Foster girl Claire has made good progress in her relationships with cats. At first she found them to be exciting and something to be run after. She soon moved on to standing and watching the cats run by, but not giving chase.
Orange Kitty has been instrumental in this new behavior. He is so laid back that he doesn’t even move now when Claire approaches. She seems to seek him out for company.
You can never have too many friends.
I’ve been struggling with something recently. I like to think that I’m a nice person. I try. But I’m not so sure that I succeed.
I had a friend that I used to talk to from time to time. We would do a few things together. We had some things in common. Dog causes and activities, go figure.
My friend made a few political comments and I discovered that we did not share the same political opinions or support the same politicians. I still cared about my friend but decided it would be best to avoid her for a while, until the political climate changed and such issues were not hot topics.
If I heard from my friend, I was always polite, but we didn’t do things that we had done before. Well, I learned recently that my friend died. This should not have come as the shock to me that it did. This friend was not a young person.
This gives me cause to ponder if perhaps I am not the kind of person that I thought I was, and have strived, and failed to be. I think now that I should have still gone places and done things with my friend. If the subject of politics arose, I could have said “let’s not talk about that. Let’s talk about something else.”
People are certainly allowed to have their own opinions. They don’t need to be the same as mine. I don’t need every one of my friends to think exactly like me. It would be a boring world. Another thought-how will the world solve various issues without discussion and multiple insights?
I do not have the answers to these questions. But I have learned that I need to be a better friend, and more tolerant. Maybe not accepting of some ideas, but caring enough to still be there.
I debated whether to share these thoughts as they are rather personal. I decided that maybe someone else can benefit from my experience. How will you feel if you discover that it’s too late to make a different choice?
Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible. – The Dalai Lama
And to all a good night. Sleep tight.
This afternoon was nap time. Foster dog Claire joined me.
Then she wanted to sniff me.
Nap time got even better when Zekie joined us. That is unless you wanted to actually nap!
I hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine’s Day!
As I’ve mentioned, my husband puts on a Valentine’s dinner for the family every year. This year was rather challenging trying to pull it all together. In the morning I was vacuuming the house and discovered that the drum filter had slipped on the vacuum so was not seated properly. This allowed dust to blow into the air. My husband is allergic to dust. Not a good time.
After that, normal preparations continued and arrival of the first guests was scheduled for four o’clock. At 1:30 pm, the power went out. Most of the food was ready, so we waited. At 3:30 there was still no power so we moved the location to my mother in law’s. As soon as we finished loading up the five course dinner, our power came back on. The truck from the electric company was still parked down the street so we opted to stick with taking the dinner elsewhere.
We spent a large portion of the week preparing and cleaning with no one to appreciate it. In a couple more weeks this will probably seem quite humorous. Hey, at least there was cake!
Foster sheltie Claire hanging out with the big guy, our resident greyhound. The angle of the photo is deceptive. Claire weighs 27 lbs. to Cassius’ 72.
Cassius is a gentle giant. He is by far the most mellow greyhound we have had. Even when Claire takes toys from right beside his mouth, he just gives a loud woof. He is so good natured. She on the other hand has no sense of personal boundaries.
The one who is teaching her to back off and respect his space is our 8 lb. cat Morty. If he hisses or growls, she backs up. Though he is tiny, his attitude is fierce.
Every year for the past several years my husband puts on a Valentine’s dinner for the family. He does all the menu planning, shopping, and cooking. My part for the last couple of years has been to procure some type of keepsake dinnerware or drink ware to be used during the meal. Each person then gets to take the item home with them.
This year I planned ahead. Yay,me! I decided to make something individualized for each guest. I purchased white ceramic bowls and ceramic paint pens. Then I created a custom design on each bowl of something I thought would be meaningful to the person. The back has the guest’s name and the date of the dinner.
This is the bowl I made for my husband. (I’m not showing any others at this time because I don’t want to spoil the surprise!) The artwork is two of his favorite dogs, Baxter and Phoebe, along with various hearts because it is Valentine’s Day.
The project did take me 5 hours to do all the bowls and I still have to bake on the designs, but it was fun. I hope everyone will enjoy their bowl throughout the year and remember the good time we had.
This evening was nursing home night for me and the dogs. It didn’t take Shelby long to ask for a belly rub.
Nikki spent part of the time in a chair between two residents. That way two of them can pet her at the same time.
Another resident came and we gave her the chair, so Nikki moved to a lap and was very happy.
I’m never sure who has a better time, me, the dogs, or the people we visit.
The weather has been rainy, snowy, icy, and beautiful. The ice forming and melting and hanging down from branches and leaves looks like the world is encased in a crystal chandelier. Beauty is everywhere, if you train your eye to see it.
I love this photo. It is of Lacey and Merlin sharing couch time. Both are gone now, but their spirit of peace lives on. Both were strays of a sort.
Lacey came from my family/friends. She was born to an Amish cat that gave birth in their barn. I asked if I could have her because she reminded me of my beloved Grey Cat who had recently passed. Lacey turned out to be nothing like Grey Cat, but she was a great Cat in her own right.
Merlin came running down our dirt road one day and stopped near our driveway. I had recently gone to a large greyhound event and wanted a greyhound. Wish granted! Merlin was probably a greyhound-lurcher. He may have had a bit of hunting dog in his background but he looked like a greyhound that wasn’t quite long enough.
Both were wonderful additions to the family and provided many years of love.
Sanctuary Acres 