Showing posts with label Scorpio. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Scorpio. Show all posts

29 November 2020

Nightmare's seizures

I have so much to catch up! Let me tell you about Nightmare's seizures and how we are managing them.
The first seizure

The first time it happened, I was upstairs and my husband called me to come quickly because Nightmare was having a seizure. She had never had one before, but it was unmistakable. She was on her side, her legs spasming involuntarily, as if she were trying to swim, and she was drooling. We held her head to avoid her hitting it and wiped her mouth. It was thankfully over in about a minute or so.

We of course rushed her to the vet. He examined her and sent us to give her a head CAT scan As you might remember, she had had a deeply infected wound on her forehead when we found her.

The diagnosis and treatment

We went and did the tomography (that was a huge ordeal, I was the one to go in with her and Nightmare doesn't like to be handled and held). The results didn't show much, nothing we were afraid of, such as a tumor, but there was some liquid accumulated.

That is the fluid buidup


We showed our vet the results and he concluded it wasn't epilepsy, but maybe high pressure in her brain that was causing her the seizures.

He gave us some supplements for circulation and told us to be careful that her gums wouldn't turn purple, which meant she wasn't getting enough oxygen. We wouldn't have to worry about her swallowing her tongue as with humans, in fact, he advised against putting our hands in her mouth, as she could clench her jaws and hurt us.

If the situation worsened, he would prescribe her some epilepsy medication.

The seizures become more frequent

Over the next few months, even with the meds, Nightmare still had seizures, more and more often, even twice in one day.

We went to the vet again and he decided to start on the epilepsy medicine for dogs.

The seizures stop

We were giving her three types of pills every day at this point, but she was a good girl and took it. To avoid shoving the pills down her throat, we put them between two layers of cream or yoghurt and she ate them right up.

And it really showed an improvement. The epilepsy pills completely suppressed the seizures and she hasn't had one in many months now.

The vet stopped one of the supplements and even if it costs us quite a bit each month, we are happy she is feeling ok.

Snoooooore!


11 June 2018

Choosing a name

You took a dog in off the streets and decided to take care of it for a few days. You figure the usual commands you use for the other dog in the family should work for the new one as well. Ok, good. But then you need to use a name before the command, so that the dogs know who is supposed to follow it. What do you name a "temporary pet"?

I called her Girl a lot at first, as well as Negruta (Romanian for Blackie) because she reminded me of another black dog called Negruta. The people at the vet clinic called her Blackie. Then we realised we would be keeping her for longer, so we sat down to think about the name properly.

Of course, Negruta and Blackie are all valid regular names for a female black dog, right? Nope, my husband doesn't do regular pet names. His two cats (now his mother's cats) are called DJ (short for Destroyer of toys, but in Romanian) because he always broke his toys and Pitica (the English equivalent would be Tiny one) because he rescued her as a kitten and she was very small and frightened. Our first dog is called Aschiuta (which means Little splinter) because she chewed on wooden table legs until splinters came off. So the new dog also needed a special name.

He must have been brewing his idea for a while, because he immediately said we should call her Nightmare. Why Nightmare? Because the first few nights that she was with us we were so worried about her that we lost a lot of sleep. So she was our little nightmare.

I was reluctant at first, because I was still biased on Negruta, but he convinced me. Now I am very comfortable going around calling her Nightmare and she also seems to have learned it is her name. Of course, people were surprised when they found out about the name (one of our neighbours said to me "Sure, your husband is a rocker, what else do you expect?") - especially the ones who knew how gentle she was - but our friends got used to it as well.

I must say, even if she looks a bit scary, she is the loveliest nightmare we have ever had!

She is a real sweetheart, but people who meet her for the first time are prone to believe she has a nightmarish temper!

6 May 2018

Operation Nightmare

Continuing with our Nightmare story...

We were scheduled to go to the vet with her to get some tissue samples under anaesthesia.

We arrived there very early in the morning, when the doctor and the nurses were just having tea. The vet seemed very confident but we were apprehensive because of the sedative and also her infection...

The doctor and a nurse got ready and took the dog in one of the back rooms for the surgery and we were asked to wait in the waiting room. Of course we asked to join her as moral support, but we were politely asked not to.

