Faerytails ECS

It has been awhile

Wow. So many things have been going on in my life and the lives of my family.
The most tragic is that my brother George passed away April 13. Some of you may remember my posts about him being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. The cancer won, although he fought hard.
Those who know me, know I work for tax accountants, so can see the date made things difficult. I drove down to Palm Beach Gardens the week before, and my sister, Carolyn, was there since the beginning of March. My dad flew down on April 11, so the 3 of us were there with George when he passed.

Fred, my sister Deb's sig other, ended up in the hospital about 2 weeks ago, and has been in ICU since. He had bleeding ulcers, two emergency surgeries, two cardiac arrests, and is currently on a respirator and lots of meds. They are working on transferring him to Winston-Salem to long-term acute care, and probably do a tracheostomy. He is stable, and that is good. He has been sedated since 6/11.

I was having shakes and losing weight for a couple of months, so finally went to my doctor. Was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism and put on meds. I feel pretty good right now, thank goodness.

Now for the dogs.
We bred Bri to Ch. Coaltown's FortyNiner's frozen sperm and it didn't take. That was very disappointing. Thank you to Becky Johnson and Chuck for the opportunity.

Chandler (Ch. Faerytails Magic Moment WD JH - orange roan) was bred to Georgia (Jerabee GoldenGait Dance All Night - black), and puppies are expected this week. Betsy Traub, Georgia's mom, is whelping the litter and I'm so excited. They should be very smart, so may be looking for performance/show homes. We expect parti colors (orange roan, blue roan) and solids (red, black) from this breeding. I'll update my blog as soon as I know something. Georgia lived here for a couple of months, and was bred to Chandler at the National. It was so good of her to time things exactly right.

Cricket, Ivywood Cricket's Song, is at Lauren's house and on her way here!! Cricket's dam is Nola, Ch. Faerytails Ivywood Uptown, whose dam is my special girl Yahtzee, Ch. Faerytails Perfect Ending WD. I'm very excited about getting her. Cricket is blue roan and her daddy is Lex, Ch. Ivywood Double Jeopardy. Maybe some photos next week.

There are a couple of related pups looking for homes:
Drake x Autumn, a blue roan, 6 month old male. Very sweet and playful. He is in Valdese, NC with Si and Linda Moss.
Spencer x Camille, an orange roan male. He's very nice, could be shown, but would be happy with a wonderful forever pet home. He is with Deb Mauterer, DVM in LA. Camille is a Chandler daughter, so I'll bet these pups are perfect, as she is.
Lex x Nola, a blue roan, 6 month old female. She is a litter sister to Cricket, who is coming here. Kate would like a show or pet home. I kept their sister, Sophie, for  a week or so in Feb before she went to her forever home in GA. What a neat puppy. Deb tells me the personalities of all these pups is great. Sophie is a happy little girl with lots of spunk and very biddable. I can't wait for Cricket to come here if she's anything like Sophie.

If you are interested in any of the above, let me know and I'll forward your info to the appropriate people. At least they are a bit older, so mostly potty trained, but still puppies so lots of fun. The best of both worlds, IMO.

Will post later this week with Chandler x Georgia news, and hopefully with Cricket photos soon. Does anyone remember that the puppy that I lost last summer, that Tia laid on, was named Cricket? I did not name this Cricket, btw.

OH - Clem, Pumpkin's sister and Bri's daughter, had puppies a couple of weeks ago in Vancouver, BC (Canada). She had 3 girls (blue roan, orange roan, black) and 2 boys (blue roan, orange roan). They are doing well and growing up. They look very cute in their photos. I just love colorful litters.

Jehtro, Faerytails Wag-By-The-Way (a male fairy), has picked up a couple of points. He went to MD for a couple of weeks with Gina, but will be back with us soon. We do miss that silly boy. Hopefully we'll have a nice boy for Gina soon.

Pumpkin is back out in the ring (would love to finish her this summer) and Ezzie is doing well. Donovan and Aidan are taking the summer off from shows.

