Oh Maggie, My Maggie
First: Maggie is alive. Second: She almost wasn't. All thanks to a cork. Which she ate. Which almost killed her. I'm telling the story in hopes it will educate, inform, and inspire. And don't we all love a good dog story, as long the the dog doesn't die? This one didn't, but it was pretty damn close. It all started on Monday, June 13th, when Maggie began vomiting. At first I wasn't particularly distressed; we all know owning a dog means cleaning up the occasional vomit on the rug. But the vomiting continued, and became so violent that her body actually was pushed backward by the force of her stomach expelling its contents. "Rocket vomit," I'm going to call it. Lots of yellow Read More
What Would YOU Like to Talk About?
Due to a glorious visit from five family members, straight out of a commercial for _______ (Fill in the blank--Allergy medicine? Arthritis medicine?), in which old people are still able to keep up with and enjoy the youngsters, I'm behind on everything else. "Everything else" being far less important than family, right? (Note: Using the word "youngsters," makes me feel old right there.) I was looking at past posts, as I do on occasion, to see if I could repost something I wrote that hadn't been covered in a while, and was reminded that asking readers what they like to talk about has resulted in all kinds of good things. As in, me learning things I didn't know before, and/or, didn't know I Read More
Requiem to Rehoming
You might have noticed that there have been no photographs of cats in the last several months. That's because there are no cats living here now, but I couldn't write about it until it wasn't so raw. (See many of Brené Brown's works for excellent discussions of when, and when not, to go public with something that's difficult and personal.) Here's the story, starting with the stars of the show: Nellie and daughter Polly came to the farm ten years ago. Nellie had shown up at a friend's place, not far away, a starving, pregnant adolescent who clearly had been well socialized. She had seven kittens growing in her belly, and was otherwise skin and bones. Our friends Bonita and Fredericka Read More