ROFR Support Group - April Chatty Thread

[jrbdad]

Originally Posted by mousefan1972

I hope not. Not a fan....

Me either

[Brian5581]

Originally Posted by tomandrobin

We are away that weekend.....scratch

'
Bah humbug, forgot about that. Oh well, one of the summer weekends then, hopefully.

[suecait]

Dammit I hate Sunday nites...it means tomorrow is Monday & work. Bah humbug.

[mikayla73]

Originally Posted by tomandrobin

Happy April Fools Day!

Took Robin to National Harbor for a little Wine & Dine, get away for 2!

We both really like the vibe down there. We always feel like we are away, but still not away. The onsite restaurant Old Hickory is excellent! We highly recommend it, if you are in the area.

Nice! I get weekend deals for local (ish) hotels here and have thought about doing that too.

Originally Posted by Brian5581

Ah, tax day is Good Friday for me (we're off). That's when I find out how good it really is, haha...

Enjoy Boston!

David will be doing our taxes soon. I'll be finding something else to do when he does them.

Originally Posted by suecait

Dammit I hate Sunday nites...it means tomorrow is Monday & work. Bah humbug.

Hehe - David just asked me where his weekend went.

[hurricaneb]

Hi everyone,
Hard to believe it is already April. DD5 is counting down on the calendar for her birthday. I need to get the party invites made. Do I make the cake from scratch or do I just buy one?

The jogging stroller we are using in the Classic this weekend has a speaker system. Saturday night was spent adding tunes to the MP4 so we will have music to walk to. DD5 was playing with the MP4 and now I don't know where it is.

I was appointed by the court to represent a child taken away from her parents. I am doing this pro-bono. Yesterday was spent reviewing the case and speaking with the child. Sad that some parents just don't get it.

[minniekissedme]

Happy Monday boys and girls...

[tammymacb]

Hallelujah!

I should be off now until we drive to Florida for our cruise. You notice I say "should" and that's because my scheduled now has me working tomorrow and Thursday before my trip. Yay me!

[Brian5581]

Originally Posted by suecait

Dammit I hate Sunday nites...it means tomorrow is Monday & work. Bah humbug.

Indeed.

Best of luck with the new case, Betsy.

Not too long now, Tammy. Good luck getting through the week, despite the extra work time.

[Kickapoo Joie Juice]

Originally Posted by jrbdad

Is it still April Fool's Day?

Originally Posted by mousefan1972

I hope not. Not a fan....

Me neither-I don't like the concept at all-cause someone dismay/fear/confusion/upset, then say, ha ha, just a joke!

Originally Posted by hurricaneb

I was appointed by the court to represent a child taken away from her parents. I am doing this pro-bono. Yesterday was spent reviewing the case and speaking with the child. Sad that some parents just don't get it.

I'll have to remember this some days when I think I'm a terrible parent-I need to grade myself on a curve. Kids are mad at me because I'm making them do CRCT tests this week to be prepared for them next week. Intellectually, they know if they want to stay in the challenging classes with their friends, they need to score big, but they are 11 and 13 and they're still kinda like, waaah, it's vacation!

John, I liked the nose story, and I'll look for the duck reality show-I saw the commercials, but they reminded me a bit of my grandfather's/uncle's/dad's family business growing up and I'm not sure I wanted to re-live that drama. However, it sounds like it's different, so I'll give it a shot.

Mandy-I'm already on my second load of laundry-how come spring break doesn't mean vacation for me? It just means way more mess around the house!

Sue-DD13 always has issues now when she gets a bronchial cold-the pediatrician says that tonsils sort of "run interference" and keep snot and bacteria from going down bronchial tubes, and when those are gone, some kids have a lot more inflammation and issues.

We've occasionally had to put her on an inhaler (which she despises) to keep her airways open to stop the barking noise. Luckily, (knock wood) she hasn't gotten a bad one this year and we haven't needed either the freezer or the inhaler.

We still think having her tonsils removed was the right thing to do-she was snoring, having repeated bouts of strep throat, suffering from sleep apnea, and couldn't concentrate at school (she was 6). Within a month of having them removed, she'd grown like a weed and could concentrate (she was finally getting good sleep!) and has been doing remarkably well since.

Hey, does anyone travel with their dogs? We're thinking of taking a summer vacation and we're trying to decide whether to book the place that lets us bring our dogs, or board them like we usually do. We're a little worried that they won't enjoy the road trip, and that they might bark in their crates when we leave the condo. We'll be out most of the time doing stuff, (not dog oriented stuff), so we are going back and forth about which would be best...

[tammymacb]

(it's OK to skip this if you want, I just had a few people who wanted to know about her story..)

The most amazing thing about Keena's story was the fact that she ever lived to meet me at all. Add to that the fact that she'd been badly mistreated and bounced around and she still loved her family as much as she did just goes to show what an amazing little girl she was. I'll always be thankful that while she was able to be, she was loved by me.

