Author: Debra

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Messages from the Universe

Sometimes a word, a phrase, or an idea will pop into my head that I think will become a blog post and upon reflection, it is nothing more than a Facebook status update; one that often doesn’t get posted. Today, I had a thought that I figured would to in the status update category, but the more I thought about it, the more I believe it may just be a bit of both.  A long update or a brief post.

 

I’ve been kicking myself repeatedly about not starting on a diet good eating and regular exercise routine but this morning had an opportunity to pack some fresh fruit and vegetables for lunch. I knew it was going to be a hot day, so I just planned to eat my earth’s bounty and possibly doodle out some rough drafts for the blog. That plan changed with Asia emailed wanting to spend our lunch hours at the shelter.

 

I really didn’t want to go. I had my fresh green beans to eat in the nice cool air conditioned office, I was wearing heels (though that has never been a deterrent before), and I was kind of looking forward to just…nothing. The upside was that I would be eating lunch with Asia, and come on, it was the shelter, after all. Why wouldn’t I go? So we agreed on a time and I headed out the door, still kind of complaining to myself in my head, “My knee hurts, I really don’t want to go…blah-blah-blah,” and just as that thought rolled through my head, from around the corner came a man in a wheelchair. A man who basically had only very small, clearly unusable, legs.

 

Sometimes the universe sends you signs that you need to interpret and sometimes it sends you a big slap on the face and shouts, “Snap out of it!”

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Reflections at the Half

 

Not that I actually expect to live to be 100, but this milestone just seems so much more apt for reflection because I don’t remember any other age feeling like this, but that could very well be due to advancing age and declining memory. It does seem to be the point at which the limits of your mortality stare you in the face as in, “I only have x many years to do this,” and x is the variable. X used to be larger than my age, now it is not.

 

How have I arrived here? Old Blue Eyes sang, “Regrets, I’ve had a few, but then again too few to mention.” I’m hard on myself. I have more regrets than “too few to mention” and although I truly believe that each step along our path leads us to where we are, (side note: I once had two job interviews in the same day and accidentally went to the second one first and I was hired on the spot. That is where I met my first husband, Asia’s father. If I had gone in the right order my life path could have been altered in the worst way) there are some things that I would have done very differently.

 

More days I feel old. I read less because I don’t always have my glasses at hand. My body, which I used to push past limits is now more fragile and Mighty Mouse is not so mighty anymore. I thought I’d have a tattoo by now. At this point, I’ve missed some deadlines for goals that I had set, but I guess rather than scrap a worthy project, I will continue on.  My project.  I had a conversation with a friend about kindnesses performed and what I would allow myself to count.  It’s possible I may have reached that goal but haven’t acknowledged it.

I interact more with the help of my fingertips and a keyboard.  I’m awkward in person which tends to make me quiet enough to seem reserved or even stuck up.  I try to be kind but can also be abrasive and cutting.  I don’t take compliments well, nor do I give them freely, so if I pay one I’ve meant it and if I’m given one, I revert to the above mentioned awkwardness.  I love and trust wholeheartedly, but once that is broken it can never again be restored to a pristine state.

I believe in karma and because of all of the  deficits I see in myself, I try to work extra-hard to build my good karma bank.

All of the above was written before my birthday and saved in draft.  I’m glad I didn’t finish it and publish it before my birthday.  I didn’t realize how morose I was feeling as the day approached.

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Remember in Sixteen Candles how Molly Ringwald didn’t feel any different on her birthday than she did the day before?  That’s usually how birthdays are: full of anticipation and a lot of let down from not “feeling” different.  This time it was different.  I feel happy, re-energized and full of purpose.

