And This Little Piggy....

I think we have all seen animals who would mother orphaned babies of other species, but this is one of the cutest and oddest I've seen. This mother dachshund took in the baby pig as if he were one of hers. Isn't that sweet?!

These photos came from a good email buddy, but he didn't say where he got them.

I was surprised to see how much fuzzy hair was on that piggy. My mom used to tell me stories of life on the farm when she was a girl, and she always had a favorite baby pig and lamb in each season. She told me she had to give it up because it hurt too badly when the animals were slaughtered. I don't think I could handle that either.

*********

Thanks to all who offered opinions and advice about painting the kitchen. I have decided to patch the holes and apply primer to the walls first, and then paint some more choices to look at for a while, in all shades of daylight and at night. I am in no hurry, since it took me about 10 years to decide to remove the wallpaper - I guess I can handle a few more weeks!

A Bit of This and a Bit of That

My granddaughter G___ and her sister's new Chihuahua puppy "Snickerdoodle".

My grandaughter E___ and her puppy. I didn't get a good photo of it, but Doodle's tail has the cutest curl in it, just like a little piglet.

G's___ new puppy "Lucy". Lucy and Doodle were both born on March 15th, but they were bought from different breeders. Lucy has to grow some to catch up!

Doodle tries to play ball. You should know that the basketball is only about 4" across. Doodle weighs 2 lbs. now, and will probably weigh about 5-7 when she is grown. Don't ask me why the carpet showed up as that color! It is actually darker and so are the puppy's spots.

<<<<<<<<<<<

The first blooms of 2007 on my rambling rose.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>

There is no religion without love, and people may talk as much as they like about their religion, but if it does not teach them to be good and kind to other animals as well as humans, it is all a sham.

Anna Sewell, writer (1820-1878)

>>>>>>>>>

An epoch will come when people disclaim kinship with us as we disclaim kinship with the monkeys.

Kahlil Gibran, mystic, poet, and artist 1883-1931)

Griffin the Lucky!

I promised photos of Griffin the Lucky and here they are! His new papa sent these to me today. The top pic is pre-haircut and the bottom is post-haircut. Does "gray and scruffy" cover it, or what??!!

Don't you like a dog that can look you straight in the eye? I do - and people too - of course. My mom told me to always be suspect of a person who refused to look you in the eye, and I think it applies to dogs as well. It appears that we could trust Griffin, doesn't it?

While I am on the subject, you should know that Griffin's new mama is a fabulous interior designer and silk floral maven, and his papa is just about the best thank-you-note writer and nicest all-around guy I've ever known. His mama raised him right!

If you have not read the post about how Griffin got lucky, go back to May 13th and see his story.

How Griffin Got Lucky!

When my friend A___ married my friend J___, she owned a brown spaniel mix dog named Benson. Benson had curly hair like a poodle, and it was soft and cuddly. He weighed about 40-50 lbs. and he was a wonderful pet. About 2 months ago, Benson passed away, leaving both of them sad beyond belief. They didn't think they wanted to get another dog right away, so they resigned themselves to being dog-less.

About 2 weeks ago, J said to A: "I think we ought to think about getting another dog. We are just too sad." A agreed and it was decided that they would begin a search for the perfect dog.

Later that night, J had a dream, which he told A about on waking: Someone had come to their home and taken J out to the garage. "Look up in the rafters" he said, and when J looked, there were four dogs up there.

A asked, "What did they look like?" and J said that he could only remember one of them - a gray and scruffy-looking mutt.

That morning, after they had gone to work together at their business, a friend called, telling them that she wanted to bring a dog to see them. He had been at the SPCA for 29 days and was scheduled to be gassed on the 30th day, if no one adopted him. This friend was from a rescue agency, and she knew that this dog was too good to let die. So she brought him to their business to visit, and he has never left their side! They named him Griffin, and I met him this week. He is the sweetest, calmest, 2 yr. old gray and scruffy-looking mutt I've ever met. He allowed me to scratch his cheeks, while looking up at me with a big smile on his face which seemed to say, "I have landed in Heaven here, and I know it".

I think he has.

(If I can get a good photo of Griffin, I'll post it asap.)

<><><><><><><><>

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY !! TO:

birth mothers

adoptive mothers

mothers-to-be

foster mothers

surrogate mothers

Godmothers

grandmothers

great-grandmothers

wannabe mothers

and anyone I have left out!

