Bear arrived at Spokane to me about 7:30 Pacific Time. I got many kisses – love at first sight for both of us. More later. It is 10:30 my time, 12:30 a.m. Bear’s time – we’ve all had a very long day but are happy to be together.
We’re parked for the night at a campground about 20 miles east of Spokane and will head for the little house in the woods in the morning.
Thanks for all of your prayers and encouragment.
With love,
Ann, Bob and Bear
No, I’m not talking about a highway patrol helicopter…
This is Bear. He is currently flying from Newark, New Jersey to Spokane, Washington, where Bob and I will pick him up this evening. He is a 6 1/2 year old Karelian Beardog whose owner died very suddenly. George was only 48 and Bear was his love and the center of his life.
The whole story…
Two weeks ago, I sent a deposit for an English Shepherd puppy that I planned to pick up in OR on June 1. At the end of last week, I was suddenly uncomfortable…not ready, too much money and effort and I was so tired and just not ready. I cancelled.
My plan was to spend some time at my local humane society and just be around other dogs to get back the feeling that I could love another. I was on the Humane Society web site which connects to Petfinders and I did a search for Karelian Bear Dogs…just to see. One immediately caught my eye and then I read his, Bear’s, story. Bear’s owner had suddenly passed away and Bear needed a home where he was the center of attention. But Bear was in New Jersey…impossible… Bear stayed on my mind all weekend and I finally phoned on Monday afternoon and left a message with my own story. I was called back nearly immediately. The breeder who sold Bear to owner, George, had Bear back – it is her policy that any dog she sells or places comes back to her vs a shelter if there is any problem. In addition to the KBD breeding, Sherry fosters and places homeless dogs.
I learned that George had died suddenly. His sister and another friend had wanted Bear but both had dogs and kids and it wasn’t working. Bear arrived at the breeder’s last Saturday. She had received a lot of calls, but no one who called had ever had a Karelian and all worked and Bear would have been home alone. Sherry said when she heard my message, she just knew I was the one for Bear.
It was an intense week as we worked to arrange transport for Bear. It is just short of 2500 miles from where he was to my home. We tried ground options but ultimately it looked like air was the best bet. A special thank you to about 15 of Delta Cargo’s people who I spoke to through the week. Every single one of them was kind, professional, knowledgeable and they listened carefully as I asked questions. Bear must travel in a Giant kennel – it cannot go on every plane so trying to find both a humane flight schedule and one that both Sherry and I could meet was a challenge.
And the kennel…ultimately I had to have it overnighted from Amazon as there just was not one to be had in Newark vicinity.
Another special thanks to a young man in parking management at Spokane International Airport. I phoned parking to see if there was any airport parking that would accomodate Wild Thing. With the evening arrival, I would need to stay over and when I totaled Jeep gas plus a motel I was close to motorhome gas expense. The young man I spoke to gave me detailed information on not only where I could park but also some options for retrieving the giant kennel.
Kindness from strangers… I received so much and it means so very much to me. And the incredible support from friends and family – this would not have come together without them.
I hope that Karl and George are watching over all and however things work… that maybe they are together waiting for all of us. And I believe that my sudden uncomfortable-ness with getting one of the puppies was because I was supposed to have Bear.
Then, 2 days ago, the bear biologist from Fish, Wildlife and Parks…from whom I got Karl, phoned, having heard of Karl’s passing. He has a sister of Karl’s, named Ursa which is Russian for “bear”. She is well and is both his work partner and best friend! He laughed with delight when he heard I was to have a male “Bear” and hopefully we’ll cross paths this summer and let the 2 “Bears” meet. I will never forget the kindness of he and his wife 10 years ago. They welcomed me in their home, listened to my stories of life with Zack, the Karelian cross I lost to lymphoma, looked at photos and then let me spend time with the puppies who were barely 5 weeks old…and I met Karl.
It has been a week. If you are reading this before Bear has arrived, and are so inclined, please pray for a safe and comfortable journey for him with no fear or anxiety. …and maybe a prayer for Bob as well…I’ve spoken to him but I believe he is under the impression that he will be an “only”…it might be a rude awakening :)!
***AND prayers for Sherry’s 6 year old daughter, Danielle, who had a bad accident on her bicycle and is recovering at home after an afternoon and evening in the E.R. Thank you to Sherry who in the midst of that, arranged for neighbors to get Bear to the airport and thank you to those neighbors who helped care for Bear this week and then sent him on his way to his forever home with me.
These heirloom tomatoes (the one on the left) are grown locally and hydroponically in Mountainview Gardens. As written in my Wednesday post, I paid $8.98 for two of them…somewhat unknowingly as I didn’t pay close attention when I put them in my cart nor when they were rung up.
They are over a pound each and about the size of 2 1/2 of the largest hot house tomatoes now available.
I followed suggestions and made a variation of a BLT…I made BST – bacon, sprouts and tomato – on one of my homemade English Muffins …except I made the muffins giant sized to fit the tomatoes :)!
These tomatoes are worth every penny! They taste like real tomatoes…very close to fresh out of the garden. I’ve had 4 sandwiches from 1 tomato and I ate the equivalent of another slice for taste testing purposes.
Bottom line: I’m not regretting my $4.49 each tomatoes :)!
Between the motorhome and the lilac bushes…this one Glacier Lily.
So…yesterday had a lot going on. Fred and his helper and 2 of Fred’s dogs and 1 of his helper’s dogs, showed up as promised at 9:30 a.m. to work in the woods. Fred was here late last Summer and did a lot of cleanup and firewood splitting and stacking. When I called him for this round, I let him know he could bring his dogs…in fact I kind of pleaded with him to bring his dogs.
Two of the chores were in close proximity: a nice larch that was too crowded where it stood, but great firewood for Winter 2012-13 was marked to come down and the slash pile right next to it needed to be burned.
Fred felled the larch right onto the slash pile making in quite convenient as he limbed the larch…
After the larch was limbed and cut to lengths…and the lengths moved away, the slash pile was lit. The dogs supervised and/or just had fun.
I LOVED that the dogs were here. They were all happy, happy, joy, joy and it was good for me to just be able to love them.
And I loved that Fred and his helper were here to burn that humongous slash pile. They hosed down the nearby trees and kept an eye on the first big flames, controlling them so that there was no heat damage to those close trees – excellent !
When the fire needed less of their attention, they turned to splitting and stacking…
And the larch plus a bit of a tree from last year are staged to dry for future.
This morning, the slash pile was just a pile of smoldering ash. It will smolder, sputter, flame a bit and repeat for 10-14 days probably. I like this part as I can go out in the early morning or late evening and sit and watch and listen to the fire.
And then…today, Wednesday, I needed to run to town and stopped for a few items. Tomatoes were on my list. I saw these that were labeled Heirloom tomatoes. They look funny and interesting and so I bought some. And I wasn’t really paying attention to the price…until I got home and looked at my receipt… $3.98 per pound …total for 2 tomatoes was $8.98. I REALLY hope these are good… Anybody have any suggestions about what I should do with tomotoes that cost $4.49 each ???
Meanwhile, it is 72F…on the front porch.
It rained most of Saturday, but the sun came out late afternoon and suddenly everything seemed much greener than just the day before.
The larch pine were sprouting their new needles…
And I saw my first lupin – 3 tiny ones…the largest only slightly larger than my thumb nail. And each holding a drop of rainwater.
It’s greening up.