Wednesday, 11/1 All Souls' Day. I've been thinking about the cats and kittens I lost last year, and missing them. It was a year ago today I woke up to find that Tinkerbelle had passed on in her sleep, curled peacefully on the kitchen table. Oh, what an ugly little kitten she was! But even then her sweet, sassy personality shone through, and she grew into one of the loveliest cats I've ever seen. I miss her.

Gruffydd is beginning to relax a little, but he's still very clingy. He just can't get close enough, and keeps pressing himself into me every chance he gets. Poor boy. I started giving him Kava Kava yesterday, and that seems to be helping - he's not quite so nervous any more. He sure is a beautiful boy; I hope the right home for him comes along soon. He needs to be somewhere he can get all the attention he needs. I've contacted setter rescue, but haven't heard back from them yet.

The weather has been unseasonably warm here. Today it's in the upper 60's and sunny - a really beautiful day. I've been rotating dogs out and in since I got up this morning so they can all enjoy the beautiful weather. I have to go errand running in a bit, and will take Gruffydd along for the ride. He really enjoys riding in the car, and is very well behaved. He's almost stopped marking; once he's neutered, that should stop altogether. And I think neutering will help with the nervousness, too - a little less "drive", so to speak.

November. I can't believe how fast the year is passing. I feel like it's zooming past me while I sit at a standstill.

I made another batch of soap Monday night. I tried the marshmallow soap again, and this time stirred it long enough to trace. It came out really nice, and should make great Christmas presents. I got a call that the 50-pound tub of palm oil I ordered is in; I'll pick that up this afternoon and ask them if they can order coconut oil for me, too. I've found a base recipe I really like that's coconut oil, palm oil, and sunflower oil. Makes a really nice hard almost-white bar that's skin conditioning and makes great fluffy lather. It should take color well. I may make another batch again later today, and split it in half and color/scent each half differently. I picked up some hyacinth fragrance oil the other day; I think that would be nice with a pale purple soap. Haven't decided what I'll do with the other half, yet.

Monday, 11/6 I did litterboxes first thing this morning. All of them. Emptied them out, scrubbed them, and refilled them. I picked up a couple of "plastic grass" mats at Home Depot the other day to put under the boxes to trap scatter; this morning I cut one to fit the curve in the end of the tub so it sits flush against the wall and the tub. Put the box on top and walked out. 5 minutes later I hear vigorous scratching in there and went in to find Blizzard tinkling in the box. I'd found several very large urine clumps in the bathroom box recently and had been wondering which cat was holding it so long. Now I know.

Gruffydd is getting so much calmer. He's stopped marking and has been very well behaved when I've allowed him the run of the house. He sticks pretty close, so he's always in the same room with me and I can keep an eye on him. I got some great pics of the 3 dogs on the bed last night and took those in this morning to be developed and printed. The machine at CVS is acting up again (so what else is new?) but I'm really hoping to get them back this afternoon. I hope the pics came out good.

I have so much work to do today, and I just don't feel like doing it. Gotta scrub the kitchen floor, shampoo the livingroom and hallway carpets, and I've got to get the laundry room cleaned out and scrubbed. My dad's going to hook up my dryer tomorrow so I've got to get everything out of his way. I have a ton of cans to be returned; I'll do that late tonight, when the store's pretty empty. What I don't get taken care of today I'll just put out in the dog run until I get a chance to take them back tomorrow.

I can't find my dang voter registration card, so I don't know where I need to go to vote. I'll ask Bill or Shirley later; if I don't see them I'll have to call the clerk's office and find out.