Two....... (Minus One)

Recently I told you that my son was going to let his daughters each adopt a puppy. They wanted the Japanese chin dogs, but those had already been adopted by the time their application arrived. So they decided to attend another rescue dog adoption event - and they did - but there were no puppies available. Then they contacted a local breeder, who had a pair of chihuahua pups for sale. They brought the puppies home recently.

They were described as tiny balls of fuzzy love and kisses; I was anxious to see for myself. The call came this morning; one puppy died last night. The pups had worms and they were medicated at the vet's office and sent home to get well. Apparently one of them had been sick last night, and aspirated the contents into her lungs. She died after her new little owner, my nine year old granddaughter had gone to sleep for the night. Her mom and dad woke her up this morning to tell her the news, and while she was understandably upset, she opted to go on to school today. They promised another trip to the breeder this weekend. I am just so sorry for her.

Once when I was about 9-10, my dog was hit by a car and killed instantly. She was a silky, black cocker spaniel and the love of my life. My mom and dad wanted to replace her as soon as possible, and so they got a new puppy, a tiny ball of black and white fluff, of indeterminate parentage. I can't even remember what I named her. I had her for about 1 week and someone poisoned her food, which my mom had left out on the porch (off our fenced yard). I was devastated, in the way that I know my little grand-girl must be too. It is so hard to understand things like this when you are young. I hope that G______ will be able to put this behind her soon, when she gets another new puppy.

A Double Adoption in the Offing?

I had a call from my son last night. He has caved. Finally.

His daughters have been after him to get a puppy. Their old dog died several years ago, and since then their only pets have been betta fish and a sun conure (parrot) named Sammy. The bird is their mother's pet and he is a one-woman bird, so the girls want something they can call their own.

Their pet shop was having a day of adoption with a local pet rescue agency last week, and as he surveyed the animals, the younger girl came running to the front of the store with a 2-year old Japanese chin dog in her arms. Tears streaming down her face, she begged, "Please, please Daddy......if you'll get me this dog you can take back all my birthday presents and I'll take care of her and she's all I've ever wanted."

Daddy and daughter # 2 looked around for the older sister, and they found her sitting on the floor with another Japanese chin puppy (4 months old) asleep in her lap. The same pleading (minus the tears) ensued. Her thought was that her younger sister should not get to choose the family dog. So, he said they might be able to get both.

He reported that his wife looked at him as though he had lost his mind, since she tried to get him to agree to a dog at Christmas, and he wouldn't hear of it, and now, just 4 months later, he is considering two of them?!

If you have ever filled out an application for adoption with a rescue agency, you will know what I mean when I say that you have to tell them everything you have ever done with and for a pet. They want to know if you have ever surrendered a pet to the SPCA, and why. If you have, that alone may prevent you from being allowed to adopt one of their animals. The process entails filling out the application, and if they think you might be okay to own a dog, they bring the dog to you for 10 days. If they judge you to be a good pet steward, then they will award the dog to you. I think it might be easier to borrow $10K when you have no credit than to adopt a dog from these people.....LOL. At the moment, he doesn't know if they will be allowed to get the dogs or not. I'll keep you posted, and if they get them - photos will be taken!

EDIT: thanks to Shephard (see blogroll) I now have a good photo of this type of dog. See what good friends we make in the blogesphere??!! Thanks, Shephard.

Persistent = tenacious and enduring; to go on resolutely in the face of opposition or importunity.

This bear also shows the qualities of determination! The photos got out a sequence a little when I was uploading them, but you'll get the idea.

Frank Lloyd Wright:
"I know the price of success: dedication, hard work, and an unremitting devotion to the things you want to see happen."

This is certainly a devoted bear!

The person who sent me this also speculated about what that line was made of. It had to be very strong to hold that bear without breaking.

Got a New Coat, Cape or Jacket?

If so, and it has fake fur trim, you might want to check out where it came from. According to an article from the AP in our paper, the Humane Society has discovered that some fur-trimmed jackets are not fake fur at all - but canine fur!

The coats in question were purchased from reputable stores, such as Nordstrom, and had designer labels: Andrew Marc and Tommy Hilfiger, for example.

"It's an industrywide deception," said Kristin Leppert, the head of the Humane Society's anti-fur campaign.

I'm not much for fur; fake or otherwise, but if I bought an article of clothing and found out it was dog fur - well - suffice it to say I'd be furious (no pun intended).