NiceLady has bought us a couple of Coolaroo’s to lounge on. They are cool and comfy in the summer heat. Lulu isn’t much interested in those. She walks across one now and again but does not stop to lie down. She does, however, wade into the big water dish as though she wished it were a pool.

Nicelady took the hint and bought her a small pool. This thought was further facilitated by Tractor Supply Company putting their doggie pools on sale this weekend.

Lulu is a Labrador Retriever mix so it should be in her blood to enjoy the water. It is unlikely that the rest of us will make any use of it. Although, if there are no Peoples standing there with a bottle of shampoo, Blondie might enjoy it too. She is part Yellow Lab and has gone splashing through local creeks when she’s gotten out and run off. That was before the Peoples built our Petitentiary (a.k.a. Play Yard) that does a good job of keeping us in. Most of us anyway. Jasper the Flying Dog could go over it any time he wanted, but he seems to have lost that desire.

I have NO interest in a pool. Jasper: maybe, but probably not: he’s not fond of being wet either.

Lulu’s Pool-a-roo

Hairyface found a sort-of level spot for the pool and put about 3 inches of water in it. He hoped shallow would be fun, not intimidating – and easier to dump out at the end of the day. Then they let Lulu out of her pen to see what she thought of it.

This was about as close to an honest tail-wag as we’ve gotten from this abused girl yet.

After many trips though the pool and sessions of lounging in the grass, Lulu decided she wanted to be a lap dog. A 60 pound lap dog, but hey … who could deny this sweetheart? She’s coming out of her shell nicely.

A padawan dog’s first visit inside the house is often short. They get to come in and tour the food eating room and living room (which are essentially one large space), everything else is closed off. When they’ve got the lay of the land, so to speak, they go into their crate, get a nice chewie to amuse themselves with and we see if they can be calm.

Jasper is known for his high excitement acrobatics.

While he has calmed down A LOT since he first arrived here, we were expecting that he would not enjoy being crated and his first visit would be short.

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Last night we had a party with special treats and we all talked about what a good boy Volt is. Blondie and I knew what was going on, we’ve seen this several dozen times now. Often it’s no big deal, at least not to me. I’m stoic. But once in a while saying “good-bye” is hard … even for me.

Volt, of course had no clue. He was just happy to get special treats and have so much attention paid to him. I explained it to him after everyone went to bed.

When we got up this morning, Volt went into the den for some morning lovies from HairyFace. Nothing unusual about that. But when Volt reached way up and licked Hairy’s face and neck, that was unusual: Volt’s not a real kissy-guy. Hairy thought he was saying good-bye, but I knew he was saying, “Don’t send me away; this is my home. I like it here.” So I had another chat with him.

It’s harder for him to understand because he’s been here so long. He’s gotten settled.

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Volt is on The Bus and rolling toward Pennsylvania and the Fur Friends in Need rescue that will help him find a loving forever home.

Blondie and I have been kind of sad about his departure, so we’ve stayed close to one another all day long. Jasper would like to join in on our “togetherness”.

While HairyFace sanitized Volts crate, Jasper watched closely, “Volt’s gone, so that’s going to be for me, right?” Every time Hairy headed for the house, Jasper got all excited and started running vertical laps. He hasn’t done much of that for a while. He’s really eager to take Volt’s place as House Dog Apprentice.

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Thursday, June 23rd, 2016 was our final evening to spend with our buddy Volt. He’s been with us since January, and has become a regular member of the family. And it’s been a pleasure to get to know him: he is a true Southern Gentleman … err, dog. In the morning HairyFace will take him to The Shelter for his physical and preparations to ride the Rolling Rescue van.

He’s headed for Fur Friends in Need, a rescue in Pennsylvania. Or Staten Island, or both … I’m still a little confused by all that. But it is our understanding that he will go directly into another foster home situation while they find him a forever home. That’s good: it would just crush Volt to be put back into a kennel.

But for this evening, NiceLady bought is a package of toasted beef trachea. They were crunchy, all natural, and quite tasty. Everyone got to join in, too. In their own way.

We received word last night that Volt has his ticket to ride the Rolling Rescue bus on Friday June 24th. Now we begin that bittersweet process of saying goodbye and congratulating him on moving to the next step toward finding a forever home of his own.

