In June 2022 I was fostering for a local shelter and accepted three 6 week old puppies – brothers born in April.
In July adoption appointments were scheduled for each puppy and I delivered them back to the shelter. I remember putting them in that kennel and walking away, willing myself not to look back.
Life went on – summer is busy and weeds grow in the blink of an eye. In August I went to the shelter with my weedeater and other equipment and started cleaning up around the property cutting weeds, piling up cement blocks and other trash – yes, trash. Little did I know my life would change that very day. In the first outside kennel was one of my puppies!!! Nearly grown up and alone! I went to the office and was told his adoption had fallen through 6 weeks prior. WHY DIDNT THEY LET ME KNOW???? I was mortified. I’m not sure what I even said except “give him to me – I’ll foster him!” Of course I wasn’t going to ever return him – I was going to KEEP him!!!!
Keeper has been a joy! Rescue puppies are a loaded gun – you just aren’t sure if and when they’ll go off. They havent been socialized, haven’t been trained in any way and may not even have been loved once in their life. What if Keeper had food aggression, extreme shyness, a mean streak? He has none of these except separation anxiety and now you understand why.
He goes with me everywhere – even sits in the van when we’re home in case I decide to go somewhere. Ha! I remember when I was hospitalized in November 2024, Rick told me Keeper wouldn’t come in the house – I can only hope Rick insisted he come in at night. I was afraid to ask.
Grocery store was crowded today – everybody is getting ready for the subzero weather we’re going to have from tomorrow night (Thursday) to Monday. Wind chills predicted of 45 below. What? When you get to 20 below, how can it be much different? I’ll let you know.
Reader photos
I so appreciated all the comments about my feet issue – I can see I’m not alone. I can tell any of my local friends or readers but I will not put myself in the news via the Public Health Department. I may be the only person ever to be allergic to their chemicals. And I can’t prove it was their products – I just THINK it was.
Thirty seven 5” pieced basket blocks done! Now to put 4 borders together for the calendar quilt. I’m sooooo close!
I’m working on what we should make together.
- It can’t be too difficult
- It can’t be tiny pieces
- It has to have components to make it bigger or smaller than mine.
- It has to lend itself to a combination of fabrics.
- It can’t be a two color quilt.
- It can’t be made strictly with precuts.
Any other guidelines I should consider?
Even tho I knew it, I loved hearing Keeper’s shelter story; it has a wonderfully happy ending of his forever home being with Mary.
The quilts are beautiful!
We did our storm grocery shopping this afternoon. I think we are good for the weekend.
Thanks For The Blog, 🥰
Mary I think you have a new idea for a book…”Keeper, A Love Story.” We are enjoying the Hawaiian weather- 70s into the low 80s. We’re moving to the big island today. We hope to see the 41st eruption of Kilauea. Stay warm everyone.
I love your Keeper! So glad you found him, Mama Mary!
Our winter storm starts Friday night. Should be sleet and snow!⛄️ I went to the store and all the bread was gone and I got the last lactose free milk they had. Luckily, got the last 2 Screaming Sicilian supreme pizzas, we will make it through now. Filled the car and brought my pots of mint into the garage. Supposed to pick up Darrell’s quilt tomorrow and get working on the binding. He designed it all himself ❤️. Hugs and I hope everyone stays safe and warm!
I remember when you were taking care of Keeper and his siblings. It’s a great story and that fur baby is so lucky to have you!! I am NOT looking forward to this next huge weather system. Right now, we are on the northern edge of the next system, but the cold is going to be brutal. I really feel for the folks who will be getting ice. I hate ice and I would much rather have the snow if I had a choice. LOL
Your quilt guidelines sound good to me.
Mary I enjoyed reading Keeper’s story. Guess I only knew part of the story. Didn’t realize he had an adoption that fell through. Glad you made him a part of your family. He’s a sweetheart and a good companion for Hazel. Count me in on your quilting challenge. I’m ready for a new project. This week I saw a news clip on tv about decorating trends for 2026. One of those trends is to display family heirlooms or art – such as framing a child’s artwork or HANGING A QUILT! Looks like we’re ahead of the game, or are we the trendsetters? Stay warm & safe everyone.
