dogs – Page 21 – Karla's Cottage

Week old puppies

dogs, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), puppies!, yorkies

By Karla Nathan / September 4, 2012

So far, Twinkle has been too good of a mama. She keeps those babies stuffed to the brim! We are supposed to be supplementing her feedings so she doesn't deplete her calcium and get sick, but its hard to compete with her at feeding time. Those little guys would much rather have a mommy than a bottle. Or as Dewdrop always called nursing, "Moops". (a combination of mommy and boobs)

These photos are from Sept. 1st. But the babies seem to get bigger by the hour!

I discovered that they like the bottle hotter than I think it should be. The wrist test that you'd do for a human baby isn't accurate for the pups. A dog's temp runs over 100 degrees, so a comfortable drop on the wrist for us is cool for them.

Since I realized that I've been serving the milk too cool, and started to warm it up, I've been able to compete with the moops a little better. Now, when I poke a hot bottle of formula at a puppy, they clamp on and can even sometimes drink half a bottle.

I'm glad, it was getting frustrating and I was worried about poor Twinks. I've also discovered that I need to take her over to the studio with me for about 45 minutes before feeding so that she doesn't beat me to it and they all have full tummies before I can even attempt to feed them.

My house is smelling like a dog. Twinkle keeps them clean, but they are smelly pups. I think they are about big enough for a bath. We change the bedding a few times a day, but they still smell up the place. I think that Twinkle and I are both still shocked that there are so many babies, 9 can be pretty overwhelming.

I'm so glad we had a break in the weather and could open all the windows and air the place out. That was a relief. We really needed rain around here, but I think I needed some fresh, cool air even more!

**********************************************************************************************

I've had a comment, from someone unhappy that we had pups. Here is my response:

I have to agree with you when it comes to pure bred dogs in puppy
mills. Those poor things are treated like a cash crop, not beloved pets
and have many issues with health and social behavior.

My dogs are lovingly raised to make sweet pets, and are coddled and
cuddled from the minute they are born. There will always be pet owners
who want a preferred breed of dog, and they deserve a chance to get one
with a good start in life with a background that they can trust.

I do not have pups to make money. There is not much profit after
expenses. The little money I do get goes to Sugarwings' college fund
since Twinkle is her dog.

Twinkle is bred with our friend's Yorkie, who she adores. And she is a
devoted mama who also adores her pups. Teddy's family treats her well
while she is visiting there, it's a happy time, not stressful for her.

I breed her with Teddy because she is such a loyal, love filled, ball of
joy, that I want another dog just like her. She is not show quality but
she is an ideal little pet and so are her babies.

People know how well my babies are treated and if they get one, know
they will be getting a socialized and well adjusted addition to their
family whose mom was part of our family, not a bitch in a cage who never
was let outside or played with.

My grand dogs go to good homes, we actually give away quite a few
pups to family and friends so that I get to stay in contact with them
and watch them grow up. I don't charge outrageous amounts for my dogs.
And I don't provide papers, they are AKC but I don't think that is
important. What matters is that they are full blooded terriers with that
spunky, loyal attitude and raised in a happy, safe environment People
don't buy my dogs to breed, only to love.

Trying to keep up

dogs, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), puppies!, yorkies

By Karla Nathan / August 30, 2012

These guys are the reason I have no new photos edited to show you. Please excuse the camera phone shot. I don't know what I'd do if Aunt Sandy wasn't helping with them.

Its been slightly crazy around here lately, between having grands over, middle of the night puppy feedings, giant wild cats stealing chickens (I ran out into the woods trying to hunt it down, then stopped and wondered what I'd do if I did actually catch it!), constantly cleaning up after Twinkle and her brood, piles of packages coming in for the Faery Book Swap, trying to finish up my covers, throwing a hero dinner for Sandy for saving the pups, and mailing out boxes full of millinery flowers sold in the Boutique, I'm wrecked.

Plus, while it seems like weeks ago, it was really only a few days past that I was co-hostessing a family reunion in another state.

So, of course, today after a midnight and 4 am puppy feeding, I left the morning meal to Sandy and hit the road to go to a flea market today. It was good to play hooky.

Whew, what a week! Actually not even a full week yet.

No wonder I'm tired! And haven't announced the giveaway winner. Which by the way is:

Tish Porter

Pretty babies

celebrations, Dew Drop, dogs, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), family, puppies!, yorkies

By Karla Nathan / August 28, 2012

I'm back from my trip and Twinkle was a busy girl while I was gone. So was Aunt Sandy! I was glad she was here to take over, having an RN in charge of the difficult birth was a godsend.

The difficulties arose from Twinkle having NINE pups to deliver!

