A Familiar Friend

"Well, would you look at who the cat dragged in. If it isn't that bed-stealing, affection-hogging, toy-destroying Buster. He thinks he's SO handsome and fast and charming. Who said you could come to my park?

Okay, I'll play with you--just for a little while, but you better not be coming back over to MY house again!"

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The Best Christmas Presents

In this morning's email, I received two gifts that warmed my heart. One was an email and photo from Buster's family, wishing us a merry Christmas. We fostered Buster back in May of 2011. How I love that handsome boy.

And the other email was from Kira's family! I haven't heard any news about our previous foster Kira for months, so I was so happy to get an update and see a photo of her. She looks like she has grown a lot, as I thought she probably would. Her new mom says, "Kira is very special and seems to enjoy her new life. She runs every day with the horses, and Rafferty (their shar pei mix) is her best friend."

I'm so touched and grateful that they would think of me today. It really made my Christmas complete. Expensive presents and fancy gadgets--who needs 'em?! A thoughtful gesture and a little kindness goes a long way.

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Update on Francie

Since I'm on the subject of previous foster dogs, here are a couple recent photos of Francie. After being at the shelter for over six months, Francie is now sitting on top of the world. Thanks to her new owner for rescuing her and giving her a chance at a great life. It's what every dog deserves.

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The Best of Buster

On Friday, we got to take care of Buster, our first foster dog, for an afternoon while his humans were away. He definitely remembered all of us, our car, our house, and of course, our park. Did he and Cabana have fun together? I'll let the photos be the answer.






Of all our fosters, Buster is the one that still pulls most at our heartstrings. Sometimes, we wish we had kept him, but then we wouldn't have been able to help the other fosters we had subsequently. I think we made the right decision. Plus, we get to take care of Buster again for a few days in December. We get to enjoy him and then give him back to his family who adores him. That's the best of both worlds.

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A Family for Kira

Kira came to our house 19 days ago (not sure about the hours and minutes), which may not be such a long time, but it was our longest foster period to date (Francie, our longest before Kira, was here for 8 days).

The first few days were extremely difficult, due to Kira's parvo quarantine, along with the fact that she was so fearful, knew absolutely nothing about living in a house, and was just a puppy. I remember the first night, I couldn't be out of her sight for even one minute without her barking from fear. I played peek-a-boo games with her, by leaving her in the ex-pen in the backyard and walking around the corner of the house where she couldn't see me. I'd count 1-one thousand, 2-one thousand...until eventually, I was able to count to 20 without her having a barking fit. With all the instability in her life, she needed to learn that I was going to come back. Every day since, she has amazed me with her resilience, intelligence, and desire to please.

After several adopters fell through this past week, I was contacted by a woman who lives about 30 miles from us. She had seen my Craig's List post, fallen in love with Kira's photos and description, and emailed me twice and left me a voicemail, all in the space of an hour. She said she didn't mean to be a pest, but she wanted to make sure I was getting her messages. I thought, wow, THIS is someone who is REALLY interested in Kira.

We made arrangements for Kira and me to visit them yesterday morning. I met the woman and her husband of 23 years in their home, where they live with their 18-year old son and 12-year old daughter. They also have three race horses, two cats, and a 7-year old male shar pei. Their 14-year old German shepherd/Rottweiler mix died recently, and their shar pei has been very lonely.

The shar pei liked Kira instantly, and although Kira was a bit shy, I knew she'd warm up to all of them. I wasn't sure how Kira would do around the horses, but she was much braver than I had anticipated. She was much better than Cabana would have been, for sure, and I was so proud of her.

The family fell in love with Kira's sweetness and said they were ready to take her that afternoon. So I took Kira home, brushed her for the last time, and took some final photos to remember her by.

I'm grateful to you all, my blog readers, for following Kira's story. I felt your support and encouragement throughout, and I know you share my happiness. The perfect family did come along, and Kira is going to have a wonderful life. I will miss Kira and the way she would give me thank-you kisses before eating her food, how she always wanted whatever Cabana had, and especially how she followed Cabana around, worshiping at her heels. I wonder if Cabana will miss her or if she's just happy to have everything back to normal. Probably some of both.

