It is with great pleasure and excitement that I post the birth announcement of my great nephew Rocco Randazzo. His mom and dad are Jill and Joe Randazzo, my sisters-in-law's oldest daughter. Baby Rocco was born on June 20th weighing in at 8 pounds 9 ounces. I personally think he is an amazingly beautiful and perfect baby. Below are pictures of Rocco on his birthday and with his Great Grandparents.
Wow, I have to say the Memorial Service for Michael Jackson was definitely moving. I was surprised since I basically attend a funeral every week. But, this was different. No matter what you thought of him the memorial was moving.
For me I watched it on my computer at work (this is when having two screens comes in handy). The guys that came into my office all made some comment on it. But, we all know that back in the 80s when Thriller came out we were all listening and dancing to that album. I know I was. The music he made after the Thriller album was just as good, although I did not care for some of his songs.
I can say that Michael Jackson was someone I never understood and I always felt a bit sorry for. To this day I believe in my heart he never touched a child. I did not watch the news reports about his trials and what he was accused of doing because I knew he did not do it. I felt for him having to give up pretty much 40 years of his life. He was tossed into a profession at the age of 10 when most of us were playing in the street with our friends. He did not have an easy life growing up and when he had the money and means to give back he did.
There are people in this country (a senator even) who will never be convinced that he was innocent. Our country is based on innocent until proven guilty. Unless you are a Michael Jackson then you have to spend the rest of your life trying to prove your innocence even though the court said you were innocent.
For those of us who remember listening to his music, watching him dance and loving everything he did this is our Elvis. When Elvis died my mother cried all day, no one thought anything wrong with that. No one thought it was odd that the media covered it so much or that women flocked to Graceland to be close to where he died. But with Michael Jackson because of his past people are questioning the hype behind his death.
I am happy that they gave us a public memorial so that his fans and everyone else could hear first hand what he did with his life and the money he made. The selfless time he devoted to those sick with HIV and AIDS, sick children, veterans and how he supported 39 various international charities, he holds a Guinness Book of World Record for Most Charities Supported. It is estimated he has given up to $500 MILLION to charities in his lifetime.
Maybe now people can enjoy him for what he was and not what they wanted or thought he should be. I know I will miss the music he could have made and brought into my life. For now I will continue to enjoy the music he left and I will never be ashamed to say I love the music and videos of Michael Jackson. Especially Thriller, what a great video.
For me I watched it on my computer at work (this is when having two screens comes in handy). The guys that came into my office all made some comment on it. But, we all know that back in the 80s when Thriller came out we were all listening and dancing to that album. I know I was. The music he made after the Thriller album was just as good, although I did not care for some of his songs.
I can say that Michael Jackson was someone I never understood and I always felt a bit sorry for. To this day I believe in my heart he never touched a child. I did not watch the news reports about his trials and what he was accused of doing because I knew he did not do it. I felt for him having to give up pretty much 40 years of his life. He was tossed into a profession at the age of 10 when most of us were playing in the street with our friends. He did not have an easy life growing up and when he had the money and means to give back he did.
There are people in this country (a senator even) who will never be convinced that he was innocent. Our country is based on innocent until proven guilty. Unless you are a Michael Jackson then you have to spend the rest of your life trying to prove your innocence even though the court said you were innocent.
For those of us who remember listening to his music, watching him dance and loving everything he did this is our Elvis. When Elvis died my mother cried all day, no one thought anything wrong with that. No one thought it was odd that the media covered it so much or that women flocked to Graceland to be close to where he died. But with Michael Jackson because of his past people are questioning the hype behind his death.
I am happy that they gave us a public memorial so that his fans and everyone else could hear first hand what he did with his life and the money he made. The selfless time he devoted to those sick with HIV and AIDS, sick children, veterans and how he supported 39 various international charities, he holds a Guinness Book of World Record for Most Charities Supported. It is estimated he has given up to $500 MILLION to charities in his lifetime.
