who arrived last Sunday and is already a part of the family. This poor guy was transported all the way from Illinois, over several days, as there are just no foster homes available there. I have a fairly complete history of his travels once ABR got involved, at the end of March, but as he's a senior boy (just right for our senior household) the biggest part of his story remains a mystery. He is the easiest foster I've had, either due to his gentle and loving temperament, or his age (he's also the oldest, my vet guesses 9 or 10). As he encountered many helpful folks along the way from surrender to a generic shelter in a suburb of Chicago by a woman who just said "single working mom don't have time for the dog" and indicated she'd had him about a year, at each turn, I got emails saying the same thing: I'd keep this good boy in a heartbeat if I didn't already have 3, 4, in one case 6 dogs myself. The Illinois vet's office boarded him for a few weeks, and in the end one of the employees known only to me as "poor Jeanette" took him home with her for another few weeks while we worked on transport logistics. Jeanette is the one who sent along kibble, canned food, two kinds of treats, leash, collar, and brand new dog bed. She wrote me that he's such a gentle soul, and so he is. His transport buddies all called and emailed at each step, to make sure he was doing well, and each one repeated what a great dog he was (and is). Now here he is, just about the perfect dog, except that unlike my insomniac self, he is a VERY early riser. Between six and six-thirty in the morning, he will consistently get up and walk over to the stairwell door, waiting to see which one of us staggers out to help him down the stairs, out the porch, and into the run. Luckily he is as willing as I am to go right back to sleep! We had a series of 90-degree days just as he arrived, and I was so pleased that he was quite able to keep up with us on our moderate walks despite the heat. And the first time we let him run off leash in our monastery neighbors' tennis courts, he was thrilled! It made me smile to see him so happy just to run free and sniff - and then I wondered, had this boy ever gotten to do this before? My favorite shot of him so far is among the wood violets, who, like Rusty, are sweet and small and undemanding.
A perfect match! Brian has decided he doesn't look like a Rusty (as if I know what a Rusty looks like, at any given time there are many on the ABR web site and no two look alike). Much to my puzzled amusement, Brian claims he looks like a Glenn. Now who among you reading this has ever looked at any dog and said, "Looks like Glenn to me"? And as Rusty Glenn immediately began following Brian everywhere, his new formal name is Rusty Glenn Shapiro.
In other news, and there is some, we have a dove nesting in our weeping cherry,
exactly where a nest last year was knocked down by the neighbor cats. She's very pretty, and I wish her well, but not only has she made what I think is a very poor choice of nesting spots, given all the 40-foot trees around here, her architectural skills are awful!
I had thought this random pile of twigs was at best an abandoned nest, till I spotted the eggs inside. I hope to be able to tell tales of hatchlings soon, instead of scrambled eggs.
The garden changed overnight the first day of high temperatures, and now we are seeing the lilacs bloom
as the tulips and forsythia drop their petals. The daffodils wilted on the very first day, as did I, and are now just a fond memory. Soon to come will be the iris blooms, then peonies, then lilies.
So that's the news from here. Hope all goes well with all of you, and that your gardens are blooming and your dogs (if you're lucky enough to have them) are thriving too.
