Savingdogs-Saving the chickens

You had a busy summer! I hope you had fun. I'm starting to feel so bad for people of your generation. We have made such a muck of things.

sunsaver said:

I could never eat a chicken if i gave it a name. "Boy! This Charlie and dumplings sure tastes good! Sorry, Charlie!"

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You get over it Sunsaver! Especially with a whack job like me around.

We got a pig from a farmer and had it processed about two years ago. I had not "met" this particular pig. When my D1 came to pork chop dinner she said casually, "Anybody we know?" I told her we know her now and maybe she needed a name! We called that pig, who was wrapped all in white paper in my freezer Megan.

From that point on it was Megan bacon and Megan sausage or Christmas Ham ala Megan. Our family has a weird since of humor. The final twist to the story and why I post it now is that I told the farmer about "Megan" when I bought the next pig from her. She laughed about it and told me, "Actually his name was Charlie."

You might need a greenhouse to help those tomatoes ripen in your area SD. I am growing a variety this year called "Juliet" which is a cherry variety, so it ripens quickly. It also seems to be larger and dryer than many cherry tomatoes. It is making great salsas and I have hopes for some Red Sauce. Just let me know and I will help you get that homemade sauce done.

savingdogs said:

You had a busy summer! I hope you had fun. I'm starting to feel so bad for people of your generation. We have made such a muck of things.

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Yeah I ve been swamped. Dont feel bad you didnt cause it. But anyhow when its real bad for my generation Ill be in the Mountains with my Buffs, Ducks, Rabbits, and heirloom seeds in a nice cabin.

Well thanks, BB, for not holding me personally responsible, but I do wish we had chosen different leaders.....

My goodness, FF, I couldn't call my meat Megan, we have a family member by that name! That gave me a laugh. I love how glenolam named her cow Sir Loin, that cracks me up every time I think about it. That is the right kind of name for a meat cow! We haven't named the ones we planned on eating, but we actually have layer chickens, sunsaver, not meat birds. We have eaten the extra males but they didn't really have much breast and from all the running around our chickens do, they were kinda tough. I'd like to raise some meat chickens next year, but I need Hubby to make me a chicken tractor first and he has more pressing projects at the moment, but I plan on doing that in the future. I seem to do well with chickens and I enjoy them.

Tonight my goats were hysterical however. Actually it was my dog, too. Dee Dee was feeling chipper and frisky and was out with me when I was rounding up the goats. She isn't helpful and Emilee doesn't trust her even though I know Dee Dee would not hurt her. So Dee Dee sees Emilee coming and does a play bow and runs after Emilee, who panics and charges the other direction. Dee stopped in her tracks when I yelled, but by this time, little miss Molly, my adult goat and Emilee's AUNT, decides to protect and defend the doeling. She gets her hair to stand on end on her back (we always say she is trying to be a ridgeback) and chases down Dee Dee and starts butting her madly. The look of surprise on Dee Dee's face was priceless. She didn't know goats stick up for one another. I didn't know they stuck up for nieces.....

I told Hubby what Molly did and his big ol' heart just melted for her again. He is such a softie when it comes to the animals, thank goodness. Thank goodness because I am too. We just adore the animals. We just watched our cat Smudge from the window tonight together, as he chased down some rodent in the grass. He slinks in and out between the chickens, they don't notice him coming and going anymore. He likes to hunt in the evening like it is now, with the sun setting, so we can find those little bodies he lays on the porch in the morning. I don't mind the mice and the moles but he also brings chipmunks, squirrels and once a full-sized rabbit! Bandit promptly ATE that. We were only able to figure out what it was by the ears and the smug look on her face.

Hi glenolam!

Well we had good news yesterday when I went in to tidy up some final paperwork with SSI.....turns out I can claim my 15-year-old "Trouble" under my SSI as a dependent (because, of course, he is) and receive more SSI funds every month until he is 18. It is a significant sum of money, almost half of what I earn monthly, in addition to mine. I almost fell over when they told me, I literally burst into tears and disconcerted the man when he showed me the amount. I went to my daughter's afterwards and she couldn't understand why I was crying instead of jumping for joy.....but it was such a relief to know we will be receiving that extra.....It changes my "salary" from pretty poor to not-so-bad. And we will even receive double the first month because we didn't get it last month while I was eligible. And we will get the "double" payment just in time to buy Trouble's school supplies and a wardrobe for school. Did I mention the child had only one pair of pants until we went to the goodwill last week? He is starting High School (freshman year) so I really didn't want to send him to school all rag-eddy. I call him Trouble for good reason and I hope looking nice will help him. He also needs some dentistry we have postponed, so now that can happen too.

This (temporarily) puts me back on par with what I made prior to losing my hearing. It feels like I will get a three-year-raise.....and then a drop, because I'm sure Trouble won't be prepared to leave home at 18, but what a huge help. But if you have a dependent child, a disabled person can collect support for them.

Big huge sigh.........
'course this all depends on the government being able to pay all its bills...... And the dollar being WORTH something , but still.....

