Bright Blue

Everyone's been whining about the lack of updates around here. I don't leave you hanging very often now, do I? SUCK IT UP. Naw, I don't mean that. Thanks for being loyal fans. I've been working more hours than usual, and Mark's been working more hours than usual, and there have been a million projects to do around here, and non-stop foster dogs until yesterday. Writing has just not happened, until now.


We said goodbye to Hope, the formerly feral dog, on the weekend. Her new family was so excited to take her home that her dad forgot her medication, then his wallet, and then his car keys in our house before he finally made it to the car with her.

The trim finally got painted on the house! Here's what it looks like now.


No, wait, this is what it looks like except the roof is half-ripped-off right now. WHEN WILL IT END??!


The weather has been fabulous lately and lots of things in the yard are blooming. Arlo tried to play with this guy in the picture below, but I shooed him away.



We LOVE our yard this year. It's fully fenced now, so all the dogs hang out with us as we dig in the garden, paint things, eat at the picnic table, and just relax while listening to birds during the day, and peepers in the evening.

Poo-Tee-Weet.

Happy Goodbyes

After more than a year living in our house as a foster cat, Neville has been adopted! Yes, Neville. I KNOW.


There was a woman who was actually looking for a 'rebel' of a cat, and as soon as she met Neville she was in love. She understood him and his attitude. In fact, she was so happy to meet him that she cried.

The next day we got a phone call from her. My heart skipped a beat - had he bitten her? (Maybe.) Was he being mean? (Almost certainly.) Did she want to bring him back? (Hopefully not!)

There was, however, suddenly twice the cause for celebration in our house because she told us that she also wanted to adopt Betty - one of our other foster cats whom she had met while she was here - so that Neville would always have a friend with him. We already knew that Betty was not scared of Neville, and the two cats seemed happy enough together, so we were overjoyed to hear her request.


Now Neville is gone to a home that understands him, and Betty the sweet, sweet little tabby girl has a forever home too, which she very much deserves.

It's so quiet without Neville here!

Friends

I took a vacation with my friends Chani and Nay a little while ago. We rented a log house by the ocean and sat around relaxing, reading books, and watching obscene amounts of the Food Network.


Chani, who thinks the world really works like a Disney movie, dutifully left out snacks of all sorts for the various woodland critters that we supposed lived near the log house. We saw very little of this alleged wildlife for the first few days, and watched the offered snacks get eaten mostly by sea gulls and crows, which are boring because we see them all the time.

Chani kept at it. Corn was scattered on the benches in the yard with shocking regularity. carrots were strewn in the driveway, and bread, zucchini, and raspberry cobbler was left on the deck outside the sliding glass doors to the living room.

After a few days, we started to catch fleeting late-night glimpses of a bold raccoon who liked to come up onto the deck to eat. One night as we all sat in the living room watching a movie, the little raccoon showed up for his supper.


Chani was immediately enchanted, and Nay and I quietly grabbed our cameras. We paused the movie and watched the raccoon for a while. Chani promptly named him Darian.

As we sat watching, another little raccoon crept up onto the deck. Darian half-heartedly chased her away from his food dish, but she came slowly slinking back for her share. We called her Marion.

The raccoons were very well aware of our presence behind the glass, and after a few minutes I guess they decided we weren't a threat. We could walk around and talk, and they stayed up on the deck, glancing casually our way every now and again.


Chani sat down on the floor by the sliding glass doors and cooed about how cute they were while Nay and I wandered around with our cameras. The food eventually ran out, and Darian started to explore the rest of the deck. He sniffed the barbeque next to the sliding glass doors, and Chani, mesmerized, pressed her hand to the window.

The raccoon walked up to the glass, looked Chani in the eyes, and PRESSED HIS HAND TO THE GLASS RIGHT WHERE HERS WAS. Chani said "I love you, little raccoon", and started crying.


Sadly, I suspect this will nurture Chani's unhealthy belief that real life really is just like a Disney movie.

Happy Mother's Day

To a mother who is celebrating her first Mother's Day, and another who has done this already 32 times...


The insanity cannot be quantified. I mean, uhh, Happy Mother's Day!


Mark would like the internet to know that he thinks my mom is "great in a pinch" and "always does the right thing when under pressure". We were having a conversation this morning and he honestly spontaneously said these things. I've heard him say before that my mom is great in a pinch - she doesn't panic, she's logical, she gets things done, and is just a strong person. For clarity, he also wants the world to know that he thinks she's great other times, too - not just in a pinch.

