They weren’t tears of joy

05/30/2015 Three of the babies have left us, moved to their furr-ever homes and I cried. It was hard to say good-bye to these sweet furry babies that I have loved and cared for and spoiled the last 6 weeks. They have been A LOT of work, I have had many sleepless nights, up before it’s light out mornings, I’ve done laundry every day, scrubbed floors and kennels everyday, made formula daily, washed puppy food dishes and toys and bedding and spent untold numbers of hours just sitting and watching them while the dust collects on my furniture, the dirt thickens on my window screens and the sweat runs down my back. Not to mention the kazillion steps up and down to the back yard. WHY AM I NOT SKINNY DAMMIT?? Do I regret them being born? HELL NO!! I love these babies so much.

Two of the new homes for the pups have fallen through. One was to go to a friend but on Thursday her older dog viciously went after a 2 month old puppy, not once but twice and her other dog snarled and snapped. She felt since she is not home much she would be afraid to leave the pup alone with the other 2 dogs. The other people were planning to have the 6 week old pup alone all night in a fenced area outside. We didn’t feel comfortable with this arrangement at all. He is a dog, I’m well aware of that, but he is a baby, not ready to be alone all night outside. Some of you will think I’m crazy and go ahead, I don’t care. I’m type A and just like I was with my kids, I need to know where my dogs are and that they are safe. It is what it is.

The 3 that went to new homes are doing well. One has a 2 year old rottie sibling and they are fast friends, playing all day, pottying together and sleeping together, inside. The other 2 are together and will be spoiled I’m sure. They have a nice crate inside and toys and lots of love. My heart is OK with these 3 being gone, they will be loved and cared for.

That brings us to the 4 at home. One we are keeping for sure and the others we hope to find homes for. They are still young so there is no huge hurry, except for the fact I get more and more attached everyday. We still have my boy Barrio, Tank, Brindle and Max. They are wild and crazy puppies and they are madly in love with Lola. We are trying to wean them from Frito and to do this we have to keep her out front away from them, otherwise her milk will never dry up. Hell, she’s almost dragging on the ground, of course I probably would be too if I crawled on all 4’s. She only comes around if she thinks there is food for her. The other day she snuck in the house, came upstairs looking for cat food and instead found a bag of dog treats in the pantry on the shelf in a ziploc bag. She managed to drag the bag off of the shelf and a jar of salsa came with it, obviously smashing to smithereens once it hit the concrete floor, I do not know if she licked the salsa up, glass and all, or not, Bill cleaned it up while I was downstairs attending to puppy bedlam. She is obsessed and it’s getting obnoxious. She has been wormed and her poops aren’t worm infested, I think it’s her street beggar mentality shining through.

The day before the three of them left was traumatic for me, to say the least. The anticipation of saying goodbye was killing me, every time the thought crossed my mind, tears rolled down my cheeks. My friend Kathy came over that day to give the pups their first shots and re-worm them. Doing all 7 pups was easy but she also brought a muzzle so we could trim Lucky’s nails. He does not like it, he HATES it. Hate isn’t even a strong enough word. Now Luck is a big strong boy and a muzzle makes them feel helpless, usually. It turned him into 65#’s of fury. It was all Kathy and I could do to hold him and all we were doing was his front paws, the backs get worn down on the pavement when they go for walks. Luckily Cleo had come up too, we needed her because Frito was going nutty and Lola and Highway were freaking out because they thought we were hurting Luck. Cleo managed to keep the three of them at bay. Add to that 7 puppies running around, holy shit, it was crazy. When we were done Kathy just looked at me like, “well, that was interesting.” It’s my life.

Thursday morning Dennis, my friend Marcia’s husband came over to pick out a pup, we thought at that point his only choices were Tank and Buddha, he chose Buddha. I would have cried no matter which he picked but the tears were mixed with joy because I know he will have a superb home. Marcia messaged me later saying he was buddies already with their dog Shay and they were doing well together. Happy heart. Later that day Rob and Lisa came to get Bandit and Sable. I knew from the third day of the pups lives that Rob and Lisa would be taking these two when they were ready to go so it wasn’t as difficult for me. Lisa and Rob will spoil those 2 pups and they will have a great home. Lisa has already sent me a few photos.

