11/11/2023 - Golden Boy

 

11/3/2023 - A Very Good Boy!

 I had a heck of a time finding another dog after Steve's death. Everyone one of my dogs has been a second-hand dog . . . all from rescues except for Walter, and Walter was given to me by his second owner.  This time, as I searched online, every rescue wanted me to fill out an application, check my referrals and approve my application before even talking to me.  I missed out on several dogs this way, by the time my application was approved the dog had already been adopted.  There were 2 dogs I passed on because they had been returned to the rescue after an 'incident' with the previous adopter (usually a bite) and one because of age and energy level.  A couple of the rescues never even contacted me back after I sent in an application.  I was disappointed and down and had just decided to stop looking and just hold onto my wonderful memories of Steve when the Babinski Foundation in Pequot Lakes, MN called to tell me that my application for 'Jones' had been approved and he was still available if I wanted to come and visit.  I was very excited and immediately called my best friend of 40 years and she said she was eager to take the trip with me to meet Jones.  

     Within an hour we were on the road and, guided by the pleasant voice on her phone map app, we made it to Pequot Lakes (150 miles to the east)  in three hours (the map app took us on all the back roads)!  While looking at blurbs written to describe the dogs up for adoption I began to notice certain key words . . . hesitant, shy, hangs back . . . because most dogs in rescues in this part of the country have been taken from high kill shelters in the southern states and transported to foster based rescues up here. The foster families usually provide the information about the dogs' personality to the folks in charge and the blurb is written.  Is the dog crate trained? friendly? good with kids or cats? etc. is info gathered by the foster families.  I started looking for words like friendly and/or happy and that is what I found in the blurb written about Jones.  However, when I arrived at the Babinski Foundation, I learned that Jones had been at the shelter and not in a foster home so many of the questions I had could not be answered. I did learn that he had been picked up as a stray in Galveston TX and had been at the Babinski shelter for about 3 weeks).  My friend and I met Jones (he WAS friendly) and walked him around the grounds (the place was gorgeous) and I made the decision to bring him home.  

For many reasons, that I won't bore you with, I choose to believe this match was arranged by Steve.  OK, one thing I'll mention is that I was looking for an older dog and Jones was advertised to be 4 years old.  Our vet says that 1 1/2 yrs is more likely . . . I'd never have gone to see him if his real age was listed.  But he's been here 7 weeks now and, although he has lots of puppyish behavior, he is a wonderful dog and a very good boy!  I'm not in love with him yet like I was with Steve, but I have no doubt that will happen.  I've been as careful as I can with his first few weeks to be gentle, kind and patient, hopefully to build his sense of safety and trust.  I was concerned, because his appearance so resembles a basenji, that I might have gotten in over my head with him but his DNA test came back as 50% Chihuahua and 50% 15 other breeds.  A real mix of everything from Pekingese to GSD and chow. His DNA percentages of herding, retrieving or hunting breeds is minimal so I don't have much in breed instincts to deal with.   I was very cautious when introducing him to the dog park (the dog park is a big part of my social life and very close to the house) because I wanted to make sure his initial experiences were good and to my great relief, he is a wonderful park dog, he loves other dogs and is appropriate in greetings and play. He just wants to play and have fun.  

I decided to call him Amis.  According to what I read on the historical names website, amis is the root word, in several languages, for 'friend' or 'friendly' and that is just what I wanted. Another friend.  Amis Jones, a nod to his rescue name.  I hope I can continue to report wonderful things about Amis, I hope he has only good experiences and lots of love from everyone he meets.  I want to love him as much as I loved Steve.

9/21/2023 - Hello, Amis Jones!

 

8/18/2023 - Good-Bye Steve

 

It breaks my heart to tell my friends that I said good-bye to Steve on Wednesday. I called the vet because his respiration rate was elevated and he just wasn't his usual perky self. He'd been a bit clingy the evening before, sitting and sleeping close even though it was a warm day and night. Because the vet didn't have any open appts on her schedule I dropped Steve off for radiographs of his heart and lungs. The vet called me later to say that Steve had a temperature, was anemic and had a high white blood cell count and that, upon physical exam, she'd found a mass in his abdomen. She also said that she and the other vet on staff, weren't able to determine the origin of the mass. Time for the hard discussion . . . because of the fragility of his heart, surgical interventions were never an option and giving him high doses of antibiotics to see if the symptoms could be alleviated was also risky with no assurance that it would be helpful. Time for the hard decision . . . I had promised Steve back in January, when he was diagnosed with CHF, that I would do everything possible to make sure he didn't suffer, not even one day, so rather than bring him home and cry all night, I chose to go to the vet hospital and be with him as he crossed the rainbow bridge. Steve had perked up and was happy to see me and the treats I brought (I even brought some gravy from the cat food). He'd allowed the vet staff to place a catheter in his leg before I arrived so after treats and kisses the vet administered the anesthesia and then the euthanasia solution. The Dr. cried with me as Steve died peacefully in my arms. I love you, Steve.

