Tuesday, 2/1 Well, we're starting off the month with domestic difficulties. The toilet plugged up last night. Only, this morning I realize it's not just the toilet, it's all the drains. (I knew I hadn't flushed anything that would plug the commode!) Around 10 am, I realized the furnace isn't running. Spit. Checked to see if there was hot water (yes), but then checked the stove and it wouldn't light. Called the gas company - there's a problem with the gas main, and they're going to try to fix it today. Great. I'm freezing my butt off, and I can't flush the toilet. Arrgggghhhhhh!!!! Of course, the hot water in the water heater has cooled off now, so I can't do anything that requires hot water - like try to unplug the drains. (I think part of the pipe freezes - last time it did this, I poured boiling water down the drain pipe in the utility room and half an hour later everything was flowing again.) I can't take a shower, either, which I need badly after mopping up the overflow from the bathroom floor. I don't know if I'd dare to shower, anyway, until I get that damn pipe unclogged - I'd probably end up standing ankle-deep in drain backwash. What a royal pain!

Not only that, I can't go anywhere! IF they get the problem fixed today, I need to be here so they can come in and relight the pilot lights! Good thing I did most of my running around yesterday. I went to the butcher and got a 40-pound case of chicken backs for the dogz. That's still sitting on my counter, thawing (and not very fast in this cold house, either). As soon as I can break the backs apart, I'll clean off the extra fat and re-package in gallon ziplocs, and freeze for future use. (I'll keep out 5-6 pounds for the next few days' meals, though.) Right now, though, the thought of handling 40 pounds of semi-frozen chicken when it's 50 degrees in here is not something I'm looking forward to with anticipation.) The butcher also had 10-pound bags of "soup bones" - 2-3" shank bones. These are "recreational" bones for the dogs, and will keep them busy for hours, trying to lick the marrow out of the center. I got 2 bags - one's in the 'fridge and the other's still out in the car for now, where it'll stay frozen. I was gonna use a few of those bones to make soup for myself, but I can't do that without a working stove. No, I'm not a happy camper. Not at all.

Once I get heat/hot water/stove back, I'll run to the grocery store and get the rest of the stuff I need for the soup. I've got a hankering for the "knaedle soup" my paternal grandmother used to make: parsnips, potatoes, cabbage, carrots, onion, and a nice big round steak/london broil along with the bones. When it's done, you're supposed to have the meat and potatoes as a "boiled dinner", with horseradish sauce on the meat, and make "knaedles" (soft, dumpling-type noodles) to go into the broth. However, I shred the meat and put it back into the broth to go with the knaedles, and eat some of the veggies separately. (The dogs will get most of the parsnips and cabbage, and some of the potatoes, too.) Man, I'm hungry!

I may have a home for Blizzard. Someone on the Dog House bb saw Blizz's pic and sent it to her sister-in-law who lives about an hour away from me. I think she may be coming out on Saturday afternoon to meet Blizzard. I've been giving some serious thought to keeping her. She's a good little girl and I've really enjoyed having her here. IF I keep her, though, I won't have room for that deaf male English Setter pup I've been holding out for. So I don't know what to do. I think this would probably be a good home for Blizzard - this woman's been researching deafness in dogs, Dogo Argentinos, training, sign language, etc. Really doing her homework. I like that in a potential adopter. Actually, there was quite a bit of interest in Blizzard - the rescue group got 3 e-mails inquiring about her. But they don't ship dogs - the potential adopter has to be willing to come here to do the adoption. IMO, that's a little rigid, especially when it concerns dogs with special needs. There's a woman in Louisiana who's considering flying up here! (This woman has had deaf pit bulls before.) I'd really rather see Blizz stay here in MI, though, if at all possible. I guess I won't make any decisions regarding adopting Blizzard myself, but just wait to see how things go with this MI adopter. If that's Blizzard's "right place" to be, it'll work out; if not, she'll stay here.

I wish I could get over this damn cold. Just when I start to feel a little better, bam! it hits me all over again. I really don't want to be sniffling and snuffling when I go on a couple of interviews later in the week.

Friday, 2/4 See, I told you I was going to try to be better about making entries in my diary!

