3:45 now and I just had to declare I'm losing love fast for the youngest foster I have right now. As cute as he is, he JUST reminded me why I don't like puppies!. I just got done cleaning up almost 400 pink generic Benadryl pills - the puppy had snatched them from my bedside table, chewed it open and was PLAYING with the bottle and the pills on the floor - amongst the dry kibble he had spilled form the nearby food dish. And I'm so freakin poor I will be finding a way to get the dog hair out (fan) and the crumbs from the dog food, plus whatever misc dirt and crap came form the filthy floor.

Solution: crate - I just don't have one with doors right now - all on loan - picking one up tomorrow. GRRRR!

OK, it is almost 2AM and I am wide awake, my heart is racing and I’m sweating profusely. I am gagging from the fumes of the two bottles of bug spray I just emptied throughout my living room to kill a giant bug. I had woken up very thirsty and was making my way to the kitchen (the house is not dark, as I have many new foster pups) to refill my water bottle when I spotted it. IT, being a HUGE freaking wood cockroach, also apparently mistakenly called a water bug, American Cockroach, Palmetto Bug – whatever it goes by down here – I don’t have a preference, I’d rather it didn’t exist. These are not the little gross German Cockroaches that infest apartment buildings and grocery stores. No, these would be the HUGE gross things that USUALLY live outside.

Anyway, I’ve been taunted by these creatures since I’ve moved into my house in the woods. Apparently, they communicate well, and team up to ensure I get a good scare in real life every now and then as they stalk my entrance or exit route or wander around inside my house and defy a barrage of insecticides. They have even left their presence in my HEAD, because I wake up regularly CONVINCED I’m seeing one crawl on my bedroom wall. It doesn’t help that the clips I use to hold the black-out shades closed during non-school days are black and roughly the same size and appear to be these terrors to a half-asleep, sleep-deprived, over-stressed female with Entomophobia (also known as insectophobia).

Ok, so back to the REAL one tonight – he had either walked in through the huge crack surrounding my front door, or had been chillin’ in some of the empty boxes I had stored in my second bedroom, which I had earlier moved to near the front door so I could take them to school with me to pack up my classroom. Either way, despite being armed with bug spray in each hand, he managed to taint almost every piece of furniture and item in my living room, leaving an insecticide trail that I’m sure is doing wonders on my asthmatic airways, and perhaps even worse to that of the MUCH smaller dogs, who are closer to where the spray residue lies, despite my wiping down what I could. This thing was doing the backstroke in liquid bug spray for several FEET! Granted, it was BIG – like TWO freaking inches (that may not SOUND big, but look at how big it is in reality for a BUG), but no bug should be able to live through that so vigorously!

SO, I’m proud of myself – not only was I able to kill the bug, but smush it to pieces ensure its death AND dispose of the carcass. And being my eyes were tearing and my lungs were burning, I had to do some major human and canine damage control – open windows, soak up puddles and streams of bug spray, spray down every porous surface and wipe it several times, move, plug in and turn on fans – quite busy for the middle of the night.

The sucky thing is, I doubt I’ll get to sleep tonight – and this week at school has been torture, though you’d think the last full week of school would be a breeze, especially since one of my two toughest kids behaviorally is not in school because of a behavior issue.

PLUS, I ran out of my meds a few days ago and am sooo manic it is not even funny (so I’m less inclined to sleep anyway). My lovely Dr. won’t refill until I come in, and of course, they couldn’t see me until 9:45 tomorrow (oh, later today, actually) – sure that’s convenient. There are a whole bunch of issues there – I will be looking to change doctors after the appointment.

I guess onto playing some games on FB (all while keeping an eye out for more of these creepy-crawlies who also fly)!

The Animal Rescue Site Shelter Challenge
Help ERU Win $20,000!

The Animal Rescue Site is awarding $100,000 in grants to eligible Petfinder.com member rescue organizations. The Petfinder.com rescue organizations with the most votes will win.

You can help ERU Win $20,000 with just the click of a mouse!

Help Eskie Rescuers United win by doing the following:

1. Visit www.TheAnimalRescueSite.com/ClickToGive/ShelterChallenge.

2. In the purple Search and Vote for a Shelter box:

a) Enter "Eskie Rescuers United" for shelter name

b) Select "MI" for the state

c) Click on "search"

(Please note that ERU is a registered Petfinder rescue in 15 states . . .

please only vote for ERU in MI to concentrate our votes to win!)

3. On the next screen, click on the "vote" button beside the "Eskie Rescuers United

American Eskimo Dog Rescue, Inc." name with the Grand Rapids, MI address.

4. On the next screen, identify the animal in the photo and then click the "confirm

vote" button.

Clicking and voting are free, with no registration required.

It's that easy!

The grand prize is a $20,000 grant and there are many more prizes ranging from $1,000 for weekly winners up to $5,000 for the runner-up. There will be a winner in every state as well as other grants!

ERU is currently in the #7 spot in MI. You can help us reach #1!

It only takes 10 seconds and just think of how many Eskies could benefit from $20,000!!!

You can vote once every day during the Challenge, which started on April 13th and continues until July 26th. Ask your friends and family to vote.

Vote Today. Vote Every Day.

To receive a daily email reminder to vote, send an email to nwsltreditor@eskierescuers.org with "Rescue Challenge" in the subject line.

Ok, after not being able to blog for a while, I've got a lot of catching up to do. I'll start adding old stories so everything is on here - hopefully my new blog home. Thanks to Joye for having a blog on here - so easy to find! I have been reading her blog everyday, hoping for an update on her son, who was born about a month ago with some serious complications. He has pulled through and hopefully just a few days from going home from Duke Hospital! Can't wait to meet him!