It's A Wrap

Gabbi

3rd July 2007 ~ 24th April 2011

On Easter Sunday, after a brief but very aggressive battle with kidney failure and despite the best efforts of her wonderful vet, we had to say goodbye to our darling Gabbi. She was our youngest at only three years old. Our hearts are broken.

Her ashes will be scattered at Duffus Castle, her favourite place and our daily walk.

I had always hoped to come back to blogging someday, but my heart just isn't in it, especially now....it wouldn't feel right to continue without Gabbi, so sadly this will be our last post, though the blog will remain, I could never delete it. Thankfully, we can keep up with many of our blogging buddies on the dreaded......Facebook!

<3<3<3<3

"Although my tail, it's last has waved,

From pain and suffering i've been saved."

Goodnight sweetheart....until we meet again xx

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We'd just like to say also....thanks so much to all who followed our antics over the past few years....we have had SO much fun with this blog, as well as following everyone else's......all the adventures, the memes, the romances, the globetrotting, the contests, the pay it forwards etc......we have a collection of things that we'll always treasure.....we've made some life-long friends (even got to meet some!) and have lots of very precious memories xx

Soon, Furries.....Very Soon!

Beagles Mum here. Yippee.....our new internet stuff arrived this morning and the engineer is booked for Monday.....so by Monday night we should be all back to normal.....can't wait to be away from this stupid library! What happened to the days when the library was a place of quiet, where people came to read in peace and if you made so much as a peep you were shooshed by the tweedy lady? This has to be the noisiest library in the world and i've given up trying to visit any blogs, the pcs are so slow and when they do load the page you can't see any pics, videos or Cboxes....or they freeze....add to that, over the last couple of days the whole library network keeps losing internet connection so even keeping up via Facebook has become a struggle (and this is my 3rd or 4th attempt to publish this post!).

Anyway, enough moaning. Time to report on all the drama.....

On Sunday evening Gabbi was in her crate chewing a bone. All of a sudden she ran outside with the others in hot pursuit, when they got outside they all started barking and I went to get them back in as I don't like them disturbing the neighbours. Gabbi wouldn't come in, every time I managed to usher her back inside she escaped again. She was going crazy, barking like mad and flinging herself at the gate (literally throwing herself, she was desperate to get out of the garden) I tried to calm her but she wouldn't have it, her body was rigid....something had obviously either hurt her or spooked her. I shouted hubby to come and see the state of her and thought maybe he could help me calm her down and get her inside. Just as he came out of the door she jumped the gate and ran off towards the main road at full speed. Panicking, we ran after her (me in my socks!) but she was long gone.

I came back to get some shoes on and grab the car keys while Craig carried on on foot. We drove and walked for hours, checking and double-checking all the places we usually walk, asking everyone we met if they'd seen her. We even had a very kind man on a bike helping us, he followed her for as long as he could but couldn't keep up, she was running too fast. After a gorgeous day it was pouring with rain.

Finally at around 9.30pm we came home as we hadn't eaten yet. We had some supper and went back out to look for her, taking Rosie along to help but at around midnight we had to give up as Craig had to be up for work at 5am. But I couldn't sleep, I kept wondering what had come over her and where she had gone, if she was ok....or not. I went back out in the car, driving slowly (sod's law i'd be the one to knock her over) I went up and down the bypass checking the verge and fearing the worst, I was convinced she'd been knocked over and we'd never see her again. Heartbroken and exhausted I went home at 4.30am. I left the gate and the front door open....just incase....and fell asleep on the sofa.

Next thing I knew Craig was saying "Can you hear that?" I heard it! Pawsteps in the hallway....she had found her way home! She was so tired and soaked to the bone but we checked her over and there wasn't a mark on her apart from a tiny scratch on her chin.....this was surely the luckiest dog alive! The others were so excited to see her, Rosie was bouncing off the walls but poor Gabs was too tired. We dried her and put her in her crate to get some rest. Wish she could tell us where she's been and what happened!

The next day she was so stiff she couldn't walk, when she needed the toilet we had to carry her outside and back in again.

The rest of the time she slept, not even waking for her dinner (if you know Gabbi you'll know that she is a gutsy brute and as soon as I put my hand on her bowl to put food in it she's at my feet, trembling with greedy anticipation). Rosie said she could borrow the red blankie.

Then yesterday Liam shouted me, "Mum, Gabbi's pad's hanging off!"

OMG.....her pad's hanging off? She had done so much hard running on the roads that her pad had a nasty blister which had popped and there was a thick flap of skin....nothing too drastic though.

She has it wrapped in nice purple VetRap and it seems to be healing quickly, she is being very good and leaving it alone.

She's still a bit spooky and has obviously had quite a fright (along with the rest of us!) but she seems fine, thank goodness.

And the moral of the story is....never, ever underestimate the strength, jumping ability, wanderlust and determination of a Beagle, especially a tan and white one with a screw loose!

