RIP Old Friend

I lost an old friend this morning.

Like all good friends, he was there for me on those really bad days, but even more on those days where I was just normal with nothing exciting happening. That's the test of true friendship I reckon. When someone likes you even when you're boring.

Unfortunately I just can't say the same for myself and it was just a matter of time before he became tedious and started getting on my nerves.

Always hanging around saying stupid mundane crap that made no sense,

and SOOOOO Moody... OMG!!

His taste in music was mostly horrible, like he was living in the past or something.

So, when it got to the point I just couldn't stand him any longer.......

I killed him.

It took me nearly two hours to do it.

Drank almost a whole pot of coffee and took two bathroom breaks before I finished, but he's dead now.

RIP Facebook. I have to say, I won't be missing you and all your shit.

Call me Crazy

My madness is best explained as self induced. To keep myself from going completely crazy, I've instituted this kind of chaos that keeps me so busy and spinning, I literally have no time to lose my mind.

Nemo left yesterday. I was going to be sad to see him go, but then when the rescue lady that took him misunderstood my foster intentions and told me he would be back to me as early as Mon evening, I just stood there and said nothing.

Whats one more dog, right? Besides, Nemo is the sweetest little guy and more important than that... House trained!! We've had a really good streak lately with super sweet dogs.

Dozer, JJ, Yogi, Duke, Jake... all incredibly awesome dogs, well the challenge has arrived.

Call me crazy, but we took in a new girlie on Sat. Miss Georgia. Not keeping the name... we call her Ping for now (the imaginary sound that her sonar-like ears make).

Just 11lbs of spitfire and a terrific fly catcher!!

Ping is your typical little dog with little dog issues and attitude.

She's food aggressive, and likes to bite humans.

Day three update..... I can do just about anything I want with Miss Ping. She's quickly turning out to be a sweet little girl. Every approach gets me tail wags and licks.

She likes the rough play and that may be how she learned to nip.

She's spent the whole morning so far, playing with Moses and Emma.

Ate her breakfast with my fingers in the bowl and only licked me... no biting.

I still need to work on her skills with strangers though... still a bit snappy there!!

I'll figure this little girl out in time. For now, I'll just hug her up and tell her I love her..... after she's done catching flies in the kitchen!!

Time to go feed the chickens and get started on finishing the stairwell window. Gonna be a hot one today and I don't plan on being out there when it feels like 110.

My Not-So-Glamorous Life

June 9th. Steve returns today form Cambridge, UK. He's only been gone since Sat, so this trip wasn't so bad. It's the trips to Japan that always take him for too long. We head two good weather days here in the Ferry while he was gone. One was wasted with me in some sort of funk and unable to walk through the house without running into things. Not quite sure what was out of whack, but dizzy couldn't begin to describe it. It's stopped for the most part... as long as I don't stand up too fast. It definitely kept me off the ladder though. Good News...June 3rd, the Tres Amigos got adopted. Three wonderful sisters adopted three wonderful little boys. Sometimes I think these adoptions are just too good to be true. First JJ, then Dozer, then Yogi, then Jake, then, Duke and now the Amigos. Marty or (NKA Brody) is coming back today, so that he can make it to his appt to be neutered. Responsible pet owners DO THAT!! Also on the 3rd, Nemo arrived. Poor Nemo is a purebred Cocker Spaniel and was dumped at the shelter by his idiots. Nemo will be 10 yrs old on the 9th of July. He's also Epileptic and is prone to severe seizures. The worst part is, Nemo is completely blind in one eye and 75% blind in the other. Other than being and old blind dog with seizures.... he's house trained!!! YAY!! Now If I could just teach him how to find the door! Good news update for Nemo. he was accepted into Cocker Rescue and will be going to his new foster in a few days. Yay Nemo!! June 4th I had my Home Visit from Crested Guardians. This is a Chinese Crested Rescue that emailed asking if I would join them. I filled out their on-line form, they called my references, they did my phone interview, and now someones coming to decide if I'm qualified to foster one of their dogs. I'm starting to not like this. I judge myself quite enough, I don't need some stranger doing the same thing in my own home. It's for the dogs.... It's for the dogs.... It's for the dogs... I keep repeating this over and over in my head. Well, the interview went great. I met a really nice lady, fellow dog rescuer and I'm positive... new friend. I also became the new foster parent for Chemo. That's right... Chemo. Her story is this.. Chemo's elderly humans adopted her as a puppy. Chemo's mommy had cancer and wanted a dog that had no hair like her. Chemo's mom died, sadly and she was left with her Dad. He lovingly raised Chemo until he also was taken by cancer. The adult children of the deceased couple decided it would be best to have Chemo euthanized. Fortunately a grandchild came along who couldn't let this happen. She stole Chemo and put her into foster care. That's how she ended up with me. In the first few hours of her stay here... I gave her a total make-over.... and new name. Meet Emma, the beautiful 10 yr old Chinese Crested Hairless.

