A Worthy Cause

There are so many save-the-animal worthy causes our there. I'm so very grateful that people work together to end the animal abuse that comes in so many shapes and sizes. At the same time I'm so disheartened that these groups need to be in existence....

While in college I was in an equine management class. We had to choose an equine-related project which we spent the better part of the semester on. I chose equine slaughter. It is a topic that is not common knowledge for many people- even in the "horse world" and I thought that these equine-friendly students needed to know about it. So, I dove into the project head first with great passion and, although I was already familiar with the topic, I finished broken and downtrodden.

Anyway, the point of this depressing post is this: The Humane Society has an article up about equine slaughter and at the end of the article is a link to write your congressman and ask him/her to support this cause. I suggest you read the article and watch the video as I think it will best help you to understand. (Quite frankly, I did not watch the video. I have too many memories and I am fairly well-versed in the whole process.) But, the most important thing is writing your Congressman.

Obviously this is not mandatory! And, I struggled with deciding whether or not to post this as I try very hard to stay away from polarizing topics. But, I decided that we are all animal lovers here!!! If you choose to do this, I appreciate your help greatly!

Click link to tell Congress
http://www.humanesociety.org/issues/horse_slaughter/facts/grisly_end_for_horses.html

Escape

When I was a little girl, my mom used to recite a poem to me- insinuating that I was the girl for whom the poem was written. It went like this:

There was a little girl
Who had a little curl
Right in the middle of her forehead.
And when she was good
She was very, very good
But when she was bad
She was horrid.

Well, if you would now please swap our "girl" with "dog" and "she" with "he" then you will understand my current sentiments on our dog Kohana.

This weekend was a quite rough. First of all, we moved all of our furniture, etc. from our old house to the new one. And, honestly, moving is terrible. I don't like it one bit. Saturday was a terrible day (which I will explain at a later date) but we had a moving truck and we had to get it done. Sunday we had more miscellaneous things to transfer over. It was a long day. By Sunday evening we were exhausted. At 6:00 I was so ready for bed I could hardly see straight.

In addition, we were hit with torrential rains. Flood worthy rain that our county is still dealing with flooding 2 days later... It was serious.

So, in the midst of all of this, our wonderful husky Kohana decided that it was time for him to play a little game he likes to call "escape." And that he did.

Side note: On a regular day, I suspect I do a dog head count approximately one billion times. You see, I am a paranoid freak. I am constantly checking on them and making sure that everyone is present and accounted for. And on the occasion when something isn't right, I usually know about it quickly.

But, as I mentioned, we were moving. Because of this I'm not sure how long he was gone though I don't think it was more than 10 minutes. And off we went. DM took the car, I stayed on foot. But the rain! The rain was terrible!! First of all, I don't think he could hear me calling for him as he would have been able to under normal circumstances. Secondly, I couldn't hear the jingle of his collar in case he was near me. It was pitch black. We don't have street lights and we have woods all around. Visibility was extraordinarily limited. We searched and searched and searched. Typically I am an optimist and under control in situations like these. This night, however, I was extremely worried. I thought the weather conditions might ruin any chances we had of finding him. But, someone was looking out for us because DM did find him and although Mr. Mischievous Kohana did try his best to elude him he was temporarily distracted by another dog and we were able to get him home.

So, this ending is a happy one. We have our precious pup home and my car smells like dirty, stinky, wet dog and has muddy footprints all over it. Well, at least one of those things is good. :)

A few weeks in the life...

We have been super busy around here! Let me give a super quick summary.

Weather very very very cold. As in, coldest it has been in 20 years. Water troughs freeze. Must use axe to break up the ice. Feel like manly lumberjack in a woman's body.
Water line to the horse's trough breaks. Must carry water from the house to the horses one 5 gallon bucket at a time. Feel like very sad and sore lumberjack in a woman's body.

Snow on the ground increases the amount of hay we have to feed the horses. Hay supplies dwindle. Must replenish.

Dogs have to spend much more time inside due to the weather. Dog hair army rises up and tries to take control. Vacuum cries. Dogs decide that carpets are meant to be the color of red mud and try their best to cover all carpeted surfaces with as many dog prints as possible. Carpet cleaning man celebrates at the continued business we give him. I decide that putting in hardwoods on said carpeted surfaces may have to happen sooner rather than later.

Weather warms. I sing from the rooftops!!

Our old house is under contract meaning that we can finally move our furniture!! YAY! But that means moving the masses of boxes we have neglected so that furniture may move to its new home. BOO!

Baxter decides that he would like to sleep all day (which is not a change for him at all) but would like to stay awake at night. Thinks we should do this as well. Barks incessantly during the night to ensure we abide by his schedule. I argue with him that I need a good solid 9 hours of sleep a night. He disagrees. He wins. We do not sleep through night for weeks. I cry.

In my personal boycott of life due to the cold weather I neglect the laundry. It continues to grow. As it turns out, neglecting it will not persuade laundry pile to stop growing. I almost drown in laundry and then scold myself for letting it get so bad.


That is the most concise summary I can do... Sure, I left out a bajillion things but who cares?! Till next time!