Well, the gas company fixed the problem and got our heat and hot water turned back on Tuesday afternoon. Wednesday afternoon, no hot water - the pilot light on the water heater had gone off. Since I was afraid I'd blow myself and the Zoo to kingdom come if I tried to re-light it myself, I made the gas company come back out and do it. They didn't get here until about 8 pm on Wednesday, so we went 2 whole days without hot water. What a pain. At least the stove worked on Wednesday, so I heated up several soup pots of water (and I was down one pot, because I made soup Tuesday night) and washed my hair in the kitchen sink and bathed in the kitchen, too. There I am, standing nekkid on a towel in the kitchen, trying very hard to get clean, and thinking "I sure hope the neighbors don't have binoculars!"

I dumped a whole lot of very hot water down the toilet, and I think I managed to get the pipes unblocked. At least the toilet is flushing, now. I'm gonna wait until tomorrow to make sure things are still working properly, then I have two dogs to bathe. (oooooh, fun!)

The deaf aussie girl arrived last night. She hasn't really had a name - the woman who pulled her from the shelter called her "Cartina" because she'd been carted all over the place, and the woman who fostered her for this last week wasn't calling her anything at all - but she's SO sweet that I've named her Dolce, which means "sweet" in Italian. And the ASL sign for sweet is easy to make and remember, and is distinctive from the command signs I use - with your palm facing inward and your hand flat, touch your fingertips to your chin and then curve them down into your palm a little; make the motion twice. Kind of like brushing something off your chin.

Right now I'm so angry with the woman that's had her for a week that I could spit. J. said this dog was almost paralyzed with fear, wouldn't go through doorways, wouldn't play with her dogs (and didn't understand one dog's invitations to play), was quite happy in her crate, and had only begun to show enthusiasm to see J. when she returned home from work. Hogwash. Dolce balked at coming through the back door when I brought her home last night, but has had no difficulty whatsoever since either coming in or going out. And fearful? No way. She walked in and cautiously but curiously greeted Penny, walked over to Loverboy where he was lying in the chair and sniffed him, then started exploring. This dog is such a cuddle baby it isn't even funny - she just wants to be close, wants to be petted, wants to be kissed. If I even look in her direction, her whole body wriggles with happiness. (She's an aussie mix, and aussies don't usually have tails. Dolce's no exception - just a little round lump where a tail would be. But that little round lump sure does some powerful wagging!) She follows me all over the house, hoping to get some pets. I had her out in the yard this afternoon with Penny and Blizzard, and the three of them were playing very enthusiastically. Doesn't know how to play my foot. She hates the crate! Absolutely hates it. Barked all night. So I let her up on the bed for a while and she curled up next to me and went to sleep, but some nocturnal kitty play (which probably involved running over the dogs) woke her up and she wanted to participate so I put her back in the crate. After barking for 10 minutes, she finally settled back down and went to sleep for a couple of hours. Blizzard's napping in her crate, and Penny and Dolce are napping at my feet - maybe I could get a nap in, myself?

I don't think she's going to be hard to train - she's very attentive and observant. She's beginning to understand the "routine", or what there is of it, around here. She responds to my "come" sign, and I can see in her beautiful ice blue eyes that she's beginning to understand the "good girl" sign. She has obeyed "down", but I don't know yet if that's because she knows what it means or she was just ready to lie down when I gave the sign. She doesn't understand "sit" yet, so that's where I'll start.

I'll be taking her to Pet Parade (adoptions) on Sunday. I don't see any reason why she won't do well - as I said, I haven't seen any sign of the "fearfulness" J. described. I'm also taking Blizzard - the folks who are interested in adopting her will be coming to meet her. If they decide to take her (and they will - you can't help but fall in love with this sweet, cocky little clown), I'll be keeping her until March 1st. She can't go to her new home until about the 16th or 17th of this month (she's being spayed and having the hernia reduced on the 11th, and Dolce's going in for her spay at the same time) and the woman is going on a 2 week vacation on the 14th and doesn't trust her husband and step-son to stay on top of Blizzard's training while she's gone. Dolce will be available as soon as her sutures are removed. She's a really beautiful dog - her head, shoulders, and forelegs are white, but she has a copper colored patch that covers her right ear and eye. The right eye is also rimmed with black, giving her a very exotic look. Her back and sides are mostly dark brown and black - aussie coloring - but her hindquarters have quite a bit of that lovely copper coloring and her hind feet are white. Aussies have longer coats, but Dolce is quite short-haired. The fur on her back is a little longer and thicker, but it's not aussie-fluffy; more like a lab. From the back, she reminds me of my sis's Weim. And she moves like a Weim, too, with a light, springy, balls-of-the-feet gait. I'm wondering if she might be part Viszla - a dog that's similar in body style to a Weim but smaller and copper colored. Whatever the mix, she's a really beautiful dog and I'm happy to have her here.