The hubby and I spent the actual day of my birthday cleaning the house like madmen in preparation for the party hanging out together, followed by dinner out with Asia.  On Saturday morning, I fulfilled one of my bucket list items by volunteering at the Pet Food Pantry for the SPCA at the Community Harvest Food Bank.  What a truly humbling and rewarding experience and a great way to start the day.  In the afternoon friends and family gathered to help celebrate what seems like a “coming of age” type of revelation for me.  While the party wasn’t a surprise, the guest list/RSVPs were withheld, so I had very little idea of who was coming.
What a thrill!  So many neighbors, friends, family, and a huge gathering of staff and volunteers from the shelter who all made connections among themselves to form new friendships.  The comment so many different people kept making to me was, “Your friends are so nice.”  Yeah.  I’ve done something right because I have the best of the best surrounding me.

So, to my husband who worked like a fiend to get the landscaping and so much around the house in shape, to Asia who helped organize everything and ordered the most amazing cake, thank you.  I love you both to the moon and back.

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The Walk of Life

I’m feeling a bit teary-eyed as I reflect on yesterday’s walks with my boys and after having read a few archived posts. As Ray and I have been perambulating around the neighborhood lately and I’ve been marveling at how well we’ve been progressing, I’ve secretly been dreading knowing that Julius needs leash work. Badly.

 

The last time I took Juli for a walk, the muscles in my back and arm got a darned good work out, so I was hesitant to take him out again. Which means he wouldn’t get training and practice, which means I wouldn’t want to take him out…so he wouldn’t get practice…

 

Butt, Butt, Butt

Butt, Butt, Butt

So what would someone do if they, say, had a dog who used to be a nightmare to walk and one who still is? Oh, and the combined weight of those dogs was, say 160 pounds of big muscles? Surely the sane person wouldn’t decide to walk them together!

 

Playing around with the clips

Playing around with the clips

Well, fully expecting that Ray’s good manners would osmosize to Julius and that this outing would be a short disaster, I leashed up the dogs and set out down the block. And it was bad. The good news though is that it wasn’t as bad as I anticipated, so I thought about what the challenges were and brainstormed my new game plan.

 

Freedom Harness

Freedom Harness

Julius pulls and skitters back and forth across the sidewalk which made for a tangle of legs and leashes. I had them both on just their martingale collars with my double clip Freedom leashes. Clipping Juli to Ray was a bad idea, clipping the leashes together to make a longer one was a bad idea, walking in the heat of noon was a bad idea, walking home while it started to rain was a bad idea.

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Fully heartened by the midday walk being less of a failure than I anticipated, I decided to take an evening walk with the boys, Asia, and the baby (because we’re all about the distractions.) Reevaluating the hook up situation, I knew Julius needed his harness back on, but previous outings didn’t make for any less pulling and though I was using the stopping method, it was going one step at a time. After clipping the leash front, top, to this, to that, we finally figured out that using his Freedom harness and only clipping to the front worked wonders. The walk actually went so well that we went further than planned and were rewarded with tired, happy dogs upon the return home.

 

We can do this!

We can do this!

I fully intend to make this a regular part of our routine and believe that a happy ending is in sight.

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O Captain, My Captain(s)

It had been seemingly forever since either of the boys got new collars and I was starting to feel the urge pulling at my Paypal account pretty strongly. Gosh, thinking back and using all of my brain power, I’ve deduced that the boys haven’t had new collars since Valentine’s Day. Ugh! How have they survived this long?

 

I knew it was getting time for a new Sirius Republic collar and I had some criteria for these new works of neck art. I wanted them to be similar and match but not be completely identical and they had to be extra awesome. I’ve noticed Juli’s neck has been a bit pink lately underneath, so I’ve been pretty mindful to take collars off when they aren’t out and about but these would be special in that I decided to have them lined with soft fleece.

 

I debated back and forth on the Super collars or the Captain collars and in the end, after saying “Super Julius, Super Ray, Captain Julius, Captain Ray,” over and over I decided on the Captain collars which I would be able to do in both blue and red.

 

I must have added sixty several collars to my cart and removed them until I felt like I had the right formula. Blue for Ray and red for Julius and then further decided on the 2” collar for Juli while Ray has always looked better in the 1.5” and when I finally decided after perusing my cart obsessively for a day or two that these boys would look like the little Captain Americas that they are, I clicked and sent off my order.

