Adoption Disaster

Sadly the venture into adoption turned into a disaster within the first three hours. Sarg and I bonded almost instantly. His personality was sweet and loving. Unfortunately the one thing Sarg decided he could not tolerate was cats. Before acquiring him I was assured by the Rescue Group in North Carolina that he got along with cats and in fact ignored them. I was told this over and over before I made the decision to adopt. Within the first three hours good old Sarg attacked a cat, destroyed my backyard irrigation set-up, turned over every single thing in the yard and climbed the fence on two separate occasions. Knowing I could no longer trust him with cats or the fact that he had major separation anxiety issues I terminated the adoption the following afternoon. Problem was I had already become very attached to the dog and he to me. When I turned him over to the kennel to await transport back to North Carolina, it was as if the wind went out of his sails. He immediately realized what was happening and looked so dejected that it broke my heart. I know most people do not think they have thoughts and feelings but I could almost hear him thinking “here we go again.” I thought I had found a home and she doesn’t want me either.” I did want him. I cried all the way home and I cried the next morning in the shower and I am choked up now writing this. Happily the cat he attacked came home unhurt and I have apologized to him a hundred times but I still feel so guilty about the dog.
Hammond Hills Elementary School has commissioned a mural for their cafeteria. The artist, Joe McKinney, sat down with me this past Friday before going back to work on the mural. Mr. McKinney told me he has been painting all of his life but has only been doing these murals for the last 10 years. He said it is quite different than painting on canvas in that the brushes are much larger and he uses good quality house paint instead of oils or acrylics. He has painted over seventy murals all in public schools in South Carolina. He sends a DVD or CD, I never can get those straight, out with eighty or ninety photos of his work on it and that is how he gets his commissions. Hammond Hills Elementary wanted something depicting the history of North Augusta as well as one of its historic landmarks; therefore they chose to have Mr. McKinney paint Lookaway Hall on their cafeteria wall. The school thought, as did Mr. McKinney, that in order to get the true feel of the place he should stay in the house while here.
Mr. McKinney is married and has a twenty-seven year old daughter who sometimes accompanies him on these trips to help with the painting. He teaches classes at Holmes Bible College in Greenville, South Carolina. During summer break he spends most of his time traveling our state painting his murals. He was here this time of year because the school was out for two weeks over the holidays. He is a soft-spoken, intelligent and interesting man.
This week also brought a few folks from across the Pond. I did not get as much time with them as I would have liked but did learn a few interesting things.
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