Maybe now people can enjoy him for what he was and not what they wanted or thought he should be. I know I will miss the music he could have made and brought into my life. For now I will continue to enjoy the music he left and I will never be ashamed to say I love the music and videos of Michael Jackson. Especially Thriller, what a great video.
I almost forgot the most important part of my parents visit. After they all left for home, Joshua and I decided we needed some therapy. So we did what I do when I need therapy I go shopping. I felt that after all the stress I deserved to feed my addiction for bowls. So we hit Central to go antique shopping. There was one store in particular I wanted to go since it is always closed when I go down there.
We stopped in and I found several wonderful vintage Pyrex bowls but I was not ready to settle for one in particular just yet. Almost to the end of my tour of this huge store I found a little booth with vintage purses. Bowls and purses in the same place, I truly found Mecca. I discovered an amazing 1950 black lizard skin purse that almost made me cry it was so perfect.
I can't tell you how excited I am with my new purse. I love all things 50's, from the furniture, to the clothes, shoes, cars and most definitely purses. I find the clothes, shoes and purses from the 50's to be very girly and I love love love them.
So my gift to myself for surviving my vacation was a 1950 purse in mint condition. I do love giving myself presents.
I like to think that when I am put in a difficult position it is to learn something. With my family visiting I was put into a new position. We were at my house and this was the longest time I have spent with my family since I left Texas in 2000. I did go on the cruise with my mom and that held it's own challenges but I still had the opportunity to hide and seek solitude when I needed it.
One thing I am trying to keep in the back of my mind is that I have to deal with Chrion in my house of home. So I need to make sure that I utilize every opportunity I have to work on that so that I can finish it and move on. This trip I realized I learned a few things that will help me down the road.
The first and probably most important thing I learned revolved around my parents relationship and how I viewed it. Growing up I would think "I want a relationship like my parents have." I always thought of their relationship as solid and healthy and it was what I longed for. After spending 5 days alone with both my parents together the entire time I saw what their relationship really was. I was also hit with the reality that I have already had their relationship...TWICE. I was just in the wrong position in my relationship. I was in my fathers position where as my ex's were in my mothers position.
Let me explain. Watching my mother and father together was like watching a bad movie. My mother can be very demanding and she expects everyone to go along with her plans for a trip. I heard her tell my father several times "You said you were going to have fun if you came on this trip!" I pointed out to her that everyone has a different idea of fun. My father likes to sit around and watch TV more than running 90 to nothing. My mother is the opposite. And, when he would express a lack of interest in doing something she wanted to do she would jump on him for not wanting to have fun. With my mom she pretty much makes the schedule as to what is going to be done and he is expected to go along with it. It was just interesting to watch them from a different perspective and I am pretty sure the guides were working on me seeing things from this perspective so I could understand better.
I realized that with #3 our relationship was very much like this. If he wanted me to do something that he deemed important and I did not want to participate I was shunned for being difficult and not wanting the same things in life as he did. He was big on watching movies and DVD's and he would expect me to watch them with him. I have a very hard time sitting still long enough to watch a movie on TV. I do not get as involved in movies as he did. I don't cry through them nor react the way he did because I don't get that involved. This is the way I am, I am use to doing 3 things at one time, because these things need to get done and I am the one doing them. If we traveled he made the itinerary and I was expected to just go with him. We never got to stop and play, because we were on a schedule, unless he wanted to stop and play. So this made me start to read while we travelled because I knew if I saw something interesting I would not be able to stop there. And the fact that he drove like a lunatic and scared the daylights out of me most of the time. I remember traveling through LA with him and Joshua and passing the Hollywood sign. Josh was playing his gameboy in the backseat and #3 told him to look up at the sign Josh's comment was "Are we going to be able to stop and see it?" #3 replied "no" so Joshua said "Then what is the point?" and continued playing his game.
