Thanks & Giving

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

I was gonna rant and rave about the lack of anything truly meaningful in the name of Thanks & Giving, but thought i'd give it a rest.

I hope everyone of you that reads this has at least one REALLY BIG SMILE today.

We started decorating our home for xmas. I was gonna go with a ''Nightmare before Xmas" theme, but I think it went a little Miami on me. Either way, I LOVE IT!!!

This is the wisteria on our front porch.... looks just like a south beach palm now!!! LOL

Steve says it looks Elvish... I'll give that to him!!

Best of the day to you all! Hug a puppy!!!! Just one more week before my heart breaks completely. All these babies will go to their new homes. Sigh.... :(

.... and I'll sleep for three days straight... :)

Peace Love and Happiness!!

A Fallen Angel

In Memory of Chris.... I never knew you, but I knew your heart. You were sunshine and love and smiles and joy. You came sweeping into their lives like Christmas morning, and you left way too suddenly. You will be missed for an eternity of tears, but more importantly you will be remembered for the great sacrifice you made. If I take a moment every day for the remainder of my own existence, I will not be able to thank you enough. Their road was often a hard road to travel, you changed that. The path in front of them now may seem even harder, but because of you, they are still here to travel it together. Your destiny Chris, was of unimaginable sacrifice. Thank You.... Thank You, Our Fallen Angel. Now comes the healing.... Tina, Kylie, McKenna and Jadyn have been through a horrific ordeal. They've suffered like most of us will never know. They've lost their living angel. He showed them what life should be like and gave his life protecting theirs. I beseech the gods to grant them peace. Fragile hearts, broken by grief, scarred by fates own nails, withered and frightened no more shall they beat.... but strong and in honor of love deceased. We WILL recover the souls once joyful.

Daily Doody

Remember the movie, "The Blob" It was about an alien life form that crashes to earth and immediately starts sliding and sliming all over the place and eating everything in it's path. It continues to slowly roll about this small town eating people. Nobody can seem to outrun the slow moving ball of red goo and btw it's growing huge. Well every time I see this movie.... I find myself screaming at the tv.... "RUN YOU IDIOT!!!" "It's a Slow Creeping Glob of Slime.... just get in a car and Drive AWAY" I just can't figure out how it can catch anyone who's not stuck in cement. So, now I must explain something I discovered these last couple weeks. The puppies know the secret of the Blobs speed. I swear, they can be 3 ft from the door and before I can get through it and get it shut.... they're half way through it themselves. These pups can barely walk a straight line. They trip over air... AND those big ears! They can barely get over a rug, but open that door and mysteriously they grow super powers that propel them through it. I just can't figure it out. I guess I'll think twice before I yell at that movie again. My Life has become a continuous cycle of puppy poop!! I mean, I DO manage to get other things done during the day, but I do them watching the clock. Since I keep the puppies kenneled, I have to be there ever 2 -3 hrs to let them out and go through the whole process again of mopping their pee... giving them the "correct" amount of food. I say "correct" amount, because if I don't give them enough... they REALLY complain. Then the fun begins..... I have to immediately swipe up the poop or they're guaranteed to walk right through it. It's not so bad I guess. Who else can say their hardest job each day is taking care of puppies!!!! This sunday they'll be 6 weeks old. Just 6 tiny weeks old and already they're blowing me away with what they've learned. T-Bone.... below, has learned to sit up and beg.... well he's trying.

Usually he just goes all the way over, but he'll get it!!

If I tap my ring on their feed pans...... it's like callin the cows in from pasture. Now you'd have to know what that meant to fully get the picture. They stop doing whatever it was they were doing and come-a-runnin!!! It's gonna be so hard to let these little babes go... I just know it. They've really become a large part of my life and they act as if they know me. When they first came here to live... they would just eat and sleep. Now, they're starting to sleep eat and PLAY!!!! Yes, when all the pooping and peeing and eating is done.... they're ready for some fun!! I feel a little ridiculous at times, but combined they all have so much bubbly energy, that I can't help but just laugh. What terrific therapy!!! Miss Bella, below, is learning how to howl. Of course I missed it in the shot, but you can see a little of her mouth. It was almost like she was giving lessons. I promise I'll write about something other than puppies soon. Do older dogs count as something different?? LOL!! The holidays are coming and so are friends and family, so I'm guaranteed at least one or two interesting things to happen.

