Never A Dull Moment!
Foster Child On His Way. Or Not!
One of my favorite things to do after a long week is watch a Chicago Cubs Friday afternoon baseball game on TV. It’s something I’ve enjoyed doing since I was child (as long as the Cubs were playing a home game and was televised on WGN). Early last Friday afternoon I thought I had a pretty good chance of being able to see most of the game. I had already promised Callie that I would take her to get her nails trimmed (since she refuses to let Erin or I trim them) by All About Pets Indy, so I was only going to miss a few innings, no big deal! However, as Callie and I were driving back from the nail trim and picking up some concert tickets I had won through a radio station, Erin texted me regarding a phone conversation with our foster placement coordinator.
A six year old boy had passed our initial inquiries regarding placement history, behavioral issues, circumstances for foster care, etc. The excitement Erin and I had at the prospect of finally having another foster child placed with us trumped relaxing on the couch and watching the Cubbies. But as we patiently awaited the call to finalize the transfer, there was a loud boom. The kind of boom that is so loud you can’t even tell which direction it came from. The power immediately went out. As disappointed as I was about the Cubs game, I was even more disappointed because I knew that DCS couldn’t place a foster with us if we didn’t have power to our home.
I heard screams and ran out back to find a tree laying across the power lines in my neighbors backyard. Two doors down, there was panic and shouts to call 911. A “live” power line had fallen feet away from our neighbors who were entertaining their granddaughter. Thank goodness everyone had escaped without harm, though understandably shaken up. A frantic call to the Indianapolis Fire Department and later Indianapolis Power and Light finally cut the power and removed the danger. Although the excitement had died down, our neighborhood was without power and the Jesswein’s were without a foster child.
There wasn’t much the fire department could do until the power was turned off.
She’s Breaking Hearts With Her Broken Leg
In the week leading up to a Prison Greyhound dog drop, Erin will receive information such as the number of greyhounds being brought up, the sex of the dogs, and even a short backstory on the hounds. Last week was a bit of a rollercoaster on whether or not we would have a home foster and if so, which lucky dog it would be. Finally it was decided that Erin and I would be a Greyhound Air B&B proprietor for a night. We would care for a dog that was not available for adoption through Prison Greyhounds but through an adoption organization located in Wisconsin so that the dog could see a more specialized veterinarian. And having just fostered Money and Barry, Erin and I were looking forward to fostering a petite, brindle, female with a broken leg, even if it was for only one night.
If she had been available for adoption, she wouldn’t have lasted five minutes. We would have adopted her!!! Of course the broken leg garners a lot of sympathy, but she was also very affectionate, playful, and popular among the volunteers and potential adopters that had shown up for the drop. After a quick stop at Pet People to make sure a couple of the dogs received their complimentary baths, we were excited to introduce Nice to Six Pack and Callie.
Mission Accomplished
I think you form a special bond with a dog when, for one reason or another, you have to essentially carry them everywhere. A more memorable occurrence was a 90 pound greyhound that refused to climb the stairs in our house. Bet you can’t guess who had to carry him up at night and down in the morning? All the while, he would have this apologetic look on his face while I lugged him to and from the bedroom. Nice had a similar look every time I would scoop her up to prevent her from going to the bathroom in the house and run her out the back door.
By the end of the weekend, Erin and I both had fallen pretty hard for Nice. She “hopped” around on three legs pretty efficiently and got along well with our two mischief makers. We met and dropped her off with the Wisconsin group volunteer Sunday morning in the rain. Erin and I were still a little drowsy from having slept in the living room to keep her company and not expose her to too many different new environments. Hopefully our next foster grey can stay a little longer…….and hopefully that foster grey will have a foster child to play with as well.