Tag Pets

Happy Things

Michael 15 Comments

I had some of the snarkiest content ready for this week when I decided I didn’t want to add to the spectacle. If you haven’t yet figured out Washington is now full of parasitic nutcases, nothing I can say is going to change that clearly wrong thinking you are holding on to.

Instead, I am going to heed my own advice and make me happy. It was in a ROAMcare post from last fall when we wrote, “The most positive thing you can do to offer happiness to someone is to be happy for yourself and to be happy with yourself.” It is in that spirit that I offer you that which made me happy last week and maybe you will gain a smile from it too.

You know that two weeks ago I had surgery on my arm and for a couple days, if I wanted my arm to go anywhere with me it came along in a wheelbarrow because like a newborn, it had to be carried everywhere it went. I am happy to say since early last week I have regained all movement and flexibility in that appendage. I may never be able to throw a curve ball again but I never could anyway so there’s that. I still am limited to lifting nothing heavier than a small hard bound novella but I expect by next month I should be able to tote around a Stephen King novel.

I was at a meeting Thursday and as we standing about and talking someone asked now that spring is coming, if we were plants or flowers, what we do to prepare ourselves for the new season. I didn’t even have to think about it. If I was a plant, I’d tear myself up from the roots, toss me in the compost pile, mix me around a little, and take another shot at things. I think everybody probably could stand to have a little overly dramatic self-rejuvenation project and come out the better for it.

Yesterday I made a fabulous breakfast for my weekly Sunday ‘meal of any kind’ with the daughter. Little breakfast slider sandwiches with eggs, bacon, sausage, cheese, onions, bell pepper, spiced with chili powder, smoked paprika, and (hold on now) cinnamon and baked together in sweet Hawaiian rolls. Did I mention they were delicious.

It’s been two weeks since Jingle went to doggie heaven. Two days ago, we were introduced to a new member of the family. Daughter said his spirit said it was the right dog who came along at the right time. Meet Gabby.

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In last week’s ROAMcare Uplift post we wrote about the power of positive thought. I think this worked out pretty well.

Have a great week. We’ll talk again soon.

Jingle all the way

Michael 5 Comments

Jingle all the way and other random notes from the depths of my cobwebbed brain.

Happy Veterans Day dear fellow veterans. You would think in 14 years I’d have published 14 Veterans Day posts. A search for “Veterans Day” turned up three. I don’t believe it. I am sure I wrote more than three. I am also sure I’m not to go looking for them all. I think I’ve earned a year off the seemingly required uttering of the, pardon my frankness, trite “Thank you for your service.” What started as a beautiful sentiment is now a mere platitude of the sort as “have a nice day.” Yes, some people are sincere, very sincere. Most are not. As a veteran I’d rather you return the favor and start serving those who served. You surely know someone who served. Look to them as examples. Phone calls, meals, random cards, offers to cut grass, shovel snow, rake leaves made to the older vets. In today’s Moment of Motivation at the ROAMcare site we will just the millions who pay tribute today. Our thought for the day, “They came from all over for all different reasons. They served for only one. Look to their example. Find your reason to be of service.”

Now for some positive news from Jingle’s dog house. Actually, he doesn’t have a house. He has his own room at my daughter’s house. I figured it was time you had an update to how the little tri-pawed is doing. When we last left our hero, he was adapting nicely to life on three legs. You will recall due to an osteosarcoma he had his left front leg and shoulder amputated. That was just over a month ago. Since then he has started chemotherapy. He goes once every 3 weeks for 6 treatments. His first was 2 weeks ago and after being a little groggy from the sedatives, the very next day he bounced back to normal in all his Jingle-ness. He even is back to 1&1/2 to 2 mile morning walks every day. Their regular route takes them past my house and occasionally he stops in for water and to have his ears scratched. Daughter is doing well also. He has impressed us all so much over this month that he will be featured in this week’s Uplift when we talk about resilience. Mark your calendar to read that one.

Thanksgiving is still on, right? I notice all of last last week’s food centered supermarkets had ads that featured turkeys and fall foliage to highlight their ample supplies of frozen turkeys, fresh cranberries, and the sweetest sweet potatoes this side of Marshmallow Fluff. But walk into the store and you are greeted with 8 foot tall candy canes, fake fireplaces with fake snow, sparkly lights, and tree shaped peanut butter cups. The mega-mart sized stores where food is just a sideline skipped the pretense and went straight Christmas in their ads. Ten foot skeletons were replaced with ten foot snowmen in the store displays and Jingle Bells (the musical kind) played through the PA systems. I like the season. But it should start after Santa rolls up during the Thanksgiving Day parade just like Mr. Macy planned it.

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Here we are again. That place where I say go look at the latest Uplift blog post. We’re confident you’ll like this post about self-help.

But before you go look, have you still not thought about joining the ROAMcare community and have the weekly Uplift blog delivered to your email as soon as it hits the website? In addition to an Uplift release every Wednesday, you will also receive weekly a Monday Moment of Motivation, and our email exclusive Friday Flashback repost of one of our most loved publications. All free and available now at  ROAMcare.org.

