The topic of today's musing is a subject near and dear to my heart.  Pets.  I have had a lifelong passion (and compassion) for animals, and have had some type of pet nearly continuously for most of my life!  As a child, it was mostly cats.  But I've also had turtles, a garter snake, a frog, birds, gerbils, hamsters and fish.  I rehabbed a baby robin that was abandoned by its mother.  The ungrateful little bugger flew off when it was ready to live its life without so much as a thank you or visit back to see us.  LOL!  Anyway, I am totally softhearted about pets.  As a young grade school kid, it wasn't unusual for me to lug home a big huge furry cat, and tell my mom that "It's lost.  It needs a home".  My mom would tell me "That cat belongs to someone!  Take that cat back where you found it."  We had a variety of different pet cats growing up.  I really can't recall how they came to be with us, but I'm pretty certain they were homeless shelter cats that we adopted and not ones that I carried home!

I do remember a cat I adopted for myself when I was older.  She was a pretty Burmese (brown and exotic looking), that we picked up from the shelter.  She was technically mine to manage and care for even though I was still living at home.  Hershey had alot of dog like behaviors.  She even came to live with me when I first started my career, in Cincinnati Ohio.  That cat taught herself to pee in the toilet!  She traveled between Ohio and Detroit, curled up in my lap.  (yeah, yeah, not safe, but I was young and stupid then).

Since then, I've had cats that seem to find ME!  Midnight and Amber were both homeless little kittens that managed to get my attention at work and ended up moving in with us.  Right now we have Holly Berry, a reformed feral cat (that's a cat from a wild colony) that I caught and tamed.  She identifies more with the canine world than feline world.  Chloe and Haley were her role models.  Holly is crate trained, eats dog biscuits and just about anything else!  She also comes when called.  I've taught her to sit on command.

Pet ownership is not just about cats, tho!  We stumbled into dog ownership rather abruptly and suddenly when we welcomed Chloe and Haley into our home.  Chloe is our 12 year old Pomeranian who came to us via a relative who needed to rehome her due to a conflict with another dog living in the same house.  Ironically, we ended up with Haley around the same time. (That's a long story)  Haley was a gorgeous little, Papillon, and a rescue of sorts.  She was returned to the breeder because of a change in the first owner's home situation.  Haley, being so small at 5 pounds, did not adapt well to living with small children that had moved in.  Haley ended up living with my parents for the few years they were able to care for her.  My parents had lost both their dogs not that much earlier.  Haley provided them with companionship and protection (yes, she scared off an intruder with her big dog bark and she alerted my dad to a health crisis involving my mom).  When my parents could not care for her any longer, Haley joined us here.  Haley crossed to Rainbow Bridge in Sept of 2013 at the age of 12.  She lived with chronic renal failure for about the last 3 years of her life, so making it to 12 was a milestone.  She was a tough cookie, and I did everything I could to manage her disease which gave her a little more quality time with us.

The call to change another four legged life was strong for me, so we ended up going to look at a stray pup one month after Haley died.  She was older Pomeranian available at a shelter about 3 hours from here. A mini twin to our Pom, Chloe.   She was such a mess.  Shaved because of fleas and mats.  Red and itchy from flea dermatitis.  Scared to death and fearful of being picked up or touched unexpectedly.  She would snap and fear bite.  Her back legs seemed impaired too.  Such a sad case. Naturally,  I just had to have her.  And that's how MInnie (mini = Minnie, get it??)  came to live in our household.  We don't know her history, but everything points to it being very bad and most likely abusive.  I strongly suspect she's a puppy mill survivor.  She was missing some teeth and lost a few more with her recent dental.  She flinched at sudden movement,  like she had been hit or had things thrown at her.  She had and still has a ravenous appetite.  It took alot of work to build trust with her.  Now we can pick her up with no fear biting, and just telling her "up" lets her prepare to leave the security of the ground.  Her fur has still not filled in fully, but it's getting there.  I can finally bathe her without having to muzzle her or be snapped at.  She's learned to play with toys and follow commands.  She is somewhat disabled.  Both of her back legs have dislocating kneecaps, so severe that she cannot jump up more than one small step.  We had to build a little handicap ramp off our porch so she can go up and down on her own.  Her front legs aren't right either, she has a pigeon toed walk, and she's not very stable with sudden turns or changes in direction when running.  Despite all of that, she is one happy little pup who has bonded with all of us, but me especially.  She's always nearby.  I hate to think what her life was like before coming to live with us.  I often wonder if anyone else would have wanted to adopt her.  An older (she's estimated to be about 8), disabled dog that would need special handling and even adaptations, like a ramp.

