THE GOOD LIFE CONTINUES.
Yes, life continues to be good. My general health is consistently improving, although the weekly trips to my Vet, Dr. Teer, in Machais remain on my social schedule. I love the short road trip; I love my Vet and all her assistants; but I am getting tired of the frequent needle sticks for my blood work. My doggie H&H is now normal and the more complicated tests show I am regenerating. This is a very good thing.
My new pain pills, Tramadol, are successfully controlling the annoying discomfort in my hips from my arthritis and so far have displayed no horrid side effects. Thank goodness for that as I do not relish the idea of another trip to Portland for a blood transfusion.
Living in Eastport has wonderful benefits for dogs as well as people. I have my own little circle of doggie pals and we occasionally get to visit and chat. Mikey hardly ever passes by the house without stopping to say "Hi". Emma down the driveway comes up into the yard to greet me once in a while too. Emma and I are both older and have learned the concept of gentleness. We seem to respect each others conditions.
People are good to dogs here too. When David and Thom go to The Blue Iris for breakfast I almost always get a treat upon their return. Usually it is Hilda's delicious ham slices. On one occasion there was no ham on the menu and I was treated to some sausages. Sid was cooking that day and when he found out the sausage was a take-out order for me he most kindly gift wrapped it. I love opening packages; and to discover sausage inside was an added delight. There is nothing more satisfying that a gift that can be eaten. Oh yes, " Laissez Le Bon Temps Rollez."
Life is good for doggies in Eastport.

LIFE IS GOOD - REALLY GOOD.
Yes. life is good. My health is slowly and steadily improving and I am getting my strength and personality back. I have discovered since my crisis that I can manipulate my environment a little easier. Things tend to always go my way unless I overdo it and get a bit too pushy. My diet comes to mind. The Vet stresses my need to eat and gain my normal weight back and my Daddies were instructed to give me "anything" I would eat since eating was the goal. As you can see by the photo I can now demand my own lobster by boycotting a meal or two. My staff knows I will always eat lobster. Since I don't have thumbs, I must still rely on David to remove the meat from that spiny, nasty shell.
Another new freedom enters the picture. I had been accustomed to two or three walks a day to check out the neighborhood, meet people and exercise my sniffer. There are a lot of good scents up here. After my mobility decreased and my energy level dropped the walks also decreased as I just had no endurance or sense of distance. The door to the deck is always open now and I spend much time in my outdoor living room. I have strengthened and every once in a while I realize I do have the energy for a walk. So - I just go. I don't bother with the leash or alerting anyone; I just go down the deck steps and amble up Water Street. Of course I am always observed by the staff and one of them will just drop what they are doing and amble along behind me. I must admit though sometimes one of the Daddies has to signal the time for the return trip to the house. I seem to forget I have to walk the same distance to return to the beginning. Ah yes, life IS good!

NEW FAMILY ADDITION
This is Bailey, the newest addition to our extended family. Aunt Frani rescued her a few weeks ago from a holding facility where she was scheduled to go home in a matter of hours. Ta-dah, My Auntie Frani to the rescue and now Bailey has a loving, caring, safe home for all her life. She also has a great new feline companion , Cujo. We will introduce him a little later. Apparently Cujo wasn't too thrilled with Bailey at first - you understand, a doggie in the house and it wasn't Zoe. Now they have become friends and in fact Cujo likes to play chase with Bailey.
You can see by the photos that little Bailey is an eviscerater just like me. Oh how we love to pull all the stuffing and squeakers out of our toys and leave only the limp pelt dangling. I guess we are both tuned into out primal instincts.

COUSINS BY THE DOZENS
Moving to Eastport opened my life to even more cousins and here are three of them. From left to right, we have Patrick, Benny, and Lytton Walton. Their mom is Cheri who teaches my Daddy to paint. These boys are spoiled and pampered too. My circle of friends and family tends to consist of Humans who really love and cherish their canine companions; so, it is only naturally that we are treated so special and kindly. We are the pride and joy of our humans. The boys live down the street from me and when I go for a walk past their house I like to snoop around and get them all rousted up and barking. Daddy Thom says this is not polite and discourages me. Sometimes in the summer Benny, Lytton and Patrick come to visit and we get along pretty well. I share my toys with them and offer them a doggie snack. They are pretty possessive and protective of their mommy though and I have to get my pats and hugs from Aunt Cheri on the sly when we are all together.
Since I moved to Maine I have my own little social group of canine friends - it's a good life here. I am so glad we moved.

