Monday 30 July 2012

Monday Moodboard


1. alatsupplies  2. EmelePhotography  3. AnnukCreations  4. P8iosities

Terracotta always reminds me of Summer. The plant pots everywhere and the beach pottery you find here are often this color. A warm unique color. I hope you are all having a great Summer so far!

Have a great week everyone!
You can easily make your moodboard with the mosaic maker.
Please be sure that all featured shops are from the EuropeanStreetTeam.

Friday 27 July 2012

Stork Rescue


This week we saw a nice kind of news in the papers.

The african storks come in the summer in great numbers to the Aegean Turkish coast to nest and breed.
Most of them choose residence in the high voltage masts, resulting in hundreds of dead storks, mostly when the babies start to fly.
 

To avoid this and also the power cuts that it causes, Aydem, the energy provider for the Aegean region has started to place platforms attached to the masts but about 2 meter higher. The hope is that it will save many storks. More than three hundred of these platforms are in the planning.

Every year, a stork couple gets three to five babies. Isn't it nice?

Monday 23 July 2012

Monday Moodboard


1. happyment  2. DUEALBERI  3. MyMonography  4. Melasha

Not a very happy mood as you can imagine, we are still feeling blue about Urchin.
Thank you everyone for your kind words and for your support these past weeks, it helped us alot or we would have been coping with this alone.

Have a great week everyone!
You can easily make your moodboard with the mosaic maker.
Please be sure that all featured shops are from the EuropeanStreetTeam.


Thursday 19 July 2012

Urchin


I have very, very sad news.

Remember that we were saying that both hind legs were very weak?  He could stand and take one or two steps, no more, and had to be carried outside for his toilet.

We took him tuesday again to the vet and had finally more x-rays taken. His other leg is totally out of the joint, the ligament torn. The vet said that it is no use to put it again in place, it would go out right again.

Worse news was that the steel plate that they put in the broken leg, with screws and wire, had bent in a L shape and was no good. He wanted to operate on him again and put a heavier plate in. The injured leg would be shortened.

We spent a terrible tuesday evening, deliberating what to do. We read all what we could find on the web about hip dislocation by dogs. The usual treatment is to fixate the leg in a sling for several weeks till the torn ligaments have healed. If that doesn't help, than the head of the femur is removed surgically to relieve the pain.

Of course, that all supposing that the dog has an other healthy hind leg to walk on, but Urchin's other leg was badly shattered. The vet could of course not say if he would be ever pain free.

Ah, the way that animals warm a place in your heart!
We have had to put down other dogs, of course, with illnesses that couldn't be cured. But to have to do it with a young, otherwise healthy dog, it was really, really hard.

But in the end, that was what we decided, because a life with pain is no life.

This dog has brought about so much goodness in so many people, I hate that this love story has no happy ending, I hate it.

I am still glad, though, that he didn't die in terror on that road. I'm glad he was loved and pampered in his last days, I'm glad that he was clean and well fed. I'm glad that Estella was holding him and stroking him and talking to him till he peacefully went to sleep on his bed, in our house.

He is buried in a hill overlooking the sea. He will always be one of ours.

Monday 16 July 2012

Monday Moodboard


1. galafilc  2. BiscuitCuit  3. bialakura  4. cherrytime

Summer always means a war with grass. You need to water it to keep it green, but as you water it it grows fast, it is always a struggle :)

Urchin will be trimmed today, it is so hot it will do him good. Also some things won't go away with a bath so he will clean up nicely too.

Have a great week everyone!
You can easily make your moodboard with the mosaic maker.
Please be sure that all featured shops are from the EuropeanStreetTeam.


Wednesday 11 July 2012

Another update


Monday, we finally brought Urchin home. Here he is, getting what is obviously his first bath ever. It barely scratched the surface, he stills smells awful, the poor thing.


The wounds are much better, only the one at his ankle, where we could see the bone when we found him is still a bit open, so we used Betadine Scrub to wash him.


He can stand and walk a couple of steps, no more, both hind legs are very weak. he still has a very long way to go to recover.


He is totally in love with Estella.


Today he finally pooped, we were woried because he didn't before. Never knew that I would be so happy to see a dog's turd, we see enough on a daily basis. It is one more step in the way to recovery.


He lays very confortably in a room with airco, where the other doggies are not allowed and is cool and quiet. He says hello and thank you to you all.

Monday 9 July 2012

Monday Moodboard


1. arch190  2. Skelini  3. tenderblue  4. EllaGajewskaBRIDAL

Summer has arrived for a while but the extreme heat has been here just a few days, you know the kind it feels like everything is burning.
I know that at other places summer has hardly arrived, I wish we could swap some temperature and rain to balance things :)

Today if everything goes alright Urchin will come home with us, we'll let you know!