Oh, those little basket blocks! They are so sweet!
I can’t wait to see what you come up with for a project. It’s hard (impossible) to please everyone, but those ideas look great to me!
Sew along guidelines sound fine. Thank you for number 3 – a little more work for you – but, appreciated. Chris’ husband has a good color sense and the piecing looked terrific. Your calendar quilt will be fantastic, too, Mary.
Diane, Squeak, Buddy thanks for sharing your cardinal quilt. I have some cardinal material left-over from a project a few years back. Light bulb moment. If I finish a Dirty Dozen for one month with time time to spare it will be a back-up #13 – a Baker’s Dozen quilt.
Oh, Keeper. What a good boy. Thanks for sharing his story.
All of you in the swath of cold conditions this weekend, be safe and take care on the roads should you need to go out.
Love Keeper’s story. Thank goodness you were there cleaning up the weeds at the shelter. Timing is everything and it was meant to be that you saw Keeper alone in a kennel. Great ending to the story and Keeper is definitely a keeper and makes your heart happy
I remember when that happened. Cried then and it brought tears to my eyes this morning. So glad you went back to clean up! The sewing a long sounds interesting! I told my husband I’m going to set up a sewing machine for him in my sewing room…great piecing Chris’ husband did! Jan in MA
Keepers story is wonderful. I too couldn’t foster I would end up keeping too many animals.
I’m very sore today. We worked for about 9 hours yesterday putting in the new flooring. It doesn’t take long to lay the floor, most of the time is spent pulling up the carpet, tack strip and underlay. Our house was built in 1980 and it was the original underlay that was horrible to take up. The previous owners had cats that peed on the carpet a lot so the underlay was stuck to the plywood. Quite gross. Today we will finish up a little more but have to leave one hallway as my husband wants to fix the unevenness of the floor and get rid of a bad squeak. It looks great though what we did get done. I don’t think my sewing room will have the same issues so it should go faster. Though I’m going to clear the room and then paint a lastly take the carpet out so that the day we lay the floor that’s all we do. My son and I do this around his work schedule so we shall see if I can get my potion done by Wednesday of next week. It may take longer than I thought.
Mary, once again thank you for the blog. I sure look forward to reading it. Stay safe and warm with your predicted weather. I can’t imagine. This year we’ve only had some frost and one day of very wet snow.
Teresa – you’re laying your own flooring! Wow! I’ve never attempted those types of things and I despise painting! When I was young and renting, every time I moved I painted everything white so it was clean. When this house was majorly rebuilt/remodeled I made sure there wasn’t a painted wall. Did you know that car siding can be purchased already stained? The majority of my walls are an ivory stain on pine. I hope you can take it easy and recover after 9 hours of hard work!!!
Thank you Mary. I’m one of those weird people that love painting so I don’t mind doing it. Unfortunately now my knees done like going up the step ladder. But that’s ok. I just put on some music and start painting. I do know once it’s done I probably won’t repaint my sewing room ever again. So that’s a good thing.
Take it easy with your weather coming.
It appears many of us are going to get hit with bad weather this weekend! I’m not sure how much snow we’ll get, too soon to tell. I remember Keeper’s story & was so happy you brought him home with you! You are his person! He’s been such a good boy. My first rescue was an older poodle mix who’s owner was put in a nursing home & no one wanted Buddy so he went to the SPCA. I drove to Cincinnati on a snowy icy day & got him for my son’s birthday. He had been heartbroken over a break up from his girlfriend. On the way home I stopped & bought matching collar, leash, & blue sweater for Buddy. That older dog made my son laugh & smile again. Best birthday present ever! We only adopt rescues in our family. Normally older dogs as they are harder to place. Boots is the first pup I’ve rescued. And he always has to know where I am, too. In March I will have had him a year.
Alice. Please keep us posted on how you are getting along. Stay safe. Any estimates for snowfall/ice in your area, Mary?