Last but now least is that Sam, new CH. Ashbrook Play It Again, became a Champion last weekend. Sam is such a neat dog, who started out here but finished his championship with Tracey showing him. Sam would love a wonderful performance home, as he's very biddable and loves everyone. If you are looking for a neat dog to do preformance with, let me know. He's an easy dog to live with, but would like a job. I co-own Sam with Tracey Deyette and Raoul Maltais, his breeders.

That's all for now,
Mindy

Roxy and other updates

It has been a busy January. What else is new?

I went to Florida to spend a couple of weeks with my brother right after the new year. I mostly worked, but we did get to go visit his son in Tampa for a weekend. We shopped a little and generally just hung around. It was cool for Florida, but much warmer than what the rest of the country was going through.

Roxy and Yahtzee stayed with Lauren in Jacksonville and had a great time. Roxy immediately settled in and found her way around. Yahtzee is happy anywhere she can find balls. When I picked them up after 2 weeks, I thought Roxy's right eye looked different - it was darker in some areas. Remember, she has cataracts in both eyes, and previous to this, they were whitish.

I got home on Tuesday, and we left on Saturday to go to Asheville for the weekend with Liz and Mike. It was a doggie weekend, and we took all the dogs and spent the weekend in a cabin at Barkwells. Awesome place! Again, Roxy quickly found her way around, found the dog door, and was easily going up and down the steps from the deck to the dog yard. They had a hot tub, which we all enjoyed on Saturday night, but ony John went in on Sunday night.

There were agility trials in Asheville, and we were able to watch Pumpkin and Charlie both run. Pumkin got her NA title!!! And she's one leg away from her NAJ - maybe at the end of February. They are both so fun to watch in the ring. A bird flew into the ring and took a dirt bath right in front of Charlie at the start of his run on Sunday morning. He was being run by his obedience instructor, and she was able to pull him off the bird. They finished the course, only to drop a bar on the last jump. So close.

We got home on Monday, and I took Roxy to the vet on Tuesday to have her eye looked at. Glaucoma :-(. The options were not good: use drops which would cost around $250/mo for the rest of her life and would probably not work, go to Charlotte and have her eye removed and have an implant put in, or have the local vet remove her eye. There was a lot of pressure, and something had to happen quickly, so I opted to have the eye removed. The surgery was done on Thursday morning, and she was home by noon. She slept until about 9am the next morning, but is now pretty much back to normal. She couldn't see anyway, so didn't have to adapt to blindness, but I'm sure it was traumatic. Her tail is wagging and she's asking for dinner so I think she'll be ok. She is 13 1/2, and we are grateful for any time we get.

Outside of that, work is busy. Oh, during a big storm while I was gone, a huge tree fell from the hill above our garage. The outermost branches are just barely touching the hosue, so we lucked out this time. Tomorrow Danny (he does a lot of work for Deb and Fred) is coming over to chop it up. We have to look into maybe removing other trees if they look likely to fall.

Looking forward to the Greenville shows Feb 13-15. I have Jethro, Donovan and Ezzie entered. Marty is entered and will be shown by Lauren, and Lauren is bringing Blossom up from Anita's. Speaking of Blossom, she won Best of Breed both days in Ladson (I was in Asheville at the time so didn't go), so picked up both of her majors!! Her brother, Brody, won the first day for his first major, and he only needs a major to finish. Blossom and Brody are both from the Opie x Reagan litter. Yippee!! The second day Leo won his first major - yippee!! Leo is from Scotty x Gina and lives with Elizabeth and Cosmo and family. He's her first show dog, and this was a big day. I can't wait to get photos of all the wins.

Most likely won't be updating until Greenville,
Mindy

So much happening, where do I start???

It has been a very busy month. So busy, it is hard to know where to begin.

First of all, my work is very busy, which is a good thing, I guess.

I finally made it to some dog shows, and Bailey (Hero x Camille) has her first point! Donovan (Chigger x Cayenne) won his first two points in Winston-Salem as well. Yippee! We're waiting for Donovan's photo, and I'll post it if it's any good.

The low point of the weekend is that Jethro started feeling bad and throwing up. He was supposed to show on Sunday (when Donovan won) but he was so sick I left him with Mike at Liz and Mike's house. Got him home, and he continued to feel bad, so I brought him to the vet on Monday morning. They gave me a strong anti-vomiting drug, and he continued to vomit (not terrible, but occasionally, and wasn't eating), so I brought him back in for xrays. His stomach looked distended, so I took him home with fluids with the plan to bring him back in the morning.