After the second, not much happened. We'd visited our vet for directions earlier, read all the dog birthing info we could, and Sandy watched countless videos on whelping puppies. So, when labor stopped progressing, she knew to take Twinks in to the doc.

A couple more were born there, but the sonogram showed a total of eight babies (a rare number of pups for someone of Twinkle's size). Our vet said that the mama needed to be taken to Kansas City to the emergency vet for a C-section.

All of this drama was happening while I was driving to Indiana. At first, all was going well, but as the prognosis kept changing, I started to think I should turn around. Of course, I was already almost to Indiana about the time we heard that things weren't going well at all and that surgery might be needed.

I talked to the vet over the phone, and was told that if Twinkle had a C-section, she would have to have all the babies taken away from her, they would need to be completely hand raised.

I called friends and family to arrange some help for Sandy, but decided I should also be headed back to be on bottle patrol too.

But when Sandy and Lyric (the owner of the pup's father) got to the ER, those vets had a different story. They thought the babies could be delivered naturally and decided to keep Twinkle over night for observation. And they said there were NINE, not eight!

At this point, I was a bit of a wreck, and before I had a wreck on I70, I decided to get some rest, get a hotel room and make a decision in the morning.

Morning brought great news! Twinkle had delivered all 9 little ones, each healthy and strong!

The ER vets said that they had never seen a Yorkie have that many babies. Our Twinkle is not a teensy girl, but she is also not a giant Yorkie. She is about 9 lbs, which is still a pretty small dog.

Her little body can't support that many youngens. She needed IV calcium and is on supplements too. We still need to bottle feed the babies, but they are also able to nurse and Twinkle can take care of them with our help.

Since Sandy wasn't completely on her own with with care and feeding of the pups, and Twinkle could keep them warm and clean, Beth, our Gypsy, and Lyric could come by to help, I decided to go on to Indiana for the reunion.

It was not an easy decision. But it was our late father's turn to host the dinner, it was up to my sisses and I to be the hostesses in his place. I had a car full of supplies and table cloths, my sisters had taken vacation days that had been requested way in advance, and my husband was flying in on Saturday to attend and drive home with me.

Sandy was a trouper and went into full on RN mode, staying up around the clock to make sure those puppies were full and cared for. She was much better than I would have been, she devoted herself totally to the newborns.

I had a great time with my family, and the reunion was wonderful. I was able to relax and enjoy it, knowing that all the dogs were in good hands and that I'd be home with them soon to snuggle (and stay up all night feeding them myself soon enough!)

We cut our trip short and drove straight back to KS as soon as the big family dinner ended and we got cleaned up, getting home in time for a midnight feeding.

Monday night, we had our own big family dinner with the grands over to see the puppies and to thank Sandy for being a hero and saving all the babies. Everyone raised their cup to toast Aunt Sandy and thank her for all she did. I owe her more than a steak dinner, she was a huge help during a rough time!

Thanks, Sandy!! And congrats, Twinkle!!

And good bye sleep for a while… these 6 boys and 3 girls will keep us hoppin.

Happy birthday Sugarwings!

celebrations, Dew Drop, dogs, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), fairies, family, Mayara, puppies!, Sugarwings, yorkies

By Karla Nathan / August 24, 2012

Sugarwings' birthday was such a fun day for us. We went to lunch at T. Rex to see the dinosaurs, but at first, Dewdrop wasn't sure if we should go in. Once she realized that there were cute little baby dinosaurs there, she was fine.( I don't know why the restaurant keeps the biggest, scariest one of all right inside the door to greet everyone. I guess they want to test the kids right up front to see if they can withstand the atmosphere before they waste table space incase the little ones have to leave before the food comes? If the kids can get past the giant monster at the door, they must be brave enough to sit and eat there.)

Sugarwings has always loved it there. Dewdrop took some convincing, but not much, She was careful to not look at the bigger ones, but was happy to give hugs and kisses to the colorful, cartoony beasts.

We walked around the shopping center, and let the kids run around on the Yellow Brick Road sidewalks. It was a favorite pastime for Sugarwings when she was little. Now that she is turning 6, I wanted to take her there again before she was too big to enjoy it.

Hopefully, she'll never be too old to be silly with Grams.

And honestly, she is happy anywhere she goes. Her idea of fun is just exploring. It can be along a yellow sidewalk that takes her imagination to Oz. or just sitting in the grass meeting whatever bug crawls by. It all entertains her.

Dewdrop had a good time on our day out too. And I was pleased to spend time with my boy, remembering when he was a little guy and running way ahead of me wherever we went, just like his daughter does now.