My husband said he would go to a shop a few streets away to take out money from the ATM machine and also buy a few snacks. I waited patiently, tried to read, stare at the walls, make small talk with the older nurse, but I just couldn't concentrate. It was taking too long. The surgery and my husband's trip. Although my watch was telling me otherwise. I should know, I stared at it every other minute. Luckily, the older nurse was allowed to peek into the back room, so she checked and told us the dog was safely sedated and didn't show any problems.

My husband was finally back and we waited together, sampling some ridiculous "fruit water" he had found at the shop. The surgery really was taking too long.

After about two hours or so, the older nurse came in to tell us the doctor was stitching up the dog's forehead and she would be awake soon.

When the doctor came out, we bombarded him with questions. He had in fact cleaned out the infection completely, so it should heal without any more medication. He had also taken the tissue samples and would send them to a laboratory. He was very optimistic about the black dog.

We asked if we could go see her. He said yes, so we hurried to the room. She was lying on the floor, crying and trembling. She was trying to move, but her muscles were no help. Her pupils were dilated and I doubt she was able to see anything. My husband said her hearing sensitivity was most likely also heightened. We stayed with her, petting her, holding her and preventing her from hurting herself.

She gradually stopped whining and her pupils adjusted. She was eventually able to lift her head, then stand up.

Meanwhile, my husband went to the front to pay, when he realised he had forgotten to take out the money from the ATM. He had taken the card back but not the money.

The vet needed cash for the lab tests because he had to pay them in cash too, so we drove back to the shop (it was the closest ATM) and we took out more cash. He was also able to confirm with the shop manager that nobody had taken the money and the machine had retrieved the bills.

We hurried back to the vet and I waited in the car while my husband went to pay and fetch the dog. When he came back, he said the vet had undercharged us - we pair only the lab tests and the anaesthesic (probably less than the normal fee). He had insisted to pay more (we are not short on money anymore), but the vet would not have any of it. He had also taken to the gentle black dog.

My husband afterwards sent the vet a couple of small gifts to thank him for helping us with the dog. I also included a couple of tatted trinkets for the nurses.

The test results were in shortly and turned out fine, so the black dog should have no complications. We would still need to take care of her head and make her wear a protective collar, but she was going to be OK.

Our dear little Frankenstein's monster having breakfast in bed.

21 April 2018

Tough treatment

Time for a new episode of Nightmare's tale!

If you remember, we had returned from the visit to Brasov and the black dog from her stay at the vet's.

I was going to be a nurse again. I bought gauze and oxygenated water and would clean the dog's infection every morning and evening, or even more often if I was home. She also received an antibiotic pill twice a day, which I shoved down her throat. Just like Aschiuta, she was not very keen about the taste of medicine. I don't blame them, I'm not either.

We eventually ran out of antibiotics and went back to the vet. The infection was still not waning and the vet sent us to a radiology clinic, to give her an X-ray.

My husband went in there with her (it wouldn't have been good to irradiate us both when one was enough to hold her). He told me how she squirmed and tried to run away, so a lot of the photos had more of his hand than her forehead.

We got the photos by mail soon afterwards and also sent them to our vet. It was obvious the infection had eroded the bone to her sinuses on the left side of her head. There was also no foreign object, which would have made the healing process a lot easier.

Notice the colour difference in the middle.

We were concerned about the situation, but the vet assured us that it wasn't that bad and that she was going to be fine in the end. If all else failed, he could operate and clean up the infection.

The next step would be to get some samples from the wound to make sure there was no extra pathogen or fungus that might cause bigger issues for her. The procedure was simple, but he would have to sedate her. And he didn't have the safer gas sedation that we preferred. We were slightly apprehensive about the anaesthesia, since there were small chances it would affect her mentally... or worse.

30 March 2018

A new family for Nightmare

Back to our Nightmare story...

As I mentioned before, we were only going to take care of the big black dog until we could find her a home. We also had a trip to Brasov coming up for a darts tournament and a mini holiday, so we had to get her adopted fast. Those who have rescued animals and tried to find them new homes and families will understand why "adopted fast" is a contradiction of terms... We were also still hoping that her former owners hadn't been the ones to give her the wound on her head and that they would be willing to take her back.

My husband took it upon himself to post an announcement on the lost and found pets Facebook group in our area. Our friends also helped to spread the word and we also checked all the lost black dog posts we could find on the internet. Our searches unfortunately didn't turn out any leads towards the former owners.

This is the photo on the Facebook announcement.

A few people answered the announcement and tried to give ideas or opinions or suggest other lost dog sites to check. We had almost lost hope and were wondering if we should leave the dog back on the street, but really hoping we wouldn't have to do that... My husband and I lost a lot of sleep worrying again.

