grateful

wait, I didn't know I was deleted by a conspiracy of pickled people...

it very well could have been, I didn't open the link there - hmmmm I did see some of what the article addresses and er, um, porn show up on the most unlikely people's pages a while back - like my elderly aunt and my dog groomer

think occasionally of the suffering of which you spare yourself the sight - Albert Schweitzer there is a photo circulating on facebook of an unspeakable act of horror visited on a dog when I saw it, I averted my eyes, it took a minute to even read the accompanying text and frankly, I retained nothing. I will spare you the sight, I have yet to find a way to erase it from my minds eye my initial reaction was - let that be the perpetrators fate - he chose to put explosives in a dogs mouth, that should be what he gets back.. due to wiring or environment, there is something so seriously and horribly wrong with an individual who could do such a thing but if we spare ourselves and choose not to look, then we will not see and there will be no voices raised in horror and sadness

I think that our minds and hearts are open in a different way after losing a loved one, and that we see what we would have missed under different circumstances we use that great part of our brain that sits unused and can see beyond this day to day (my deepest and most sincere condolences to you on your loss)

spent the weekend with himself a few blocks from the sea, we had an amazing time every morning and every afternoon we walked and walked, it was lovely!

I am very sorry for your loss, sending you a wish for peace and comfort at this devastating time

sotik et al - just checked back in ( to see how it went) fabulous, all around! she's found her place, good for her - and you deserve a good nod from dog lovers everywhere for your part in getting her to this place on her journey as a fosterer/fairy dog mother, I know what you,brother devon and others describe firsthand - there are paw prints all over my heart!

sending love, blessings and power to you and your kay!

blessings and light to your family at this incredibly difficult time, and to the young soldier everlasting peace

hmm, hadn't thought of that... I have used a low cost spay/neuter program over the years for my foster dogs but we had our basic -shots already and a relationship with our vet, he even accepted the voucher is the advice of the good vitki to consider the big picture and to consider the fine print? well advised for animal lovers everywhere!

...am reading!

see how we are? good for you brother! when we decide that we care, we no longer have to wonder who will, eh? visitor dog is still here (!) I think I'm going to contact the guy who wrote the song about United breaking guitars and ask him to write a song about this little darling, the stranded traveler with the gorgeous brown eyes; more than two weeks now and there is still a hold on transporting pets (without a ticketed passenger) even though they travel in the same compartment... She's an angel of a dog, and funny - she greets you, in typical lab fashion, with a toy, or if she can't find a toy, a shoe or a bottle of febreze will do! And the look on her dog face is one of sheer glee as if she had fashioned the shoe or the toy just for you! I found two pairs of Steve's socks in her crate, and she took a dish towel out on a walk with us; we'd gone about a block before I noticed this....

you go!

Beautiful dog! And clever too. Love the dogs in the doorway, brings back lovely memories of my glimmer twins...

so on sunday evening, as I was wishing my family a safe trip home to nocal, I received a frantic phone call from the airport an hour before the flight, at check in, they learned that the dog would not be able to fly due to weather (this is a good thing, but they had been told that the cabin would be pressurized, and as safe for her as the cabin ) so I went to collect her (as yet, I have no idea how long she's staying, with the heat wave and all) note: it is not so easy to get a big dog crate into a volkswagen bug but it can be done! she's new to our family, about six months, and I had never met her until I had the pleasure of spending a few weeks with her at the beach - we walked, talked, hung out, floated on the party dock and swam together - we had truly bonded - she's a REALLY nice dog.. she met my guy briefly so I wasn't so concerned, I knew he needed reassurance but also knew that he needs to remember how to be a dog, with other dogs she was adopted from a breeder and had spent the first year of her life with other dogs, and it was clear - she has very nice dog manners my guy on the other hand, behaved a bit more like boo radley than I would have liked but he's coming along..it's hard not to feed into their discomfort but best in the end to let two calm submissive dogs duke it out, yes? dogs live in the now, they are happy and content when surrounded by love, food, shelter and play three days in, they eat side by side, walk together, sleep together (almost) and have come to a detente of sorts, this is what is we could learn alot from them (woof)

