Frito and Rugs

Sooooo.....the bathroom rugs have been put back in place and the toys have all been put away.  The toilet paper is back on the hanger, the waste basket has been brought back out, my shoes are just where I took them off, not hiding behind a closet door.   

 

But boy it's boring around here without Frito!!

I probably won't hear anything about how she's doing until next Friday when I get my next foster dog.  

 

 

In the meantime, I've had more time for rug hooking.

Here's where I'm at so far.  

 

This is the first time I've ever done a custom order for someone and I'm a bit nervous about it.  Will I get the colors just right?   Will the customer like the finished product?   Oh me, oh my! 

Gotcha Day!

Today was a special day for Frito....it was her 'Gotcha Day'.  

What is a 'Gotcha Day' you ask?  

It is the day a Rescue dog is adopted by a forever home.

Kinda like a birthday.

 

So this was our last car ride together as I took her to her adoption at the Arizona Adopt A Greyhound, Inc office.  Even though I only had Frito for a week, we had a lot of fun together.  It had been a long time since I'd had a 'juvenile' in the house and her mischievous nature kept dad and I laughing.  And...sometimes, on my toes !! 

Have a GREYT life Frito!!!

 

Frito Settles In

It's been five days and Frito is settling in nicely.

She got along well over the weekend with Spike, my boarder.  Although she did seem to think the toys he came with were hers!

 She enjoys going for walks, rides in the car and being outside.  In other words, she's pretty normal.  She has not had one accident in the house since she's been here (knock on wood).  Though I must say, typically I find Greyhounds to be fairly easy to house train.  On the farms and race tracks, they are used to being crated and let outside to go so it kind of comes easy for them to make the transition to a home setting. 

She can be goofy too!

And quite the stinker!  Frito is barely two years old and still very much a youngster.  I've forgotten what it's like to have a toddler in the house!!  She likes to drag everything she can get her teeth around into the dining room by my computer.  I've also forgotten what it's like to have one that partakes of the cool and fresh water available in my bathroom.  

I am reminded every time I sit down to a wet seat!

A Superior Outing!

Dad will be 84 this coming June.  He is diabetic, has Parkinson's and had a 6-way heart by-pass several years ago.  It gets increasingly more difficult to get him to walk, move around, exercise and his short-term memory is fading.  He would rather eat, nap on the couch and watch westerns.   I'm sure he is doing exactly what he wants but it frustrates me because I see him slowly declining and he won't listen to me.  In other words.....he isn't doing exactly what I want!!!

We just finished with some physical and occupational therapy several weeks ago and already I see the improvements he made, slipping away because he won't do the exercises.  Walking is a challenge, he shuffles because of the Parkinson's and loss of feeling below the knees due to diabetes.  He can't use a cane, the logic part of the brain and the function of moving the cane at the right time don't work together.  He can push a grocery cart but doesn't like to go to the grocery.  Dad could use a walker, but his pride won't let him.  

I am constantly bugging him about getting off the couch, trying to encourage him to do something but he worked all his life and has no hobbies.  The arthritis in his hands make it difficult to hold onto utensils and tools so 'fixing' something is out of the question.  He used to be an avid reader but now tends to forget what he read or where he was in a book.  I try to buy magazines with short articles to keep him engaged but he is only interested in westerns and there aren't many magazines in that genre.  

So why did I bore you with all his medical issues?  Well, about the only thing dad wants to do that gets him off the couch and moving around is going out to eat.  So we do.   He HAS to walk from the car to the restaurant if he wants to eat, so we go out at least once a day.  And yes, eating out that much is heck on my weight!  And it can get boring too.  Dad won't eat chicken nor does he eat Chinese, Mexican or Italian food.  Lunchtime is a circuit of the local fast food places around here for hamburgers and fries but it's easy because I don't have to 'think' about what he will eat.  Suppertime is more of a challenge.  There are only about three different eating establishments that he likes and the menus are overwhelming to him and he never knows what to order.  

After being in Arizona for nearly 4 months, I'm getting pretty tired of going to the same old places.  Last weekend I remembered a tiny, out-of-the-way cafe that I had been to several years back but without dad....Hark the Herald.....Angels are singing!!  A new place to go and just the kind of place he likes!   

