A nice weekend

We've had amazing weather here in S/E Michigan this Memorial Day Weekend.

Despite the scare on Thursday night, my beautiful sister-in-law is holding strong and has decided not to pass on just yet. We have promised that we would be the ones to pick her up when God calls her home, so we've been "on call" all weekend. We in no way want to see her die. It would please us greatly if she could make some kind of miraculous recovery. But reality dictates that we wait and be ready.

While we waited, we decided to spend Saturday evening with our friend and 30 year veteran of the US Navy and US Army. Who just happens to be gay. We are always happy to spend time with him. He's one of our best friends. He stood up in our wedding back in 2005 and has even stayed with Pugsley while we took our parents on a Caribbean cruise. He's an amazing man with many stories to tell about his time in the service. He was proud to serve along side of everyone and made friends with people of all walks of life in the process. It would have been a shame if he would not have been able to fight for our country simply because he likes guys. Over the years he had to hide who he was. He got married to a woman and even had children. Conformed to everything that they wanted for him. Denying himself along the way. It was our pleasure to take him to Toronto five years ago (just after his retirement) and experience Toronto Pride for the first time with him. He could not believe that there was so many people that thought that it was OK to be who you are no matter what. To experience a million people at the parade and to witness two guys getting married after a lifetime of hiding brought tears to his eyes over and over again for the whole trip.

So it was especially nice to spend this weekend at his place considering the milestone of this past week of the potential repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell. There are thousands of men and women that are currently working in our military that are gay. And thousands more that would like to. But our government seems to think that gay men can't control themselves. Perhaps it's because many of the straight men over the years could not control themselves. I ask did the world fall apart because another friends of mine's father got a girl pregnant and then brought her back to the states with him?(Then left her to raise the kid on her own) At least we gays don't have to worry about that.

It is necessary for us to have a military. It is not necessary for us to elect morons to make our laws. And it's time for this law to come to an end. To all of our military.... THANK YOU!  And to those who have suffered unnecessarily over hatred and bigotry an especially BIG THANK YOU!!

It's getting better. Slowly.

Nine ?!

How is this possible?
Where has the time gone?

It's crazy, but it's true !


Today, Pugsley turns Nine years young !

My little fur ball has grown into quite a fine specimen of a dog.
His loyalty is simply amazing. But, he is a one man dog. Sorry Eddy, he's all mine.

I guess that's why I get to brush out that undercoat every year. At least he's almost done with the shedding this year.

For those that don't know him, he's a Tibetan Spaniel that weighs around 40 pounds (twenty of that is hair) He's kind of a cross between a Chow Chow and a Pekingese.

His brother came into our lives one day. He was given to my brother-in-law that lives in the woods. He had just lost his dog and this person was trying to be nice and give him a new one. He wasn't ready for one yet and especially one that would require so much care. (I can only imagine what he would look like) He took to me right away. Followed me just out of instinct. There were others there, but not in his eyes. So we took him with us on vacation and gave him the time of his life. You should have seen him. His legs so short that he had to jump over the grass. He loved riding on the boat with the wind in his hair and holding tight to me.

Anyway, we had this puppy for a week. Just long enough to become emotionally attached. When one day he just wasn't feeling good and could not even get up to go pee. While I had to go to work, Ed picked him up and rushed him to the animal hospital. After doing some microscopic surgery on the little guy, all we could do was wait. So wait we did. What seemed like a month was only one night. We got the call in the morning that he didn't make it.
I debated for two weeks if I wanted to try and get one of his brothers or sisters. I wasn't sure if I could do it after going through that. Finally, I decided YES. Let's get one. So Ed called the people that had them only to find out that they had all been sold. He gave them his number in case the mother had any more. And we left it at that. Didn't think much more about it. Except for every sound that I heard reminded me of him.
One day, I came home from work and Ed was watering the garden. He stopped when I pulled in the driveway and shut off the water. The squeaking of the knob, reminded me of the dogs whimper. That's when he said, wait right there. He went over to the van and opened the door. He reached in and pulled out the fluffiest little ball of fur you ever saw. When he set him on the grass, the little guy ran right for me. It was love at first sight. I cried and hugged him like it was his brother reincarnated.
Evidently, someone had changed their mind and brought him back. It was just meant to be. Just a couple of weeks later, his mother was hit by a car and died. So there will be no more litters from her. Everything in the universe came together to bring this particular puppy into my life. And he hasn't left my side since. He is sitting at my feet as I wright this. He's my little miracle and I can't believe that it's been nine years.

violence and murder

This is a difficult post to write. While my husband's sister holds on to life by a thread. She spent her life caring for others. She was instrumental in building some of Michigan's new systems for helping the mentally handicapped assimilate into the work force and has given many a sense of purpose in life. She is being eaten away with cancer that has spread just about everywhere. But, she's hanging in there.

