RESCUE!

The Animal Rescue Site.

This site saves animals.  Rescues animals.  The name of the site is pretty clear.

Now, here's what's involved.  Click on the above link and there will be a button which says "Click here - it's FREE" and that's all there is to it.  There are other links/buttons you can click on, such as "Hunger" "Literacy" "Autism" "Diabetes" "Alzheimer's" "Veterans" and more.  It's a matter of clicking every day.  It doesn't take more than a couple of minutes and you're making a difference.... in the lives of those who live in poverty, helping those who aren't able to read, advancing research and resources for those with diabetes, veterans, and Alzheimer's, including others.

You can get sign-up to get a daily reminder email.  Personally I click on each everyday.  I mean, what the heck, I'm already there and it sure won't hurt anything!

If you are reading this blog, you are likely an animal lover.  You may foster rescues, volunteer at a physical rescue location, work at a special pet store (especially one like ours who is locally owned; sponsors rescue animals in-store, like our kitties; hosts foster organizations draw people to them outside of the store; promotes and sells only healthy foods and treats and well-made toys; partners with quality pet services such as vets, pet-sitters, day-care, and boarding locations and finally - one thing we love about our favorite store! - has events throughout the year where many reps from these services participate -- can you tell we love this store?); and adopt, not shop!  Yep, I stole that.  It's everywhere, but personally, it's on my husband's car.  My car's magnet is "My kids have fur" and there are so many more out there.

I've gone off on a few rabbit trails but I feel strongly about this cause and I suspect you do, too.  When people ask what breed Casey and Poly are, my answer is always "rescue" followed by saying that they are rescues, so we were told they are an "x-mix" and a "y-mix" but everyone sees something different in them.  I'm not trying to get any kudos for being some sort of hero but to show that these guys deserve forever homes!  Some of them have been abused, but can be trained, others come from high-kill shelters (Poly came from one in the South, which I understand is common), some are simply not wanted for one reason or another.

This site is one simple thing you can do to make a difference.  If we each click daily, just think what good can be done!  Won't you take a couple of minutes out of your day to improve the lives of others.

The Day After (from the eyes of someone who can't have kids)

To those who gave birth this year to their first child—we celebrate with you

To those who lost a child this year – we mourn with you

To those who are in the trenches with little ones every day and wear the badge of food stains – we appreciate you

To those who experienced loss through miscarriage, failed adoptions, or running away—we mourn with you

To those who walk the hard path of infertility, fraught with pokes, prods, tears, and disappointment – we walk with you. Forgive us when we say foolish things. We don’t mean to make this harder than it is.

To those who are foster moms, mentor moms, and spiritual moms – we need you

To those who have warm and close relationships with your children – we celebrate with you

To those who have disappointment, heart ache, and distance with your children – we sit with you

To those who lost their mothers this year – we grieve with you

To those who experienced abuse at the hands of your own mother – we acknowledge your experience

To those who lived through driving tests, medical tests, and the overall testing of motherhood – we are better for having you in our midst

To those who have aborted children – we remember them and you on this day

To those who are single and long to be married and mothering your own children – we mourn that life has not turned out the way you longed for it to be

To those who step-parent – we walk with you on these complex paths

To those who envisioned lavishing love on grandchildren -yet that dream is not to be, we grieve with you

To those who will have emptier nests in the upcoming year – we grieve and rejoice with you

To those who placed children up for adoption — we commend you for your selflessness and remember how you hold that child in your heart

And to those who are pregnant with new life, both expected and surprising –we anticipate with you

This Mother’s Day, we walk with you. Mothering is not for the faint of heart and we have real warriors in our midst. We remember you.
(Excerpts from: Source)

This says it all.  -J

Spring Has Sprung

It's here.  The long-awaited Springtime.  I'm naturally warm and wore short sleeves most of the Winter, including the single-digit days.  But at least we're not dealing with snow and ice.  Heck, that amounts to copious amounts of dog poop when the snow melts.  With two large dogs.... well, you get the idea.

Today, hubby was outside weeding (!).  He SO very much wants to take Casey outside when he's out there, even just to get the mail.  We're not sure we can trust him to not run off.  This dog loves, loves, loves to run and you can see the smile on his face when he's doing it.  We want to get the pups a bigger yard, but that's a post for another day.  We have a 50' leash so while hub was outside weeding, we put Casey on that leash and hubster sat on it.  Casey seemed more interested in his desire to go for a ride in the car and peeing on a bush in our yard.  So, no such luck, bud.  He was still really good and didn't run away.  We are both envious of people in the development who have their dogs romping around in the yard while they do one thing or another.  It's just a tough call.  Casey is very protective of us and very protective of HIS yard.

Now to his sister.  When I put her out this morning at 7:30 she would run back and forth parallel to the house (which is unusual since she has her paths carved out on the perimeter of our property).  She would stare at something in one direction and them flip herself 180 degrees and run to the other side.  This went on and on and on until I called her in for breakfast.  I admit, I wanted to take a nap and the sooner I fed her, the sooner I could plop myself down on the sofa and snooze off.  She does still get excited about her new feeder so when I called her in for breakfast and she saw the neon green she came running!  She woke me up at some point and when I let her out she kept herself busy leaping around watching the ground for shadows of anything flying by.  It's really rather funny to watch but I can never catch a video of it.  Isn't that always the way?

To re-cap: We have Casey sometimes outside, eating dirt when he's unattended.  We have Poly chasing shadows and trying her darndest to break out of the yard by digging at the gate, despite K re-filling that hole with dirt today.  We have the possibility of Sir Casey having some freedom on our property.  Yep, I think that about covers it.

So, we have open windows, happy puppies, a weeded "garden" area (thank you, thank you, thank you, K!) and the prospect of Mr. Casey being free in the front yard when we are out there.  Updates to follow.