06.29.09
Posted in animals, family, theology at 10:03 pm by david
4 years. Not a very long time at all. Today is Sasha’s birthday. We adopted her 4 years ago today. Never imagined she would not be here for it. I still can’t believe it.
6½ weeks. That’s how long it has been since our lives changed forever and we lost our sweet Sasha. I still think about her constantly. I still do things like try to stifle my sneezes so I don’t bother her.
5½ weeks. Since Other Jennifer sent out the alert about 5 dogs dumped at Lake Conway.
4 weeks. Since we participated in our first dog rescue. We saved the lives of 4 dogs that day.
3½ weeks. Since our second rescue and we saved the lives of another 4 dogs.
2 days. Since we decided to have a dog in our house again, if only temporarily. This is Russ:
Russ is one of the 4 from the first rescue. Amazingly, of the 8 we rescued, he is the only one that is heartworm positive. Because the All About Labs ranch is outdoors, he can’t be there and go through heartworm treatment. The treatment itself is very hard on a dog and he needs to be in a cool, comfortable location. That’s where we come in. We picked him up from the ranch this past Saturday and we will take him to his vet appointments in LR and take care of him for the next few months while he goes through his treatment.
We have a crate set up in the living room for him, and he doesn’t seem to mind it at all (though I think he would rather lie on the kitchen floor). This is probably the first time he has ever been in a house, and he was not at all sure about it coming in. But once he discovered that it was safe, comfortable, and, most of all, cool, he was totally sold on the concept. He is ridiculously laid-back and spends most of his time lying in the kitchen or living room. There have been a couple of time we have forgotten he was here. We’ll just round the corner from the kitchen and, oh yeah, there’s Russ.
He is also a huge love hog. Once you get started loving on him, you had better have a clear schedule, because he wants as much as he can get. He is a big boy—a solid 50 pounds and almost none of that is fat. He is so gentle though. Anna loved him immediately and was giving him hugs as soon as we got home. (We have yet to successfully capture a picture of her hugging him, but it is so sweet.)
We just got his rabies tag from LR today, but we needed some form of ID on him immediately, so we got a tag at PetSmart on Saturday. It has our names and phone numbers on it and reads “Foster Dog 1.” Call it accepting the inevitable. As Other Jennifer pointed out, I think we are getting hooked on this dog rescue thing. It will certainly be a job that is never finished (unfortunately). (Jennifer also helped rescue #9 last week and I am working on helping with #10.)
Why are we doing all of this? To borrow the ASPCA’s tag line, we are their voice. We have domesticated these animals so that they are wonderful companions, but are dependent on us. And then we have betrayed that dependence with abuse and neglect. They can’t speak for themselves; we have to speak for them. We have to stand up for them. We created the problem; we have to solve it.
Why are we doing all of this? Because God has blessed us with a passion. I told Him I don’t want to live a trivial life. To borrow from Matthew West’s song, I don’t want to spend my whole life asking, “What if I had given everything?” I want God to call my bluff when I gripe about people not doing enough to fix the injustices in the world.
Why are we doing all of this? Because just over 4 years ago, someone else did this for Sasha.
Time marches on. But time doesn’t heal jack.
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06.22.09
Posted in theology at 9:25 pm by david
Also during yesterday’s sermon on Eph. 5:1-2, Ken discussed 2 primary categories of God’s attributes: communicable and incommunicable.
Communicable attributes are ones which we share, but imperfectly so: mercy, grace, love, sentience.
Incommunicable attributes are ones which are solely God’s: sovereign, omnipotence, omniscience, aseity (that is, existing completely independent of anything or anyone else).
By the very nature of us and God, we cannot obtain any of the incommunicable attributes. We do exhibit the communicable attributes, however, and are capable of growing the manifestations those attributes in our lives.
It occurred to me that we regularly get into a lot of trouble by either striving for or perceiving we have incommunicable attributes and then disregarding the communicable attributes.
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Posted in language, theology at 9:09 pm by david
During the sermon yesterday on Eph 5:1-2, our pastor, Ken, gave a definition of love as “pursuing the best for others, regardless of cost to self.”
Just today read this definition of heroism from Philip Zimbardo: “taking action on behalf of others (or a moral cause) in need, with awareness of potential personal cost and no expectation of tangible rewards.”
Interesting similarities, no? Neither of these definitions should be treated as canonical, but that I should discover them both around the same time is intriguing to me. (A temporal version of bibliomancy, I suppose.) I’m not sure I’ve heard many correlations between the two concepts: love and heroism. Heroes are often described as philanthropic, but loving? Those who are very loving are often described with regard to their compassionate nature, but heroic? But there is substantial overlap in selflessness. Both groups (heroes and lovers, for lack of a better term) are often described as selfless, thereby returning us to the quotes above.
Want to be a hero? Start loving.
Discuss amongst yourselves.
