When I did all the fostering for ACT V, they did almost all of the people work.  The only people I met and talked to had already been through discussions with ACT V.  ACT V had already determined that they were at least a good enough match it was worth it to set up a meeting.  ACT V had already checked references.  All I needed to do was be there for the meet and greet, and then provide my opinions afterward.

This time I had to field each email, and no matter how unlikely it seemed, I replied to each one to start up a conversation, just in case it really was the right match for one of the puppies.  The experience reinforced my impression that most people are flaky and awful, but it also reinforced my belief that when it involves something important, don’t rely on first impressions alone.  One of the pups ended up local, but the other ended up in Las Vegas, which I really didn’t expect.  Each contact from farther afield was handled hesitantly but ever so slightly open to the concept that a person from farther away could satisfy my suspicious nature. However, he did not go to the fetish model who also wanted to take him to live in Las Vegas.  No judgement on the job, although a puppy chewing up those shoes would get expensive, but she was uncooperative about basic policies for adoption and didn’t leave me feeling confident.

So, with that, I’ve fostered 14 dogs and 2 cats, to date, and only kept one critter, which is not a bad record.

Next up – more cats?

Unfortunately, the dog stopped breathing, before such a plan could be put into action.  While the young crying woman had a more and more frustrating conversation with animal control, who was, of course, not set up to do anything quickly about this problem.

I got out of my car to find a beautiful female German Shepherd lying in the road, a motley crew strangers standing around her, several crying. I turned her collar until I could find tags, so the owner could be called.  A couple of the people had seen the dog running in the road, terrified.  They pulled over and tried to get her to come, but she was panicked.  They were there trying to save her when another driver didn’t see her in time, and despite slamming on his brakes, hit her.  Another was walking his dog and was standing there with his dog, helping to block traffic.  Soon a person from nearby homes joined us with a STOP/SLOW roadwork sign and a reflective vest to put in a little time to making things more visible.  Cars continued to speed past us, faster than the speed limit, aggressively swerving at the last minute but making it clear they were not pleased at being inconvenienced.

We got her name off the tag and talked to her about how good and beautiful she was, and waited for the owner who had been reached with that number on her tag.  He had just walked in the door and discovered her missing, and then the phone rang…

He pulled up to the intersection and came over, already crying, but hopeful.  She was gone, but it didn’t stop him from falling to his knees and begging her to get up.  He was lost and didn’t know what to do.  The young woman explained that she had tried.  That they’d stayed with her.  We helped to load her into his trunk.  He apologized to her for having to lift her unceremoniously.  I told him that we could still take her to the emergency vet nearby, that they could arrange for cremation.  He asked if I was sure they were open, so I called them to verify.  They were.  I described where it was. He thanked me. He still looked shell shocked, so I asked if he wanted me to meet him at the vet so he wouldn’t be there alone.  A look of sheer confusion passed over his face.  It was clear that he wanted to take me up on that offer, and that every bit of social training had taught him to say, “No, that’s okay. I’ll be fine.”  “I’ll meet you there,” I said.  “I’ll pull around and you can follow me to the hospital.”

She had jumped the fence of the 4th of July, panicked by illegal fireworks.  He recovered her on the 4th, but something had made her jump again.

The group of strangers dispersed into the night, and I pulled my car around in front of him and led him to the pet hospital.  We went inside to get employees to come help us.  I got some paper towels to do a little bit of cleaning of the blood on his car, just so that it wouldn’t be staring hard at him in the light of day.  I waited while he filled out paperwork, and told them he wanted a wooden box for her ashes.  He told me of the three wooden boxes he had at home, all German Shepherds, but the others had all passed from old age.  There was another German Shepherd waiting at home, who would be so confused when she never came back.  He said goodbye to her, and then said goodbye to me, hugging me tightly and thanking me.

Then I drove home with Mindy in my car, to be greeted by Watson at the door, and soon the sound of foster puppies wiggling in their crates filled my ears.

RIP beautiful girl. I’m so sorry you didn’t make it home safely.  I know you were loved.

I’ve got a pair of puppies in now, and am drowning in all things puppy.   Mr. Watson isn’t happy.  For that matter, Mr. Tori isn’t all that happy either.

The truth is, this is incredibly bad timing.  I have NO time to do the puppy dance right now.  But it was a favor for a friend of a friend kind of thing, and the other options were not good, and it isn’t the puppies’ fault that they are homeless.

So, two puppies and possibly a third on the way, depending on how it goes.

They are big. The person didn’t get them to me when they were young enough to just be in that stupidly cute puppy phase that people fall in love with.  They are approaching 20 weeks old, and really I need a second foster.  They are too old to still be together, it would be better for them from a behavioral development standpoint to be separate now.

