Happy Twenty-Ten! Sort of.

We rang in the new year with our dear friends, the Marshals. We cooked up the traditional fondue and ate until our bellies were full. The kids played fabulously together, which is no small feat when ages range from 2 to 7. The evening was nearly ruined when the sweet, yet quirky hound we brought home from the humane society confirmed that she was, indeed crazy.
As I've posted before, we adopted a dog and cat from the humane society in early December. The kids were under strict instructions: Do not let the cat out of the basement. Because of my allergies, the cat must stay in the basement or outside. My children are able to follow rules, but I, for some reason, had a brain lapse on New Year's Eve. As I descended into the basement to get a deck of cards for Euchre(my favorite game in the whole world!) Violet popped out to say hello. I scooped her up(I rarely even touch the cat!) and marched upstairs to show off our new friend. As I stood in the kitchen introducing the teenage kitty to our friends I heard a strange sound and saw a blur out of the corner of my left eye. The next few moments were a little surreal as the cat dug all of her claws into my arms and hands and lept onto the kitchen floor. Winnie attacked the cat! She tried to get her while Violet was still in my arms. When the cat tried to escape she chased her into a corner in the kitchen and wrapped her jaws around her belly. Andy jumped on the dog at the same time the cat sunk her claws into Winnie's nose. Winnie let go. The cat took off and ended up under our entertainment center. After we got Winnie corralled, we had to unhook the TV and unload it from the entertainment center in order to get the cat out. Thankfully, the cat was fine and was safely returned to its basement haven. Unfortunately, Winnie was a changed dog. She had some pretty deep scratches on her nose, but that wasn't the problem. She circled the entertainment center, baying almost constantly, looking for the cat. We had to crate her to keep her from obsessing over where the cat used to be. We were a bit distracted for the rest of the evening. Fortunately, the Marshals said they are still willing to be our friends!
The next morning Winnie was still obsessed with finding the cat. As Brooklyn stepped out of the basement, she wondered out loud, "Why is Winnie sniffing me so much?" In the next moment, Winnie bit Brooklyn because she smelled like the cat. That was the end of Winnie's stay with our family. She was crated most of her next few days because the humane society was full. Once there was an opening, we surrendered her to the UCHS. She was a sweet dog that can't be in a house with a cat. So sad, but necessary.