It's Blitz!

On Tuesday afternoon I was supposed to pick up our latest foster dog, a six month old Golden Retriever.  I called one of the foster coordinators to let her know I'd be late to get him when she told me that he'd actually been adopted out already by one of the surgeons at Chicago Animal Care and Control.  I was thrilled that he'd already gotten adopted and this also freed up some time in my afternoon so I could relax a bit and eat lunch instead of rushing about like I thought I would have to.

Shortly after I got home the foster coordinator emailed me asking if I wanted to take a Leonberger puppy that had come in as a local stray instead.  I was super excited; I had actually seen his picture in an email the night before with the other new dogs coming in that needed foster homes but couldn't take him since I was already supposed to be getting the Golden puppy.  As a double bonus, this dog didn't need to be picked up for a few hours, so I had time to get things in order before picking him up.

So here's Blitz!  He was neutered on Tuesday morning, so he'll be sporting the Cone of Shame Destruction for the next week or two. 

He's about 6 months old and is nearly as big as Dash, but his paws are bigger and you can tell that he's still got some growing to do.  Blitz should probably weigh about 50-60 pounds right now, but when you pet him you can feel his ribs and spine (the fur is decieving!), so I'm sure he's far under that at the moment.  Luckily he's a great eater so I'm sure we'll have some meat on his bones in no time.

One thing is for sure though, this puppy is cute!  He has that innocent expression on his face that tells you he's still just a baby. 

Blitz appears to be house trained, knows a few simple commands and is a ham for the camera.  As soon as I started taking pictures of him he got up to pose for me; I had a hard time getting pictures of his full body because all he wanted to do was sit pretty and look at the camera!

Leonbergers are a relatively rare breed, so the fact that Blitz was found wandering about is kind of surprising.  But at the same time, this probably means he'll be adopted quickly, because dogs like him usually get snatched up in a millisecond (supply and demand hard at work!).  Leos are part of the Giant Breeds of dogs, in the same class with Saint Bernards, Newfoundlands and Great Pyrenees.  The story is that Leos were bred from these other dogs to resemble a lion like the one on the coat of arms for Leonberg, Germany

source

I totally see the resemblance, don't you?

Landon Scored!

Landon was finally able to go to his first adoption show this past Saturday after being under house arrest for the last three weeks.  It took him three rounds of antibiotics to get over his kennel cough - apparently there's a nasty strain of it going around right now.  But midweek last week you could tell that he was suddenly feeling so much better.  Instead of having to be coaxed to eat watered down wet food he would scarf down his kibble, and I didn't even have to hide his medicine in anything because he'd eat it right along with the dry food!  In the yard he began running around more and wanted to play fetch, when before trotting more than a few steps would have thrown him into a coughing fit.

It was great to see his personality peeking through.  Although one thing that didn't change was his desire to be close to you.  Not just I'm-going-to-follow-you-from-room-to-room close, but if-I-could-surgically-attach-myself-to-you-I-would close.  We knew with how sweet and cute he was it would be no time at all before Landon got adopted and pretty much figured he'd be a one show dog.

So I wasn't terribly surprised when less than an hour after dropping Landon off at the adoption show I received a call from one of the adoption coordinators saying someone had put in an application on him and asked me to talk to them on the phone for a few minutes.  Everything sounded great; a woman and her boyfriend who live with her mother as well as her two children, 10 and 12 years old, so someone would be home almost 100% of the time.  With having so many people to love on and rarely being alone, I knew Landon would love it.

The home check went well, everyone seemed excited about the new addition to the family and Landon was completely obsessed with the kids.  They decided to name him Bufflin Joe, after former Chicago Blackhawk (and now Atlanta Thrasher) hockey player Dustin Byfuglien (through the magic of the Norgwegian language Byfuglien is pronounced Bufflin).

Congrats, Landon!

Driven Away

Tuesday evening I bid farewell to a good friend of mine.  We've known each other since I was 17 and have been though a lot together, good times and bad.

I am talking, of course, about my first car.  My little red Ford Focus that's been sitting in the garage for the last 2 years while I've been driving what was my brother's (and is now my) Ford Escape.  But even though I haven't driven it in a long time, it was sad to see my Focus go.  My parents gave me that car almost exactly 10 years ago for my 17th birthday.  That car has taken me to a lot of things in my life; high school, college, moving from Michigan to Illinois, getting married, buying a house and everything in between.

Yes, I posed for pictures with my car before we sold it

The whole story starts way back in the year 2000 (which reminds me of that Conan O'Brien sketch....anyone?).  I had gotten my driver's license at the end of the summer.  So like any teenager, I hinted, hoped and outright asked my parents for a car, but to no avail.  My dad's reasoning was airtight - there was no arguing about it.  He said:

• A new car is too expensive
• A used car wouldn't be reliable or safe enough
• A new car that was very inexpensive would invariably be a tiny deathtrap that would be smashed by a larger SUV

My dad had made it clear there was no way they were getting me a car.