To a large extent all a dog needs when looking for a home, is a place to safely stay, somebody to feed it, and somebody clean up after it.  That’s why shelters do work.  Foster homes means that at least they don’t have the added stress of being around all that commotion, which is very difficult on some dog temperaments.  I really try to do more though.  I try to have a foster dog boot camp, doing everything I can to help them on their road to being the best dog they can be, so that they are more adoptable, and more importantly, so that stay adopted.  People rarely admit they are the type to give up when the going gets rough while they are out looking for a new dog, but even rescues with rigorous screening procedures get returns.

So, I’ve got two puppies here, and we are working on crate training,  potty training them, teaching them to walk on leash, teaching them, Sit, Down, No, Drop it, Off.  They are still puppies, so everything they see goes in their mouth.  Their mouths are full of sharp little needles.

Yesterday morning, I was trying to wrangle them both outside for their morning potty break at the same time.  I was running late, and in theory would definitely be more convenient if I took them both out at once.  We aren’t having in house accidents, but I am very restrictive about the time they can spend loose inside.  Outside, I have specific areas where I want them to go to the bathroom.  I’m not happy with just anywhere.  So, I was out there leading them to the approved potty area, when Linus decided he’d walked far enough and started to pee.  I said no, and kept moving him toward the right area, but then Charlie tripped me, and as I tried to get my balance, Linus started to pee again, this time down my leg, pee filling up my tennis shoe.  In case you were wondering, it is very warm and unpleasant feeling.  I had to still get him over to wear he could potty and be praised.  Got Charlie pottied, and then got the hose to spray down the areas that he was not supposed to pee, like, my foot for instance.

When it was time to leave the house I couldn’t find my other pair of shoes.  Pee shoes were out of commission while I tried to get them clean.  The other shoes… well I had a memory of having to take them away from a puppy and putting the shoes somewhere out of reach, but I couldn’t figure out where.  10 minutes later, I needed to get help from another pair of eyes.  We finally found them, out of puppy reach as predicted.

Last night, I’m ashamed to say, he then managed to pee on my foot again, yep, another pair of shoes down.  You know the saying.  Pee on me once, shame on you, pee on me twice, so much pee on me.  Yes, I was trying to shortcut having to walk them both separately.  Today I’ve done much better, only taking each one out on their own so far.  Soon they will get a play break to play together, but like I said, developmentally it is better for them to be apart at this point.  I let them play together because I am lazy and it tires them out faster.

The first time it happened, I just thought I had gotten sick.  It took four occurrences before I associated consuming alcohol with the reaction.  I think if I drank more often I’d have suspected it faster.  Basically the symptom was that anything more than 2 delicate sips of alcohol would lead to raging hangover symptoms has if I’d just gone on a bender, and the symptoms would start in less than two hours after the drink.  This is despite long having learned to drink plenty of water to stay hydrated, and also to eat good “drunk” food with alcohol.

The obvious solution was to quit drinking.  I cut way back, but I wasn’t really interested in quitting.  I don’t drink often, but I do really enjoy wine and cocktails, and I enjoy so few things it seemed like quite a shame to give it up completely.

So I started searching for solutions and trying things.  I eventually discovered that if I took two Activated Charcoal pills prior to having a drink, and took two more every two hours until I stopped drinking (there was A LOT of pills taken the day I went wine tasting, although I drank very little volume I was drinking all day), it got rid of the reaction for me.  If you have a similar problem, look at other “hangover treatments” that might help with your alcohol intolerance, but always look for possible interactions with other things you take.   For instance, the charcoal pills should not be taken a the same time as other medications because it will lower the effectiveness of them.

As time passed and I found out it was one of a myriad of perimenopausal symptoms I was being tortured by, I have discovered things to help ease many of those symptoms.  It is possible I no longer need the help of the charcoal, but I’m not willing to risk it.

I’ve been doing a lot of editing work over the past several months, video editing, a novel, short stories, website content.  I’ve been working a lot on other’s visions, and am doing nothing with my own visions.  Some days it is difficult to even have visions.

Today is not that day though.  Today I need to do a bunch of practical things like tend to an my injured shoulder and deal with a bunch of site security issues, and keep working on projects for other people.

I don’t want to post this because there is no meat to the post, but then it will be just like all the other days when I don’t have enough to say, or what I have to say is worth bothering to post.  Today I am pretending that today is different.  Hopefully the first of many different days.  The truth is 2013 sucked in ways I still haven’t adjusted to.  The other truth is that as difficult as some hours, days, weeks, years are – I have some truly amazing people in my life.