The new normal

All these pics are Sparky, taken today.

Daphne's mother returns today and I'll be sending her back home.  With my boarders gone, and with Herc moved to another foster home, and Augie, Rocky, and Riley being adopted, we will be down to a mere eight dogs, seven of whom are in the house most of the time.  Of those that remain, only Sparky and Maya are arguably still foster dogs.  "Single digits" has been Clay's mantra for many years, and we have finally achieved it, mostly because I've been declining any new fosters.

I only have one intact kennel at the moment, fully shaded, and I installed a fan in there yesterday for Sparky.  I will have be making some extra time and effort to get out with him either hiking or running in the pasture now that he lacks a kennel mate.  And I should consider looking for a real home for him.


I'm going to rebuild one kennel to be attached to the building we call the puppy shed (it's where our Bremo was born 12 years ago), but only after I get that shed painted.  Most of the kennel panels from the other kennels are being used in Project Maya, enclosing the dog yard in order to contain her.  When I do get a new fence built, I may rebuild a new bank of three kennels maybe, but in a new area.  The deconstruction/moving/repair/improvement undertaking is proving to be a good outdoor summer work project.  I'm hoping the outdoor work and mowing will help me drop another 20 pounds.

I may still take in one, maybe two, fosters at a time from the local area and nearby shelters, but the days of 6 to 10, (sometimes even more) fosters are over.  Mostly I'm burned out on dealing with people.  For some time now I've been hard pressed to place a dog because I'm too cynical to think that anyone can or will make a real commitment to an adopted dog.  I'm also burned out from dealing with a lot of people in the rescue world, ranging from those who think that everyone must be just like them in order to adopt a dog, to those that troll Petfinder and Craigslist looking for dogs for other people to take in, while their own contribution is limited to "sharing" them on Facebook.  There are still good people out there, both committed adopters and committed people in rescue, but I've been dealing with too many of the other kind for too long. 

It's nice having my weekends available for household projects and the occasional float trip too.  It's time for some new things in my life, and I'm finally going to volunteer with the Literacy Volunteers of Charlottesville/Albemarle, something I've been wanting to do for a long time.  The blog will continue, but it will be featuring more of our own dogs.