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Walking at Dusk

In regards to crate training, a tired puppy is a quiet puppy. Kira, who we've been fostering for the past two weeks, has come a LONG way in her crate training. She no longer has accidents in her crate (she stopped doing this around Day 3), doesn't bark incessantly in her crate anymore (but she still whines a bit), and at night, she sleeps quietly in the crate as long as Cabana stays in the same room. Kira now wakes up around 5:30am, which I appreciate much more than 4:30am. I'm working on lengthening that to a decent 6:00am, which is when I usually wake up anyway.

In order to help Kira sleep longer, I've found that an evening walk is crucial. Tonight, we went to the REAL dog park, because our usual mixed-use park was too full of soccer and softball teams. I think this is my favorite picture of Cabana and Kira together--it came out so crisp.

I think you can see from the photos that Kira has caught up to Cabana in height, although not girth (I still think Cabana is a just a tiny bit chubby).

Kira has gained a lot of confidence. She no longer has to be 2" away from Cabana all the time. But she looks around often to see where Cabana is and what she's doing.

We don't go to this dog park very often because the grass is so dry and people are not good about picking up after their dogs. But tonight, with the sun setting, it was beautiful.

In fact, we were the last ones to leave the park. Can you just make out the dogs, in front of the bush? I hope Kira is ready for a good night's sleep. I sure am!

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Emotional Roller Coaster Ride

The last few days have been emotionally exhausting. I had three potential adopters for Kira, but it seems they have all fallen through.

The first one was a woman I met at the dog park. I had never seen her there before, but she was playing frisbee with a German shepherd mix, so I made a beeline over to her. I spoke to her for a while, and she showed a lot of interest in Kira, who got along great with her 4-year old male shepherd mix. The woman lives with her husband and works from home as a graphic designer. What could be better for Kira?! A human that is around most of the day, has experience with the breed, and has a friendly, mature dog! She said she'd talk to her husband about adopting Kira, saying they had wanted a second dog for some time now.

A couple days later, the woman emailed me and asked if Kira could come over for a couple hours, to meet her husband and to see how she responded in their home. I said of course. When I went to pick Kira up, the woman said Kira behaved wonderfully. I had worried that Kira would be fearful in a new place and revert to her tentative ways and nervous barking. But no, Kira had made herself comfortable there and did well with their dog. However, her husband was worried about Kira's hips and said he didn't want a pure bred dog. Bummer!

I had already arranged to take Kira to a local adoption fair that day. So, I left the woman's house and dashed over to the adoption fair. Kira was exhausted, after a busy morning at the woman's house, so she mostly laid in the grass, napping. Everyone was very impressed with this mellow puppy. She is very mellow, although not quite THIS mellow.

At the fair, a single man and a young family with two kids were very interested in Kira. The young family was divided, though, with the mom and daughter wanting Kira and the dad and son wanting a different dog there. While they were trying to make up their minds, the single man said he was ready to adopt Kira. He was an active guy, seemed very nice and responsible, and said that he'd take Kira to work with him everyday. Although he doesn't have a dog at home, he'd grown up with dogs and said there are other dogs at his office, so I felt that might be nice for Kira--access to dog pals, but also the benefits of being an only dog at home.

I had my reservations about Kira going to a family with kids. She seems absolutely fine with children, but I just know how busy life is when there are young kids involved (ages 5 and 7). So I opted for the single guy, telling the family that I hoped I was making their split decision a bit easier. The little girl, who had wanted Kira, broke into tears. I felt awful! Wow, it's hard playing God with people's and dogs' lives.

I arranged to meet the single guy at the shelter to fill out the paperwork and pay the fee. I hurried home to pack up Kira's crate, bed, food, dish, toys, everything. I waited for what seemed like eternity for the guy to show up at the shelter, kicking myself for not having asked for his cell phone number. Finally, he arrived, filled out the paperwork--only to find that he rents his home and didn't have landlord approval to get a dog.

WHY anyone would even look at a dog when they don't know if they can have one is beyond me. And I hadn't even thought to ask him that question--I will never make that mistake again!

I came back home, completely deflated, and unpacked my car, bringing all of Kira's things back into our house. This morning, I got an email from the single guy, saying that the landlord had given an official "no", which was no surprise to me and was actually a bit of a relief after all that rigmarole. Meanwhile, the family with the two kids had already agreed on another dog, which, in truth, may have been for the best anyway.

