Cody will forever be in our hearts and souls and we know his little spirit will be with us, wherever we may be~his eyes bright and his tail wagging, waiting for our next adventure.

Sleep well our beautiful boy
We love you Cody

~can you see~

~cody plays with his new toys*2nd january~

i took this photo and it was not until sunday night swampy noticed something unusual in this picture~please look closely and tell me what you can see...

~sleep well~

~sleep well my beautiful boy~



Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge.

When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge.
There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together.
There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable.

All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor; those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by.
The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind.

They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent; His eager body quivers. Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster.

You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart.

Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together....

Author unknown...

~photos~

our good friend Al had posted some lovely photos of cody on his blog

~cody~

cody came to us five years and a week ago today

today we had to let him go onto the otherworld without us

xoxoxox

~a snowy*icy village~

after seeing this mornings weather forecast for the south over the coming few days we decided to make our way into the village for supplies, just in case deliverys could not be made~the snow we had has frozen solid and so it was a very slow and slippy, slidy walk.

no gritting lorries come through here so the road was solid ice

cody is feeling much better~although his tummy is swollen due to being given three high doses of anti-biotics in such a short space of time~pro-biotic, natural yogurt is the oder of the day to settle his internal flora and fauna!

we have been watching the weather forecasts closely and here in the south we are due snow flurries tomorrow and saturday...sunday however shows a huge black, snow filled cloud sitting right above us...so watch this space!

~back to normal?~

i would say yes we are~here in the ancient place that is nova foresta we are slowly slipping into our usual routines

cody flew through his post-op check up with flying colors~only coming away with five days pain killers as the patch he has was obviously not doing what it should...but he is so much happier and in comfort now, its a joy to see after we were so close to loosing him.

today we took down our tree and assorted decorations around the forever home, but we did leave some white fairy lights up for the time being~a set draped across the top of our bookcase and another set over our mantel place/alter.
i have also left the wreath on our front door~taking off the yule decorations and i plan to have it as a piece of on-going work throughout the year to celebrate the festivals.

now things have settled i have been reading the two books i was given~

both are very enjoyable and its a joy to snuggle up in bed at night and read away until my eyes start closing~then i turn off the lamp and drift off to sleep listening to radio 4 (waking up just enough to turn the radio off an hour or two later!)

i love radio 4~for those of you who do not know, it is a non-music channel~news, arts, comedy, history, drama, politics...i have found that the older i get, the more i dislike listening to music i dislike in the hope i get to hear a single song or two that i do like~and given most of the music i listen to is way off the main stream, i find it a safer option to avoid music channels...although i have to say their 'religion and ethics' contributions are rather one sided to say the least...i tend to switch to classic fm come sunday.

maybe i am just getting old for i find all the 'shoutyness' of radio 1 and 2 irksome.

i celebrated the new year in my usual way~by not celebrating for my new year is the solstice~instead i was in bed by 8.30, i was feeling weary and tired and cody was in some discomfort and so i made him as comfortable as possible on the bed with me while i read.
when i turned off the lamp he stayed curled up beside me so i spent some time resting my hand on him and projecting my healing/protecting light onto him.

~**************************************************~

the setting blue moon~new years day

it was shining straight in the front room windows...

~my boy is home~

we were able to collect cody from the vets yesterday and it feels so good to have him here.
he is doing everything he should~eating chicken and rice, little and often, drinking, pooping etc but is in a lot of discomfort from his stitches, although he has a pain-killer patch on his side. so we didn't get too much sleep last night.

the vet was lovely and explained everything to us (even providing the offending conker in a little pot!)...the bill however was not, on top of the £114 we paid on christmas day we had a further £678 to pay...help!!!
luckily we were able to pay £300 and they are letting us pay the rest in a few chunks...no we have no pet insurance although you can be sure will will from now!

does anyone have that kind of cash hanging around at this time of year?

please don't answer if you are a millionaire!


the important thing he is home!

~what a few days~

i didn't have the heart for any blogging yesterday for when i called the vets, expecting to bring him home i was told to call back later when the vet was free~well vets themselves never tell you that your dog is fit to come home and so my heart sank into my boots.

despite being on a drip and antibiotics for 24 hours cody was still poorly, refusing food and drink and with nasty green discharge from his nose.
they had decided to x-ray him after all and would call us back later.

we were both sick with worry waiting for the call.

they must have worked quickly for they phoned back within half an hour to say there was something stuck in his lower intestine and when they had tried to put the breathing tube down him it brought up a huge amount of green bile~as he was sedated they were going to operate straight away as this was obviously something serious.

two hours later we called and they had removed a moldering conker(buckeye)which had been there for some time...they are very toxic to dogs and we have been very lucky not to lose our beloved cody.

he had to remain at the vets last night for he was still refusing to eat and drink, although they were sure that this was because he was still not recovered from the anesthetic.

we are much happier today for when i called this morning he was awake, bright, had eaten and drunk some water and if he continues to do so we shall be collecting him later this afternoon!

~a cody update~

well the vets called and because cody was so good and let them examine him properly they were able rule out anything stuck in his throat, they took a load of blood for testing and it turns out he has a really bad tummy bug.

it seems there is a bug going around our area and some dogs, cody for instance! are not responding to their original antibiotic treatment and so become worse, needing a stronger dose of antibiotics.

this means no sedation, x-ray, anesthetic and endoscope! what a relief!

they have put him on a drip however and keeping him overnight because he had become so dehydrated~hopefully in the morning he will finally get to eat and all being well we shall have back home with us soon after.

oh but it is so quiet here without him-it was horrible coming home with none of the usual wild, springer greeting and it is so quiet without him wandering around with his tags on his coller tinkling away. he has been so poorly that all of his christmas presents are still sitting, untouched and his bowls, washed and sitting ont
the counter top.

still fingers crossed we will be back to springer mayhem tomorrow or soon after!

~refund please?~

~oh my word~

i was expecting a lovely few days of very little, i had cleared the washing pile, vacuumed and washed the floors, presents sat under the tree and Aristophanes 'Lysistrata' had been consigned to the bookshelf for a few days and a nice glass of ginger wine was calling me...

cody had had a couple of restless nights, was bringing up foam (honest blogger!) and not eating or drinking so we ended up at our vets on christmas morning, leaving £114 lighter (all the available money we had left~broke honest blogger!)and with a dog full of antibiotics and some hydration fluid for his water bowl...

the vet thought he had picked up a bug of some kind and expect things to get back to normal in a day or two...fair enough. that night and everyone since he has slept the nights through, been keen on his walks but eaten and drunk very little, so i am expecting to be back at the vets tomorrow.

boxing day morning found me calling an ambulance for swampy~i get out of bed to find him crouched over a chair with chest pains, bad chest pains...the ambulance was there in only a few minutes and left half an hour later with not only swampy but our neighbour/friend who was having problems breathing.
her son and myself followed by car, my mum came down to babysit cody and swampy was sent home 14 hours later. they had done all kinds of tests and could find nothing and he is much better now.
consensus is the pain of his rheumatoid arthritis is causing referred pain.

yesterday we had my family to visit and that was really nice~

however today i have spent on the sofa in a fitful worried state about cody. he is usually such a bouncy, happy dog so to have him just laying around with none of his usual sparkle is filling me with utter dread~i keep going over what the vet said and reminding myself that it could take a few days for the injections to kick in...but to be honest i want them to have kicked in immediately with none of this unhappy moping...even his favorite cup of tea is not enough to tempt him...