Saturday, August 27, 2022, MN

Wow! I have lots to write about this weekend - some good, some very sad.  The sad first. My sweet cousin JoAnne passed away early Thursday morning.  It is sad that we had a great weekend together back in May and we did not speak to each other since then.  It was only a couple of weeks later that she texted me with the news of her Leukemia diagnosis and she wasn’t up to talking, but open to texting.  So we communicated via text for a few weeks, then the only communication was with her daughter Stacy and then I learned that she was in hospice and only had a few days to a week to live.  So the good about Jo is that she loved life to the max - a life that was full of ups and downs but she has a beautiful, loving family and lots of friends, she traveled a lot, lived overseas for a while and loved to have fun. She was game for any adventure. Rest In Peace, dear Jo - I’m really gonna miss you.

The good thing that happened on the 24th was that I adopted my new four legged companion, a 15#, 1.5 year old Yorkie/Shih Tzu (aka Shorkie) and I gave him the name of Joey - in memory and in honor of cousin Jo. She would love it!  So Tuesday evening, I was perusing the pet rescue sites and expanded my search out to 100 miles and the little guy (Coco) popped up on the Hawk Creek Humane Society in Willmar’s website.  On Wednesday morning, I called them right away, they told me there hadn’t been any interest and I decided to take the 2-hour drive to go and meet him. He was very timid and a matted mess, but eased over to me cautiously and it was instant love.  The only thing I know about his background is that he came from a household with lots of kids and lots of dogs and very little structure.  Other than vomiting in the car on the way back home, he was calm and restful and well behaved at Petsmart where we stopped to get food and treats. Neither of us slept well that first night, but once I got a crate from Ben, we both got good night’s sleep and he doesn’t mind the crate until I walk out the door (will have to work on that behavior).  We are bonding, learning some new ground rules, meeting neighbors and family and settling in.  He is a sweet little guy and I think we will both be happy together.