Rhett Arrives at Golden Pines

We round the corner to the end of what has been a hectic and busy week.  Carl has been out of town, and when he returned, we had out of town company. 

~Crossing the bridge to Maryland~

And, to make sure there was no extra spare time, we welcomed a new addition named Rhett.  He comes to us from the very distant town of Lynchburg Virginia.

Rhett is a very handsome and very big 12 year old boy that has been diagnosed with epilepsy.  From the rescue I received this information about his past life:

"Owner got Rhett from a friend who was unable to care for him. The previous owner got Rhett from a shelter and only had him about 6 months, Rhett had been in several homes before the previous owner - it seems like people didn’t know why he was having seizures and rather than trying to find out people gave him up."  

Rhett has been given to the rescue because his last owner is expecting a baby, and is unable to pay for his needed medications.  Unfortunately, one of the medications he's been taking did not come with him.  I am hoping that until we are able to have Rhett seen by the vet, he'll be okay, and he won't have any seizures.

~Eva meeting Rhett~

On the flip side, our dogs like Rhett.

Todd (below) of course has given his opinion of what he thinks about him...

But my attempts to keep Rhett away from our dogs so he could settle in, didn't work. Several times, I turned around and he was behind me.

I could see that he was okay with our crew, who are either too worn out from meeting new arrivals, or they are just used to newcomers.  Maybe it's both.

~The new girl Bailey, meeting the new boy, Rhett~

Either way, I am looking forward to the chance to get to know Rhett and have him as part of our lives. 

Not a Match for Max

Has it been a week already?  However many days it has been, its been enough for our newest addition, Bailey to get totally settled in.  She did great adjusting to her new schedule. And, even though she was a little nervous at the vet, Bailey charmed everyone there.

I got a phone call from a "perspective adopter" interested in meeting Max.  Despite that I didn't get a good vibe from perspective adopter, I overlooked it because on paper, perspective adopter seemed perfect.  So, we arranged a time to meet.

 We got to the park on time and we waited.............And we waited...

When we finally met, Max, who likes everyone, wanted nothing to do with perspective adopter.  I let them go for a walk together alone, but Max only wanted to come back to me. From a distance I watched the two together, and I just didn't feel like they were connecting.  The rest of our nearly 2 hour visit fell flat. When we parted, I told her we'd talk in a couple of days. But I decided to not wait and I let her know that evening that I felt that she and Max were not a match. I never heard back from prospective adopter, so I'm not sure if she agreed or not.  If she did or didn't, it was my choice to make.

So, onward through the week we've gone.  This little intruder found its way into our garage. I was so sure it was poisonous and its sole mission was to kill me and the dogs.  I was insisting that Carl "make it dead" but he refused and scooped it up and tossed it into the neighboring field.  It turned out to be a (non-poisonous) baby rat-snake, so I guess that was okay.

It was also okay that the rest of the week was quiet and uneventful.

That just doesn't seem possible with Todd around. 

Bailey Arrives at Golden Pines

We all know that life doesn't stop, even if you want it too.  Your heart keeps beating, and life somehow goes on. In the midst of Josh leaving us, another life was starting over.  On Sunday we welcomed a new addition named Bailey.

~Bailey on the ride home~

Bailey is 12 years old, and she tragically and sadly lost her owner last week.  She and several other dogs were left without a place to go.  The fiancee of her former owner wanted Bailey to be happy, so she turned her over to the rescue.

Bailey was a little nervous and tentative at first. But our dogs liked her right away and she's got the approval of Todd.

It hasn't taken long for Bailey's big personality to emerge.  She's affectionate, will bark when she wants something or for reasons that I can't quite figure out yet.  As I write this, she's snoozing at my feet.

I think these are all good signs!  I'm happy that this girl (with a spotted tongue) that once lived overseas for several years is settling in nicely in our little corner of Virginia.  

Kindness

~Josh, March 2011~

Thank-you all for your kind words and sharing Josh's loss. I realized yesterday that Josh was not the oldest dog we've lost, but he was the one we had the longest. Josh was a gentle soul.  He was also a  "pleaser" by nature, and (usually) did what we asked of him. But yesterday was his day and a day that was totally out of my control. It was a humbling place to be. Josh peacefully passed away on the front porch that he loved before the vet would arrive.

