How about them Packers? Did anyone happen to hear that they won the Super Bowl??? Exciting stuff. This was even celebrated in the Primm household...
Penny was such a good hostess! Above she is feeding Alan some pretzels... later on in the night, she was bringing me my beer from the coffee table... classy, huh? (Don't worry... she was only carrying it a whopping 2 feet to me and no sips were taken...and in the pic below, she is sucking on her sippy cup...)
And Penelope was as cute as ever in the little tutu I made her :). However, she wouldn't wear the matching shirt I had made because the tulle around the neck was too prickly for her... but her Packer onesie did just fine.
For Valentines Day, we all got sick. We took Penelope to the ER at the Children's Hospital the night before because her temp sky rocketed to 104.1 despite being given a fever reducer and having a cool bath. Luckily it was just due to an ear infection and not something worse.
Valentine's morning, Alan wasn't feeling well, so he stayed home from work. He wasn't feeling ill enough to stay in the house though (he was mostly just congested and had a really sore throat) and the little boys that I normally babysit on Mondays were sick with the Croup, so I didn't have to work... so we went to the Mitchell Park Domes as a family. They have a free day on Mondays and it's tradition for Penelope and I to go if I don't have to work so that she has a chance to run around "outside" since it's been so cold!
Alan really liked being able to read all of the plaques for Penny and pointing out all of the details of each plant... Penny and I basically just run around and stop to look at pretty flowers when we go. Alan actually hadn't been to the Domes since he was a kid, so he had a lot of fun.The Sunday before Easter I had to meet my mom and sisters in Green Bay so that I could pick up my dog, Bailey. We've known for some time now that we would have to find a new home for her. I have had her since she was 6 months old - I had purchased her with the money I had gotten as gifts from my Confirmation. Now 11, Bailey just isn't fitting in with our family. She gets along with Penelope about 95% of the time... but the other 5% frightens me. Penelope finally understands that she needs to give "nice touches" to the puppies... but Bailey just doesn't always appreciate the love. Unfortunately, she has snapped at Penny several times and actually bit her once.
For the past year I have been terrified of having to find a home for her... but after doing some research I found a rescue in Shorewood, WI that only takes in and adopts out Cocker Spaniels. When I originally contacted them back in December, they were completely full but I e-mailed them a few weeks ago and they had some spots open. We'll be surrendering her this coming Saturday.
As sad as I am to have to give her up, I am glad to have found such a nice organization. They're called The Shorewood Cocker Rescue - they take in only Cocker Spaniels, mixed and pure bred. What will happens is - I will bring her to them and they will be placing her in a foster home, where they will do temperament tests and get to know her so that they're better able to understand what kind of home she would be best in. When the right match can be found, the family will be given a background check to be sure that they're not breeders or animal abusers, they're homes will checked to be sure that it is suitable, and the family will have to sign an adoption agreement to ensure Bailey's safety. If they break anything on the adoption agreement (abuse Bailey or anything of the like) or if the family can no longer provide for her, the rescue with take her back... which are all things that I would not be able to do if I were to find a home for her on my own.
The woman that I have been talking with told me that they have a lot of members who love adopting out older cockers, and that's probably what will happen with Bailey. They understand the breed and provide a good home for them in their final years.
It hurts to admit that we're not providing a good home for Bailey here. She's constantly being chased by Penny and Penny just loves on her so much, giving her hugs and kisses all of the time. When Bailey starts getting ornery, I have to gate her off in the kitchen to give her a break from Penny. Some days it feels as if she's in the kitchen most of the day... which she is... and that isn't fair to her. Our house isn't big enough for her to just be able to separate herself from Penny, so this is our only option. Even if she started to tolerate Penny more, we plan to have another child within the next year or so... and by then Bailey will be even older and less likely to tolerate a small child loving on her.
Even worse, I know that if any medical problems came up with Bailey, there's no way that we'd be able to afford treatment. We've been very fortunate when it comes to her health and the family she'll be adopted to will be aware of the health issues Bailey will have and will be ready to pay for anything that she may need.
So as much sadness as I have for this whole thing, I am also just very content knowing that I am going about it in the best way possible for Bailey.
I'm going to hold out hope that whatever family adopts her would be willing to send an occasional update... but it's more important that she just goes to a good, loving home.
Ever since we got Bailey back into the house, Penelope has been OBSESSED with her. As soon as we walked in the door, I didn't even have to remind her what Bailey's name was... even though she hadn't seen her in a month, Penny came running up to us screaming, "Baileee! Baileee! Fwoof! Fwoof!" I bought a new ball for Bailey to take with her since her old one is well worn. Penelope LOVES playing fetch with Bailey (and Sophie... but mostly Bailey). The first thing Penny calls out in the morning is "Boo Boo! Boo Boo!" (our pet name for Bailey). If anything, I am glad this process didn't take longer as I'm sure Penelope would grow even more attached to her and would understand more of what is going on as she gets closer to turning 2.
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