So, we probably won't post again until we're online at home.....and our next post will be our 250th! After that we can really get on with catching up with everyone....we've missed doing that the most, see you soon furries and peeps!

Ta-Daaaa!

Hey folks! Just testing to see if we can post photos yet....

Success!! Maybe we need to do them 2 at a time now instead of 5! Mother is now so excited she's feeling faint....we'll post more later!

As part of her duties as chief bridesmaid Gabbi gets to test the canapés.....passed!

Rosie is tickled with some of the companies Petey hired for the wedding....

....and as for the hen night....

photo courtesy of Asta

wanna see more? Go to Petey's blog for the all the gory details!

Random Videos

Still not back....still at the bloomin library...but today it's letting me see pictures....and i've managed to upload some videos though I still can't put any photos on.....?? I have however sussed out Twitpics, thanks to Jake & Fergi and you can see some of our recent photos here.

This is what Gabbi does when Mum & Dad take the rest of us out and leave her, not sure if she's howling for Mum, Rosie or just the fact that she's not getting to come for a walk (she's on heat)....what a din!

Next....here's how she reacts to a thunderstorm (it was a whopper by our standards!) The rest of us weren't bothered by it but Gabbi trembled, panted and panicked all through it and for about 4 hours afterwards, she wouldn't be cuddled either. (Strangely, fireworks do not bother her....nor do the many noisy planes that fly over all the time)

And lastly......none of us lot are bothered by the vacuum cleaner.....infact we don't mind "being hoovered" as Alfie demonstrates!

See you all at the wedding......we'll try to get a video of the blushing bride soon....wait until you see the dress.....WOW!

And the Winner is.....

We had an awesome response to our 200th post, thank you so much to everyone who came by to say something. There were 67 unique commenters and to choose the winner of the prize we used a number randomiser, sorry if the video is a little blurry!

So the winner is....the tenth comment, which was those fun-lovin, food-lovin Aires, Maggie & Mitch!

Congratulations and thanks for being our friends :D

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There's a new contest over at Pointer Pandemonium!

Scottie and his girls Sophie & Hazel are running a contest to find the naughtiest pup in the world....well, the problem we're now having is which photo to send in! Click on the image to go straight to the contest :D

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So guess what these are?

They are the packages for the Red Snooter participants and our Rambo hosts! Yes, we know these were months ago but we have been very disorganised lately....Mum had them all ready to go but she wanted to make cards to put in with them, she even bought paint so we could put our pawtographs on them.....then, she absent-mindedly sealed all the packages before the cards went in! (She's a bit dippy sometimes.) So they sat for another week until she decided that they would just have to be sent without cards and hope that you all know who they're from! We took them to the PO today but we couldn't send them as their computer was down....tomorrow it's a half day so let's hope she's super-organised and gets there before it shuts....just wanted to let you know that we haven't forgotten!

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Today's grey and soggy walk at Roseisle....not many pics, it rained the whole time :o(

And tonight out of our kitchen window we saw a beautiful sunset (and it was still raining!)

We are curious to know if any of you live or holiday in or near Mount Dora in Florida....or know anyone who does? It is twin town to Forres which is where we live and we thought it would be interesting to see photos of it and compare the two towns. Forres is also twinned with another town in Europe....we'll have to double-check the sign but Vienenburg rings a bell....any Bloggers there?

Sorry Clive, we still haven't got round to playing your tag, we'll post it soon....and we're not doing any memes this week either, it's been busy around here and we still need to catch up.
Poor Rosie-Posie is still in season and housebound and Alfie has moved out and left sex-maniac-spoiled-noisy-brat-monster-dog in his place....we miss Alf....day 14 and counting!

Post #197 Short Blurry Post

Today Alfie and Gabbi got a walk in Roseisle....Gabbi got off her lead at last and was just a white blur as she did the zoomies....most of the photos looked like this:

And Alfie's weren't much better, they had a whale of a time!

These were the best of them.

And this one....when they finally sat still!

Incase you think i'm not feeling well as I took so few photos, don't worry....i'd just forgotten to charge my camera. Snoop was home on Rosie-watch, we played some fetch with them when we got in :o)

Only three more days until Post #200....

Mono Maniacs and Perth Show

To be a Mono Maniac you must visit Aileni to link.

A rusty old winch at Findhorn

You see these stone arrangements all over the place at Findhorn....don't folk have better things to do...I mean, don't they have a blog??!

Oops, I did it again :D

Daahling, you look maahvellous!

For an explanantion of this fella see below.

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Yesterday we (Mum, Alfie & Gabbi) travelled down to Perth for a show, leaving early on a beautiful frosty morning. We met our giant friends at Aviemore and car-shared from there. (Thank you Mark for doing most of the driving and listening to Joanne and I talking dog's b****! Jane is missing you already and keeps saying "turn around when possible")

Mist rolling over the Dava moor at around 6.30am

There was a thick blanket over Lochindorb.

