SAINTS

it gives me a great deal of pleasure to end this most perfect day with mosie sound asleep and quite comfortable, wrapped in a warm fleece on a VERY large and thick pillow bed in the middle of the kitchen floor…she looks very content. much better than a cold, wet and lonely backyard.

some of my most favorite people were here and they brought some of my most favorite dogs. roxie and levi who are just right at home in the barn and out in the fields, mable mae came for a visit (but would not touch any of our food and treats!), shaun, was here being his goofy, happy self, sandy was a gawd awful muddy mess again, and i got to meet sheila and leila’s new foster dog and she is so very lovely!!!!

all the work got done and some boring business attended too and we even sat around in the afternoon sun with all of the dogs and drank a beer. i didn’t drink all of mine cuz phoebe was bugging frodo on my lap so i poured some of it on her head and then she stopped bugging him. i don’t know if she thought getting beer poured on her head was a good thing or not, she sure seemed to like licking it off herself which also kept her busy so she forgot about frodo which was the whole point of giving her some of my beer unexpectedly.

at one point we had 16 dogs with us down in the lower pasture and that was pretty darn cool. i watched from the hill as they played and ran around and just got to be dogs surrounded by people who all thought they were pretty darn great. that is the saints i feel in my heart when i don’t let the rest of the world distract me.

ellie and percy are the very best of friends, they were even cuddling together laying out in the grass. tunie took ellie’s house again today, but boy did she move back into her own place really fast the second she saw that ellie snuffling her food bowl. the horses all got groomed and polished and so did the baby calf and baby pig. i wish carl would let us brush him up too because he has been rolling around in the shavings. mosie is a water dog for sure, but she had too many runs today, she is out of shape. she couldn’t get up tonight to go pee til i helped her up to her feet. hopefully the pain meds will kick in and as she gets more active she will also get stronger.

my very favorite image today, was rounding the corner of the house to see colleen standing with wilbur in her arms, he was looking for someone and she found him.

i put brand new linens and pillows on my bed and i am going to soak in a really hot tub that happens to be in a really nice bathroom. and i hope that those cats that are currently napping on my nice clean bed, do not hork up a hairball before i can enjoy it!

ahhhh, it may just be a perfect day!

mosie had a decent first night. initially she was quite stressed, she hasn’t been an inside dog since she was very young, lot’s of drooling and panting. but the thing about really social dogs who have been socially isolated for a long time is…they are so happy for company and kind attention that they soon start to enjoy their change of circumstance and she sure enjoys someone down on the floor with her goofing around with her face…sigh. i didn’t realize that getting down on the floor and back up again would be so hard with a not so perfect ankle….today i will make nicole get down there with her, she is not so old and wrecked as me!

all of the other animals like mosie because she is such a very nice dog. apparently the only real friends she has had for many years were the 2 outside cats who liked to sleep with her at night. mango is going to be so happy with a new doggy friend, he misses norton! i hope the weather brightens up, it is going to be a busy day around here today. my job is to break down my bedroom and really give it a good clean because a dozen cats have been shut in there during the workman’s day for a couple of weeks and it needs a really good and thorough cleaning.

the bathroom is 90% complete and i had my first hot bath last night…i cannot describe the utter joy of a bath in a clean and non moldy, hole-less room that actually looks like a really nice (but very small) bathroom in a real home. the only thing i really don’t like is the bathroom door opening out into the hallway…that bugs me as much as the door when it used to hit the toilet…i am thinking that door has to go. since a pocket door got shut down because of some stupid beam thing, i am thinking an accordian or a bi-fold door would be better.

well. i guess i better get moving, it is time to start today.

she is a lovely senior lab. welcome mosie, tomorrow i will take you swimming and tonight you shall dine on pizza. please be happy here.

i was talking to janice yesterday and she was saying how she really thought each year would get easier, and it doesn’t. it really is just more of the same. it is so frustrating for people who work with us because we have both been around the block so many times we can just draw the thing out with a crayon.

this has been a challenging few months for me, forget the bathroom and washer disasters, they don’t mean anything at all because they are just stuff and they aren’t the least bit alive. and even broken ankles do eventually mend. but the people who need something, like solutions to their problems, the animals i have turned away knowing the outcome probably won’t be good, and the new one that i know i will take tonight, i just get tired of it all on some days too.

you would think that each day would be different, but there are only so many different scenes and scripts and characters and storylines to go around. and eventually they just start to re-play themselves so many times until you know the ending as soon as the show starts to play. it is so hard not to become cynical in rescue. it is a struggle to maintain hope and faith, i am lucky that i actually get to live with the animals here and work with a truly great group of people who love them as much as i do because they are the ones who make each day something new and fresh and clean. and that is what makes hope and faith float.

still…somedays it seems that saints is just an illusion and really i am living in the heartbreak hotel and we are way over booked and turning more and more away.

well i gave out last night before the washer did…i managed laundry til 2 am then finally gave up for the night. the washer was still raring to go. i am having a hard time believing it is actually completely and totally working in every way.

greg checked the bathroom and the hot water tank this morning…no leaks.

gosh if the bathroom guys actually finish up today and those flooring guys miraculously appear we might actually finish the week in a world that remembers the meaning of the word “honor”

“honor” is my favorite word of all. it is a word that binds humans to living a life of personal responsibility and personal accountability. it is the one word in the whole human language that stands firm against lying and cheating and stealing and blaming and envy. it is a word that protects the innocent and fosters compassion and respect. it is not a word for the lazy and the weak hearted, it is a word that demands action to right a wrong.

and it is the only word that makes us do our jobs well and the way we said we would do them.

i like that word alot.

