Random Thoughts

I've been feeling a little down lately. A week after being home from our impromptu vacation, I'm ready to go back to the mountains. I watched the red-headed, black-hearted joker sit through court proceedings yesterday and felt both sad and sick. I look at my Sweetie whose living with a discordant gut (to put it delicately) and wish I could wish away his distress. I saw a man holding a cardboard sign by the side of the road and caught myself feeling disarmingly cynical rather compassionate. It's time, I think,  for some comic relief. The kind that pets can provide.  Those furry creatures who somehow bring us joy even when they are knocking a bowl off the shelf they aren't even supposed to be on. Boy Cat did that last night, his way of getting my attention. This time it was not an empty food dish, but a jar full of lavender.  The cat was gone before the jar even hit the floor, but the smell of lavender still lingers next to my chair. There are some things one should nev...

"The people who gave him CPR are what gave him a chance at all. Dave Cook My uncle sent me an email today about a new way to do CPR. Here's the video . Check it out because you never know when you might need to have the information in your back pocket. After watching it I asked Sweetie if he'd let me try it on him so I could have a feel for what it would feel like. Put one hand on top of the other, fingers entwined. Lock elbows Find the sweet spot in the center of the chest, between the nipples. Fall on to the hands. Don't stop. Good Sport that he is, Sweetie stopped what he was doing and laid down on the floor. Once down there, I assumed the position with Suzi Q looking on. Once I put my hands on Sweetie's chest Suzi could tell something important was happening so she joined in. [The way this dog sits cracks me up!] The cool thing about this type of CPR is you don't have to do mouth to mouth breathing. All you have to do is keep doing compressions until help ...

"A really companionable and indispensable dog is an accident of nature. You can't get it by breeding for it, and you can't buy it with money. It just happens along." E.B. White, The Care and Training of a Dog The Humane Society of Jacksonville has come a long way since the days of over crowding and stinky cages. Now you don't just pick out a dog or cat you like and take it home, there is a process you must go through. New pet owners are screened and matches are made in a similar fashion to online dating. Instead of Match.com the HS calls it Meet Your Match. To participate in the service prospective adopters need to take a compatibility survey, again not unlike E-Harmony only they don't ask questions about you most romantic fantasy. The adoptees are also assessed - Couch Potato, Constant Companion, Teacher's Pet, Wallflower, Busy Bee, Goofball, Life of the Party, Go-Getter, Free Spirit - so at the end of the day, you should be able to hook up with the idea...

The Humane Story told us Miss Suzi Q she was corralled by the county dog catcher. She came with no other history than that. We asked the questions but the answers were vague. House broken? Who knows? Good with cats? Can't tell ya. Gets into the garbage when no one is looking? We can't say for sure but she must have been used to foraging for food cause she doesn't look starved. We fell in love immediately so the answers were kind of a mute point. We'd deal with what we had to deal with. Perhaps we should have given the whole bringing a new dog home from the pound some more thought. House broken? Mostly. I can say that our brand new carpet has been properly (or improperly as the case may be) Christened. This doesn't make us happy, but Sweetie and I take responsibility because even though she seems to have a bladder as big as Lake Tahoe the bird brained canine doesn't quite grasp the concept of going outside to pee. Outside is for barking. Good with other do...

"Oh Susie Q, Baby I love you Susie Q." One of my father's oft repeated sayings was: "The best way to get over losing a pet is to go right out and get another one." That's kind of the way he dealt with his emotions. Don't feel the loss. Cover it up with something else. (Note to self...perhaps this is the same as packing away all that BluebellDutch Chocolate ice cream.) I suppose getting a new pet isn't as detrimental as say gin or vodka. When Black Beauty died, Dad wanted a new dog. While my heart could have applied the "new dog" theory, all Sweetie and I could see was more work. Beauty was an old dog that required little more than good food, a soft bed and lots of love. Her days of walking around the block or playing fetch were over. I didn't see how we (I) would add dog training/walking/playing into my already busy schedule. And, truth be told, there wasn't enough room on Dad's bed for a dog, which, in essence, was what he want...

There are a couple of blogs of which I am a faithful follower. When the authors don't post on a regular basis (my regular not their's)I fret. Then I fuss. Then I fume. I know it's strange. After all the beauty of having a blog, instead of say, a newspaper column, is that it's personal and one can write whenever one pleases. The true irony is, I seem to be an avid reader who looks forward to daily log entries but only post my own whenever the muse stikes. One would think I would have more understanding of my readers' bated breath. Wrong! Apparently I'm more self-consumed than that! For those fans who have not given up on me and still check this site on occasion, I do apologize. Sometimes the words flow freely. Sometimes they are nowhere to be found. Sometimes I get busy doing other things. Sadly, I've realized that my ability to multi-task has gone down the tube. Lately I've tried to remember how in the world I ever juggled more than one, possibly two(or ...