puppies, tampons & heaven

Yesterday the kids didn't have school (at Oasis) so I decided that rather than tackle fractions, multiplication tables, phonics and the like, we would have a swim lesson followed by an Exercise in Patience, Charity & Good Samaritanism, and Going With The Flow 101. The swim lesson was great, as Willo now swims as well as Jackie, and yesterday we worked more on their breathing technique (in freestyle). And I got to cool off from my extremely hot run. After breakfast I finally got through to the Humane Society, who told me to go right on over with my 2 puppies who are traveling to CT on the 26th, for their examination. We rushed out the door with Negrita & Feisty (who has been named Janessa by Lili, the 6 yr old girl who is waiting for her in Torrington, CT, who with her mom looked up popular names for Puerto Rican girls and that was Lili's favorite). Although we were the 1st ones there, we had to wait an hour because the vet didn't arrive for another half hour or so, and the dog that arrived after us with what looked like a humongous tumor in her side got priority (fine with me). While we waited (the Exercise in Patience, a very tough one for Willo), I discovered 5 more little puppies. Apparently they also had been abandoned. They look just like Negrita & Janessa ("Jess")! There are 2 males and 3 females in the batch. The kids of course begged me to take them home but the staffers at the Humane Society agreed to keep them alive and not euthanize them before letting me know (I guess they realize I'm serious about this puppy saving thing). Anyway, the vet checked out our 2 jet setting pups and gave them the thumbs up so I left with my certificates, as well as a list of the vaccines they were given, so I could give this list to the new owners of Daisy & Honey. We drove over to Esperanza to give Emily (Daisy's new owner) the list, and the instruction to bring her back for round 2 of shots on 3/25, as well as a flea collar Saint Stephanie had brought from New Haven. We found Daisy taking a peaceful nap in between 2 mountain bikes at the Black Beard store while Emily tended to customers. All seemed perfect with them. Since we had 2 pups with us I suggested we walk along the Malecon for a bit, to see if anyone else would be interested in a pup. At this point, Jess & Negrita are merely for advertising purposes, since they've got their flights booked. Several gringos here on vacation stopped us but it soon became clear to me that the Humane Society has completely missed the mark on something. These people would have happily taken a puppy home with them but the problem is they're leaving this weekend - not enough time since they need the paperwork to be completed exactly 10 days before their flight, according to some stupid PR law. Last night, while having dinner with a friend of ours who works at the W and is on the board of directors for the HS, I asked her why the heck this isn't advertised? If it were up to me, I'd do some guerilla campaign, well, first about the whole sterilizing thing (for locals) but also, for visitors, about how easy it is for them to help these animals simply by taking them back to the US with them, where they have a much better chance to get adopted. After all, anyone coming to Vieques goes online to do some research - the HS should put a photo of one of these puppies with the caption "HELP ME" and then talk about how you can make a difference without having to make any long term commitments. Anyway, she didn't have anything really to say about my question, since she says that the HS claims to be doing its job with marketing. Um, I beg to differ. Proof: I just posted an announcement on Craigslist, and this was the only one from Vieques. *SIGH* As Bill would say, "well, it is all volunteer-based..."

After lunch, I dragged my content-to-be-at-home-in-the-air conditioning kids out to the Humane Society again, this time with no pups in tow, just my Canon 40D (I rarely take it out these days, since it's a mental burden compared to my iPhone & waterproof point-&-shoot). We went into the pen where the 5 new orphans are kept, and took pictures of them. Then we went into the main part of the HS to take a few pictures of some older dogs, and there we met Gretchen, who was there with 3 friends, looking to adopt dogs. Gretchen came over and asked me if I wasn't the one looking for a home for some puppies? I said yes, I am, but there are 5 more right there, pointing in the direction of their pen. Her friend had picked a year-old shephard mix, but Gretchen was leaning towards a puppy. Their other friends, Anthony & Katrina, were just along for support. They ended up deciding to come back to my house to meet Negrita, but being Bohemian youngsters from Martha's Vineyard, with no set itinerary of any sort, they didn't have a car. So all 6 of us piled into the Jeep (2 squeezed in the back with all my beach paraphernalia) and we came to our place. Anthony told me that he and Katrina are the reggae band that plays at Lazy Jack's on Friday & Monday nights. Their manager back home promised them several gigs here, decent money, and they were jipped and got neither. So they're living on $100/week. Yikes. Anyway, Gretchen fell in love with Negrita (who wouldn't) but decided not to jump into anything as her future is a bit unstable. I reminded her that while it's wise to not let ourselves be carried away by our emotions, when it comes to having children or adopting animals, if you go by rational thought alone no one would do either. I then gave them a ride back to the other side of the island so they wouldn't have to shell out the $10 cab fare. Gretchen is coming back on Saturday, as it turns out she's a licensed masseuse, but hasn't done it here in Vieques as she didn't bring a table. Suddenly I remembered there's a massage table in our closet, so I'm going to get her some customers. The W is scheduled to open in 8 days and there are a lot of very stressed out people round here (including/especially Bill)!

