Times change...

It is sad how a couple of months can make such a difference. If this rescue insanity I am involved in has taught me one thing, it is to NEVER put your trust in a person. They will without fail let you down. They will stab you in the back, lie, steal, and take advantage all while they look you in the eye and call you a friend! While I have known this for a longtime I obviously have my moments of shear stupidity and think, "Nah, I can trust this person".

I was warned by many but I chose to be the blind one this time and refused to see it. But if somebody tells you that everything is on the up and up but refuses to show it to you on paper...they are probably trying to hide something. I still have a hard time believing it because I just don't want to but at this point too many things have transpired for me to be ignorant anymore.

I don't think I will ever understand the human mind! How people can make things right in their own minds when they are clearly so wrong....maybe thats a good thing?

Greyhound Haul

This is Mary, her racing name was "Bob's Sayre". She was born 04.04.01. The first race of her career was at Sounthland in Arizona on 11.02.02. In 09.04 she moved to Naples, Florida where she raced until 02.08.05. Ms. Mary competed in 148 races during her career. After retiring from racing Mary went to work as a blood donor. She left from Kansas yesterday(10.28.10) around 4:15 and finished her trip today (10.29.10) at 11:00 am. That is a long time for a dog to be cramped in the spaces shown below.

The good news is, Mary is completely retired now and will spend the rest of her days relaxing and being loved!

These are pictures inside the hauler...to the right...

And too the left...

This is the trailer...

and this is the truck.

More reflecting....

Who hoo...only a month and I am bloggin' again..... philosophically even...

So while scrubbing out my fridge after somebody spilled something....looked like puke but I don't think it was~LOL~blaring my Ipod and reffing a battle between two Rottweilers I was reflecting on "Christians" and "the church". I so many times hear people say that they cannot stand the hypocrisy in churches and the judgmental attitude of Christians. And I have to say that in my years of attending different churches and speaking with a multitude of Christians I have to agree. Though I know The Bible tells us not to "forsake the assembling", I completely understand the reasoning behind so many people not attending church.

I find it ironic that The Bible tells us the greatest commandment is to "Love one another" yet we quickly forget that when somebody does something we disagree with...and we also forget that little parable where Jesus said, "If any of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." If only we, who call ourselves Christians, could follow these two simple things we could, in fact, be Christ-like.

It is so sad that we get caught up on the little things. Whether it is the right church, right clothes, right gender, right Bible, going to church, not going to church, living in sin....It is not our place to judge but rather to love. I grew up being very judgmental and though I still struggle with this I have come to realize that we are ALL sinners .....no matter the sin...sin is sin!

My mom has an old print, complete with broken glass, hanging on her wall that was my Grandfather's, and it says, "There is so much good in the best of us, and some much bad is the rest of us, that it hardly behooves any of us to talk about the rest of us"....how true this is.

I think I shall sit down, keep my stones in my driveway and remember the next time that somebody sins that I am going to still love them because guess what? I am a big fat sinner too! ....and so are you.

Fighting a losing battle???

It's been 180 years since I have blogged but as I am approaching my 9th anniversary of animal rescue(March 23rd 2001 is the day I euthanized my Nikita and began this endeavor in her honor) I have been reflecting on the things that I have seen, learned, gained, and lost. Though I am certain I am a stronger and more educated person because of my involvement, I am equally as certain that I have lost a great deal as well.

It is not easy to remember that I can only make a small difference and save one animal at a time. Oftentimes it is too overwhelming to walk through the pound and see all the neglect, and suffering and realize that those animals that I leave there will die there, alone, not knowing why. It is almost equally as daunting to get countless emails everyday begging me to take animals because of: a child's allergy, the loss of a home, a job, the end of a marriage, or some other reason and each time respond, "I am sorry but we are full"...not that it isn't true but because it doesn't feel like it is enough.

And then the animals that I do bring into my home, I love and care for and then when I find a home for them I lose a little piece of myself. It has become increasingly difficult to let go over and over again. I don't know for sure why this is, I only that it is. Perhaps it is the animals that have stayed with me over a year because, for whatever reason, nobody wants them, or maybe it is because of the failure that I feel for those animals that I have not been able to save. This past year has undoubtedly been the most difficult and heart wrenching year for me, so as I approach my 9th year focusing on a cause that is so important to me I am reminded that many people have causes that are also important to them and must experience the same sense of failure that I oftentimes do, so I would like to share this little poem with you as a reminder that though it so many times seems we are not doing enough....we ARE making a difference.

The Starfish Story
Original Story by: Loren Eisley

One day a man was walking along the beach when he noticed
a boy picking something up and gently throwing it into the ocean.

Approaching the boy, he asked, “What are you doing?”

The youth replied, “Throwing starfish back into the ocean.
The surf is up and the tide is going out. If I don’t throw them back, they’ll die.”

“Son,” the man said, “don’t you realize there are miles and miles of beach and hundreds of starfish?
You can’t make a difference!”

