First and foremost, sincere gratitude to Markus, Angela and Lisa&Tim for donations!
It's been a rough year, no lie. Too many of the photos I've taken this year were destined for the veterinarian.
A sterilization clinic is in the works but life keeps getting in the way.
The last week has been spent bringing Brooklyn back from the brink; she ingested an unknown toxin, and we thought we were going to lose her. We did all we could but were expecting the worst. Happily, she has pulled through and is getting stronger. I don't want to speak too soon but we may actually end the year on a high note.
Since the last update we've lost a few more old friends. Inevitable but always difficult.
Chester was with us a long time, one of the 1st adult strays to join the troupe. He survived heart worm and was a smart and loving fellow.
Most recent picture of him, sleeping next to his daughter Blue
one of my favorite shots of Chester
another old favorite
Greta, our leibling. A slew of health issues and an indomitable spirit.
An old shot of Greta playing with Monkey
showing wee Rufus the ropes
and one with Zasu (who is still alive and mostly well at 23)
We had to say goodbye to Mo.
Momo was sweetest of her sisters and outlived them both
One of my favorites of Momo, keeping an eye on me 
Xmul wasn't related but they were raised together and Mo loved her best
Mo was so happy to see Xmul the last time she came to stay -maybe she knew it was the last visit.
The youngest of our recently deceased was Zoot. He and his siblings showed up at the end of 2011 to irrevocably change our lives.
there will never be another like him
We lost him to aggressive skin cancer. He had survived and recovered from multiple surgeries but these last tumors were awful and we couldn't put him though any more.
Better days, happy and covered in marmot poo
Rest in power and chaos friend
It hasn't all been loss. This month, Sean found 2 puppies at a nearby abandoned building. They spent a couple days with us, got baths, vaccinations, and new homes with families in town.
An injured pup he rescued last week is being fostered (by the aforementioned Lisa and Tim) and will hopefully be going to a permanent home this week.
rescued and rehomed
Rosie, Rocky and JoJo are growing like Spring weeds.
This shot is from March and they're noticeably larger now.
March Rose
Sean and Rocky with Daisy behind
Group shot from March with Rocky in the foreground
Ruby is a year old now and was 2x the size of JoJo last month
Silly Mo (and sisters) have been here 6 years
June is a crazy genius and will be turning 2 any day now (with her Gemini twin Zoila). Cookie is only 2ish but has already been a big sister many times
A whole lot of happy dogs in my way!
Sometimes you have to do parkour to get around this place
An especially cute lineup at the gate:
Perl, Monkey, Shirley, Bette and Murci
JoJo on the beach this month in her new collar
Rocky (blue) and Rosie (red) evening wrestle
Cookie and Elewah enjoy another beautiful morning
We're looking for
a larger piece of land where we can build to accommodate our peculiar
lifestyle. It would be great to have help during that transition; to
that end we'll be posting on Helpx again soon. If interested, contact
me.
It's been hard to find a rhythm again without Tori.
I remind myself we've been lucky to have known so many of our friends for many years.
April may be adorable but she's a warrior.
Matriarch Zasu is the epitome of aging gracefully.
Henry has been with us since the beginning.
He and Xmul at sunset.
Xmul and Mo have been friends since they were puppies.
We planted a pineapple top back then and it finally bore fruit! 4 years for one little pineapple! It was really good though!
Our sweet nervous Bosha has gone back to be with her original person. She had been unable to care for her 4 years ago, but things have changed and she wanted her back. Bosha loves her and we knew she'd be happier in a calmer home. We'll keep an eye on her and make sure she stays up to date on her heart worm preventative.
Bosha heading to her new home.
Making the next clinic happen has been weighing heavily on me but I
seem to have been rendered inert by grief. Maintaining the dogs and
mustering enough enthusiasm to pacify them is all I've been able to
manage. We had hoped to have Cookie spayed then, but we couldn't wait
any longer. Many people with dogs here don't have the option of going to
a vet in the city. Another clinic is long overdue!
I can't set
the date until we've raised enough to cover costs; we aren't in a
position to cover a deficit at the moment. This time the vets will
be doing mostly females, increasing the amount of anesthesia needed -so
we need to raise at least 1200US to cover costs.
We are securing
a larger space this time around and Dra. Sandra will be bringing more
vets. The incoming mayor has voiced an interest in allocating funds for
future clinics. We hope that will happen and think that a good 'buzz'
surrounding this clinic will improve the chances that it will.
Cookie's surgery and recovery went perfectly.
If you've seen my Twitter feed (or you know us at all) you know we brought in the 2 puppies that were in a burrow down the lane.
Junebug the pup and Eddie the rooster regard each other.
Zoila spends some quality time with Monkey.
Zoila and Junebug like the beach!
They weren't so sure about the water.
We've finally started getting rain so everything is nice and green, and the mosquitoes haven't been too bad (yet). Some things don't change; hot days and early mornings are a constant, as is Stella's willfulness. She can't be trusted off the leash. Every time I forget, she reminds me!
Clever, lovely Stella.
May brought kittens, June brought flies. June is a bitch.
Momma Sugar and Cali, the day we met.
Sugar was living at a beach shack next door with her kittens.
Here are all 4 of the little devils. I like cats, but not what they do to the birds!
At least these 4 won't be having kittens.
Sugar checks out the view from the roof.
Sugar and Maldi have a tentative peace.
She's already proven herself to be a good mouser!
Daisy and pals play with their new toys, thanks to Lisa and Tim!
Xmul prefers Mo to toys. Happy dogs at sunset.
Lovely Xmul.
Not so much lovely as loved.
Ziggy naps.
These orange insects were standing motionless on a new shoot of our nopal. They caught my eye because it looked like a bloom, but nopal doesn't have orange flowers. They were so still that I touched them, thinking it was some kind of fungus. I'll update when I identify the species.
Identified as assassin bugs by Amanda. Thanks!
The dogs do their best impression of ants.
Hey! No dogs allowed on the tabl.... ah, forget it.
Elewah and Sean.
Her darling daughter Lily, and a napping Frankie.
Blue leads Zoot, Amber, and gang.
Siblings Zoot and Amber have not wanted to go out for months! So odd.
Finally, success -we convinced/tricked them, and
Amber couldn't be happier!
Zoot also seems to have forgotten what all the fuss was about.
Zasu, Zoot, Rita, Monkey and Tito head home.
A good representation of Ginger -doing her own thing.