When I travel I know where I am going the how I leave up to the trip. I love to stop and see interesting things and change the route along the way to accommodate new adventure. None of my ex's were ever this carefree. #2 never went anywhere because as an alcoholic he had to stay close to home to drink so any trips I did during that relationship were on my own expect for 1 and that was to take Joshua to San Antonio to see a Georgia O'Keeffe exhibit at a private museum. All he wanted to do once we hit S.A. was go to the hotel and watch TV. Not my idea of a good time. So I waited til he fell asleep and left him there. The next morning all he could think about was getting home. It did not matter that I had planned things to do while I was there, all he wanted to do was what he wanted to do. I did not matter, which was the basis of our entire relationship.
So I learned that what I thought was a relationship was just another form of abuse that 2 people do to each other. I am not healthy enough to know how to have a solid and loving relationship. I am not capable of knowing what that is because I have never in my entire 41 years of being alive seen it happen. I know what bad relationships are and how they play out, but I have never seen what a healthy relationship looks like. I know they exist but like the elk that live all over NM I have never seen it.
Wednesday started out the same way every day with my parents starts...slow. I wanted to drive them up into the Jemez mountains to the Valle Caldera and then through Los Alamos and back to town. It really is a beautiful drive. So we started out and headed into the mountains. I don't think they were as impressed as I hoped. I started to tell them that the Caldera was the crater of the volcano that created the Jemez mountains millions of years ago, but then remembered that they are "new earther's" who believe the earth is no more than 6000 years old. So I left it at being part of a volcano.
Thursday, we had planned to get a family photo taken. So we got up and of course Devin did not have clothes appropriate for a photo. So we headed to the mall to find something for him to wear. By now I am use to the delays and time it takes them to get ready to do anything. We started heading out to the photographers studio and I was hit again with my mothers form of child rearing which I consider one step away from actual abuse. Nothing has changed with her since we were kids, she still yells, screams and swears at you. Only this time, I was fed up with it. After physically removing her from the kids I gave her and my dad a piece of my mind and what I thought of their abusive ways. I was not a happy camper. Lucky for me when we got to the studio they were closed for a staff meeting. I had no desire to have a picture taken at that moment.
But, as with my family things blow over just as fast as they blew in. We had lunch and then headed to the family arcade to let the kids play for awhile. Josh drove Devin in the go carts and mom drove Joe. I am not a go cart person I took pictures. Then Devin and I rode in the bumper boats and had a water battle with my mom and Joe. After this, Devin, Josh and I hit the arcade and played for about 2 hours. It was a lot of fun. Devin is one of the most laid back kids I have ever seen. He has his moments of pitching a fit but all in all he is a good kid. As we left he was crying because he wanted his dart gun, but I told him he could not get it until we got in the car. Knowing, he would shoot someone in the arcade, this upset him and he started a very good temper tantrum. This lasted until we got outside, I sat him down, showed him where my car was parked and told him if he was still pitching a fit by the time we got to the car he would have to walk home because I do not allow crying kids in my car. He looked at me and said "okay" and stopped on the spot. Once in the car, I felt a bit guilty for being so hard on him, so I called his name and smiled at him the mirror and told him I loved him very much. He just looked up and gave me that wonderful grin he has and he was perfectly fine, his world was good. I realized he liked having boundaries and liked being told you can do this and that but you can not do this or that. It makes his life easier knowing what he can do. Kids are not as complicated as we want them to be.
Friday morning came and they all headed home. Now it was time to put my house in order again.
One thing I was quickly reminded of about traveling with my family is that nothing happens fast. My parents did not leave Las Cruces until late morning, so Joshua and I spent the day wandering the mall and having lunch. I got a call from my mom saying they would be in around 4 so I figured we had time. But, my parents forgot about the time change so they actually got in around 3 and we were not home. But, no problem they just got settled in at my house.
Joshua and I headed home and got there about half an hour after they did and my house looked like a bomb went off in it. Between Joshua's stuff and their stuff you could not move in my little house. It was crazy, there were people everywhere and Tau and Kali were just wigged out. But, we made it work. I BBQ'd outside for dinner and that was nice, less to clean up. Everyone eventually went to bed but me and Josh and we stayed up visiting.