I had to do a funeral a few days ago for a woman that lived a much more violent life. This woman was only thirty five and had lived through an abusive marriage to the father of her two children. Only to meet a new man recently that turned out to be even worse.

I can't help but think that much of your life is determined by the company that you keep. I never met her ex-husband and know way more about the new guy than I'd like to know. I also know that this woman was stripper and the funeral was paid for by her co-workers from the "benefit" that they had the night before. I don't like to judge people and I know that there is a need for all types of workers in this strange world. I do however, feel that it says something of her character.

A little about the new boy-friend.... He has a long record of many things including the abuse of women in his past. His ex canceled a restraining order on him because she felt that he would not honor it and it would only enrage him more to hurt her.

After partying at a local festival all day, where it was said that they had been arguing, he dropped her off at home. Then he drove to his brother's house, picked up a gun and went back to her house. Her roommate opened the door and was shot immediately. Then he made his way to her and shot her in the head. If that wasn't enough, he then picked up a cleaver and went after the two children. Thankfully, the roommate and one child survived the incident. Obviously since I did her funeral, she did not make it and the other child lost his life too.

It's the children that I am most sorry about here. They simply never had a chance.
Some people choose to live their life mad all the time. They seem to be constantly fighting against something. The thing is with people like that is when they look at people that are happy, it makes them mad. Overhearing the friends and family at the funeral, they were obviously upset. But it was a violent kind of upset. Not sorrowful at all. I can understand to a point. This man deserves everything that the law can give him. But this kind of anger only brings more violence. The six year old girl that survived will still be surrounded by this anger and will always be haunted by the story of her mother's and brother's deaths as well as her own tragedy.


This whole thing reminds me of a story that just came out a few weeks ago by a woman that was left to die in the ocean. Her whole family was killed and somehow she survived at six years old. This woman had to face many issues growing up without her family. But came through it all pretty good. It took her 40 years before she could tell the story but it was an amazing story and I'm glad that I got the chance to learn it. http://www.amazon.com/ALONE-Duperrault-Fassbender-Author-Richard/dp/B003L11CWK/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1274742358&sr=1-2
Evidently links don't work here so you can copy and paste it to learn more.

In the end, I hope that this little girl can see past all of this and see that there is a Brighter side of the grave.

There are people out there truly suffering. That don't deserve to. And yet there are people out there that choose to suffer when they really don't have to. I choose to live each day to the fullest. I am happy with whatever comes my way.It's life. The great adventure. It's not worth killing someone and certainly not worth loosing your life.

For rent.... cheep.

Although we had a little Dutch Dwarf rabbit for eight years, he died last year. This is not him. This is one of many of our yards regular inhabitants.

Our Tibetan Spaniel "Pugsley" grew up with the rabbit as his big brother. And because of this, he is very comfortable around the wild animals that pass through our small yard. His temperament would scare most people out of their skin even though he's so cute and fluffy that you just want to snuggle with him. He wouldn't hurt a fly but would scare the hell out of you when he barks.

The rain finally stopped and we had an entire day of high winds, which dried the grass in the lawn, even though the rivers are still overflowing their banks. So today it was sunny and warm (finally) and I was able to cut our lawn. We have the thickest, fullest and greenest lawn in the entire neighborhood. A place that all the neighborhood dogs love to go to pooh. I mean, would you go in the outhouse when their is a spa next door? So I was able to catch Pugsley enjoying his kingdom here in these shots.







We have had the pleasure to experience quite a miracle right here in our little yard. A few months ago, a couple of robins took up residence in a small white pine about 15 feet from our front door. We watched as they built a solid nest about 3 feet off the ground. We are convinced that they chose the spot because of the protection afforded them by our very own resident Tibetan Spaniel. We watched him watching them build the nest, lay eggs and hatching the eggs. All the while he was just inches away from them. The baby birds hatched and Pugsley was one of the first things that they saw in this big world. The Pugs, as we call him, protected them from intruders more than once. Sometimes he'd want to go outside, just to sit with them. We could get close enough to actually put worms in the mouths of the babies. It was truly amazing.





Then, just as quickly as it all started, it all came to an end. One morning, I came home from work and Pugs was all excited. The babies were out of the nest. This is this little guys first day of flight. And so far, he still hanging around. The other two have left us. But this little guy likes it here. And Pugs loves him hanging around too. Who knows where that relationship will go.



So now we have an empty nest for real. We've put a "For Rent" sign up. But so far there are no takers. As the sign says, it's "cheep". So if you know of anyone looking for a nice home with a park like yard and a wonderful guard dog, send them our way.