Percy & The Little Pooper

We had a little scare yesterday. This little fella, who btw is now called, Percy, decided to get sick on us. He hadn't eaten in 24 hrs... wouldn't drink and started throwing up. I contacted the rescue and they agreed if he was still this way this morning, he needed to see a vet. Well, after letting him lick water off my finger last night for awhile and holding him and coddling him.... I believe we got him over his illness. The little fella was missin his momma!! Just two days after his momma left and he got depressed enough to stop eating. This morning he came out of that kennel like a bullet and went right for the water. and THEN he bullied his way to the center of the food pan. The Littlest Basset and he was unstoppable. I guess he decided to live another day. I'm still going to keep an eye on him, but I do believe he's on his way to a full recovery. I'm not sure what I would have done if I lost one... bad day it would be. Now I can focus more attention to Roux, my little Pooper, who had me up most of last night with diarrhea. She'll get a special diet for the next couple of days..... especially if I have to be picking it up at midnight... and 2 am..... and 3 am.... and 4am!!! Pets.... gotta love 'em!!

The Pain, the Joy, the Reward

Oh Man... I used to think puppies were awesome.... now I'm an expert at certain things I just wish I could forget.... Like 6 puppies can produce almost 150 little piles of poop a day. They can dispense with enough pee to actually create a stream. Then there are the things I remember most fondly.... Puppy kisses.!!! Momma left this weekend. Lady's in her new foster home and hopefully will find her new forever home soon. I was told she's missing her babies pretty bad and just can't seem to find them. That broke my heart. I took her to the adoption event at the Petco at Baileys Crossroads this past sat. Roux went along for some required socializing and a slight reminder that she's got the life. I could have easily adopted her out 20 times that day. She won every ones heart.... something about her and little old ladies.... Must be her eyeliner!!! We stayed the whole afternoon. As Lady was being walked away, her foster mom stopped to chat with someone. Lady turned around towards me, sat down and lifted her paw. Another foster parent exclaimed "Oh My god, she just waived goodbye to you". That's when I made my exit. I had told her I would take the best care I knew how of her little ones, but how could I know she would understand. Her drama really is over now... no more litter after litter and getting left at a shelter. I really wanted to keep Lady. She was a Lady. She had poise and grace and heart bigger than her ears. I missed her terribly on the ride home that afternoon, and I miss her every time I hold her pups and help them forget the momma that would have given her life to protect them. I guess that's me now... So, Sunday, Steve and I washed ALLLLL the blankets and towels and rugs.... Everything. We even washed the pups. They were covered in fleas... well not covered, but there were enough that it was uncomfortable and fleas multiply SOOOO fast. Dawn dish soap is an amazing product. Safe on the pups, and since there isn't anything on the market, for pups under 8 weeks, that's what we used. Now they're all clean again and the fleas are gone. To make sure they didn't get a chill, after Steve got each one good and dry, we put them in an old trunk in the living room where it was the warmest. I scrubbed the porch down and by the time the pups were ready to be moved back out to their kennel, most of mommas scent was gone. I'm sure with those noses they've got... they'll ALWAYS smell her, but we tried. We also introduced their little dagger teeth to chew toys. Mental note.... always wear shoes around puppies..... OUCH!! How could something so cute and so cuddly EVER hurt? Come on over and try out those teeth..... go ahead and dangle an appendage in front of them and see what kind of stump you pull back. I'm just kidding, but their little teeth are sharp!! Six little fat, wrinkly, squirmy, squeaky, poopin an peein little lumps of luvin. They came here with names... like they'll ever learn them before 8 weeks, but we don't use them and I've chosen to forget them. We've been referring to them as BP1 - BP6 (Basset Puppy) I'm just happy that I've figured out which ones are male and which ones aren't. To try and give them names would probably blow a brain fuse right now. Besides, if I thought it was hard to see their momma go....... ...... the LAST thing I want, is to know their names when they're ripped away from my heart in 3 weeks. Three weeks..... I feel like I have cancer and was told how long I had. Of course I know it's not that serious. If I wanted, I could choose to stay in touch with the new parents, but they'll have lives of their own and probably little time for some sentimental old fool in WV. Believe it or not, I've sort of fostered dogs before, just not for a rescue. I've done it on my own and yes each time it's hard to let them go. It's an emotional cycle I reckon.... Maybe it's like I described it last weekend. When the depression is so bad that your world seems to be crashing around you..... a hug and a lick can make it all better. A dog won't ask you if you're alright and get upset if you can't answer. A dog just knows you aren't happy and lays their head on your lap. Unconditional Love, they may not understand everything you do, but they'll never doubt you. When there's pain in your heart... along comes the joy... wagging their tail and your reward is licks and hugs. I guess that's why it's always so hard to say goodbye. No matter what bad things they might have done, they never meant it. Keeping you happy was always their goal even if they got sidetracked. I know I made, "rules for fostering", but if I had to break one..... the last pic is of the sweetest little girl in the litter. She's also the tiniest one....... and don't tell anyone this.... but her name is Bella!!