After listening politely, the boy bent down, picked up another starfish,
and threw it back into the surf. Then, smiling at the man, he said…”
I made a difference for that one.”

The Fair and School.......

Madison's "show rabbit"

Levi~Kayla's Holland Lop

Mocho~Katelyn's Chocolate Dutch

Tico the rabbit in his cage


Mocho

Levi

Katelyn and Kayla

Madison
The girls showed rabbits at the fair for the first time this year. Madison is a Cloverbud so she set up a cage with a stuffed bunny this year. Katelyn had gotten a chocolate Dutch from Michelle(a BFF) last year and he placed first in the show! YAY. Kayla got a Holland Lop from the fair last year and he placed 3rd (out of 65!!). They did well grooming and caring for them and Madison would really like to show one in the open barn next year so we got Katelyn and Madison a Holland to share. Katelyn will show it in 4H and Madison will show him in the open barn. Kayla got a Lionhead and I am not sure yet if she or Madison will show her in the open barn. I will post pictures of the new babies later.
Today is the first day of school too. Madison is going to Willyard through open enrollment so she can be with her friend Maddie and be in Mrs. Biltz's class.

Additions, rants, and updates.....

Well...Selena/Sophia is probably not leaving us. I adore her and Madison has bonded a lot with the little Ticster...so Tico is staying for sure. Katelyn wants Nigel for her birthday which make us more than full in the dog department! UGH...not sure what to do about that...then the two Greyhounds that I pre adopted about 2 years ago are all of the sudden done and need out of their kennels by TODAY! I have had next to no updates on them and kind of had forgotten about them after hearing nothing for about a year and a half. I did tell the owners that I would take them into the rescue at least but I am most likely not going to be able to keep them. They were going to be flown into our tiny Portage County airport but some volunteer pilots and then out of nowhere she sends me an email asking me to drive 5 hours one way to meet someone in Michigan some place! UGH! Is it me or is that kind of a lot to ask?? I feel like I do an awful lot for animals but I HATE driving and...holy cow. I can only do so much!

The girls are starting school on the 31st. Madison is going to Willyard this year because I wanted her to be with her friends and have one of Kayla's old teachers, Mrs. Biltz...cuz she is awesome! This may have been a bad decision since we still only have one living car and can walk to West Main but....eh, I like making bad decisions!

We have fair this week. Madison is a cloverbud so she will set up a cage with a toy rabbit in it and the girls will have Mocho and Levi there. Hopefully they will show well and get ribbons! 3 guinea pigs that we adopted out through the rescue are being shown as well! So that will be fun to see them again.

Who lives at the zoo???....

Me and my Buddy....

Howie helping madison with an art project....

Foster JRT Tico......

Foster girl Selena.....

Amelia....

Penelope...

Eloise.........

Pearl.......

Bianca and Panda (no longer with us :-( )

Bernard............

Romeo running for rescues..........

R Annabelle at the dog park...........

Romeo and Madison...........

Baloo and Dylan...............

Jasper and his "Brother" Remington who is no longer with us. :-(

Well, we have lost two more ratties since my last post...have taken in and adopted out a couple of dogs, taken in more and some more birds too. But I would like to take the time to introduce who we have with us now.

Dogs~Our oldest dog is Molly Sue, a Cocker Spaniel/Schnauzer mix. She is 13. Next is Annabelle, a Greyhound. She is 10. Angel is a Lab/Greyhound mix, and she is 9. Baloo is an ex-racing Greyhound that is 7. Dylan is another ex-racer that is also 7. Romeo is a JRT/Shih Tzu mix that is 3 years old.

Cats~Ethan was our first boy~a GORGEOUS tabby that is almost 5 years old. Ameila is a Pixie Bob mix and she is around 4, Barbie a Bengal mix is around 3, Kelsie a long-haired dillute calico that is around 4 years old, London, around two, a grey and white DSH, and our two persian rescues, Toby (buff and white) and Heidi (tortie) that are now pushing 14!

Rabbits~Herbie~a chocolate dutch boy 3 years, Mocho, another chocolate dutch boy that is 2, Levi is a blue holland lop around 2 years old.

Guinea Pigs~Mario is a red abyssinian boy around 4 years old and Chester, Lionel, and Snowball all 3 white abyssinians around 2 years old.

Ratties~Pearl, Penelope,Matilda, Eloise, and Bianca are all about a year and a half old. Bernard is also about a year old and Jasper is pushing 3.

Birds~Howard is our lovebird that is around 2 and Buddy is our Hahns Macaw that is around 12.

Fosters~Dogs~Riptide~a Greyhound, Nigel~a Rottie mix, Selena~a rottie, Tico~a JRT. Cats~Yoshi- DSH, Kasper-DSH, Cocoa~Siamese, Lucas~Siamese. Rats~3 blue boys. Rabbit~Katrina. Birds~Phineas and Ferb(cockatiels), Rikki (mini macaw), Madison (African Grey).

So I guess I can say that I am, and having been doing my share of rescuing! LOL.