 

 

 

 

 

Animal Magnetism

Michael 7 Comments

For those wondering, Jingle seems to be adapting well to life as a tri-pawed. I could stop there but I also could get an entire post out of that thought. Let’s roll with it!

Animals adapt. That’s not an original thought. Animals adapt to their environment. We have not when we ought to have been.

Animals respond. Animals hear you. They may not always do what you want but they hear and they listen. We talk far too more often when we should be listening.

Animals love. It’s not unconditional as everyone would have you believe (try not feeding your pet this week and see how much they love you on Saturday), but it is constant.

Animals like. More important than loving each other, animals like even more. Treat an animal kindly and it will respond in kind. And in kindness.

Animals are honest. They always tell you exactly how they feel. You don’t hear a dog telling you the cat is dangerous while firmly clamping down on your hand with they teeth and jaws.

Animals think for themselves and got their own way. Enough said.

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Yes, we are at the place where you typically see a blurb about the latest Uplift blog post. That post is about how you can achieve wealth beyond your dreams, and it might surprise you how.

But before you go look, have you yet thought about joining the ROAMcare community and have the weekly Uplift blog delivered to your email as soon as it hits the website. In addition to an Uplift release every Wednesday, you will also receive weekly a Monday Moment of Motivation, and our email exclusive Blast from the Past repost of one of our most loved publications every Friday. All free and available now at  ROAMcare.org.

You can’t keep a good Jingle down

Michael 12 Comments

Why is it some days I can think of nothing to write and others, there is a surplus of ideas that I could pick from. I usually keep the serious stuff for the ROAMcare site which means most of the time this site is left with the breezy, often trivial, rambling essays that makes little sense outside the confines of my mind.

This week though, this week is serious stuff.

Last week, actually the last couple of weeks I’ve been more than a little distracted. The daughter’s doggie Jingle, who might as well be part mine they live so close and he’s here so often, is facing his mortality. He is suffering from an osteosarcoma in his front left what would be a shoulder if he was a human. (Scapula in dogs? Maybe it is a shoulder too.) After a couple of weeks of tests and scans, his only hope of fighting his fight is to have the leg and shoulder amputated which is scheduled for tomorrow (Tuesday) morning. That’s assuming the one final scan he has before the surgery does not reveal any metastases to the chest or lungs. If he has the surgery, a final biopsy will determine if he would benefit at all from chemo also.

I just spoke of Jingle in The Search for Bigfoot when I described him as “fairly normal-sized for a dog of indeterminate origin. He’s part pointer, part husky, and looks those parts. But he has feet the size of an ottoman, which has always led me to describe him as a yointer. Part pointer, part Yeti. It seems that could be accurate – technical differences between Himalayan abominable snowmen and hairy North American cryptids notwithstanding.”

For the last 2 or 3 weeks, the little fella hasn’t been able to use that leg, either because of the pain when he puts it down or the inability to move it from the nerve compressed by the tumor, so he’s already been getting his practice hopping on three legs and still does a mile walk every morning (down from his usual 2-2&1/2 miles), and he still eats and plays, and still demands scratches and treats. As the daughter says, “He’s still jingly.”

Providence smiled on us when last Friday we celebrated the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi, he who is invoked at the annual blessings of pets at many churches around the world and which ours held just yesterday. It was the reminder that a medal of that very saint hangs on Jingle’s collar and that dogs too need prayers.

If you are of a mind to, perhaps you’d mention Jingle in your prayers tonight.

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You’re used to seeing a blurb here about the latest Uplift blog post. If you can’t decide if you should click that link and go find it, it could be just right for you because it’s about problem solving.

But before you go look, have you yet thought about joining the ROAMcare community and have the weekly Uplift blog delivered to your email as soon as it hits the website. In addition to an Uplift release every Wednesday, you will also receive weekly a Monday Moment of Motivation, and our email exclusive Blast from the Past repost of one of our most loved publications every Friday. All free and available now at  ROAMcare.org.

Do it for the dog

Michael 12 Comments

This weekend I got to do something I haven’t done for probably close to 20 years. Stay alone – overnight – away from home – with a dog! [woof]

Throughout my adult life, there had always been some sort of animal living with us. (Considering some family members you could say that has been true for my entire life, but that’s a different post for a different day.) When the last dog who had my name on her license as owner went to that big off leash park in the sky, I was already battling Wegener’s and was having difficulty keeping a strong hand on the care part of the care and feeding of pets. I knew my limits, and pet owner was not within them.

Not so though for my daughter who continued the tradition and is and has been for many years the proud dog mom of a now maybe 6 or 7 year old pointer/husky/yeti. There have been times that I have been called upon to provide doggie day care services and have successfully and enjoyably fulfilled those duties, not to mention the meeting the daily expectations of proud grandpop to the grandpup. But when the daughter needs dog sitting of the extended overnight sort, I am not the one called into service. Not that I wouldn’t, I just couldn’t. Let’s say if I were to take the dog for his evening or morning stroll, and upon spotting a follow member of the canine community, or one of the more feisty neighborhood rabbits, and he so decided to pursue fellow canine or feisty rabbit, he would never be accused of being in violation of the leash laws, being firmly attached to a strong, appropriate length lead. It would nevertheless be a questionable defense as it would be very unlikely that the other end would still be firmly attached to my right hand.