Have a great week everyone!
You can easily make your moodboard with the mosaic maker.
Please be sure that all featured shops are from the EuropeanStreetTeam.


Saturday 7 July 2012

Best present


Today is my birthday, and I wanted to share you my best present. Seeing Urchin walk :)
I had seen him standing but not walking although he changed his place I hadn't seen him in action.


All our dogs have been saved from bad pasts, either from the street or bad previous owners. They all had physical and/or psychologic problems. Some were full of ticks and almost dying because of it, others had clearly been abandoned and had a hard time to let us go out of the door, afraid to be alone. But we never found one like Urchin, heavily injured and also clearly with a bad past as he had a rope very tight around his neck.


These past 10 days has been very rewarding, seeing him healing, slowly relaxing, not beeing afraid, and the fact that he will one way or another have a much better future. It is amazing to see his sweet eyes looking into mine, I think we have a weak spot for each other and he makes sure I know it by wagging his tail and licking my hands every time he sees me.

Beside the recovery of Urchin it has been wonderful to see all the friendships we have made the past 5 years online, thank you again for all your support once again, sorry for posting such a dramatic post it must be my zodiac :)

Thursday 5 July 2012

Our Creative Space...


We haven't been doing much lately, with the terrible heat and all the extra conmotion that the finding of Urchin has brougth about


When I am tense, mindless works help, so I have been attaching tiny silk and felt squares on top of a woolen fabric. It is all fitting in the fourth of July spirit. Did you have a nice day yesterday, american friends?


Somehow, I always imagine a coast to coast barbeque going on at the 4th of July.

Urchin is doing pretty well. We had him neutered today, since he is already on antibiotics and wearing a collar, it made sense for hem to have all the discomfort at once. If all goes well, on Monday all the stitches will go out and then we will bring him home to recuperate. In the mean time, we are still looking for a loving home for him, but being neutered will make it easier for our other dogs to tolerate him.

And special thanks to Elaine, Stefania and Erika!!

See more creative spaces at Our Creative Spaces.

Tuesday 3 July 2012

Another update


Some brighter pictures today of our little Urchin. He seems to have suffered in the hands of humans and didn't want to get out of his cage. During the day it got very hot in there but although the door was open all the time, with a sound or the sight of a person het got back inside. So the vet locked the door of the cage, so that Urchin stays outdoors where he can stay in the shade in fresh air.
He will stay for about a week untill his antibiotics treatment ends and hopefully the wounds are then healed, so that stitches and head piece can be removed and he can enjoy a good bath which I'm sure he will appreciate.

For the long term we do not know what to do yet. His leg's bone was completly snapped and some little pieces were removed so the healing process is guessed by about 2 months. No one will want to adopt an injured dog now, but after that he will be a sweet young dog. We have 2 shelters nearby, one in our own town and one in the neighboring town. We knew about our town's shelter but not of the neighbors. As the vet told us that it was a good one we went there to see if it would be a good temporarily home for Urchin.
No way are we going to bring him there, it is in the forest with many trees and they have shelter but it is surrounded with wooden fences which made me claustrophobic. The poor thing already has suffered enough and won't be able to defend himself against the other dogs. Also, it is not open to the public, so nobody is going to find him there. Clearly, the aim of the shelter is to keep strays out of the way and nothing else.


In a week he will be released by his doc, and looking at the current situation he will come home with us. He will have to stay seperatly from our other dogs so he can heal calmly. In the mean time we are going to contact organizations that find homes for furry kids. It is just so hard for us, both taking him in as we are already so crowded and financialy not good enough, on the other hand it is hard to let him go, or atleast to not a good place. His life is saved but not the quantity but eventually the quality of life is most important so we will be doing everything we can to give him a happy future.

Please help us spread the word to find Urchin a loving new home, we will make sure he'll be healthy but let's give him a happy future too.

Monday 2 July 2012

Monday Moodboard


1. BarbaraSzepesiSzucs  2. meltemsem  3. AtelierGilet  4. YanArt

With all the events of the past few days I guess this moodboard is no suprise.
Urchin gets up only when needed but his wounds are looking good and hopefully he will heal good.
Of course our worries start now about finding him a good home, another dog for us will be really difficult for us so we really hope to find a good home for him.

Have a great week everyone!
You can easily make your moodboard with the mosaic maker.
Please be sure that all featured shops are from the EuropeanStreetTeam.