A Poem - Desiderata, By Max Ehrmann

Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible without surrender
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons,
they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain and bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs;
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals;
and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself.
Especially, do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love;
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment
it is as perennial as the grass.
Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be,
and whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.
With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy.

Max Ehrmann, Desiderata, Copyright 1952.

Not the Post I Had Planned

The update that I promised and didn't deliver is still not written.  I think I might need another couple of days to continue to decompress and fully grasp what I saw when I spent the evening in the company of friends and dog rescue veterans at a place called the "Dog Patch."  It's a dumping ground for dogs, out in the desert, but it's so much more than that and I wasn't expecting the severity of the impact that the time I spent there had on me.  That is still another post for another day, albeit one this coming week.

Instead I'll shared some photos of my German shorthaired pointer Gatsby who went with me to the Book Fair on the University of Arizona campus today.  I bought him an ear of roasted corn (which he normally LOVES and will steal from the grill if you're not watchful), which he refused to eat until we got home.

He also locked onto a pair of doves on our way home, as you can see by the photo of him on point to the above.  Not the best angle, but it was a solid, intense point.  Good boy!  (Click the photo to see it full sized!)

CORN DOG!

Gatsby loves corn on the cob.  And the cob itself.  But not the husk.  He spit that right out!

Quiet Possibly the World's Worst Update

While I should be cleaning my glorified dog kennel (aka, my house), here I sit attempting to write something substantial enough to be worthy of my friend Cheryl's plug on Facebook.  "Read Garnet's blog!  She hardly ever writes a post because she's too busy rescuing dogs, eating organic sprouts, having vegan tea parties or watching Foyle's War on Netflix!"

Crap.

To same time and words, here is a photo:  (I am now going to look through recently uploaded iPhone photos to select something suitably attention garnerning.)

Okay, here we go.  This was an AWESOME dinner created by the contents of our Sunizona FarmBox (organic CSA from Willcox, AZ which is about an hour & a half from where I live in Tucson) and the contents of our (me, my friend S. & her mom) pantries.  Brown rice with ginger peanut sauce and mushrooms, carrots, red peppers, green onions, cilantro, crushed cashews, and sriracha.  Possibly a few other things.  It was tasty!  Not only is sharing a CSA box easy on our pocketbooks, but it is so nice to cook a family dinner together and have a real family meal.  Makes my heart happy and is just as good for my depression as my meds, if not more so.

Obligatory dog photo.  My beloved German shorthaired pointer, Gatsby, on the left and my supposed-to-be-foster-dog-but-probably-my-dog Foxtrot the Elhew English pointer on the right.

I will be undertaking a unique adventure this evening, that has ties to Lola Lulu's puppyhood.  The best part is that my friend is one his way and I haven't swept the floors, washed (or hidden) any dirty dishes OR taken a shower.  Yay!

Stay tuned for a poignant post (with photos) later tonight.

My Ongoing Food Conundrum

Anyone who knows me has probably noticed the ongoing struggle that I have with my diet and food in general.  I don't mean the eating junk food vs. eating healthy battle, but a more complex set of intertwined dilemmas what I am eating, where it is coming from, how much fossil fuel was used to get that food to me, how much am I spending on produce (probably 75% of my grocery purchases), can I sometimes eat meat and feel okay about that or not, and a lot of that comes down to "which is worse, item A or item B."  Ethics, compassion, environmental awareness, and my persistent desire to want to try every type of ingredient in the world.  Which is unfortunately obstructed my ethical beliefs and continually evolving relationship I have with what I want to eat, what I choose to eat, and what I sometimes secretly eat and feel like a horrible hypocrite about eating.  (Please to ask me to elaborate about that at this time... because I won't.  That's a different topic for another day.)

Another issue is how I choose to identify myself based upon my dietary choices.  Currently my self designated label is: ethical omnivore who eats mostly vegan.

Why?  Well, my philosophical beliefs combined with what I will admit is a slight lean towards selfish, hedonistic enjoyment of food determines "what I would eat, if everyone I would eat was available to me."  Example:  Eating humanely hunted wild game is more ethically sound than eating CAFO beef or factory farmed chicken.  The amount of suffering the animal endures in it's lifetime is the determining factor for me.  However, I have little to no access to obtaining wild game so I pretty much stick to beans, nuts, whole grains, etc. as protein sources.