So, where am I going with all this?  So far, I have focused on what YOU can do to change an animal's life for the better.  But pets can change YOUR life for the better too!  There are many benefits that come with pet ownership.  Take a look at these two links to see what I am talking about.  Pets give US as much or more than they receive!

http://www.dognotebook.com/top-12-reasons-why-you-should-adopt-a-pet-dog/

http://www.pet360.com/cat/adoption/10-great-reasons-for-adopting-a-cat/0zRY0FdvxkiQCnkGm3TCTA

I know that not everyone can adopt a pet, circumstances and finances may prevent it. But keep in mind that you can support local no kill shelters, maybe even volunteer at one (see yesterday's musing for the benefits of volunteering!), and most importantly, encourage people not to enable the continuation of puppy mill breeding.  (See the article links for more on that)

Here are my furbabies!  Chloe, Angel Haley, Holly Berry and Minnie.  Enjoy!

Yeah, I'm retired now, and I supposedly have all kinds of time on my hands.  That's true and not true.  Funny thing about working full or even part time is that working tends to rank very high in the "gotta do" list along with taking care of family, shopping, laundry, meal prep and keeping the place where you live clean and maintained.  Add to that trying to schedule some fun and badly needed sleep or relaxation, and there's not much time left for other things.  And now with the always "on" connected lifestyle, there's more demands on our time outside of the 9-5 schedule.  And believe it or not, social media is a time eater....email is convenient and helpful, but can be worse than junk mail to slog thru.  Twitter, FB, etc all demand our attention, willingly or unwillingly....we all know someone that's addicted to technology right?  It can even be ourselves.  (somewhat guilty here....I'll admit it)

So, what's my point?  I spent many of years working with youth that had physical and/or intellectual challenges.  One of the things I did with them is help them explore the world of work, what their interests were and try to help them get an idea of what they wanted to do with their lives after leaving the public schools.  For many, the prospect of paid employment was rather poor given their limitations, and/or the economic climate and changes in the types and amount of unskilled labor openings available.  That said, we also explored interests for the purpose of identifying appealing leisure skill activities that would lend enjoyment and purpose to life.  I always brought up the topic of volunteerism.  I will never forget the response and reactions of more than one student (sadly, a significant number).  Why would I want to do THAT if I don't get paid for doing it?  Obviously, engaging in volunteerism was not perceived as an esteemed pursuit, nor a valued activity by those students.

Happily, volunteerism is alive and well in our culture.  One only needs to look at community agencies and religious groups to see people helping for no monetary gain.  But, I also see a younger population that does not necessarily embrace the concept of "doing something for nothing".  Personally, I think this is reflective of a shift to an "all about me" society and self orientation and gratification emphasis.  That idea will be a topic of a future "musing" at some point.

My family has been involved in a variety of volunteerism activities for quite sometime.  Most of those activities are grounded in our church, including singing in the choir and participating in community service projects. No monetary reward, no individual recognition, yet we've done it for years and continue to do so.

