The sun was shining when I got up this morning and let everyone out the front door. Because of the hill across the road our house loses the sun in early December and doesn’t come back until mid January. But it shines all around the yard - turning snow covered trees into jewels. If I walk a few hundred yard down the path outside the fence I can stand in the sunshine. I can see the sun everywhere around us but it doesn’t come into our windows yet.  So no rainbows across the rooms. It will come just as the new year will come. Time stops for no man/woman - and it is speeding by so quickly!  We have placed 180 dogs this year so far - though I am expecting a few people today who are coming to see Ruby Red, Holly and a "farm dog" The farm dog may not be here - our border collie likes to sleep on beds and I really don’t see any dogs here that want to live outside - all are heat suckers - they like the comfort of the cushions near the woodstove and the companionship of people around them and their friends. Don’t we all enjoy our comforts.

We have had a rough year in some ways - we lost three of our old dogs. We still have 4 demodex dogs - and they are still on medication -  averaging $200 a week for all four. The good thing is they are getting older and soon their immune systems will mature to fight their inherited demodex - to live normal lives as normal healthy dogs. Our veterinary bills are still high but the donations from Dave’s co-workers at Sophos.com will really, really bring it down so we can’t start the new year in the pink instead the red! Sharon’s birthday open house will also help to bring the bill down. We average $20,000 a year on veterinary expenses for all our furry friends. They are all vet checked as soon as we can get them to the office, they are vaccinated, wormed and totally examined. If thye need antibiotics ot an ongoing medical problem fixed - they are. They are scheduled for their spay or neuter as soon as their large canines fall out - they are physiologically able to reproduce once those teeth come in! They are our guidelines as we often don’t know their age - or when they were born - most of the time we don’t know anything about them until we live with them and find out as we observe their quirks and behaviours. We learn so much from living with dogs and are truly blessed!

©Turtle Gardens Animal Rescue Society. Have your pet spayed or neutered today.