Gruffyd goes in for his neuter tomorrow. That'll be a relief. I think that will help settle him down - he gets a little er...stimulated sometimes, without any obvious trigger for that stimulation. He'll be lying quietly in the crate one minute, and the next he's on his feet dancing wildly trying to reach his testicles. I think getting rid of the testosterone ought to really help this lad. He is so sweet, and I'm beginning to see a bit of playfulness in him finally. Saturday morning, when I let him out of the crate, I said "Let's go outside!" like I always do. This time, instead of bouncing around all over the place, he rushed past me toward the back door, slid on the linoleum, scrambled like mad to upright himself, and was sitting there grinning at me, tail wagging wildly when I got there. The look on his face cracked me up: "I got it, I got it!! I know that I go outside when I come out of the crate - I got it!!" He's also become quite good about going into the crate; "kennel up!" with a little tug on his collar, and he goes in without protest. He's learning "leave it". He's got "sit" and "here". He's learning "down". "Stay" is going to be a tough one with this dog - he has to be close, and won't let me move more than 2 feet away before he gets up and follows me. He's very smart and learns very quickly. Very, very nice dog.

OK, enough sitting. Gotta get something done.

Monday, 11/13 Brrrrrrr! The cold weather has moved in with a whoosh! High of 40 degrees today, and nasty rainy too. My poor muddy floors.

Took Gruffydd in to be neutered last Tuesday and when I dropped him off they put him on a kennel lead and handed me back the leash. I hung it around my neck - it's a habit - so I could have my hands free to finish his paperwork. Left there, stopped at MickeyD's for breakfast, then went to vote. Couldn't figure out why everyone was looking at me until after I was done voting and leaned over to hand my ballot to a woman sitting in a folding chair and the clasp of the leash hit the leg of the chair with a clang. Then I cracked up - snickered all the way out the door.

Mom and Dad came down to hook up my dryer. It's been so long since I used it (it just sat in the spare room in Queens for 8 years because I didn't have a hookup for it) that I honestly thought it was a gas dryer and needed to have a flex-tubing connection installed in the gas line to hook it up. Well, it turns out the damn thing is an electric dryer! I couldn't plug it in, though, because the plug was a different shape than the receptacle, so we took a trip to Home Depot to get the correct plug and Dad wired the new plug to the dryer. He'll have to do a little fine-tuning with it the next time he comes down because it only gets warm not hot, but it gets warm enough to get stuff dried which is all I really care about. I can't even begin to describe how happy I am to pull clean sweats out of the dryer and have them free of cat hair! Hanging them on the line doesn't remove the cat hair and other fuzz, but the dryer does. =) I am a happy, happy woman.

Mom was sitting on the sofa when Pookah poked her head out of the lampshade where she hides out and crawled onto Mom's lap and started purring. Mom was enchanted. They both got a big kick out of the cats using the damaged, discarded lamp shade as a kitty teepee.

I had to go to my sis's on Friday to spend the night in preparation for the surprise 80th birthday party we were throwing for Dad on Saturday. I putzed around here most of the day then started getting ready to go. One of the last things I did before I hopped in the shower was scoop and fill litterboxes. Halfway through my shower, heard a dog scratching in the litterbox again. I pulled the curtain aside to look, and there was Blizzard curled up in the litterbox. Not even lengthwise, which would have been a better fit, but sideways. I stood in the shower shrieking with laughter and she just looked up at me with the sweetest look on her face.

We had a great party on Saturday. Dad really was surprised, and touched to see his entire family there - not just his sis and us kids (and grandkids), but his nephews too. It's been a long time since we were all in the same place at the same time. My cousin Jack had been in New Zealand, and came straight to the party from the airport. We kids chipped in together and got Dad a gift certificate to La-Z-Boy so he can get himself the perfect chair. (He spends a lot of time in his recliner, he might as well be comfortable!) He looks pretty good for an 80-year old, dontcha think?

l-r, Fred, Dad, and Jack

It's nice to visit, but it's nicer to come home again. The kitties missed us (yes, they missed the dogs, too) and were happy to have us home. Happy to have the dish refilled, too. Little piggies. They missed me though, they did - I was literally covered in kitties when I woke up this morning, 4 on my chest/shoulders, 2 on my legs, 2 tucked into the side of my legs, one on either side of my head, and Mr. French tucked in between Blizzard and Penny. It makes it hard to get up - I just want to stay in bed and cuddle all day.

