Lola and Bella

So much has happened since my last post, including a trip to NJ to visit family and friends and for Fran's speech at the dedication of her HS softball field in memory of her former coach. Other tragic news was that a child in Jeremy's class was killed by a car; Jeremy's school performed a song in her memory at the annual spring concert. A couple weeks later, Jeremy and his dear classmate friend Lola were having a play date and decided to compose their own song for her. See a movie about that HERE: http://www.archive.org/details/ASimonJeremy_Lola2011/ Jeremy also took Lola to a local theater performance (the photo above was from this first date).

Jeremy has now had his last day of school, and his first summer vacation experience begins. Our house was the 'go to' for after school fun, given our proximity to it, and we celebrated the last day with a feast of Indian food, prepared by the father of a schoolmate who was born there. It was quite fun- 11 kids in all, including the triplets (Mia, Piper, and Jack).

And now for Bella... Okay, so I know we need another commitment like we need a hole in the head, and the timing is terrible, but we just never thought that we’d find a dog who was 1) a Rottie (with the sweet big heart they usually have), 2) rescued, 3) fully trained, 4) who doesn’t lick, and 5) who is great with kids... but there she was. To my extreme surprise, I found myself literally in tears over the prospect of her being ours. Her name is Bella, she’s 4, 100 lbs, very healthy, and we met her at a shelter’s tent at the fair. We have not been looking for a dog, far from it, and know we will need to get help when we travel, but it feels very right.

Jeremy's pleased.  When I told him that she didn't have a family, he said, "We can be her family".  When we first asked him what he thought about getting a dog, he replied that he wanted a puppy.  When we told him that a puppy would surely chew his toys and lick him, he relented and said that an adult dog would be fine.  He's been checking on her every few minutes, wants to show her stuff.  She hasn't licked him once, but some drool got on his arm- no hives.  Keeping my fingers crossed.  

A bit more about her:  The rescue told us this about Bella- Animal control found her on the street with pneumonia and a serious eye condition in both eyes caused by eyelashes growing into them.  It's very painful and renders the dog blind.  Their guess is that her previous owner was male and a drinker (she's frightened of drunk men) and that she was very neglected.  The vet thought she was 4 yrs old, and the rescue thinks she was blind for most of her life.  The rescue (called "There's a Better Life Rescue") found her hours before she was going to be euthanized at a shelter.   They paid to have the surgery done ($400), spayed her, gave her all her shots, and nursed her back to health.  Her face had to be shaved for the surgery, so even after she was starting to feel better, she didn't look so good and so no one was interested in adopting her.  Meanwhile the rescue team was really falling in love with her, and her foster parent, a single guy, would have taken her but had a life change (job, I think) that made it too difficult.   She's trained, house-broken, and super, super gentle.  Generally good with other dogs except if they come at her- she's a bit stupid about visual social cues, probably because she was blind for so long.  She gets scared and doesn't know if they are playing or fighting.

The only thing now is waiting to watch Jeremy's allergies.  We do not want a repeat of the cat experience, to say the least.  Keep us in your prayers!