Volt has been with us since January, six months is a longer time than normal. He has come to think of this as his home and us as his family. But we know that Meryl will welcome him into hers and ease his transition. Hopefully he will find a permanent home quickly. He’s a really good boy and deserves that.

When I told him he was going to Pennsylvania on The Bus, he said, “WHAT!? I don’t want to go there … I saw a movie and that’s where vampires live! I don’t want to live with vampires, they’re even worse than mosquitoes.”

“Vampires? No, no, no: that’s TRANSylvania. That’s a whole different place. You’re headed for Pennsylvania — that’s where they make pencils, not vampires.”

“Oh! That’s different then. Will I like it there?”

“You’ll love it. It’s just like here except different. You will be living in a house and will have other dogs to hang with and Meryl will treat you well and help you find a forever family of your very own.”

“Thinking about leaving you and Blondie and Doug and Marie makes me sad.”

“Yeah … it makes us sad too. But you deserve to have a forever home of your very own. We can’t adopt every dog we fall in love with. We just can’t.”

Then we lay down and took a nap together so we wouldn’t cry. It isn’t becoming for Guardians of the Realm to cry.

We’ve been teaching Volt that table manners are important for any dog who doesn’t want to eat every meal in his crate. Last night at dinner Volt was again allowed to dine with the rest of us (he’s learning this bit REALLY fast).

When he finished his bowl he sat and watched for a bit (hoping the Peoples would share their food with him) then wandered off to find a cozy place to nap. GOLD STAR!

This evening we engaged in some casual dining and watched an old Science Fiction Theater episode. Mostly, this was a Peoples thing, but we dogs get to eat in the living room with them then sleep through the silly program they watch. We like doing this because we usually get a special treat after dinner.

At bed time HairyFace and NiceLady sat in bed and read for a while. Sometimes they use book lights and turn off the lamps. But not tonight. Blondie Bear is saying, “Would you PLEASE turn off the lights and go to sleep … I’m TIRED.”

I didn’t have a bed to hide under, so I made do with what was available.

Eventually HairyFace and NiceLady got sleepy too, turned off the lights, and went to sleep. Then we could take up normal sleeping positions and get some proper rest.

It’s Tuesday. That’s yard work day. Not that it’s some sort of law or anything, we could do yard work any day. Saturday, for instance tends to be another day that is often consumed by yard work. But Tuesdays, somehow, generally do end up being yard work days.

It’s a nice day. It hasn’t rained for a couple of days, but there is a little overcast to break up the sun, it’s not too hot, and a breeze is blowing. A good day to be outside.

Volt and I took up station inside one of the garden bed blocks. We were safe here from string trimmers, mowers and the cuttings these things toss around. We could see what’s going on, and enjoy being outdoors for a while.

Blondie Bear was pretending to be the Equipment Manager. She prefers the cool of the barn (she has a much heavier coat than Volt or I do). But she can still see and is safe from flying plant bits. She also likes to be more directly involved, so being where HairyFace goes to trade out (or refuel) pieces of equipment keeps her central to the operation.

Jasper was out on his tether early in the process, while Hairy was string trimming around things, but when the mowers started to roll, HairyFace insisted he go back inside his pen – for safety’s sake.

When HairyFace first went to get Jasper out, and had the tether in his hand, Jasper ducked his head and looked up through his eyebrows at Hairy saying, “I don’t need that: I’m a GOOD boy now.” When Hairy goes out to give Jasper a play session and will be giving all his attention to Jasper, he gets to run free (no tether). But while HairyFace has to focus on cleaning up the pen and changing out his water, Jasper gets tethered to a tree, giving him a 20 foot radius to play in while Hairy works. Previously, Hairy would then unhook the tether from the tree and let Jasper drag it around the yard. That was like tying him to the ground and he never made any attempt to climb the play yard fence.

HairyFace spent most of the day mowing and trimming. He took a break now and then to go in, rest up and get a drink. We have water bowls outside and can drink any time we want. Hairy could use them if he wanted, we wouldn’t mind, but he refuses. Well, that’s his choice.

We don’t mind going inside though: it’s usually cooler in the house – unless Hairy has done a bad job of window management and allowed hot air to be sucked inside. In our house, if you allow it to get hot, it just stays hot until evening when everything cools off.

So the yards are mowed – except for the High Yard (aka Copperhead County): he didn’t do that one this time – everything looks nice, and we’re ready to settle in for an evening of rest. It sure is tiring watching our friend work all day! But the results are nice.