Tag: Home Depot

This will make you smile!

A lovely tale from The Dodo.

I was looking through my LfD future posts folder and came across this story about a rescue dog in Kentucky River, in Kentucky, a long way from here ( Merlin, OR).

But that doesn’t diminish in the slightest how beautiful this story is and how generous are the management and staff of Home Depot.

Read it and see what I mean. Thanks to The Dodo for publishing it.

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Dog Is Literally The Cutest Home Depot Employee Ever

“She finds who needs her and gives them that smile” 😍

By Lily Feinn

Published on the 11th June, 2021

When Heaven first went to live with Jackie Rakers, she was scared of everything.

The scruffy rescue puppy from Kentucky River Regional Animal Shelter had had a rough start to life and was nervous around strangers and loud noises.

Luckily, her mom found the perfect place to help her come out of her shell — Home Depot.

JACKIE RAKERS

“The Home Depot runs started as a way to help her with her fears,” Rakers told The Dodo. “She was nervous about new places and new sounds, so we’d go for five minutes and she’d get all the treats. Then we started going longer and longer and exposing her to more and more things within the store.”

The large, dog-friendly store was the perfect place for Heaven to socialize, and the pup was such a good girl on her visits that she earned her own tiny employee apron.

JACKIE RAKERS

Now, Heaven knows that when the apron comes out, she’s about to go to her favorite place.

“I keep it in the car so we are always ready,” Rakers said. “As soon as she can tell we are in the parking lot, she just quivers until I put [the apron] on her and then she takes off towards ‘work.’”

“She walks around like she owns the place,” Rakers added.

JACKIE RAKERS

Heaven has become a bit of a celebrity at her local Home Depot, where all the staff knows her by name, and there’s even a picture of her in the break room.

And while she may not be an official employee, when she’s at her favorite store, she offers excellent customer service.

“She walks around minding her own business and then suddenly insists on meeting someone,” Rakers said. “She just sits and stares. They always end up saying how they needed that pick-me-up. It’s like she has a sense of who needs to be shown they are loved that day — and one of her favorite places to do that is Home Depot!”

JACKIE RAKERS

Heaven loves running errands with her mom, and everywhere they go, she finds someone having a rough day who needs her smile.

“She was scared of everything, but with a lot of training and patience she learned to trust and now it’s like she pays it forward,” Rakers said. “She finds who needs her and gives them that smile and a cuddle.”

JACKIE RAKERS

The only downside of all their Home Depot runs is that every time they visit, Rakers comes up with a new home improvement project. But all the retail therapy is worth it when she sees how happy Heaven is and how far she’s come.

“She’s the perfect example of what happens when you meet someone where they are at and love unconditionally,” Rakers said. “She went from so scared and so sad to the happiest dog.”

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Thank goodness our local Home Depot here in Grants Pass (Oregon) don’t have a Heaven in the store. For if they did Jean and I would be in the store every day of the year. OK, maybe a small exaggeration but only a small one!

Seriously, Home Depot are to be congratulated. It’s good for the store. It’s good for the employees. It’s good for the customers. But it is fantastic for Heaven!

Just love this story!

Puppy Rescue

Sharing a recent Care2 story with you.

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Nearly One Million Watch Police Rescue Puppy at Home Depot

3183766.large By: Laura S. July 15, 2016

About Laura

“I’m 15 feet away and I can hear a two pound dog crying,” Great Plains SPCA’s Scott Poore says with frustration dripping in his voice, almost as much as the sweat on his brow in the 90 degree sun. “We’re going on about 45 minutes with this little dog in the back seat of this car.”

Standing in the parking lot of a Home Depot in Merriam, Kansas, Scott films a live stream broadcast that gives Facebook fans real-time access to the situation that every animal lover dreads: a dog locked inside a hot car.

But the circumstances of this particular rescue are even more bizarre than usual. First of all, this Home Depot allows dogs inside the store. Second, the puppy inside the vehicle was extremely young, only weeks old. Third, the woman went inside to shop without even slightly cracking the windows of the vehicle (although that would be of little benefit). Fourth, she actually lost her car keys so she wasn’t able to open the vehicle when she arrived.

“When the lady came out, she was absolutely blown away that anybody had an issue with this,” Scott said. “And that’s pretty typical.”

A misguided sense of affection actually seems to be at the root of most instances of dogs being left in hot cars. People bring the dogs along because they feel that the dogs will be lonely at home, but they don’t take into account the very real threat to the dog’s physical welfare.

According to the local news station, KCTV, the puppy was returned to his “owner” who was issued a citation. Watch the video and decide for yourself if the law enforcement action available to police under the current law will be sufficient to safeguard this puppy from additional neglect.

