2014

[LisaMarie]

 Hi Everyone!  2014 has been the best year of my adult life, & I just wanted to share my joy with Y'all.  Sorry in advance for the long post.  The year started out with a bit of stress, but for a good reason - I bought my very own home.  2 weeks after moving into my home, Animal Advocates of Baltimore County posted on their Facebook page that the Baltimore County Animal Shelter (a high-kill shelter) was full & Hummer, Calvin & Jace were in the most danger of being euthanized, as they had been there the longest.  Danny & I went out to check out the dogs the next day, which was Saturday, 3/29.  While I didn't intentionally set out to adopt one of the aforementioned dogs, as any adopted dog would free up a kennel & prolong their lives, Danny fell in love with Hummer, who we promptly re-named Luke.  Luke had to stay at the Shelter until he could be neutered on Monday, 3/31, but I pulled Danny out of school 1 hour early & we were able to go get our energetic boy in the afternoon.  I saw on the Advocates' page that Calvin, a Cane Corso, was adopted later in the week, & Jace, another pit bull, was saved by a no-kill rescue.    

Since Luke takes Chase's name literally, we have to keep the 2 of them separate at all times.  When Luke has run of the house, Chase has to stay in my room, and when Luke goes to bed with Danny, Chase has run of the house.  Roscoe has run of the house at all times since he gets along with everyone.  Chase is a very social cat, & being confined to my room with just Daisy, Tiff's bunny, for company was not ideal for him, so I began looking for a feline companion for him.  The Baltimore County shelter was offering half-price adoptions for the Memorial Day Weekend, so Paul & I stopped in "Just to look" at the available cats on Saturday, 5/24.  Chase is a bossy, demanding & affectionate cat, so I was hoping to find someone who was more submissive & while affectionate, not so demanding of my time & attention as Chase is.  There was a very helpful volunteer in the cat room that day & she was telling me about some of the cats that were available.  I told her that I didn't want a kitten, as Chase was 6 & a kitten would make him crazy, I don't have the time to attend to the grooming needs of a long haired cat, & a few of the cats that I had seen reacted much as Chase had in September 2008, when I adopted him from that shelter.  The volunteer then took me to Novel's cage, & he seemed like he didn't care that I was there.  She said that I could open his cage & pet him if I wanted, so I did.  While he did not purr, he seemed to enjoy the attention.  I asked Paul if he wanted to pet him, but Paul is not really an animal person, so he declined.  The animals in this shelter have green tags on their kennels/cages if they have seen the vet & are ready to go (except for being spayed/neutered), & white tags if they still need to be seen by the vet.  Although Novel had been there since mid-April, he had been very sick & had not seen the vet, so he had a white tag.  The volunteer called a paid staff member over to tell her that I was interested in Novel, & I asked her why he still had the white tag.  The employee stated that he  needed to see the vet, & that there was a vet on duty at the moment.  Novel had been neutered prior to entering the shelter, so he could come home with me that day if I was able to wait a few minutes for him to get shots & micro-chipped.  I agreed to wait & adopt him, & he became Bo, in keeping with our Dukes of Hazzard theme. (Chase - cat, Roscoe - dog, Daisy - bunny, Luke - dog, Bo - cat.)   It took the whole Summer to get him comfortable enough to come out of Paul's room, where we kept him at first, but he made the move to my room in September & he & Chase are now BFFs.

In June, Danny got his 1st job with our new next-door neighbor, who owns his own landscaping business, & in September he started with the company he is with now, building cabinets & laminate counter tops.  He is also a Senior in high school.  His job counts as part of his Carpentry grade for now, but he's thinking that he will be able to stay there fulll-time after he graduates in June.

Also in September, Tiffany was telling me that things were getting serious between her & DJ, a dude that she had dated off & on since she was in high school.  They were on again & thinking about marriage.  In October, she was telling me that she wanted a ring for Christmas.  She wanted DJ to ask my Dad for her hand in marriage on Thanksgiving, but he works for Sears Automotive & was stuck working in the afternoon/evening.  My Dad works mornings/afternoons on weekends & holidays at a nursing home, so they were not able to get together.  About 2 weeks ago, I found out that Tiff & DJ are expecting my 1st grandchild in mid-August, but couldn't say anything until they told my parents.  They decided that Christmas would be the best time to spring the happy news on them, so now that they know, I can share the news with all!!!!  Tiff did get her ring at 11:30 at night on 12/23.  Those of you that are my friends on Facebook have seen the pics, but they do not do the ring justice - it's absolutely stunning!

2015 looks like it's shaping up to be a good year as well.  How was your year?           

[SusyQ151]

I'm so happy for you LisaMarie!  You're right, 2014 was exceptionally good to you.

Congratulations for your Grandma-to-be status.  I'm thrilled for you.  You will make an awesome Grandma!

Thank you for being such a good friend to the animals in your area.

I hope 2015 turns out even better for you.