Hello, Good Bye, Hello Again

 In the last few months, I've had no major or even minor health changes.  My status is quo, I'm as normal as I'll ever be, finishing out nineteen years since diagnosis.  

We did our traditional Thanksgiving of a plethora of Mexican food--carne adovada, green chile chicken enchiladas, green chile stew, two kinds of rice, a pot of beans, and the usual accoutrements. (I just saw my dentist and hygienist.  She asked if we did our usual Thanksgiving and I told her that we did.  She said she has an in-law from Peru who would be down with our kind of Thanksgiving feast.  It's the joys of being married to a Texican.)

Monday of Thanksgiving week, we went to the animal shelter and adopted Maggie.  She was a three year old pit bull terrier mix who had a sweet personality with us.  We had her for five days when a service technician rang our door bell and she aggressively attacked him, biting him in the abdomen, and breaking his skin. 

This could have been a very different situation if a child had been involved, and we felt we couldn't keep her, so we returned her to the animal shelter.  We really didn't want to do that, but our hands were tied by the adoption agreement we signed.  I did email the director asking that she be put in a nearby program where inmates train dogs and give them a second chance.  I hope that is what happened with her.  

I was perusing another humane society website and found this adorable 70 pound bag of fluff named Whisper.  She's part Australian Shepherd, part German Shepherd.  Her biggest German Shepherd trait is her shedding.  We can sweep up an extra puppy's worth of fur almost on the daily.  

We had a snow last week that dumped about eight inches on us, and while Kevin was shoveling, Whisper decided she had to be outside by his side.  At one point, Kevin came in the house telling me that I needed to get a picture of her.  She had gone into the garage, grabbed and apple from one of our bins, and taken it outside to have a snack.  She is very food motivated.  

She does love to play--keep away, primarily, but she will chase her toy if you throw it for her.  She will often come and drop her toy at my feet as a clue she wants to play.  

Her bark is ear-piercingly high pitched for a dog so big and you know when she barks, she wants something.  Most of the time, she's pretty quiet unless she is not allowed to go where you go, then the puppy-dog eyes and pitiful whine come out.  

When we adopted her, the humane society asked if we were keeping her name and since she's eight years old, we didn't see a reason to change it, and besides that, she has a beautiful name!  This week we got her registered at the Vet's office and licensed with City Hall. We are waiting on her name tag to come in to put on her collar.  The style of tag we chose is the Washington State Driver's license.  

We are still learning who she is, as she is learning who we are, but we love her just the same.  We still are missing Abby.  We hurt over the events with Maggie.  But we believe that Whisper is a great fit for us.