The kittens opened their eyes today as well. I've been watching them very closely the past few days... mostly because one of them is sick. I've been supplementing the usual feedings with some formula, but it's just not helping one of them.

The little fella, 2nd from the right is not gaining. I know nature has a plan for all creatures, but I really hate seeing it none-the-less.

June 7th, the little guy died. I found him still, but still alive. He barely filled the palm of my hand.

Another angel went to Rainbows Bridge today.

Ill bury this little boy out front in the new planter. I've already designed him a headstone.

Got a call late last night from our neighbor and contractor. He had attempted to live trap a groundhog that's been eating his garden and had inadvertently caught the largest and meanest ferrel cat I'd ever seen.

This fella was missing an eye, part of his ear, a couple toes and had patches of fur missing all over his body from fighting. There was only one thing to do with this guy.

I had him dropped off at my home so I could take him tot he shelter and have his put down.

I fancied for a brief moment that I could calm and rehabilitate this guy and then he went crazy in the trap and almost got my whole arm. I've trapped other cats before who let me take them out of the cage. This guy would have none of that. He was done on this earth.

I really hate being burdened with these decisions. I guess someone has to do it though. I gave him some really great cat food for his last meal and he promptly crapped in the back of my Jeep. WHEN am I gonna get this Karma payed back???

Off to Rainbows Bridge Big Man. Play nice when you get there and remember the people and the situation that caused your heartache wasn't your fault.

My friend Maryanna came along with me on my errands today and after our shelter visit we headed to Goodwill. I love thrift stores and our plan was to hit several... ending up at the Op Shop in Charles Town. I stopped at the animal hospital, switched from A4TA to Crested Guardians. Now CG can get reduced vet care for any dogs I foster for them.

Picked up the records for Nemo and made Emmas appt.

We drove to the feed store to get chicken feed and off to our final destination, only to discover it cosed for the day. Ugh!!

One last goodwill and we were done. Back home after a somewhat relaxing day of shopping and laughing combined with a little tragedy and heartache.

Like I said earlier, Steve's been in The UK this week and returns home today.

His absolute joy these past few weeks has been our new copper gutters. He just sits out on the front porch and admires them. Well, our research has shown us that it takes YEARS to get that old world green patina that we're hoping for. There's also the slight chance that they'll turn black.

So, while he was out of town, I cheated and turned the gutters green.

An old contractors trick was to have the workers urinate on the copper.

The chemicals in the urine react with the copper and BAMM!!! Green Copper Gutters.

The hardest part and to some of you the grossest part was hanging off the 40ft ladder under the spray of urine. Yes, I took many showers that day...... Literally!

Just think how happy Steve will be now, to have his patina'd copper gutters!!!

I can't wait to see his smile when he sees them!!!

What seemed like a nasty task for me.... well,

It's all in a days work I reckon!!

Happy Bonus's

May, what an incredible month it has been.

For me it started out as any other month.... gettin puppies!!