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06.15.09
Posted in family, food at 9:55 pm by david
Some dear friends of ours are at Children’s Hospital right now with their 5-month old daughter. I’m going to swing by Chick-Fil-A (one of my absolute favorite places) tomorrow morning to pick up some breakfast for them. Knowing this, I asked Jennifer, “Would it be wrong to have a peach milkshake for breakfast?” Jennifer replied, “Why would that be wrong?”
Yes!
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06.07.09
Posted in animals at 9:46 pm by david
Thursday morning, I met Donna and Judy at the PetSmart in LR to transfer Reba and the pups to them. Judy was coming there anyway as that is the location of the weekly transport.
PETS is an amazing operation. Pretty much every Thursday, the transport comes by to take dogs rescued in the South to their forever homes in New England. (You see, up there they actually have spay and neuter laws, and, therefore, have very little trouble with pet overpopulation. They have to import rescues from the South.) Judy was sending at least a dozen dogs on the transport, and MAGRR was also sending May to Memphis on the same transport. I was glad I got to see May one last time before she went to Memphis.
The transport is a huge, modified horse trailer.
They can carry up to 100 dogs in secure, air conditioned comfort. This company’s sole purpose is the transporting of rescued dogs; how cool is it to have a business like that?
May rode up in the tack room, rather than in the main compartment. That large crate on the bottom is hers.
Rescuers come from all around the state for the transport, and I got to meet some amazing people and helped them load the dogs onto the transport. After we got everyone loaded, it was time to say goodbye to Reba and the pups.
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06.04.09
Posted in animals at 10:13 pm by david
No sign of Mr. Skittish when we went back on Saturday after finishing up at the ranch. Also no sign of him on Sunday, though Other Jennifer talked to some folks who had seen him with another couple of dogs.
On Monday, Jennifer and I celebrated our 12th anniversary. So, to celebrate, we dropped off Anna with her grandparents and went to the lake to find Mr. Skittish (and to tear down the campsite we had set up so as to not encourage other dog dumpers). And find him we did—along with another dog and her 3 pups. We were back to 5 dogs to rescue! And let me tell you, these new dogs were stinkin’ cute! The momma looked to be a golden/sheltie mix and her pups (not more than a few months old) looked to have some shepherd in them. And they were so friendly.
We spent a while feeding them and playing with them while discussing our options. We came so close to getting Mr. Skittish in a crate, but he just wouldn’t go. He is smart, fast, and has excellent hearing and reflexes. I can never play poker with him because he obviously knows my tells. Since we couldn’t get Mr. Skittish, and we weren’t 100% convinced these dogs were strays (as opposed to pets of a lousy owner to whom they would return later), we decided to regroup and come back for them later. We then headed out to eat at Ruby Tuesdays (along with our BOGO coupon) and discuss this new discovery.
After we got home from dinner (and the grandparents were kind enough to bring Anna back into town since we were running late from our dog exploits), we contacted Donna at AAL again to try to find out where we could put these new dogs. (We offered to foster momma after she was vetted. She is just so darn cute!) Donna got back with us and told us that she could take the pups and another rescuer (Judy) in Malvern (about 1 hour south of us) could take momma.
Jennifer went back during the day on Tuesday, but they weren’t there. We later hypothesized that they wander during the day and come back in the evening, around 7. So on Wednesday, we met Other Jennifer out at the lake around 7, and sure enough, they were all there. We were pretty certain they were strays or abandoned at this point based on the number of ticks on them and how hungry they were. After trying for about an hour, we still weren’t able to get Mr. Skittish, but, after talking it over and calling Donna for input, we decided to go ahead and get momma (whom Other Jennifer had named Reba) and her pups. Judy was going to be in LR on Thursday morning, so that would be the perfect time to have her take Reba back with her.
After very easily getting the pups in the crate we still have on loan from Teri, we put them in the back of the Highlander and put momma on the floor board of the back seat. I sat in back with her and Anna (with my feet up on the front seat since Reba was directly beneath me) and headed out. We figured we could keep them in our garage for the night, especially since the weather had cooled off, but we needed to swing by the in-laws to pick up their doggie-fence. We finally got home and Jennifer tended to Anna (who was up past her bedtime) while I tended to the dogs. I got the fencing set up to keep them corralled in the garage (and left the Highlander in the driveway for the night), Jennifer got them some water, and we put down some towels for them to use if they wished.
All 4 were perfect on the drive and all night long. I turned on an oscillating fan in the garage to give them some air flow and white noise and left the laundry room light on to give them just a little bit of light. They were all zonked out before we went to bed.
I’m not ready for another dog just yet, but it was nice having dogs around again.
Nope, the story still isn’t over…
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06.02.09
Posted in animals at 10:25 pm by david
We arranged with Lynda and Kevin of MAGRR to meet at the lake around 10:00 Saturday morning. Other Jennifer had a crate, and we were getting a crate from Jennifer’s folks, so we had to come up with 3 more crates for transport. Donna told us that Lynda could bring a couple of crates to fit in the back of her SUV, so we called up our friend, Teri (who used to work for Conway AWU and now volunteers for SPOT), and she supplied us with 2 large crates. Other Jennifer also conscripted her boyfriend and his pickup to the task.
