There was a corgi who swallowed a fly

Gimli stalked the poor fly and trapped it in the window sill. I guess he felt like an extra dose of protein that day?

He usually goes after flies, but once he tried to get a spider that was on the other side of the window.

Throwback Thursday - Girlie face

Back when Merida first came to live with us. She could fit in my forearm as I carried her down the stairs. She could fit on my chest when she snuggled to fall asleep.

And those little teeth made her a little bitey face. Now she's a big girl with a big bark... that she lets out from the safety of the house or from behind big brofur.

Wordless Wednesday - 3 times a day

Roller Girl

I wonder how much she squished the earthworm?

Year of the Corgi - June

And it's June. I... um... yeah.

I'll just admire this picture of Gimli as I try not to focus on the fact that we are almost mid year.

Do you mean me?

This past Saturday we went to a local school for a bake sale/carnival. The school was fundraising, and since our neighbor's children attend the school, we figured we'd stop by for some plants, baked goods etc.

Once we arrived, we made our way around the gym and went past a table staffed by players from a local pick up women's soccer league. Now, I don't play soccer. I've never played it, I don't know the rules. It requires a player to run back and forth moving a ball and trying to keep it away from other players. I'm so uncoordinated, it's a wonder I can run in a straight line! The only benefit I bring to a team... is to the opposing team!

The closest I ever come to soccer is when we watch the World Cup and the Euro cup. I root for Germany only because:

• I've been there
• Mike has German ancestry
• a friend of mine is German. That's it.

This is the only soccer jersey I'll ever wear

Imagine my surprise when one of the ladies rushes up from the table and beelines toward me. At this point, we are nearly past the end of the table and I've not made eye contact with any of the staffers. She starts talking to me about this local league. "They meet on Sundays and it's near to the running track. It's a big team, so don't worry if you cannot make it some days. Oh, and you don't even have to be a mom, it's open to all women."

record scratch

What gave her the idea that I'd want to play soccer? And, how did she know I wasn't a mom?

I must be giving off a new set of vibes these days.

Flat Corgi Friday - Do you want to dress a corgi?

I think Merida is more Anna, than Elsa.

Merida Goose

Merida does not like birds.

Little birds like Robins or Pigeons. Large birds like Geese and Crows, she hates them equally.

You only have to say the word, "bird", and she runs to the backdoor with a low growl.

So, imagine her delight when a few Canada Geese have started hanging out in the farmer's field behind our house.

Yesterday morning before breakfast, she saw these three and then the hunt was on!

She barked at them a little, ran around the yard, and then ran back! One cannot leave breakfast unattended with Gimli around!

Flat Corgi Friday - New Heads

This picture was taken in front of the Wilderness Lodge Mercantile shop at Disney's Wilderness Lodge resort.

I count 6 heads, how about you?

In order from top to bottom:

• Mickey Mouse
• Goofy
• Merida
• Donald Duck
• Gimli
• Humphrey the bear

This picture is one of my favorite Flat Corgi renditions. I love how Donald is upset at Merida. You can almost hear Donald say, "Oh yeah?", his line from the cartoons. Humphrey is accommodating to Gimli.

Your roots are showing

Pembroke's come in four main coat colors:

• Red and white
• Red headed tri-color
• Black headed tri-color
• Sable and white

You can see some examples here: Pembroke Welsh Corgi colors.

Both of my corgis are red and white. However, within the red and white category, there is variation. Some may be a lighter red, known as fawn, while others are a deep, dark red.

You can see some examples of the variation here: Red and white variation.

Merida is in the middle range, while Gimli sits in the dark red range.

This is why. He has black roots along his shoulder blades and the top of his back. The black hair makes the surrounding hair much darker than Merida.

Wordless Wednesday - Best spot in the house

Running - May

I haven't done a running update in a while, so here goes.

1. I've lost 2 lbs and an inch so far. I'm losing weight slower than I'd like, but I'm warming up to the idea that it's slowly coming off.

2. I'm down to the last few weeks of the 5k training. I'm up to a 4k in the training, but I'm not yet at the point where I am able to run for the entirety. I'm getting there, though. I run the same route each time and I can tell that I get further along before I feel like I need to walk. This is good, albeit unexpected - if that make sense.