But then something unexpected happened. Someone contacted my husband saying they were looking to adopt a second dog and would like to take the black dog in. We were both so happy that we wouldn't have to abandon the sweet doggie. We made arrangements with the future new owners to meet at the vet, where we would have the dog checked.

We took the dog by car (here are some car safety tips, if you are interested) and she acted like she had been in one a hundred times before. She was actually less nervous than Aschiuta in the car and wasn't even sick. It made us think she had been on such trips before.

The new owners would arrive a bit after us, so we went in with the dog to have the vet check her. She made friends with the nurses there and seemed to like sitting on the scale.

The vet first scanned her for a microchip, as it is required by law for them to contact the owner if she had had one installed. There was none though, which didn't mean much, because some people never take their pets to the vet and thus don't give them a microchip.

He then started palpating her to check for any hidden problems and also cleaned and felt the wound on her forehead. The new owners also came in, just in time to see him prodding and checking, with the doggie barely showing any reaction. She seemed very tame and never even had any intention of biting or struggling, not even whimpering.

The doctor recommended antibiotics for the infection and said that the dog looked ok otherwise. He also checked her teeth and mentioned they were very worn for her age. Apparently she was young (probably younger than Aschiuta) but had been chewing on something very tough.

The new owners, a young couple, were sitting shyly in a corner. The woman even seemed a bit scared and only touched the dog very lightly after the vet proved the dog would not harm her at all. They also commented that the dog was larger than they had thought and were skeptical about the vet's evaluation about the dog's age.

We also found out that they would be keeping the dog at their new house that was being built and wouldn't be able to go see her too much. When the vet said that someone would have to give the dog antibiotics every morning and evening (orally, of course), they were afraid that the workers at the house wouldn't want to do that.

There was also the problem of their other dog, who was apparently very energetic and they were afraid the two would fight if unsupervised.

All in all, our faith dwindled and we didn't believe they would want to take the dog in anymore. They insisted however that they wouldn't back out on their word, but asked us to meet again the next day so they can take the dog.

My husband insisted that we would pay for the check-up and the medicine the vet had given us and the couple left. The vet had been very open and encouraging about the dog, "advertising" her as much as he could to them, but afterwards admitted that he believed they would back out. We felt the same way, but decided to give those people a chance. They were pretty much our only hope. We were supposed to leave town in a couple of days...

9 March 2018

Traumas and phobias

Continuing our Nightmare tale...

Where we last left off, we had just taken in the anonymous (back then) black dog in our home.

My husband said he would set up an inflatable mattress and sleep in the kitchen with her, while I would nap in the living room with Aschiuta.

Easier said than done, for my side at least. I kept tossing and turning, wondering what we were going to do. I was afraid the dog would be reckless or traumatised or not potty trained (actually that was the least of my concerns). I had all sorts of concerns, a new one on each side of the pillow.

In the morning, I decided to work from home and stay to take care of the dog while Scorp went to work.

First things first. The dog would need to go out and do her business, so she would get into the routine and not leave us any "presents" inside the house.

However, there was a problem that had shown up the night before when trying to bring the new dog home. The dog absolutely refused to go up the stairs. She climbed the few steps leading to the front door of the building and up to the first landing and then she simply tried to back up frantically, as if she were being hurt by the stairs. My husband had to carry her in his arms all the way to the 5th floor.

Now, I have myself been a dog carrier for a long time, carrying Aschiuta in my arms all the way to the vet when she was smaller or even lately, to pretend that I wouldn't let her make paw prints on the freshly washed floors, I would carry her up the stairs. But even that is only until the 2nd or 3rd floor.

The new dog was larger than Aschiuta, I would not be able to carry her up and down the stairs. Luckily, the elevator had been installed and working (most of the time), so we rode the elevator. She seemed almost used to this means of transportation, which makes me believe she had used it before.

She seemed to understand what the walks were for and left some "presents" for me to magically make disappear. I took her 3 or 4 times the first day, because she took so long to do anything and didn't do everything all at once.

I kept her shut in the kitchen while I worked and visited with her during breaks. I felt like a new mother and also a nurse. Because, besides the staircase phobia, our new friend also had a serious health problem... an infected wound on her forehead. But more on that later...

Bad booboo on such a sweet face...