Tuesday came and the family wanted to take the train up to Santa Fe for lunch. First they wanted to go to Cracker Barrel for breakfast so we went there. I also discovered that I do not agree with my parents form of child raising. Devon was upset over not getting a toy and after several minutes of him pitching a fit, it was time for Aunt Cindy to intervene. I took him outside and explained that when he was with me throwing a fit in public was not acceptable by any means. He calmed down and the day carried on without anymore problems.
I tried to explain that the restaurant they wanted to go to in Santa Fe was not really their type of food. But, it had been recommended by their pastor so I took them there and after seeing the menu and finding out they do not serve steak they agreed it was not what they wanted to we left. I tried to explain to them that New Mexicans were not really big on steak and if you wanted one you went to a steakhouse not a regular restaurant and the same went for seafood. I reminded them we live in the desert and this is a state with roots in Mexico and Spain so our food revolved around that mostly. I don't think they were impressed. Oh well.
Once back at my house I sent my parents off for a night out, they wanted to go to the casino and Josh and I were going to babysit the kids. We started off by going to Sunflower Market for fruit and vegetables to snack on, since I don't keep a lot of junk food in the house. Then we went to Mama's Minerals, so Joe could see the rocks and then to the grocery store for dinner. The kids wanted hot dogs and french fries. We did that and settled down and watched tv at my house. It was a great evening for everyone. Mom and dad hit the casino and then went out to dinner and Josh and I played with the kids. There was no drama or trauma and we all had a good time.
I was planning on taking them up into the Jemez Mountains the next day so everyone went to their respected sleeping spots for the night.
Joshua and I headed home and got there about half an hour after they did and my house looked like a bomb went off in it. Between Joshua's stuff and their stuff you could not move in my little house. It was crazy, there were people everywhere and Tau and Kali were just wigged out. But, we made it work. I BBQ'd outside for dinner and that was nice, less to clean up. Everyone eventually went to bed but me and Josh and we stayed up visiting.
Tuesday came and the family wanted to take the train up to Santa Fe for lunch. First they wanted to go to Cracker Barrel for breakfast so we went there. I also discovered that I do not agree with my parents form of child raising. Devon was upset over not getting a toy and after several minutes of him pitching a fit, it was time for Aunt Cindy to intervene. I took him outside and explained that when he was with me throwing a fit in public was not acceptable by any means. He calmed down and the day carried on without anymore problems.
I tried to explain that the restaurant they wanted to go to in Santa Fe was not really their type of food. But, it had been recommended by their pastor so I took them there and after seeing the menu and finding out they do not serve steak they agreed it was not what they wanted to we left. I tried to explain to them that New Mexicans were not really big on steak and if you wanted one you went to a steakhouse not a regular restaurant and the same went for seafood. I reminded them we live in the desert and this is a state with roots in Mexico and Spain so our food revolved around that mostly. I don't think they were impressed. Oh well.
Once back at my house I sent my parents off for a night out, they wanted to go to the casino and Josh and I were going to babysit the kids. We started off by going to Sunflower Market for fruit and vegetables to snack on, since I don't keep a lot of junk food in the house. Then we went to Mama's Minerals, so Joe could see the rocks and then to the grocery store for dinner. The kids wanted hot dogs and french fries. We did that and settled down and watched tv at my house. It was a great evening for everyone. Mom and dad hit the casino and then went out to dinner and Josh and I played with the kids. There was no drama or trauma and we all had a good time.
I was planning on taking them up into the Jemez Mountains the next day so everyone went to their respected sleeping spots for the night.
Day 1 - Sunday, June 21, 2009
Sunday morning I met my parents and nephews in Carlsbad to start off our week long vacation together. I picked Phyllis up at 3:30 a.m. to start the drive which would take about 5 hours. I was very surprised to find out that nothing is open at 3:30 in the morning; not even convenience stores. And, there is quite a bit of traffic at that time of the morning.