I miss the lovely old girl but have unbelievable memories and the joy of having known her.. Would never trade the pain of her loss for never having known her at all

poor baby, glad he is on the mend

am happiest with a dog around, even when I have to leave my own at home this one loved laying on the dock, riding the paddleboard with her mom and hanging on the party dock with her favorite auntie and when she wasn't doing any of the above, she rested with her head on my knee, sweet girl! hey,I thought I attached a photo...

gorgeous (and wonderful)visual I think the most beauty is found when we just remember to look.. lucky! what a perfect morning yum,jam!

your callie sounds like our bad george tamarack and my husband has fallen under the same spell that callie has apparently cast on you! I had an awful situation with a parakeet and a cat many years ago and have never quite recovered. the cat had knocked the cage (from what I thought was an inaccessible location) to the floor and well, you can guess what happened next so my love for birds was superceded by my daughters love for her cat (who was CLEARLY) a murderer.. how do you manage them together? good to know that even cat lovers occasionally share my confusion

living with it and in it, yes, namaste ah, the birds nearing fifty, I became obsessed with birds - the ones who visited me in my garden, the ones I saw in my travels, the ones I wondered about but never "met"... I soon had binoculars and the audubon book (and the app!) it seems ( no, it is) that when I am challenged emotionally, spiritually, philosophically, I can look up and find them - by their very presence, I gain insight and comfort - I am grateful, they bring me peace sucks my sight isn't what it used to be - am just now noticing that I've become my father; with his tea and the paper every morning, he sat outside and fed "his friends", they WERE his friends (I think that's why the sparrow eggs affected me, he loved the little sparrows "for their sheer will", he said, "they went to "Street U" - just like him) must look up the pileated woodpecker, perhaps that's who has been challenging my patience, pretty thing still, I must acknowledge that my friends may not be where I am; sitting on the beach, they might not want to discuss the piping plovers and the laughing gulls (you know, they say the gulls are the souls of fisherman lost at sea...I've been able to stop alot of rock thowing w/that little gem!)

we had a scrub jay that would dive bomb the family room window every morning in no.cal.. I love the songs - except at four a.m..... (love them all, am in the presence of royalty with my red tailed hawks)!

I, too, would have a zoo, RevAl someday, and cats would be welcome! (in an effort to avoid getting "cat people" after me... ) I like cats well enough, I guess I just don't "get" them the way I do dogs; totally agree that they are MUCH easier to care for..trying to arrange beach visits with work schedules and walks and feeding for himself is certainly a chore I had a little black persian cat named Sam who behaved exactly like a dog, now him, I got I know they bring their own gifts, maybe it's just our cats Case in point, when I come back from the beach after a long weekend, the dog behaves as if I've been gone for months, and did not even tell him I was leaving, the cats response? oh, hello Right?

ha! that reminds me of a few jays and crows that would go after the grey "outside cat" across the street (they never really hurt him) so it was quite hilarious to see them chasing him out of the trees I've always liked that "a murder of crows"....

but I have three....let's see one came to stay with me when daughter went to europe for the summer, can't remember why she's still here. she's eleven. the second came to us as a tiny kitten; for what it's worth, she was a "planned". I thought the dogs would like a kitten. she's seven. the third jumped into my husbands car on the highway in the snow, when he saw the cat (kitten actually) running into traffic he pulled over, opened the car door and said "get in here tiger". and he did. he's about five. both my daughter and my husband are cat people, they speak it fluently. I love and have always loved dogs, and have felt a strong connection for as long as I can remember. I usually have a pack of them but at the moment, I enjoy the company of only one. Little Bean will curl up with me sometimes but avoids the clanging and clattering of a big hunting dog mostly. Lulu let's me know everyday that she prefers the company of dogs, and George is just bad - he's a swatter, an instigator, a middle of the night cellophane or rubber band player (honestly, you'd think someone was breaking into the house) What am I missing cat people? Am I to just admire them from afar?