Freddie is surrounded by babies! We (I) brought back Sophie, Sebastian, and Sam yesterday to be spayed/neutered and brought home these sweeties. Sophie has already been adopted by Ursula’s Girl Scout leader and is officially ensconced as the Princess of the home. It will be fun to watch her grow and be loved. Usually we just bring them back and pray. This one has a known forwarding address!
They match! Sam has returned from his stay at the shelter for observation. He hopped right up with Merlin and snuggled. How cute! Tom thinks that Sam thinks that he “matches” Merlin. Can cats see in color? Hmm….
I woke up this morning at 5:30 by what I thought was Daisy jumping on me and licking my face. I thought that was really odd because she was supposed to be in her crate. It took a few moments of serious and collected thinking to realize that I had been dreaming. Yet it was so real that I was shaken for a good portion of the day. She seemed happy, excited, and eager to interact. She didn’t seem the least bit dead.
I am going to interpret this as a visit from the Rainbow Bridge to let me know that she was there and ok. Call me crazy, or wishful, maybe even just hopeful, but I feel a connection was made. Rest in peace, beautiful creature. I hope Heaven is full of red balls and strong squeaky toys. If, by some freaky stroke of luck she is still alive, she was honing in on my brainwaves with some fierce canine telepathy.
I would be remiss if I didn’t note the caliber of the human forces fighting to save Daisy. A lot of people saw tremendous potential in her, and a vision of how things could be different for her. I was struck by the irony of the deep commitment of wonderful people, and how there are so many (human) children in this country/world that don’t have one hundredth of the resources that she had. How the world could be different, not just one dog or one cat at a time, but concurrently, one child at a time.
This is Sophie. She has two brothers with us, Sam and Sebastien. We are fostering them for 2 weeks for the SPCA. I will post pictures of them soon. It is quite healing to have little sweet creatures running around again. A distraction really, as I am not the biggest cat person. How is it that I live in a house full of them (sigh). Cat-lovers that is, not cats. Dogs are so much cooler.
This is lettuce and spinach for our first salad. (Oh, um, best not to tell the kids about the spinach – they picked out all of the mushrooms and thought that was all they had to worry about for “unapproved” items). We also had our own huge, fat radish. Soon to come: celery, carrots, and tomatoes. We can make our own dressing, and Ursula points out, our own croutons, from our own bread, from our own wheat…
It was yummy! They all came from our 3 x 3 raised bed. I also have two other containers started, and will probably start one a week for a while to ensure a steady supply. This was too good!!
We got them today for two weeks. I couldn’t go in the dog room knowing that Daisy is in another dog room. I was too sad. I briefly stepped into the puppy room so Ursula could show me some pups, but that was sad too. I’ll stick to kitties for the next two weeks.
Remember how I said that I had none of Freddy’s or Tom’s socks in my collection? Well, my entrepreneurial male child has a new scheme. He wants to be “paid” for all things that one might be “paid” for, in socks! He says that he is starting a sock collection (of the girl’s socks) and will use them for barter to his advantage. He is now competing with me in scouring the house to add to our collection (I didn’t see this coming).
But wait, there’s more. He is willing to do things to get socks, including eating, um, unsavory items a la “The Amazing Race”. Yesterday he tried hummus, and showed me his empty mouth for a pair of Ursula’s socks. Tonight he ate a whole serving of Tuna Noodle Casserole (which was delicious) for a pair of socks. He mowed the lawn, for a pair of socks.
The next twist is the urgency for which he needs them. It seems that Ursula found his missing scriptures and she is willing to fork them over, for a price…yup, socks. She wants four pairs. I am allowing this to go on because it is rather amusing and something I never anticipated. And the amount of socks just lying around has plummeted, the overall desired effect, so hey I’m cool.
Bubbles got an unanticipated gift of money from Grandma. What was the first thing she wanted to go buy: SOCKS!!
This portrait was taken by Grace as Daisy plopped herself down to savor her favorite toy, the Red Ball.
And here is the video clip shot by me, Zelda. http://www.youtube.com/v/U2CRyvlpXKg
Last night our story with Daisy took a tragic turn. It is not over yet but it doesn’t look good for her.
The guy came to pick her up to go to her temporary foster home. We did the paperwork and put her stuff in the car and I went to get her. I chose to have him meet her outside because I thought she would feel less threatened. I told him that she was not going to be happy to meet him. He took off his baseball cap and waited by his car hatch.
I brought her out and she got all barky, but not like I’ve seen her before. She wagged her tail and seemed curious. I approached slowly, all still seemed good. She sniffed him and he raised his hand up as if to pat or greet her and she bit him. On the hand. It wasn’t really clear to me that he was hurt until he raised his hand. The wound looked just like Merlin’s nose, only on his hand. I took her back inside, Ursula crated her. I got our first aid kit and covered his wound.
Eventually, after some phone calls, he said that she would have to stay with us for now and gave me back her stuff. He said that someone would be in touch with us. He left.
We were all stunned. That is a major understatement. “Stricken” comes closer. This poor guy comes to pick up Daisy and do a good thing, and she bites him. She, on the other hand, seems terrified and protective when it comes to strangers.
Long story short, at 9:15, the animal control guy rings the bell. It never occurred to me to call the police to report it. I guess maybe because I’ve never had this ever happen. The cop says that the Dr. called the dispatcher to report it and they had to quarantine her for 12 days. From there it gets more grim. The Rescue guy called and said that they would not take her back, we should have her be put down. The cop heard the phone call. He really wanted to help and you can tell he is one of those guys with a passion for animals. We all just stood there looking at each other. Then the phone rang again and it was a lady from the rescue saying she was taking over. She said she will have Daisy evaluated and asked me to ask the cop if this was ok. He was fine with that.
He allowed me to muzzle her and put her in the truck. She never had the stress of being dragged out or even knowing that he was there. He let me say good bye. I felt like Judas tricking her into the cage. There was a crumb of her favorite treat in my pocket. I let her whiff it and put it in there. I looked down and realized I was wearing the same shirt that I was wearing when Lily died.
She made so much progress with us and had so much love. I know that will be with her no matter what the outcome. I went to the shelter today and brought her favorite toys, including her special red ball. I thought they might help keep her stimulated. I didn’t see her because I didn’t want her agitated by my presence. Freddy was with me and I sent him out when the boss cop wanted to talk “reality”. His point was that she has now bitten an animal and a human. She is unadoptable from their perpective. Both of them said that she might be well managed by a Level 3 dog trainer, but they just don’t exist for practical purposes where we live. They said that she might have been abused before she was turned in initially and that they can’t rationalize “why” an animal exhibits a certain behavior. They need to consider public safety etc.
Back at home, the cats have come out of hiding, Merlin is looking for her and we are so sad. I have clip of her playing with her ball. I will post it tomorrow.