Of course Hubby and I immediately began arguing about what to spend the extra on first..... The car he drives has bald tires so that will have to be a priority but other than that, I don't agree with some of his opinions. He has been used to all the money being "his" for awhile now and has to get back to the idea that some of the money earned is "mine" again to make choices with. We also need to work on our well and repair the hole in the bathroom ceiling before winter so we will have to scurry.

But in any event, that couldn't be anything but major good news. I can't believe that I only got told about this benefit kind of in passing, they sent me a letter we couldn't understand but it seemed rather official that I wasn't "filing" by blah blah blah date, so I went in to talk to them about it and it turns out I was missing this huge benefit.

I guess I should say it isn't really huge. But it is huge to us. We have gotten used to living on so little that what they allow for the support of a child seems like a fortune to us at this point.

I'm still sure we will never collect what we paid into this program, but we have never EXPECTED to receive it back.....so it feels like a gift from Heaven even when it is our own "insurance" plan paying us pack on what we invested. Pretty sad state of affairs politically if you ask me.

But anyhow, happy Friday!

I'm glad all that is working to your benefit at the moment! You all are surely a familiy that desrves it!

I just have to share the note I recieved from Jake's family. I did ask them to write me a letter about adopting from RR for my blog I'm preparing, but I wanted to share this because you all might remember Jake as I was fostering him while writing this journal, he is the one who plays with goats. Here was his picture again:


and he is in this picture too, kinda in the middle, back:



And here is here letter:

Dear Savingdogs:

We got our first Rhodesian in 1997 as a puppy from a breeder in central Oregon. To us, this is how we thought we would get all dogs. It was very story book - boy meets girl, boy marries girl, boy and girl buy a new home and then boy and girl get a puppy. He was a great dog. Buck was our first baby and in our eyes he was perfect. He was a very sweet dog but not very snuggly. We told ourselves that he would come around, if we give him his space. He never came around, we knew that Buck loved us. Every morning he would happily wag his tail and seem very happy to say good morning but beyond that he was happy to just sleep and mooch as much food as he could from us. And we just decided that this was how the Rhodesian personality was and we loved him.

As Buck aged we realized that the house was going to seem very quiet and lonely when he was gone. This time we thought we would see how rescue worked and we got a very lovely girl, Sookie. She was a bit older than we wanted but she fit every other criteria that we wanted. And to top it all off she was snuggly. She would get up on the couch and lay her head on my lap. It was clear that something unfortunate happened to her though, because she would growl if you tried to pet her haunches or lower back. But slowly I gained her trust and she would increasingly allow me to pet her while we snuggled. Our rescue experience was very rewarding. And Sookie helped Buck hang on for an additional 4 years than we realized he would have.

A year after Buck had passed, we were starting to want to jump back into the puppy pool again. Rhodesian Rescue doesn't often get small puppies, so I thought if we put our application in now and wait patiently for a puppy, they will come in eventually. When we got the call in late February that there was a puppy available and he was ours if we wanted him, I was very emotional. Both my husband and I feel that Buck sent us this new pup, Jake. He is very similar to Buck with one big exception - Jake loves to snuggle. Jake is very leggy, tall and slender, but I don't think he realizes how big he is. He loves to be on the couch or the bed - where ever we seem to be. He is such a super sweet dog. He gets along great with Sookie, and he has even brought out the playfulness in her. Our boys love him and are really enjoying his youthful playfulness. He has brought so much joy and love to our family. And as you can see, he very much enjoys being on the bed, snuggling. My husband bought me a bumper sticker that explains it really well. It's a paw print that says - "Who rescued who?"

Thank you for choosing us,


Isn't that a sweet ending for him? He is the one who we thought had megaesophagus, but he ended up just needing to eat slowly! I agreed with the new owner, this dog has a very nice personality, very snuggly and still very ridgeback and I'm so happy that he is so much the dog they wanted. I remember choosing this family because of their experience with dogs, ridgebacks in particular, and also because he likes "friends" and I knew that Sookie would like Jake, everyone does. These dogs are breed snobs and like their own kind best.

But I had to share that nice story.....I usually tell such sad ones, and LovinLife's stray situation makes me realize I need to attempt to tell the story of Prince, so stay tuned. I do have photos of him but they are ones that need to be scanned and his is one where you need the picture, or at least, to get the full effect, you have to see how skinny he was.
This came with a picture of him as well, on the bed!

The Autobiography of Prince William

Hello, my name is Prince William and this is my life story. I don't remember much of my early years, thank goodness. I think I was in a crate for most of it. I can't stand those things anymore, it reminds me of the days I want to forget. But I digress, The people I met were the mean sort, who hit dogs with brooms and FURNITURE and didn't feed us much, and tried to make me fight, but I wouldn't. They didn't like me because I didn't fight. I found a friend, Rudy, who was a little younger than me and a little smaller, but a pit bull like me, who wouldn't fight either. He was like a little brother. We somehow managed to escape, thank goodness, but our problems were not over because we just couldn't find anything to eat. We traveled for a long time, a very long time. Rudy was getting weaker. He had a really tight collar on, and he couldn't drink or eat very well, so I had to protect him. We ate garbage mostly, and we got so thin, our ribs nearly stuck together. Rudy was fading fast.