Monday, 2/14 Happy Valentine's Day! The day got off to a good start - I got a call from the vet this morning that Mysz tested negative for coronavirus antibody titers. So I made an appointment to have her spayed on Wednesday. Later this afternoon, I took Blizzard in for her last "puppy" shot. She's good to go for a year, now.

Blizzard was so funny this morning - instead of sticking just her head into the shower, she climbed all the way in. I installed a hand-held shower attachment this weekend and Blizzard was in need of a bath, so I just wet her down and soaped her up since she was already in the tub. She was very well behaved after a brief initial struggle - didn't move a paw while I was working on her, and just stood at the other end of the tub looking out while I finished my own shower. She didn't get out of the tub until I'd dried her off and "called" her out. Then she put her left shoulder and ear to the floor, and zipped all over the house like that, switching occasionally to the right side. Too, too funny - that skinny little butt sticking up in the air, shoulder and head to the floor, doing big circles and figure-eights. Penny jumped up on the bench under the window and the cats jumped on top of anything they could find, just to stay out of Blizzard's way. French calmly sat in the middle of the living room floor, watching the speeding white torpedo with a bored look on his face. She didn't get anywhere close to him, either!

After she dried off a little more, I took her with me to run some errands - one of which was the stop at the vet's office. By the time we got home, she was pooped and hungry. I fed her and the other two, got them each a chew toy and got 'em settled down, then came in here did some site work. Things are pretty quiet for a while, so I don't notice Blizzard has disappeared. Hmmmm......not with Dolce and Penny, curled up at my feet. Not in the office, at all. Not in the bathroom, living room, or kitchen, either. Little stinker squeezed under the baby gate again, but I've learned my lesson and I take the garbage out immediately these days instead of stashing it in the back hall until I go out again. I went back into the bedroom and there she was - curled up with Bubba in the middle of the bed, both of them snoring to beat the band. And the camera was back in the living room, of course!

I bought a couple of crate pads this afternoon. I'd been using old blankets folded up. But they don't stay folded for long, they tear easily, and it's a pain to wash them since I have to hang them up somewhere inside to dry - it's just too darn cold (and recently too snowy) to hang them outside. But crate pads will be a lot easier - I can hang them both from the shower curtain rod. Now I just need to remember to close the crates when the dogs aren't in them so the cats don't pee on the pads the way they have on the blankets. *sigh*

I'm working on a new section - "The Rogues Gallery" (or maybe "Mug Shots") - a sort of photo album. I don't want to put too many pics on the bio pages or they'll take forever to load, but I have a lot of pics I like so I'm working on getting them set up into photo pages of 4-6 pics per page. Then when I get new pics I'll copy some of the current "Moments in Time" file into a photo album page. If you're interested in a sneak preview of the very rough work-in-progress, go to Photo Page 3. Yes, it starts on page 3 - I worked backward and put more files in pages 3-9 than I intended so pages 1 and 2 aren't done yet. And page 10 only has broken images because the pics referenced are still in the "new pics" section. I'm not sure these pics are going to stay on these pages, either. I'm trying to decide whether to do it chronologically or to have each page have a "theme". Like I said, a very rough w-i-p. If I get really ambitious, I might try frames in that section, so an index would always be available. I really should try to figure out how to put the audio console/controls into the pages with embedded midis, first.