I wished I'd had another day off of work, but I didn't. It was a long day that ended with my having to go to the grocery store for a few things.  I really didn't want to go, but I had to, so I dragged myself there.

I hurried inside, quickly got the few things I needed and rushed to the checkout. I got into a little longer line because I saw my favorite cashier.  I'm not sure when "Nora" became my favorite cashier.  But every time I have been in her line, I have heard her compliment every customer she interacts with. I’ve liked watching the people light up as she finds something positive to say about them.  She has such a refreshing attitude and I love chatting with her.  I think Nora is an example to follow.

When it was my turn, she asked me how I was doing, noting that I was looking a "little tired." I told her that I was doing okay, and that I was just really worn out.  And then, she asked me how our dogs were doing. As you can guess, the loss of Josh is still pretty raw and I'm not at a point where I can just blurt out what happened to him. So, I replied with my usual answer that "the dogs were all present and accounted for when I left home this morning."  I think that Nora knew there was more to my answer. Because she stopped scanning my groceries, and said to me, "I know just the thing you need," and she rushed away.  I'll admit that I was a little confused and embarrassed because there were other people standing in line in back of me.  But when Nora came back she had a little pot of bright yellow mums in her hand, and said to me, "here's something to cheer you up, and they're on me!"

I know my mouth dropped open because I was so surprised by her unexpected kindness - And, through the sting of tears that have been so close to the surface all day, all I could say was "thank-you" over and over again.  I thought afterwards that I really hope Nora knows that her small gesture of kindness at a low moment made a difference, and is one I won't soon forget.

Remembering

While so many are remembering the events of September 11th, I mean no disrespect, but today, I am remembering our 15 years with Josh who will make his journey to the Rainbow Bridge later today.  I hope you will light your candle for him to find his way there, where I know he will have quite a greeting.  There are no words that can articulate the heartbreak or say how much Josh will be missed.  

God speed to my "Missta-Jay."

The Right Day

Back to the groomers on the right day.  Todd as always was happy to be home

Charlie was worn out afterwards because he had a little more of a workout.

He has a very dense, thick coat and doesn't shed, and it doesn't mat or tangle until it's really grown out. The groomer was looking over Charlie's coat as we were catching up and my heart sank when she found what looked like a dead flea - Now nothing strikes fear in my heart more than a flea, including a dead one because they may have friends - But the groomer called me after she'd bathed both Charlie and Todd to tell me that she found no live or dead fleas on either dog - But I still spent a couple of hours doing "preventative" cleaning just in case. I did have to grin that despite Charlie's thick and dense coat, the groomer had so easily (and hopefully!) found the one and only dead flea on him -- I guess that's how good she is!

~The look on the faces of Eva & Charlie made me laugh~

Finally, Josh's bucket list got another check. With a 3 day weekend last week, Josh got to do something he's never done, and that was to go camping.  What's a better thing to do than sit around a camp-fire with good friends, toast marshmallows and enjoy a good s'more?  Well, okay, I enjoyed the s'more, and Josh enjoyed a marshmallow.    

Lucky Dogs!

I rounded the corner to a long weekend with a planned day at the groomers for Todd and Charlie. Because of Todd's injury to his neck, I'd delayed his appointment to make sure everything is healed. I raced to get everyone fed wondering why I'd made their appointment for 9 AM?  I arrived just after nine o'clock to a surprised groomer, who was not expecting me - Until next week.  She graciously offered to take one of the dogs, but not both because she was working alone.  I opted to just wait until next week.  I don't think Charlie minded at all.

I'm sure if I'd asked Todd, he would have agreed with Charlie.

Later in the afternoon it was time to check something off Josh's bucket-list.  He has had a good and active life. In his younger days, he loved going for walks, sleeping on our bed and as you can see in the video below from 2012, chasing frisbee was a favorite game.

All of this was possible because of a well funded rescue and a good and talented orthopedic surgeon. So, Josh's bucket-list began with a visit to Dr. W who did his surgeries in 2002. Dr. W said it wasn't very often that he got to see dogs that he did surgery on so long ago.  Dr. W is someone who doesn't like the spotlight.  But there was a smile and quiet pride about him during our visit, and he seemed quite pleased to see Josh again after all these years.  We feel very lucky to know Dr. W., who also did Max's surgery this past year.  And I think that Josh has been lucky too.