We get to November 4th; it's a Saturday and the day before my birthday.  My room was a bit of a disaster area and in order to get my birthday gift I had to clean my room.  My parents gave me a box, neatly wrapped up, with my gift inside to sit in my room to taunt me while I toiled.

And for the 3 full hours it took me to clean my room, my gift box did just that.  Taunt me.  Literally.  Every few minutes the box would buzz and play some weird song that reminded me of clowns.  Totally bizarre.

Finally, I finish cleaning my room and open my present - a cell phone!  This is just when they were starting to get popular, hardly anyone at school had one, so this was a big deal!  I was told to check the voicemail on the phone.  I called it, but the outgoing message was some guy and I couldn't listen to any messages.  Turns out the provider did a crappy job transferring the phone number or something, so we'd have to get that taken care of later.  In any event, my parents told me I should probably just take that huge garbage bag I had just filled up out to the garage.

I walk across the house and open the door to the garage.  Sitting in the garage is my dad's car and where my mom's mini van was usually parked sat a red Focus.  I was totally, utterly flabbergasted and in disbelief that my parents had actually gotten me a car.  I mean, my dad had really convinced me it would never happen.  I even remember my mom asking me several weeks earlier what color car I would want, were I to get one, and I told her I hadn't thought about it since I knew it wasn't going to happen.

As I walked over to take a look, all I could say was "Wow."  My dad explained that he had traded in my mom's mini van and gotten us a new Focus to share.

Oh.

No.

I didn't know what to think.  I mean,  a new car is cool, but if I have to share it with my mom anyway, we may as well share a car I can pack 6 of my friends into instead of 4.  Instant disappointment.  Which I tried very hard to hide because hey, my parents had just bought this new car and I didn't want to seem ungrateful.

So I continue to check out the car when my dad says "Ha!  Just kidding!"  My mom's car is at his friend's house a few blocks away.  This car is just for me!  I was so excited (and relieved)!  I got to drive my brand new car for the very first time to go pick up my mom's car.

It.
Was.
Awesome.

 The day I got my car, preparing for its maiden voyage

My dad knew that I would want to go out with my friends to celebrate my birhday and wanted me to have a day to practice driving a new car before venturing off in it with friends.  The cell phone was basically a safety feature for the new car, should I ever get stranded and need help.

As for my dad's airtight arguments against getting me a car, well, my mom told me that when it came down to it, it was his idea to get me one.

Two years later when my parents got my brother a car, they surprised him on Christmas.  My dad re-wrote 'Twas the Night Before Christmas to basically tell him to go outside and see his new car. Unfortunately, on Christmas Eve I was tasked with printing out a copy of the poem for my dad so he could re-write it and I foolishly left it sitting on the printer.  Eric saw it (the unedited version) and figured out what was going on, but didn't say a word!

You may be wondering what sorts of shenanagins my brother could have gotten into that resulted in ownership of his car being transferred to me.  He actually moved to New York City for law school a few years ago and since he'll be living there for the foreseeable future, has no use for a car.

So thanks, mom and dad, for an amazing gift.  And for being the best parents ever (and not just because you bought me a car!).

As an aside, we sold the car to CarMax and were really happy with the process.  They made it fast and easy and gave us a great price for it!  We definitely recommend them for your used-car-selling needs.

Mozzarella Sticks

Inspired by an inordinate amount of string cheese sitting in my fridge as the result of an impulse buy at Costco, I decided to make my own mozzarella sticks.  This turned out to be super easy and quick to make (not to mention a crowd pleaser!).

Here's what you'll need:

String cheese
Eggs
Flour
Bread crumbs
Olive oil (or whatever your favorite oil is)

Put about 1/4 - 1/2 inch of oil in a frying pan or a sauce pan (I think I'll go this route next time but used a frying pan for this first attempt) and put over medium heat.  Cut the string cheese in half.  Beat the egg and add about a tablespoon of water to thin it out a bit (how many eggs you'll need total depends on how many mozzarella sticks you'll make; start with one and you can add more as needed).  Put several tablespoons of flour on one plate and several tablespoons of breadcrumbs on another.

Roll a piece of the cheese in flour and then tap so excess flour falls off. 

Roll in the egg to coat. 

Then roll in the bread crumbs to coat. 

I double breaded my mozzarella sticks, but you could stop here in the breading process if you want and head straight to the oil.  To double bread, after the first trip into the bread crumbs I put the cheese back into the egg and then it took a second trip into the bread crumbs.  This made for a more consistent and slightly crunchier breading and the general consensus amongst our friends was that the double breading was worth it.  Use tongs to place the cheese in the hot oil; you should be able to hear the breading sizzling a little (not too much!) when you place it in the oil. 

After a minute or two (or the breading has browned a bit) flip over with the tongs.  Another minute or two and your mozzarella stick is ready to come out of the oil.  Place it onto a plate with paper towel on it to absorb excess oil.

Wait a moment for them to cool and then enjoy!  We had a few friends over to play board games and I made an entire plate of these, which promptly disappeared!

just a few of the many mozzarella sticks

Our friend Jayme kindly volunteered to demonstrate the ooey gooey goodness of the mozzarella sticks!

 

Meet Landon!