Clearly the waiting is the hardest part, but when I saw from the tracking site that they would be delivered, I practically camped out at the mailbox was overjoyed when I finally was able to check the mailbox.

Captain Ray

Captain Ray

 

Unfortunately, they were both too diva-ish to share the spotlight and insisted on solo photo shoots.

Captain Julius

Captain Julius

But that’s ok, because I don’t think these could have been any more perfect, do you?

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Weekend Wrap Up

This past weekend was a busy one with wrapping up the AdoptaJubitation, readying for the next round of celebrations coming up in August, helping with the baby’s two year photos and taking a beautiful girl named Meadow to Pride Fest.

 

Proud to be a Pit Bull at Pride Fest

Proud to be a Pit Bull at Pride Fest

I’ve been enjoying a look back via the Timehop app at some of the first pictures of Julius in our home ad what has surprised me is that he looks so at home even on the first day or two. July 26th is actually the day I brought him to our home and it wasn’t actually until a few days later that we officially decided to utter the words aloud that we really were keeping him.

 

For the second year in a row, I was able to bring an adoptable dog from AC SPCA to Pride Fest. Little Miss Meadow, who seems so quiet and reserved in the kennels, completely blossomed among the crowds of people who stopped by to visit our booth. She handed out kisses and affectionate tail wags to scores of people, accepted pats while gnawing on a bully stick and only barked at one person…the protester outside the main gate. What a good girl.

 

Aurora and Meadow

Aurora and Meadow

The second kennel-mate Meadow has had since arriving at the shelter was adopted on Sunday, so I’m hoping Meadow’s person comes soon. She is definitely the type of dog who would love living with another dog, so I hope that will happen for her.

 

Finally, our “contest” is over, so I want to thank everyone who commented, liked, shared and/or entered. Allie F. is the winner, so be on the lookout for your package.

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Gotcha Day!

Adoptaversary letters are pretty popular and I had every intention of writing one to Julius, but then upon further reflection I realized that in the most literal of terms, he was never officially adopted and that he knows he is loved. I whisper in his ear every morning, every afternoon and every evening how much he is loved, cherished and how lucky I am to have him in my life. I tell him he is the best thing I’ve ever found on the street. I fully believe he loves his life as it is today.

 

So… the letter. This letter is to the woman who offered Julius a chance at a better life.

 

Dear Gxxx,

One year ago a happy, dusty, collarless, mangy-looking little puppy came bounding into and nearly back out of my life. Whether I found him or he found me is up for debate, but what is crystal clear is that he was the sweetest, friendliest dog I’d seen in a very long time ever.  Among all of the stray black dogs, who are a “dime a dozen,” he had that special something -something that made him worth “rescuing.”

 

The Little Foundling

The Little Foundling

We both know the details of how he came to live with me and for those who don’t, they can be found here and here. The message relayed to me was that you thought I could give him a better home. I remember telling the story to my sister who began wailing, “What a good person!” over and over again. I was feeling warm until I realized she was referring to YOU, not me. You gave up the sweetest dog in the world to give him a better life than the one he was destined for so I’d like for you to know, I’m eternally grateful.

The "Freedom" Ride

The “Freedom” Ride

Julius (your Smokey) lives in the house with me, my husband, our daughter, granddaughter, his doggy big brother, Ray, and his kitties, Jae and Miko.

Same dog, different year.

Same dog, different year.

 

He sleeps in bed with his humans, sometimes with the girls, sometimes with me. When he sleeps with me, he creates a huge nest of pillows in which to settle, but by morning, I always find either his head or his snout pressed against me. I believe that even in his sleep, he likes to be assured that his Mommy is nearby.

 

Julius eats two regular meals a day-breakfast and dinner like clockwork. He has grown from a gangly six month old with patchy, dull hair who wolfed down all available food to a sleek, fit, muscular young ambassador for his type. He now knows what food he likes and what he doesn’t like. He now “knows” that he has options available.

