A German Christmas tree

Some of you might be familiar with the traditional German Christmas tree that Bill and Connie have been putting up since 1973. The tree has been in Connie’s family for over 75 years.

Since Bills passing, the day after “cookie day” the son-in-laws put up the tree and the girls, making a day of it with their mother decorating the “pyramid” tree.
Connie’s grand father, Emil Zeidler, had the idea to build a “pyramid” Christmas tree and with the help of Connie’s father GabrielMetzger the pyramid Christmas tree was built.

The tree was originally built with hand made card board fins. The fins were attached to a wooden broom stick handle and used to deflect the heat from burning candles thus turning the three centered tables The bottom of the broom stick had a needle in it that rested on a piece of glass that carries the weight of the tables and their displays. Emil hand carved the picked fence from cigar boxes.

Over the years the tree has seen some improvements. The broom stick handle has been replaced with a metal pole. The fins replaced with metal frames and aluminum foil but the picked fence remains as built by Emil.

With the tree balanced properly, the warmth from the sun light coming in through the windows and rising to the ceiling would deflect off the pyramids fins and slowly turn the tables.

60 Years in the making ! We love you Marc !!

Payton a.k.a. Geddy’s great adventure continues…

Five days after picking up Patyon (Wendy had picked out his new name upon first seeing his picture) he is settling in very well.

Payton turned one year old on Thanksgiving Day. He, along with four other dogs were rescued from a back yard breeder in Iowa. The dogs were in horrible condition, dirty and scared. Good as Gold foster family volunteers took them sight unseen and got them cleaned up.

There are a few small things that we have to work on with Payton, one being loading up into the car.
We need to coax, encourage, and bribe Payton into the car. Each morning we load up into the car and go to the park Fox Riverbluff West, for our walk / run. Once he gets to a certain point he does manage a jump up and into the back seat and lays down all stretched out. Mya gives him all the room he wants with no objection. He lays down for the ten minute ride and is eager to disembark once we get the car parked. Not sure why but when we get back to the car after the walk he is ready and willing and I might say, can’t wait to get into the car. Go figure. Payton might remember the trip home last Sunday and the upset stomach or the long ride from Iowa in a car with April. April is Payton’s rescuer / loving foster mother. The way Payton acts towards Wendy, he is by her side where ever she goes, I suspect he acted towards April. I now understand why it was hard for April to say good-bye to her little boy. He will always be here and I'm sure very happy for her to visit.

Today marked a milestone for both Mya and Payton as evident in this video.

Mya and Payton are saying "Happy days are here again" !

Geddy’s Great Adventure Begins….

As most of you know Wendy and I went on a road trip this last Sunday to visit with a family that had been involved with a recent rescue of several Golden Retrievers from an Iowa “back yard breeder”. Read more here. Outside of Peoria Illinois we meet April, Will, their pet dogs of which Sting and Geddy stood out the most. Geddy had found a best buddy in Sting.

April and Will welcomed us to their home, their beautiful home I would add and the introductions of Mya to the Geddy and the rest of the dogs went very well. We visited for a while and decided to take Geddy with us. With April’s and Will’s best wishes we loaded up Mya and Geddy and headed back to Elgin.

Geddy did OK on the three hour ride home but did have an upset stomach the last hour or so. We stopped at a gas station to clean him and the car up as much as we could. When we got home he was happy to get out of that car. We took him and Mya to the back yard and he went both ways the second being a runny stool. We feel the drive home was a success since he made it to the back yard before he pooped!

April had told us that Geddy’s vet check had found a sever case of parasites which he was treated for and still recovering from so we were not surprised.

We got into the house and took a tour no doubt looking for April and Sting but soon laid down next to Mya and seemed less anxious.

Because of the car sickness, Wendy felt that less food the first night might be the way to go so he got a little less than a cup. It had been over an hour and his food has stayed down and in if you know what I mean.

Geddy is doing much better today. His first night in the cage was a little scary and barking / crying for about an hour or so before we had things settled down. We have his crate in a bedroom across from ours and at first we started with lights out. Then after about a half hour we thought he could not see us very well and we put a night light on in our bed room. After a while he settled down and was fine the rest of the night.

Monday night he went in his cage and settled down right away with no problem. We moved the night light to a bathroom so as not to be too bright for either/any of us.

This morning we went for Geddy’s first walk at the park and walked for a mile while visiting a couple of other dogs along the way. He was a little nervous but did well even though he pulled me all the way back to the car once we had turned around. I think he new that we were going back to something familiar, the car.

We have started to split his food 50/50 with boiled rice and dog food in an attempt to head off the runny stool. It seems to have helped this a.m. One accident in the house yesterday after Wendy left for work. I should have had a closer eye on him or out right after Wendy left.

After our walk / run, this morning he slept next to me as I did some computer work.

Mya is warming up to the idea that there is another dog in her and her boys (me) life.

After these couple of days I have seen what I believe to be a very smart, sweet dog, hence the name Payton, after sweetness himself.

Stay tuned for more of Payton’s a.k.a. Geddy, Great adventure!

P.S. Thanks April and Will!

Mya the Therapy Dog

It’s official. Mya has the sheep skin or in this case the certificate that documents that she is in fact an associate member (in good standing) of Therapy Dogs International, Inc. After passing the two hour Canine Good Citizen test and filing the proper veterinary paper work I mailed the annual $35 registration fee and the rest is history.

Our first assignment was to find organizations in the area that would be interested in visits from Mya. I contacted the Greens of Elgin, a retirement center that offers assisted living if requested, Rosewood nursing home, St Joseph and Delnor and Sherman Hospitals. Both Wendy and I feel that a three day week is about all Mya would be able to handle. We have met several people that know both Mom and Dad Bill and Connie and even Scott. The process of gaining access for visits ranges from just showing up (The Greens) to filling out a volunteer application (Rosewood) to four hours training and background check for the two hospitals. I received a call from Sherman Hospital and with the opening of the new hospital off of Randall Rd the first of December things are a little hectic. They tell me that their requirements for dog visitations are more involved than other hospitals. Not only is the four hour volunteer training required but both Mya and I will have to go through an additional four hours with a certified dog trainer.

On our way out of Rosewood last week a lady stop to talk with me and introduced herself as a regional manager with Hosts and expressed a great interest for our services. Seams that the demand for certified therapy dogs out weights the number of dogs there are. People are interested in bringing their pets but when they understand the training requirements they become disinterested.

We will go through the hospital orientation and a few visits before we consider tackling hosts.

The people we visit are very grateful for the time we spend with them.