Mary, I remember when you were fostering the puppies and when you took them back. I thought there’s no way I could do that, I fall in love with them too hard and fast to love them for a while then send them back to a shelter hoping they get a good home. And I remember well when you brought Keeper home, deciding on his name. I didn’t think he would ever grow into those ears! You definitely got a Keeper! I didn’t think he would ever grow into those ears.
Minnie is doing good, she weighs six pounds and was just spayed last week. She picked up a virus at the vets, within a couple of days of her being there Olivia started sneezing. Livvy and Minnie are besties and sleep and eat together and constantly bathe each other. Now Minnie is sneezing and her right eye is glassy and watering, indicative of an upper respiratory virus. I have to take her for her booster shot today and will tell them she picked up a bug but they won’t care or will come up with an excuse. I suppose it’s to be expected, they do have sick animals there. I am being forced to look for another vet. I love the Doc who has the practice but he is so big and has so many techs with a large office staff I think he has to charge a lot to cover all his costs. When I picked up Minnie they gave me a two page itemized bill to the tune of $415! The spay was $180 but everything else was itemized and priced out. I about fell over, a tiny kitten spay for that much.
My donkeys, Albert and Norman are fine. I have them closed in the barn. The barn isn’t heated but at least they are out of the wind. I forgot to latch the gate to the aisleway a couple of nights ago so they had the run of the barn. They had to knock over the trash can that was overfull, carry off their brushes and chew up the rubber grip on a broom handle. I had left two bags of grain on a cart because they are too heavy for me to lift and store in my metal trash cans so they ate a whole in the bag and helped themselves. There was grain all over the floor and no way to figure how much they ate, but they didn’t colic and have no signs of founder! Thank you Lord for those blessings!
Blessings out to everyone. Stay warm, wind chills here 25-30 below Friday through Monday. You can keep your colder weather!
Linda – ALBERT AND NORMAN! Naughty boys!! You made so much work for your mom! On the other hand can’t you just see those two when they discover they could get out of their pen? Oh, such fun!! Just going from one thing to the next to entertain themselves – haha! And Minnie – I will be paying a similar bill next Monday when my Millie gets her teeth cleaned – maybe pulled.
Linda, I loved reading about Albert & Norman. Their names are so cute – is there a story there? The mischief they got into. Funny for me to read about. Thank you for sharing.
Love your story about Keeper. You both are lucky you found each other.
Beautiful quilts. I always love a star quilt. Chris’s husband did good.
And I love your basket blocks. It will look so pretty.
Funny how some books don’t work for us. This year I have given up on a few more than usual. Bestsellers usually attract readers with a mix of language, excellent plot and good character development. Sometimes it’s the language that sells me on a book.
God knew what he was doing when he brought Keeper to your home. Soft touch Mary is what we should call you!
We’ve all passed around strep throat. I’m still coughing but, ears, throat and sinuses are better. Hates to go to urgent care, but glad I did. They had 1 PA working, so they closed down early. But I did see a nurse I used to work with. Nice surprise.
Assuming school will be called tomorrow. Plenty of food and fabric to keep me occupied!!
Thought of you last night when I saw the blizzard warnings for your area. Please be careful when going out to the barn and quilt shop. Take care.
Diana – that blizzard happened in the afternoon and it was quite bad. It cleared up before I went to bed. I wonder what’s coming today? I have PT at 12:30 – after that I hope I’m home for several days when it gets so very cold.
I remember when you fostered Keeper and his siblings. I can only imagine how you felt when you saw him in that kennel alone. I’m so glad you found him and gave him his forever home. You two are a match made in heaven. I think I could say that about all of the cats and dogs that have found their way to your house. You are an Angel!!!! I can’t wait to see the calendar quilt put together. The guidelines for the quilt along look good to me! . We are expecting bad weather too but not as severe low temps as you are experiencing. Stay warm!
Somebody may have already mentioned this, but Medicare pays for visits to the podiatrist. While they won’t paint toenails, they will cut the toenails. I’m sorry for your suffering with your foot.