Top Dog

Julius has an embarrassment of riches to occupy his time. He has antlers of nearly every shape and size, a huge basket of stuffies, bags of treats that have yet to be opened in the pantry, and a whole crew of friends at his doggy day care. Yes, your Smokey my Julius goes to doggy day care where today, there will be a party for him in honor of the new life you’ve allowed him to lead. He will have all of the trappings that come with a party, but he will have no gifts.

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His present is his present. He lives in the here and now, he enjoys his life and we love him. Dozens of people have asked to have him, buy him, or breed him, but all are turned away. Julius is truly a precious boy and our lives are richer for having him in it. So to you, I say “thank you.”

 

I’ve actually designated July 26th as his Gotcha Day, but that will fall on Saturday.

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Queen Bee

Over the weekend, I stopped by the shelter to visit with the adorable pocket pittie named Meadow whom you may have seen spammed all over a picture or two of on my personal Facebook page.  I had actually meant to make a quick visit to her on the way to running some errands and though this story isn’t about her, here is another gratuitous picture.

Meadow

Meadow

After I visited with Meadow, I departed the kennel area to find Miss Honeybee wandering around the hallway having escaped from her gated office accommodations.   “Hey, what are you doing out here?” I asked her, to which she turned and in all of her haughty splendor gave me a look that quite clearly said, “Why are you daring to speak to me, peasant?”

I shoo’ed her back towards the office in which she was being kept, all the while she darted indignant glances at me over her shoulder as if to ensure that I wasn’t thinking of touching her.  As I reached in an attempt to navigate her back over the gate opening I was treated to one more frosty gaze, so I sat and waited for staff to come rescue me.  When a staff member arrived with another dog on leash, I explained that Honeybee had escaped and that I was a bit afraid to touch her.  I held the leash of the 80 pound dog she had been showing and she scooped up all 6.2 pounds of  Honeybee to be returned.

Honeybee, photo courtesy of Allen County SPCA

Honeybee, photo courtesy of Allen County SPCA

I know when a dog doesn’t want to be touched and  I respected her wishes in an effort to not get myself bitten.  After all, what would have happened if she bit me?  She’d have to go into bite quarantine, we’d have to fill out a report and you know, they just have such a bad rap anyway, that I wanted to save her from any prejudice a potential adopter may have in feeling they were unsafe with a dog of her breed.

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Two Forward and Three Back

We’ve been pondering what content we should concentrate on regarding our Facebook page.  We’ve been fairly static in our “likes” for quite a while and that is ok, but we notice there are days when we gain a like but may lose two.  We gain one “like” and lose two then gain three and lose another one.

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Here is our philosophy:  Our page is meant to be positive for the most part.  We like to show the boys in their best light, but don’t shy away from revealing flaws.  (“Hey, Mom, we don’t have FLAWS! We give you opportunities to be a better Mom.”)   While we are and always will be advocates for the Pit Bull types, we like to show the boys as “dogs.”  They are individuals and are treated as such. We will share pages and fun things when asked and love to see things our followers share.  Here is a little about what we don’t do, and this is not a judgement of anyone who does it, it just isn’t our” thing.”  We don’t utilize the term “death row dogs.”   We know it refers to the E list, but Death Row is where those convicted of murder sit, we do not like the phrase.  (Not that we like E list or any of the other terms.)  We will occasionally share an “urgent” but we try to research who, what, why first.  We don’t do “woe is me”-we celebrate successes.  Maybe our focus is really just as scattered as this paragraph.

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We share relevant news stories, fun stories and pictures and hope you’ll do the same.  We are, however trying to figure out how to get the best content to you and make our page more fun and interactive.

So, with a very special occasion coming up in the next week, we are going to have a fun little game.

As of today, we have 563 likes and if you help us get to 575 by July 26th, we will choose one random ‘helper’ to win a prize.  How will we know?  Well, this is a Rafflecopter give away that will end at 6:00 pm on Saturday July 26.  So, click, enter and win!
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