So, here we are, back to the drawing board. I just have to believe that things work out for the best, and the best person is still yet to be found. In the meantime, Kira can continue to learn from Cabana. They are finally playing some spirited games of tug.

And Kira is enjoying the baby pool.

And eating Kibblesicles. It's all fine, it's all good. So why do I feel so discouraged?

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A Visit from Buster

Today, our previous foster dog, Buster (Seamus when we had him) came to play at our dog park. In his usual happy fashion, he jumped all over me in excitement and recognition. I felt the same way about seeing him!

Buster and Cabana also remembered each other. Here they are getting reacquainted.

Kira was intrigued by Buster and seemed a bit less shy than usual. Was it breed recognition or is she coming out of her shell? Or perhaps she was attracted by Buster's handsome charm?

I told Buster's mom that Kira would make a great companion for Buster and they could name her "Posey"! But she said I should keep Kira and rename her "Copa".

Look at Buster and Kira's matching ear flop, albeit on opposite ears. If I can help Kira find a home and family as nice as Buster's--and one that's close enough to come see us at the dog park, I'll be so thrilled.

Actually, I do have an interested couple. Hopefully, I'll have more news to share in the next few days!

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Following the Leader

Kira continues to learn and improve by leaps and bounds everyday. She adores Cabana and is ALWAYS giving Cabana kisses. A kiss here and there would be fine, but the constant unsolicited affection wears on Cabana's good humor until, finally, Cabana will protest with a growl or a bark. You tell her, Cabana--after all, Kira needs to learn to mind other dogs' social cues.

Kira is fabulous on leash. She's just so happy to be next to Cabana that I almost don't even need to leash Kira. I don't know if it's her temperament or her breed or because she was a stray? Kira knows what being lost and alone is like, and she doesn't want to experience it again, so she stays close and checks in often.

At the park, none of the other dogs will play with Kira. They come up to her for a meet and greet, but they don't solicit her to play. I suppose they know she's still too tentative.

But when Cabana plays with her springer friends, like Maggie above, Kira is right there, either trying to get in on the action or maybe just getting front row seats? It will be interesting to see if this changes over the next week or two.


In this video, Cabana is playing with her pal Bodhi. They LOVE to rough house with each other. Kira does her best to keep up with them. It's so cute how she runs after Cabana, no matter what.

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Freedom!!

Yesterday, I did some reading online about parvo quarantine, and I came across a site that said the quarantine period is usually two weeks. The shelter told me the quarantine was 3-4 weeks. Kira had been treated over 2 weeks ago, so I was hoping that 3-4 weeks was excessive. I asked the shelter to test a sample of her poop to see if it was clear of parvo--and what do you know, the test came back negative. No more parvo!! Dog walks and dog parks, here we come!

I've been raring to socialize Kira because I think Cabana is the only dog she's ever had positive interactions with. I took Kira to my favorite fields, knowing it would be fairly quiet in the afternoon. I didn't take Cabana so I could focus on Kira, since I didn't really know how she was going to respond. The first dog we saw was a little chihuahua on leash. Kira barked tentatively at him, backing up somewhat fearfully. This seems to be Kira's usual reaction--she barks whenever she's scared.

The man with the chihuahua left soon afterward, leaving us with a big empty field. I thought, hmmm, how am I going to socialize Kira with no other dogs or people around? Then, lo and behold, up drove the Nine Dog Lady! Talk about a one-stop dog socialization opportunity!

The Nine Dog Lady is self-explanatory--she's a lady with 9 dogs. Yes, 9 dogs. Ranging from an Irish wolfhound down to a 3-pound chihuahua. As you can imagine, the Nine Dog Lady is slightly eccentric. (She's holding Kira's drag line just for the photo--Kira kept trying to stay close to me, which I'm not complaining about, but it made it difficult to get a photo of her with the other dogs.) I had seen her at the park a couple times, and then, the next time I went to our veterinarian's office, there she was again. She volunteers at the vet's office, probably in order to get a discount on the services needed to keep 9 dogs healthy!

Have you ever seen such bling-y dog collars? Even the 3-pound chihuahua has these jewel-encrusted collars that probably weigh as much as the dog itself.

Kira did GREAT with all 9 dogs. No more barking! I have high hopes for this sweet puppy. She's on her way to being a confident, well-balanced dog.