I used to be the Coastal Adoption rep for Greyhound Crossroads. My "job" entailed responsibilities like meeting potential families, setting up meet and greets, moving dogs through adoption, vetting dogs, picking up dogs in bad situations and driving them up and down I-95.

We had a volunteer who, what's the nice way to put this? Was odd and I wasn't a fan. But she was friends with older members of GC and she was accepted. She'd adopted a large make greyhound named King and used to bring him to our meet and greets sometimes.

Well, Barb went on vacation to Orlando and while she was there, she decided to go to the dog races. ( I do NOT EVER go to dog races, if I go to a track, it's to pick up a dog from a kennel )

When she got home she emailed the core member's of GC ( myself included ) that she'd seen this sweet little girl greyhound that she fell in love with and wanted to see if there was a way to adopt her when she retired. She'd kept the racing program and knew the dogs name and the race number. The dogs name was Lulu's friend.

http://www.greyhound-data.com/d?z=Wz...riend&x=41&y=8

Our adoption rep, Joanne, who worked with actually acquiring the dogs from Florida, called a friend who worked at a different kennel. We found that Keena was living at a bad kennel and her trainer was considered a "carnie trainer". As in he was a carnival, free wheeling, piece of crap. The legit trainer, Diane got in touch with the trainer who told Diane he didn't want the dog, to get her out of there ASAP. Diane was pretty sure she was going to be put down.

So, Diane took Keena in to her kennel. Which could have gotten her in a lot of trouble as she didn't have the paperwork to actually have her there. She took her as a favor to us and told us we had to get her out ASAP.

So, Barb ( remember Barb? ) the one I don't like..was contacted letting her know the dog was available and at Diane's kennel safe, but she had to pick her up by the following weekend as more dogs were coming in. Barb, who'd been soooooo excited about this dog *she was in love with * then started backtracking. She couldn't get to Florida that weekend. She had stuff to do. So now GC was looking bad and Diane couldn't keep her. Because I was working I couldn't drive down to get her ( about 13 hours round trip ) but since everyone was trying to figure out where to go next, I offered up the money to pay a private kennel/vets office/etc for regular boarding. It was the only way to keep her safe and I'd pay the bill until Keena/Lulu ( she was still Lulu at the time ) could be picked up by someone.

Well, after lots of behind the scenes discussion we had a hauler pick up Keena with a load of dogs to be brought to SC for adoption. She was safe and in the hands of GC. She was delivered somewhere in the upstate of SC and I'd never me her. The plan was that since Barb had no interest in even chipping in to keep her alive, she was out of the picture.

Well, after a week or so in foster upstate, it became known that Keena was pretty shy. Actually very shy. She wasn't going to be easy to adopt out. Around the same time, Barb came nosing around again. She apologized for her wishy washy behavior ( to the director of GC, not me ) and asked if she could pretty please still have Keena. I don't know how it happened - ( my guess is they didn't want her to be a long term foster ) but she was given the opportunity to adopt Keena. ( I was very vocal in disagreement- one of my first major breakaways from the group )

Keena got transferred to Charleston. Barb continued to bring King to my meet and greets, ( because Keena was to afraid to be out around people ) and I continued to dislike Barb.

Well, a few months later, I get the phone call from the director of GC. Barb was "having troubles". Not only was she returning Keena, but King too and she needed emergency fosters. I agreed to take in Keena ( she'd been named Keena by Barb, but I never changed her name ) but couldn't take King, my male Elkins does not play well with strange male dogs. They were glad I could take her as I'd had a lot of success raising Hannah who was the number 1 shyest greyhound I've ever met, so hopefully I could make her more adoptable.

I met Barb at a Petsmart, put Keena in the back of my SUV and drove home. I had already told Angus that I wasn't keeping her. I didn't want her ( really I didn't ) but we would help her all we could.

Well, that wasn't Keena's plan at all. She became fast friends with Hannah. She quickly adjusted to schedules, and household excitement and fell madly in love with my family ( though if a stranger came in, she'd hide in the dining room )...I found myself falling right back in love and would secretly pull up adoption applications hoping no one was asking to meet her. I knew when I gave her up, I would be heartbroken.

After having her for a few weeks, it was time to order tags for all the dogs with names and phone numbers. I got one for Keena also since she was living with us and if she got lost, of course she needed ID too.

When they arrived, my husband ( who is truly the best husband in the world ) took Keena's collar off and attached the tag and said to me, "You know, she loves us. We love her, and she belongs here. This tag says she's our dog. If you want her call GC and tell them we're keeping her."

He really is the best sometimes.

I called, emailed and paid her adoption fee that day. I wanted her down from the adoptable site. My girl was home. Where she was meant to be all along.

Believe it or not, a month or so later, Barb contacted the director again. Her life had settled down and she wanted her dogs back. Of course I had a signed adoption contract but I still told the director, Barb could pry Keena's leash from my cold, dead hands. But they did let her have King back. And months later, she returned him again.

Keena and Elkins.