We dropped off Bug(sy) at Muttville yesterday. It was hard to say goodbye to this little angel, but he’s in amazing hands and will get adopted quickly. Why am I so confident? They turn these dogs around fast there! Also, looking at the other seniors in there, he’s far more ambulatory and relatively young for a dog his size, so he probably has many more happy years of his life.
I know he and I bonded very much, but that also proves to me that he can easily bond with another person after his surgery. I have to keep telling myself that it is not a failure on my part not to take in every stray, but my mission on the board of HSNB is to make sure as many homeless animals as possible are permanently homed. Muttville is amazing and the facilities are incredible while he waits a short while to be adopted. His new name will be Hammock!
As Co-Chair of Tobacco Free Solano I spoke for a while at this event by Solano County Department of Health on the success of the two ordinance to control tobacco in Vallejo over the past few years. I’m so honored to be doing this work locally to be making a difference in our county’s largest city (where I live) and making a better life with less lethal addiction to the youth of Vallejo, who deserve a smoke-free world.
I received this beautiful card from various members of TFS thanking me for my work on this issue.
The audio quality is not the greatest, but hopefully people will be able to interpret what I’m saying. It might behoove one to turn on captions.
For those who are keeping track, Calvin & Hobbes are hopefully soon to be permanently homed together. Bug(sy) is going to Muttville on Tuesday, where I know he’ll get the medical attention he needs in a few areas to make the rest of his hopefully long life wonderful for a new home where I know he’ll be so loved. All three of these dogs are extremely loveable and I feel very honored that Shea and I could give them a good home for a spell. Hoping these three are soon to be placed, we also recently took in a special needs dog that wasn’t thriving that well in a crate in the shelter.
Miso took a few days to warm up to us, but he’s going to be an amazing pet to someone after being abandoned like all these other dogs were. It’s very inspiring to have these dogs come from an environment that scares them and just a few days in a real home shows how they can thrive. There are so many dogs at HSNB and other shelters that could really use our attention. Miso looks like a miniature German Shepherd with the pointed ears. I don’t mind being a rehab for dogs that fit into the pack we have at home.
Yesterday Calvin and Hobbes were a hit at the Benicia Library. There was a regularly-scheduled Cuddle Club event, which is a pet therapy program of HSNB that my friend Carlene Coury founded. However this time the press was there!
The news story mentions them in the first words of the main article on the front page of today’s Vallejo Times Herald! Despite “holding court” there, they were not photographed, so I’m including a picture of them, together with the article and the two pictures of some of the other dogs that were there. Several people were interested in adopting Calvin and Hobbes together, so we’ll see. They were incredibly well-behaved with lots of people and children. Everyone was surprised that they had never done anything like this before.
I was so busy answering questions that I didn’t even pull out my own camera. In hindsight, I should have deputized Shea to be the cameraman. I so appreciate that he was gracious enough to join me.
Six dogs including the four fosters in the rental backyard are enjoying each other’s company and getting lots of exercise.
With senior foster Bugsy (who did so well adapting to our household) leaving on Tuesday, we agreed to foster Miso. Miso looks like a miniature German Shepherd, pointed ears and all. He’s a young chihuahua mix, like Calvin and Hobbes, who needed some TLC. He wasn’t doing too well in the shelter environment. Of course the goal is to get every cat and dog at the shelter into permanent homes. I’m glad while waiting for my house to be renovated Shea and I can provide some sanctuary to a few dogs. Miso had a heck of a fun time meeting and playing with the pack. I’m glad he and Bugsy got to meet for a few days overlap. They will all sleep well tonight.
Hopefully the three remaining younger chihuahua mixes will be adopted out soon. Five of these six dogs are rescues from HSNB, including Bonnie, who I adopted last year. Snoopy was also a stray, but he’s my special survivor from the fire 13 months ago.
For the 2026 Humane Society of the North Bay calendar, we took our three foster dogs (one of which is going to Muttville later this month) for a photo shoot with firemen here in Vallejo. Today’s photo shoot was with Fire Station 24. Before some of you (you know who you are) get all hot and bothered, the firemen kept their shirts on. Anyway, it was a great experience and I’m glad these foster dogs will help other homeless cats and dogs by the funds raised with the forthcoming calendar. Thank you to Lisa, Mei and others from HSNB who arranged this. For good measure, Mei had the wherewithal to suggest Shea and I pose with the dogs by the kissing booth.
On the way to the fire station we gave our friend Teena a lift to the hairdresser. She wanted to take pictures of the models as we left.
Earlier that morning Shea called them and Snoopy for a photo, and what he got he couldn’t have planned better if he had tried:
As we were celebrating the win of the Vallejo Tobacco Retail license passing here in Vallejo with lots of strength, I was honored with a certificate for the many hours our coalition worked together to get this passed, not to mention the Smokefree Multi-Unit Housing that we passed several years ago.
Hearing that this senior named Bug (I’m calling him Bugsy) with less than perfect behavior was rejected by a rescue/transfer organization specializing in seniors, I decided to foster him from the Humane Society of the North Bay (HSNB dot org). He needed some time in a home environment and I’m expecting Calvin and Hobbes will be adopted soon. Bugsy also has dental problems, arthritis, and a cute uneven underbite. Not only does he resemble an old version of Hobbes, but he also has a spot on his nose and a snout that resembles my late 18.5-year-old Pomchi Timber who died in 2023.
Shea joined me in a celebration of local success in saving lives from tobacco in Oakland. Advocates with our coalition led by LGBTQ Minus Tobacco were instrumental in a new ordinance for smoke-free bar patios there. Hopefully, San Francisco will soon follow so that more lives can be saved from Big Tobacco. Now patrons and staff at bars can safely traverse the open spaces without being subjected to toxic smoke as is the case in restaurants already.
I love the mosaic art in this community center on Telegraph Avenue in Oakland where we gathered.
Most people know that I’m a second-generation Californian and most of my rearing when we were not in NYC, Spain, and Italy was in the East Bay, so the same county as Oakland. Oakland has long been a leading large city in the effort to reduce death by tobacco, even though this is the area we were living in when my father died from his tobacco addiction. He only lived to be 50 years old, as did his mom who also died of tobacco-related illness.