So...we tested his blood sugar, packed his insulin, piled into the car and off we went.  Destination.....20 minutes northeast, up in the mountains to the, blink-and-you-miss-it, sleepy little town of Superior, Arizona.  It was a beautiful day with a brilliant blue sky and a couple of puffy white clouds.  Superior is an old mining town established in 1902 built up near the Silver Queen Mine that had been successfully mining copper, silver and gold since 1875.  


So smug and proud of myself that I remembered the old Buckboard Cafe, I could hardly wait to get dad's approval!   That is.....until I pulled into the parking lot.  CLOSED......not one single car.  I didn't know that the cafe was closed on Mondays and Tuesdays and since it was Tuesday, well....we weren't going to eat there!  The only other place in town that I knew of was a Mexican Restaurant and that was out.  By now I was a bit nervous because I didn't want dad's sugar to drop since I had no food with me and it was another 20 minutes down the Mountain.  So I headed back but took the turn that leads  through main street Superior where most buildings are empty, some even falling down. We were just about out of the downtown area (only two cross streets I think!) when, lo and behold, I spotted a cafe on a corner!  Was it open?  YES!!!   Fa la, la, la, la....the Angels are singing again.  

Porter's Cafe

Well....it was a bar too but I like little 'hole in the wall' places like that even though they can be really good or really bad!  The question is, would dad like it?  In we went.   It was so cool....and old...and we were both fascinated with some of the antiques in the place!   

The bar itself was almost as long as the building and sported an old, hazy mirror behind it.

I love the Sepia tone of this photo.  

The food came....we ordered hamburgers.....and they were GREAT!!!

The most interesting and ironic thing in the place was this tattered and very yellowed newspaper laying on the bar for anyone to look at and touch.  Printed on April 12, 1945, the ironic thing about the paper was that it is from Fort Wayne, Indiana.  Fort Wayne is only a few hours north of where we live in Indiana!  And there it was in the middle of the desert.  If only that paper could talk, I would love to know how it got there. 

As we headed back home, we decided it was a successful trip, a beautiful day,  a great lunch and something different.  

All in all, it was truly a Superior outing!  

Chips Anyone?

Meet Frito, my new foster Greyhound!

I just got home from picking her up and the first place she went to was where Lissa would sleep in my bedroom!  She must have smelled her scent.  

Stay tuned for more!!

A Lissa Update

Got a picture today of Lissa in her new foster home.

 That's her with her brother Ian and her new foster dad Michael.  She still has a bit of a fearful look in her eyes but Michael says she is relaxing more each day.  Lissa is still afraid to go outside but it is easier on her when the other Greyhounds she is living with go out too.  

I'm glad she's doing better!

Mixed Emotions

I am foster-less.

I got word on Thursday that Lissa was going to a new foster home.  I was immediately worried.  Did I fail?  Did I not do enough for her, did I share her problems too much which maybe sounded like complaining?  How would this affect her, would she feel abandoned again?

 

Not to mention in the last two weeks we had started to bond and Lissa had been making some improvements.  In fact, at night she would lay at my chair with my bare feet resting on her back! 

Arrangements were made for her to be picked up by Michael yesterday morning.  I learned that he has three Greyhounds, one of which was Lissa's brother who came to him in the same condition Lissa was and that he has come out of his shell under Michael's tutelage.  I felt better, but still worried about her.  Especially after the Animal Communicator's reading telling me that Lissa felt abandoned.

On Friday night before bed I told her about the changes that would be happening.  That she would be with her brother and this would be a good thing and that it will most likely turn out to be her 'forever' home.  But I still felt sad and concerned for her.  

Saturday morning when I got her breakfast she was shaking which made me feel even worse.  "She know's", I thought, "and she's scared".  Then something really odd happened.  She started playing.  Jumping in the air and galloping toward me AND.....bumping my cheek with her nose!  Not just once, but half a dozen times she did this!!!  And I felt even worse.  She likes me and she's leaving me and it's really going to upset her world all over again.  It felt awful.  Good, but awful.  

