Sick dog?

Not if you ask Ellie! We just came back from the vet where Ellie got her two week follow up x-rays which were intended primarily to gauge how quickly bone cancer was growing in her left front leg. Well. In two weeks the lesion on the bone is much smaller and almost all of the inflammation is gone! Our vet is baffled because he thought she would have no more than six or eight weeks before the bone became too weakened to support her. He said whatever we are doing, just keep doing it!

For anyone else going through any kind of cancer with their dog, what we did was switch all of our dogs to a grain free raw diet last summer. The value of this is supported in a university study done on the effects of nutrition on the growth of tumors in dogs. In a nutshell, this study shows how a high carbohydrate diet feeds the cancer and starves the dog.

The other significant thing we did was to start giving Ellie a supplement called Transfer Factor which is intended to boost the immune system. Within 48 hours Ellie was acting like a different dog and now all three of them are getting Transfer Factor. I see a doctor of Chinese medicine for bodywork, acupuncture and herbal treatments and when I showed her the ingredients, she thought it was a very good product to support immune function.

So please hug your animal friends tonight and keep them close. They give us so much in the way of joy and unconditional love and ask for little in return. Our prayers are that Miss Ellie will continue to improve and be with us for many more years.

It's COLD here!

Don't let this bright blue sky fool you, we're getting our first serious winter storm today and tomorrow. I think it will stay fairly dry here, just cold and windy. I understand southern Colorado is getting blizzard conditions though. I am ever so grateful for this beautiful woodstove that we agonized over buying, and way more than that, I am grateful to Mike for getting it installed and splitting and stacking all that wonderful dry wood! The dog bed next to the stove has become the most popular one and Vannie often seems to be the one who stakes claim to it.

It's snowing a little bit here but I don't think it will amount to much. We are only getting scattered clouds that blow through fast leaving just smatterings of snow crystals. I'm hoping this will finally put the roses to sleep but they are very resistant about it. I can't put their winter clothes on them till they are dormant so I watch and wait and try to shelter them from the wind.

The dogs have been having alternate bouts of manic running both outside and in the house followed by long naps. Having three large dogs racing around a thirty foot diameter yurt is quite an experience. Duffy was giving me another of those 'oh no, here she comes with that camera again' looks.

And Miss Ellie. Hard to believe just a few minutes ago she was racing around like a wild child. She is feeling very good, no soreness in her leg at all, so I am allowing myself to feel hopeful about her trip to the vet in the morning for the second set of x-rays.

The winds are so strong right now it's entirely possible we will lose electricity tonight. The power has already dipped enough several times today to send the UPS beeping and clicking. It hasn't actually quit but it certainly is thinking about it.

Bulking up.

No, I don't mean body building, though that wouldn't be a bad thing if I had a gym within a hundred miles. Nor do I mean gaining weight, and I've done a bit of that since I passed fifty. (Thank you Mike for never commenting on that fact!) What I mean is, there is a point as we approach real winter here when jeans and a sweat shirt are no longer enough.

Out come the seven or eight pairs of cotton tights I still have from my Austin days when I took yoga lessons four times a week. Now they serve well as the bottom layer, along with a men's undershirt, of what becomes an increasingly thick stack of clothing. Thank god for stretch jeans. So much of our life here is spent outdoors that as the layers build up, I find myself moving with an ever slower ungainliness. And then there are the shoes...big insulated things that make me feel as if I have giant lead weights on my feet. It's no wonder I usually lose weight during the winter, it's like a constant one of those power walks you see people doing, vigorously pumping their arms and legs with weights strapped on all over the place. They should just come and spend a winter here and follow me around if they want to get fit.

Now the horses have it right. They just grow these beautiful soft fluffy coats that you can barely work your fingers through to get down to their skins. Like wearing wonderful multi-colored down suits. Griton still gets some of his curls in the winter but they are gradually fading away. He has curly horse genetics and I understand that happens with some horses, they get less curly with age. Corazon becomes quilted...his lovely dark dapples in the summer become puffs of longer hair. If you didn't know what it was you would think he had hives. We are discovering that Llego has some quilts as well. And then there is shaggy Valeroso who begins to look like he came from the Russian Steppes.

And of course the greyhounds. Those poor kids couldn't grow a winter coat if they had too! But we take care of that by buying coats for them. Here are Birdy and Mikey, two of our original greyhounds who made the move here to New Mexico with us in 2002, camped on the couch in the caustic yellow room of the rented Purple Place of Possibilities where we lived the first year.

Adjusting.

Funny how things change and you hardly notice until one day there it is, undeniable. I realized this morning I've been missing the good sunrises because while we were gone, the sun had shifted considerably in its angle. How does that happen in just three weeks time? I mean, I'm the morning person...the one who greets the dawn like a long lost friend who assures me all is well in the world. These days we all seem to need a little assurance that the earth is still rotating on its axis and the sun will still rise. So my sunrise photos will be coming from a different viewpoint for a while until the winter solstice arrives and we begin the movement back again.

