The Three Fosters

Two vet visits were on the schedule this past week. 

The first one was for Iva for a thyroid recheck. I'll admit to being a bit nervous about this because this appointment would also involve her being weighed. I was feeling pretty guilty because I had kind of fallen off the weight-loss wagon with Iva this summer and now it was time to face the scale.  The news wasn't too bad, Iva has lost 2 pounds over the summer. And now I've gotten a renewed focus and determination to get her back on her journey to lose weight. 

~Iva~

The second visit was to the ophthalmologist with Marley. The drive there takes just more than an hour, and just as we did the first time, we got there in plenty of time, even though I left a little later.

Its easy for me to see that Marley's eyes are not nearly as red or 'goopy' as they were initially. But it's good to have the Vet look at them to agree and make it official. Thanks to the medication, he's producing some tears in both eyes - His left more than the right. It's slow progress, KCS or dry eye didn't happen all at once, it's a chronic issue - But Marley will have another recheck in 3 months, that I'm hopeful will be even better news for him. 

~Marley waiting for the ophthalmologist~

Since we have 3 foster dogs for the rescue, it didn't seem right to not somehow included Lily in the weeks events. That was actually easy - I was reminded that Lily had a birthday. She was turning 12, so at the end of the week, we got to celebrate.  

~Birthday girl, Lily - now 12 years old! ~

I bought a cookie that was of course shared with the other dogs. Lily, being Lily didn't mind sharing.

~Lily: Is that for me?!~

It's an honor to have gotten to know Lily these past 5 months and celebrate her 12th birthday. Her sweet, gentle nature and so many more things remind me every day how lucky we are to have the chance to share our lives with Lily. ❤

Keeping the Routine

While Carl is visiting family in Wisconsin, I've been playing the role of single-dog-cat parent for the last week. Its gone pretty well. Everyone is present and accounted for, which is a good thing! 

As I mentioned in a previous post, the dogs always expect a game of ball every evening. I decided that with Carl gone, I would try and keep the routine the best I could. So, on the first night we played a game of ball. Here's a couple of photos of that first night ....

~Todd, wondering why am I playing ball with them?~

Below Ree and Milo are looking at a ball on the other side of the fence trying to solve the problem of getting it on the side we were on.  I'll add that it was a pretty good throw using the "Chuckit" ball launcher from the back porch -- It went over the fence, hit the barn, and landed on the fence rail. I couldn't do that again if I tried! 

~Milo and Ree - the ball is there, how do we get it over here?~

Then yet another photo where I chucked another ball over the fence and it was gone completely. But I know they'll find it when we take a walk. They always do, especially Milo. 

~Iva - Where'd the ball go?~

With the heat, of course I didn't let the game go on for too long. Out of the 7 tennis balls we started with, we ended with 5. Do you think that included the 3 balls Jack had?  

~Jack never has been good at sharing 🙂~

Thanks for stopping by - 

I hope you're having a good week, and staying cool!

Summer's Last Hurrah

Labor Day Weekend has now passed-- Summer's unofficial end. It has been a busy summer, and we end it in a pretty good place.

Todd has had a pretty good summer. The issues with his sinus appears to be well managed with Zyrtec and the Chinese herbs. That was certainly not the case last summer.  So as we cruise into the fall, all paws are crossed that he doesn't have any flare-ups as the blooms of summer fade and the dust mites that he's supposedly allergic to get stirred into the fall air. 

And since I mentioned summer blooms, we made a trip to Pennsylvania to see the sunflowers.  

This field in Chambersburg is absolutely huge, spanning a vast number of acres and filling the field for nearly as far as you can see. I’ve visited several sunflower fields and this is far and away the largest I’ve personally seen. Wow!! 

Most of the fields don't allow you to bring your dogs, but this one did, and so we took Milo with us. 

He didn't really care about the sunflowers, but he really loved all the smells and the people he got to meet.

It was a really hot morning, but despite the sweltering heat, there is no place like a field of sunflowers. 

Me, Iva and the Cosmos

Weekends have been busy for us. A recent Saturday was spent taking Iva to meet a perspective family that had applied specifically to adopt her. The rescue that I foster for requires home visits, and their home visit didn't exactly paint a glowing picture of them for several reasons. With that, and their living more than a 2 hours drive from us, it left me reluctant to even consider them. But I decided to give them a chance. 

With my brother in tow, we met halfway in the town of Culpeper Virginia. 

Family of Four, was a retired Dad who is home most of the time, Mom was still working, and they have a 10 year old and college age daughters - And a Golden Retriever named Pockets that like Iva, was about 8 years old. We had several things in common and being a big believer in cosmic forces, I thought maybe the cosmos was bringing us together. I found myself liking them for those reasons and as we chatted, in my mind I was putting together just how this could maybe work. 

The visit wasn't exactly perfect. Working Mom was a little critical of a few things about Iva - which made me a little critical of them - And when Working Mom kept examining Iva's coat, specifically around her tail and neck - I knew what she was looking for, and I blurted out that "Iva doesn't have fleas." Working Mom seemed a bit embarrassed, and stopped what she was doing. 

~Iva~

Despite that and a few other things, as you can probably tell, I wasn't sure about them. But I was really trying to hang onto what the cosmos must have been trying to tell me; that they were the family for Iva -- It helped that Iva seemed to like School Age Girl, and I thought that she seemed okay with Retired Dad and their dog Pockets. Family of Four pushed me on making my decision right then, but I promised them I'd get back to them in a few days - School Age Girl told me that after our visit they were going to go buy toys for Iva. 

~The Wind in Iva's Face, on our way home ~

On our way home, I tormented my brother with all my thoughts and I just hoped that I'd have some clarity on the whole thing. And sure enough, it came from Retired Dad in a text message BEFORE we even got home. It said:

Hello Kim,  Iva is a real sweetheart.  We enjoyed meeting her.

But we think she may not fit into our family.  We are concerned about her age and longevity.  We couldn't handle losing a family member like her for a long time. 

Thank you for introducing her to us, I'm sorry it didn't work out.

Chris

What??!! Well, okay, whatever, and thank-you cosmos for giving me the answer I needed. But can I add what a ridiculous reason this was? Only because Iva's age is of course mentioned in her write up, so it was and is no secret that she's 8 years old. And anyone who makes an issue about not wanting to adopt a dog because of their age, never scores any 'points' with me. 

But it doesn't end there. I missed a call from Working Mom whose voicemail said that they'd changed their minds, and were again interested in adopting Iva. If age was an issue, Iva was then 3 days older, so what changed? I'll never know, because I didn't call them back. And I'm not going to. A friend said that things in the cosmos can sometimes backfire. I think that's what it did this time. But I'm still a believer in those cosmic forces. And what could be a better reminder of that than this weeks last super blue moon until 2037. 

~The Super Blue Moon over our house~