On the 3rd I took in, from the Humane Society, 9 malnourished

Lab mix pups, only 5 - 6 weeks old.

My job was to fatten them up and get them socialized for adoption.

Well, I guess I should first tell you how I got these pups.

I saw this guy.... Yoshi.

He was sittin in kennel #1. When I walked through the door he just turned and stared up at me with those big brown eyes begging me to take him. Unfortunately, there was already a hold on him. Some rescue had been called and were taking him that afternoon.

I walked past him knowing he was already spoken for but couldn't get my mind off him.

That's when I came upon the litter of skinny pups that had been dropped off during the night. Oh my heart broke. Pups this small and this weak would surely die in the shelter. Parvo could wipe them out in 3 days time.... not to mention they were being fed hard food and could barely eat it.

What did I need 9 puppies for... I had too much work to do finishing the house.... I couldn't take on pups right now.

Then I walked back to that Yorkie. His eyes just bore right into my heart and I KNEW... I just KNEW I had the perfect home for him.

I went to the front desk and struck the deal.

I would take all 9 pups. Fatten and socialize them... get them ready for adoption and return them healthy and Happy, IF I could have the Yorkie.

They made the phone call to the rescue... told a little white lie and I was off with 9 sick puppies and what I would soon find out was a VERY Fast Yorkie.

The Litter Noir, I called them, because there really was no way I would ever tell them apart, especially only having them two weeks.

I started them right away on a high protein diet and lots of it. Extra vitamins and colostrum and some delicious milk formula. They took to my kind of feeding schedule like I was the new mama, which I was. 9 sweet little babies soon became MY little babies and I would sit and hold and coddle them every chance I got.

Three days after the pups arrived, I ended up bringing Griz home (Grizelda).

She was about to taken to be put down by her owner and she was pregnant.

Now, I'm pretty positive or at least would like to think there's no vet out there that would euthanize a perfectly healthy and SUPER SWEET Pregnant cat. The bottom line here was the owner didn't want her and if she were to end up having kittens in a shelter... well that's just the wrong environment for kittens to be born into.

So now she would be living here with me until she and her unborn kittens were old enough and healthy enough to be adopted.

May 9th 2010. My Great Niece Aiyana Katori Lyhn Davis was baptized, by Me, on the shores of the St Marys River. It was a gorgeous day.... blue sky, calm water and lots of supportive family.

This was my first Baptism and I do believe we did Mother Gaia proud.

Along with the Baptism was the transfer of Yoshi (Now Yogi) to my sister Carol and her husband Craig. They recently suffered the loss of their beautiful little Casey (also a Yorkie) and were the sole reason I had 9 poopy puppies at my house. I knew Yogi wasn't Casey, but I knew he was alone in this world and so were they. Put aside the fact that Yogi is perhaps the fastest Yorkie on earth.... as Steve put it..."He's like Toto on steroids". He only escaped once while he was here, but it took 9 neighbors and eventually our jeep to catch him. Super Dog, especially when he's flying past you at some kind of warp factor.

Anyhow, he belongs to them now and I think it's gonna work out ok!!

Sometimes the days blur into one-another, but I remember the day I got Duke. May 11th... it had been raining all morning and was just plain miserable outside. One of those days where you just want comfort food and a big chair to curl up in. Well, I had e-mailed an ad on Craigslist a few days earlier about a 9 month old Yorkie/Beagle mix. Guess who called this dreary morning.

I listened to the same old story I've heard a 100 times.... and told him I could come right then... what was his address. 35 minutes later I pulled up in front of what had to be a crack house with it's boarded up windows and trashed yard. I knocked at the front door... all sorts of dogs started barking inside, then I heard the back door slam. Stepped around the house and was greeted with a surly.... "You here for the dog"?

He told me to wait (In the Rain) and he went back in to get the pup... slamming the door behind him. He brought Duke out, put him down and he immediately curled up in that telltale cowering position that said, Don't beat me, Please. I asked 2 question. His age and which part of Yorkie/Beagle was the father. I scooped him up in my arms and carried him home.