His xrays looked better in the morning, so we decided to wait and see if whatever seemed to be stuck passed on it's own. Then he started vomiting again around noon, so they did an exploratory. Dummy had swallowed an acorn whole and it was stuck in his duodenum. Poor baby. He came home with me that evening on an IV, then back to the vet for observation for the next day. He is doing fine now, and acting totally normal.

So, two obstruction surgeries in two months. How could I get so lucky????

Desi left for her new home, and is now Sophie and living in Raleigh, NC.
Echo left for her new home, and is now Molly and living in Michigan.
I will miss those two pretty, funny little girls!

Zoey is now living in Charlotte, and is doing well as well.
I hope to post photos of everyone soon.

Ezzie came to visit for a couple of weeks, and we really enjoyed her. Too bad Jethro was down and out for most of her visit, but she still had fun and was a joy. I look forward to showing her next year.

My brother is hanging in there. He is having bad days, but we hope it is mostly due to the chemo. I plan to go down and visit for two weeks in early January. I decided to skip American Spaniel Club, for the first time in over 10 years, so I could go visit with him. My sister Carolyn and her son are going down for Christmas, and I know he will enjoy that. My dad was down just after Thanksgiving.

So, we will go to John's parent's house for Christmas. My sister Deb, Fred and his daughter, Brittany are coming too. Should be fun!

Merry Christmas to all,
Mindy

Latest News

Quest (Chigger x Cayenne) won two 4-point majors a couple of weekends ago in Knoxville, TN - whoopee!!
We went to the Irwin's in Knoxville to hang out and let the puppies run. Lots of great food and fellowship!

We went to Priceville, AL last weekend, and Quest won Best Puppy and a Puppy Group III! Marty won Reserve Winners Dog both days.

We are waiting for Autumn puppies - she was bred to Drake, and pups are due any day. This is sooooo stressful.

Update on puppies:
Adam X Tia litter
Addi is now named Mystere, and is living with Kayla Heinz in Dallas, NC. She is full of it, and we are looking forward to showing her.
Jethro is staying here for now, and is working his way into John's heart.
Desi is probably going to Raleigh (we'll know on Thursday), and Echo is looking for a good, forever pet home.

Crosby x Sally litter
Ezzie went home with Ann McFadden. We will co-own her, and I look forward to showing her next year.
Noah left for his new home in Maine. He already is a much loved pet. Sleeping in bed and hanging out with his new dad, Ron.
Annie is living in Charleston, SC with her new family. I hear she already is sitting and laying down on command.
Zoey is still hanging out here looking for her forever home.

So, that's it for now. Contact me if you're interested in either of the girls. There are some photos in the Puppy Play Album as well as their respective litter albums. I'll try and take some new ones soon.

Mindy

Split lips and some fun

Well, as usual we've been busy. Tax Day is almost here and I can't wait to get a little break.

The puppies are growing up and are very cute. I'm still waiting for bites in Tia's litter, but the adults are coming in and they are no longer undershot. Yippee!! Echo went to New Orleans for a visit with Deb M (she came up for a quick weekend and to visit her mom), and Desi is visiting with Martha (and Aidan & Donovan) for a couple of weeks. Addi is waiting for Tina Heinz to get home from vacation (tomorrow?) to grow up in Dallas, NC and Jethro (formerly Benny) is hanging out. These kids are grown up, going in and out of the dog door, and spending the night in their crates without mishaps (except Addi - what's up with that??). Addi does NOT like to use the dog door. She will sit outside and look pitiful until I hold it open. Very odd.

Sally's litter is almost 12 weeks old and getting cuter by the minute! We had a little mishap a couple of weeks ago, where one of the older ones nailed Noah (the boy) when he got in her face, and he ended up with a split lip. I didn't catch it in time, and stitches would have involved removing some tissue, so he would have ended up with a divot either way. We decided to skip the stitches and treated the open wound. He healed fine, and got to spend a week hanging out with me while I worked. What a good boy! He didn't get into things, and just loves to be snuggled. He was named at the vet, and he likes it, so it stuck. He's still my little buddy, but is probably going to go live in Maine.

