…sharing a bone…
…buddies are resting…all tuckered out from playing…
Thank you Rachel for pics and video.
Sunday Morning
August 23, 2020 by 8 Comments
I asked him what he thought it meant for our lives, for how we spend them, for what they mean. He said our lives mean nothing except as a cycle of regeneration, that we are incomprehensibly brief sparks, just as the animals are, that we are no more important than they are, no more worthy of life than any living creature. That in our self-importance, in our search for meaning, we have forgotten how to share the planet that gave us life. Tonight I write him a letter telling him I think he was right. But that also I think there is meaning, and it lives in nurturing, in making life sweeter for ourselves, and for those around us.
— Charlotte McConaghy, Migrations: A Novel (Flatiron Books, August 4, 2020)
Photo: Sparks by Christine Lynch
Sunday Morning
August 25, 2019 by 25 Comments
I, said a prayer for the deer, as we always do when dispensing with wildlife, like the pileated woodpecker that flew straight into one of the windows on the side of the house and then collapsed dead on the windshield of our car. My God, was that upsetting…
Laurel, for all of her sometimes hard-boiled feelings about the foibles of human beings, had boundless feelings of responsibility for animals, the more innocent, the more boundless the feeling. She regularly escorted bugs out of the house, even the ladybugs that had a tendency to blight the place in fall and spring. She resisted even my vacuuming and releasing when there were dozens of them. Spiders were escorted out. And she had a very practical method for removing bees and wasps that involved an overturned glass and an index card.
~ Rick Moody, The Long Accomplishment: A Memoir of Hope and Struggle in Matrimony (August 6, 2019)
Photo of the artist Laurel Nakadate by Sabine Mirlesse via artspace.com
Rescue Us
October 13, 2015 by 20 Comments
“I’d like people to start to look at animals as individuals,” she said. “If everyone did a bit more, if they fell in love a little bit more, so much could happen. It doesn’t have to be going vegan. You can advocate for them. You can show tenderness. You can play music for them. I really hope people can connect with animals the way most of us did as children.”
That’s the thing about animals we grow close to, Ms. Stewart added: “We talk about taking in ‘rescue animals.’ But the truth is, just as often, animals rescue us.”
~ Judith Newman, Tracey Stewart’s Animal Planet
Tracey Stewart is the editor-in-chief of the website Moomah, which provides parents and kids with fun, easy, and effective ways to contribute to varying kinds of nonprofits. A passionate animal advocate and expert (she’s a former veterinary technician), she lives on a farm in New Jersey with her husband, Jon Stewart; two kids; four dogs; two pigs; one hamster; three rabbits; two guinea pigs; one parrot; and two fish—all rescues except for the kids.
Don’t miss Judith Newman’s background story on Tracey Stewart: Tracey Stewart’s Animal Planet
Tracey Stewart’s book will be released on Amazon on October 20, 2015: Do Unto Animals
My dog most certainly is god spelled backward.
August 30, 2015 by 17 Comments
My dog most certainly is god spelled backward.
He is sublimely present.
No fatigue.
He loves.
He licks.
He chases and wags.
Eats, shits, leaps like a dolphin for his Frisbee.
Sleeps and guards.
Snorts in his sleep and awake,
begs for orts of cheese, smackerels of beef crumb.
A belly rub, an ear massage.
~ Melissa Pritchard, Decomposing Articles of Faith. A Solemn Pleasure: To Imagine, Witness, And Write (The Art of the Essay)
Notes:
- Photo of our Zeke. Thank you Susan.
- Related Posts: Melissa Pritchard
Rescue (85 sec)
August 26, 2015 by 19 Comments
When South African filmmaker Dave Meinert took into his life a Great Dane puppy, whom he named Pegasus, he was told that the tiny canine might not live very long due to her difficult beginnings in a squalid backyard puppy mill. With this in mind, Meinert set about documenting Pegasus every day for six months as she walked or tried to walk on a treadmill. He then compiled the footage together and created an incredibly touching time-lapse film entitled “The Pegasus Project.” Meinert discussed the project in an interview with Fast Company.
“Rescuing her was a way for me to be sure she’d be looked after,” Meinert says. “For me, she had already been born—nothing was going to change that. By rescuing her, at least I could be certain that she wouldn’t be discarded.” Rather than dwell on the negatives about her life, he says, “I decided to make a record of the healthy days as a way to celebrate them.”
And also note that today (August 26th) is National Dog Day.
Source: Laughing Squid
It might solve all my problems, this shaking shimmy
April 8, 2015 by 19 Comments
It is raining hard today. The dogs come in one by one, soaking wet. I dry them each with a towel, and they stand patiently until I stop. Then they give themselves violent shakes and water sprays all over and I find myself wishing I could do that, it might solve all my problems, this shaking shimmy for which there is no human equivalent.
~ Abigail Thomas, What Comes Next and How to Like It: A Memoir
Side Note: “…Animals can shake themselves almost 70 percent dry in just a second…Imagine if you could come out of the shower and, instead of using a towel, you could just press a button and in one-thirtieth of a second you’re 70 percent dry…Researchers posit that the shaking dry was an evolutionary response. We think this has been evolving over millions of years of time to become so good…A furry wet animal can carry about five percent of its body mass in its fur, while a wet ant can carry three times its body mass in water.” (Source: Globalpost.com)
Don’t miss:
And on the 9th day…
September 1, 2013 by 33 Comments
My Brother Rich shared this video with me. It’s been viewed more than 2,300,000 times since it was posted. My hunch is all you dog lovers have seen this 2-minute clip at least once. It was new to me.
