The 2023 Re-Start of Life at Golden Pines

Welcome Back Readers!

I know, its been a while, too long of a while since I posted.  I have all kinds of things I want to share, making it hard to decide where to start. But there's time for all of that, so I'm just going to make this post the official restart of my blog in 2023.  

I'll just start by saying that life got a little crazy. I won't bore you with all of that and say that for the past few months I've known I needed to readjust my priorities and decide my own direction for this year. Starting of course with the dogs. I had the chance to give a home to 7 year old Golden Retriever. It was a bit of a knee-jerk reaction saying I would take this girl, who was being given away by her owner. At first I was excited about the idea of welcoming her. But when the dust settled I realized that it was not what I wanted. My heart belongs to the senior dogs, and I really want to be able to continue to give a home to the most senior and hospice Goldens and Labs that need a place to go. If we accepted this new and younger girl, with the dogs we have now, it would make doing that very difficult. A younger dog adds a level of energy and even stress and pressure on us and our dogs that I just don't want. So, she is not coming to us. 

The dogs are of course oblivious to all of this and are doing pretty well for the most part. I've been doing some "light reading" during lunch at work. I am finding that it has helped to refocus my mind off the hectic days we've had at the office where I work. 

Iva, our newest addition is feeling much, much better these days. She has quite the fun personality under all that hair, that we're working on getting rid of. Below is a photo of that first brushing session. 

Iva returned to the vet this past Friday for a weigh in, and to recheck her thyroid levels. We've had her on thyroid medication for over a month now, and we'll see if an adjustment needs to be made. The good news is that Iva has lost 8 pounds and as I said, she's feeling great and is much more active and loves to play with Milo and the other dogs too. 

And speaking of Milo, he's met our vet for the first time. With no medical records from his first life, we had to start all over with him. I'm hoping the reports will come back just fine, even though he is getting over a really (!!) ugly staph infection. Despite that, he remains in good spirits. 

Then of course there's Todd. The star of our household is doing pretty well.  He's still having bouts of snorting/sneezing. With spring coming I know I need to decide what the next step is going to be with him because I do think it's allergy related - So, should he see an allergist, or holistic vet?  A decision to be made in the coming weeks. 

With that, I'll end this re-start of my blog in 2023. Thank you for stopping by. I'm grateful for your continued friendship, support and cheering us on! 

It really does mean a lot to me. ❤