Remember Princess, who needed a castle?

She caused some damage on her sisters this past weekend. She has spent most of the time since Friday in her kennel, allowed out only on a leash and only when all others are not in the immediate vicinity. Kinda like lockdown.

Tuesday evening, through a pet adoption clearing house (I will post that info when I get it) we went to meet Mr. K and his boxer. The boxer wanted nothing to do with Princess, effectively ignoring her. Princess wanted prime rib of boxer. In the process, Princess pulled so hard and scrabbled so much on the sidewalk that she wore her nails down to the quick and tore pads on three of her feet. Stubborn. Like me.

Wednesday evening, we went to meet J and A and their two sons. Love at first sight. Princess will be the only dog in the house, sharing the animal duties with two cats. She gets along OK with cats, it’s the other dogs that she doesn’t really tolerate.

The Most Beautiful Woman in the World is very sad, with Princess moving out. She also wonders why it doesn’t outwardly affect me. It affects me, and I am internalizing it, but I am thinking that this beats the tar out of the alternative – having to put Princess down. She has a home, people who will love her, and a place to “rule.” That doesn’t change how TMBWitW feels, and I understand that. The bottom line is, it wasn’t fair to Princess or the other dogs with the situation where it was. Treating her like a convict was lowering her quality of life, and the other dogs were in constant fear (induced by us, probably, because we didn’t want a repeat) of being in a fight with their sister.

Being the parents of Furkids isn’t easy.

Logan, the cutie little guy, is not permanently crippled for life. Whew! Turns out he fell victim to a little known disease, sisterus rambunctious. We think Princess pushed him off the sofa and he landed wrong, bruising his spine, and causing swelling which shut off motor control. A little medicine, a little rest, and now, a week after the diagnosis, he’s relearning to walk, but not running yet. Baby steps, baby steps…

He gets tired after a bit and sits down. It’s very cute.

Hey – pick up window dude! If you are going to hand me a drink that has half the contents dripping down the outside, at least give me some napkins to wipe it off, don’t make me ask. Better yet, pay attention to what you are doing and wipe it off before you hand it to me!

Hi – um, fast food worker? When you loaded the napkins in the dispenser, the half flap side is supposed to be facing out, you know, so that people who need napkins can actually pull them out without having to rip them apart. And while we are on the subject, if you stuff them that full, pressure and friction will cause them to be torn beyond useful when they are extricated. Just thought you’d like to know.

I was almost late for work this morning.

I didn’t leave the house overly late, although I was out the door a minute or two later than usual; since I had built in between five and seven minutes of cushion to allow for heavy or different traffic patterns, I still had plenty of time.

I ended up behind an old yellow pickup that was following a backhoe. I figured he was running traffic safety for the backhoe, but I couldn’t go around them because of heavy traffic in the left lane. The yellow truck turned south when I did, and I thought, “My cushion is taking a beating this morning!” He moved into the left lane, where I needed to be to make the next turn, and he was moving slowly enough to cause back up, but fast enough that I wouldn’t be able to pass him before my turn. I went around him anyway, thinking I could just take the next street south to make my punch-in time.

God works in funny ways sometimes.

As I pulled into the turn lane for the next street, a soaking wet female German Shepherd walked in front of my vehicle. She had the last two feet of a cloth tie out attached to her collar, and there was a gentleman and his wife trying to convince her to get out of the street. I stopped, put on my hazards, and did my dog-whisperer thing. She came over to me, I held onto her tie out, and the gentleman read off the phone number on her tag. The lady who answered was not awake when I called. She had no idea her baby was out running around loose. The gentleman and his wife offered to hold the dog at the corner, since they lived right there; they figured I was probably headed for work. I thanked them, got back in, and continued on. Clocked in on time, too.

If I had been patient like I have been trying to do lately, I would not have been there to help the dog.

God works in funny ways sometimes, using you in ways you don’t realize.

I hope God uses you today for someone else’s needs.