I finally got a haircut the other day - it's a tad shorter than I'd expected, but it's a good cut and it works for me. But the grey is pretty apparent, now, so I got the stuff today and I'll color it in the morning. There was a new color in the brand I use; if it turns out the way it's supposed to, it should be the color I've been getting by mixing two different colors. I've been mixing two bottles of medium golden blond with one bottle of strawberry blonde, but trying to pour the mixture back into the little bottles has been a real pain. I hope this new color works; if I don't like it, at least it'll wash out in 24 shampoos. And I think I'm going to splurge and get the bottom half of my legs waxed - I really hate shaving (and in this house, I run out of hot water before I'm done), so I've gotten rather furry this winter. (But fur is still softer than stubble!) I've waxed them myself, but I make a big mess and it's tough to do with lots of noses on inspection patrol - that Sweet Simplicity stuff smells awfully good, and everybody wants to get a taste of it, whether from the jar, off the spatula, or off my legs. So I slap the strip down on top of the goop really quick, then the noses have to inspect that and I can't pull because they're in the way. One thing I miss about NYC is being able to walk up to the corner nail salon, without an appointment, and get my legs waxed and get a manicure and pedicure all for $30-33.

It's going to be a busy week. I have a couple appointments tomorrow, Mysz is being spayed on Wednesday, and Penny needs a bath on Wednesday because we have an "interview" on Thursday to be the pet therapy team to visit the pediatric ward at Sparrow Hospital. (This would be a good placement for Penny, I think.) And Friday, we have a therapy visit with the seniors; they'd like me to bring a cat with me this time, too, and I'm trying to decide who to take. I took Loverboy once, and though he wasn't unhappy to be cuddled and passed around, he wasn't thrilled either. If Mysz wasn't going to be recuperating from the spay, she'd be a perfect choice because she loves to be held and cuddled. Tika might be a good one. Mr. French might do well, too. Both are calm, solid kitties who enjoy attention. French makes less noise in the car.......

Wednesday, 2/16 It's been a long day. I was up early this morning to get Mysz in to the vet by 8:30 for her spay. Then I came home and let the dogs out, then popped Dolce into the car and ran some errands. I try to make some "private time" each day for each of the dogs. Penny loves to run errands. Blizzard just loves to go. It's impossible to keep her in the back of the car, though; I have to hook the leash over the trailer hitch and close the hatchback on it to keep her in the back. Dolce, on the other hand, was terrified to go anywhere near the car, so I've been trying to work on that by taking her with me often. She's gotten better - she doesn't try to back out of her collar any more when I open the hatchback, and will actually stand still and not try to get away when I go to pick her up to put her in. I suspect she was tossed from a car or was transported a lot - maybe from animal control to the shelter to the rescue group to her first foster home to me? So I try to take her along as much as possible. Even if it's just to the full-service gas station to get gas. (Yeah, it's a dime more a gallon. But I only put 4-5 gallons in at a time, and it's worth not pumping my own gas in this weather! Besides, the guys always have treats for the dogs!)

Then home for half an hour, and put Pen in the car and go do a "home check" on a potential adoptive home for a 13-week old deaf male Dogo puppy named Ben. It's probably a good thing I was playing with the girls - these folks have the biggest dog I've ever seen (well over 200 pounds - a Fila Brasiliero?) and he hates everybody except girl dogs. He liked me - he sniffed me thoroughly, rubbed his face on my legs and, at one point, was behind me and stuck his massive head through my legs (nearly knocking me over) to look up at me. His mom said to his dad "And he didn't even try to bite her!" And his dad said "Wow! I can count on one hand the people he likes!" Apart from this very tough dog (whom his owners understand and take precautions with - like locking him up when clients visit their home-based business), this would be a great home for a deaf Dogo. But a female deaf dogo. So we're still looking for a home for Ben. (The vet who spayed Blizzard might be interested - I sent her some pics and am waiting to hear back.)

A few more errands with Pen in the car, then home for a couple of hours. Then it was time to go get Mysz, so I popped Blizzard in the car for the "ride along". She's got the basic commands down, so it's time to start working on leash manners. I put the Halti collar (a head collar) on her Monday for the first time, so I put it on her again today and took her into the vet's office with me. The waiting room was full of dogs - from a massive black Great Dane (gorgeous young feller named Pete) to a 7-pound Shih Tsu - and Blizz had a blast saying hello to everyone. And she amused everyone there with her antics. They finally brought Myszka out to me, and home we went. So all the doggies had their car rides today. And they had a special treat today, too. One of my errands was the grocery store; I always check out the section of the meat case where they put soup bones, pork or beef neckbones, etc. Sometimes there are some interesting things there and today was one of those days - fresh pig ears!!! I only got one package (4 ears) because I didn't know how they'd go over. I think I'm gonna be sorry I only got that one package because Blizz and Dolce went wild for them and I'll bet the other packages will be gone when I go back tomorrow.