This morning, when not brainstorming about solving the Puppy Problem, or how to make $$ while over here, I was thinking about what I consider one of the best things about our time over here. Because our days are so unstructured, and I don't spend endless hours doing errands (there's nowhere to errand here) and shuttling round kids (activities are limited to Oasis and beach), I get to spend a lot of time just Being With Them. Sure, this has its definite downside in the form of sibling warfare and - well, that's pretty much it - but one of the many plus sides is that I've gotten to know the kids even more, through their conversation and questions. Just in the last day, these are the types of questions/comments I've had to field:

"why do women need tampons?"

"can you explain stocks to me?"

"why is Microsoft Word so stupid?"

"what's asthma?"

"what animal does bacon come from?"

"what did you study in college, and what did you want to do with it?"

"I'm going to adopt babies when I grow up, because 1) it hurts too much to give birth and 2) I want to do something good. And they will be either from China or from India"

"I hope the Humane Society workers are married to men who make good money, because they probably don't make much money themselves even though what they do is so important"

"why can't we have heaven here, why do we have to die first?"

Etc... As you can imagine, some interesting conversations! Alright, must go fix some lunch and feed the 3 puppies still in my custody. Please be an angel and forward the link to my blog to everyone you know, to spread the word about the Puppy Situation. People do not have to commit to taking in a puppy, they can simply find out if their local shelter would take one, if it's no-kill. Thank you!!!!!

from tour guide to puppy whisperer

I've neglected my blog for several days, and while I doubt it's caused you to lose sleep or made a major dent in your days, I do apologize. I really enjoy blogging and I've missed writing and updating photos, but you see, I've been a bit busy. Bill's parents arrived on Tuesday for a brief visit, and between playing host, tour guide, mom, and foster parent, I've had zero time for anything on the computer aside from puppy placement efforts. But I'm getting ahead of myself...

Since Bill's mom (Wilda) had never been to Vieques before, and Bill's dad (Bill Jr) hadn't been here in ages, and never as a tourist, just for work (military), the kids and I showed them round. We went past the famous chapel (see a previous post for that funny history), to the former military bunkers where munition was stored, the huge ceiba tree, the lighthouse, the Fortin (where Robert Rabin, the curator whose history class I had attended a few weeks, approached us and a really interesting encounter ensued since Bill Jr told him all about how he had testified in his confirmation by the US Senate a few years ago, when being confirmed for his position as Assistant Secretary of the Navy, that in his opinion Puerto Rico's status as a commonwealth is unacceptable for so many reasons...), lunch at El Resuelve, an impromptu stop at the archaeological site where the 4,000 yr old human being's remains were found, and where we found abandoned puppies, a trip to the Humane Society with said puppies, an afternoon at Media Luna beach with our friends, and then off to Esperanza's Malecón (boardwalk) to see the sunset over a piña colada. Good thing we did all that their first day because if you were paying attention here, or if you are a Facebook friend of mine and get my updates, you know that once we stumbled across the puppies my life as a Tour Guide came to a grinding halt.

