Losing Lucy, Claiming Charlie

Nervous Lucy Girl 

We recently had to part ways with our rescue dog, Lucy. We had her for nearly 5 months. While she was a pretty, sweet miss she was deathly afraid of children--especially mine. It was plain and simply "not working".

Growling at my girls all day long as they ate breakfast, did homework, and danced about the house was incredibly stressful. For all--the girls, my husband, me, and the dog.

We learned the sad way that no matter how hard you try to love something there can be far too much damage done before they enter your world.

Adopting a dog in need and having to return it is brutal. You feel like a sell out. That is, until you do your research, speak with professionals, confess to your closest most trusted confidantes and most of all --search your soul-- and then you come to realize where your loyalties lie and revisit the goals in the first place.

In our case the goals were to provide a family dog for our children and offer a safe nesting place for a dog in need. In the case of Lucy, none of the criteria was being met. Thankfully, we adopted her from the local basset rescue woman who more than understood the struggle and strain. None of Lucy's litter mates were adoptable as they all suffered in a puppy mill for more than 4 years--crated and unsocialized. These dogs were terrified of children which was unbeknownst to us until Lucy moved in.

So, we returned the scared girl and in her place we adopted Charlotte (the girls call her Charlie). She came from the home of a man who lost his job, house, and marriage. She is a jolly, big, happy gal who loves people and simply wants to be loved.

Welcome, Charlie

Stay tuned for updates on Charlie and how she settles in to life at Wilkinson Manor. You can see she's quite the people pleaser.

Best TV watching pal in the house for Bliss

Rise and Shine, Audrey!

Go State- sporting Green and White colors for Eric!

Charm School

Olivia is "Star of the Week" this week. She asked if she could bring in sweet old Alice the dog. Of course, we told her. As someone who tries to cheer for the underdog I suggested she bring in Fribble as well. Eric reminded me of what a buffoon he is and what an awful idea that was. I told him if Frib got annoying I would put him back in the car.

Here is little Al sitting quietly and basking in the second graders attention.

Here was Frib lying next to me like the regal prince I was rooting for...

Little Bo Peep

Frib had surgery today. Poor old goat has lumps and bumps popping out all over him. Not sure how much they bother him actually but the sight of them sure offends us. (OK, more than that his vet advised us that they should be removed.) Last year he had a giant growth removed from his "backside." This time one was growing out of his eye (the vet took off that one and 3 more on his body). Apparently the incision site on his eye was bugging him so he scratched at it and lathered himself into a bloody mess while I was paying the bill. Out came the cone.

"He looks just like Little Bo Peep," commented Audrey. He's been fodder for much laughter ever since. He ran into the door, walked into the car, and rounding a corner is quite a daunting task as he clunks along. After picking him up from the vet we ran into the hair salon to get the girls hair trimmed and Liv asked if we could bring Frib in with us. "No" Audrey quickly replied. "He'll stay right here looking for his lost sheep."