My feelings however, all changed at 10am Saturday when Michael knocked on my door.  He  brought with him Alli, one of his Greyhound girls that is an extremely nurturing dog and had helped bring Ian, Lissa's brother out of his shell.  Alli walked in the door like she owned the place, Michael stood back and Alli and I headed to the living room where Lissa was.  

OH MY GOODNESS!  Lissa took one look at Alli, jumped up toward her wagging her tail in greeting.  She was so happy to see one of her kind!  So happy and focused on Alli, that Lissa barely paid any attention to Michael as he sat down on the couch. 

Alli and dad

We sat and talked for about a half hour, discussing Lissa's problems, her routine and so forth.  Then, Michael suggested we go for a walk with the girls!  A walk....I can barely get Lissa out the door to the yard to go to the bathroom much less a walk.  

I leashed up both girls however, and headed out the door.  As usual, Lissa didn't want to go but Alli was out the door right away.  Finally Lissa decided it must be ok since Alli and I were on the other side of the door waiting for her.  Off we went with Michael behind.  Lo and behold, we ended up walking around several blocks before heading back to the house.  We stopped at Michaels minivan to do a training exercise.  He slid the side door open and Alli hopped in.  After a few seconds, Lissa hopped in.  I went around to the other door, opened it, out came Alli and out came Lissa.  Back into the house we went and packed up Lissa's things.  

 And there she is in the back of Michael's van ready to go on to the next step in her journey. 

It's always sad when any foster leaves me.  It leaves a hole, an empty place and the house seems different, quiet.  And even though I had a whole realm of mixed emotions on this one......Lissa is without a doubt....in the right place at the right time, for her. 

Lissa has Company

When Lissa came to me to stay for awhile she had been in a previous foster home for nine months.  The hope was that Lissa might come out of her shell more in a different surrounding and eventually be adoptable.  

As you all know, it's been difficult for Lissa and she is a scared little girl.  She quakes in the presence of strangers so when I got a call from her former foster mother who wanted to come and visit her, I was anxious to see how Lissa would react.  


Debbie brought her two kids who barreled into the house anxious to see Lissa.  I was immediately 'on alert' fully expecting her to bolt through the house and hide.  Boy did I get a surprise!

Lissa never moved, she heard and recognized the kids voices as they came in the house.  That is Debbie, the former foster mom in pink and her son.  Believe it or not, her daughter is scrunched in there too next to mom and brother!!   The look on Lissa's face was priceless, she actually looked relaxed!!!  It was all I could do not to cry.  


I think the visit helped Lissa to know or understand that her former people were still 'out there'.  She seems even more relaxed in the last few days since they were here.  I 'think' she may have been very distressed by their disappearance even though it was she that left them! 


And, oh by the way.....do you remember the 'reading' the Animal Communicator did on Lissa?  (a couple of post's back)  Lissa had given the name 'Frank' to the AC and told her she loved 'Frank'.  I thought perhaps Debbie's husbands name was Frank, but no.  However, guess what.....Debbie found out that there IS a Frank at the farm where Lissa was raised!!!  

Hmmmmmm!  You just never know!  

 

One Resolution Under Way!

It's been a while since I've done any rug hooking.  In fact, not since last winter have I picked up a hook and pulled.  One of my New Years resolution was to 'get hooking' again!

And so....today I pulled out some linen backing and decided to draw something to hook.  I've always used purchased patterns and kits so drawing this design myself is something quite new!  

I started drawing the border making sure to keep the lines straight on the grain.  I think I did ok but we shall see when I start hooking.


 
I drew this cute primitive sheep in the middle.  Mostly freehand but traced the main part of the body.  Not too bad I guess.  

I stopped there for now but will most likely add a beauty line, a vine or something like that to soften the edges.  Was feeling pretty good that I got this far and didn't mess up!! 

Phew....one resolution I haven't broken yet!!

The Holidays are Over

The Christmas lights that my brother hung on the house at Thanksgiving have been taken down and stored away.  

Lissa's Christmas coat I made has been packed and put away too.  

Resolutions have been made.....and broken already!

Hope my readers are doing better in that department than me!!