After dinner tonight, I took Cabana and Kira to the fields together. The few times Kira has ridden in the car, she has whined almost constantly. I've tried singing to her, turning on the radio, having her sit in different places, all with no luck. But I should have known--she's perfectly happy in the car when Cabana is with her. I think she needs to go to a family with another dog--don't you?

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Let the Romping Begin

We've all started to really enjoy Kira, our foster German shepherd puppy. She is so sweet and incredibly smart. And I don't think I heard a bark from her all day--what a huge difference from 5 days ago! In this photo, there's a cat on the other side of the fence--I know because I heard it hissing. Whenever Kira has stepped in my flower bed, I give her a verbal correction, "ah-uh!" I didn't have to give the correction here--even in the excitement of smelling a cat, Kira was being so careful not to step on my flowers! Is she a great dog or what!

Kira has been trying to get Cabana to play with her for the past several days, but Cabana hasn't been willing. Aleksandra, from Love and Six Foot Leash, is a veteran foster mama and takes the most GORGEOUS photos of her fosters. She commented yesterday that I should make sure to give Cabana "top dog" status, along with plenty of alone time. Tonight, Cabana and I had a mini date in my sewing room, where she got to chew on a special bone treat. When she came out of the room, she was ready to rumba! Talk about instant results!

Here are a few short videos of Cabana and Kira playing. In this one, Cabana entices Kira with an orange monster toy, one of her favorites which has seen better days. I know dogs are somewhat color blind, but the interesting thing is that Kira digs down into the toy box and pulls out her own orange toy, one that is most similar to what Cabana has. I wonder if it's coincidence or deliberate?!



In this video, a few times, Kira pretends to be interested in another toy momentarily, only to make a sneak attack on Cabana. This time, I know it was deliberate.



Now Kira is fully engaged. Cabana doesn't seem to know what to make of Kira's unleashed energy. I just hope Kira sleeps well tonight!

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Quick Progress for Kira

Kira is one smart cookie. I gave her a doggy door lesson yesterday, and now, without any prompting, she goes in and out to do her business all by herself! Joyous celebration!! Also, she has met our cat and didn't get crazy over the encounter--she was interested and a little scared but not predatory. She is barking way less, although she still barks and whines in her crate at night. If only I could exercise her properly, I think this problem would be solved. But for a puppy who gets minimal exercise, she's actually quite mellow.

I doubt that Kira has ever been in a house before. She seems to have lived the entirety of her short life outdoors. I can tell by the way she went up the stairs for the first time and the fact that she loves to hide and make herself comfortable behind and under bushes. She also likes to eat her own poop, maybe because she didn't have anything else to eat as a stray. (This makes the use of the doggy door a bit more tricky--I need to keep an eye on her and follow her out so I can immediately pick up any poop. But even this nasty habit seems to be subsiding quickly--after she poops now, she looks at me like she knows I do NOT approve of any tasting. We've been working on "leave it" with urgent intensity.)

It has been really fun to share many "firsts" with Kira. Here she is sampling her first ice cube.

Toys also seem new to Kira. She didn't know what to do with them at first, but she is catching on fast. If only I could get Cabana and Kira to play tug with each other--that would be good exercise. Cabana is still acting aloof toward Kira--what is with that? If they had met at the dog park, I think Cabana would have loved Kira. I'm not sure if it was the way they met that caused the damper (barking at each other in our driveway) or maybe Cabana just doesn't necessarily enjoy sharing her house, her humans, or her toys.

Honestly, Cabana stopped playing with most of these toys a while ago anyway. But after Kira gets adopted, I think we'll go buy Cabana a new supply. She deserves that for being such a compliant hostess.

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Breakthroughs

Our first breakthrough came on Sunday morning, when Kira FINALLY relieved successfully outdoors. The day before, she had peed three times in her crate and one time on the kitchen rug. I felt that if she could just go in the right place ONCE and I could praise her like crazy for it, half the potty training battle would be won. But after peeing on the kitchen rug at about 4pm, I kept taking Kira outside, but she would not pee!

Even after eating dinner and drinking a lot of water, still no pee! I ended up staying outside with her for two hours straight, from 8pm to 10pm, walking around and around our backyard. I knew if I put her in her crate, she would pee in there, and we'd be reinforcing very bad habits. Finally, at 10pm, I had to give up, and we all went to bed (not necessarily to sleep, though). My husband slept in the family room with Kira on tie down, since we couldn't crate her. He took Kira out two more times in the middle of the night, and STILL NO PEE!

