Really, don’t.

I got emotional and upset and hugged my dogs even closer. The truth of the matter is that animals get the short end of the stick quite often. I have three of the most amazing creatures I have ever met and one smart aleck cat who hates me. Animals are important to me and always have been. If you’ve been reading, you saw what happened when I got attached to the chickens. This has been true for every animal I’ve ever had. Except for Francis. Anyway, I know that there are important diseases and people give money to charity all the time. They don’t want to be harassed into parting with their money for something like animal care and prevention of animal cruelty. I can’t explain to you why this is more important than health care or scientific research, except to say that when I’m sad or hurt, my animals help me more than any human I’ve ever met. They soothe me like nothing else. They understand, listen and hug in a way that I need without judgment. Sometimes, the things that seem unimportant in life are the things that get you through when you need it the most.

With that in mind, I’d like to organize a small donation in the amount of $250 for the ASPCA. This is on my heart and if you can give even $1 per person, I’d make this in no time. If you can give more, you help for those that can’t right now. I’m not giving up until I meet my goal, so the sooner I meet it, the less you have to hear about it. Also, if you have an animal that is important to you, I’d like to hear about him or her.

EDIT: I called the ASPCA, as donations were not showing on the widget, and apparently donations do not show up for TEN days. If you email me the amount donated, I will keep a running tally without divulging your name on the post. Sorry about that.

Running tally: $30

In this story, the poky little puppy wandered to another land, far, far away. A place where puppies aren’t safe. A place called South Korea. And in this place, the Poky little puppy had his DNA cloned and merged with genes similar to those of a sea anemone, which is an underwater creature. This was done by a scientist who said that he was was doing it to produce a puppy that, because of a long lifespan, might help cure human illness. However, what this merging did was TURN THE PUPPY INTO A GLOWSTICK!!!!

For comparison: The glowstick

Glowstick 1.0

The puppy:

Poky puppy 2.0

Please, enlighten me?

A view from the road

Anyway, the trip there was quiet and I expected the trip back to be quiet as well. Until the turtle. Woe to us. Oh, woe, woe to parents everywhere who have children who desperately feel the need to make a home into an ark. As you can see, if you’ve perused my family page, we have a full house. If anything, I’d get another dog or some fish before we added anything outside of those creatures to this home. However, AJ and his cousin Lola (not a showgirl, just a fierce, smart, pretty, funny 8-year old girl), had been exploring in the back yard with a rabid cat and their big imaginations.

The rabid cat has been slumming on my mother’s porch for a while now. My mother hates cats and would like nothing more than to club it. We’re animal lovers and AJ would not forgive her for the transgression, so she has resigned herself to yelling at it and waving her hands like a woman on fire when she sees the cat. Lola, also an animal lover, and AJ, decided to play in the backyard with the cat because it was far from the disapproving adult eyes. The cat, however, was hungry, so he/she was on the prowl and found a turtle who, until this point, had been minding it’s own business in the backyard.

AJ and Lola found a plastic Crayola sidewalk chalk box and proudly showed off their new pet. Lola’s dad identified the turtle as a box turtle and the fight quickly began over 1/what the name of the turtle would be and 2/who would get to keep the turtle. AJ wanted to name the turtle Harold. AJ wants to name every animal Harold. The fight over the name wasn’t with Lola, it was with me and how every pet didn’t have to be named Harold. That lasted about 5 minutes with Lola finally chiming in that SHE wanted that turtle and since she saw it first it was hers.

Now, the day before had been a rough one for AJ and Lola. They play really well together and enjoy time with each other, but it had turned into a screaming match after hours in the car while we went to another cousin’s graduation. This turtle could have been the end of this friendship/cousinhood. Lola’s mom tactfully offered that they have a creek and could always find turtles. It didn’t matter. Lola wanted this one and she’d found it fair and square. AJ felt like he deserved it because he’d named it Harold. He. named. it. Harold. Why does he always name everything Harold?

Leon settled this by stating a statute about turtles getting confused out of their habitat so it’s not legal to move them. I have no idea as to the genuineness of this statement, but AJ accepted it because his “dad knows legal stuff.” Later, however, AJ proved that he’s definitely my son. His critically thinking little mind popped out with “DADDY! I can have this turtle!” He beamed. “This turtle isn’t a BOX turtle because I found it straight out and then PUT it into the box. It didn’t come in the box and there wasn’t a box around it when I found it, so it’s not a BOX turtle.”

Yep. That’s my boy.

And he didn’t get to keep the turtle.

You may have noticed that the rain is affecting us. Friday morning, the thunder was so loud that Duder, our Wheaton terrier, jumped up on my bed at 6:32am and whined at me that she was scared. I “mphed” at her, which is the equivilent of “I love you, I’m soothing you, but you’d better let me sleep if you don’t want to go out in the rain.” Also, I’ve been much happier the last two weeks, which is a side effect of the rain because I love storms. And, lastly, Aj’s games have been cancelled due to weather.

Besides our friend Harold that came to visit us, and his extended family, too, we’ve also had some other visitors. We’ve inherited a colony of snails that have decided to make the area around my front porch home, as an oasis from the storms. I’m not a huge fan of slime, but they are so darn cute that I almost can’t stand it. Also, AJ loves to play with them and watch them, so can I really complain? They, by far, have the worse end of this deal. Adrian picks them up, examines their anatomy (I hope they aren’t modest!), places them in new spots and spends hours just looking at them. They are so much cheaper than toys.

Dear snails,

You and your friends are welcome in my front yard for as long as you wish to remain. Please continue to fascinate my child. Once you do not, you will go the way of the wooly mammoth.

Sincerely,
Blueshelled