A Farewell to one of our Dearest Friends

 Our dear German Shepherd was euthanized at 1:45pm this afternoon, after succumbing to a pygmy rattle snake bite on Tuesday. Anti-venom is in limited supply and is needed for service dogs and military dogs, and of course, humans. With all the storms that caused flooding, there has been an additional need in our state. Anti-venom is not a definite cure-all for animals.

Kilo, age 5 in early Spring wondering, 
"what's taking you so long, Mom?"

Pymgy rattlers are extremely aggressive. However, not "all bites" are the same. It depends where the bite was inflicted, and how long it has been since the snake last bit something. The longer the venom remains in the snake, the more concentrated the venom. 

          Kilo, age 4, and Jack showing off            
their Barn Hunt Trial Ribbons

We have not seen any pygmy rattlers on our property for 25 years or longer, but of course, that does not mean they are not here. Because of the extremely cold weather, most snakes "hibernate" beneath the soil at this time of year. Our vet said it is the first time in 30 years of working that she has seen a rattlesnake bite in January. Unfortunately, many people move into rural areas, not comprehending the importance of snakes. Many of our "black/indigo" snakes are endangered because people indiscriminately kill snakes. Black snakes and especially Indigo Snakes keep the rattlesnake population under control. It is important to learn the difference before just killing snakes.

Kilo, age 9 sporting his gray muzzle while guarding the tractor disc attachment LOL
He is thinking, "WHAT!? It's HARD work!"

    Kilo, age 4, slobbering on me after a romp
    at night in our wildlife watering hole.

Kilo would have been 13 next month, an "ancient age" for German Shepherds, especially his size. He and my husband were joined at the hip. Kilo was still healthy, but had slowed down and suffered from mild canine dementia. In his youth, he enjoyed obedience training, agility training, "competitive barn hunting" and "working" side-by-side with Jack every day, even though in later years, he did more "overseeing" than working. 

It is a huge loss for our family, and Kilo will be missed. 

       

Kilo, age 7, helping clean and fill one of our "wildlife waterholes".
It is especially dry in Florida during the winter months.

Kilo, age 6, watching Missy Kitty jump from tree to tree, taunting him with:
"See what I can do? You can't do this!"

Thanks for letting me share - it always helps to talk things over with friends.

It is a huge loss for our family, and Kilo will be missed forever. This is a sequence of
photos where he is saying, "Hey, Mom! Watcha lookin' at?"

love,

Imagine That Stamps at 2 Crafty Critter Crazies

Greetings, Friends! I hope you are well, and staying warm.
Like everyone else, here in central Florida, we are experiencing strange weather patterns. But for us, it has been unseasonably warm for the most part. With the exception of a few freezes and frosty mornings, we have been experiencing May Temperatures, not winter temps!
The farmers don't know what to do. Plant or not to plant?
Jack planted pole beans and black eye-peas (field peas) in our garden yesterday. Black eyes are traditionally a summer crop here (June - September), so that gives you an idea of how warm we are.

Well, enough of the weather (giggle).



Today I have a sorta-kinda distressed, textured project to share for a new Challenge at Two Crafty Critter Crazies 
where we love to celebrate any project with a critter on it! Critters include mythical creatures, animal toys and everything alive (except humans and flora)! Our very generous sponsor this month is:

Imagine That Digistamps.

They have an assortment of black and white and colored stamps, plus beautiful papers and backgrounds.

My project uses "Hello Kitties" with dotted background from "Ellie's Flower Costume"

Mini Digital Tutorial using free apps.

1. "Hello Kitties" is a freebie, that comes with a completely transparent PNG and an opaque JPG. After re-saving the JPG as a PNG, I made the outside of the frame transparent. I also made the area under the flowers transparent. (I did this using Preview App).
2. Using a free word processing app (I used Pages), I opened a blank page, dragged the cute gray and white dotted digital paper into it, and then dragged the newly saved Hello Kitties PNG on top of it. 
3. That enabled the appearance of layers. It looks like the part below the flowers is either popped up, or cut out, depending how one's eyes see it.
4. Size the background paper to suit your needs and print out the cute image.
5. The image was then colored with Copic and Prismacolor markers, including a few little "white dots" in yellow or amber, and the inside of the oval was also lightly colored in the same colors. To give a little more dimension, black dots were colored around the frame.

To keep the Dotted theme, I applied Memento Gray Flannel ink to the inside of my WRMK Dotted embossing folder. Carefully lining up a yellow-gold panel in the EF, I then ran it through the machine. The raised areas remained yellow, while the debossed areas turned "flannel gray". The edges were distressed with Black Soot ink:

The gray panel was embossed with Craftwell's Delicate Dots folder, and distressed with Black Soot and Pearlescent Yellow Brilliance ink.

Little Details: A piece of golden burlap was frayed for a fun fringe, white sides were added for contrast, sentiment was stamped with VersaFine Clair Morning Mist and heat set with Clear Detail embossing powder. Lastly, Memory Box Fanciful Flourish was smooshed with VersaMark and heat set with Spring Willow Cosmic Sparkle embossing powder.

Some PRODUCTS USED: **Images: Imagine That Digistamps "Hello Kitties" with dotted background from "Ellie's Flower Costume", rubber stamp sentiment from SNS "Kitty Celebrates" Stamp Set 926    **Dies: SB Mega Nestabilities Curved Rectangles, Memory Box Fanciful Flourish, SU Labels Punch **Colored with Copic and Prismacolor Markers   **Inks: Gray Flannel Memento Ink, Black Soot Distress Ink, VersaFine Clair Morning Mist, VersaMark, Pearlescent Yellow Brilliance ink  **Embossing Folders: We R Memory Keepers Dotted #1, Craftwell Delicate Dots   **Embossing Powders: Spring Willow Cosmic Sparkle, Clear Detail 

Challenges I'd like to play in please:

1. Show Us Your Pussycats Challenges #39 Furrything Goes 3/5 (sep post)
2. Crafty Animals #24 AG with Animals 4/1 (sep post)
3. Crafting With Friends #81 Anything Goes 3/15
4. QKR Stampede Challenge #337 Anything Goes 3/8
5. Love to Scrap #119 Anything Goes Option Monochrome 4/1
6. Sparkles Forum Challenges #113 Include an Animal 3/15
7. Your Scrapbook Place (March) AG 4/1

On A Personal Note:

Kilo turned nine years old on the day I wrote this 2CCC blog post!

What a good boy, hanging out with his daddy! (behind him is the cultivator for the tractor).

The Tulip Tree (a type of Magnolia) was blooming on Valentine's Day. In the background you can see a Southern Magnolia, lots of "Pothos" growing and climbing trees, and a ton of Spanish Moss hanging from the trees and cross-fencing.

The Oak Trees tower over the azaleas and tulip tree, bringing much needed shade during the summer and protection from freezes in the winter. These were taken on an overcast day with heavy frost that morning:

Closer. The oaks are in the process of dropping their leaves. They will be bare around March 1, and pollen squigglies will appear, burst open, and coat everything in yellow. Even the squirrels will have allergies when that happens:

In a few days, the petals will drop, and new leaves burst forth. This is the first tree we planted in 1989 when we first moved to this little "farm". Of course, the towering Oak Hammock was already here:

wishing you all the best!

hugs,