We now return you to your regularly scheduled programing

The management of Bk's brain would like to apologize for not posting these past few days, due to technical diffculties. Systems have been restored(we think) and posting should return to normal.
So much has happened in my "hiatus":
Oldest son turned 16 and was released from probation. Hubby had a Birthday too. I caught a nasty virus so did my computer. My dad is in the hospital with "fluid on his lungs". He says everything is fine.

This is my fathers way of telling me. " Hi, sweety, how are you?' "That's good, and how are my grandkids?" "Hey, let me give you this phone number to write down. Ready?" "No, not the number to my apartment, my hospital room."

A few weeks ago my sister-in-law and her boyfriend broke up. Neither wanted the cat they had taken from here a few months ago. They took the cat when we first started working with Maal, Slappy and Zoey. When Brian brought the cat back he just kind of dropped it off in the house and told the kids what he had done. Turns out that neither Tammy or Brian had worked with the cat as I had told them too. The result? I now have a pissed, scared, feral cat hidding in a bedroom. Maal took off when the cat showed up and as much as we have looked for her and called for her, I don't see her pulling a Slappy and comming back. She has been gone for about 3 weeks now. I have been working slowly, very slowly, with the other cat. She isn't named yet, for now I call her baby. As in "Hey. baby", or sweetie, or pretty thing. Depending on what comes out. I have managed to get her to come out from under the bed at the sound of my voice and she will eat in front of me. I no longer put the food under the bed but out a ways. She has started to come to my hand and rub against it. I am still letting her instigate the petting sessions, but they are lasting longer and I can touch her more firmly. She actually allowed me to hold her for a few minutes yesterday, which was great progress. Trust is still iffy. Trust with a cat is harder to build, I think, than with a dog; as you have fewer social situations where you can prove to the cat that you can be trusted. In this situation at least. With the other girls it was easier because they had run of the house. Once I defended them from the dogs and showed I was in charge that trust was established. The girls have no problems walking up to the dogs or rubbing on them because they trust I and the the rest of the family will keep them safe. The new girl is being introduced to the kids one at a time. Tonight Chris and Justin went in and sat with her while she ate. She went up to both boys and recieved pets. So, one week with me and the older boys and next week we will introduce the other kids. Setting a coven feeling between the cats is not easy. Max and the girls still don't get along perfectly, but strides have been made. They can all be in the same room for brief periods of time with out a fight erupting and they manage to eat together.
As for the Greyhounds they are doing well. Fry sat on command for the first time last week. Great joy and jubilation was had. Everything I have studied on the breed says it is not natural for a greyhound to sit, but as Fry does it on his own we just kept reinforcing the behavior every time he did it. Allowing Bear and Boogie to show off their tricks helped as well, I think.
Candy is not a sitter. Candy flops. When she is ready to lays down she goes from up right to instant lay down, no brief sit inbetween to work with. She has mastered comming on command faster than Fry though.