Much harder than realizing the sun is rising at a different angle is having Mike gone again after three weeks at home. I miss his presence in the house and I have to adjust to handling the chores by myself again. Mike's two horses, somehow they divided themselves that way, get impatient about not having 'their' human bringing them their buckets immediately. Vannie is always a little depressed for a few days because she secretly loves Mike best. I'm sure Duffy will find me as boring as he did before Mike was home for such a long period. Duffy was thrilled with Mike's log splitting efforts and spent most of the days running wildly back and forth between Mike and me as if to say 'You should SEE what he's doing!!!'

I managed to keep the fire going and the house warm by myself last night and got a good fire going again this morning to warm things back up. We'll manage, and I'll adjust again to being mostly alone, but I'll still miss your presence more than I can say.

Our first extended freeze.

It was cold last night, down in the teens for most of the night and the horse's water trough froze hard for the first time. This can be a problem for domestic raised horses but our mustangs grew up learning how to get through ice in the winter. We weren't expecting that hard of a freeze or we would have turned the tank de-icer on for them just so they didn't have to practice their ice breaking skills.

I got to have Mike home with me for three good weeks and now he is headed off to Texas again for a drilling job and then a school in Houston. A friend loaned us her hydraulic log splitter and Mike spent all of last week splitting and stacking firewood. Thanks to his efforts we have enough wood for both the shop and house to see us through most of the winter. It's quite an impressive amount.

Most of the wood for the house is stacked high and dry under the deck in long rows between the pillers. It's a very nice feeling to know we have this good woodstove and an abundant supply of wood to burn in it. During severe snowstorms here it isn't uncommon for the electricity to be down for days at a time. With a propane cookstove and good wood heat, we will do just fine.

It's always so hard to watch you go, running late, knowing how tired you are and what a long boring drive it is. You are always missed more than I can say...things just kind of lose their shine when you are gone. We'll be watching and waiting for your safe return home.

Hope.

We're a week away from taking Ellie back for her second set of x-rays and I have been watching her leg closely. So far there is no heat or swelling in the area that showed the lesion. Greyhound legs are so skinny and bony that it would be very easy to feel any kind of change there. Our last dog with osteosarcoma had very rapid changes in the bone and a tumor that grew very quickly. From his first limp until we let him go was only eight weeks.

We started her on a supplement called Transfer Factor that helps to restore immune function. I heard about it from other people whose dogs had improved quality and length of life while taking it. I have to say her energy levels have gone off the charts since she started it and you would never know she is a potentially very sick dog. While I was in Santa Fe yesterday Mike said all of the dogs played non-stop with Ellie stalking the other two to bait them into chasing her. I was worried about the stress on her leg, especially when she cried when I touched it, then I realized she had some fresh new scrapes above and below her ankle from the hard play. Do you think we need a bigger couch?

So we are continuing on, waiting for the next appointment for Ellie. Mike has been splitting wood and stacking it like a madman getting us all ready for winter. We had a long hard freeze last night that put a quarter of an inch of ice on things and the deck plants are finally starting to go dormant for the season. Once they are sleeping I will be able to winterize them with cages and straw to keep their feet warm till spring.

I have been doing my best to catch up with all of the post-Dewey Beach stuff that always needs to be done along with shipping orders, making waxes for restock casting, and working on the refinishing we always do for the Dewey attendees. Hopefully by next week I'll see a little daylight and can spend more time recovering and catching up with the horses.

The not good news.

For the last day I've been trying to figure out how to write this. Just before we left for Delaware Ellie shrieked when she walked into the shop and started licking her paw. Her reaction was really strong, shaking and panting, and I figured she had stepped on a bee since there were a lot of them around on a last warm fall day. I gave her half a buffered aspirin and she soon seemed better.

When we got home on Wednesday though one of the first things I noticed was Ellie was still limping on her left front foot. Osteosarcoma, or bone cancer, is an ever present fear for those of us with greyhounds. We are always watching for the odd lump on a bone, the limp that doesn't go away. NGA greyhounds are strongly prone to bone cancer and it is one of the biggest killers of our beloved hounds. I called and made an appointment and Thursday morning Mike and I took Ellie in for x-rays.

I wish I could say all was well but the film clearly showed a lesion on the long bone of her left front leg. Our vet told us to give it two weeks and then come back for more x-rays to be certain. I think he was just giving us two weeks of a respite from reality though. There was really nothing else that black spot on the bone could be so I am not waiting two weeks to take action or to miss one moment of cherishing our girl.

Ellie saved me after our Mikey died...she brought light and joy back into the house. And she loves me. I didn't think I would have another dog who followed me everywhere and yet here she is, going from the house to the shop and back again. Greeting me with joyful snuggles and kisses when we get up in the morning as if it has been a hundred years since we have seen each other. My Ellie Boo. My baby girl.

