Wherever Do I start???

Okay - it's going to take a really long entry to catch you up. I can't believe it's November already! and 2007!! Maybe I should do this as a Bulleted List.

• Began a HUGE remodeling/addition project on our house. Doubling the size of the house. Hope to be done by Christmas! I'll add pictures later

Got a new great-nephew - Jackson Drew Standerfer - shown on the left. Proud parents are Doug & Kelsie

Got a new great-niece - Callie Faye Standerfer - i need to get scan in a picture of her - then I'll add it too. Proud parents are Zak & Amanda

Still only have the 3 dogs - which is amazing cause I have fostered lots of dogs and haven't kept any more since Zeva.

Am now on the board of Genesis Animal Rescue - am the new treasurer. It's keeping me busy.

Ok - now that I look back at this entry - it's kinda boring. I'll try to do better next time!

FINALLY.....an update.

So, to make a long, long story very very short. We don't believe Trixie was ever "lost" - just adopted by an evil, evil woman....who we battled with via phone, email and finally in person. A late night trip to St Louis to rescue her (with the help of a nice police officer) while Angela (Genesis Adoption Coordinator) and the policeman were arguing with evil lady I rescued Trixie from Evil Lady's car and ran back and hopped in our car! Yeah!!! She was very, very HAPPY!!! She licked my face all the way home. If she was a cat - there went one of her lives.

THEN, I just let her adjust for a few weeks, then I struggled do I keep her? Do I not? Tried to tell myself that it wasn't fair to Jovie - didn't have her trained yet....so we put her back up for adoption. Took her to a Petsmart Adoption event (where this photo was taken) and she sat on my lap for most of the day. When I realized that I couldn't see myself handing her over again - I paid her adoption fee and renamed her ZEVA. John says I should have named her Dory - for the character in "Finding Nemo" movie - the one with short term memory loss. It seems that Zeva has a short term memory problem. She can be trotting toward the door to you - but if you lose eye contact - she forgets where she was going and wanders off.

So - stay tuned for the next post with the continuing Zeva saga....

Lost Dog!!!

This is Trixie. My last foster dog. I handed her over to her new family yesterday afternoon - with tears in my eyes. I really liked this dog a lot. But the horror of this is that in less than 24 hours with her new family - she escaped from her collar and ran away.

I am just devastated - thinking of her lost out there in the cold and dark. Her family is in St Louis and they let us know via an email - and won't return our calls or emails. We just want to help find her.

There is a big part of me that says if they find her I want her back to stay. I don't know if that is the right thing to do - and if I would still want her it weren't these extenuating circumstances.....I just don't know.......anything except my heart hurts and I feel like I'm going to throw up every time I think of it......and I can't think of anything else.....

All Smiles

Meet Simon. He smiles. And no - it isn't just him baring his teeth at you. He smiles when he's happy or nervous or playful. No one thought I could actually capture it on camera - but here it is! It's not that it was any skill on my part....he was just sitting there when I pushed the button - and the smile appeared somewhere between then and the flash!





Simon was my most recent foster dog. I say "was" cause I handed him over to his new family this afternoon. This was my first foster that I had from beginning to end. And also the first one that I got really attached to. John and I both had a difficult time seeing him go. He was just an easy dog to have around - and so very sweeet.

He went to a WONDERFUL family with 3 great girls 11, 8 and 5. They all came down (>3 hr drive) to pick him up. They were just a joy to meet - and I can tell they are going to spoil this dog rotten - just what he deserves.

Football Frenzy

Okay - yeah I know - this picture has nothing to do with football - I'm going to get to that in a second. This is a picture of John though - and he is the subject of the main story....

Also in this picture is "Hummer" (for the love of God - who gave this poor dog that name). Anyway he is a little yorkie boy that was rescued from a puppy mill and needed transported from southern illinois to the Iowa. And so I signed us up for transport from Effingham IL to Peoria IL. This poor little thing was just fur on a skeleton. I have never seen anything like it.

Okay - so on to the subject of this post "Football Frenzy". On Jan 2nd we had a "January Thaw" and John and the boys decided to play a pick up game of touch football. Ian questioned it when his Dad said he wanted to play. He said "Did you ask Miles if you could play". Well Ian must have been having a premonition - it wasn't that long later than Miles brought John back. He had fallen on his shoulder - so off to the emergency room. Well luckily they started the big drugs soon! It turns out he tore his rotator cuff and separated his shoulder. It took a week before he could get an appointment with a surgeon and finally got surgery last Friday - the 13th! But everything is going good - got a BIG incision - BIG PAINKILLERS....he's bored already. He has another 2 weeks before he goes back and 3 weeks until he can start physical therapy. Then 3 months of physical therapy before he'll be back to work.

So I don't think he's going to play football next time they ask...