Monday, 11/20 The server this site is hosted on has been very, very slow recently, and has been inaccessible for editing most of this last week. I've been unable to get in here to do any updating. I'd really like to move the site, but there are so many people who've linked to it or who have the addy to specific pages (the "Raising Orphans" or the "Deaf Dogs Resources" pages, for example) that I don't want to screw everyone up. I really need to put it all under my own domain name; that way, wherever it's hosted, the URL will remain the same.

Gruffydd is coming along very well. He makes me smile. He's so sweet and eager to please, and he's gaining more self-confidence each day. I took the pups out to Chris's on Friday afternoon for a good romp, and Gruffydd recognized and reciprocated play invitations for the first time - he played with Penny, he played with Blizzard, and he played with the Weims. All I could do was stand there grinning from ear to ear. He's much more relaxed in the house, too, and goes venturing about on his own now. He doesn't need to be right next to me any more. He's relaxed and happy and, since he got his rabies vaccination on Thursday, he's ready to go to a new home. A local rescue group has posted his picture and description on their webpage, and I'm hoping he'll be adopted soon. (Actually, I'd like to keep him a little longer but he's ready to go and I need to have a couple of foster-less weeks so my girls get a break. We've had a foster for the last 6 weeks straight and they need some time with just us.)

I did a short transport run yesterday with a 2-year old chocolate lab mom and her eight 4-week old mixed-breed pups. Very nice girl, adorable pups. Same old story I've heard a million times - kept the dog tied up outside, wanted to breed her once to another chocolate lab in town, stray dog impregnated her, they didn't want her or the pups any more. They were all very undernourished - her milk had already dried up and the pups were skinny. At least they're now in a caring foster home where they'll get the food and love they need, and they'll be adopted out to carefully screened homes.

I'm very unhappy with the Dogo Argentino Club of America. I sent a letter this morning resigning my membership and asked that Blizzard's pictures and story be removed from their website. This all started last week when I received a posting on one of my rescue e-mail lists about a young female Dogo in a kill shelter in Wooster, OH whose time was running out. (This is only a couple of hours away from me, and mere minutes away from the DACA rescue chairwoman.) I forwarded the e-mail on to her, and noticed that someone had also posted this dog on the DACA message board. The post read: "There is a cute, little girl with a fabulous temperament, who I am told by the shelter worker in Wooster, Ohio, who I have worked with many times and trust completely, that will go to Rainbow Bridge on Tuesday if we cannot find someone to take her in, to rescue her, or to adopt her. We have been trying to find someone to take this little girl, to save her, for two weeks now, and her time is running out quickly." When I saw the follow-up post from the DACA rescue chair, I flipped. Her response was "Quite aware of the dogo in Wooster, Ohio. We IDed her as a dogo as her picture made the rounds on several rescue lists as a Pittbull. Unfortunately, what everyone fails to mention about this dogo is that she is deaf. Our club does not rescue deaf dogos. We do not have any adoption applications requesting deaf dogos. Nor do we have the long term facilities to house deaf dogos an indefinite amount of time until someone feels competent enough to take on the commitment of a LIFE LONG challenge of a deaf dog." They know I have deaf dog rescue contacts. They know I belong to the deaf dogs mailing list and could have posted her to the list. They know where I live and that I would have been willing to foster this dog. They'd known about this dog for two weeks and hadn't bothered to tell me about her, preferring to allow her time to run out and have her euthanized rather than allowing me to help her either personally or by putting out information about her to my rescue lists. I'm furious.

I know this woman personally. She knows my dogs - both Penny and Blizzard - and loves them. But I know how she feels about deaf dogs - the first time I met her she told someone else that deaf pups should be destroyed as soon as it is determined they are deaf. I was standing right there, holding Blizzard's leash at the time. I was shocked. I didn't think the sentiment ran so deeply that she'd allow a temperamentally sound, healthy dog to die rather than allow someone to help her simply because she was deaf, however. I do not wish to be a member of a club that advocates the killing of deaf dogs, whether directly by destroying deaf pups or through inaction by allowing a deaf dog in a shelter to be destroyed. I'm still so angry I can't see straight.

