The DECISION! - for real!

I woke up this morning completely exhausted. Our original plans to take all five Poodles to Helen Woodward's annual dog walk suddenly sounded abhorrent. I only wanted to go back to bed after taking the dogs potty, and had no desire to leave the house. I know, though, Ed wouldn't want to stay home and the dogs would certainly enjoy it. So, off we went and had a wonderful time. The weather was perfect and the dogs were so well behaved. We found an agility set up and got to see how Chloe would do. With just a bit of coaxing, she went through the shoot, over the jump and through the hoop. I am really going to try and get her into an agility class, or take private lessons. After the dog walk, we meandered down to La Jolla and strolled into Muttropolis, where we found a GREAT new stroller for the pooches. It's larger than the fold-up we were using, and RED instead of that silly pink. Scooter, Chelsea AND Chloe all fit in it, although Chloe also enjoys walking on the leash too. It has a single front wheel and maneuvers MUCH better than the other one. I am happy with my new find!

Okay, my other news - the DECISION! I have decided, once and for all, I am done, done, done with rescue. In fact, I have an adoption tomorrow and I can't even bring myself to do it. Ed & Jeremy are going for me. After thinking about this and praying for months, it just came to me yesterday when I was talking to Pam. I was mentioning that I was debating between dramatically cutting back (1-2 dogs) or just closing down altogether. She reminded me that there is no way I am going to be able to restrain myself to just a couple of dogs, that I'd feel guilty and would soon be back up to where I am now - ten dogs. By the end of the day I knew what my decision was. I am so very relieved and know it is the right thing.

Things at work are interesting to say the least. It was an incredibly difficult week, one of the more challenging we've had in the last year. I had offended the Hospice managers by their perception of 'micromanaging'. They were adamant about the promotion of a particular nurse, and the Business Development Team was just as strongly opposed. Pam was also very much against it. In the end, we did the right thing - put the nurse in the position and will hope for the best. We had a very fitting ending to the week when G, our board chair, called to say that one of the board members heard that Pam & I were "forcing" M out of her position. Thank goodness G called us first so we could give him the history and inform him that our action was based upon direction by the chair of the QI committee.... Still, M will be mortified as G feels he needs to call her to investigate, and it is nerve wracking for us as it just opens the door for misinformation to be shared. I am just going to be praying and trusting all will go well and that our integrity in all matters will shine through. The very good news is that the Board seems to be pleased with our performance despite three horrible months with financials in the red and other serious issues. Incredible. I guess we are doing better about informing them and providing the info they need to demonstrate we are considering all angles.