3. My speed is starting to increase. I range anywhere between 8-9 minutes a kilometer. For the majority of my training, I've always been anywhere from 9-11 minutes a kilometer. Will I get down to 6 minutes a kilometer? Who knows. We'll see, but I'm glad the speed training has started to work.

4. It takes me about 35 minutes or so to do 4k - in the run/walk combination. When I did the 5k in January, it took me about 37 minutes. I'm calling a fluke on that race and I'm using my 5k times from last year as a guide.

My first time goal is 40 minutes. Then, we'll progress from there.

5. I have a 5k planned for the end of June and I hope to be able to run it all. We will see.

Saturday Smiler - Can I go in now?

The days have finally started to warm up and Gimli's enjoying the outside. He rolls in the grass, sits in the shade, and lets the breeze blow through his fluff.

Merida does none of these things. She goes outside to use the washroom, then promptly sits at the door to go back inside.

Flat Corgi Friday - Watching some tv

This is the children's play area at The Grand Floridian Resort. Surprisingly, there were no children about so we were able to snag this picture.

Wordless Wednesday - Butt

Year of the Corgi - May

These past few months have been Merida-centric, but never fear, Lord Gimli returns in June!

This flowering shrub has such pretty flowers. Sadly it hasn't started to bloom yet. There are buds though, and little sprouting leaves. I'm sure it will be in full bloom by the end of the month.

Saturday Smiler - Behind

She's behind me isn't she?

Flat Corgi Friday - We are from the UK

And when you have British/Welsh ancestors, you must stop for tea in the Grand Floridian.

Wordless Wednesday - Thinking

Darth Gimli

You are unwise to lower your defenses.

The fluff is strong with this one.

P.S, he ate all the dark side cookies.

Saturday Smiler - Lord of Mischief

Surely she's not referring to me?

Flat Corgi Friday - May flowers

April showers bring May flowers, but sometimes you end up with Corgi flowers! No ordinary plant food will do, they require cookies and treats twice a day. Not to mention walkies and plenty of cuddles.

Little Corgis

Marcel posted a picture of himself as a little one for today's Throwback Thursday so I thought I'd do the same.

Here's Gimli, the day we met him, at 6 weeks old. Mike's holding him. This is right before he bit a chunk of the Mickey Mouse graphic from Mike's shirt.

Here's Merida at about 6 weeks. She took a liking to me and my hand. She lay down soon after and started to doze next to my leg.

Picture time

MERIDA: Take the picture already, I'm posing.
GIMLI: Cheeeeeseeeee!

MERIDA: Gosh, you take forever. No more pictures today!
GIMLI: What, no cheese? *sad face*

Flat Corgi Friday - Merida and her brothers

Which one is Harris, Hubert, and Hamish?

Come back doggie friend

The farmer behind us has an Australian Cattle dog. This dog and Gimli are fence friends. Whenever the dog roams with his master or even if he's out on his own, he has to stop by our fence to check on Gimli. And anytime we see the farm dog at the fence, we allow Gimli to go out to see his friend.

They don't do much other than pee and sniff through the fence, but there's a sense of friendship.

Picture from a couple years ago.

Today, Mike noticed the farm dog sitting at the fence waiting for Gimli. However, by the time Gimli made it outside, the farm dog had walked away. Gimli then sat and waited by the fence, looking for his friend, but he didn't come back.

Picture from a couple years ago.

It was so sad to see. Two friends just missing each other.

Wordless Wednesday - Hallway blurs

Stones - An update

I've been meaning to post an update on Ms. Merida and the stones that were extracted from her bladder.

It turns out it she had struvite stones in the bladder. Of the stones, we were told these are the easiest to treat and prevent.

Merida finished her round of antibiotics and after a few days of rest from the medication, she was at the vet on Friday for a urine test to follow up that there was no crystals or bacteria etc. Everything was fine, except for the water to urine ratio. This was a little high, so we have started soaking her food in the hopes it increases her water intake.

We take her back in 3 weeks for another urine test. Provided the ratio improves, then we will scale back the tests to every 3 or 4 months. Other than that, she's fine.

We are giving her the same treats as Gimli, with the only difference being her food. She's on Royal Canin Urinary SO formula. To that end, we've been slowly bringing her back to eating fruits and veggies and that doesn't seem to have affected the level of ph in her urine. We'll see how things progress at the next visit, but I'm hopeful we can continue with the fruits and veggies.