There's a big dog show coming up a week from Friday here in Lansing. I need to get Penny in to be groomed (not going to take a chance on grooming her myself and butchering it again - I want her to look especially nice). I plan on attending the show all 4 days, and I'll be taking Penny with me. I'll also be wearing my "Share Your Life With A Deaf Dog" t-shirt all 4 days. (I have 4 of them. *grin*) I will be sure to take her around and introduce her to the ES owners/breeders who will be there. They, too, usually destroy deaf pups. Penny is the best example I know of why that policy is so very wrong. I met a breeder there last year whose dog won Best of Opposite Sex in the ES breed competition at Westminster this last spring. She was very interested in Penny at the time and asked if I'd be interested in coming to the National Specialty Show and doing a demonstration with Penny. I never heard back from her after that; I want her to see with her own eyes what can be done with a deaf dog. Maybe - just maybe - we can wrangle an invitation to next year's Specialty.

The weather here has been horrible. Unseasonably cold, and we've already had snow - pretty unusual in these parts until after Thanksgiving. I have the heat off in my bedroom because I don't want to be breathing hot dry air all night and because my bedroom isn't especially well-insulated and it would cost me an arm and a leg to keep the temperature up in there. Consequently, it's been pretty darn cold in there at night recently. I've tried different combinations of blankets/comforters and finally found something that kept me warm enough, but 1) it was really heavy and 2) when the dogs lie down next to me their weight pulls the blankets down. I had a gift certificate from Penney's that I needed to use before it expired, so I stopped by there yesterday to pick up a couple of new pillows. They had down comforters on sale, so I got one. Oh boy, I was so nice and toasty warm last night! With just the one covering, I can pull it up even with the weight of the dogs on it so I can get the covers up over my shoulders. I had more feline company on the bed last night than I usually have, and today the bed is covered with napping cats. (I just checked, and there are nine of them napping in there at the moment!) They seem to appreciate the warmth of the down, too. =)

Saturday, 11/25 Well, I took the anger I felt about DACA and did something positive with it this week. I reserved a domain name - deafdogs.net - and found a web host to put the Deaf Dogs Adoption Network (DDAN) on. (I'll probably eventually move this site there, too, to another domain name I have registered - catatonic.net. This way, if I decide to change servers, the addy will remain the same and nobody will have to change any links.) What I'd like to do with DDAN is keep a list (updated daily, if I can) of all deaf dogs available, with locations and contact names/numbers/e-mails. I'll send the addy out to every rescue group I can find. Eventually, I'd like to start contacting breeders of dog breeds known to have problems with genetic deafness and ask them to list deaf pups on the site rather than euthanizing them. I've also contacted several organizations for Deaf people, outlined what I want to do, and asked them if they'd be interested in "partnering" with me on this - linking from their websites, helping publicize it, etc. I think there's an untapped wealth of homes for deaf dogs with Deaf people - who better understands that "Deaf Does Not Equal Disposable"? I've gotten very enthusiastic responses back. I have a Dogo breeder friend who had a deaf pup in his last litter; rather than euthanizing her as everyone advised him to do, he patiently evaluated a number of homes until he found just the right one for this precious baby. The adopters are so thrilled with her that they're looking for another deaf Dogo pup. This friend has some ideas too - I'll get in touch with him on Monday and hear what he's got in mind. There are homes for these deaf dogs, each and every one of them. Maybe I can help put dogs in need in contact with adoptive homes.

