We can learn alot from our pets...

I don't really have much to report. Although I guess if I were to think about my week I could come up with a laundry list of little "oh really" or "huh...." moments - but I don't feel like it.

The new job is going fabulously, but as with all new jobs I have my unavoidable DUMB moments where someone asks a question of me and I can feel the vacant look come over my face like a cloud passing in front of the sun. Luckily, I have never been alone in the office when this has happened - but now that I have said that I'm sure today I will get the mother load of things that I need to ask about before delivering the correct answer.

It warms me to see some of the relationships between "man" and "pet" so far. We could learn alot from our pets, really. I have always found pets, dogs in particular, a necessity in my life. They accept us unconditionally and each day for them is a sea of exploration and wonder of "every day" things. Each ant requires as much inspection and wonder as the mail man that peels away from the mailbox every day.

On Tuesday a yellow lab came into the hospital with a shattered back leg. Hit by a car. We had him in a room in the back while the owner went home to discuss the options with the family. Amputation or euthanasia. The leg was too badly crushed to save. He was only 2 years old.

I got to know this dog a little that day - he was as sweet as they come! He managed to chew through his tie out at one point and wandered around the office until he found somebody. With broken leg swinging along as he hopped - I guided him back to his spot as he wagged his tail and gave me a look that said, "I don't plan on being here long...."

With great misery, the man came back and said they wanted to save the dog and the amputation took place yesterday. When I came in to work, surgery was done and he was laying in "the run", his back leg quite noticeably gone and a shaved thigh in its place. In true animal fashion, he awoke with a wag in his tail and a twinkle in his eye. He got a bath and a walk outside before going back to the run to rest.

At one point yesterday afternoon, I was there alone and my new friend began to whimper for his pain. I went back and held his head in my hands and talked with him for a little bit. His tail gave me a thankful thump, thump - he blinked and blinked and he stared right into my eyes. It was a very strange moment. I watched him as he kept trying to figure out how to lay down. He could tell something was not quite right as he circled the bed. I had to fight the urge to go in and help him - they need to figure this out early on I was told. And he did. Later he was given a pain killer and got a much needed nap - having figured out how to lay down sans back leg.

A family member came to see him, too. A young boy of about 16 or 17. He stood at the counter and asked with a hopeful smile, "My dog is here....can I see him?" I lead him back to the run and he stood and watched his beloved friend sleep and sleep. I was encouraging and assured him that his dog would recover fabulously as dogs do - and he will have his friend back home in a few days.

I have to admit I will miss this dog a little when he goes home. I admire his happy and trusting soul despite all of his troubles. Yes, we can learn alot from a dog.

Happy Thursday!

Week in review

My week has been busy or at least busy according to my standards at the moment. The new job at the Pet Hospital is in a word...Awesome. It helped that I have known the people there for at least 15 years. I have taken my wide array of village idiots there over the years and it is no accident that the kindness and care they show to animals also carries over to people in general. I can only remember having one job where I thoroughly enjoyed the atmosphere as well as the people - and the big one - fully enjoying what I do. I am enjoying connecting the dots in my life these days and a very religious person shared some very promising thoughts with me one day. If we can endure the hardest of times in our life and just believe and have faith that in a big picture it all makes sense God will make the suffering worth our while. I believe this to be true.

Well - I never meant to go that route today but I guess since it did I may as well share this, too:

Another thought provoking situation this week. I have a good friend who has been in a difficult situation for a long time. It is hard to see a good friend struggle. It is even harder to witness very poor decisions and the inability to face one's issues. In everyone's eyes, this friend was hiding from the world and refusing to acknowledge the people at the heart of the mess. It got to a point where this person was so caught up in things in the past and nasty personal attacks, I don't know that the reason for the entire saga was even remembered at this point.

In an email, this person asked some things of me that would have played into the name calling and character assassinations already alive and well. I don't know where I got it that day. I delivered a tongue lashing and "get over it" speech so eloquent that I think EB Browning would have been impressed. I thought surely this would be the end of our friendship but I guess I was willing to risk that, looking back, although that never occurred to me at the time.

Our friendship endured and the situation has taken a positive turn and a productive meeting was had with the parties involved. I guess the lesson I learned from it all was that you must be able to approach the people you care about no matter how difficult the conversation might be. There are ways to say difficult things. Something I can say I was never very good at in the past. I don't know where "it" came from that day but I am glad I found "it".

So, not bad weeks "work" so far. LOL

I have more about the week for the next post since this one became more about life as it goes and not the usual banter. I don't know how that happened but it must have been on my mind.

Happy Thursday!

This and that...

It is a rainy Monday. I don't mind though. I think a rainy, cloudy day is way under rated. There is something about fiddling around the house when it is raining outside that is very productive. I even managed to put the weekends laundry away and clean the toilet (that's not to say I did the laundry in the toilet, mind you).

This past weekend was fairly quiet - dined out with some friends Friday night. We picked them up and they gave us a tour of their backyard garden before we left. After seeing their lovely adornments I plan to copy one thing in particular for my own yard. A bottle tree. I don't know what rock I have been living under but I didn't know they even existed. My friend made her own (some of them you can use a dead tree). She put a long wooden pole in the ground and then attached bottles to it using long screws and white lights throughout. Very neat. My bottle search has begun.

The previous weekend we went to a "Fly In" breakfast in a town close by. We had pancakes and then for $15 we took a plane ride around NE Iowa. The pilot even flew us over our house. It was a little 3 seater and I was proud to sit in the co-pilot seat. As we took off, the wheel in front of me began to move and lights came on. It was then I let the pilot know I could take over whenever he wanted. LOL Yeah - picture Karen Black (I think that's her name) in the Airport '77 film. Only I had my hair in a pony tail which would be much less dramatic...

Anyway - all I can say about the ride is that it was like floating. Amazing. I have never been in a small plane - only the cantankerous jets that I used to need a gallon of beer to be able to even consider boarding. I have come a long way. I have no fear these days and it is lovely.

My husband started a rather amusing project yesterday. He plans to erect a 30 ' pole within eye shot of the kitchen window. To the top of that he is going to place an old satellite dish - hanging down so that it looks kind of like a tall skinny mushroom. This will be a bird feeder, apparently. He has all the plans drawn out to where each little feeder will hang from the large dish. He will make a long pole that he will use to reach each feeder from the ground to refill. He considered a pulley system - but that might be treacherous in these Iowa winters. I will try to follow the project with a few pictures on a future post. The pole is in the ground now - I have not asked him how he plans to get the dish on top. This will most certainly be a Kodak moment.

So - now I owe you a couple pictures. The Redneck Crossing has down sized a little, I see. They have removed the caped dog and wild boar. Perhaps they went to market. Well, the boar anyway. I have not seen much activity there in the recent days. Maybe I can resurrect him if I take a few more pictures. Perhaps it is an ego boost and he will get busy again!

One last little update - I have a real job now and I never even applied for it! Long story short, the Pet Hospital where we take our animals has been looking for another staff person all summer. They tanked on the interview process so they decided to think of people they knew that might be a good fit and - thought of me! So, I trained a little last week and start for real this week (tomorrow). I have seen a couple surgeries so far and lots of puppies! It is such a calm and kind environment I cannot help but think I am just meant to be there.

Well, I am off for today. I have a Mystery Shop to do at a fast food place today. I am to park discreetly where I can see the drive through. I am to time the cars going through during the lunch hour and then eventually go through myself and order a burger with specific items left off. I wonder how bad they will screw that up. I have never had much luck with special requests in a drive thru. I hope I have enough paper.

Happy Monday!