12 November 2017

Kisses and huggies

She comes up next to us on the bed, makes a few pirouettes to make sure the spot is perfect and rolls into a ball. The usual napping position. And she heaves a sigh that says "I am comfy and happy now."

She is disturbed before she can nod off to the land of dreams by a couple of soft touches on her back.

But the back is not the best spot for petting. She unfurls and rolls on her back, waiting for the much more pleasant belly and chest rubs. The hand complies and gently strokes the light fur a few times. But the owner of the hand eventually gets distracted and the rubs stop. The arm is lifting.

The spoiled little dog does not allow this slip in the petting programme, so she wraps both her paws around the wrist, hugging it to her chest. Her eyes sparkle "You're mine now. Don't think you can get away with just a couple of rubs. Keep them coming!"

There is no escaping now

23 October 2017

Scarface

Arr! The pooch has gone out to sea, trying her luck at becoming a pirate. She even fought in a vicious sea battle that gave her a new nickname for a while, Scarface.

How did that happen? Did she come out of it victorious? Was there any treasure?

It all started with a short trip to the seaside with some friends, where we also took little Aschiuta. Now this was last year and you will be happy to know that the pooch has no need for an eye-patch.

You must know that our pooch is not the kind of dog that can be off-leash, least of all on a crowded beach. She runs off to meet people with food, throw sand on towels and pick a fight with other dogs if there are any. So, we always keep the leash on her.

One time though, she was napping on the sand so nicely, that I assumed she would stay like that while I read a bit, so I let go of the leash. Poof! Poochie performed a disappearing act.

Very comfy pooch. Too comfy...

She ran off a few towels farther after a dog she saw behind us, which she began to quarrel with. You must also know that, although she seems vicious, she really doesn't hurt any of the dogs she fights with. But she also doesn't know that they can hurt her.

We ran after her and Scorpio managed to catch her and break the fight. The other dog was fine, but Aschiuta had a nasty scratch on her left upper eyelid that was bleeding slightly.

We of course picked up our things and, since we were in a small village with lots of fast food places but no vet (none that would be open on a weekend anyway), I made her some chamomile tea to at least try to disinfect the eye and we drove off for home. Why chamomile tea? Because I used to have frequent eye infections and the chamomile tea helped. There was an improvement in poochie's scratches too.

We quickly went to a vet and, after consulting her, said that only the inner lid was a bit grazed, but the eye was fine. She must have had the reflex of closing her eyes, phew. The doctor disinfected the wound, prescribed her some eye drops and sent us home.

This photo was taken a day or so after getting back home. She was squinting because of the camera flash.

For a few days, the left eye produced more tears and we were often wiping her eye, but slowly, it got better and now you can only see a very faint scar if you look very closely. Most of the hair and eyelash in that spot also grew back. We are very happy that she has recovered so well.

This was taken close to her birthday this year. You can barely see any scar.

I must say though, it was all my fault for letting go of the leash that day. I was careless and things could have been worse. I'm sorry, poochie!

19 January 2016

Missing something...

There are some days when we feel like something is missing. We feel an emptiness that we can't seem to be able to fill with fun and games or food and drink.

Sometimes it doesn't bother us. Sometimes we just remember to feel it again, but it's always there. Or, actually, isn't there anymore.

I wonder if Aschiuta ever feels that way sometimes too. And she does have something to miss. Something quite important. Poochie is missing the possibility of ever becoming a mother.

Tucked in, with her collar on

She was looking towards me just now, a bit accusative. Then she put her head back on my legs. She doesn't miss it all the time.

How did this all happen? Well, around her birthday last year (awful present, isn't it?) we had an outing with the extended family and were out of town for the weekend.

We sent her away to the usual dog hotel, where we know she is always well taken care of.

We had been thinking about spaying her for a while already and, since the owner of the dog hotel is also a good vet, Scorp got the idea to ask him to give her the operation.

I assure you I slept very little the night after we decided to do that. Poor poochie would have too if she'd known what was coming.

I had always imagined that I would be there holding her paw throughout the procedure, but we knew she would be in good hands. And she would also get gas anesthesia, which has the least side effects.

We called the vet that evening and he told us she was fine and the operation had been a success. He also told us that we were lucky to have done it at that time, since apparently poochie had had a growth on one of her uterine tubes. He eventually took it all out and there were no complications. Phew! I guess it was a good birthday present after all.