A pretty table cloth, a pitcher of Chocolate milk so that the kiddos could pour their own refills, and letting the baby join the big kids table all made a special meal for the birthday girl that night for dinner.

We also covered a big chair and tied balloons to it, creating a birthday throne when cake and ice cream time came. Then, her cupcake was served on a musical, wind up cake plate that plays "Happy Birthday", but not very good. Its kind of old and wonky, but still a fun tradition for us.

It was all I could do, to not be teary all day. I can't believe she is six now.

The last few years have zoomed by!

To enter the giveaway, please leave a comment HERE.

I am finishing up my pages, Twinkle is finishing up her pups

dogs, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), fairies, puppies!, swaps, We're having a party, yorkies

By Karla Nathan / August 16, 2012

This Faery Book Swap page is a done in a similar way to my other pages: slap down a vintage paper back ground, find a pretty lady or girl in my ephemera drawer, glue on some wings from the 1950s bug book that I got at a garage sale, sprinkle on some glitter, trim and done.

Well, basically at least. All are different in that I used a variety of ladies or girls, papers and trims, but it boils down to all being the same sort of process. Each is unique, but I didn't use any ground breakingly creative skills in assembling them, as you might have noticed as I gave some "how to's" on most of the pages I made.

This one has some hand drawn vines around the wallpaper centerpiece. And I used a sheer fabric, layered between the main decor and the background.

After finding my stride and figuring out shortcuts to make pages, I went a bit bannanas and made quite a few. I like to have extras for the swap, but if I don't need them, I'll be making up a seperate book for the Boutique.

I've also got some extra covers, so will make up some kits to sell too. In case you didn't get in the swap but would like to create your own fairy book.

The back is a pretty page from one of my old children's books, and a touch of lace at the bottom. But ooooh! what lace! Its butterflies!

I used quite a bit of this trimming out the covers too.

Each cover was basically the same design and style too, but all were done with slightly different supplies. When you use vintage materials, you get unique results. My wings are all petals or leaves from old millinery blooms, and the wallpaper is matched up to my wing materials. So are the ribbons and the little flower that I added to either her bodice or hair.

You can tell from this glimpse, that I used lots of different laces to trim the bottoms too.

I am so excited to be getting closer to assembly time! There will be two more posts upcoming with photos of the rest of my pages.

If you are curious about how I pull together a big swap, here is a post from the last one I hosted.

This pic of Twinkle about to pop on Aug. 12th, before the puppies are even due. Believe it or not, she is much bigger now, every day she seems to balloon up even more, and I feel so bad for her. Its hard to figure the due date, because she was over at her boy toy's house for ten days and I hear that they enjoyed every minute of the time together.

The vet says to figure 63 days from the mid point of their romantic interlude. But if I calculate from the first weekend, the due date is now.

I think she might have the pups today, and its Sugarwing's birthday, wouldn't that be perfect?! Her temperature has dropped to 98.5, she seems to be trying to nest under the deck, so we can't let her go out in the yard alone. I've barricaded the doggie door so she doesn't sneak out. She barely fits through it anyway. I might have to grease her belly if she continues to try to get in and out that little door.

Today Sugarwings is six years old. Tomorrow she goes to kindergarten.

For her birthday, I painted her new loft bed. She helped me, its a razzelberry color, with glitter. The ladder that goes up to the mattress is 5 steps, so I numbered them and did one fairy, two worms, 3 lady bugs, 4 butterflies, and 5 flowers on the coordinating rungs.

Sorry the photos suck, they were taken on my phone in a dark garage.

We've had a terrific birthday week, starting with her Mommie's party on Sunday, zoo on Monday, cupcake baking and decorating Wednesday, and a BBQ tonight. We had thought about a water park visit today, but haven't mentioned it to her. I'm glad we didn't, the weather doesn't look great, and I want to stay near the expectant momma.

What's on the menu for the BBQ? All of the birthday girl's favorites, of course! Salmon, french fries, watermelon, chocolate milk, corn on the cob, and spinach. Then, home made cupcakes mixed up by Dewdrop and Sugarwings.

I'll let you know if we have a few extra guests for dinner. I'm hoping to see six little tiny pups coming to the 6th birthday party!

A new pillow and a pup-date on pillow shaped Twinkle

bird song art event, dogs, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), yorkies

By Karla Nathan / August 11, 2012

Miss Daisy is not the camera hog that Twinkle is. She was a bit shy when I asked her to pose next to the pillow I bought at 4 Corners on Sunday for $7.

Or maybe she loved the soft, downy fluff of it so much that she just wanted to bury her little face into it?

