With the donations that came in the mail this week, I’m thrilled to report I have enough money to get a natural dog or cat to everyone at the Mansion who asked for it or who the aides and staff felt needed one. This is a huge step towards giving some residents something they need and crave. Thank you. As I said, the money I got would go to continuing the project if there were requests.

Five additional realistic cats are on the way to the Mansion now; two of them arrived today. These creations are a huge morale-boosting hit.

There were three requests for teddy bears, one from Ruth above, which arrived today, and two from men who wanted a natural dog but didn’t want anyone to know. The secret is safe with me. The activities staff – Paryese and Bonnie – did an excellent job helping figure out who wanted them and who should get them.

We’re just about done. If anyone else pops up, I’ll get them what they need, and I’ll be taking pictures and following the progress of this animal experiment. They mean more than I realized or could have imagined. Ruth sleeps with her teddy bear every night.

I’m hearing stories of how the residents are integrating them into their lives, and I’ll share them once I can get back in there, free of any more bugs. Thursday, I got a tooth pulled and an end to the gum infection I spotted more than a month ago. I don’t consider that a big deal.

I hope to return to the Mansion on Friday for meditation class, where all of this started, although we are promised another superstorm tomorrow evening. I have the feeling this one might fizzle—time for Spring.

I can’t thank the Army Of Good enough; I have about $300 left; I’ll either get more cats or dogs or teddy bears or get the residents the clothes and things they may need as the weather changes. We did a lot of good this week.