Chocolate Mark

My sister asked me to email a few pictures of Mark and I to her so that she could show them to Sophia, her little three-year-old daughter that she just adopted.

I don't have many pictures of the two of us because one of us is almost always behind the camera, so I emailed four or five pictures from our big road trip we took around North America a couple of years ago. They looked at them together, and this is how - in my sister's own words - the conversation went.

"Kim (my sister): This is your aunt Julie and Uncle Mark.
Sophia (Kim's daughter): Aunt Julie and Uncle Mark?
Kim: Yup. She sent a few pictures of them for you to look at. Here is the next picture.


Sophia: What are they eating?
Kim: I think its cake. Does it look like cake?
Sophia: Yeah, its cake.
Kim: And here they are in front of chocolate world.


Sophia: They are Aunt Julie and Chocolate Mark.
Kim: Here they are in Las Vegas.


Sophia: Aunt Julie and Chocolate Mark. I want to see the pictures again!"

Apparently they looked at all the pictures like ten times, and Sophia called him Chocolate Mark quite frequently. Mark is very pleased with his new moniker.

Sophia is cool.

Un-Named

I'm getting a big craving to start doing something with our big treed property. It's there, and it's nothing but trees and gigantic mossy boulders.




It also needs a name. If anyone has any suggestions, feel free to throw them at us.

There's so much potential there - we can make our new home there anything at all at this point. It's fun to imagine different things to do.


Soon. Soon.

Out of the Woodwork

I arrived home from running errands and Mark told me that someone had called asking about little dogs. He said he didn't recognize the number, and when he picked up, the first thing this total stranger said was not "hello" or anything civil, but "DO YOU HAVE ANY LITTLE DOGS?"

Huh.

She apparently rambled on just a little bit, like crazy people often do, and Mark told her that his wife would call her back. I arrived home a short time later and got the message. Ugh.

I didn't formulate a plan as to whether I would actually phone back or not. We're not all about adopting to crazy people, and I just don't like the phone. Fortunately, I didn't have to think about my next move, because the crazy lady skipped a turn by not waiting for a return call, but calling me back again shortly after I got home.

"ARE YOU THE LADY THAT HAS LITTLE DOGS?"

"Sometimes," I told her, "but not right now."

She told me she wanted to adopt a little puppy so I told her to go look online at our group's website because I didn't have any small dogs for adoption in my house at the moment.

She countered by telling me she didn't have a computer. Somehow, I knew this would be the answer before she said it. I told her to go to the library or phone a friend with a computer. Sorry lady, I'm NOT your personal shopper.

You guys might think this was mean, but I never publish my phone number in association with animal rescue, so I don't feel an obligation to help total strangers that somehow get it and don't bother mentioning how they found me. Especially strangers that live a half hour away from me. This person is not my neighbour, or a friend. I don't have a small dog in care. She doesn't have a particular dog in mind. I cannot personally help you, crazy lady.

So she asks for the website. I say "it's A... S... D..."

"--ASP?"

"No, D, as in "dog". A, S, D, rescue.com."

"A, S, P, D, rescue?"

"No A, S, D, rescue.com."

"A, S, P, rescue.com?"

"... yes."

I know. I could have maybe got through to her. I tried though, and I didn't. I got off the phone with her as quickly as I could, and then went upstairs to Mark's office to gossip about her with him. I was washing dishes a little while later, and the phone rang. I had a bad feeling. Looking at the caller i.d., I saw that it was the crazy lady calling. Again.

I continued washing dishes. Leave me alone, crazy lady.

Happy Gotcha Day

Something unexpected started to happen around the same time that my Grandmother got ill - really ill - and the family all met up in Cape Breton to be with her. It was something my sister had been looking into doing eventually, but the timeline she was told and the timeline that really happened were completely different.

A few short months after starting the SUPPOSEDLY long and arduous process of adopting a little baby, today my sister is the proud mother of a three year old daughter and a four month old son.

Today is the day. They are moving in, and I have two new relatives!

This is my new niece, Sophia*.


This is my new nephew, Bhutan*.


I can only imagine the insanity that is occurring at their house today. Congratulations, Kim and JJ!

* - Not their real names, duh.