Fred's Watching Over Me!, My new beginning with Lucy Options

[patricia]

it's been a while since ive posted. my life has been slightly chaotic ever since my little lucy has come into my life. she came exactly one week after fred got sick. i didnt want her at first but how can we say no to any furry creature that needs a home. shes a little terrier (or as i prefer to call her: a terror) mix and shes about 7 1/2 months old now. she was rescued from a kill shelter in LA, at about 4 months, and then the new owner decided that it was too much for him so he released her into the streets. her foster family found her laying by the side of the road as she'd been hit by a car. they rushed her to er and paid for all her medical/surgical bills. when she was finally ok to go home, her foster family found her owner. i guess he felt remorse and posted missing signs everywhere. they met with him and asked him to help with half of the payments and he refused and in fact rejected her again, saying he was single and didnt have time to care for her. her foster parents took her in but unfortunately could not keep her. my fred sent her my way and now shes found her forever home. it wasnt easy. the first day i cried and cried because i missed my fred so much. and i was angry! how could i take in a dog so soon afer my little cat had died? but this was all part of freds master plan. it came to a point where i called some friends and confessed that i would not be able to keep her. that was the pivotal moment: because i remember lucy looking at me with her beautiful sad eyes begging me not to give her away again. at that exact moment, i knew that i couldnt do that to her and i would have to make it work. it didnt take long for me to fall absolutely head over heels in love with her. missing fred? its still not easy. i come to work and turn on my computer to freds sweet little face and i will just lose it. or i listen to one of his songs and i sob. i dont know when that pain will go away. but i do know that as the clock tics daily, i look forward to getting home because i know my little lucy goosey is waiting for me. she loves to go on her walks, just me and her. and she loves coming back home and turning into what i call "lucy-fur" where her eyeballs start spinning and she goes a little crazy. then she settles down right next to me, hopefully i will have treats for her, and falls asleep. i have to wake her in order to go outside one last time and then she runs into her crate for the night. well, she runs because she always has a little cookie in there waiting for her. i love waking up in the middle of the night to hear her little snoring. and in the morning? well its hard for me no to open her crate door immediately. i think im more excited to see her than she is to see me. shes my little monkey. people tell me that little rescue animals know they are rescued and are doubly grateful to be with us. but i say, im the one thats grateful…to have her in my life. she makes me laugh again, and smile and when she wraps her little paws around my neck and lays her little head on my shoulder, or tries to eat my earring, well, i couldnt ask for more. my wonderful fred: i love you so much and i will never never never forget you. thank you for giving me lucy. she will never replace you but she makes me happy again just like you always did my little sweet. momma loves you forever!

[patricia]

wow! its been almost a year since ive posted on this site. this is the most wonderful site ever. and i will never forget you all. how could i? you held me up in my darkest hour, when even i didnt think i could ever get up again. thank you! i have a facebook page and i have to say i have "liked" many a dog page and between going back and forth from facebook to this site, it was waterworks every day. so i had to stop for awhile, again. gone for a bit but NEVER forgotten. it is so hard as you all know, to read about another baby's passing. you relive your own again, and your heart breaks over and over again, not just for your own loss but for everyone else's as well. everyday i strive to remind myself that our loved ones are still watching over us and they were sent here as gifts from our heavenly father. but when those gifts are gone, wow! it hurts so bad. since my last posting, i have decided to get even more involved in animal advocacy. it is my calling to help be their voice. there are so many angels out there who do the real work with our four-legged sweethearts (god bless them all!). all i do is repost and repost (dog adoption, save a dog, anything re: dogs) on my facebook page. its not much at all but its more than i was doing before. but the other day as i was driving in to work, i had the biggest smile, thinking about my crazy loonies and how their tails never stop wagging. yes, everyday i shed a few tears (im the biggest crybaby as some of you will remember) as i think about the suffering that mine have gone thru and how happy (i hope) that they are now. every time those tails wag, lucy and ethel are saying i love you momma! and that (see? here i go again) makes me cry tears of happiness. im still just as in love with my girls as ive ever been, if not more. and they are just as crazy as they ever were, if not more so i decided that i had to get back to "writing" about the laughter that my girls bring me. hopefully my fred and riley are reading this from rainbow bridge and laughing their cute little kitty faces off.