We asked him to bring her back to us the same evening we returned from the outing. It was pouring and I remember they brought her back from the van with the cone on. She was happy to see us, of course, and we her.

I walked her home after the rain had stopped (remember, this was mid-May) and she kept bumping into things, poor girl. She seemed energetic, but she just wouldn't climb up the stairs to the first floor apartment where we live, so I had to carry her. Her tummy still hurt.

Plenty of rest is the key to a speedy recovery

We were alarmed when she peed a little blood the next day, so we told the vet. He came to check on her and gave her an injection, which she took bravely. The bleeding stopped soon, but I still went out with her with a wad of tissues to make her pee on them, just to check.

All in all, she made a full recovery and is now back to her happy self, as if nothing had happened. You can barely see the stitch scar too.

Hey, who knows, maybe she will adopt one day, if she can't have her own.

22 March 2015

On a much too tight leash

Perhaps you will remember that Aschiuta received a brand new extensible leash around last New Year.

The handle was green and it said Benny on it (which was rather curious) and it seemed really nice at first: very silent and could be retracted all the way in. The old one's cord had (finally) broken, after faithfully serving us for over three years.

I'm sad to say the new green leash has met its early end today. After breaking down little by little (Aschiuta tugs and pulls like no other), today the blocker button failed at the worst possible time.

I was out with Aschiuta when a Chow Chow (or an equally jolly orange teddy bear) sneaked up on us from behind. Aschiuta bolted after him and, knowing she has been a bit vicious with other dogs lately, I tried to restrain her and bring her back closer. How is this done? Usually, it is block-pull-unblock-wind-block and repeat until Aschiuta is close enough to be appeased.
 
Unfortunately, when I tried to pull, I hadn't realised that the block hadn't worked, so I carelessly grabbed the leash with my free hand. Bad idea, very bad. The leash slipped on my hand with the speed of a mad Aschiuta sprinting (and trust me, the only dog faster than her has been a greyhound) and I couldn't let go of it fast enough. First degree burns, ouchies!
 
I finally got to my senses and wrapped the leash around my arm (it wasn't retracting anymore either) and apologised to the owner of the dog and we went back home with the tails between our legs. The new leash was kaput! Scorpio tried to fix it, but the mechanism had broken inside, so there was no saving it.
 
We will have a brief moment of silence... and now to celebrate a new acquisition: the old leash! ^^ (Wait, what?!)

Oh, sorry, not the old leash, but an identical brand-new one. I must say I am very happy and Aschiuta too gave it an approving sniff (or was she just happy to go out after drinking too much water?). If the first leash of this kind lasted over three years, I hope this one outlives it.
 
The old, the fancy and the new
  
Plus, it's red and pink, poochie's colours. Well, you know. Her first harness was pink, her first leash, the short one, was red (monogrammed, thanks to Scorpio's stitching skills), then she got the first red and pink extensible leash, then a red studded leather collar. Let's not forget her first vest was made from one of my old red sweatshirts, her winter coat is red... even her first undies were red (very sexy, hehe).

So, here we are! Out with the old, in with the new. Now we will go christen the leash by watering the flowers.

2 September 2014

Aschiuta goes on holiday

I will start this post with some good news: my fiance and I got married! Yes, it was a wonderful day and we had our friends and family to celebrate with us.

And what do people normally do after getting married? They go on a honeymoon. Ours was a honeyweek, but nonetheless quite fun and relaxing. However, poochie didn't come with us to Bulgaria, she had a different holiday on her own.

We often take her to a dog hotel when we need to go away for a few days and can't take her with us and this is where she spent about a week and a half.

She played with the vet and the other dogs and I am proud to say she was the cleanest doggie there (our good potty training showed, heh). She has been getting cheeky and I was upset that she would fight with other dogs, but it seems that she was well mannered enough not to growl at them first.

Aschiuta has been going on a lot of holidays lately, it seems.

A few weeks ago, we decided to go to the mountains to actually go hiking on a trail in the woods. This time, poochie was right there with us.

We bought her a dog ticket for the train and off we were to the mountains. I'm sure the dear girl had no idea what was in store for her. She kept running off ahead as soon as we got off the train.

Hiking was good fun, since neither of us had done that in quite some time. We each had a backpack and I was holding Aschiuta's leash. She must have had more energy than us and a better traction on her four paws, since she didn't tire very quickly.

