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You say torture, I say dunking

Dunking? Torture? Yes, I could not be prouder of our current leadership. With Bill Cinton we debated the meaning of the word “is”, With George Bush and his fun loving puppetmaster Dick Cheney, we debate the definition of torure.  I’d was less embarrassed by Bill Clinton’s cigar trick.

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A herding dog’s worse nightmare

Poor Blue is going crazy trying to figure out how to herd me, Blondie, the three birdcages downstairs and the two birdcages upstairs into the same general area so she can sleep soundly, knowing her job is done.  How do I tell her that even I can’t carry those cages up the stairs for her?  I’m hoping she’ll eventually figure out that the birds are already in safe “pens” for the night and she can relax.

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Mr. T is home

I picked up his ashes yesterday and now he’s home again. I feel both he and I can rest better now knowing he’s where he belongs with the person who loved him best.  Blondie and Blue sniffed his ashes respectfully.  And my Abdul bird has not said his name since he left us.  I think she knows and is sad in her own way. She used to start every day calling him. “C’m here, T” she’d yell over and over till he slowly trotted by on his way out for his morning break.  Now, she still repeats the “C’m here”

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Columns 2006

Kids and animals deserve love and kindness

Last week was a hard week for me.  Not only was I attending a seminar entitled The Alaska Child Maltreatment Conference, but I finally had to send my little buddy of 15 years across the Rainbow Bridge.

At the beginning of the week, the only thought in my mind was, “What PR genius named this conference?” By the end of the week, the only thought in my mind was that all our children should have as much love and kindness in their lives as Mr. T had in his.

Mr. T didn’t always have it easy. He came to me

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The first night….

OK, so apparently the dogs take the left and middle side of the bed and I get the right edge if I cling closely enough.  I’m glad we got that straight their first night here.

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They’ve arrived

My two potential new dogs came over yesterday and it went very well. They are darling. We took a long walk and once we figured out who was on the right and who was on the left and where I fit in and how to untangle the leashes from my legs, then untangle them from my feet, then swirl my body around to unwrap them from my torso, everything went fine. They return today for good. 

Blue takes two insulin shots a day and has the foster parents convinced that she can’t get out of bed in the morning because

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Blondie and Blue

Blondie, a lab, and Blud, an Australian cattle dog with diabetes, come for a visit on Saturday. If all goes well, they will fill the hole Mr. T’s absence has left in my life.  Blue takes insulin once a day. I figure it’s something we can share.  One for me, one for her.

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