Tuesday night a post came through to one of the rescue lists I'm on about a puppymill up near where my folks are, asking if anyone could help get 4 little dogs the woman was giving away. They've been living outside, and the weather has been very cold. Poor little babies. Since I was going to be at Mom and Dad's anyway for Thanksgiving, I offered to go by and pick them up. The conditions there weren't as bad as I was expecting them to be, though they were bad enough. As late as last year, this woman had 90 dogs there - mostly unaltered pets people wanted to get rid of or strays she'd found. She's breeding some purebreds (mostly Chihuahuas) but also breeding mixed-breeds too! There aren't that many dogs there now, but I'll bet there are still 30 little dogs inside the house - mostly Chihuahuas (or as the lady said, "Chee-wow-wows", some of which she cross-breeds with "Datsuns"), though I did see a Pomeranian, a Poodle, and a Shar Pei too. There were also 4 bigger dogs outside - I just didn't have room for any of them in the car, and none of the rescues could take them on at the moment anyway. At least the bigger dogs are better able to withstand the cold, and they all had straw-filled dog houses, fresh water, and food, so it could have been worse. Anyway, after she'd rounded up the 4 males I was there to get she said, "You're such a nice girl - I'll give you Mama, too!". What was I supposed to do, say no? So Mama dog got stuffed into a carrier with another little guy and I left there with 5 little ones in cat carriers. There was barely enough room in the back of the car for Blizz and Penny, and I had Gruffydd in the passenger seat in front, squeezed in between the seat back and my clothes/dog dishes/leftovers Mom sent home which were on the floor and stacked up to the top of the dashboard on that side. There wasn't room for a mouse in the car, much less the 3 kittens she tried to give me too. (I'm trying to get someone to get them out of there and get them down here, or at least closer to me.)

I came home, got the girls and Gruffydd settled in, called the rescue person (Cheryl), and headed off to the vet with the little ones. Cheryl met me there. All 5 got examined, wormed, blood drawn for heartworm tests, two got distemper boosters that were overdue, and everybody got nails clipped. (Poor Buster had nails so long I'm surprised he was able to walk.) When I went out to the reception area to put the carriers back together (we'd taken them apart to get the dogs out) and Cheryl went to the reception desk to get Frontline and settle up the bill, those poor little dogs peed all over the exam room - when we went back in there the floor was awash, literally not a dry spot anywhere. So, not only were they the filthiest little dogs I've ever seen, they then were pee-soaked filthy dogs. When I came home, I came in and got the sink and counters cleared off, got a big stack of towels, diluted some lemon Joy, then went out to the car and got my first victim - Buster. Took off his brown collar and dropped it into a bucket of hot water and laundry detergent, and soaped and rinsed him twice. Gee, he wasn't dark brown and yellow after all, he was liver and white! Got him dried off and into the large crate in the living room and went out for my next victim. Took off his brown collar and dropped it in the bucket, and he got soaped and rinsed twice too. Repeated this procedure twice more, then attacked the collars with a scrub brush. Only one of the 4 collars was actually brown - the other 3 were orange, green, and light blue. You would not believe the color of the water in the bucket - it was almost black it was so dirty. From 4 little collars. You can just imagine how bad the dogs were. They're still not clean, but they won't get another bath until Tuesday because I Frontlined them all.

It was a fun day today. At first, I let them all out of the crate with belly-bands on to keep them from marking, but they managed to do it anyway and I just couldn't watch all 4 at once so I put them all back in again and let them out one at a time. This afternoon it was pretty warm - mid 40's - so I put them all out in the dog run for an hour to get some exercise. At least they weren't stuck in the crate all day. They're very good with the cats - said hello then left them alone. The cats aren't the least bit put off by them, either - Bubba walked right into the crate with 2 of them just to say hello. Heck, he's bigger than one of them and as big as the other one that was in there at the time. Tomorrow, they all go to adoptions and then either Bandit or his mama (who went home with Cheryl yesterday) will be picked up there and transported to another rescuer about an hour away. The rest will come back here with me, or we might switch out one for a Pom mix they want me to temperament test. (Yeah, sure, like I really know what I'm doing with temperament testing. Oh well, if he can get along here, he can get along just about anywhere. The only testing I can't do here is kids.)