But finally our luck turned. We found a back yard where there were some nice children. They thought we were looking a little hungry, so they brought us some cat food. Wow, did we chow that down! Yum! The children told their mom about us, they thought we were "puppies" because we were so thin and small. They named us Prince and Princess, not realizing that Rudy was a boy. They called some "rescue" people who said they would come and get puppies and take us to someone named "savingdogs". But that is how I got the name Prince.

Well a person shows up to get us and her name is J. J took one look at us and felt ill, she could tell we were not puppies, that we were starving dogs. She took that horrible collar off of Rudy right away, and he could finally take a drink of water! We will be forever grateful to J. She took us right to an emergency hospital just for dogs, even though she could tell we weren't puppies. I heard her calling someone named "savingdogs" on the phone and we were so happy that it was still okay for us to come to her house. On the way to the dog hospital, J fed us dog food and that was the yummiest meal I think I will ever remember.

Well we were losing Rudy, they gave him fluids but weren't sure if he would make it. J brought Rudy and I to savingdogs house anyway. I had to check the place out to make sure it was safe. It took me a long time to realize it was okay there. The very first day, I could tell they really cared, they were forcing Rudy to eat because he had given up. He wouldn't lift his head or even try anymore. I tried to lift his spirits and tell him I checked the place out, we weren't in a bad house anymore. He actually believed me, and when the young girl (savingdogs daughter) made him eat, he finally started nibbling on his own and actually stood up. Everyone there cried and clapped, it kinda scared me. I didn't realize they thought Rudy was gonna die. But he didn't.

Well Rudy did gain weight, and went to live at a different house. I got to see him at these things savingdogs called "adoption events". I went to alot, I kinda barked a lot there cause I got so excityed. Finally at one of them, Rudy got adopted. I think he didn't bark so much as me. I was sorry to see him go. I hoped that his person would want me too, but he already had a second dog and didn't need three, and he had a cat, and I thought they were little lions, so I couldn't go. It made me sad, but Rudy's happiness made me happy, too.

I didn't really like those creatures they called "cats" and savingdogs had a couple of them around. Since I was starting to be an "old timer" there, I started to realize that they were not little lions after all, and that they weren't so bad. It took a long time before I started feeling that way, and savingdogs said it made it hard to find me a home. She had lots of puppies there all the time, and I loved them, loved their sweet puppy breath, loved to show them where to lift their legs in the backyard, and loved to teach them how to play with big dogs. I didn't really think I needed to leave savingdogs house at all. I must have helped raise and train at least 50 puppies and taught them how to be a good pit bull.....because many of those puppies were pit bull or part pit bull. And I finally got those little lions trained too (or maybe they trained me, but I digress again).

But savingdogs kept saying I needed a home of my own. She kept taking pictures of me with silly costumes and showing people the photos of me when I was so skinny, especially after I gained all my weight back and they could see I was actually a super-wide-body type, so wide and low to the ground that in fact, I made people giggle. But no one wanted to take me home, I was a little old. It was that PUPPY thing again. But finally when she said I could be described as "good with cats" things might change. And they weren't really so bad....

Finally savingdogs wrote a description of me that she put on that place she called petfinder that finally did the trick. It described how I had been so skinny and treated so mean, and then how no one wanted to adopt me for so long because I wasn't a puppy. They even changed my name to William, or Prince William. But a new person, whose name was A, she didn't WANT a puppy. She had a dog that was a little older and wanted a friend for her, and for her cat. And guess who her dog LOOKED just like? Can you believe it? A female version of me! So A thought I was the CUTEST dog she had ever seen and the silly costumes that savingdogs dressed me up in and the story she wrote made her want to come right over to meet me.

So she did! She only lived a few blocks from savingdogs at the time, so I even got to see them again later (Rudy too). I did miss the puppies a little bit, but I had my new dog friend, Dippity, who became my special girlfriend and best pal, as good a friend as Rudy ever was. We had a huge backyard for me to guard and I kept A, who lived alone with her daughter, very safe. We had several good years together before Dippity passed and they got me a new dog friend to "train" just like I did the puppies.

Dippity and I are together now, we are in heaven watching A and J and savingdogs. We see that they help those skinny dogs and when we see one, we tell them to go to find someone like A or J or savingdogs, they wear little dog halos so you can spot them. Some people throw brooms or furniture at you, but not everyone. There are some people who will help you.

Gosh, just the other day we saw two dogs, real skinny, and made sure they ended up in the path of someone that savingdogs knows....she was wearing a halo and I can't quite catch her name, but I think it is something like LovinLife? Sorry things are a little fuzzy here from heaven and only certain things come in clear. But I could see that picture clearly........and I told those two dogs what the halo meant and where to go. And savingdogs is even talking to their halo friend and telling her about me!

So now you know my life, savingdogs says I'm the foster dog she had for the longest of any (two and a half years). She says I'm proof that if you wait long enough the right home always shows up.

SO SO glad you got that good news about the SSI! :bun