Been awhile.

This has been a really busy year for me and not in a good way.  What was good about it is that we have fostered a litter of 4 puppies, a street puppy, 1 stray female pittie, 3 momma cats and their litters.  All have found good homes.  The pittie is living her best life right now.  She even has a raincoat and booties when she goes out for a walk.  And in the TExas heat, her new pet parent has booties to protect her feet from the hot sidewalk, I am so glad she found this home.  We get updates regularly and it has been almost a year since she was placed.  

The last litter of kittens with momma, one of the kittens has a horrible heart murmer.  The vet did not think she would live through the spaying.  She did.  We adopted her and she is a typical kitten.  She may live 6 months, she may live a long life, but she will do it with up.  

My pets keep me sane.   

I'm back

 A lot has happened in the last year healthwise for me.  I am so much better now.  And for about the last 6 months my granddaughter and I have been fostering dogs.  Our first fosters were three puppies.  They were dropped at the shelter when they were around 4-6 weeks old. We fostered for around 4 weeks.  They were beautiful.  My granddaughter named them Lock, Shock and Barrel. They were shepherd mix and so, so cute.  But fostering puppies is really messy.  They have all found homes now.  

The second one and she came while we still had the puppies, was Mrs Baird.  She was an older pit mix, around 8 and had been overbred.  She was in such bad shape when we got her.  She was in excellent shape when she went back to the shelter and was not there for long before she was adopted.  She was so sweet and just wanted attention and belly rubs.  

Now we have Bubba.  Bubba is a 7-8 month old mix breed.  When the animal control officer picked him up, he had dermadox mange caused by a prolonged flea infestation.  His skin was in such bad shape and he had no hair on his body at all.  He has been with us for going on 2 months and is almost ready for adoption.  My dogs have been very accepting of all these fosters.  They were overwhelmed with the puppies, but still played with them.   

My guys

 I still only have Honey, Loki and Roxie.  My granddaughter applied for a job at the local shelter.  I was so happy.  I told her she could keep me posted on what dogs came in.  Her reply, "No grandma, absolutely not. You are not getting any more dogs. I will not tell you anything about them."  I guess I can understand that.  I am, after all, 72 and I really don't want to leave my family with a whole bunch of animals to care for.  Maybe I will start fostering.  

My son called me last week.  His smallest one, 3 pounds, had jumped off a chair and was crying and favoring her leg.  He grabbed her and rushed to the vet.  Vet told him she had just bruised her leg and was ok.  So this attachment to animals is genetic.  My sister has 9 dogs, a Nigerian dwarf goat, two cats, 26 chickens and 10 ducks.  Of course she lives in the country, but still I am jealous.  One of the cats thinks she is a dog.  The goat thinks she is a dog. Oh and a chicken that rules everyone.  Love animals. 

My life

 Did Thanksgiving with my daughter and son.  And I have spent a lot of time with my 4 legged friends who live with me.  They never cease to amaze me.  Each one has a very distinct personality.  Loki, well Loki never pushes, always wants loving, no jealousy.  Honey on the other hand is very jealous of not only Loki but Roxie.  And Roxie, all 7 pounds of her, rules the house and Honey and Loki.  She has the huge attitude of a poodle.  She is very confident and a little brat.  She gets on the foot of the bed and waits for Loki and Honey to try and get on the bed and does her growling level best to stop them. Of course they just ignore her.  It really ticks her off.  And the cats.  Rumble is a loner.  She will come around occasionally to get her ears scratched, but for the most part wants nothing to do with me except to be fed.  Tumble is like Roxie.  She is afraid of nothing.  She is at present on the bed with Honey, Loki, and Roxie.  Yes, my animals sleep on the beds and furniture.  My house my rules.  And I love it.  

Change and loss

 I lost Jock last month.  His heart was giving out.  It hurt like hell to let him go.  My vet bent his rules and let me stay with him while he left.  I still hurts so very much.  He was my little man.  I'm planting strawberries in his memory.  He loved to stick his nose in the pot of strawberries and pick the strawberries.  He loved them.  I still catch myself reaching for his bowl at food time, looking for him under my computer table, looking for him to put him on the couch with me.  And it hurts so bad.  Rest in peace, Jock.  

My guys and girls.

My daughter's dog has been with me since Thanksgiving.  She was going to come get him but the virus slammed the brakes on that.  Loki is longer than he is tall, weighs 45 pounds and thinks he is a lap dog.  I'm having a real problem with Loki, Honey, and Roxie trying to kill my lizards and I won't have that.  I have huge lizards and skinks in my yard and I want them there.  They keep the bug population under control.  I also feed the birds.  I have flowers for the bees, but I don't have bees.  I have seen one bumble bee and one honey bee and both were dying on my patio from poison.  It is disgusting what we have done to our environment. 

Anyway, little miss priss, Roxie, learned she could squeeze out of the yard.  I have caught her 4 times.  The first time, she was across the street on the corner.  The second and third times, I saw her wiggle under the gate.  Well, I dropped the gate to where she can only stick her tongue under it.  So she wiggled through between the gate and fence.  So I'm out there this morning attaching hardware cloth (wire) to the gate so she can't wiggle out.  I do not let her in the back yard without me now and I won't trust her again.  She only weighs 7 pounds.  You would think she would be afraid of her shadow, but she is not.  I gave her a bath and haircut yesterday.  She was so mad at me.  But she is cooler now.  She has so much hair.  I think she is more Bichon than poodle.  She has the fur of a Bichon.  I have never had a poodle with hair that dense.  It is almost like she has two coats.  And I am so glad she found me. 

My sanity

The first picture is Rumble. My granddaughter named her.  I call her Rum.  The second picture is Tiger.  Every time I sit down at the computer, this is where she is.  My keyboard and I are shoved to the side and she occupies almost half the desk.  And she lays on my keyboard.  I get some really interesting websites.  They keep me sane in this pandemic.