Those that know me in real life know I’m more than a sucker for stray animals. I am an animal lover- to a fault. I’m a vegetarian because although I love meat and lovely leather shoes and purses, I simply can’t support factory farming, but thats a whole other post entirely.

Today, I need your help. The other day I saw a stray dog on the road and didn’t get to it fast enough, she walked away into the woods. I could tell this was a beat up old mother dog who had too many litters as evidenced by her sagging stomach. This evening, she was outside our door with 2 of her puppies. The mother walked away, the puppies stayed. We fed them and gave them water. They are the sweetest, friendliest dogs, but they are also suffering from wounds, fleas and ticks. After dinner, the female walked off, probably in search of her mother who couldn’t be far. The male continues to sleep on our side patio. I was outside for a while and he followed me where ever I walked.

I’m hopeful the dogs will be here in the morning and I can begin the process of establishing trust and cleaning them up. I’m not familiar with this area and don’t know where to go from here. There are no no-kill shelters that I’m aware of. We are in the south west part of Virginia and need help finding a shelter or homes for these lovely dogs. I will pay for their care and transport if anyone is willing to take them. Please email or comment with ideas or strategies. I’m hesitant to put them on petfinder because we are going out of town soon and my MIL (who’s home we are staying in) does not know we are feeding the dogs. She lives in a new home 40 minutes away. Also, this is an area with dog fighting and I simply don’t know the people and culture well enough to pick an appropriate home. I need a safe, reliable plan soon. Any ideas?

Here are some pictures of the darlings (with my darlings.)

FlyGuy, Little Lassie, Fidget and I are in Virginia now. We will be here until mid-September. In the past, FlyGuy has worked from home (i.e. from the dining room table in the VA house), but this summer he will have to go back to Chicago every Thursday and Friday. That leaves LL and I to fend for ourselves in the Virginia wilderness. We have a very nice home here and a wonderful yard and pasture that LL and Fidget are enjoying immensely, but its very isolated. I’m jealous that FlyGuy gets to go to Chicago and he’s jealous that I get to stay here.

There are some other problems with being here that I will get into later, but suffice it to say I can’t wait until September.

More lamenting later.

p.s. Did I mention there is one radio station here? It’s a.m. and they routinely play traditional gospel. Traditional gospel sounds like what was sung around the campfire in the 1940’s. No joke.

While walking Fidget this morning I found an injured bird. It was a pigeon who couldn’t fly. I think it had a stroke or something because it’s wings worked, but it had no balance and kept crashing after only getting off the ground a few inches. It broke my heart.

I couldn’t leave it, so I got a towel, wrapped it up and called Animal Care & Control. It didn’t even fight me as I put it into a shoe box. I put the box across the street on the steps of my church so animal control could easily find it. That was early this morning, it is now afternooon and the bird is still there. I’ve gone over numerous times to check on it. I don’t want it to suffer, just want it to be calm. And I think it is, or maybe its in shock. Anyway, it seems fine. Still can’t move well, but not freaking out. I’m frustrated that Animal Care & Control isn’t here yet, so I called them again. The operator said its difficult to know when they will get here because they are so busy helping animals all over the city in distress.

I hate how poorly some animals get treated. That’s pretty much the only reason I’m a vegetarian. I’m far from a health nut, just can’t shake the image of a factory farm when I see a cheeseburger. I’ll keep checking the bird until they come or take it to an emergency clinic if they are not here by this evening. Terrible way to start the week.