MERCI UPDATE
I'm not really sure why I haven't posted in so long. I guess sometimes life just passes you by. Merci has had some changes in her life over the past 7 months. All good!
The winter was exceptionally long and cold for us in Minnesota. Seems like it started snowing and never stopped. I battled my asthma and Merci seemed just fine with no walks and going outside in her little yard to do her business.
January 20, 2010 - Merci's daddy just trying to keep up with the snow. No place to put it in her little yard!
Chris and I kept busy putting in wood floors in the upstairs bedrooms. That took us through to spring... then we tiled the upstairs bathroom shower finally. Projects, projects and more projects. Merci hung out with Grammie and tried to stay warm.
My dwarf iris came up in April, instead of their usual May appearance!
Sring arrived earlier than expected, so we opened up the cabin and then headed to Chicago for another reunion with Merci's furry family and lots of other wire fox terriers from rescue and combined it with going to Sarah's graduation. Merci is an excellent traveler in the car and loves to go on car trips!
Here is Laura with Merci's daughter.. Maggie May and her brother Murphy
With all the dogs and people, Merci found a quiet spot in the shade for her afternoon snooze.
This is Merci's friend from Rescue... Angel! What a sweet girl she is!!
I (Joy) was instantly surrounded by more WFT's than I could hold.
It was heaven on earth being surrounded by so many adorable foxies all at once! I got lots of kisses too!!
More rescue friends... I think Magic is on the left and maybe it is Zazoo of Buddy??
Sorry friends if I am wrong, but Merci wasn't much help in telling me who was who either!
For sure we know who this guy is!! This is Nolan!
He was Merci's mate for 5 years and they lived in a nasty pen together the whole time. They made lots of babies and Maggie is living proof of what beautiful offspring they produced. Nolan and Merci were happy to see one another, but they both are very quiet WFT's because of living in a puppy mill for so many years.
Here is Merci with her daughter, Maggie May.
Maggie has a beautiful backyard to explore. Dee, Maggie May's human mom took care of Merci for the entire weekend while we all went to Sarah's graduation festivities in Chicago. Merci was so happy to run and just be the foxie girl she was always meant to be! When you know the certain hell these mill dogs lived in, and you see their beautiful offspring being so happy and loved - it makes me think that something good can come out of something bad.
Special thanks to people like Cheryl, Maribeth, Mary and Kathy and many more fox terrier angels who save so many and nurse them back to health.
For me, the highlight of my time in Chicago was when I picked Merci up on Sunday morning after not seeing her for 2 days. Dee called for her in the backyard and she didn't appear. Then I clapped my hands and called her name and here she came running and gave me kisses and loves. She missed me and I much as I missed her!
We also realized that WFT Rescue is a very very small world! We found out that Maribeth who does WFT Rescue in Chicago has a son who graduated from Columbia College with Sarah! AND... they are good friends on top of it!!
Here is Sarah with her college roomie, Courtney, after graduation. They both graduated with honors and Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees.The Seniors also had an art show. Here is Sarah with her senior collection at her first art show. She did very well and sold 9 out of her 16 pieces, 3 of which the college bought to keep!
Sarah explaining her pieces BUT... Merci's biggest news is that she has an adopted brother now! We adopted Duke from Sarah and Gabe. He came home with us after graduation. There are other posts with Duke in them, he and Merci are good buddies and he really watches out for her.
Dukie relaxing... this is the crazy part... He hardly ever relaxes!
more to come on Duke!
He loves his new froggie!
Merci grabbed Duke's present and "helped" him rip it open!!
Duke was busy working on opening his other presents!! A green lizard... and a blue sheep and squeeks... for now... until I get the squeek out of it!!
Party is officially over and Merci didn't feel like helping pick up!! Go figure!!! 
Laura and Merci relax on floaties.
This is Christmas morning in our backyard. The terracing is 36" so there is about 18" total of snow. My dad keeps my backyard area clear with the snow blower so I don't have to get all snowy in the snow banks.
This is Clutch opening his big cow joint. He loved it, so did I - he shared it with me.
Here I am with my soft toy and my yummy knotted chew bone. It was exhausting, so I fell asleep after about a 1/2 hour.
This is Duke. He was amazing! He is a MASTER PRESENT OPENER!! He just ripped that paper to shreds. I got the hang of it really fast after watching him!!