I got her attention and had her look at the camera by making a high pitched screechy sound. Remember the noise that Madison the mermaid makes in the movie, "Splash"? That is my attention getter for most dogs.

Its not necessary for Twinks though. She's always posing for the camera. I hope her puppies enjoy getting their photos taken too, because I'm sure looking forward to sticking them in hats and cups and all over the place to take dozens of pictures of the little cuties when they are ready!

She looks like she is about to pop, doesn't she? But I'm afraid she has a bit to go, poor girl. She already is overstuffed and is huffing and puffing like she is out of breath, getting up all night to go to tinkle, and can't climb back up on the bed by herself. She will be glad when they get here too.

I'll leave you with some shots of what's new in
The Boutique

Beating the heat

dogs, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), flowers, Hens

By Karla Nathan / August 2, 2012

Despite the heat, our garden is doing well. We have well water, and live over a deep aquifer, so I use the sprinkler a lot to beat the long string of 100 plus degree days.

I've set the chickens in the garden almost daily to get the bugs for us, and they did pretty good till the squash bugs hit the cukes. I've had to hand pick the horrid creatures off the plants, but have also used some organic insecticidal soap.

One thing I have not watered is our yard. This is what the ground looks like! We never did have the best looking grass anyway, so I'm ignoring the lawn and concentrating on keeping the flowers and veggies going. And the poor chickens. We lost one to what we think was heat stroke. So now, we keep a sprinkler going on low in the flower beds so that they can have a place to cool off.

We thought we were going to lose this gal too. One of the dogs got ahold of her, and chewed all the feathers off her rump. No real damage, and I think she looks kind of jaunty with that one tail feather sticking up.

We keep the wading pool full too, mostly for Twinkle. She is very fat and very pregnant and likes to jump in the pool, lay back and relax to cool off. I'm thinking about getting her a raft for it, she loves the one out on the lake.

Well, the forecast says we have a few more days coming with no rain, and more heat. Kansas is typically hotter than Hades this time of year, but not quite this hot. Sugarwings has a couple of swimming lessons coming up before back to school time, I hope its not too hot to hit the pool this week!

If its too hot to play in the pool, we'll be back inside playing dress up with Twinkle again. That is how we spent a big chunk of one hot day last week.

just stuff

dogs, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), flowers, Sugarwings, the Boutique at Karla's Cottage, yorkies

By Karla Nathan / July 21, 2012

It sure didn't take long for me to mess up the studio again! I've had a fun project in the works, actually a couple of them, that I can't wait to tell you about. I'll get to spill the beans soon, but not quite yet.

During the studio tour, someone asked to see a close up of this table that I have a box full of ribbons sitting on. The veneer on the table was peeling up, so I covered it in textured, paintable wallpaper (not vintage, available at many home decor stores). I then painted and glazed the whole table and the wallpaper to match.

When I cleaned up the studio to get photos for the tour, I thought this bowl tucked away under a small table would be a good place to store lace and trims. Twinkle seems to agree with me… but I might need to rethink this plan.

Although, this is her favorite place to relax. Twinkle has decided that with the heat that Kansas has to offer this year, the lake is the best spot to tolerate it.

Dixie and Daisy, my sister-in-law's little dogs love it too. Twinkle and Daisy bonded over hunting ducks.

Mostly, the garage sales I've been to lately have not been worth the effort to get up early. But I did get this little Dorothy dress at one for $1, and Sugarwings loves it so much, she insists on calling Twinkle, "Toto" and wearing the dress over her bathing suit.

I'll leave you with some photos of what I added to the Boutique before we hit the road for Utah.

We will be home over the weekend, all purchases will go out on Monday.

And if you want to sign up for the Faerie Book Swap, please email me, details here. I'll add you to the list when I return.

A mid summer zero dollar decorating redo

cottage, dogs, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), flowers, redos

By Karla Nathan / July 8, 2012

Dang, its hot. Feels like it has been hot forever. In Kansas, we typically get a stretch of 100 degree plus days, but not this early in the year. It makes me quake in my boots (or flip flops) just contemplating what July and August will have in store after June blasted us with this heat.

To get the temperature off my mind, I decided to cottage-up my living room a bit. Ithought strewing some roses about would be a cheerful summery thing to do.

I'm afraid this photo doesn't look as cheery as it should, I took it at night, and the windows are dark.

Since my walls and furniture are neutral, its easy to change the whole look of the room with a few accents. Throw pillows, curtains, and knicky knacks make a quick change when you start with an all ivory room.

It probably took longer for me to get the wrinkles out of the old curtains than it did to redo all of this. I popped these rose curtains in the dryer on fluff while I took down the vintage lace ones, and packed away all of the pillows and a few other things from around the room as they were fluffing up.