MY COUSIN, JEWEL
I am feeling so much better that it is time to blog about something other than my health. When I went to the vet on Friday, Dr. Teer found my blood counts were stabilizing and increased my dosage of pain medication which was a really big boon - my pain is much decreased and I feel a little euphoric - h-m-m-m!
Anyway, I discovered my Aunt JoAnne is coming to visit me soon and she was not happy that her baby, Jewel was not mentioned in my ramblings.
Look to the left, here she is - my beautiful cousin, Jewel. She is a lovely white German Shepherd and spoiled and pampered just as much as I am. Before she moved to Las Vegas, Jewel lived two houses away from me in Florida and we went for walks together and visited each other all the time. I love my cousin but I must admit she is high maintenance. She always wants to be alpha and does not accept the realization that her mommy MUST be alpha. She is a bit of a control freak and has occasionally snapped and shouted at me. Of course, once I did hide one of her toys in my mouth while visiting and walked home with it. Daddy Thom caught me and the item had to be returned. Oh well, I was young and I tried.
I always liked Jewel, although I am not quite sure she was so crazy about me. She did learn to tolerate and accept me. Perhaps the problem is in the fact that we both are high maintenance royalty with out own private staff and therefore naturally have a bit of competition going on between us. Are our personalities kind of like our staff - the real cousins??

THINGS ARE LOOKING UP.
I had a few rough nights over the weekend especially on Saturday - lot of pain and I could not settle down and get comfortable despite all the fussing and attention given to me by the staff. I couldn't take any of my pain medicine as that may be what caused my trouble in the first place. Finally Daddy Thom decided to cover me with an nice white throw. I still shivered a while and then all of a sudden, I dozed off. I wasn't cold; I think the blanket was just the bit of security I needed.
Sunday was better and Monday was the big turn-around. I went to see Dr. Teer for my blood work and I felt great. My legs and hips were still a bit sore and stiff, but that "sick" internal feeling was gone. Dr. Teer gave me a script for some pain medicine that won't harm me and I had a wonderful night - slept like a puppy. This morning I greeted the day from the balcony and checked out my territory. Then I had a big breakfast of liver and rice (with a bit of my prescription dog food sneaked in.) I knew it was there, but ate it anyway.
Now I am napping in the sun in the dinning room. It is a beautiful sunny day and the furnace is off and the doors are open. I just had another pain pill and I feel great!
Later this afternoon I'll have another nap with Daddy Thom - What a life - Eh?

DADDY, I DON'T FEEL SO GOOD.
Boy - a week ago on April 25th I really got sick. I didn't feel good at all. I had been taking the medicine for my anemia for a while and was feeling better. All of a sudden, I had a big relapse. Daddy Thom was in Florida selling the house there; so it all fell onto Daddy David. I had every confidence and knew he would get me through this frightening episode. Thom's the nurse, but David is smart too and he did everything correctly. Unfortunately it was not a lot of fun and there were a lot of road trips I did not enjoy; and I love to travel. I had to be taken to my Vet, Dr. Teer, in Machais and she recommended I be taken to Brewer to the emergency animal hospital right away for hydration IV's - I could eat a thing and I wasn't drinking nearly enough water. Daddy David packed up our bags and put my bed in the Escape for an overnight trip to the Bangor area. Wrong - the intelligent doctor in Brewer discovered I had a bleeding gastric ulcer and would probably would not survive the weekend without a blood transfusion. Nearest doggie donor was in Portland. So - we hit the road again. We arrived at an amazing animal emergency hospital staffed with wonderful, kind and knowledgeable people. They were so considerate and treated me so well. I had an immediate blood transfusion and started my new medications to heal my bleeding ulcer. But - the overnight jaunt turned into a week of hospitalization during which I had to have more IV's and be kept in an oxygen cage for a time. Daddy David stayed in the motel and worked on his web pages and came to visit me twice a day and kept Daddy Thom in Florida up to date. They worry about me so; I know they really love me. It's a good thing David remembered to take his "stress" pills along because I really scared and stressed him out. I am home now and recovering and happy knowing not only am I loved unconditionally, but I am also treasured. Even Aunt Cheri, Aunt Frani and Aunt JoAnne were worried for me. Mikey and his mom came to visit today; they were worried too and wanted to check up on my progress. I am a lucky Dalmatian.