Lucy has calmed down quite a bit since ethel moved in. but when you consider that on a scale of 1-10 - 10 being super crazy, lucy was a 20, well, i think you get it. ethel is about a 9. i remember so fondly the day i picked ethel up from the hospital. the doctor and technician, handed her over to me and we gently placed her in her new bedroom - we like to think of it as their bedroom but its really just a crate. they both said to me " you picked such a sweet dog. shes so gentle and doesnt bark at any of the other dogs" i stroked her little yoda-like head gently and my heart was bursting with joy. not the joy of bringing home another doggie, but the joy of this baby dog teaching lucy how to be sweet, gentile and CALM. hurray (insert audio fx: record player needle scratch) not! as the calendar moved forward, and ethel mae got better, she began making demands of both lucy and i. huh? lucy and i kept looking at each other and scratching our heads. but but but where is the sweet gentle little dog thats supposed to teach my other dog some manners? i dont know but i think ethel left HER manners at the shelter cut to present day where she is the most vocal dog i have ever had. she growls as she lovingly wrestles lucy to the ground. she grunts when her momma makes her keep walking and doesnt allow her to sniff and eat the chicken bones someone left all over the street. she squeals when she sees a squirrel that she wants to play with and she growls and bares teeth as she and lucy play tug-of-war with momma's sock. (btw, they own every single dog toy ever made yet they prefer to destroy momma's socks) then she sits in a little heap and bats her eyes when she gets a little (and i mean little) scolding. my little girl she eats her breakfast and pretends to be doing something else and the minute lucy walks away from her dish, shes on it and grabs as much kibble as her fat cheeks can handle. she knows its wrong but she just cant help it. this takes us to two weeks ago when i took the girls in for their checkup and ethels vaccinations. i walked in with my head held high as i had been working on ethels weight for a few months now. she had come to me as a scrawny 9-10lb pup and was now a healthy, chubby little 15 pounder. doc had shook his head, no no. she must be only 13 lbs the most. no problem doc. she will shed those pounds in no time. i mean are you kidding me? we walk 45 minutes in the am and 25 in the pm, every single day! so i walked in with confidence and as usual, the whole team (like in cheers, that tv show) says "NORM" i mean "LUCY" "ETHEL". they usher me into the room and i proudly take a seat. oh how happy i will be when he tells me im the best mom in the world. lucy and ethel are at their perfect weight and are doing splendidly. well i guess i should say how quickly that smile turned upside down. ethel was whisked away to the scale and doc came back shaking his head again. WHAT? yes she had gained a pound and was now a large and lovely 16 pounder. This cannot be! but it was true! currently she is on a diet food and we have upped our walks even more.. i could have sworn she had a waist again... now its an hour in the morning and 25 min in the pm. no treats except carrots and i had her groomed. well?!? fur adds weight right? at least i hope so. im proud to say in 3 weeks she has lost 1/2 an inch. yes this momma took her home and measured her curves! although our journey is pretty amusing, i must say there is a serious side to this as i am terrified of heart disease, diabetes or any other disease that will take my booboo away from me. so thats where we are at. i also have to add that during halloween last year, her weight contributed to her winning top costume prize at her doggie halloween party. (see attachments). ethel and lucy went as thanksgiving dinner: ethel was the turkey and lucy was corn on the cob. hope the pictures make you smile. this year, this momma has decided that ethel doesnt need to be plump and juicy
well, thats it for lucy and ethel's tails for today believe me there are so many stories to tell but to everyone here who is grieving, i never forgot you. i prayed and still pray for all of you (whether i "spoke" to you or not), every single day. may god heal all of the broken hearts. may he bring peace to your lives and may he bring smiles to your faces. fred and riley i love you both so much. have you noticed im getting better though? i dont think i will ever stop crying but thats just because i miss you so much.
until next time, we send you hugs and kisses up the nose. patricia, lucy and ethel.

ps: please say a prayer for all the rescue dogs that are in japan doing wonderful work in helping to find survivors. also a prayer for all the animals that are now homeless or suffering because of this devastation. may god be with them all.

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