Since I had done this drive more times than I could count I felt very comfortable heading out of town and to the south. It was nice having someone along for the ride besides the dogs; who stayed at home this time. We finally found an open convenience store in Vaughn, New Mexico about 90 minutes into the drive, so I was blessed by getting my morning Diet Pepsi and Phyllis got her coffee.
We got to Carlsbad about 8:00 and discovered my parents were not at their hotel, they had decided to go into town and get breakfast. This is very common for my family to just alter plans and not tell anyone. But, I tried not to get annoyed and we went back into town to find them at Denny's where they had already finished breakfast and Phyllis and I had not even come close to starting. So like most trips with my family we rearranged the plans and they went back to the hotel to let the kids swim while Phyllis and I got breakfast. After breakfast I needed calm drops something awful but there was no organic store in town so I settled for chocolate.
We all met up at the hotel and headed out to Carlsbad Caverns (http://www.nps.gov/cave) to explore. I was shocked at how bloody hot it was outside. Well into the 100's and something I am no longer use to. We got to the caverns and were happy to discover that it was free admission to all state parks, so our admission was free. We went straight into what is called "The Big Room" by elevator since daddy was in a wheelchair and it was too long of a walk for the kids to make using the natural entrance. It was very interesting and very difficult to push a wheelchair around. You are going up inclines and down inclines and the walkway is very small. Eventually you get to a point where you can not take a wheelchair so you have to turn back and go against the traffic on this little sidewalk to get to the entrance again. Once this was done we left and headed over the mountain range to White Sands National Monument. (http://www.nps.gov/whsa)
We decided the best route to White Sands was to go through Artesia and over the mountains through Cloudcroft and down into Alamogordo and into White Sands. The one thing we did not consider in this plan was the drastic changes in altitude we were making. We started out in Abq at roughly 5600 feet, down to Carlsbad, roughly 3300 feet, up to Cloudcroft at 8600 and down to White Sands National Monument at 4300 feet. This almost did poor Phyllis in she was hit with the worst case of altitude sickness I have ever seen. But once we got to White Sands she was better but still feeling sick.
For those of you who have no idea what White Sands is, it is the coolest thing ever. It is a huge range of sand dunes outside of Alamogordo, NM. #3 took Josh and I there back in 2000 but we really did not do anything but wander around. The best thing to do there is take sleds and sled down the dunes. Unlike the dunes at the beach these are not fragile and are made of gypsum so it does not get hot. Even when it is hitting 100 degrees outside the sands is cool to the touch. I bought 4 sleds for the kids to use while they were here. The only thing we did not think about was how high the dunes are and how hard they are to climb. But the kids and my mom loved every minute of it. As for me and Phyl we were dead tired. It was 8pm and we had be driving since 3:30 so we decided it was time to head home. My parents were staying in Las Cruces for the night. We finally arrived back home a bit after midnight and I was exhausted. But, it was a good day and we all had a nice time. It was also the first Father's Day I had with my daddy since I left Houston in 2000. So that was extra nice.
Up next: Day 2
Since I had done this drive more times than I could count I felt very comfortable heading out of town and to the south. It was nice having someone along for the ride besides the dogs; who stayed at home this time. We finally found an open convenience store in Vaughn, New Mexico about 90 minutes into the drive, so I was blessed by getting my morning Diet Pepsi and Phyllis got her coffee.
We got to Carlsbad about 8:00 and discovered my parents were not at their hotel, they had decided to go into town and get breakfast. This is very common for my family to just alter plans and not tell anyone. But, I tried not to get annoyed and we went back into town to find them at Denny's where they had already finished breakfast and Phyllis and I had not even come close to starting. So like most trips with my family we rearranged the plans and they went back to the hotel to let the kids swim while Phyllis and I got breakfast. After breakfast I needed calm drops something awful but there was no organic store in town so I settled for chocolate.