Last night the puppies were inside in their kennel and I looked out the window to see what Lola was doing…this is what I saw, right outside from where the puppies were inside. She is very protective..she was sleeping on the table.

The other day Nidia asked me if I would like to meet one of the big shots from TOMS shoes, he was coming to the island to see what it is we are doing. I jumped at the chance. I was going to meet them at the school in Juticalpa but that didn’t ever happen. The plane was late so I met them at the school in Brick Bay. Vivian Chahin and her daughter Stephanie and son Elias and Justin who is the executive director of Giving for TOMS came over from SPS. (Nidia says Justin is the son of the owner and founder of TOMS but I’m not positive that is correct. However, he is a big shot with the company and he was thrilled to see what we were doing.) Vivian’s other daughter Andrea is the one who wrote a letter to TOMS several years ago asking them to do their One for One program in Honduras. Vivian is the Volunteer Executive Director of Hogar de Ninos,  a home to more than 80 at-risk children in San Pedro Sula, on the mainland.  Hogar gives children the opportunity to go to school, participate in sports and leadership development programs that teach children how to run small businesses and give back to their communities. TOMS Ticket to Give winners joined Hogar in giving new shoes to children in public schools throughout Honduras, helping provide the black shoes required as part of their school uniforms. We met some of the students that have graduated from Hogar de Ninos when they came with Vivian and her 2 daughters for a week to do the TOMS shoe drive with us here on Roatan. Here is an inside peek at some of the people who made this possible on Roatan and throughout mainland Honduras. Click here.  These photos below are at the school in Brick Bay, we did TOMS there and also school supplies a few weeks ago.

I came home from there and picked up Cleo and we went looking for a nice used pack n play baby playpen/bassinette /crib type of thing for Miguel. After traipsing all over town we found a really nice one. We tried to barter with the non-English speaking girl but gave up and paid her price.

I opened it up and scrubbed it out really good today, it is on the porch drying and airing out in the sun. We plan to deliver it tomorrow. Miguel is the guy who helped build our house and he became a good friend. (He is working for Craig and Cleo at their place now in Calabash.) They had a baby girl a month ago and they have nothing, no crib, playpen, bouncy chair, swing, nothing…the baby is sleeping between them in their bed. I’m going to keep looking for things and buy them some other stuff as I find it.

When I go back to Maryland to see my folks in July I plan to hit up some Goodwill and Value Village stores and buy them some baby clothes, I know Miguel and Estefany will appreciate it.

I finally bathed all 4 puppies today, it wasn’t as bad as I expected. I spent most of the day soaked, I scrubbed the baby thing, 2 big waste cans and 2 dog beds, might as well throw in a few puppies too. Right now they are all crashed out on the back porch with Lola, I think I may go take a quick nap too..

My nap was short, as usual, the damn dogs were barking because Eddy came up to see what was going on. His 3 brothers were hitch-hiking home from school today, Arbor Day celebration and Bill gave them a ride here so I could measure them for TOMS shoes. They did not get any when we were at their school. It’s weird, they have to hitch a ride to school because it’s so far away, if they don’t get a ride in time, they go home. Sad. These boys are 6, 8 and 9. They hitch hike to school. Alexi was here for the day helping do stuff so they cut up some coconuts from our tree. I wanted to see if the pups liked the fresh coconut milk and oh yes they do!! They drank it all. I then broke some small pieces of coconut meat up and they ate that too. This will be part of their new diet for sure, can’t be anything wrong with them eating this, fresh from the tree.

Needless to say I’ve added a big 32 oz. one to my Amazon cart,  a few days before I leave for the states I’ll ship it all to my parents. Shopping is so easy with Amazon, where would I be without it?

A few more puppy photos and I’m out of here. Dinner is salad with grilled chicken and eggs and fried potatoes with basil and rosemary. Don’t get excited, it’s all leftovers..

 

A drink or two, some Bloodline on Netflix and it’s bedtime for me. The puppers have been sleeping from about 10 to 5 AM..and then it’s gangbusters all day long..