Most people immediately call him Benji, but he answers to Duke and he's a sweet boy. Once he figured out that living here with us meant he wasn't going to be hit or kicked, but hugged and loved, the most awesome personality burst forth. It wasn't long before he reached that oh so jealous stage and just couldn't bear to see me pet another dog without him sitting in my lap.

No aggression at all.... just puppy kisses and we still haven't heard him bark.

Just one week and 3 days into their stay, The Litter Noir were fat and happy puppies.

I made the call to the shelter and they were ready for them.

Nine adorable, chunky little babies, who came to me skin and bones, would now go to be adopted.

Six of them went the very same day I dropped them off. The last three went the next morning.

They'll all be fixed and hopefully when they're bigger and no longer "cute puppies" their owners will still want them and not find some lame ass excuse to dump them. (I really hate people)

Finally a weekend came that allowed us some time to do some work on the house.

The roofers had finished repainting and Bart, our most awesome contractor/restoration specialist would be coming to finish the Copper gutters on Mon. This meant I needed to get the planter at least started out front so we would know how far to take the downspouts off the porch. We had attended Allegra's garden party at Alden Farms Nursery a few weeks before, and bought this awesome stone sculpture. It was going to be our new Dog Bowl out front. It catches water from our dehumidifier and from the earth behind our home.

The dogs love it!!

Monday the 17th arrived with new additions to our chaos. Four Australorps (Australian Black Hens). We're going to raise them for eggs and of course the company!! :-)

Unfortunately, their 2nd night here... one of them disappeared. We still to this day haven't found a single feather. No idea what happened to the little chick. So, we settled for the three that fate would allow us, and we're watching them grow and at the same time learn to trust us.

May 20th, Jake arrived. I got a call the day before from a lady I rescued a dog from last year.

Well she thought it was wise to get her kids another dog, only to discover they were still too immature (along with her) to commit to taking care of a dog. I agreed... obviously, and met her to take ownership of her failed attempt to teach herself and her kids responsibility.

I guess she wasn't so bad, she did have him neutered and he was current on his shots, but giving him up was not teaching her kids a lesson. If she had given him to me with their cell phones and the TV... now THAT would be a lesson.

I begged her to NEVER get another dog and wished her luck with her kids.

I took Jake and Duke to Briggs Adoption Center to see if they might be interested in either dog.

Well, they were interested in both, but needed me to hang onto them until they could make the room ...... No Problem!!

May 22nd, I found a baby grackle out front on the street. He must've fallen from the nest, because he was way too young to be on his own. I put him in a carrier and proceeded to start his daytime feedings every 15 minutes. Have you ever done this... OMG. 15 minutes can go by so fast and little birds can eat SO much food. I still know that often, when birds fall from nests, it's the natural selection process doing it's thing, but I still wanted to try and save this baby.

We named him Heckle, because if he lived, that's what I was gonna train him to do... Heckle the tourons!!

We're all aware that foster work has it's good and bad. As hard as we try to save as many as we can... just as many, if not more, are lost every day. My great sadness this month, came to me on the 24th.

Our neighbor and friend, Barbara passed away. After years and years of pain and surgery after surgery, her frail weakened body gave in. We've lived next door to the Thompsons only 10 short years. This was their 2nd home, so we didn't see them often, but when they were here, I made sure to call and welcome them home. I miss Barbara. I miss her every day. She loved our cats and she loved the puppies and well... I'm pretty sure she loved us too. The last time we saw her and Rick was this past thanksgiving. They were here that week and we had no company, so we called and asked what they were doing for dinner. Barbara thought they might go find a restaurant that was open.

HA.... Steve and I arrived with a 23 lb Turkey and all the side dishes. We even had homemade cranberry sauce. It was so nice spending the evening with them... laughing and talking.

Barbara was so weak, even then, that as soon as dinner was over we had to pack up and let her get to bed. I made a HUGE plate of leftovers for them and we returned home. Barbara called the next day just to say thank you again for such a wonderful night. She said her and Rick had never been treated so nicely and that we had been their 1st Thanksgiving in that house.

