Fosters Cookie, Perry, Jackson, Ella, and our Snoopy and Bonnie are in these photos, so we currently have six dogs at the house while we try to find homes for all of the fosters. We’ll probably get Jackson to Muttville soon, but it was hard for both him and Cookie to remain in the shelter, so I’m glad we were able to make room for them temporarily.
I had the honor of being asked to give the opening and closing speeches at this event in Fairfield.
This is the extract of my speeches:
This is the entire event’s recording:
Shea and I arrived late, so we weren’t in these group photos, but Shea made another tray of his butternut squash dish that he similarly made for the earlier party we attended for the Solano Rowing Club. Thanks to Gerry, Josh, and David for hosting!
This is one of the rare rowing photos that I’m posting, which I did not take. Deborah was the only lady on the boat on that morning. I’m in the starboard seat one next to our brand new SRC member, Nathan.
Once again, I got to row with my HSNB fellow board member and veterinarian, Jennifer!
This image shows how we cover the boat when we’re done.
I wandered into the back garden of my house under renovation early this morning. I was so pleased at how my lemon tree and the bamboo have come back to life after being on the brink lately. They’re fine now, in large part due to our significant rains recently. Only upon descending from the lookout area of my backyard did I realize that the painting of my house in the koi pond green that I requested had mostly been done already. I wasn’t aware that it had started because the siding wasn’t quite done in the front of the house. I’m so pleased with the progress and the color. It will look even better with the dark tan trim. I want the house to reflect the browns and greens of nature. Green, the color of life, is my favorite color.
For those who are skeptical that wild turkeys can fly, look how high up they are on this two-story house in my neighborhood. This video was primarily intended to showcase the progress of the siding on the front. I think there was a supply chain problem, so it isn’t quite finished being sided, but this is the very last piece that needs it. The part with the dots is ready for painting, which is why the frog tape is on the windows.
Because of the extreme fog, my getting up at 530am on a Saturday to row with the team was cancelled at the last minute, so I went over to check on my house being renovated. I always love the attack of the turkeys in the mornings that come from Benicia State Park which my street is adjacent to.
I love it when families who adopt my former fosters send me updates. Here are two cute videos of Millie in her new home.
Bonnie (who is blind) and an HSNB dog I adopted are really warming up to foster Perry. I’m so glad I got some footage of them playing together. She gives him a hard time when she’s trying to rest and he wants to engage with her, but when she’s in the mood to play, it makes her day!
Yes, I’m a media whore. Even for those who don’t know about my being on the Rosie O’Donnell Show, Stephen Colbert’s show and several other televisions panels, interviews and other appearances I document here on my blog, I love seeing myself on those shows, seeing my name in print and being in the papers and making some kind of legacy for people to read about long after I’m gone. My blog alone is one way in which I hope my legacy will persevere if my daughter or other people who love me care enough to maintain the site, not that I plan on going anywhere for a very long time, mind you. I realized the other day, as the breadth of what I lost materially in the fire keeps hitting me, that the books that I’ve been mentioned in (including a few Barbra Streisand biographies) may not have been replenished. This particular book, written by a friend of a friend in Brooklyn, was one of them. Benita Smith Allison and I are both mentioned on the acknowledgment page of Children of the Dream – The Psychology of Black Success, co-written by Audrey Edwards in the 1990s. I was able to find it and replace it. With Google Lens, I might try to do that for other obscure possessions I had as well, since I was able to replenish the tapestries and that Spanish credenza that I thought I’d never get repaired. Material things were the least of my worries with what I lost almost two years ago, while I still impatiently wait here in this rental property for my house to be renovated, but little bits of joy like this make my day.
Numerous weeks ago, I saw a shivering elder in a kennel at HSNB who was a good candidate to be transferred to Muttville in San Francisco. Lana came up to sniff my fingers. I had room for one more foster at the time, so I asked to foster her until the transfer, especially because I’ve always been partial to special needs and senior dogs. That transfer to Muttville was today. I have pretty much fallen in love with all of my foster dogs, but not all of them fall in love with me the first day, the way this deaf little girl, Lana, did. She was not shy about flanking me the entire time she was with me. She was a joy day and night, and I’m missing her dearly already. I’ve learned with foster dogs that can bond so easily that they are highly adoptable and will be able to love someone else, while I make room for another dog that needs a break from the shelter and to get ready to be adopted. Muttville is such a well-resourced organization; I predict she will be fully adopted this week. There’ll probably be people fighting over her as she is a spry 12-year-old with no apparent health problems and a wonderful personality. This morning she knew something was up because she started shivering, so I put on a sweater that fit her well before handing her over to the volunteer who is transporting her. I will be able to track her progress and even watch her on video with the live feed they have on Muttville’s site. I intend to set up the same system when we get our permanent building fully renovated eventually at Humane Society of the North Bay. I’ve still got four dogs here at the house, including two foster dogs that were slated to be euthanized in Stanislaus County, so the work on getting them adopted out is just beginning. I also know there will be more coming in the future while I take care of my forever dogs, Bonnie and Snoopy.
