Grandma and Gloria

Welcome to Wine-n-Chat.  We are participating in the A to Z challenge, and today we are writing on the letter G.  G is for Grandma and for Gloria!!

So—let’s start with Grandma.  If you’ve followed my blog for any amount of time, or if you are friends with me—you know my Grandma means the absolute world to me.  I grew up with my Grandma always being there for me—we lived with her for a few years and we spent most of our summers with her.  Then when I graduated high school, I moved 1000 miles away to go to college. I never moved back home.  I don’t regret putting my feet down in Ohio—but I do regret that my roots weren’t closer in proximity to my Grandma.

I’ve been blessed though. My Grandma is 90 years old—and through many trips back and forth from Florida and Ohio—she’s been able to get to know my children, her Great Grandchildren.  They all think the world of her and her cooking, and rightly, they should!!  Well, fortunately, we are counting down the days to April 18th, when my youngest son, my oldest daughter, and I will fly to Florida for 6 days and go visit my Grandma!!  I can’t wait!!  My other two boys will go visit her in June with my Mom and I will take my younger daughter in August.  Let’s just say, I am really looking forward to seeing her in 11 short days!!

And there is Gloria.  I did something this week, I never thought I would do before our dog Sammy passed away.  Let me back up and explain.  We have a 16 year old miniature schnauzer named Sammy.  He has been in our family since he was an eight week old puppy.  Unfortunately, he never got along with other dogs.  Always the alpha male—always the aggressor with other animals—but with people he was a gentle as could be.  I never knew why he wouldn’t take to other dogs—and Lord knows we had tried everything to get him to calm down around them.  We ran out of money trying and resolved ourselves to being a one dog family.  These days, Sammy is deaf, nearly blind, and his hips are riddled with arthritis.  We pay 165.00 a month in medications to keep him pain free—and I don’t believe he has a lot of time left.  The vet says there is no reason to put him down yet—however some days I have my doubts. 

Well—my kids have wanted a dog to play with for sometime.  Sammy is too old to play—and getting another dog has never been an option with Sammy.  So what to do?  How about a trip to the Franklin County Dog Shelter?  Yep—we headed down there Friday morning—and we found a new dog.  Then we introduced the dog we picked out to our dog Sammy at the shelter—and what I had suspected was true.  Sammy is too old to be aggressive anymore.  He actually didn’t mind this foreign dog checking him out and trying to play.  He just stood there—calm—not even a growl or a snarl.  I was so elated.

“Gloria” the 5 year old black lab mix—was awesome with Sammy—and Sammy didn’t seem to notice if she was coming or going.  So we adopted a new member to our family.  Brought Gloria home—reintroduced her in the back yard to Sammy, the neighbor dogs and the kids.  She had a lot of fun learning her new turf and playing with the kids…what a fun first evening!

Well, Gloria was her shelter name—but we are calling her Shadow.  We are really excited with this new addition to our family.  Who ever had her before must have kept her as an outside dog—she did not want to come inside the house after playing outback. She got as far as the door and stopped. Then once we coaxed her inside, we found out she was terrified of the steps.  She will get used to it all..but it was a big day for all involved, the kids, the dog and the parents!!  We put everyone to bed and will start Saturday anew!! She now has a home—with people who will love her and keep her safe.  And she’ll be able to take her time and get used to her new surroundings.

Are you a fur-ever friend owner?

Do you have more than one animal?

Wishing you all a wonderful Easter Weekend!!

Cheers,