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.”