A different type of Cairn ;D

This sign signals the start of the Cairngorms National Park with snowy peaks in the distance.

'Scuse the windscreen....bugs WERE harmed on this journey!

This taken from Aviemore train station.

The dreaded but very beautiful A9....(see the sign Petey?)

Inside the show....

Pictured are some Dobies, Dachsies, Danes (well, Walter) some Hovawarts like Nessa and some Sibes but none as pretty as Snoop's princess ;D

Gabbi was unplaced in a large Beagle entry but I was delighted when Alfie won his class, then Best of Breed and went on to be placed 4th in the Hound Group. This gave him the last two points he needed for his Show Certificate of Merit (and I was jumping up and down in the ring while our friends did the same outside the ring!)

Relaxing in the sunshine after the show, Gabbi and Alfie, whose posh name is now Dialynne Ace of Spades at Dughallmor ShCM (subject to KC approval) Well done ma boy!

Our good news will soon appear here along with probably an embarrassing photo: Scottish Beagle Club news page I have also updated Alfie's page for anyone interested in the judges etc. Edit: Actually, the photo is already on there and it's a really nice shot, thanks Gary for airbrushing out my warts and wrinkles! There's also a slideshow if you go to the 2009 results page, click on Perthshire (the latest result) and then click to watch slideshow for more lovely shots from the show.

We had a lovely journey home....this guy greets all who pass through Carrbridge.

There are quite a few Chainsaw Sculptures in Carrbridge which hosts a sculpting contest each year, to read more click here. I couldn't get near the bridge for a photo as there was a coach party there.

It was such a beautiful day that I decided to take a detour around Lochindorb, it was very busy there too, people lapping up the sunshine, picnicking, fishing, having BBQs. It's so pretty here....the ruined Lochindorb Castle sits in the middle of the Loch and is only accessible by boat.

The Castle was once the home of Alexander Stewart, the 2nd Earl of Buchan, also known as the Wolf of Badenoch (who is apparently an ancestor of Craig's Dad, there are many Stewarts in these parts though!) Apparently he walked from here in a big old huff to set fire to Elgin Cathedral....talk about spitting the dummy out, that's miles!

A Birthday, Sets of Four and Sisterhood! *edited to include food drive*

This is a very busy post, there is lots happening today!

First of all....it is Mason Dixie's birthday today, she is five! Happy Birthday Girlfren (with extra smoochy kisses from Alfie...mwah!) If you haven't already been to Mason's bloggie to wish her Happy Birthday.....what are you waitin for??!

We recently entered Mason's contest to design a blog award. Voting closed today and we are delighted that we won!! Thanks for your votes, folks! The paw featured in the High Five Club award is none other than Snoop's front paw....left I think!

And speaking of awards, we received this lovely Sisterhood Award from our friend Sue and her Portuguese Water Dogs....thanks Sue....your visits and kind comments are always appreciated....as is your shared love of Snooter-Cam!

We are awful at choosing people to pass these things onto so we want ALL our Blog-Sisters to have it, if you are in our sidebar it means we love reading your blog....so help yourself!

BUT....the one person I want to dedicate this to is Bogart's Mum, Lulu. Over the last few awful weeks she has shown such dignity and still managed to make us all smile in her darkest times (and cry- ALOT!) and realise what a wonderful online family we belong to. Most of us have never met each other but just reading all the comments that Lulu, Bogie and Klaus have had and seeing the love and concern that everyone sent them really sums up what this blogging lark means to us....without being cheesy, friendship and sisterhood...through the sadness but also the smiles we bring each other.

Which brings us nicely to our next item....this story is incredible....you just couldn't make it up and it has led to the beginning of a lovely -and hopefully long- friendship :o)

It involves this little house....

....this lovely lady who lives in South Carolina....Petey and his Mom, who live in New York....and us! Check out Petey's blog for the full story!

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I saw this on Addie & Lucie's blog and then I went to Dina's and saw that she had posted about it, so decided to copy, thanks for the idea Dina!

Addie and Lucie have reached their 200th post and to celebrate this momentous occasion, Mom Staci has pledged to donate 1 lb of dog food or treats to their local dog food bank per unique comment on that post, up to 200 lbs.

This very kind gesture will help families who are struggling to feed their pets in the current financial crisis...and all it takes is one comment from YOU! Click on the image above to go and leave a comment, let's help them reach their goal!

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These were all taken yesterday at Roseisle. I have this four frame burst tool on my camera which I use ALL THE TIME! I usually only use maybe one or two out of the four and ditch the rest but today I thought i'd try something new....enjoy these sets of four, the last is my favourite....toffee-nosed cow!

Above is the only set that has been doctored....just to try and take some of the glare off Snoop's white bits!

If the wind hadn't been flapping Gabbi's ears around I think the top left shot here would be picture-perfect!