Happy New Year! / 4 Men and 4 Dogs

(Photo: Tom gets a kiss from Franklin)
New Year's Eve was really nice. The 2 temporary rescue dogs that we called "Smokey" and the "Bandit" (and Rob learned their real names were Maddie and Lincoln) settled down and got used to treats and being held for the first time in their lives. Both of them are 3 1/2 YEARS old and have never seen grass (they came from breeders and grew up in cages) - what horrible lives they've had. Thanks to our friends Susan and Cary, they let us borrow a cage to put the rescue dogs in (because they're not housebroken, of course). At least they were crate-trained, so that ended the accidents in the house.
(PHOTO: Rob gives Dolly a big hug)
Darold is rooming with us and our friend Jeff came over early and made us a great barbecue pork dinner! So, there were 4 men and 4 dogs! (Our dogs: Dolly and Franklin and the rescues: Lincoln and Maddie).
(PHOTO: Jeff holds Maddie the "blue" wirehaired dachshund from the rescue, who lost most of her hair due to a thyroid condition)

After dinner, our friends Susan, Cary and Ed came over for desserts and a really fun, wacky game of Uno. We had a wonderful time, and all four dogs behaved very well. We took a break in the game to get desserts, and then I (Rob) had to carry out each of the rescue dogs in the backyard (it was raining/sleeting/freezing raining) to do their business. The dogs are afraid to go out in the backyard, so they needed to be carried outside, and I had to walk around with them and give them treats to do what they needed to do, to train them.
(PHOTO: Darold holding Lincoln, the red, smooth-haired male dachshund, who was bare-bones thin, timid, and loved being held).
Our Uno game and appetite were waning by 11pm, and several of us (who got up at 4:30am for work) were fading. Fortunately, Cary won a round of Uno around 11:25pm, and we called it quits. Everyone left or were home in bed by midnight. Yeah, we're old! :)
(PHOTO: This is little Lincoln. He was such a precious boy, I wouldn't have minded if we adopted him).

A FULL NEW YEAR'S DAY - Tom and I got up at 5am and fed all 4 dogs, and went outside with them (the rescues one at a time). We met Melissa of Coast-to-Coast Dachshund rescue over an hour north of our house at 7 a.m. to give her Lincoln and Maddie- both of whom already have foster homes (Lincoln in NJ, Maddie in CT). It was sad to give them to Melissa and say goodbye to them, and I think I squeezed and kissed little Lincoln (my favorite) about 5 times. In fact, when Melissa was pulling out of the parking lot with the dogs in the backseat of her car, Lincoln stood up and looked out the window at us leaving. That choked me up.
We returned home and had breakfast with Jeff (who stayed over) and Darold. We cleaned house and went shopping at Kohls, Lowes, Macys and Bed Bath and Beyond, then returned home for lunch. Afterward, we watched a movie called "Crank 2" with one of Tom's favorite hunky actors, Jason Stratham.