I picked Landon up Wednesday afternoon.  He came to us from Chicago Animal Care and Control (just like Talia did).  He's about a year and a half old and we think some sort of Sheltie mix. 

Maybe a little Chow?  Or Shepherd?  Hard to say, but no matter what there's no denying he's cute!  He weighs about 40 pounds and is getting along quite well with Dash and the cats. 

He hasn't been allowed to hang out with them much though because the poor little dude is sick with a wicked cough.  This isn't uncommon in rescue dogs as they often are not up to date on vaccines when they arrive initially at a shelter and then of course there are so many animals in such a small space, any kind of illness can spread quite easily (think kindergartners who pass the same cold around all year).  But hopefully his antibiotics will do the trick and he'll be good as new in a week.

Oh, and did I mention Landon's not neutered yet?  Yeah, Landon's not neutered.  But you can bet I'm getting his cute little butt to the vet as soon as he's recovered from his cough, because this adorable little guy seems to think it's okay to mark things in the house.  And chasing after a dog to clean up his, um, scent, all evening is not my idea of fun, so for the time being Landon is going to be spending a lot of time in the kitchen, where apparently nothing is worth marking (and the floor is easy to clean just in case he changes his mind!).

In any event, he's a total sweetheart and gives great hugs.  He's also fabulous at posing for pictures.  He held all these poses, on his own, for nearly a minute!  Much easier to photograph than the usual milliseconds most dogs give me before they get distracted!

Welcome, Landon!

Lickety Split

Talia got adopted in record time - I think our fastest adoption so far - clocking in at just under 48 hours!

I took her to the adoption show on Saturday and of course all of the other volunteers and passersbys loved her (how could you not love that fluffy freckled face?).  But no one was really asking any questions about her or seeming genuinely interested in her; they just wanted to pet her and then go about their days.

One of the other volunteers really seemed to like her a lot - but it's not unusual for us to have favorites that are up for adoption.  And even though she called her husband to come over and meet Talia I didn't really think twice about it.  More than once I've dragged Thomas around one of our shows to make him meet some of my favorite dogs that I had absolutely no intention of adopting.  Granted, I only did this if he was already at the show with me, but it still didn't seem odd.

But then they just hung out with Talia and watched the whole time as she got groomed (she had some mats on her tummy and between her paws that needed to be shaved off and one of the store groomers generously offered to do it for free).  They started talking about how their dog usually interacts with other dogs.  And they were asking more detailed questions about her. 

That's when it finally sunk in that they were not just toying with the idea of adopting Talia but were really serious about it.  So they filled out the application and contract and I took Talia over to their house to make sure that she and their dog would get along.

looking pretty in her new living room

Talia and their dog, Boomer, got along fine.  Boomer mostly ignored her, which is a great response.

she looks quite happy and at home on her new couch

So Talia is now named Penny and is enjoying life in her new home.  And since her new mom is a regular volunteer with this rescue we're guaranteed updates and might get to see her once in a while.  Awesome!

Cyrene Didn't Go Far

Her new family lives just 10 short minutes away from us - our closest adoption to date!  Cyrene's adoption happened in kind of a round about way.

Two weeks ago the hubs and I did a home check for the rescue Cyrene is with.  This rescue has potential adopters fill out an application and have a home check that must be cleared before they are able to meet any of the dogs up for adoption.

We took Cyrene along with us because we like to see how the people interact with a dog, particularly if there are kids, of which this family has three.

The home check went fine.  The family was really nice and the kids were excited about getting a dog but were very well behaved around Cyrene (impressive for kids under 7!).  The family was approved for adoption.

A few days later I got an email from a different approved adopter interested in meeting Cyrene.  The application said that they were runners, which I thought would be a good match for Cyrene, so we made arrangements for them to come over and meet her.  But when I spoke to them on the phone I had a funny feeling like this wasn't the right fit.  Nothing I could pinpoint - just a gut reaction.  But I decided to reserve judgement until meeting them, hoping they would woo me in person.

Meanwhile, I had begun thinking that the family we had done the home visit for might be a good fit with Cyrene and planned on trying to match them up if the other adopter didn't work out.

Last Sunday the people interested in Cyrene came over to our house.  They liked her, but you could tell there wasn't a connection.  The husband seemed to like Cyrene well enough but was leaving the final decision to his wife.  Basically, she wanted a dog like Cyrene in every way except for with a fluffier, fuller coat.

Which quite frankly I was happy to hear, because shortly before they arrived at our home I got a message from the other family saying they had really liked Cyrene and that they were wondering if she was available for adoption!  As soon as the other couple confirmed that they would not be adopting Cyrene I called to give them the good news.  They came over on Tuesday so we could tell them more about her and so they could see Cyrene in her home environment.  They loved her and but asked if they could wait until Friday to bring her home so they could have the weekend all together (which we didn't mind at all because it meant we could have a few more days with Cyrene).

So on Friday they came over and did the necessary paperwork and Cyrene went home with her new family.  We're hoping since they live so close by we'll run into them from time to time!

Enjoy your new family, Cyrene!  We know they're going to love you to pieces!