We all met up at the hotel and headed out to Carlsbad Caverns (http://www.nps.gov/cave) to explore. I was shocked at how bloody hot it was outside. Well into the 100's and something I am no longer use to. We got to the caverns and were happy to discover that it was free admission to all state parks, so our admission was free. We went straight into what is called "The Big Room" by elevator since daddy was in a wheelchair and it was too long of a walk for the kids to make using the natural entrance. It was very interesting and very difficult to push a wheelchair around. You are going up inclines and down inclines and the walkway is very small. Eventually you get to a point where you can not take a wheelchair so you have to turn back and go against the traffic on this little sidewalk to get to the entrance again. Once this was done we left and headed over the mountain range to White Sands National Monument. (http://www.nps.gov/whsa)
We decided the best route to White Sands was to go through Artesia and over the mountains through Cloudcroft and down into Alamogordo and into White Sands. The one thing we did not consider in this plan was the drastic changes in altitude we were making. We started out in Abq at roughly 5600 feet, down to Carlsbad, roughly 3300 feet, up to Cloudcroft at 8600 and down to White Sands National Monument at 4300 feet. This almost did poor Phyllis in she was hit with the worst case of altitude sickness I have ever seen. But once we got to White Sands she was better but still feeling sick.
For those of you who have no idea what White Sands is, it is the coolest thing ever. It is a huge range of sand dunes outside of Alamogordo, NM. #3 took Josh and I there back in 2000 but we really did not do anything but wander around. The best thing to do there is take sleds and sled down the dunes. Unlike the dunes at the beach these are not fragile and are made of gypsum so it does not get hot. Even when it is hitting 100 degrees outside the sands is cool to the touch. I bought 4 sleds for the kids to use while they were here. The only thing we did not think about was how high the dunes are and how hard they are to climb. But the kids and my mom loved every minute of it. As for me and Phyl we were dead tired. It was 8pm and we had be driving since 3:30 so we decided it was time to head home. My parents were staying in Las Cruces for the night. We finally arrived back home a bit after midnight and I was exhausted. But, it was a good day and we all had a nice time. It was also the first Father's Day I had with my daddy since I left Houston in 2000. So that was extra nice.
Up next: Day 2
It is not surprising that my first grandchild would be a huge deal, it may be surprising that my first grandchild is not a child though. Josh is very much like his mother when it comes to children, he is not really fond of them either. However, he did inherit my love and devotion to the animal kingdom.
As soon as Josh moved down here he started looking for a dog. He was not allowed to have one at his house in Wyoming and we already tried to bring Chupa down here to live but he was miserable. So Josh spent the first week here looking all over the internet at shelters for the perfect dog. One that would fit into our already large animal kingdom.
After the family left on Friday, Joshua and I headed out to do some shopping and I suggested we head to the shelter to see what they had. We had already determined that the Westside shelter housed more of the smaller dogs so that is where we went. Walking through the shelter was one of the worst experiences I have ever had. Your heart goes out to every animal there and if I could have I would have taken every one of them home. I believe it was in the second building we went in (there were 3) we saw this little red dog who was 3 years old. He was laying in his plastic bed and pretty much ignored us. When I called him over he got up and came to the gate and licked my hand. It was pretty much love at first sight for both Josh and I. But, we wanted to look some more, the last building had a beautiful spaniel mix but it was a female and we both agreed Kali would do better with a male than a female.
We went to let the staff know we were interested in seeing the first dog who they had listed as Sancho. Before they would take him out of the pen the staff made sure that we had no little children at home because he did not like small kids. My comment was "Wow, neither do we!" We took the dog outside to spend some time with him and within 2 minutes we knew this was the dog we wanted to take home. He was so sweet and a definite lover. He climbed in your lap and just wanted to be loved. Unfortunately, he was not altered so he had to stay at the shelter until Monday when he would have his surgery.