I was contacted by English Setter rescue in Illinois today about Gruffydd - they are going to send the info about him to 3 people who've contacted them and I have to screen them. If I approve of any of them, ES rescue will do a home check. This is going to be tough - I really don't want to let him go! I keep hoping one of my friends who've expressed an interest in him will be able to take him before I have to give him up to someone I don't know. The home here in town would be the best, but I could let him go to my friend in NY too, if she's ready. I'll have to e-mail her early next week and see how her move into her new home went and if she thinks she might be ready to take him within a month or so. He's such a good boy, so dear. He really deserves a home where he'll be the center of attention, though, instead of having to share his people with another dog or dogs. You know, he loves to ride in the car so much I'd almost like to find a trucker to take him - I know that lots of truckers have travelling companion canines, and they really take good care of those dogs. I'll bet that lifestyle would suit Gruffydd really well. I may just find some trucker message boards to post him to.

Wednesday, 11/29 Geez, the end of November already.

Mama dog got adopted on Sunday afternoon. Normally they don't go home with adopters from adoptions - there needs to be a reference check and a home visit first, but the lady was so anxious to take her home and she lived close by, so someone ran and did a home check and they were able to get a vet reference, so Mama went home with her new family that day. (Single mom schoolteacher and quiet, well-behaved 9-year old boy.) Bandit and Willie went home from adoptions with other fosters, leaving me with just Buster and Ringo. But those two little pee-monsters were plenty. And Buster has enough testosterone for a dog 4 times his size. The woman who was supposed to bring me the pair of kittens on Sunday didn't do it. She was going to have them dropped off where she works on Monday and I was supposed to meet her after work to get them. She called late in the afternoon to say she was too tired to do any driving around and besides two more kittens from the same litter had been turned in that morning and she didn't know if I wanted all of them. Of course I didn't, but I'd have fostered them and gotten the local cat rescue group to cover their expenses and let me bring them to adoptions. She said she couldn't do it yesterday either, but would do it today. OK, 4 kittens, I need another crate - I've got 3 and I've got Gruffydd in one, and Buster and Ringo in one each since Buster picks on Ringo in the middle of the night and they need to be separated. So I stopped by the feed store and picked up another folding crate.

This morning started off really bad and the day hasn't gotten much better. I got up early, took Buster and Ringo to the vet to be neutered. Came home and made a pot of coffee, poured the first cup, opened the new quart of half and half I picked up last night, and poured. It came out in chunks. Yuck. Fortunately, I'd also bought regular milk; that had to substitute for half and half this morning. Still, I'm not a happy camper without a full pot of coffee lightened with half and half.

Then I got an e-mail from the woman who was going to bring the kittens - one of the kittens died suddenly as did an adult cat, and the Animal Control shelter euthanized every cat in the cat pen and disinfected the place. Those poor, poor babies. All of them. I'm sick about the whole thing.

I think I'm approaching burnout on the rescue front. Too many animals needing help, to few resources. A couple that's moving, and going to euthanize their 15-year old cocker - arthritic, incontinent. OK, but they're going to euthanize her 4 year old companion as well - "if we're going to do one, we might as well do them both." A beagle that didn't hunt, so the farmer was going to take him "out behind the barn". 3 Lab mix pups found in a plastic bag in a trash barrel. 5-year old Irish Wolfhound - Dad says they have to downsize their pet population. 4-month old Lab mix and a purebred German Shorthair Pointer being held for a Class B dealer - probably destined for research labs. And this is just part of what came through on the list today. Sometimes I wonder what happened to the "humane" in humanity. I keep reminding myself of the starfish story - "it matters to this one" - and I know that I'm helping the dogs in my custody, but sometimes I wonder how much it matters in the greater scheme of things. You know, if it would just stop raining/snowing so the ground would dry up and I wouldn't have to deal with 5 sets of muddy paws 4 times a day, and if I hadn't had my first hot flash yesterday, and if my sinuses weren't acting up again, I could probably handle things a lot better than I'm handling them at the moment.

Oh well, the little boys are home and sleeping (in the same crate), I got an inquiry about Buster today, and Ringo is starting to come out of his shell. (He's really a little sweetie, and will make someone a delightful companion.) Maybe I'll feel better after a good night's sleep. A bottle of bad wine hasn't helped any, but at least it'll put me to sleep.

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