The next morning, I fed Kira breakfast, and then, FINALLY, when I took her outside, the floodgates opened and she peed and pooped like gangbusters. And I praised and praised and praised! Breakthrough Number One (and Number Two, too, I guess you might say)! We have not had an accident since.

The second breakthrough is that Kira and Cabana can now hang out together! We introduced the dogs on leash just after bringing Kira home, in our driveway, which was as neutral a territory as we could get, since Kira is not allowed off our property (due to shedding parvo). Kira barked and lunged, probably mostly out of fear, since it seems like she's never really been around other dogs before. Cabana's response made me see that Kira wasn't aggressive, and Cabana wasn't afraid of her--but Cabana started barking back, and we felt it was best to keep them apart for a while.

Every Sunday morning, my husband makes pancakes for breakfast. I'm not much of a pancake fan myself, but oh boy, Cabana sure is. It turns out that Kira also enjoys pancakes--immensely. We were able to introduce the dogs to each other by feeding them both pieces of pancake simultaneously.

Cabana wouldn't call Kira her best friend, but Kira thinks Cabana hangs the moon. She follows Cabana everywhere. If Cabana goes out to relieve herself, Kira does the same. Now that Kira has Cabana for a role model, she seems so much more confident. She can even walk by her own reflection in our stainless steel trash can without reacting.

Our next hurdle--keeping Kira from barking excessively in the crate.

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A New Foster - Kira

Yesterday, we went to my husband's company picnic, where we had a great barbecue lunch. Because there was so much food leftover, they encouraged us to make "doggy bags" to bring home. My vegetarian family members were quite dismayed when they saw that all I had packed in my doggy bag was a barbecued chicken wing, a big frankfurter, and a couple thin slices of sirloin steak.

The reason I brought nothing but meat home was because right after the picnic, we'd be picking up our new foster puppy, Kira. I knew those high-value treats would come in handy.

Kira is a 6-month old German shepherd puppy that was picked up as a stray. She was brought into the shelter and infected the whole place before the staff realized she had parvo. They rushed her to emergency vet services, where she recovered for the next couple weeks. Now, after decontaminating the whole shelter, no small task, the staff has to keep Kira in isolation since she will be shedding the virus for at least 3 more weeks. The staff are not able to interact with Kira, due to the risk of having unvaccinated puppies coming into the shelter. So, poor Kira has been unable to be around other dogs or humans for the duration.

A shelter staff member emailed me and told me about the situation--I suppose they know a sucker when they see one. Is it that obvious?!

The first day of having a new dog in the house is always traumatic. With every foster, I think, "HOW did I get myself into this?" With Kira, I felt that 10 times stronger than with any other, including Francie! First of all, Kira is a puppy and has not been taught anything. Plus, you can tell by her torn right ear that she must have had a hard life as a stray, perhaps even been attacked by another dog. So she can be fearful around other dogs, and about life in general--and her response to fear is barking--LOUD barking. Top that off with the fact that she has been sequestered for the past several weeks and forced to live in her own filth, perhaps the reason why she pees every time I put her in the crate. Finally, because she is still shedding the parvo, she is not allowed to step foot off our property--no walks, no parks, nothing except running around our small backyard.

Another huge difference with Kira and our other fosters is that I had no prior relationship with her and hardly any information. With Seamus and especially with Francie, I had worked with them at the shelter for weeks before to bringing them home as fosters. This time, we are working entirely from scratch.

After wanting so badly to call the shelter several times in the past 24 hours to say we couldn't handle fostering this dog, I think we are making some progress. I feel we need to give it at least 3 days before we throw in the towel. My husband and I didn't get any sleep last night, though, so whether we can last for 72 hours may depend on whether we get any rest tonight.

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I Miss That Crazy Dog

I took this completely un-Photoshopped photo a few days ago, using a slow shutter speed on my camera. I love the way it makes Francie look like a ghost or fading memory as she walks through our house. While I'm still rejoicing about Francie getting adopted, I absolutely cannot believe how much I miss her. She was only at our house for a week, but she was a part of my daily life for the past three months.