Saturday, we took Tau, Kali and Auntie Phyllis to meet the newest member of the family. The dogs had to meet through a fence in case they did not like each other but they all seemed to be just fine with each other. After a quick Reiki session with Auntie Phyllis to determine any special needs we had to let him go back. It was heartbreaking to leave him there again and you see in his little eyes he was concerned that maybe we did not want him after all. We promised to be back as fast as we could to take him home.
Josh spent the next few days trying to decide on a name for him. Again, like his mother it has to be a name with some meaning. He searched and talked to his friends to come up with the perfect name. He decided on the name Dorian after his favorite book; but I just referred to him as Shanky, until he got home. Now his is referred to as "grandbaby".
Monday, we went to the shelter to take him home and introduce him to his Auntie Tau and Auntie Kali. Already having gone through the dog introduction training before I knew what to do, but since he just had surgery I did not want it to be stressful, so we put him in the backyard and took Tau out first since he is the calmer one. Things went great, except Tau does not like to have his butt sniffed. We removed Tau and put Kali in and she did great. She had one more minion under her. We put both in and things could not have been better. During the night we had one issue and that was over food between him and Kali. But, it was broken up by me and they did fine. Kali even got onto Tau for growling at him. I explained to Josh the rules of the pack and that Kali was the alpha and to avoid fights we leave it that way and let them work out the issues. Right now he is being quarantined from Tau & Kali because he has kennel cough and is still recovering from his surgery. But, by the weekend they will be able to be together and get to know one another better.
After the family left on Friday, Joshua and I headed out to do some shopping and I suggested we head to the shelter to see what they had. We had already determined that the Westside shelter housed more of the smaller dogs so that is where we went. Walking through the shelter was one of the worst experiences I have ever had. Your heart goes out to every animal there and if I could have I would have taken every one of them home. I believe it was in the second building we went in (there were 3) we saw this little red dog who was 3 years old. He was laying in his plastic bed and pretty much ignored us. When I called him over he got up and came to the gate and licked my hand. It was pretty much love at first sight for both Josh and I. But, we wanted to look some more, the last building had a beautiful spaniel mix but it was a female and we both agreed Kali would do better with a male than a female.
We went to let the staff know we were interested in seeing the first dog who they had listed as Sancho. Before they would take him out of the pen the staff made sure that we had no little children at home because he did not like small kids. My comment was "Wow, neither do we!" We took the dog outside to spend some time with him and within 2 minutes we knew this was the dog we wanted to take home. He was so sweet and a definite lover. He climbed in your lap and just wanted to be loved. Unfortunately, he was not altered so he had to stay at the shelter until Monday when he would have his surgery.
Saturday, we took Tau, Kali and Auntie Phyllis to meet the newest member of the family. The dogs had to meet through a fence in case they did not like each other but they all seemed to be just fine with each other. After a quick Reiki session with Auntie Phyllis to determine any special needs we had to let him go back. It was heartbreaking to leave him there again and you see in his little eyes he was concerned that maybe we did not want him after all. We promised to be back as fast as we could to take him home.
Josh spent the next few days trying to decide on a name for him. Again, like his mother it has to be a name with some meaning. He searched and talked to his friends to come up with the perfect name. He decided on the name Dorian after his favorite book; but I just referred to him as Shanky, until he got home. Now his is referred to as "grandbaby".
Monday, we went to the shelter to take him home and introduce him to his Auntie Tau and Auntie Kali. Already having gone through the dog introduction training before I knew what to do, but since he just had surgery I did not want it to be stressful, so we put him in the backyard and took Tau out first since he is the calmer one. Things went great, except Tau does not like to have his butt sniffed. We removed Tau and put Kali in and she did great. She had one more minion under her. We put both in and things could not have been better. During the night we had one issue and that was over food between him and Kali. But, it was broken up by me and they did fine. Kali even got onto Tau for growling at him. I explained to Josh the rules of the pack and that Kali was the alpha and to avoid fights we leave it that way and let them work out the issues. Right now he is being quarantined from Tau & Kali because he has kennel cough and is still recovering from his surgery. But, by the weekend they will be able to be together and get to know one another better.
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