When the curtains were ready, it was a fast redo, because we were due to meet friends on the lake. This was a spur of the moment plan, and I only had about 30 minutes to spare.

Over the years, I've made a few different slip covers for my big sofa cushion, and have collected curtains and pillows at clearance sales and garage sales. I keep a linen closet full of cheap, but pretty extras to switch out when the mood hits me.

This time, I tried draping the bottom of the couch with a bed skirt. The front ruffle shows, the rest is wadded up under the cushion. Hopefuly it will stay in place, it might not.

The look I was going for was an "explosion" of roses. I think I got it… Few match, but I like the way they go together anyway. You can't really tell from the photos, but the brown slip cover on the big cushion has pink roses and blue pailseys on it, so it matches a bit better in person than it seems to in the picture.

This chair was in the studio. After bringing it in, I topped the garden table with a floral drape panel, and added a couple rosey elements to the arrangement on top.

The sheer panel on the other small table (previous photo) is also a curtain. I had three of these panels in my breezeway and they were shredded by raccoons. So, I trimmed off the bottoms that were ragged, used one on the table and the other two in the windows. As long as I don't move the couch, no one will know about the shredding.

Well, I guess that's not true, I just told everyone about the rips…

My china cabinets are over stuffed anyway, so these items won't be missed in it and they add to the flowery feel of the living room now.

It didn't take much, a couple of pieces for each table arrangement gave me the rose garden effect I wanted.

I think I'll hang a framed rose print on the window frame and pin a big, fat millinery bloom in red to the lamp.

In the fall, I'll want to change it around again, so wasn't striving for perfection. Its a temporary, fun look that I didn't take very seriously. I do love my white on white/ivory room most of the time, but I appreciate it more when I change it up a bit sometimes.

So, this redo took about a half hour, using things I had around the house or packed away. The only cost was $2 for the bouquet of roses. My local grocery store has markdown roses for $2 a dozen every week.

Strohm Vineyards, An Omaha Oasis

dogs, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), Food and Drink, Travel

By Karla Nathan / July 3, 2012

Over the weekend, we visited some of my husband's college friends for a mini reunion. And I can't imagine a better place to stay than Strohm Vineyards.

My buddy, Lori, has always had a good eye for design, and has a beautiful home, a log cabin in the hills a few minutes North of Omaha in Fort Calhoun.

I've always loved staying with them, John and Lori are excellent hosts, and lots of fun. They are do-it-yourselfers who are always adding on, remodelling, and basically working their butts off to make their place better and better all the time.

Lori is a talented junker. She finds the coolest pieces at garage sales and knows how to display them. (the blue chest in the first photo was only $10!!)

And now their homestead, the "Strohmarosa" is even better than ever, with the addition of a vineyard and a new winery building.

The winery has a fledgling B&B too! Upstairs, over the grape room is a cozy space that we hung out in.

If you are looking for a place to stay while in Omaha, and want to feel like you are NOT in Omaha, this is the perfect getaway. It felt more like visiting a resort in California than a farm in Nebraska!!

This is the view from the bedroom window. We spent a lot of time sitting out in the courtyard, listening to the fountain and enjoying the breeze in the evening.

The Strohms rent out rows of grapes to individuals who want to tend them and then make their own wine.

If I lived closer, I'd want to get a row for myself, just so I could sit up here on the hill and soak up the view after working on the vines.

There are cute little seating areas all around the property, this one features a bonfire pit.

I met the Bluebird of Happiness there! Lori has bluebird houses all around the property and everywhere I went, there were happy bluebirds flying by.

Plus Yorkies too!

That is my fault. I gave them this guy, Walker, 14 years ago and he started a dynasty of pups. I got to visit my grand-dog and great-grand dog.

This winery building is new, and they will still be fine tuning and adding on. I think there are plans for renting the space out for events, and they are planting and landscaping around it with out door dining and weddings in mind.

Don't you love the labels on the wine? Their son is a photographer and created the design.

The wine is not for sale yet, they don't have a liquor liscence. I will be first in line to buy a case when they do. There was a sweet, white one that I really liked.

They have set aside a room in their home for wine storage, and that is where we sat down for meals, its also the dining room.

LIke every room in the home and winery, its warm and welcoming.

With wine themed details everywhere, like this old book.

The weekend went by way too quickly. Omaha is only 3 hours away, my husband and I need to make more of an effort to get up there. I love Old Town for shopping, the zoo is one of my favorite places to go, and we have these wonderful friends there too.

Heck, why did I say you might want to visit Omaha and not feel like you are there? I love Omaha, its got a LOT to offer. Anyone would love a getaway to that city!