Olive who? Olive you!

*Note, as I write this, Heidi is laying on my lap with her head half on the keyboard. She's dying to be a blogger.

I had a half day today (yeah BNP for giving us half days before all holidays!), so at noon I took off to the Humane Society to walk my pooches. It's always a mixture of sad and happy here, but today I felt so strongly on both ends of the spectrum. I had the SWEETEST dogs, but I felt like crying most of the time because I just don't understand how anyone could give up such sweet beings that do nothing but love the heck out of you. I know they'll all make it to warm and loving homes eventually, but man does it make me want to come home and spoil the crap out of Heidi.

First up was Olive, who Rachel had given me a head's up on. I couldn't wait to meet her. Folks, let me just say, THE sweetest sweetest pooch ever. She's a rotweiller/shepherd mix, but she's so mini! I leashed her up, we got halfway across the yard, and down she went. Straight onto her back, legs in the air. "RUB MY BELLY NOW!" And that's how we sat the whole time. Just rolling around in the grass, only stopping to give me little smooches. It broke my heart to take her back (and I snuck outside to say goodbye again before I left for the day). I want to just eat her up. And then bring her home with me. Someone I know please adopt her so I can spoil her rotten.

Next up were the two sweetest strays. The first stray looked just like Heidi, but taller and skinnier, so he was obviously a mix. I took him out and he just walked alongside me, so gentle, no pulling, just super mellow. Because he was so mellow, I didn't take him for a ball player, but he led me into the pen and off he went on a mad dash all the heck over the place. And he was a maniac for catch. I love to see them have so much fun. The next stray, who I think is named Lionel, was a rusty-colored golden retriever. He was matted so badly they shaved his body, but they left his head and shaved his tail like a lion, so he looks like a super cute furry lion. Poor guy has heartworms and is in need of a foster home for 30 days to recover. I ran into the volunteer coordinator when I had him and nearly had myself a foster dog. Unfortunately, I don't think Heidi would allow him much relaxation.

For my last walk of the day, I grabbed Mike, a pitt mix. Rachel had raved about him, and Chris (the seemingly 24-7 volunteer dog walker) told me I just had to walk him, so I went and grabbed him. He was so much fun! He'd run around and play, then he'd sit side-by-side with me on the bench, just soaking up the loving and the sun. He's a big solid boy and seems like he'd be a great cuddler. He also has the most amazing man-like (huge) paws, and his fingernails are black and white stripped.

What a day! I can't wait to go back on Monday and hopefully not see all my new friends! :)

PS. Guess what? My camera is magically fixed! My phone call with the Sony guy the other day:
Me: NOTHING works.
Him: Did you try resetting it?
Me (agitated): I did everything. Nothing works.
Him: Did you try turning it on with the viewfinder button?
Me (even more agitated): Yes! Nothing works!

So last night, I'm like, hey, maybe I should actually try turning the camera on with the viewfinder button. And what happened? The damn thing turned on!!! (I STILL want a new camera. Hmph.)