LONG Lovely Day

Snuggled Up Chewing Bones Together On The Bed

Well, today little Lily Girl joined our family. We are so excited. It's a little scary too, only in the sense that we didn't realize just how grown up (lazy) Brutus had gotten! Wow, what a difference. This little girl is filled with energy. I'm guessing that she'll be that way for a couple more years. :)

Brutus went with me to pick Lily up, so he was in the car for a really long time today. It took me about two and a half hours to get to Fairmont, MN, to meet up with Amy and her son Ryan, who were two members of Lily's amazing Foster Family. I always capitalize Foster Family, because honestly, the people that Foster these cats and dogs are angels. They take animals that have sometimes been beaten, starved, neglected or worse, and nurse them back to health. Lily fell in to those categories, and this little punkin is amazing. Because of this family, she has a twinkle in her eye, a spring in her step (a giant one) and gives kisses so freely that you wouldn't believe it. All the way home she kept sneaking up behind my seat and sneaking kisses to me.

I will admit that I was pretty frazzled by the time I got to Fairmont to pick Lily up. After posting on my blog last night that I was going to be picking her up, and that she was a Beagle, I had a couple negative comments about how awful Beagles are. It got me worrying. I heard comments like "she'll eat your cats", "she'll run away every chance she gets", etc. I am a worrier anyway, so worry away I did. When I finally calmed myself down and reminded myself that Brutus came to us as an adolescent with absolutely no manners or training, and he has turned out to be an amazing dog, then I started worrying that I wouldn't wake up in time. I needed to be up at 7:00 to be on the road by 8:30. I didn't need the whole time for myself to get ready, but Brutus wakes up about as slow as I do in the morning, and I knew that he would need a good fifteen minutes to get moving and get his "business" taken care of. And, I needed to stop and get gas. So yeah, I think I slept about three hours last night. Not cool.

Ryan and our twisted up dogs!

I got to the meeting place to meet Lily's Foster Mom and Brother, and I was kind of a wreck. It was SO WINDY, and then Brutus was so excited that he wouldn't listen to me, so the leashes kept getting tangled. Lily had just been spayed this past week, and her tummy is still tender, and I swear that anytime I would try to get a hold of her to separate the leashes, I would end up getting the wrong part of her tummy. Ugh! You know how you want to make a good impression, and you leave feeling like a big fat failure? That was me today. Foster Family, if you're reading this, please know that Lily has gone to a family that couldn't possibly love her more. Brutus hasn't put in his vote yet. I think he needs about two more days to get used to being jumped on. :)

So anyway, we got home, and Lily ran right up to Don and planted a bunch of kisses all over his face. Adorable. Princess, our oldest kitty came up to say hello, and Lily got scared and decided to hide behind me. So much for eating the cats! Then Sophie, our youngest cat came running up the stairs. At first Sophie was scared of Lily, and Lily was scared of Sophie, but tonight they were smelling each other up on the bed, and I don't think they'll be fast friends, but at least they have become acquainted. We never see Bernice, our middle kitty. She still hates Brutus, and it's been two and a half years. Only once has she gotten brave enough to hiss at him and put him in his place. She was in desperate need of some loving from mom, and when Brutus came walking in the bedroom she stood up and let him have it. He hung his head and walked away. Pretty pathetic.

So, forward we go. I can honestly say that my Brutus Blog will have a whole new twist to it now that Brutus has a little sister. She might get that boy in shape!

And, unfortunately, all of my pictures turned out kind of blurry today. I don't know if it was the wind, or my nervousness! I'm so bummed. Ryan, Lily's Foster Brother is absolutely adorable, and I really wanted to post some awesome pictures of him with Lily. Ryan, if you're reading this, email me some cool pictures that I can put on my blog.

Welcome Lily Girl.