Just a Friday Rambling

I thought summer was the time we were supposed to relax, enjoy the beautiful weather and get some rest.  I believe that is just a fairytale!  :-)  I have been so exhausted the last few days, I go to sit down to write a few posts and literally can not keep my eye’s open!

Well, honestly I believe that R & R piece is for the kids who get to have a summer break and for the parents its run, run, run.  This week was the first week of Megan having swim meets, so we’ve had some late nights and then early mornings with team practice.

The kids really wanted to go up to the pool to swim this afternoon/evening but since Megan had a doctor’s appointment we weren’t able to go.  I was actually glad since I really wanted to get the kids to bed at a decent time.  It was Dive in Movie Night at the pool too which is a lot of fun, but the movie doesn’t start until 9 pm and I knew I did not want to do that tonight.  The kids and I actually had a very nice evening.  After Megan’s doctor appointment, we ran to the grocery store and, among other things, got some ice cream.  When we got home the kids had their ice cream and then I let them play in the sprinkler for a bit.

Our dog decided to bury his toy in the mulch/mud and came out with a black dirty nose – he even had mud in his nostrils!  While washing off his nose, I decided to give him an outdoor shower with the hose.  It’s not his favorite thing, but he did good.  I brushed him out afterwards…Megan helped by giving him treats.  His hair really poofed up with the washing, and he feels so nice and clean – love it.

Rusty is an Australian Shepherd.  We got him from a rescue the end of December in 2011.  He is about 3 years old and has come with some “baggage” – mostly not being properly socialized.  We have been taking him to a behavioral specialist since January and has come a long way…but still has a distance to go.  He is a beautiful dog.

When we got him from the rescue here in Illinois, our home was at least the 5th place he had been in the period of 6 weeks.  He had lived some where, ended up in a kill shelter in Kentucky who then had him transported to the owners of the rescue we got him from.  He was vetted there and then sent to live in the foster home until we got him. I just recently was able to find out more about him. I called the shelter in Kentucky and actually got to speak to the woman who was there when he was surrendered by his owners.  They had him since birth, he lived on a farm…the woman couldn’t remember if he lived in the house at all though.  He was surrendered because he kept chasing their live stock.  Australian Shepherds are herding dogs, so in essence he was doing what he was supposed to do.

I’m not really familiar with farm life, but I have a feeling he wasn’t exposed to too many different people to get socialized and he doesn’t seem to have been with a family with young children.  I also don’t think he was ever really groomed since he was extremely dirty and had burrs in his fur, although I may be wrong.  The rescue we got him from was also a farm.  lol  But he is afraid of the brush so I think that may mean he just wasn’t really exposed to it.

He really has been through a lot in a short period of time – I actually feel really bad for him that the only family he knew couldn’t keep him, but I’m really happy that we are the one’s who got him.

Okay, so that was somewhat of a rambling post!