Dogs. The deep baritone Paul Harvey-like voice with a rhythmic cadence. And you have another winner.
This clip is a take-off on the highly acclaimed Superbowl Ram Truck commercial on Farmers. If you missed it, you need to check it out at this link: And the winner is…
Criteria for Husband: Must Love Dogs
August 25, 2013 by 24 Comments
“I never would have thought it necessary to establish criteria for boyfriends or husbands, especially one as seemingly unimportant as: Must love dogs. As in:
- You must be able to share your waking hours and living space and a good amount of your disposable income on a four-footed companion that is basically a child in fur for 12 to 15 years.
- You must plan every vacation around its needs.
- You will trip over toys and pigs’ ears and chew hooves splayed across your best Persian carpet.
- You will be forced to walk it every day, rain or shine, or risk having your favorite shoes sacrificed to the god of canine frustration.
- If everything goes well and it lives to a ripe old age, you may have to decide to end its suffering, and you will have to be strong enough to stay with it those last moments, stroking its silky ears.
In my life, dogs have always been a part of that equation, a way to find the small, grounding moments in life — the grass, sunlight and sweet bite of plums — that we commonly call happiness. After 20 years of marriage, on our fourth dog, my husband and I are best friends, which must be at least as rare as soul mates.”
Read the rest of this article by Tatjana Soli @ Picking Up The Scent On The Road to Bliss
Related Post: Guess who graduated? With a fancy badge and diploma too…
Credits:
- Photograph: Pink Blue & You – the winner of the Cute Close-ups Competition was Gemma Buttery’s dog Neo
- Thank you Susan for sharing the article.
The thing about dogs
August 1, 2013 by 31 Comments
The Thing About Dogs from Daniel Koren on Vimeo.
Not exactly sure why I liked this. Watched it 3x and was left smiling, each time. What is it? Is anything Dogs good? Is it so different that it’s compelling? The finish? Ugh. His voice – the cadence, the accent? What is it ? No idea. Loved it.
Running, around in my head…
July 8, 2012 by 26 Comments
Thinking too @#$%^&* Much…
I got off to a late start this morning. Reading posts. Watching videos. (Now, in addition to these cat videos that I can’t seem to stop watching, I’m watching Mimi’s and LaDona’s video posts – they’ve figured out how to post videos – watch out world, these ladies are Game On.)
It’s hot. (Cursing that I got off to a late start. Maybe I can go half-way today. Oh, here we go again. Rationalizing away my exercise before I’ve even started. You are sad sack, Pal.)
Today’s theme: I see. (I think.) (Too much.)
Zeke + Buddhist Monk + Almonds = Enlightenment!
June 27, 2012 by 17 Comments
9:15 pm. June 26, 2012.
Zeke, our four-year old Vizsla, has excellent hearing and smell. But not for the bird hunting discipline that he was bred for – – but for California Blue Diamond Smokehouse Almonds. From a room away, he can hear a 1/2 turn on the top of the plastic Almond container. If he’s outside and comes inside, his nose goes 911 when he sniffs a whiff of a single nut.
Zeke and I have a routine each night. He waits for Dad’s snack time before bed time when Dad and Zeke share a heaping handful of almonds. Most days, it’s one for Zeke, one for Dad, one for Zeke, one for Dad. (OK, sometimes Dad cheats on the allocation when Zeke isn’t looking. OK, OK, more than sometimes.)
Zeke wolfs down his Almond without breaking his eye lock with Dad. No chewing. Straight down the gullet. 1 Almond. 2 Almonds. 3 Almonds. Same pattern. He gives me the same desperate look that he might miss out on his share if he breaks his stare. (Those eyes are telling me that he knows that I’m cheating him out of his allocation.)
I proceed to tell him that “maybe you should chew your almonds and enjoy them rather than just scarfing them down without tasting them – maybe you won’t keep begging for more.” (I’m no different that you other dog owners. I believe he understands me but he just doesn’t want to cooperate.)
Birdie Update!
April 1, 2012 by 14 Comments
A month ago on yet another Sunday, I wrote a post called “I miss Birdie.” Birdie was a fixture on my shoulder and my mind on Sundays. Here we are yet again talking about Birdie. (That’s her in the photo on a spring day grazing on our tree in our yard.)
The post received many online and offline comments – – the offline comments coming from my cowardly-lion-friends and some from my family:
- “Really?”
- “Is this the same guy I know?”
- Are you a real man? (This one made me LOL)
- Dad, seriously? You’ve cross the line again.
- Well, I’m pleased to report that Jessica, the new owner, read my post and has an update. How unbelievably lucky are we! When I read her update I was smiling throughout…Our little creature has had a lifestyle upgrade – – from flying Business Class with the Kanigan’s to First Class in her new home. Here is Jessica’s response to my earlier post:
I miss “Birdie”…
March 4, 2012 by 52 Comments
Erin (aka Birdie) is a Sun Conure.
It’s Erin’s 10th birthday. (And Sunday mornings are for reflection and I’m reminiscing.)
LC, a former colleague, asked our family to watch her while her home was being renovated.
90 days came and went and somehow Birdie was adopted.
What a magnificent creature she was.
We were soul mates. (Laughing. I could hear my kids now. Dad, that’s WAY over the top.) She would camp out on my shoulder and watch me do my work on the PC while she gnawed away at old sweat shirts. (Must have been soothing for her as she worked through at least 10-15 shirts.)
Live & Learn 