I'm glad Mysz is finally spayed. I was getting worried that she was going to go into heat any day, but I was afraid to put her through surgery if there was a chance it could precipitate her coming down with FIP. It's a huge relief that it's done and she's so chipper - I've never seen a kitten in such good shape after a spay. Dr. Lynn did a really nice job - I'll have to drop a thank-you card in the mail. And it's a relief to have all the spays/neuters complete, except for any dogs that I get to foster. My crew is done. Everybody who's gonna get shots already has 'em (again, except for the dogs' annual boosters which I'll only give them to satisfy the Therapy Dogs International, Inc. requirements) so, barring any emergencies, I think we're through with the vet for a while.

One of the receptionists asked me tonight if I'd colored my hair. I said yes, and that it was a little too red. She said "Oh, no! I was going to say how much I like it" and then a couple others joined in with "Me, too!". If a bunch of kids like it, I know it's too red! Oh well, at least it'll fade a little with each shampoo and I'll just have to go back to mixing colors again.

Tuesday, 2/29 Wow! Two weeks have just zipped by! Happy Leap Year!

I have been up to my ears with busy lately. Dolce did not get adopted at the last Pet Parade. Not only that, I brought another foster dogger home with me - Annie, a 10-month old Great Dane/Lab mix, who'd been rescued 3 months earlier as a bag of skin and bone. She needed a temporary place to stay, until her adoptive family could come get her. She was only supposed to stay until Tuesday, but on Tuesday one of the new family's kids broke a foot so they had to postpone coming to get her until Friday. Then, last Wednesday, I got a call from rescue that there was an intact (ugh!) 2-year old yellow lab male (River) who needed emergency housing until Friday. So for 2 days, I had five dogs here - *way* too many for this little house! The addition of River - who kept trying to hump my girls - was upsetting. He was as sweet and non-aggressive as they come, but his "maleness" sent Annie into a tizzy - she got nervous about her "status". I didn't see her hyperactivity for the un-ease it was; consequently, I was unprepared for what happened. I let Blizz out of the crate after an evening nap, she ran up to Annie to play (the way she had so many times before - Annie had chosen Blizzard as her preferred playmate). Annie, on edge, snapped at Blizz and caught the edge of her ear, ripping it. Blood all over the place. Annie was immediately apologetic, practically falling all over herself to make amends to Blizzard, licking the bleeding ear, Blizz's face, neck, legs - anything she could reach. Because it ripped the edge of the ear, I figured it needed stitches so, at midnight, I popped Blizz in the car and took her to the emergency vet. She ended up having to stay overnight, because they had to anesthetize her to stitch up the ear. She got 7 stitches, total - 5 on one tear, 2 on another. This whole thing was entirely preventable, and totally my fault. I'll know better, next time.

Blizzard, tough little cookie that she is, didn't even seem to notice the injury. Or the stitches. When I went to pick her up at 8 am (emergency vet is only open from 6 pm to 8 am - at 8 am patients are either picked up or transferred to a regular vet), she was laying on the floor on her back, back legs stretched out, front paws in a "begging" position, and the vet was sitting cross-legged on the floor next to her rubbing her belly. The receptionist told me the doc hadn't been able to leave her alone, and had cuddled and coddled her through the entire awakening process. My little girl has that effect on people. *grin* She had the same effect on the instructor at last night's first household obedience class - she was the only dog the instructor petted, and she mushed all over Blizzard. She hasn't come into contact yet with anybody who doesn't fall for her big time, on sight. And then she nuzzles up to them - or, if they bend down, she slurps all over their faces - and they're lost. *grin* She's just too cute for words.

The weather has been pretty nice here, lately. In the upper 40's to upper 50's. We've had a lot of rain, but yesterday and today were sunny and breezy - perfect weather for hanging out the wash. I did 7 loads yesterday, and 4 today. I have a lot of the necessities - sheets, towels, underwear, socks, etc. - so I can go a relatively long time before doing laundry. But I had this huge pile - that was getting larger by the day - of stuff that needed to be hung on the line. (I've been doing clothes as necessary, and hanging them from the shower curtain rod to dry. But I wanted to do sheets, and blankets, and crate blankets, and couch covers, and rugs - muddy rugs, at the rate of 2 a day! - that there just isn't enough room to hang inside.) I got a lot done, but there's still more to do. It's supposed to be rainy until tomorrow afternoon, then it's supposed to be clear but cold and windy. But it's gonna warm up again on Thursday, so I should be able to finish up all the lower-priority stuff I couldn't get to in the last couple of days.

