This is a day that we have been dreading, and one we hoped would never come.  Long-time blog readers may remember that blind Widget had eye surgery back in 2006 because of painful glaucoma in her left eye, and that our vet, Dr. Brenda Culver, put an intraocular prosthesis inside the eyeball itself.  This kept…

This is Stevie's little sister, Helen, who is also blind and deaf.  Cute, isn't she?  It's funny how these photos make both of them look bigger than they really are — she's the size of a miniature Dachshund, and just a tad bigger than the smallest dog at the ranch, Daisy.  She's in constant motion,…

Here's one of the two little tykes who arrived on Friday evening from New Orleans … blind-and-deaf Stevie. He and his sister Helen came from to us from Phyllis F., who runs a small, private rescue group that saved them from euthanasia in a local shelter about a year ago.  Since then, Phyllis has tried…

Alayne got these great photos of blind Austin roughhousing with his Aunt Libby the other morning.  Libby is one of our original "Seattle six-pack" of dogs who moved out with us to the ranch back in 2000.  She is not disabled, but was the victim of two separate animal cruelty cases. An animal control officer…

This is Ella, the other disabled dog in Shreveport who was scheduled to fly out to us on Friday.  We've been working with Rebecca Y. from Animal Welfare, Inc., a rescue group in Shreveport that tries to save animals at risk in the local municipal shelter.  (Rebecca had been the one who sent us Timmy…

Here's the little guy we flew in yesterday evening from Louisiana.  Because of his size and his crippled leg, the rescue group in Shreveport who pulled him from the local shelter had named him Tiny Tim, or Timmy.  His flight arrived right on schedule, just about 7 p.m.  We had flown him on Delta from…

I should have pointed this out in yesterday's post but somehow I got sidetracked with all that OCD symmetry discussion:  the fact that blind Callie is up in the chair is a major milestone in her recovery from her brain tumor.  Last week, in fact, was the first time we saw her climb up into…

I have this issue about symmetry.  I like things to be arranged symmetrically.  Neatly.  In matching order. Over the years I have driven volunteers, employees and contractors crazy with my need for symmetry.  When we built the first cat house on the ranch in 1999 we were still living in Seattle and weren't here when…

I got this photo this morning of blind Moose and blind Penny drinking from the water bucket on the Widget's House porch.  I had let the dogs out just a few moments before.  (On Penny, you can see the shaved area where the growth was removed.  She's doing fine.) Moose is a real wuss when…

I spent today in Missoula on the weekly run, driving in with a truck full of dogs — the blind Poodle sisters Molly and Priscilla to the groomers (finally!), and blind Penny and Dexter the Dachshund to our internal medicine specialist, Dr. Dave Bostwick.  While the dogs were all being attended to, I did grocery…