I’ve always said you are a Saint with your devotion to animals and Keepers story reminded me that you followed your instincts to go back and he was waiting for you. When we got our first rescue dog, the vet said it would take a lot of patience and time and I said we had that. As a pillow in our house says, “Our rescue dog rescued me”.
You ran such a good sew along when we did the Bulleyes quilts years back so this is your niche and I’m looking forward to whatever you come up with!
And now we all wait to see what Mother Nature has in mind for a lot of this country with weather these next few days. Other than the part of getting the dogs out to poddy, I’m content home being safe. I feel for the first responders and those who work outside to keep us warm and phones working.
😆 haha I agree to all the above
I think that the title should be Keeper- a love story. Our hearts always seem to grow with room to love another animal. I’m looking forward to your idea for our sew along. Now I have to head out to cook soup for our Meals on Wheels program.
Des – I think so, too. KEEPER, A Love Story
Love Keeper’s story. I am one who couldn’t foster either. I’d have a house full of animals!
We’re expecting snow and ice here starting Saturday. They’ve been forecasting it for days. It looked like it had diminished to just a little bit of snow and wintry mix last night, but this morning the forecast is back to a lot of snow. We’ll see. We went to the store yesterday and got a few things we needed. People were already starting to “stock up”. This is the 2nd winter we’ve spent in this house. Last winter we lost power 3 different times. Once for 4 days. We decided we’re not going to deal with that again and put in a whole house generator. Thank goodness we don’t have that concern for this storm!! I’m too old to be “camping out”!! Everyone take care and stay warm and safe.
I’ll participate in your sew along whatever you decide.
Love Keeper’s story! SOOOOO glad you have him!
Love the scrappy red/white/blue quilt – I’ve been wanting to do a 4th of July quilt but can’t seem to land on a pattern I like – does that ever happen to others I wonder????
Yay! for all your basket squares – they look wonderful. I’m so enjoying seeing your calendar quilt come together.
Great guidelines for quilt along – looking forward to seeing what you decide! Happy Thursday everyone
Mary, I LOVE Keepers story!! I have never volunteered to foster because I would want to keep them all. Your love and caring for animals so touches my heart. I’ve never been able to comprehend how someone can be evil to an animal. I also have a pup with separation anxiety. She is a rescue and they told me that when I went to look at her – of course she came home with me! Follows me everywhere and I am just fine with it.
Stay warm everyone! This is turning into a brutal winter.
Enjoy the making.
Janny S.
I remember and love the Keeper story. Angel was the same way – she went through so much before we adopted her. We couldn’t go anywhere without her. My heart breaks every time I think about her.
I’m excited about the sew along. All your points are good ones.
Day 13 of this respiratory flu. I am starting to feel better so the end is in sight. Tylenol and elderberry syrup were all I took and they worked. I got the elderberry syrup at a health food store in Clear Lake. Maybe they could be an outlet for all your elderberries.
Gloria – oh, no – you’re still sick!!!! Dang. I wonder if that store makes their own elderberry syrup – if so I could offer my crop. The sew along will be an easy one to start with. I’ve got a couple ideas.
Thank you Mary for sharing Keeper’s story. Thank the Lord you saw him when you went to clean up the shelter. Heartbreaking that he was alone all that time! Keeper sure is the sweetest dog and gets along with all the other animals so well. The colors of Chris’s quilt are beautiful. I love the patriotic quilt and Diane’s diagonal patchwork quilt. And your Basket blocks are amazing! With your subzero weather on the way, I should probably stop wishing for colder weather here. Tomorrow will be 64* dropping to 57* Sunday, then back up to 64* next Wednesday.
Thank you Mary for sharing Keeper’s story. Thank the Lord you saw him when you went to clean up the shelter. Heartbreaking that he was alone all that time! Keeper sure is the sweetest dog and gets along with all the other animals so well. The colors of Chris’s quilt are beautiful. I love the patriotic quilt and Diane’s diagonal patchwork quilt. And your Basket blocks are amazing! With your subzero weather on the way, I should probably stop wishing for colder weather here. Tomorrow will be 64* dropping to 57* Sunday, then back up to 64* next Wednesday.