Yesterday, August 23rd, the Awareness Observation of International Blind Dog Day took place, a day to recognize the resilience, adaptability, and courage of blind dogs and to promote empathy and understanding for dogs with vision challenges. Established by Sarah Horne in 2017, this day also endeavors to, “Highlight the struggles that blind dogs face and […]
Miscellaneous
Energy Shifts
I actually had to look up if Mercury was in retrograde because it’s definitely been A Week when it comes to just technical issues and weird energy. Every now and then, I blame that poor planet for messing things up (although, I typically am not as affected as others believe and I think it’s due […]
“Ruff” Around the Sedges
While August brings the Awareness Observance of Clear the Shelters Month, today, August 17th is “Clear the Shelters Day”. Although it sounds positive, clearing the shelter is a very controversial subject in many dog-rescuing circles. The intent is good; it has been relayed that if only 6 % of the population would adopt their next […]
Tales From the Tiny Trailer
As of this writing I’m enjoying the 3rd outing in my tiny teardrop trailer. I suspect it won’t be long before I quit numbering the trips I make with it. As I sat by the campfire this evening I marveled at the little thing. I really own a tiny trailer! And not just any tiny […]
Finding Family
Reunions of any kind can stir up all kinds of thoughts and feelings – happiness, nostalgia, a desire to connect, and inevitably sadness due to the fact that reunions can remind us of those who are no longer here with us. My parents met in New Jersey – my mom a coal miner’s daughter […]
Rest
It’s been a tough few weeks and I’ve had a lot to do. I feel like I’ve been in constant motion. And I’ve still not readjusted my schedule after the few nights staying up all night at the hospital while my dad was there. And I’ve still not gotten much more than 5-6 hours of […]
Life-Changing Paths
Each time Friday rolls around I’m stunned. The other day I posted that it was Thursday until someone reminded me that it was actually Wednesday! I guess that’s a good thing – to be so absorbed in daily life activities that one is no longer fixated on days, nights, hours, minutes. That’s a gift, I […]
A Tough Week
Trigger warnings: car accident, physical trauma, death, hospital scenes. Sunday afternoon a Sheriff knocked on my door. My 86 year old dad crashed his truck. He veered off the road at high speed and slammed into a culvert. He was taken to the local hospital by ambulance, but from the get go, it was clear […]
A New Adventure
Over the years when Mario and I would go camping, we’d make little upgrades, mostly for our own comfort. We liked to get into the wild outdoors, but were never the type to seriously rough it. In the later years, and after an unexpected rainstorm we survived in a small tent, we always talked about […]
Comfort in Numbers
I have written about the Frazier Thomas Band several times since I inherited this assignment at the beginning of 2021. Based on a local kids’ television show about a goose who thought he was the King of the United States, our band was purely a figment of our collective teenage imagination. Back then, life seems […]
Born Young at Heart
I had finished a game of pickleball and was standing around with a few others, who, like me, were gathered by the fence waiting for the next court to become available, when I overheard “Charlie” talking to a fellow about his in-laws. “Charlie” said his in-laws lived in a suburban housing complex that recently had […]
Making the Best of It
I’m not sure when my mindset changed about making the best of a situation I perceive as undesirable (or actually bad), but I’m pretty sure it was post Mario, but I’m not sure exactly why. Maybe it’s one of those, “don’t sweat the small stuff” type of things kicking in since I’ve already been through […]