When bad goes to worse goes to shit

This weekend was supposed to be  a breakaway for Flip and myself. We both had pretty hectic and rough schedules the past few weeks and we were planning to go to Parys, in the Free State to have a rest. Its about an hour's drive from Joburg, so it was ideal for a weekend.

We booked a place at the Smilin Thru Resort, expecting a blissful retreat and a lovely little cottage to stay in. I would never in my life recommend this place. It was the pits. It was absolutely horrible. The environment was nice yes, as our cottage was wedged between the Vaal river and a swimming pool, but this cottage looked like it hadn't seen humans in years. Gross. So I phoned my mom to tell her about how shit this place is. Luckily, I did.

Yesterday morning, I got a very mysterious phone call from my brother, asking to speak to Flip and I immediately thought that something was wrong, something had happened, but Flip wouldn't tell me. I phoned my mom to find out, and she immediately started crying. She had driven over my dog.

This is my baby. Her name is Liefie. I got her in 2000, after another dog of mine was stolen. She is the love of my life, the absolute most loved possession I have ever had. And here I thought she was dead. My world fell apart. I couldn't stop crying. In my state, I understood that they already put her to sleep and I didn't even get the chance of saying goodbye. It tore me apart.

But after non-stop crying for about an hour, even in the shower, I sobered up enough to phone my mom again and ask her what happened exactly. She was still alive! And still at the vet's, although, she was drugged to keep the pain away. We got in our bakkie and cancelled our stay. The somewhat two hour drive took us about an hour and fifteen minutes. I still had the chance to say goodbye.

We went to the vet and I sat with her for a while, trying to get her to drink some water and eat a beeno. The latter she ate with vigour! My mom and I then discussed Liefie's tendency to not pee when she's indoors and we carried her outside so that she can go to the loo. My wonderful dog stood up! She stood up all by herself, even though she had a broken bone and she walked around. She proved that there was still so much fight and so much life left in her that it would just be unfair to put her to sleep.

My parents are both pensioners and are at home most of the time. So my mom decided to amputate the broken leg, as it has been broken in multiple places and an operation will just cost a lot of money and her leg might not even properly heal. My wonder dog is going to have only three legs after tomorrow, but at least she is still alive! However, she is still in danger, as there is a lot of swelling and we aren't quite sure what the full extent of internal damage is, but the doctor says he doesn't think there is any internal damage.

I will accept it when she dies of old age. That's different. To quote my mom: "You and I are still going to chew old bones together."

Dogs, clouds, roses

It was my faja's birthday last week Thursday, but we only had time to go say 'Happy Aging to you' yesterday. And instead of taking photos of the proceedings, I took photos of other stuff such as dogs, flowers and clouds.

At her most beautiful

An English Rose

His present

The faja (taken at an earlier occasion)

In anticipation of a small round object.

Flip always jokes that my dog's wheel alignment is out when she's running. Her hind legs are trying to overtake her front legs, it's very amusing, but very sad, because she has arthritis and it can't be helped. She also topples over when she runs after her ball. But otherwise she's still fit as a fiddle! And she's an ancient 11!

On another note, I was sitting on the couch this morning, drinking coffee, chewing a rusk and watching iCarly when the whole world started shaking! It was an earthquake! I soon phoned everyone, this means my friend Tracy who lives close by, and my beau whose work is about three blocks away from the flat, to ask if they felt it too. Nope. No one felt it. 

Am I crazy? And no-one else at work felt it. Maybe it was a mine that had caved in? Maybe I had a brain tremor and everything around me shook, but that wouldn't explain the couch vibrating, my coffee looking like a typhoon in a cup or the tv nearly shaking of its stand. Mmmm...  

On a final note: I was very angry at blogger for bugging out. Made me lose one post and quite a few comments. Boo on you! But all is forgiven, because blogger is back. Yeah baby! 

Have a happy Monday! 

Tribute to the greatest dog in the world

I know that everyone loves to say how their dog is the smartest thing on earth and how they know all the tricks in the book and everything that goes with great dogs. Well, I would like to tell you about my mutt, my little beautiful rottweiller x staffie which understands every single word spoken to her.

I got Liefie as condolence present from my Dad in 2000, after my dog Lola was stolen. A colleague’s staffie had been slutting around and out came the most atrocious things (according to the colleague). The first thing I did when I got her was cry. Balling my eyes out! She was the most beautiful thing, so tiny, so round, such lovely beady black eyes! I fell in love!

At first, I dubbed her Roxy. But after calling, and her responding to, Liefiekind and Liefiewoef, my family decided that she should hail Liefie. And being the stubborn 12-year old that I was, I insisted that she should be trained. The best choice of my life. Not only were the dog trained, but her owner as well. It helped me understand dogs better, even though I am secretly a dog whisperer. (My mom always said that I am absolutely fearless when it comes to dogs, even holding tightly onto a growling rottweiller).

But coming back to the centre of the story, Liefie certainly has a personality of her own and will throw little tantrums when she does not get her way. For instance, she loves biting the water as my mom waters the garden. Now, being an old dog with a bit of arthritis, my mom has outlawed water biting! Her response to try and tell my mom how frustrated she is, is to bite the grass and pull out lumps of grass and mouthfuls of ground at the same time. She then stomps on the grass with her front paws and starts clawing at it, until she gets her way. Little Brat! But I love my love to pieces and I have never loved a dog as much as I love my Liefie. She is an absolute angel!

She also loves her ball! From the minute you open your eyes, to the minute you go to sleep, she will put the ball in front of you because she wants to play! 

The other love of my life, right there

This is when I still had dark hair. I sometimes can't decide whether I want to be blonde or dark haired, but either way I always want the opposite of what I have.