There are so many memories we've made in 10 years and all of them wonderful.

A few years ago, I planted two kinds of roses at the top our our steps. This is where our two properties meet.

Barbara loved to see and smell the roses when Rick would walk her out. She would always stop at our garden gate and greet all the different puppies we've had.

I really am gonna miss her.

This Rose bloomed for you Barbara, the day after your pain stopped.

Chaos never stops... it ebbs and it flows.

Beau arrived for the week and joined our menagerie. We're just puppy sittin this one for Jon n Steph while they're vacationing. Beau's an old fella and will pretty much play couch potato this week. To my surprise however, he had different plans and got in some serious puppy play time with the two 9 month olds and Roux. It's funny how even old dogs can't resist puppy play.

Here we have Jake n Moses out front.

Duke Dash Roux n Beau in the back.

May 24th, The Tres Amigos arrived. I stopped at the shelter like I knew I shouldn't have. Five unaltered male Chihuahuas had been surrendered from a hoarding situation. Supposedly there were 9 more coming.... those 9 were female and most likely pregnant. Two of the males were so aggressive I just couldn't agree to take them. Sadly they would be put down. The three I did take were terrified, but not aggressive and would respond to socializing. Now my doggie total is 9. I'm maxed out for adult dogs at this point. Dusty, Marty and Ned have never been on a leash. It took nearly two hours to coach them to walk 10 ft on a leash. Now, just a few days later... they're experts at it and coming around great. They spent yesterday afternoon on the street level, front porch. Steve and I were down there working on windows, so I hooked their leashes to the step, laid them out a cushion and they were perfect. No yapping.. a little growling, but lots of terrific socializing with all the interesting tourons that stopped to chat. I think they'll be fine.

May 27, Duke was accepted at The Briggs Animal Adoption Center. This place is like a resort for dogs. They get socialized, the get vetted and any potential new family gets thoroughly investigated. Duke has won the doggy lottery. Two weeks and 2 days with us and he's gone to get ready for his forever family. Good luck Duke!!

May 28th, Heckle passed away. I knew from his awkward falling and stumbling that he was probably sick, but I tried. It's still sad even though I know how nature works.

Once it touches my hand... it's touched my heart... and it hurts when it leaves me, no matter how it goes.

Grief can remain with us for unbearable lengths of time and other times the gods know our pain is too great, so they give us what I call "Bonus Happy's". We'll hear a story or be part of something that's soul rewarding... that's a Bonus Happy.

Missing Barbara had filled every minute in-between puppies and chores and sleep.

That's when it happened. Mama Griz called out to me from her bed. It was time!!

Here came my Bonus Happy!!

Five beautiful little babies all in just over two hours.

How I wish I could have shared this with Barbara.... then I realised I probably already was. I knew it for sure when I felt the calm peacefulness that descended when Griz fell asleep with her 5 new babies nursing quietly. I just laid there beside them and watched. Thank You Barbara for making sure they were all healthy.

What an exciting day!! I just couldn't get enough of these beautiful little babies. Now to find good homes for them all... ugh!

Later this same day... the phone rang... Low and behold I was getting a return call from a possible adopter for Jake. Sometime around 9 pm, Ryan showed up.

I met him out front with Jake. When Ryan stepped from his car, I was totally expecting Jake to bark at him like he has every person he's met.... NO... Jake runs right for him and starts covering him with puppy kisses. WTH!!! Was this a sign or what!! We talked for awhile and Jake was crazy for this guy. I already knew how Jake was with kids (Loves 'Em), so I knew this guys 6yr old little girl was gonna be in heaven, and Jake as well.

We exchanged all the proper paperwork and they left. I returned to a house that was growing quieter by the puppy..... err minute!

Sunday the 30th, Memorial Day weekend, Jon n Steph returned for Beau and to see the kittens.