I think the hardest thing for me is knowing what's ahead for her. Bone cancer is one of the most aggressive cancers and the most painful. If this is indeed what that black spot on the x-ray is, it will be a race between managing her pain and the day the bone becomes too porous to support her. We aren't giving up though. We are researching alternative treatments meant to support the immune system and buy her more good time. We're also looking at acupuncture and everything else we can think of. This is a hard thing and I don't know where it's going to go yet. I hope in two weeks I can post that it was all a mistake...that there is no lesion and our girl will be just fine.

Home. Home. Home.

I can't even say how glad we were to get home in the wee hours this morning. It was a long week gone and just getting to bury my face in warm horse hair and being exuberantly greeted by dogs made the difficulties worthwhile.

I was determined this would be the Drama Free Dewey trip but the weather was against us. On Friday a nor'easter blew in on the east coast that put everyone fighting forty mile an hour winds and rain. Those winds took down the vendor tents and cancelled vending for Friday. There was hope of putting the tents back up for Saturday and Sunday but it couldn't happen. We, like many others, invest a very large part of our operating money to make it to Delaware every year. For several years we have been saying that eventually, fall coastal weather would take us all down and we must find ways of not making Dewey Beach sales essential to business survival. Well, this was the year that could have taken us down if it hadn't been for the help of some real friends and Mike's great success as a directional driller.

Some very wonderful people stepped in and found us a motel room we could vend out of on Saturday morning. These are real friends, the kind you don't get to see more than once a year, excitedly look forward to seeing them, and who jumped in and helped us when we needed it without even being asked. You know who you are so let me say one more time at least...thank you from the bottom of our hearts!

As soon as Mike put up the Black Horse Design sign on the railing on Saturday, people started trying to come in the room to shop even though we were only just setting up. Mike finally added a sign to the door saying we would open at noon and we shut it so we could get the job done. By noon people were lined up waiting to come in and once we opened the doors, it was standing room only with people and hounds.

Losing two full days of selling definitely hurt us, but that was made up for in the good feeling of actually getting to spend some time with friends instead of just racing from vendor tent to condo to rest and back again. We got to see long time customers and the person who won the new silver cuff bracelet we donated to the raffle showed up with great excitement to show off her win. Many greyhounds were petted and in particular, we visited with some senior dogs we always wonder what year will be their last visit with us.

So no, in many ways Greyhounds Reach the Beach was not a great weekend this year; but in many other ways it was the best one we have ever had. See you all next year folks!

Our last New Mexico sunrise for a while.

I haven't been posting much because we have been on the final run of getting inventory finished for the big trip to Delaware. It's been early mornings and long nights and I have been extremely grateful Mike was able to get home and also for our apprentice who has helped with all kinds of things and spared me a lot of physical stress.

We are headed down to Albuquerque this evening to spend the night and get to the airport at some impossibly early morning hour. By now I'm so tired and body sore I am looking forward to the cutoff point of 'Okay, that's all we can do and it's time to go.'

Now something special for the readers of Life at Star's Rest...a sneak peek at the new surprise Dewey Beach jewelry design!!! Normally everyone has to wait to see it either in the vendor tent on Friday, or on the website when we get home; but you special folks get to see it now. This design was inspired by coursing greyhounds, hounds trained to chase a lure. In ancient times that lure was a live animal and in modern times it is an artificial lure and the dogs have tremendous fun chasing it. As I was researching, I came across the Greek legend of Lelaps and decided to include it with the piece. You'll find Ovid's version of it below the photo.

So please wish us well, a safe trip, success, and healthy happy animals when we return next week.

The Legend of Lelaps

...what gifts the Goddess had bestow'd on her;
The fleetest greyhound, Lelaps, with this lovely dart,
And I of both have wonders to impart.
Near Thebes a savage beast, of race unknown,
Laid waste the field, and bore the vineyards down;
The swains fled from him, and with one consent
Our Grecian youth to chase the monster went;
More swift than light'ning he the toils surpast,
And in his course spears, men, and trees o'er-cast.
We slipt our dogs, and last my Lelaps too,
When none of all the mortal race wou'd do:
He long before was struggling from my hands,
And, e're we cou'd unloose him, broke his bands.
That minute where he was, we cou'd not find,
And only saw the dust he left behind.
I climb'd a neighb'ring hill to view the chase,
While in the plain they held an equal race;
The savage now seems caught, and now by force
To quit himself, nor holds the same strait course;
But running counter, from the foe withdraws,
And with short turning cheats his gaping jaws:
Which he retrieves, and still so closely prest,
You'd fear at ev'ry stretch he were possess'd;
Yet for the gripe his fangs in vain prepare;
The game shoots from him, and he chops the air.
To cast my jav'lin then I took my stand;
But as the thongs were fitting to my hand,
While to the valley I o'er-look'd the wood,
Before my eyes two marble statues stood;
That, as pursu'd appearing at full stretch,
This barking after, and at point to catch:
Some God their course did with this wonder grace,
That neither might be conquer'd in the chase.

The Metamorphosis from the works of Ovid