Back in '00 We had settled into a nice homey routine at our new digs, but Judy thought something was lacking. Now I know she has found her calling, fostering; i.e. rescuing critters before the pound can bump them off and finding homes for them. She had a wiggle dog of her own and understood their problems well so she decided to rescue wiggle-butts. She's affiliated with Pet Finders, where, with the aid of a network of other volunteers, she does her level best to snag critters, see to their medical and grooming needs and give them love and a decent life until that special someone comes along. She's been at it for several years now and has found new homes for several dozen critters. I'm very proud of her!

My number of "samples" is growing and I find it curious that, in spite of all of the tales told about the dysfunctionality of stray critters, without exception they snap right around and turn into perfectly genteel critters after a very few days of love and affection. One can only imagine what sort of crummy caretakers these poor beasties had before they came our way...

For more info on this project click on over to Judy's Critter Rescues.

Photo #: Judy's latest rescue on his first day: his name is Tom-tom; he's our first wiener dog!
Photo #: The one before Tom-tom, Mercedes, a King Charles spaniel who's been with us scarcely a week here, knows a good thing when she sees it!
Photo #: This happy little guy is Buddy. We've become best pals. He came to us a couple of years ago now, but he suffers from separation anxiety and I couldn't bear to break up his second home and send him to a third. Glad for it: he's an excellent little wiggly guy, heh.

--It's strange. I'd never ...well, mourned for a critter for less than several years, but back in '99 there we were 2 weeks after a loss, with another critter in our lives. Sunny Wigglesworth was very lonely. We felt sorry for him and I suspect SWMBO saw that I was moping, too. At her insistence we made the trek over to the Sonoma Pets Lifeline (a nonprofit "no-kill" shelter North of the Bay Area), as she had heard of a very nice little Australian Shepherd mix that was in need of a home. When we got there that one did quite a bit of growling in our direction and things didn't look promising. But as I wandered about, another doggie caught my eye and ...for lack of a better way to put it, *she* picked *me*! Turns out that, when they were allowed to romp together, she and Sunny got along famously as well.

--After promising to construct a 6-ft high fence and to make a portion of our meadow doggie-escape-proof and after agreeing to a great many other conditions that seem quite sensible, we were given custody of Melanie Dog, a pretty 8-month old shepherd-lab mix.

--She's a handful to be sure and her first night at home was quite eventful, (peeing in the house, etc...) but she settled in nicely!

Photo #1: Not quite a puppy but not full grown, here's a shot of Melanie D. Haas shortly after she joined our family.
Photo #2: Most of the volunteers at the shelter were women and Melanie immediately bonded with SWMBO!
Photo #3: Arbuckle watch out: here's a babe that takes after you! Melanie loves to saunter about and it's a little hard to get her to pose. With luck we'll get some better shots and in better lighting conditions in the coming seasons...
Photo #4: July, '06: Wonderful Arbs and faithful Sunny have gone to the Great Beyond, but Arbs' two sons Lattimore and Baxter have joined Melanie's hareem. Time flies! Here's a recent shot of my pal, answering to "her master's voice". Every time she does this she reminds me of the RCA dog!

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