They brought us some awesome veggies from the farmers market which we've been devouring.

Now we were back to just our 3 dogs and of course the Tres Amigos, but they're so small it's truly like not having them.

We'll continue working on the two windows out front this afternoon and we'll take the dogs down with us again for more socializing.

This was May.... I can't wait to see what June is gonna bring us and of course I'm always on the lookout for my next Bonus Happy!!

I wish you all a Brilliant Bonus Happy as well!!

Have You Seen Me?

I just sneezed 5 times in a row. That has to be my record and it's because I've been crawling, flashlight in hand, around my living room floor looking for a chicken. Unfortunately the only thing I've managed to find is enough hair to make up a small sized dog.... no feathers!! I packed our 4 Australorp chicks in their crate last night... covered them securely and went to bed. This morning, there are just 3. No blankets thrown aside... no tell tale feathers strewn about which would have told me of the battle that had taken place while I slumbered... nothing but 3 little chicks happy to see me. I scanned the room quickly and ran upstairs completely expecting to stumble upon the remains of what had only last night been a cute little chicken sitting in my hand, but again.... nothing. Even our two cats Xander and Venus were quietly sleeping... hmmm! I know their normal behavior when they've brought some unwilling creature into the house. They sit about licking themselves all proud to show me what they caught. Not this morning... they were asleep and absolutely no signs of Chicken Roo. I checked outside... I checked upstairs... I checked downstairs... I checked under all the furniture one more time.... I even opened the sleeper sofa. The house is only so big and if there's no sign of Chicken Roo being abducted, she must still be in the house. I uncovered her sisters hoping their chirping would call out their lost sibling.... Nothing. The cats still have no interest in watching the remaining three which only makes me believe even harder that Roo just escaped. Now my question is this.... How bad will a rotting little chick smell up my house? I dread the thought, but that's the reality of this show! Poor little Roo. Last night she met our Other Roux and gave her a back massage. Today she's M.I.A.