Why volunteer?  The following article says it better than I ever could.  Take a look at it.  And before you say you are too busy to volunteer, think again.  Maybe you are able to offer a few hours a month, or at least, do something annually.  Yes you can make a difference in the lives of others, and yourself too.  And if it's all about "making money", think again.  There ARE many benefits to YOU, not related to getting paid.

http://www.helpguide.org/life/volunteer_opportunities_benefits_volunteering.htm

Time for a lighter topic of thought today.  And assuming your are reading this, it's safe to say you are at least curious about what I have to say.

As I have said on the cover page, cooking is my creative outlet.  After years of trying to make meals with time constraints to live with as well as less cooking knowledge, I now have the luxury of time and ability to explore recipes and ingredients.  This has opened so many new things to us.  New foods, a variety of new recipes and a new way of thinking.  Fresh, made from scratch and as organic as possible.  I've discovered delicious new ingredients and recipes allowing me to create "keeper" recipes that have ingredients I control and know how to pronounce!  (Just take a look at labels these days, I don't even know what those things are let alone how to pronounce some of them....)  My musing today is about my favorite, must have small cooking appliances.  I remember spending 4 weeks with my family of 4, traveling the country in a 24ft travel trailer.  Great memories and also a lesson in learning to live minimally.  I still prepared most of our meals on that trip.  Since then, I have discovered that there are some appliances that are favorites of mine and must haves, for us at least.

Number one for me, is some type of coffee maker.  Yes, I'm a coffee addict and my day does not start without a couple cups of java. 

Next would be a toaster oven.  I never owned one until about 2 or 3 years ago.  Wow, what a versatile appliance.  I have a larger, better quality one.  It's great for toasting, baking and broiling!  I use it everyday for toast and prefer to use it for small meals that would normally go in the oven.  It doesn't generate as much heat and a full size oven, and for smaller things, I am sure it is economical.  You could actually go without an oven, if you have one of these and don't need to prepare large recipes. 

I have fallen in love with my slow cooker.  Efficient, easy and makes great food.  Soups, pulled pork or turkey, ribs, roasts, chili, sauces....

An electric skillet is very versatile, you can boil water, pan fry or cook a casserole type meals in it.  With one of these you could go without a stove top and pots and pans If you had to. (not that I'd really want to though)

I love my KitchenAid mixer, but it "could" be optional.  A small hand mixer, or stick blender could do the job.  Getting even more basic, a sturdy whisk or old fashioned crank egg beater (LOL) could work too.  Or lastly, just good old fashioned elbow grease and mix things by hand. I'll opt for a power mixer of some type, if given a choice.

Notice, I haven't mentioned the microwave.  Yes, really convenient, but it's really more of a convenience item to us vs. a must have.  Think back to the old days before microwaves.  We used other methods to heat water and warm meals.  So yeah, I guess I could do without if I had to.  Though I really like having it available.


What about you?  What are your favorite, must have cooking appliances and why??

No, it's not National Handwriting Day.  We missed it.  But......I have had conversations with people about how the art of cursive writing is being lost.  The two articles above are interesting covering the progression and decline of cursive writing in history and what that means to people and society.  Sadly, little time these days, is devoted to teaching cursive writing.  The consequences of this lost ability are many.  Unfortunately, the ability to even read older documents of history is lost and people growing up today do not even know how to read, let alone write in cursive. There will come a day when the Constitution will have to be re issued in manuscript print so citizens can read it!  I myself, often speed write in a "cursivescript", what I call my manuscript/cursive blend, but I am proficient in cursive and manuscript.  I even learned how to write calligraphy.  It is so sad to see cursive becoming coming lost to our culture.

Hi All and welcome. I'm still learning the ins and outs of this site, so expect to see changes as I figure this all out.  Why am I here?  Well, someone I know suggested I blog my thoughts.  I'm retired now, so lack of time no longer prevents me doing things on my bucket list and giving new things a try.  I'm not shy about saying what I think, it is a free country after all.  I have my thoughts about alot of things.  My musings may appeal to you, they may not.  You may agree, you may not.  It's just my perspective on things from what I know, what I've learned and what I feel.