Flat Corgi Friday - Backpack doggies

Our travelling backpack has 3 zippers at the top, which make a handy spot to store the corgis. The pockets also make it easy to stow the corgis away in case it starts to rain. The bag usually sits on the back of Mike's wheelchair as we roam around on our adventures.

One of my favorite pastimes is to watch for people's reactions when they see the corgis. Many times they do a double take and then smile or laugh. Often children see the corgis and think it's a real dog sitting in the backpack, (if only).

Sometimes, people will recognize them as corgis and we'll have a quick chat. We even had one person ask us if they were our dogs... because I would bring strange dog faces mounted on cardboard on a trip with me and pose for pictures... totally normal.

Wordless Wednesday - Corgi Security

Is that the cat?

GIMLI: Is that the cat walking by?

MERIDA: Psh, you'd never be fast enough to catch a cat!

Furry Siblings

It's National Siblings Day today and who better to illustrate this than a big brofur and his little sisfur.

First speed run

I've been doing the Runkeeper 5k training plan and tonight's run was my first ever speed run. It was 8 intervals of a minute of fast running and 90 seconds of slow walking.

To say that I'm tired now is an understatement.

The first minute, I thought my calves were going to explode. It was all I could do to hold on until the walking interval. I honestly thought the program on my phone was malfunctioning because that minute felt like forever. Then, it seemed like I was walking for just a few seconds before I had to start running again.

This was difficult, but I made it through. I keep telling myself that soon I'll be running the 5k from start to finish, but right now that doesn't seem possible.

Tomorrow is another day, not another run though - that's Saturday.

I don't think I'm at this level... yet, but I'll get there.

Year of the Corgi - April

Merida graces the calendar again this month because April is the month in which she was born.

Wordless Wednesday - I am 2 today

Snakes, why'd it have to be snakes?

This past weekend, we took the corgis to the Canadian Pet Expo. We weren't looking for anything in particular, and we didn't partake in any of the events, we just went to get out of the house and take the corgis on an outing.

At this year's Expo, there was a reptile section selling reptile products as well as a bunch of terrariums housing various reptiles, insects and arachnids, and snakes.

There was one exhibitor who had transparent tubs housing Ball pythons and other small snakes. I picked up Merida to see if she'd be able to see the snakes moving around...

Well, she was having none of it! She wouldn't let me go near the table and when I turned her in their general direction, she dug her claws into my shoulder and cuddled in.

The poor dear, I won't let near any more scary snakies, except for Sir Hiss.

This is the face I made when I got close to the snakes.

The stony truth

Why is Merida smiling?

Because she's home and finally has a diagnosis.

To backtrack a little:

1. Back in November, we took her to the vet for a suspected UTI.  A urinalysis was performed and it was confirmed that there was bacteria etc. She was on antibiotics for 7 days and at the end of the course, the UTI seemed to clear up.

2. Fast forward to the end of February. On a surprisingly warm day, I took her for a walk and saw blood in her urine. Back to the vet we went and this time she received a 14 day course of antibiotics.

The course finished, another urinalysis was performed, but with different results.

There was no bacteria, but there was the presence of other foreign matter. An xray showed a small blob/lump/something in her bladder.

3. So, this past Monday, she spent a day and night at the vet's office where they cleaned/drained her bladder and scoped it. She had 3 small stones banging around in the bladder, causing irritation and bloody urine. The stones are currently in the lab and we're waiting for the results on their composition. This will determine her dietary needs for the rest of her life.

4. Right now, she's on Royal Canin Urinary SO dog food. She cannot have anything else because we don't know what caused the stones in the first place. This dog food will a) make her thirsty and force her to drink more water, which will cause increased urination. This is good to keep the bladder flushed. And b) it will inhibit the growth of future stones.

Temperament and behavior wise, she's back to normal. When we brought her home on Tuesday, she seemed glad to be home with us. It's always different when you come home, isn't it? She has shaved patches on her front legs where the IV was placed, but other than that, you wouldn't know she had a procedure done. She has one more day of anti-inflammatory meds - Metacalm, and about 8 or 9 days left of antibiotics. In a couple months she has to go back for another urinalysis test.

We are grateful it wasn't anything more serious with her kidneys and with this diagnosis, we have an action plan for the short and long term.

More to come once we have an update on the stones themselves.

Wordless Wednesday - What fools these corgis be