Just more of the same

It happened again. Facebook swallowed me once more... sucked me back in with it's ease of posting. It's quick gratification of response from all those friends who are there just waiting to read something witty or heartbreaking. Mostly FB has become a portal for all that is drama. Lets face it... we're a world obsessed with someone else's idea of reality. Often I think I need a new hobby and then I take a look at all the little faces around me. Almost removed from an existence outside of doggie and home duties, I have finally learned to relax and enjoy it. Aura's pups went to adoption. Ten were adopted right away. Two went into foster care and I lost track, but I think there's one left. Mason went to Minnesota with the Mormons and is being trained as a therapy dog who will work with autistic children. So all in all we were lucky with that bunch of little black lab like puppies. Lets just hope their new families don't suffer some sort of brain hemorrhage and give them up after a year. I resigned the rescue. Mostly because it's so far for me to drive to adoption events. I gave them one hell of a year and a half though. Lost count of how many doggies and each time I go through the doggie foster book, I get a different number. It's somewhere near a hundred though. I decided yet again, to take a break. We'd started exterior restoration of our home and now that the weather was warming up, I'd be too busy for new fosters. Yeah right.... LOL!! Then along came Attie This little princess is 8 months old, an Italian Greyhound Mix and was dropped at the shelter when her owner passed away. She was one of several dogs the old woman owned. She would have been perfect if she could have just peed outside.... ONCE. We still had her when this next beast showed up. Meet Dozer, the 3 month old 33lb Pitbull. An absolutely total bullhead. The most determination I've ever seen in a dog. I've seen this kind of orneriness in pigs and even cattle, but never done so well by a dog. Despite his ability to do what he wanted whenever he wanted... he was the biggest lug of all. He liked nothing more than flopping down next to you or even better ON you. Big wet puppy kisses and licks. What a super guy. To top it off, he got adopted by a super family!! Have a great life Big Man!! Then, two days later came Dottie. Dottie is a Chihuahua/JRT mix. She had just weaned her pups and was promptly dumped at the shelter. Since she was also one of the dogs owned by the old dead woman, the shelter thought it might be good for her to stay with Attie. Both Attie and Dottie were terribly unsocialized. Apparently the old dead woman never left her house, until that last trip out, so her dogs not only weren't vaccinated or spayed, but they didn't know what other humans were, or what linoleum was or that it was ok to walk on and pee in the grass. They were however serious cuddlers and they weren't aggressive at all. Unfortunate as it sounds, their names were also, At and Spot. Spot most likely because of the spot on her head and At, well I had a friend explain that to me. A "retired" friend. We imagine that the old dead woman didn't really name the dog At, but in her possibly senile state would yell out... "Where my dog At?" Thus making her possibly not so educated family think that was actually the dogs name. I renamed them Attie and Dottie. Poor little girls they were. Attie came around fast.... her personality bloomed more each day. Little Dottie not so fast. She was also in mourning from being taken from her pups. I returned them however to the shelter (Jefferson county NO Kill) because their foster program lacks something..... It's called coordination. I don't want to sound mean, because the staff at the shelter do a service for the cats and dogs there that most would not even consider, BUT...... Lets just say it's an absolute miracle they can help as many as they do. At the shelter, Attie and Dottie will at least be seen and can be adopted. Here at my house, they'll only continue to pee on the carpet and chase the cats, because Nobody who goes to the shelter to adopt will EVER hear about dogs in foster care, because the staff do not know how to use a computer or what the shelter website even is. Good luck little ladies.... at least you're safe. Needless to say, I'm pretty sure I'm finished with the Animal Welfare Society of Jefferson County. They've got a bunch of control freaks on the board and they can't all get along. I don't need that kind of drama..... at all. So I said.... this must be a sign. I should take a break. Give the whole fostering thing a break for awhile..... and the email came. One of my shelter pulls from almost 9 months ago was being returned. Did I want him back? Of course I did. I need nothing more than a 3 yr old Jack Russell in my home. My cats weren't chased nearly enough by the last two. The usual chaos the spun in our home had settled and I jumped at an opportunity to stir it up again. So, on my way down to my Moms, the day before my birthday, I drove through Fredricksburg VA and picked up JJ. This sweet little fella was being accused of nipping no less than five people in his home. He's not aggressive. The Alpha dog that was living there when JJ arrived 9 months ago had passed away. Then the family got a new puppy. JJ was fearful for the first time. Not only was his protector gone, but now he had to provide protection for a puppy and the "Alpha" human kept yelling at him every time he tried. She also yelled at him ever time he would eat the puppys food. She would also yell at him every time he would run outside the gate and run and run and run and run. See, the puppy was the new cute doggie. and the "Alpha" human, well she stopped taking JJ for walks and as we all know, Jack Russells need exercise..... hourly!! With all this pent up energy and fearful that he may not be able to protect his new little sister, JJ misinterpreted his job as k9 pack alpha and nipped a few visitors to the home. This of course was unacceptable according to the "Alpha" human and she would lock him in the pantry. I'll take this time point out that there's a fine line between "Alpha" and "Bitch". That line is called Respect. Either you do or you don't. JJ is here now and he chases cats. He's afraid of his water bowl and if he gets out of the gate... he's gone. He runs and runs and runs and runs and well you get the picture. I've gotten him an intake at a really great no kill shelter. Hopefully they can find him the perfect family and a Real Alpha. Through all of this, we've been working on the house... sanding, scraping, caulking, painting. We contracted the front of the house and most of the wood replacement around the house. The front porch is like a dream now. We absolutely love it. I can't wait for it all to be done, so we can just relax and enjoy it. The roofers come on Monday and the gutters will be the week after that. Hopefully I'll have my part finished around the same time. I hear ladders being banged around outside. I guess the painters are here. Time to fry some bacon... Redneck painters LOVE bacon sandwiches. :-) Gotta keep the boys happy!!!

