Tuesday, March 10, 2009

March 10 2009

Blooms, beagles and babies: all here for you to enjoy! First, the blooms, which are our forced forsythia stems, second batch. These, as you can see, are in some cases taller than I am!
And best of all, I do believe the outdoor bushes will be blooming quite soon, as we have finally seen enough snow recede to view the ground. Took a stroll yesterday, first time down at the pond in months, and all around the grounds noticed many allium sprouts along with the daffs, crocuses, and one very brave stand of tulips up out of the ground and just waiting for that much-needed warm spell to surge and bloom. The back terraces, as every year, have moved around a bit, so once the ground is not so soggy, Brian will have a big job to do in restacking the stones and supporting the terraces. But after such a very long and bitter winter, I am actually looking forward to weeding (that should last about a month).

Second, the beagle story (unfortunately no snapshot). Last October, mid-month, two nice young guys and their beagle stayed with us for a weekend. I knew I'd like them, as the beagle, Sheila, had more luggage than both of them. We had just gotten Brittie, our then-foster dog, back from the vet's with multiple stitches, so I had to make sure the dogs didn't socialize, but admired Sheila from a distance. Very cute, very smart, and I was primed to like beagles from Uno's Best of Show win at last year's Westminster. They left, and before the month was over, I thought I saw a beagle running across the monastery grounds right after our first snow. But then I said to myself (I talk to myself more and more the longer I live out here) "you're just missing Sheila" - and it happened so fast, I really couldn't be sure that I'd seen anything.

November and December eventually passed, with much snow and really bitter weather. During that time I caught sight of this little dog enough to be convinced I was not imagining things, there was indeed a very little beagle running around without a collar, in the foothills of the Catskills, in the middle of winter. But I also knew that a dog I thought was homeless the first year we moved here, was not, just not being kept to my standards. So I just kept obsessing about the dog, every night I went to bed, wondering who it belonged to, whether it was safe, warm, etc.

And then, in late January, Brian and I went out for our morning walk and the beagle was just on the property line between our neighbors and the monastery - just standing out in way too much snow and barking so sadly. It happened the neighbor came out just then, and I asked if he knew who this dog belonged to. He said "no one", the dog had showed up at their place a week or two earlier and his wife Jackie had been putting out cat food for it to eat (they are, as you might imagine, cat people). Now that I knew this was a dumped dog, I got on the phone and internet for several days, looking for someone, really ANYONE, to help round this dog up and take it to safety. I even contacted three beagle rescue organizations. Only one bothered to write back, and declined to rescue this beagle, telling me that perhaps animal control could take it for a few weeks prior to "putting it down", and that there were worse things than a humane death. Well, I certainly agree with that, but having worried over this dog all winter, my solution was NOT to ship it off to certain death. Finally I was able to convince a no-kill shelter about 40 minutes from us, already overflowing with dogs, cats, horses and birds, to consider taking the beagle. The woman who runs the place (Kerry, my new BFF) wrote that even though they were far too full, the story was just too sad for her to walk away from. So, if we would drive up there, get their trap, and bring the dog in, they'd take her and keep her for the rest of her life if they couldn't find someone to adopt her. YAY! We went tearing off to get the trap (which could have held a mastiff easily), and rushed right back, as yet another huge snowstorm was a day or two away. Our compassionate genius neighbor Jackie, after setting out the cat food and watching the little dog go in and out of the trap without it closing (poor dog was so underweight!), decided to leave a trail of the previous night's pork roast all the way down her path, into the trap, and at the back of the trap put a rather large piece to gnaw on. Success! Clearly not a Jewish dog, or at least not Kosher observant, in she went, gnawed for a while, then took pieces from Jackie's fingers while licking her hands. Up close she looked a bit worse than I thought, but clearly was someone's dog some time, not at all aggressive, just a bit confused. Off we went to the shelter, where I did cry at our goodbyes, but promised Valentine (we took her in Feb. 13) that life was really going to get better now. And it did - before I could get back from visiting my family in the Chicago area, Brian called me to share the big news - she'd been adopted! Valentine was only in the shelter 9 days, and would have been adopted even sooner but the shelter policy required a quarantine period to test for diseases and parasites. I do believe this is the best thing I've done this year!


Last, but clearly never least, the baby. While Hyla never takes a bad photo, this is one of my favorites. Am I wrong or is this not the perfect baby? Doting grandma in evidence as a knee...