Mira has left the building

Said good bye to my dear friend Mira this morning. She now has a forever home with a wonderful retired couple. Here's a cute shot of her and Teiko hanging out last night.

It's so hard

I am so happy for Mira. This was a dog I could have SO kept. I love her totally. Her good nature, trust and love of her people.

Last weekend, I kept talking with Todd about keeping her. She and Teiko get along great, she's such a sweet girl and I wanted to keep her in the family.....

But I guess I know in my heart, that my real purpose is to continue to work with GSRAW to save the next "Mira" who comes along and finds herself needing a great "fur-ever" home.

The saving grace....Ruth, the new Mama, reminded me so much of Grandma Alice, it just felt so right. Ruth even asked if she could give me a hug, because she knew I really needed one as we were signing the contracts to transfer ownership of Mira

Damn! it is really hard.

It would be so much easier if I just kept the damn dog and stopped fostering!

Right?

Wow, two days makes all the difference...

Here's my sweet, sweet girl, Mira. I am just amazed how she is recovering and becoming herself after only two days with us. I already have a family interested in her after posting her bio this morning on the rescue site.

I like this "tough chick". She is a little "scary" to the uninitiated of German Shepherds, but really, she's an all bark and no bite kind of girl who has to make sure you are worthy of her trust - and coming from an eat or be eaten kind of world this makes sense.

Show her some love, food, a little discipline and direction, and she is all yours. When she lays at your feet and looks at you with those eyes. Oh my gosh. It's totally worth it.
German Shepherds are amazingly resilient, smart and give their whole heart loving breed of a dog.

Wow! I am humbled.

Sauna Update

Last weekend, the sauna stove was put in. Todd spent most of the day building the wall.
He's calling me right now from Paul's a week later, yelling that I haven't uploaded the photos yet.
Here's the photos.

Meet Mira, the 6th foster dog

Here is Mira (Meer'ah) with a little bit of Spanish trilling of the "R" because I can do it.

We are starting to settle in after a few hours of snarling, barking, growling between the dogs. They are now all laying at my feet peaceful. Mira needs a few days to decompress after being in a kennel for two weeks with no access to the outside and the loss of her family. She is actually a very sweet girl who needs a human to bond with in order to show her the way.It's Teiko, who is being his usual selfish little bastard self that doesn't want to share his Mama with anyone.....I like this girl. She really knows her commands, walks great on a leash and loves car rides. I'll give her a few days to settle before I get her in for her spay job. She really has a thing for Todd, being a man and will follow him everywhere.

A rescue story of Momma

It's been a busy week for German Shepherd Rescue Alliance of Wisconsin. Here's a true rescue story that I thought you might enjoy. It expresses exactly why I do what I can for this amazing dogs and a wonderful group of volunteers.

Earlier in the week the Milwaukee police were sent to evict a homeless man from a vacant building. When they got there they found the man had 10 dogs with him. A female German Shepherd Dog and her nine 5mo old pups. The guy hoped on a bicycle and took off calling all the dogs to go with him. It took the police, Madacc (Milwaukee Animal Control) and citizen volunteers some time to round up all ten dogs which finally ended up at Madacc. Reports say the dogs were all in good shape and well groomed.

Now here's the sad part, later in the day, the homeless man showed up at Madacc to see if he could get his dogs back. Now there were fines to the tune of thousands of dollars attached to all the dogs and obviously this man was in no way able to pay, so with little recourse, he surrendered the dogs to Madacc.

Word went out to area rescues, and of course, the pups were all snatched up within 24 hours, but Momma was left behind. See, no one wanted her - she's not very young, very cute or even puppyish.

One of GSRAW's volunteers, Jodie, went to Madacc this week to evaluate a couple dogs and saw what a nice dog Momma was and Rylee has volunteered to foster her. So GSRAW is pulling her on Saturday.

This little story didn't make the newspapers or TV news. In the big picture it probably isn't such a big deal, is it? But in the life of one Momma dog who just lost her pups, her freedom and her best friend, I'm sure it's huge that people cared enough to give her a new life also.

THANK YOU to everybody who has helped with the dogs this week. In addition to Momma, three other female dogs have foster homes thanks to Kyra, Michelle and Jodie. Transports across two states have come together with another big THANK YOU to Bernadette, Ellie, Sonia, Rylee, Gailee and Chris C.

Life is good :)

Thanks, Jo

So Momma, as she's been called for the past 10 days, will be coming to us for a reprieve and a second chance. I'm thinking of changing her name to Mara or Mira, or maybe Moya as all are tied to the name, Mary meaning great mother.

Besides, there can only be one "Mama" in this house.

Hopping good time....

Pictured above is a fast-growing Hops plant. This perennial vining plant sends out hundreds of tendrils as it grows. Last weekend, Todd put up a trellis of sorts so the vines can grow vertical instead of just horizontal across the fence. Since I took the photo on Sunday, some of the vines have already grown another 10 inches. Max height should be around 20 ft this year.

Soon it will start flowering and you can drop a bud directly in a beer if you like a hoppy taste.

a piece of Madison history

Anyone who grew up in Madison, knows this house and I know you want the color version, but too bad. I'm paying homage to 154 years of its existence.

It's called the Leicht House and is on Gorham Street by James Madison park. Both Todd and I have loved this house since we were little, when every Christmas, the owners used to decorate every window with lights, even the cupola on the top of the roof.

Yesterday, we visited the house, even that cupola. I loved that the stone path from the sidewalk is made from the same quarried stone as the house. While the style of the house is quite Gothic Victorian, I could definitely make it my own.

I loved the three separate staircases, the 13ft ceilings, the fireplaces in every room and the beautiful woodwork. But the reproduction Victorian wall paper in every room would definitely have to go.....

You just watch this will be our house one day!

Summer in Madison let the music begin

Yesterday, Saturday, Jun 13th, was the official kick-off the the Madison summer music scene with the Marquette Lakefront Festival. Headed down around 5pm to catch the last show of the day, Rupa and April Fishes from San Fran. - Love the sound - European gypsy, Mediterranean and Bollywood with all songs beautifully sung in french. The we stopped at Ankur and Ashwini's to visit with his wonderfully fun parents who were visiting from India. We then departed en masse for some great music on the Union Terrace belted out by the Lee Boys out of Florida. I loved their rift of Jimi Hendrick's Purple Haze, they hammered out over Lake Mendota. Wow, gotta love the steel guitar. Music on the terrace must end by 11pm so the night was still young! We then headed over to our favorite neighborhood haunt - the Harmony Bar and Grill for an amazing final set of New Orleans' Bryan Lee - the braille blues daddy. Great guitar playing by Mr. Lee and the drums were absolutely smok'n.
Now today, Sunday, if I was feeling up to it, I'd head down to the Chicago Blues Festival to catch me some Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings - the hottest Soul Queen in America. Check her out! Just an amazing voice and she is so wonderfully nice.


Todd and I caught her show in Madison last fall - She rocked the Barrymore to the ground and stayed after wards to clean up - she signed records and talked with everyone. Beautiful woman!

Gotta love summer in Madison - the music is so amazing and a joy to the soul.

That was a close one...

Seriously loud thunder and lightning brought both Todd and I out of a sound sleep in the middle of the night. We had no idea until this morning how close the lightning really was.

Holy Cow! It totally stripped the bark off of our tree and took a whole branch down. Not sure if the tree can be saved or not.