Want to hear an interesting story? The first night of our foster, I put Francie's red "adopt me" jacket on her and took her for a walk at a park near our house. I was desperately trying to get her as much exposure as possible. That day, I had contacted numerous rescue groups, pit bull organizations, and made the Craigs List post--everything I could think of to get Francie out in front of people and hopefully, that one Right Person. As I walked through the park, I saw three grade school-aged kids watching us. When we got close to them, the oldest, a girl of about 13, pointed to Francie and said, "That used to be our dog." I had to ask her to repeat herself three times because I couldn't get what she was saying through my thick head! She said that Francie, who's name used to be Carly, was owned by their 23-year old brother. Carly ran away when she was 8-months old and was picked up as a stray. They eventually went to the shelter and saw that she had been renamed Francie (they must have waited for a long time for her to have been given a name by then), but their parents didn't want to pay the $400 to reclaim her (it actually only costs $40, but the girl had apparently been told that it was $400).

She ended by saying, "Well, at least she has a good home with you now." I pointed to Francie's "adopt me" jacket and said, no, she does not have a home, that she has been at the shelter for over 7 months, and that she was almost euthanized. I said it as gently as I could, but I didn't want to sugarcoat the situation either. I felt they needed to know that the choices their family made had huge ramifications, namely, making their dog's life a living hell. Hopefully, if they ever get another pet, they will not repeat their mistake.

But I just got off the phone with Francie's new owner, who reports that Francie has slept on his bed for the past two nights. He told me initially that she would be sleeping on her own dog bed on the floor next to his bed--I've never been so glad that someone's resolve caved! It's a good sign that Francie will be living the spoiled life she deserves.

Francie's owner plans to make Francie her own Facebook page so we can all follow along in her adventures. He says I'll be jealous when I see the amazing life she's living. I'll be sure to share the link so we can all jealous together!

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Francie is a Ranch Girl

Whenever I'd envision the perfect owner for our foster dog, Francie, I thought of a young single man, tough, outdoorsy, athletic, not bothered by dirt, not into nice furniture, kindhearted but firm, experienced with dogs.

Today, Francie drove away in the truck of that perfect owner.


She's being taken to an 80-acre ranch surrounded by redwoods in the Santa Cruz mountains. Her owner is the caretaker of the ranch and will take her everywhere he goes. They will camp in Yosemite, swim in the mountain lakes, and hike the rugged trails.

Francie's new owner responded to an ad I had posted on Craig's List and drove over two hours to come meet her. He's owned bully breeds before and plans to buy her the best organic dog food money can buy. He's a southern boy and called me "ma'am", which I will not hold against him.

It's a happy ending. Go well, Francie, we will miss you terribly (well, maybe Cabana won't, but I will), but we couldn't ask for better for you.

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Two Days In

Two days into fostering Francie, and we are settling in okay. It's not easy, but it's not terrible. This morning, I fed the dogs near each other, which was a baby step in the right direction. Neither of them are food guarders. Francie was only eating about half her food when we first brought her home (she never ate much at the shelter either), but I'm happy to see that her appetite has improved greatly. She still leaves a bit of food in her dish, which I've been letting Cabana finish eating--I want her to feel there are at least a few perks to having Francie in the house.

I took these photos a few minutes ago, and in reviewing them, Cabana's discomfort is evident in each one. Cabana tolerates Francie, but she doesn't enjoy her one bit.

Francie is just so bossy. If Cabana is sitting near me, Francie comes over and makes Cabana move, then she lays all over me, trying to claim me. Whenever she does stuff like this, I put her on tie-down or in her crate. It seems to be working because Francie is getting slightly less bossy. Just slightly, though.

I feel bad when I restrain or confine Francie, but that's the only way that Cabana can relax. (FYI, I never leave the dogs alone together.) I was telling my shelter volunteer friend about how guilty I feel, and she reminded me that up until two days ago, Francie lived in a concrete cell with one hour of exercise and interaction if she was lucky. Now, she has a soft bed, a doggy door leading out to a yard, plenty of exercise, lots of cuddles, and a clean, quiet, stable environment.

Another volunteer told me that the dog above got put down at the shelter today. He bit someone the day after Francie did. The story is that someone stuck their fingers through his kennel bars, and he bit them. I don't know how much damage he did. Francie's bite was accidental, but this dog's was on purpose, I guess you could say. I still don't think it warrants losing his life, but that's the way the shelter is doing things now. So I'm glad Francie is out of there; otherwise, she'd be in their freezer.

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