Time for a Pupdate

I guess you could say it's been a long winter. As a result of the Blizzard and the newspaper article by Naomi about the rescue pups.... we got Sonny. I really thought I was crazy taking in a 6 month old Golden Mix while I already had 12 pups and three other dogs in the house. Let's not forget Steve was here recovering from his broken arm and there was still 3 feet of snow outside. I did it anyhow, and I'm glad I did. What a joy he was to have in the house. Such a sweetheart and most importantly.... house trained!! Well Sonny went from being a stray in rural WV to a family/nanny in Chevy Chase MD. Nice new zip code dude!! He's fit right in with their children and I wish them a long happy life with their new family member. Way to go Sonny!! Aura and her 12 puppies came to me Jan 25, before the storm and all the mayhem of broken bones and hospitals. When I got her, I still had 5 of peanuts pups living in the laundry room. Yes, that was craziness in only a way I could manage. Peanuts babies left here though and went to Beths, because of the impending snowstorm that was headed our way. She lived closer to the store where they would go to be adopted in the event the storm didn't cancel it altogether (which it did)! So the storm came... Steve fell and got broken..... I still had 12 puppies with Mama... and my three. What beautiful babies they were though, and with the most attentive Mama that a dozen little dragons could have. Yes, we called them dragons... well Steve did. See, they were in a whelping box in our bedroom, so at night... we couldn't help but wake up to their little growling and whatever that other noise was that they were making. So rather than call them little pigs or bunnies like I always have, Steve dubbed them the dragons. It might have had something to with the location of their box being in a large stone fireplace. Well, the doctor visits for Steve continued, Puppies ate and puppies grew, I started to wean Aura from her pups and that when she went a little crazy and..... well...... she went to a new foster home. I'm sure some of you are still laughing at poor broken Steve with his poopy shoes and pee soaked butt, and truthfully so am I. I think he's over being mad too!! It was during this time that Sonny came to live with us and promptly got adopted. Only a week with us.... was way too fast. I miss him! That left me with 12 four week old little dragons that had no idea where the big Mama dragon had gone and instead were being fed by the Big Headed Ogre. Four days was all it took for them to accept me as a surrogate parent and the rest has been nothing but fun.... LOL.... yeah right!! Front Row, left to right Ruso, Punch and Mason Back Row, Left to Right Tuck, Veto, Tipsy, Ruby, Laddie, Reb, Dot, Egypt, Dixon

My 12 little angels. 18 tries for this pic... not too bad.

Many transitions of living arrangements and feeding styles and feeding schedules and deworming and nail clipping and holding and petting and coddling and just all around loving!

Last Sun two of my babies were adopted although they're still with me until this coming Sat. when they turn 8 weeks. Eight weeks.... such a short amount of time. 51 days today that they've been in my life.... that's nothing in the big picture, but it's 51 days I'll always remember.

I will well remember the day they leave me too, but over time I've gotten used to the almost empty nest when I return home. Never completely empty.... never will be!! :-)

Here's an awesome happy update.

You may remember the poor creature in the pic below... this was Moses the day I brought him home from the pound. Near death.... matted... covered in fleas and so weak he couldn't stand.

It's been 18 weeks since that day. Four and a half months!! He's OK now. I guess you could say he's a new pup! Still working on the house training thing, but I don't care really, because he brings so much joy to my heart it doesn't matter. Moses is part of me now and he'll be with me until his little heart gives out, which I hope is many more years. If it's not, then I'll at least know he lived a wonderful life while he was here with us.

For Moses, every day is his birthday. The way he greats me in the morning with his little bounce! The way he spins circles when he thinks it's time to play. The way he leans in to lick my nose when he wants me to know he loves me.

There's my Pupdate. Not sure how exciting the next few months will be. The rescue is going dormant for about 6 months while Mother Jessica goes abroad to scare the bad guys. We still have many great dogs in foster homes that need to be adopted and hopefully we can find some of them terrific families soon. Check the website for more information about them.

http://www.all4theanimals.com/

Meanwhile, I'm going outside to play with puppies. I've got 3 more days!!!!