Annie has a new home, and Ezzie is staying here, so Zoey is still looking for that perfect pet home. She's really cute with lots of personality, so I'm sure she'll find one soon. She's a smartie - first one in and out of the dog door on her own. Even before the big puppies.

We had a fun outing last weekend. Went up to West Jefferson to get garlic at the Farmer's Market and good cookies and dog food at Happy Tails, where Martha works and bakes homemade dog cookies. Desi stayed with Martha for a couple of weeks for socializing, and Ezzie and Jethro headed to Art in the Park with us in Blowing Rock. They did great, got lots of petting, but eventually pooped out. It was a beautiful day and I wish I got some photos.

So, now to get through tax season.

Mindy

New photos posted

Well, we finally had a photo shoot, and I have posted new photos to both the Sally x Crosby and Adam x Tia albums. I'm going to make a new album for Summer 2008, but haven't yet. I'll add photos of the family at George's, my trip to New England, and puppies playing in the yard to that one.

Keep in mind that the Adam x Tia pups are now 14 weeks old, and are entering their awkward stage, so it's probably not the best time to take photos of them.

Enjoy!
Mindy

So much and so far behind

Well, it has been a busy summer. I have a lot to share to catch up, so will try to be brief.

I see I did manage to tell you about Sally and Crosby's puppies. Well, they are now 7 weeks old and doing great! Tia and Adam's pups are 12 weeks old and also doing really well.

Lets see, I left in the beginning of July for a visiting trip up north. I went to 3 shows up there, and finally got a major on Maizie - right before I was to return her to Patti. Well, she has since picked up two more points - yippee!

I was able to visit Barbara Penny on the way up and the way back, and had great times. We went to Wegman's, and had wonderful shopping experiences with her two neighbors. After the first Wegman's run, we gathered for dinner and had the biggest feast I can remember. Thanks, Barbara!

Left Barbara's to head to my boss's house, and the van broke down in NJ. Luckily, we broke down very close to Karen Fitzpatrick's house, and she graciously came and saved me and all the dogs and pups. One of the wheel bearings blew, and I drove on it too long, so it ended up burning up the steering shaft, so we were stuck there for two days. On the good side, I got a nice visit in with Karen and Scott. Thanks, Karen! But no stop at Bob's.

I had to be in NH for a show on Wed, so left Karen's at 7pm on Tuesday, and drove all night, arriving at 4am at Tracey's. We left for the shows at 6am, and showed. Maizie showed well, was the only girl, but the judge didn't cross her over for the two points. I was soooo disappointed. Especially after nearly killing myself to get there. Oh well. Then the next day she crossed over for the major.

Tracey had her 10th Annual Puppy Reunion that Sunday, and it was a great fun! I was able to see some people and dogs I hadn't seen in years. Tracey had a raffle for ECSCA rescue with lots of great things, and I was in charge of selling the tickets. I think we raised around $750 - yippee! I won the big prize - a director's chair that was handpainted with an EC mom and pups by Maxine Raymond.

Shadow went to his new home up there. I was sad to see him go, but I know that he is already living the life - summering in Maine and wintering in VA.

Kumquat was re-homed with Mary Oberdorf, who has had 3 of my dogs now. She currently has Quid and Alice, who she got from Tracey, and now Kumquat. He is really happy there and is getting along great with the other two. I had a great visit with Mary for a couple of days after leaving Tracey's.

I also had a great visit with my sister in MA, then again in NY as she and my brother were camping close to Mary's house. Dad came up for the day, so got to see him too.

After 2 weeks on the road, it was time to head for home. I made a quick stop in NY to meet up with Patti and drop off Maizie, then headed to PA to visit with Andy and Sharon (our old neighbors) for a couple of hours, then on to Barbara's for the night. Then to home.

I arrived home around 11:30am on Monday, July 21, and as I was walking up the driveway with my first load, got a call that Sally's puppies were on the way. Whew! Then Roxy turned 13 on July 22!!