Now, if you've known me for more than a year you know I am not a dog person. I do not appreciate dogs jumping up on me, or dogs shedding on me, or slobber, or barking. I don't have much patience for people whose lives are dictated by their pets (eg people who give up a chance to go to Paris because their dog will have separation anxiety). The kids always begged for a dog and I steadfastly replied "OVER MY DEAD BODY." It was as non-negotiable as their eating Lucky Charms for breakfast or getting a Wii/Nintendo DS for Christmas. As unlikely as my ever running for political office. Well, I guess 2009 was the year for me to pull a Senator Kerry move and flip-flop, because not only did I agree to take in Penny the Puppy but I also ran for office (and lost, thank God).

The Humane Society told us they could not keep the puppies - if I left them that day (Wed.), they would euthanize them before nightfall. Now, remember, I am not a dog person, but I could not imagine killing these poor things and I figured surely I could find them homes so I begged them to pardon the puppies until Thursday (24 hours) while I worked on finding them homes. They sadly agreed. The whole thing cast a somber mood over us and Bill and I agreed that night to foster the puppies until we found them homes. This was no easy decision, because as I said, I'm not a dog lover, but on top of that, we are living in a borrowed home and the owner (who, incidentally, owns the W Hotel here as well as the Mandarin Oriental in Barcelona) just might have a cow if she finds out. On top of that, my MIL, Wilda, is allergic to dogs, and it was a hardship for her (she had an asthma attack that night), but she was incredibly gracious about the whole thing.

I have had several inquiries about the puppies, but so far only one person has committed - the friend of a friend of a friend, who got the email chain. She lives in Torrington CT so I will have the puppy flown to her on March 26th. Turns out that to get the pups to mainland US, it's Puerto Rican law that they receive a medical health certificate from the vet exactly 10 days before their flight. The Humane Society has volunteers who get the dogs to San Juan, and the new owner pays for the flight (in cargo) from San Juan to wherever they live. Apparently Continental Airlines is the best for this, as they allow dogs to fly without a human chaperone. Bill's colleague, Stephanie, who is also working on this W project, is a complete angel and has agreed to be a mule to bring pups to CT. Her first voyage as a Puppy Carrier will be March 26th.

I have to admit that these puppies are absolutely adorable. Three seem to be from the same litter (2 blondes and one black); these 3 are probably about 7 weeks old, the multi-colored one (we call her "Feisty") is a bit older. Willo absolutely loves Negrita (black one) while Jackie is partial to Honey (blonde with white strip on face). Feisty is the only one with a committed owner - the others are still up for grabs. They are incredibly sweet, affectionate, great with children, healthy (they've had 1 round of vaccines and I've de-flead and de-ticked them). We can't keep them here indefinitely though (we'll be here till April), so if we don't have committed owners/fosters for them within a week, I'm going to have to come up with a Plan B (a no-kill shelter on the main island, eg). I admit I'm tempted to keep one of them (I'd keep all of them if money were no object!), and I suppose I must at this point come to terms with the fact that I can no longer claim to not be a dog lover. *SIGH* Yesterday Bill and a couple of his colleagues came over and we had a beer and watched the dogs frolicking round the yard as the sun set, and I thought, there's nothing better. But this whole thing has also made me even more conscious of how important a cause the whole dog/cat thing is for a society. I used to be in the camp that said, help people, they're more important! But now I realize that while Puerto Rico has several crises on its hands (pitiful schools, drug addiction, gangs, unemployment, domestic abuse, teen pregnancy, trash... the list goes on and on) - the Pet Issue is a major one. It reminds me of back when Giuliani was NYC's mayor and he decided to clean up the graffiti and people criticized his decision, saying there were much worse problems. True, he said, but if you clean up the buildings and show people how important it is to have pride in your environment and take care of it - this pride and concern spreads to other areas such as crime etc. If Puerto Ricans made sterilizing their pets and treating them properly a priority, I really do think this sense of humanity would naturally flow over to other areas and issues. And it's an issue that can be tackled relatively easily and whose effects can be felt relatively quickly. I'm thrilled to hear that the W here has a fund to support the local pet sterilization efforts. One can almost understand the tendency to litter, be lazy, and generally settle for far less than mediocre, when the place is overrun with cats and dogs and even something as adorable as a puppy or a kitten is considered disposable.

OK, must go jump in a pool now. If you can think of anyone interested in a puppy (they just need to pay its airfare), please send them this link!