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Words fail me! But well done the police!

Terry Hershey, Payson Visit Announcement

Obviously only relevant to all those that are within reach of Payson, AZ. Apologies to my other readers.

Terry Hershey

Nationally Known Speaker and Writer will offer Free Seminars on March 14

Terry Hershey will visit Payson on Monday, March 14, to speak at Saint Paul’s Episcopal Church beginning at 2:00 p.m. and at the First Church of the Nazarene beginning at 7:00 p.m.

Mr. Hershey is an inspirational speaker, humorist and author who has been featured on The Hallmark Channel, CNN, and PBS.  He holds a mirror up to our fast-forward, disconnected lives, and invites us to share the wisdom of taking an intentional moment to help regain our personal and spiritual balance.

Terry lives, writes and teaches with passion, purpose, heart and grace. He captivates his audience with the motto: “Do less, live more”.  He creates an environment where we are given permission to become involved in the world around us, to want what we already have, to be embraced by moments of grace, to allow the child in us to play under a wide sky, to understand that laughter is a type of prayer and to take delight in our friends.

Terry Hershey is the author of ten books. The one that will be the focus of his inspirational presentation in Payson is “Soul Gardening”; winner of a “Book of the Year” award in 2010. Terry’s stories will nurture your soul and renew your sense of what it means to live fully alive.  To hear Terry speak is a life-affirming experience. Everywhere he appears, the feedback has been unanimously positive. For example:

Terry Hershey was truly humorous, enlightening and inspiring to one and all. He gave us permission to be embraced by grace.

He was truly the highlight of our year!

Terry’s lectures and books inspire one to see that happiness is already inside.

Terry Hershey will be speaking as follows:

Monday afternoon, March 14:

From 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. at Saint Paul’s Episcopal Church parish hall, located at 1000 N. Easy Street, in Payson at the corner of Sherwood Drive.  Note that seating and parking at St Paul’s is limited to about 50 people. If you plan to attend the afternoon session, please call 474-3834 to leave a message reserving a space.

Monday evening, March 14:

From 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the First Church of the Nazarene, 200 East Tyler Parkway, located at the northeast corner of Beeline Highway in northern Payson across from the Home Depot.  The parish hall will comfortably accommodate up to 200 people.  Please call 474-5890 to leave a message reserving a space.

These events are open to everyone at no charge.  Refreshments will be available at both sessions. Please plan to bring a friend with you.

Further information may be obtained from:

Paul Handover,  (928) 478 8612

John Hurlburt,   (928) 468 6572

Letter from Payson – the language barrier!

America and England are two Nations divided by a common language

The other day I was in Payson’s local Home Depot looking for what I call a torch.  As usual, if one has an air of not knowing where to look, it is only a matter of moments before a sales assistant asks if he or she may help.

The Home Depot - Payson, Az

Me: Excuse me but do you sell rechargeable torches?

Sales Assistant: I don’t think so, Sir, you would be best advised to ask at the Information Desk.

A few moments later, at said Information Desk … Do you stock rechargeable torches?

The young girl types on a keyboard, looks up at the screen and replies … I’m sorry Sir, we don’t stock those.

Surprised, I get on looking for the other items that I need.

About 10 minutes later, halfway down an aisle I notice – guess what – a decent selection of rechargeable torches! Pleased, I make my selection and on the way out to the tills pass by the original sales assistant who came to help me.

Me: You see you do sell rechargeable torches!

Sales Assistant:  Ah, we call them flashlights!

The point of this rather mundane story is to point out that the differences in language between American English and UK English are much more involved than the famous ones such as rubber and condom!

In fact there are so many different terms in the D-I-Y arena that I have stopped asking for items in what, to me, is the

Ace Hardware

obvious name and now tend to describe the problem that I am trying to fix.

Thank goodness, most of the assistants in Home Depot, and the equally efficient Ace Hardware, now see me coming and know that I’m still learning to speak American!

Is there a deeper element to this language difference?

I believe so.  Because the assumption is that you are going to be understood straight off.  If one was in a country where the natural language was other than English then, without doubt, you would know that verbal communication was going to be strained, to say the least.

In America we just take the language for granted. In practice, I suspect that verbal communications are much less effective than one assumes.

Finally, it’s interesting to note that Jean, who was married to an American for 30 years, effortlessly switches to both an American accent and vocabulary as soon as she is talking to the locals.  Will I, too, make the switch over time?

(If you are in need of a rechargeable torch yourself, here is a Home Depot coupon. Good luck!)

By Paul Handover

P.S. The quote that started this article appears to have been originated by George Barnard Shaw and not Winston Churchill as I previously thought.