I shoulda Waited.......

......for Keith to slam the religious Wrong. Here's the video.....

Hug A Puppy!!

Howdy everyone!! Back from my journal break and although I'm still busy as hell, I thought I'd stop in to share whats been going on around here.

Well first of all I got way too caught up in the excitement of the election. I've never been so happy to see someone get elected as President. I'm finally happy again to be American!!

GW just took all the fun out of it and made it an embarrassment.

Finally we have someone in there that plans on making us a Proud Country.... or wait... are we a continent or maybe a sovereign..... could Palin and GW be any more stupid??

Then there's the Mormon Church to thank for passing Proposition 8.

I realize there are numerous people that feel "marriage" is for a man and a woman. Fine, you're entitled to your opinion. You aren't however, allowed to deny me equal rights. I should be able to marry whomever I want and your church doesn't have one single iota of a right to say ANYTHING about it. I didn't ask to get married in the eyes of your false god so shut the fuck up.

Mormons... what a joke religion anyhow. How IS Joe Smith these days.... still having visions?

You're nothing more than a cult and seriously fooling yourself if you think those young men you've got riding around town on bicycles aren't tasting the local culture. I'm not quite sure how you convinced California to become so hateful except that you prayed on the ignorant Madonna worshiping lower class communities. Lets not forget how you gained momentum by perpetuating gay stereotypes while taking full advantage of racial stereotypes. One day they'll figure out what you did and burn your church down.

You'll all going to burn in your own versions of hell anyhow.

Maybe you just need a hug!!! I've got something for you to hug.

I don't need your approval, or your religious beliefs spewed at me in some sort of ceremony, to make me feel like my life and my relationship is complete. I do demand that I be given the same considerate treatment when it comes to legal or health matters.

I really DO look forward to the end of the world. I hope I'm there when the door is closed on YOU.

Enough said on that topic, besides, I'm tired of wasting my breath and emotions on such an undeserving few.

Last Friday...... we got Puppies!!!!

A rescue I volunteered with needed a foster home for a momma Basset Hound and her six babies.

Yes, I said 6 babies. They're just going on 4 weeks.... eyes open and ready for mischief.

Momma will be here with us until this coming sat, then she'll go to Basset Rescue where she'll be spayed and put in her forever home. No longer forced to breed one litter after another she'll be allowed to retire to a happy life of walks and treats!!

Momma still feeds them, but I alternate her with wet food in an attempt to wean them.

This is a chore I must complete by this saturday. I do believe weaning the pups from Momma will be easier than weaning Momma from the pups. She just doesn't want to let go.

Let me tell you... if I had six sets of sharp little teeth hanging from my tits... I'd be ready to say goodbye... well maybe... LOL!!

Dash and Roux are still a little confused by all the mayhem and Dash learned really fast that Lady (Momma) did NOT want him around her pups. Roux she'll tolerate, and that might be for two reasons... she's a puppy herself and she's a girl. It most be one of those estrogen things I'm completely unaware of. Roux still watches perplexed. Puppies is something she'll never have to experience. We fixed THAT already.

Sleeping babies.... i just want to grab em and hug em and kiss em and rub my face to theirs.... except that they do smell a little bit like puppy pee and since momma is still eating their poop and then licks her babies... well you get the image. I still hug em up though.

Just when you think puppies are the best thing going, you turn around your camera sees this.

Just 4 weeks old and CUJO lives!!! I'm not sure if this little fella was full and tired or just pissed off. Either way, I put him and his siblings back in the kennel and closed the door. I might have to spend more socializing time with this one!! We'll have the litter until they're at least 8 weeks old and can be adopted, so, Come Visit and Hug a Puppy!!