I spent quite a bit of time outdoors today. I bought some lumber on Sunday to make some "agility" jumps, so I measured and sawed and drilled and screwed and hammered and got them made this morning. My design was almost perfect - in fact, when I was finished and set them up, I couldn't help vocalizing a "tee-hee!" in triumph - but then I realized that the uprights need brackets to stay upright. That's OK - I can get what I need pretty cheap at Home Depot, and the brackets should only take a couple of minutes to attach. I thought I'd "test" it with Blizzard - I made sure she knew I had treats, and ran her toward the jump. She didn't jump over, she just plowed into the bars, knocking them off the frame. *VBG* I should know better than to expect her to know what to do. We'll try it again Thursday or Friday.

I took Penny to the groomer this afternoon to get them to clip her nails (I can't even do it by sitting on her, but she'll sit like a perfect lady and let the groomer do it - well worth the $5.) I also had them trim her feet - the stuff that sticks up from the top of her paws, and the stuff from between the pads. Pen has her first visit to the pediatric ward on Monday, and I wanted to make sure she wouldn't hurt anybody with her paws. (Not that she'd dream of using her paws on kids, I'm just playing it safe.) When her paws are trimmed, she tracks a lot less mud, too, 'cause there aren't all those tufts to catch and hold the mud. (Blizz got a nail trim, too - she likes going for rides in the car (even though she gets carsick quite often) and, since I had her along for the ride, I figured I'd just let them struggle with her. Dolce, the foster, on the other hand, will lie quietly in my lap and let me trim her nails.)

The dogs got lots of "outside time" today - I was outside a lot, and there was always a dog with me. When we got home from the nail-trimming, I hooked Blizz up to the tether and let her out in the yard. Then I came in to check my e-mail, found out about Thumper (the deaf SAR dog who was stolen) and I jumped into "rescue high-gear". I completely forgot about Blizzard, out in the yard, and it had gotten dark. All of a sudden I thought "Aw, SPIT!!" and went running for the back door. Now, the first thing I look for in the dark yard is the tether line - it lets me know the general direction to look for the dog. The tether was close to the house. Hmmmmmm......... I went out and followed the line, and saw the sweetest thing! I had moved a black plastic garbage bag full of leaves I was composting (they rot good in a black garbage bag) to a corner where the fence meets the perpendicular fence of the dog run - it was out of the general traffic path, somewhere the tether wouldn't get caught underneath it. It was a little corner the dogs have never shown any interest in. Well, Blizzard had torn open the bag, made a nice cozy little nest in the leaves, and had curled up and gone to sleep. Now I know how her legs and belly got stained that pale gold color - from making a nest in leaves! Too sweet - I came back in for my camera and took a couple of pics before I gently woke her up to come in.

(Oh, Lord. I just went to refill my water glass, and found the Blizz asleep in my recliner with her tongue sticking out!! More great pics!)

I finally, finally got Pen's TDI stuff today - a collar tag, an ID card for me and her, and info about "titles" that therapy dogs can qualify for. (The AKC and other dog organizations have this endless list of acronyms that represent titles - tracking dog, utility dog, champion, and on and on and on - and, since deaf dogs aren't eligible to compete in AKC events (or those offered by many other dog organizations, either) they don't get to add these nifty acronyms after their names. You should see the list of titles some dogs have after their names! I sign my posts to the dog mailing lists with:
Nancy
Penny, CGC, TDI (Canine Good Citizenship certificate), (Therapy Dogs International-registered)
Blizzard, future agility champion of the world
The Feline Zoo

But now, based on number of visits (one "title" at 50 visits, another at 150), we have the opportunity to add some abbreviations after our names, too! I can't wait until our signature can read: Penny - CGC, TDI, TDIA, TDIAOV. Looks pretty impressive, eh?

Man, I hope Thumper comes home soon!

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