8/5/2023 - Bringing Home Covid

 My sister-in-law recently traveled to northern North Dakota where we toured the International Peace Garden for a second time . . .

We also saw Coghlan's castle . . .

And Mystical Horizons . . .

But traveling in a car for 3 days with a person who had (unwittingly) been exposed to covid before our trip, assured that I'd catch it and bring it home.  I was hoping that having had all 5 available covid shots might protect me from infection, but I was wrong.  I've felt better, but I've certainly felt worse.  My concern is for MP who takes several immunosuppressant drugs.  She could get frighteningly ill.  Fingers crossed!!!

6/22/2023 - Never a Joiner No More

 A strange thing happened during COVID . . . I got lonely.  I've always been an introvert, a loner and very selfish with my time.  I like things very quiet and I get along with myself pretty well. There are group activities that I've enjoyed, dog training classes for one, but I've never been a joiner. The dog school folks never understood why I wouldn't join the club, but I hate feeling obligated to participate in anything!  In any group there are expectations and I hate having expectations made of my time when I'm not getting paid for it.  I want to choose how, and with whom, I spend my time.  As a retiree, I have few obligations aside from keeping my living space livable and taking care of the pets. I get together regularly at the dog park with other retirees who are much like me but we have our dogs in common and choose to not discuss politics or religion.  The group number fluctuates, but a man with the same name as mine (Kerry) and I, have been the common denominators over the last 8 years.  One of the latest members of the group is a former boss of mine but that is pretty comfortable for both of us so doesn't take away from the pleasure of time spent with dog park friends.  I get together with my best friend of 40 years for tea and conversation when it fits into her schedule, she is much more social than I, but she's known me longer than anyone else in Fargo and knows me better than anyone (with the exception, perhaps, of my former therapist). 

Last year I tried volunteering and the animal shelter around the corner as a kitten socializer but I was a poor volunteer.  I didn't like having a time commitment and I found working with the shelter cats to be sad and unsatisfying because of the lack of time to build relationships with the kitties.  So MP and I  adopted Prickles, one of the harder to place shelter cats, and I quit my volunteer position.  I have two groups of former co-workers I get with together for video chats but I don't have to leave my recliner and I can feign illness if I can't bear to share of myself at the appointed time.  But during the pandemic, getting together with friends was strained and it was difficult to just take off and drive around . . . just because.  At the end of 2019 I had switched hobbies from quilting to crochet (because of Steve, but that's another story) and I remembered an acquaintance (that I met through a former work friend who also came to the dog park) who had invited me to join a Lapcrafters group she was starting.  Anyone who enjoyed knitting, crochet or embroidery was invited to attend.  She said the group was loosely organized, would meet in people's homes, if they wished, or in the local yarn shops or the library, wherever a quiet space was available from 2pm to 5 pm on Tuesdays.  For three years I resisted attending any get togethers because of all of the above reasons and because I didn't know anyone aside from the organizer, Barb, and her, only superficially.  But, as I became a little more desperate for human contact other than MP, I finally contacted Barb and arranged to meet with the group when they next got together to knit at a local yarn shop.  

What's made it so hard for me is that this group of 7-8 women have known one another for years.  They have connections from colleges attended, jobs where they worked together, children who were friends or attended the same schools, etc, and I had none of those connections except for the superficial acquaintance with Barb. I was very intimidated by the thought of gathering with this group of women with whom I had nothing in common except that I crochet.  At first I could only be with them for half of the allotted time because I found the chatter overwhelming.  Names and places I didn't know, voices I couldn't recognize, children that I was unfamiliar with . . . no shared history.  Barb arranged Zoom get togethers for the winter, which I found very helpful and for awhile I missed meetings due to my shelter volunteering, but I am proud to say I have persisted.  It helps that the group is so loosely structured.  There is no expectation that one must be at the gathering and no expectation that everyone host a gathering now or then or that one must stay the entire three hours.  That fits my style and I've made the effort to go and get to know these women, and by doing so we've found more commonalities that we might have expected.  Maybe I'll expand upon these commonalities more one of these days, or not, but I'm happy to report that I can still make new friends in my 70's.  I just have to make the effort, and I did.

6/17/2023 - I learned the Lesson