Year: 2016

Picture parade one hundred and forty-eight.

More Spring is Sprung.

(Continuing the thanks to Dordie for sending these to me.)

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If you missed the first set then they may be viewed here.

What really is important.

So much to learn from our animals.

It is so easy to become disillusioned with the world around us. But then all it takes is a little story or an act of kindness to remind us of what really is important.

That was my emotional reaction when I recently read the following item over on the Care2 website. I am taking the liberty of republishing it in full.

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Dangerous Dog Rescues Helpless Hummingbird in Grass

By: Laura S. May 10, 2016

About Laura

One can only speculate why a rescued dog named Rex refused to leave the side of an injured hummingbird lying in the grass. Was it compassion or simple curiosity?

According to Rex’s guardian, Ed Gernon, his German Shepherd mix was homeless for a very long time and had a reputation for getting along poorly with other animals.

“He was dangerous” told CBS News. “I mean, he fought with other dogs and he killed cats. He was an animal that had learned to live on the streets.”

During a neighborhood walk, Rex came to an abrupt halt with a laser-focus on the ground in front of him.

“He suddenly stopped and he would not move,” Gernon said of Rex’s discovery of the near-death hummingbird. “It’s tiny and it’s dead as far as I’m aware. It’s covered in ants. It’s got no feathers.”

But Rex apparently knew better. Not only did he realize that the bird was still alive, but he refused to leave it.

“He was trying to protect her, so I thought I’d go the distance.”

So, Gernon did the only thing he could think of at the moment. He scooped up the hummingbird and took it home. And there began a year-long process of rehabilitation inside Gernon’s home. That included using a hairdryer to help Hummer fly as well as regular feedings of sugar water.

Today Hummer is strong and ready for return to the wild, only she shows no interest in leaving just yet.

“It’s time for her to start mating,” Gernon said in his recent interview. “I keep leaving the doors and windows open thinking she’ll leave.”

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Laura closes her article by including the sensible advice:

Wildlife experts advise that licensed rehabilitation specialists should be consulted when caring for an injured wild animal.

As I said in my preamble all it takes is a little story or an act of kindness to remind us of what really is important.

You all have a wonderful weekend.

Hazel – Further Update

Only time will provide the definite answer.

(This update would have been brought to you much earlier this week had it not been for our internet problems.)

You will recall that it was a week ago that we took Hazel to see a specialist and I posted Hazel’s Probable Disease. That evening our vet friend, Jim, brought over a supply of Prednisone tablets with the instructions to stop the Fluconazole treatment and switch to Prednisone. We started at a dosage of one 20mg tablet every 12 hours.

Hazel enjoying the cool floor of our bathroom. — Hazel enjoying the cool floor of our bathroom yesterday afternoon.

Within twenty-four hours the Prednisone had stimulated a return of Hazel’s appetite and for the last seven days she has been eating very well. Plus she has regained an interest in the world around her and now comes out for walks with the other dogs.

Jim and I went for a short hike yesterday afternoon and we were discussing Hazel. Jim reminded me that while the lung pictures and the other evidence were pointing to it being cancer the actual tumour still hadn’t been found.

If there is no noticeable decline in, say, three or four weeks then it may not be cancer. Certainly, Jim said, if it is cancer then Hazel will not live out another three months.

Time will give us the answer.

Death is part of life.

Slowly picking up the pieces from our internet outage.

The fact that I was sitting in front of my PC at 4:30am yesterday morning writing this says a lot about the inconvenience of losing our internet connection last Friday evening. We love living in this rural part of Southern Oregon surrounded by such dramatic scenery but it does have a couple of downsides, one of which is that we are very limited as to internet service providers.

Anyway, on with the show!

One of the posts that I had in mind for earlier this week was this rather poignant piece from Chris Snuggs. Chris and I go back many years to the time when he was Head of Studies at ISUGA; a French college based in Quimper. I was a visiting teacher at ISUGA covering entrepreneurial topics.

Enough of me, here is that story from Chris. It was sent to me on the 10th May.

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My sister’s dog died last night. Margaret woke me at 03.00 in the morning saying she needed my help. I found her at the front door, where Jasper was lying motionless, having crawled there in his last moments.

“I think he’s gone,” she said, sobbing quietly.

I knelt down and felt his side; indeed, there was no sign of breathing, though his body was still warm. Jasper had died. He had been ill for a few days, been down to the vet and got some medicine, but it had been to no avail. Maggie said he had been unusually quiet and motionless that last evening, making strange noises as his lungs failed him. At 12 years old, one cannot say it was a surprise, but until the last few days he had been right as rain, barking senselessly at nothing in particular when let out into the garden, getting under my feet as I did jobs around the house.

But death of any companion – or indeed of any living creature – is moving, shocking. He was not my dog, nor do I see him often or for long, but the one thing about dogs is that once they make friends with you – as Jasper had with me – you are a friend for life.

No matter how depressed you are, no matter how low an opinion you have of yourself, no matter how sheit your day was, whenever you walk through that front door, a dog will greet you with his tail wagging. They have infinite love, devotion and optimism; they take you as you are and love you whatever you are.

And so Jasper will be missed by me, but of course more so by my sister, who had him from a puppy. As anyone who has lost a companion knows, the house seems empty afterwards. There will be no more greetings with the wagging tail, no more forbidden jumping up onto the sofa to be patted, no more barking at the seagulls in the garden.

Death is a part of life, but hard to accept even so.

Chris Snuggs

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Chris also forwarded some photographs of dear Jasper that are offered in memory of the little chap.

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