Thus, when the daughter anticipates overnight travel (that doesn’t involve an airplane (he doesn’t do well much higher than ground level)) she considers pet friendly destinations or arranges alternate billeting for the pupster. For this occasion she was unable to secure either and I was called and asked if I felt up to just one night with the little fellow. “Of course I can” I replied and oh so nearly convincingly told myself I could do it. Given that she has a fenced in backyard and I don’t, and that the dog, although getting older by the day, still thinks of himself as young and energetic, it was decided I would visit him rather than he stay with me.

And that is how I found myself, Saturday morning, packing an overnight bag including laptop (with drafts for 2 articles and a speech all due within the next month) and heading out the door for the quarter mile walk to the daughter’s domicile. And straight into a pouring rain. A veritable downpour. A like “pair up the animals and ready the Ark” type rain. Concern for the environment be dammed, I headed straight up the driveway and plopped myself behind the wheel of my car for the short but soggy trip, and even that seemed not quite up to the challenge but I don’t own a boat. I felt right then that the next 36 hour period was going to be a mismatch. Unfortunately, when I could be accused of either hyperbole or understatement, I tend toward understating.

To make a long story short (I know, too late), he enjoyed our time together immensely! He was at his tail waggingest, face lickingest, muddy pawed jumpingest best behavior, which for him, are all the things that exhibit good behavior. He never tried to take advantage of an unsuspecting keeper and ate very little of my meals off my plate when his bowl was filled with yummy kibble (and only when I wasn’t watching), did not hide the television remote too well among his toys, and let me have the pillow in bed Saturday night which was only fair since he was using my legs as his. All in all he seemed to have enjoyed my company.

Me? Well I did get to unpack my laptop though never actually opened it, only had to go outside once to forcibly drag him back inside when he refused to come in after treeing some unsuspecting woodland creature, and discovered the desktop cup warmer I got my daughter as part of her Christmas stocking last year works really well. I guess you could say I seemed to have enjoyed his company too!

Well, that dog story was a good story of perseverance. Sort of. Here’s a better one in the most recent Uplift! We know we can do it, whatever the “it” may be, but someone else feels we can’t, but we will try anyway. Because the realty is we believe in ourselves. And reality is more important than feelings. Approximate reading time – 3 minutes

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No, They Aren’t People Too

Michael Leave a comment

“We love our pets too,” the sign began.  After that there were a half-dozen examples of how much the authors of the sign loved their and others’ pets.  It finished with, “so please understand us when we say, no pets allowed.”  It was, and presumably still is a fair warning.  That sign is sharing space with the doorway to a used construction emporium.  An indoor junkyard if you will.

All throughout the building are stacks of windows, doors slid into stands, boxes of hinges and door pulls and faucet handles, rows of bath tubs, racks of counter tops, mountains of marble slabs, and hangers of hanging lamps.  Everywhere there are things made of wood, metal, glass, and porcelain.  All covered in the same dust the previous owners left and many with rusty connectors, sharp corners, and other things that hurt.  And right over there picking his way through the used kitchen counter tops on his way to the door frames is a middle-aged man attached by a leash to a forbidden dog.

He had to have seen the sign.  You couldn’t get in without seeing it.  And a sign that large means that something once happened and there should be no chance of letting it happen again.  He had to have seen it.  But he probably said to himself as his breezed on by, that was meant for people with animals.  His dog is a people.  His buddy.  His pal.  He wasn’t going to leave his best friend in a car while he perused the once heat producing radiators.  And he certainly wasn’t going to leave his only friend at home while he enjoyed his day of exploration among the once water-filled toilets.  Nope, he didn’t get to be his age and survive all alone without the help of his furry friend.  He certainly wasn’t going to turn his back on him on his only day away from the office just because he couldn’t find the right color lavatory sink at the home remodeling center.

Both of We love animals.  Together we span over 100 pet years.  At some point our houses have been home to dogs, cats, hamsters, rabbits, fish, crabs, and for a very brief time even a snake although technically he was a runaway.  Our pets have always held that special place in our hearts and our homes that are special to our pets also.  They’ve shared our spaces and our affections.  Our pet affections.  And pet spaces.  They didn’t go on vacations with us, and they don’t go to work with us.  When we see a sign that says “no dogs allowed” we don’t take that to mean no regular, aka other people’s dogs allowed.

Pets are pets.  They aren’t surrogate children.  They aren’t surrogate spouses.  They aren’t the exception to the rule.  If a tower of ceramic tiles is going to fall and the “special” dog happens to be standing there when they do, they aren’t going to stop in midair and wait for “special” to make his way clear of the danger aisle.

We don’t feel sorry for the person who can’t manage long term human relationships and has to settle for the four legged variety.   We feel sorry for the four legged variety stuck with the human who thinks “living a dog’s life” is a bad thing.

Now, that’s what we think.  Really.  How ‘bout you?