My family got a jolt late July when we found out that George, my youngest brother (age 48) was diagnosed with end-stage pancreatic cancer. He had a few rough weeks, and we all headed down to Florida to see him and help as much as we could. Carolyn went down first and stayed for about a month. Dad went next and has been back and forth twice already. I went down next and was there for about 3 weeks. My brother Charlie was there for a week, and my sister Deb and her SO Fred, are still there. My nieces, Alena, Katie and Danielle, all came to visit at different times as well. And we got to spend some time with Nathan, George's 2-year-old son (his birthday was August 28) and his mom, Heather.

Well, we got George out of the VA Hospital and he's home being cared for by hospice. They are being great, and he had a major turnaround. He is now stable, and even gardening and running around, so I headed home last week to try and get caught up here and visit with my puppies, who have been with the Heinz's. Whew!

So, if you've wondered why I haven't been updating my blog, and there aren't many photos of the puppies, that's why.

Thank you to all the people that have helped:
Carmen for opening her homes in FL for my family (they are both within 10 miles of George's house) so we all didn't have to stay in his house, or stay in hotels. Not to mention having a great place to stay!
My husband John, who patiently stayed and took care of the house all this time, along with Yahtzee, Bri and Tia. He did come down to visit for a few days in Florida while I was there.
Tina and Jim Heinz for whelping and raising Sally's litter, then taking in Tia's litter and Sam when I had to run to Florida. That was huge!
Lauren for taking in Roxy and treating her like one of the family. And to her hubby, David, for keeping Roxy in carrots.
Betty for taking in Bri and Tia while John was in Florida, and his parents for taking Yahtzee and taking care of the birds and the fish.
And finally, my other friends for being there and being supportive.

It's not over, and I'm sometimes overwhelmed with it all.

My dad and I had this great trip planned at the end of August to go west - which we canceled to be with George. It sure looked like a fun trip, but it apparently wasn't meant to be. I feel very blessed to have been able to spend time with my family down in Florida, and to spend some time talking with George. I'll start an album for Florida soon and post photos there.

Thanks for listening,
Mindy

New photos

I have many more updates, but wanted you all to know there are new photos in the albums.

Check out the Adam x Tia album for 7 week sort of stacked photos (thanks, Lisa!). The orange girls weren't being very cooperative. They traveled up north with me for a couple of weeks when they were 4 weeks old, and there are some photos of them with my sister and grand-nephews.

We also have some new puppies! Sally was bred to Crosby, our young Chandler son (co-owned with me and Si Moss), and she had puppies last Monday. We have 4; 3 girls and 1 boy. There is one blue roan and tan girl, and couple more that might have tan, and a blue girl. She is so very happy she has her own puppies to love and raise. Tina and Jim Heinz are helping me out with this litter, having whelped and raising the pups down there. Thanks Tina and Jim!

More later,
Mindy

Sad News

We lost Cricket yesterday. Tia lay on her when I was out of the room for a couple of minutes, and she was gone - just like that.

I had just checked on them, and nearly took a photo because they were perfectly aligned with the oranges between the b/w pups. My battery was charging, so I didn't. Left the room to change my shirt, came back to check again, and couldn't find her. She was under Tia. I pulled her out, but she was already gone and couldn't be revived, although I tried.

Just when everything seemed to be going so well. All the puppies were gaining (they are exactly double their birth weight today), eating well, and Tia is being a wonderful mom. I guess these things happen, but it is so disappointing and devastating when they do.

We will remember Cricket - the third puppy born, out in the garden. 6/7/08 - 6/13/08.

Now I'm being totally obsessive about checking on the others, and won't leave Tia alone with them if I can't be close by. After next week, we should be ok, but I won't leave them alone until then.

Mindy

Pupdate and Tia's eye

Well, things are going amazingly well. The pups are all gaining, and Tia is a great mom. In case you were wondering, Tia's eye seems to be all better. Betty thought it might be a blocked tear duct, and she probably was right. In any case, there don't seem to be any residual problems.

Betty came up, and we did tails and dews on Monday, and everything went great.

So, here is a photo of Tia and the gang. There are more in the album.
Mindy