We got to a cabin and set up camp there, in our tent. We slept huddled together with poochie in the middle, to keep warm. It was nice that two huge rescue dogs were keeping guard outside. It seems they never stayed too close to the tents, but they must have felt protective towards Aschiuta.

Photo by Scorpio, one of my favourites. This was taken high up by the cabin.

When we came back, it rained a bit and we had a few falls in the mud, but luckily, nothing too serious. Needless to say, Aschiuta behaved quite well and even started learning a few commands for choosing the right track.

We hope everyone had or is having a nice holiday. Don't forget the sun screen!

27 June 2011

Dear pooch

Dear pooch,

We've been together for one year now and you're just over a year older yourself. We've taught you many tricks, including sitting and not sticking your nose in our plates at lunch. You still pull on the leash, but I know you get tired quickly and after that you're a nice girl, walking by me.

You don't respect me much, but I can't really blame you. I do most of the work around here and I also wash your dirty paws for you. I really mind it when you bite when I try to work. I know you have a huge crush on my fiance, but really, we can share, can't we?

If I send you to the balcony to take a little time out, it's for sparing my hands a few bites and maybe teaching you some manners. Don't worry, Scorp is only out to classes, he will be back afterwards. I always let you back in when you get lonely out there, if you behave yourself.

This is what I call Pasha pooch. Always on top of the pillow pile.
Look, you're nicely sleeping now, dreaming your poochie dreams. Such a good girl! Sleep tight!

Lavi

PS: if you're a really good girl, we will share a pepper later.

4 May 2011

A visit from an unexpected friend

A couple of nights ago, Scorp called me to come downstairs with some dog food. We've had a few stray dogs taking shelter at the entrance of the building, so it's not the first time I've brought a share of kibble for another dog.

But then he added "It's our former neighbour, the old black dog." Some of you might remember that last year we had an old dog stay on the hallway of the first floor and we would bring it food almost every day. There is a post about him, Our new neighbour. He disappeared a few times, but he'd be back in a couple of days. But one day, he was gone and we didn't see him again...

Until two days ago. I was a bit sad, wondering where he'd gone off to and if he'd managed to get through the winter safely. But he was back, still limping, still gentle and shy, but no longer lethargic. He was walking around with more energy, sniffing us and wagging his tail happily.

Most of our strays are mutts, grey, black or yellow, medium built and with droopy or pointy ears. If you've read my more recent post about Bobita, our doggie neighbour, you can get an idea of how these dogs look like. The old dog with a bad leg looks a lot like Bobita.

We were happy to see him again, since we had been a bit worried. He sniffed the food but didn't want to eat it from Scorp's hand, so he left it on the stairs. I'm sure he'd eat it later, they always do.

"Poor sweet dog", Scorp said, looking behind as we were going back inside, "he wouldn't know how to defend himself from bad people."

5 April 2011

Scorpio's artistic designs

It seems like both my fiancé and I have finished the same (tedious and boring, as all Romanian schools) University with a degree in Informatics, but we are back to doing what we know best. I'm happily writing on three blogs and Scorp has started polishing his graphic design skills.

Meet Scorpio

I have been mentioning him here and there, as Aschiuta's favourite person in the whole world and the owner of the green fuzzy cow slippers. Well, he's my fiancé and a really great guy (if I do say so myself).

Scorpio Design

Since we're both kind of unemployed right now, he started making logos and 3D designs for various companies. He's been learning and studying, nagging me from time to time "Hey, look at this one!" "What do you think of that one?". I'm really glad he's doing something he enjoys and he's getting better and better. He takes a simple idea, adds his own artistic touch to it and ends up with pretty cool logos.
Today, I wanted to congratulate him for the release of his portfolio site. It's still small, but it's just at the beginning, so it will definitely grow. I invite you to visit him and look around at the logo samples.

That is his site's logo.

He promised to make nice headers and buttons for my blogs too, if I'm good. But until I can make up my mind what exactly I want, since I'm very picky, there's something he asked me to share with everyone.

Free logos or buttons for my followers for the whole month of April

Yep, the headline says it all. If you like the way his logos look like, you can ask him to make you a logo or blog button too. He did say "for my followers", so if you're not one yet, you can cheat and become one now (yes, it is as "yay, followers!" as it sounds).

Just think of your design idea, no matter how vague, and contact either him by mail (the address is on the site) or me (I do have a Contact page). Or you can just drop a comment, either goes and we're not picky.

I hope you'll drop by and get a button or logo done, since it's all as free as air.