i just spent some time on the phone with a nice lady who adopted a rescued dog from a shelter several years ago. the dog had skin allergies then and still has them now. she is constantly licking, chewing, itchy, gets frequent hotspots and reaks to high heaven. they periodically go to the vet for antibiotics, they know the allergies are flea and chicken so they have her on a costco lamb and rice. but it never goes completely away and when it flares up it gets bad. they have been talking about euth or re-homing. what a shame because this is easily managable and now that she understands how to manage it, she is willing to try again. so how do you manage flea and food allergies? it is not just about giving flea treatments and non allergenic  food…it is a four prong program that requires strict adherence.

week one to week four

vet check with antibiotics to treat underlying skin infections. this is mandatory. antibiotics should be for a minimum of 14 days.

advantage flea control on the first day of each month religously from march thru to the first hard frost (usually november)

only medi-cal hypo allergenic or technical vegetarian food (no cheating or sneaking in a different food because you run out, don’t run out)

twice weekly nizoral baths in the first week then weekly nizoral baths X 3 weeks to kill the yeast overgrowths (yes they have yeast overgrowths, that is why they stink) if you do not treat both the bacteria and the yeast, the problem will come right back again.

after the basics have been covered in that first month, fleas are gone, food is appropriate, bacterial and fungal infections are clear…then comes the easy part.

advantage once a month religously and a stable hypo allergenic diet and finally a healthy, happy, non itchy, sweet smelling dog….it is not that difficult if all the issues are addressed correctly. and it is so much better than continued suffering, losing ones home or being euthanized because the family just do not know what else to do.

well, well, well…..the washer appears ro be fixed…2 loads thru, no errors, no water on the floor…can it possibly be true?????

the bathroom is almost done, just the trim, the tub surround and the sink/taps/hookups to go…MAYBE a hot soaker bath tomorrow night?????

greg got the hot water tank installed…apparently that sucker was ready to blow any minute, greg said it would have drained my well and burnt out the pump if i wasn’t home. thank god for small favors and a kind hearted man who can do plumbing.

bill’s bad foot was really hurting him tonight. i watched him try to pick his way and avoid the gravel and stick to the soft grass as much as possible. he has a very old, old fracture in that foot from years before he even came to us. it is quite arthritic now and sometimes causes him a fair amount of discomfort.

tunie fish refused to leave the barn today. she said she was having a bed day, hey! i want one of those!!

the first mosquitoes are out…i truly dislike those blood sucking little buggers, they torment me!

phoebe has gone to bed early again, she is out of shape i guess and is no longer used to the high level of spastic activity she engages in here. ahhh well, quiet evenings are good and i am sure it won’t take her long to get back up to speed.

ooops, gotta go…the third load of laundry is beeping and done, only a dozen more to go to catch up ready for tomorrow. we shall see if that machine can keep up the pace tonight.

holy crap, when ellie plays…RUN! tyra did just that, she took one look at the pig in play mode and ran right back up to wait by the dog yard gate. there is nothing stupid about tyra at all. lexie got knocked down twice and then bless her heart she quite clearly told ellie to “f” off. which ellie did. dexter bit the dust once and phoebe got chased for a bit but she can run faster than ellie. i am covered with mud from ellie’s joyous fun but i will give her credit she tried to go “softly” when i asked, but i think softly is different for a 300 pound baby pig then it is for a human. but i know she did try and actually did really good because if she hadn’t, i would have been down in the mud pretty quick too.

so here is the thing with ellie now everyone…i was kidding about the running. we don’t want her to learn that humans are afraid of her when she acts like that because she will just start to push us around. we want to be clear and consistent with her and teach her the very same thing from us all. the new magic words for ellie are…”go softly” and “don’t bump me” with lots of pets and hugs and “good girl” when she tries to be gentle (which is hard for a happy really big baby pig.)

cuddles is a stupid name and completely inaccurate too. every time i go to touch him he slinks out from under my hand and i swear he says…”yuuuuuck!”helloooo cuddles, i happen to be nice and i do not have cooties!

molly’s name oughtt to be “tiger lily” cuz she is pretty darn brave. she throws an absolute four pound hissy fit if the cats or the other dogs even look to be thinking of jumping up near her on her couch. that couch used to hold 2 big dogs, me, a couple of cats and sometimes a chi or two. now it is just me and the little hairy, leaky shark attack, no one else even wants to try. she makes me laugh. she is currently curled up on the couch by herself with my favorite xmas gift fleece from my daughter and 2 of my softest pillows. it is a tough life for a tiny, furry, homeless shark who happens to have rotten teeth.

 phoebe woke up once and peeked at me thru the cat room door, she looked upset, i think she was cold. i gave her a bigger quilt and she went back to bed. someone has got to run that dog to the ground every single night….she is so tired and it is so quiet, i keep forgetting she is even here.

i forgot to tell you that frodo attacked milo yesterday in the rabbit room when he and johanna came to get pippa. milo being an ex-but still fiesty saint went right back at him without a second thought (he is a JRT aka…jerky raging terrier who had moments earlier been trying to do our sweet ellie in). once we got frodo off of poor outmatched little milo, i noted a little blood smeared on my hand…i checked frodo over and he was just fine, but milo was missing a small chunk of skin on his back. holy smoke frodo is a vicious fighter, no wonder that cat has lived for so long. at sixteen, he can still kick an enraged dogs butt!

 michael and dexter shared my dinner tonight cuz dex was cold and michael is plain wrecked. then i gave them each 2 human cookies that i thought were too old for me to eat (they were at least 10 days old)…anyway, both of them looked pretty pleased with themselves at cadging a special dinner. except now they both are following me around like i might be a night long buffet.

 tyra smells like a combination of wet dog and manure…she had fun tonight but gosh she reaks and i think her feelings might be hurt because i keep encouraging her to sleep across the room from me. sorry babe, but the odor is pretty strong and in this case distance truly does make the heart grow fonder..