I’m happy to be available to groom dogs that come to the Humane Society of the North Bay (for free) so that they are comfortable, ambulatory, and ultimately more adoptable. I remember when this little boy came into the shelter. I was so pleased that Gretchen and her husband were able to foster him. He’s not officially named yet, but because we have a Mylo, Shea thought to name him Stitch. That’s up to Gretchen. While he was over for a play date, he got a bath from Shea and a groom from me. Here are the before and after pictures!
We’re not exactly a rural community, but we saw chickens among the squirrels on the main thoroughfare through Vallejo today. Who knew? Chickens at one of the busiest intersections of Georgia Street were just minding their own business. This is something I’m used to seeing in Hawaii.
Two different schools contacted us and said they had donations from the kids and wanted to bring them to us.
The first one was from Dan Mini Elementary School in Vallejo. The art instructor had them do these depictions of dogs and cats available for adoption on our site in the style of artist Dean Russo.
The second was a big pile of donations that Hidden Valley School in Martinez collected. A teacher, some parent guardians, and kids brought them. We had donuts and hot chocolate, which was provided by one of the kids’ grandmothers who volunteers with us. We showed them the Catio and several dogs, including in the play yard.
On a fuzzy bed is another picture of Zayla (fka Boobie) when she was hospitalized that I never saw until today. The medical image shows her bladder with three crystallized stones that have to be surgically removed. It must be so painful that she has to urinate past these, and they will never deprecate and pass by themselves, so surgery is required. HSNB has already invested over $5,000 in her, but at least she’s alive and well, and the meds are working. She’s had no seizures since she was treated and started meds that I administer three times a day. She’s so much cleaner and mobile now that she’s been sheared, too. The other two pictures are of her more recently acting pretty much like a normal, sweet dog.
Thank goodness this heavy breathing is gone, but this is what Edna sounded like right after her surgery. I picked her up from the vet without even knowing what she looked like, but knowing she had many foxtails in her mouth and ear and required stitches to sew her mouth back together.
Sneak peek of our Year In Review holiday card 2025. This xmas portrait has a maximalist AI-rendered background since I’m in no mood to decorate this rental house while I await moving back into my real home. I have been sending out a year-in-review email for almost three decades now. If I don’t have your current email address, please message me directly with it. As in real life, I no longer do candles even on birthday cakes, not that my fire was started by them. I therefore asked A.I. to swap all the candles in the background to ornate lighting. I am not really a fan of even having the fireplace there, especially since it’s lit, but you know that’s fake since I had my fireplace removed in my home under renovation.
Tomorrow we say au revoir to a special dog that came to us through my nosiness and diligence. Chaz was a big mess when he came to us, but he’s turned out to be quite the amazing little Pompom. He’s healthy and so much better dermatologically now that he’s had some TLC from us. I think he’ll be the star of the show when he gets to Muttville. He’s become somewhat velcro with me, which means that I know he can bond with someone else well, even though he lived his entire life with a woman who died recently. He’s so full of personality. What’s most special to me is that when he whines and gets anxious, he sounds exactly like the dog I had for 15 years, who was named Montague, or Monte for short.
Kudos to my amazing partner who SAVED THE DAY at the Humane Society of the North Bay. I dragged him there to investigate a power outage. Flicking the circuit breakers was not yielding a fix in our reception building, but as soon as we arrived, Shea figured out that there were GFCIs that the staff were unaware of, which he promptly reset. The phones, computers, and power were partially down in that building until he resolved it. It’s nice having someone who can be more of a geek than I am in situations like this. He possesses the patience, talent, and curiosity to tackle a wide range of life challenges, making it a real treat to see how much he can accomplish through DIY projects.
