A Possible Career

Today Lee and I went to the mall to have lunch and see a movie. Before lunch I made a visit to the ladies room and then after the movie once again I visited the facilities. It was during my trip to the movie restroom that I realized the following.

If there was a job that required a person to walk into a restroom and choose the dirtiest stall with the toilet that had NOT been flushed after the last visitor I would be PERFECT for that job.

It just seems that no matter which stall I choose, whether it's the first on the right, or the middle on the left, or the handicap one at the end, I pick the one that wasn't flushed!! What's up with that? First of all, who are these non-flushers and second of all how does my brain know....don't choose that one, go to the next one....BINGO....no flush!

Perhaps in a previous life I was a restroom attendant.

PS Juno was fabulous! What a sweet movie and an awesome soundtrack!

Dog Fail

Adios Sirius! So we failed at owning a big dog. Poor Sirius. He was actually a super sweet dog, but a little too big and too puppyish and too clumsy to be around our not so big kids. Thankfully we got him from a rescue group that stipulates that you return any dog that doesn't quite fit the family. We returned him this morning in happier and healthier shape than he was when we got him. We managed to housebreak him and stop his marking behaviors with relative ease making him even more adoptable.

Ruf is resting easy now. I'm afraid he wasn't cut out for being a chew toy for a large silly dog. Sirius wanted so badly to play with Ruf but mostly he batted him around with his giant paws or delighted in grabbing Ruf's puffball tail with his mouth. When we returned this afternoon Ruf quickly regained his position on the back of the chair to survey his backyard kingdom. The last few days we'd seen very little of Ruf as he was hiding under and behind furniture from Sirius's playful attacks.

Oh well....my reconaissance missions to the Humane Society will resume in a week or so. I know there's a good companion dog out there for Ruf...and the family..

Meet Sirius!

Here he is at our house... 

A couple weeks ago, Lee and I went to the Hall County Humane Society in search of a small, female adult dog. It was MLK day and we found the perfect little pug mix. We named her Sally, but couldn't take her home because we wanted to bring the kids and Ruf to meet her so everyone could have a say in the adoption. That was Monday. On Thursday we all headed to the pound and wouldn't you know Sally was gone!? Hutch was upset by this development and was sure that bad people had taken her away. We reassured him that she had been adopted by a nice family and we walked a couple other dogs that day just in case one of them was "the one".


Last Sunday, I went to the Humane Society again and did a lap of the small dog room to no avail. I walked through the big dog room just in case and happened upon this scruffy, big-headed, gentle giant. I walked him and just adored his mild manner and whole-body wag. He had sweet brown eyes and never once raised a paw at me. The lady at the desk said that the dog had been found roaming around Gainesville so they really didn't have any information on him. He'd been at the pound a couple of weeks.

So, we loaded up the kids and Ruf again and headed back on Wednesday. Would you believe the dog was gone, again??!! I couldn't believe that "my dog" had been swiped twice in a row! I figured I must have a gift at this point and should be going to visit the pound every week to "lay hands" on all the strays so they'd be adopted.

Here's the Humane Society's picture of him...

Last night, I was surfing around checking out the available dogs. Lee and I had decided we would take everyone to look at the dogs from the Humane Society at PetSmart so we could get the dog on the spot. I happened upon the website for Clover Run Rescue and guess what I found?? The big, gentle giant, now named Quinn!! I wasn't positive that it was the same dog, but the pictures looked very similar. I e-mailed the Rescue group and called and left a message.

The website's description...."Quinn is 1-2 yrs of age. He is a big boy, maybe a Giant Schnauzer mix. Quinn is very dog friendly. Quinn is a well behaved boy, not hyper at all. He is looking for a good home. We don't know why he ended up at the shelter since he is like a big teddy bear. Please email for an application."

This is the picture from Clover Run...

We went to lunch and then headed to the Pet Supermarket where Clover Run would be holding adoptions today. I hoped they'd have "Quinn" with them so I could get to the bottom of where they'd gotten him from! Lucky us, Quinn was there. There was a man sort of looking at him in his crate but I swooped in and grabbed a lady volunteer to get me a leash so I could check him out. Indeed, Quinn had been rescued from the Hall County Humane Society! He was the same dog! At this point, Lee resigned himself to fate.

We have renamed him Sirius Black, although my original name when I met him at the Humane Society was Sir Edmund Hillary's Black Tie Affair (we'd just watched the Eukanuba Dog Show). Hutch suggested Grover, which is also appropriate when you consider his shagginess.

So far, Ruf approves and they have played quite a bit. Sirius wants to mark in the house so he's on leash restriction, but hopefully that will correct this minor glitch in what is otherwise a fantastic dog. He is just a mellow as can be and seems at home already. (He's sleeping on the floor near my feet now.) I can't wait to get a little more meat on his bones and get his coat into shape.

More updates to follow I'm certain!

Congrats, Mom

Family update...mom had her first cataract surgery this morning. Everything went fine. I've uploaded this picture so mom can see that eyepatches can be sexy. I'm sure the kids at school won't notice!