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05.31.09
Posted in animals at 2:22 pm by david
Through a truly miraculous exhibition of God’s provision, 4 of the 5 abandoned dogs have now been rescued! We have room for the 5th, but he is so skittish around people that we were not able to get him yesterday when we got the others. We haven’t given up on him, though, and we will continue going out to try to find and catch him.
So much has happened this past week as we tried to get these pups rescued, that it may take up several posts. Jennifer has posted on the rescue itself already. This post will focus on the day before the rescue.
After getting no where all week with most every single animal group we called (either they were past capacity or I didn’t hear back from them), we were considering that we were going to have to foster all them between us and Other Jennifer. The Memphis Area Golden Retriever Rescue (MAGRR) had agreed to take the golden, but they wouldn’t be able to arrange transport until Wed, June 3, so we still needed to find a home for her for a few days. We had been planning to take them all to the Humane Society of Faulkner County’s clinic on Saturday, but HSFC is so overwhelmed that it takes them a long time to reply to communications and by Friday we still didn’t have confirmation of appointments at the clinic. We couldn’t bring them to our homes until they had been vetted, so we tried contacting some other vets, but no one could squeeze us in given the late notice.
As Friday afternoon wore on, we knew we weren’t going to be able to rescue these dogs on Saturday. Right before I left work, I sent a note to the Jennifers asking if we could have a quick phone call that evening to regroup and figure out next steps. I was crushed. Jennifer and I already had plans for next weekend so we couldn’t do anything then. Would it be another 2 weeks before we could get these dogs rescued?
I was driving through North Little Rock on my way home when my cell phone rang. I answered and it was Donna from All About Labs (AAL). I had left her a message earlier in the week and Lynda, from MAGRR, had gotten in touch with her that day. Donna told me they had worked it out so that AAL would take care of the golden until MAGRR could arrange transport to Memphis. Not only that, but they were going to take the other 4 and house them at their ranch! Pure, unadulterated, divine intervention! With that 1 phone call we went from not being able to save any of the dogs to being able to save all of them!
The rest of the drive home, I was either on the phone with Donna, Lynda, or Jennifer, or I was profusely thanking God for His amazing provision.
Now, we just had to get the dogs to the ranch…
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05.25.09
Posted in animals, celtic, food, miscellaneous at 5:14 pm by david
A couple of weeks ago, on the way home, I started thinking about things I would like to do before I die. Yesterday, during the sermon, our pastor referenced The Bucket List, so I figured it at least gives me a segue to post this.
- Eat fish and chips in a pub in Ireland while listening to some Irish trad, preferably including uilleann pipes.
- While in Ireland, hear Robin Mark lead worship.
- Eat a 3×3, fries, and shake at In-N-Out.
- Set up a dog hotel. Not like the movie. Just have a good stretch of land where we can have a place to comfortably take care of a number of dogs. Probably after I quit working full-time and we are empty-nesters.
- Travel the BBQ Trail in Texas (and eat at each place and any other I pass on the way).
- While in Texas, drink a Dublin Dr. Pepper.
- Become a KCBS Certified Judge
- Hit the IRS limit on deductible charitable contributions
And I want to do all of those things with my family. If they aren’t there, it just won’t be as fun. (They don’t necessarily have to participate in everything, like eating at every single BBQ joint, but they are going to come along for the ride, and they are going to enjoy it!)
Yes, there are several food items. Apparently my bucket originally held 11 herbs and spices.
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05.23.09
Posted in animals, frustrations at 8:37 pm by david
For the first time since Sasha died, I went up the Conway Animal Welfare Unit to walk/play with the dogs. When I got there, though, I found out they have suspended the volunteer program for at least several weeks! They keep the dogs that bite in a separate area, called the bite cage. Volunteers are not supposed to walk those dogs. Some volunteers went in there to walk those dogs. Know what? They got bit. So some fools have ruined it for the rest of us (not to mention the dogs as well).
We had other tasks to attend to, though. Last night a friend of Jennifer’s (also named Jennifer, so I will refer to her as “Other Jennifer”) posted to her Facebook that she found 5 dogs that had been dumped at the Tom Courtway access at Lake Conway and was trying to find a way to help them.
It is outside Conway so Conway AWU won’t do anything. Other Jennifer tried calling the Humane Society of Faulkner County and got an answering service who told her HSFC tends to be slow returning messages (and I’ll bet they are even slower on long weekends). HSFC doesn’t have a shelter, but we need to get these dogs to a vet first. All have ticks and at least 2 have hurt legs. When I was up at Conway AWU this morning, I asked if they had any ideas or contacts that might answer on a Saturday. They had the same number for HSFC that we did and suggested calling Humane Society of Pulaski County, as they sometimes take dogs from Faulkner County if they have room. They do not have room, and they were rather put off by AWU referring us to them and said that AWU “doesn’t do crap.” I’ve gotten a similar reaction towards the Humane Society from someone with AWU connections. Aren’t we all on the same team here? Why can’t we get some degree of inter-agency cooperation here?
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