Was on vacation last week, hanging out with the kids in the mountains, learning new things and just relaxing. While out there, I discovered something that I thoroughly enjoyed. I was introduced to Archery. I had always wanted to give it a try and once I did, I am now hooked. I got my very own compound bow with a case and all the paraphernalia. After 2 days of practicing at the outdoor range last week, I discovered shoulder muscles I didn’t know I had. After practice number 5 this week at an indoor range here in my city, those muscles are super sore now. Left bicep is sore from holding bow, right shoulder is sore from drawing the bow. Going to have to exercise my right bicep and left shoulder with weights to balance things out. Dis is me during my very first time with my new bow (yes it is little) but I have short arms. Had to get a guard for my left forearm as once you hit it with the bow strings, you will want to do everything in your power to avoid doing it again, it smarts big time. I’ve since learned to hold it right to avoid doing that in the first place. I have a bunch more "stuff" on the bow now so it is heavier (as of yesterday) and this weekend I configured some targets at our place so we now have our own outdoor range. I’ve got to start all over again with setting up my bow but I can see lots of practice in my future. I like it!
Is it Really the Dog?
Sometimes I really wonder is the dog a bad dog or is the person a bad dog owner or was it just a bad match? As with any rescue organization or shelter you get returns. Sometimes people change their minds on the idea of having a dog. Sometimes life gets in the way and there is nothing that can be done but to re home the dog... loss of job, illness, child not expected... etc. I do feel sometimes people give up too quickly though. I mean have you truly tried to make it work or do you think it will eliminate some of your stress if the dog was just gone so bye bye doggie? Sometimes I think rescue "hurts" themselves in the fact that we take our dogs back no matter what... well at least I do and most reputable rescues / shelters do. People always have an out. Granted you don't get your money back but still it is no risk to the adopter... if I have a bad day or an issue with the dog I am too lazy to work on fixing I can just call the rescue and eliminate the problem. But there are way too many people out there who will just dump a dog on the side of the road like trash or take it to the kill shelter or God only knows do whatever with the dog.
By rescues and shelters agreeing to take the dog back is truly the best thing for the dog but at the same time it is making people lazy. Lazy because they don't have to work it out. They don't have to figure out how to find the dog a new home. They just dump back on the rescue. I sometimes wonder if it were harder to return a dog if they would make it work? I guess in a way I have answered this questions a few times with adopters... In my adoption contract it states if you want to return a dog you have to give me 5 days notice and I can only take the dog when I have room so you may have to wait a few days. A number of times I have received the call of "I need to return the dog" after I talk to the people and find out exactly what has been going on and it is totally correctable I say to them well I can't take the dog back until X day and in the mean time you have to do the following. Then when I call them to say Ok X day has arrived , they say "Oh well what you told us is working and the dog is much better and we ware keeping him/her. Can't stand to let him/her go". Oh really! So, honestly you just had a bad day and were stressed out and thought giving up the dog would eliminate that stress. Ok got ya!
I am America
Greetings. I am you. I am America. I live in a ditched truck-trailer parked next to my parents’ mobile home in a rural area. I am unemployed and receiving no benefits, without health insurance or savings, recently divorced of spouse and house, carless, chronically/clinically depressed and on medication, and generally wishing I had two ends to make meet. I have a funny feeling there’s a lot of us. This is an economically depressed area with little in the way of jobs, where empty storefronts and abandoned buildings pepper a landscape of cheaply built prefab housing, bunker-like taverns, and hollow-eyed men with their hoody-hoods pulled up, clutching plastic bags full of tallboys. The only business that seems to thrive in this area is antique shops, perhaps because there’s a growth industry here of estate sales hocking the sad belongings of retirees who’ve committed suicide. I’m remembering what it feels like to be set upon, whether it’s a delusion or not. I hate this disease. Anyway, one of the great things about being anonymous is not having to have people up in your business. Even though having people up in your business is what you actually secretly long for. What am I trying to say? I’m trying to say that sometimes I want to say “it’s not fucking worth it and I wish I had never been born” and not have a bunch of people, like, hovering and shit. Or to hover if they like but to keep fucking quiet about it. Which is what I dearly love about those of you who used to read this blog back when I actually wrote in it on a regular basis, rather than seeing it as one of a long list of things in my life I couldn’t sustain. So the short version is, I’m back. Hooray.
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