Here are a few photos of meals I've prepared over the last week.  I'm a bit disappointed that I forgot to photograph the beet, caramelized onion & kale vegan quesadillas I made because they were out of this world amazing.  Next time!

Broccoli, onion, & sriracha vegan quesadillas (make with pepperjack Daiya "cheese").

 Vegan root veggies & wilted kale with Organic Seeduction bread from Whole Foods.

(Topped with sriracha and nutritional yeast, which is my mostly discovered food love.)

 Two muchrooms, two tomatoes, & a quarter green bell pepper quickly sauteed with a dash of olive oil, drizzle of balsamic, and sriracha.

Topped with raw sunflower seeds, nutritional yeast and a handful of bruised Italian parsley.

(Would have been better with added white beans, but alas my pantry is lacking.)

The Tale of Four Testicles, Part One (and Recap)

This should probably be the third installment of the saga of how having two intact male dogs in a small house isn't much fun, but I had hoped the situation wouldn't develop into a several days long epic.

Lola Lulu (black dog) meeting Valentine (red dog).

Summary of events, thus far:

- Two days ago I rescued an elderly purebred Hungarian Vizsla from the Pima county shelter.  Yes, I forgot to ask if he was neutered (entirely my fault)... I was distracted by his severely atrophied right rear hip and leg.  He was old, very sweet, and could only walk on three legs, so of course I took him home and named him Valentine.

- Initial introductions in the yard with all four dogs went smoothly.  Foxtrot (my foster English pointer, a 7 year old intact male) got kinda stiff & stared at him, but I intervened and he let it go... until we got into the house and he jumped Valentine.  Thankfully he was just being nasty/threatening (read: loud and snarly, but didn't bite down or break skin), but the dogs were separated which meant Foxtrot went into his crate in the bedroom.

Foxtrot meeting Valentine; notice the fully upright, tense tail and stiff posture. 

- To set the stage for these events, I live in a small one bedroom cottage style house.  In Arizona we call them "casitas."  There are no doors to separate the rooms, with the exception of the bathroom.  The only other doors belonging to the closet, the kitchen (leads to the backyard), and the living room (leads to the outside world).  Other than using crates/kennels there isn't any way to keep the dogs separated except outside in the yard (which is separated into two yards if you shut the gate).  Valentine FREAKS OUT in a crate: panting, drooling, trying to "dig" out of it, and he actually got his lower jaw stuck between the bars and I had to help him get un-stuck before he hurt himself.

- I tried reintroducing them in the yard twice yesterday (without my two dogs) and the first went very poorly, while the second was not too bad.

- Overnight Valentine has free reign of the living room and kitchen.  I use the sofa to block off my bedroom doorway (my dogs can easily jump over, but Valentine can't) and I'll let Foxtrot get up on the bed (with a slip lead on, so he doesn't bolt over the sofa and pounce on Valentine) to cuddle before bed.  He is still sleeping in his crate overnight.

- The daily routine involves rotating the dogs in and out of the house (which does mean either putting Valentine in the back yard by himself and giving Foxtrot house/front yard freedom or putting Valentine temporarily in a crate so that I can let Foxtrot out into the yard.

Just typing this all up is exhausting...

Fast forward to this morning:  Valentine is in the backyard, Lola & Gatsby are in the front yard and I brought Foxtrot out on a slip lead.  He didn't posture or behave nastily toward Valentine at the fence, so I opened the gate.  Foxtrot mostly ignored him and paid complete attention to me (being somewhat of a nuisance, but I'm letting that slide for now).  Only the smallest incident occurred when Valentine sniffed Foxtrot's rear and Foxtrot stiffened up & whipped his head around... I said his name and he swung his head back around toward me, relaxed instantly, and I praised him.  He then happily followed me into the house and I shut the door behind us, wanting to end this "exercise" on a good note.  We also had some cuddle time on the couch and he got to hang out with me in the kitchen while I got breakfast started, before he went back into his crate and I let the other dogs into the house.

Babysteps!

We'll try again this afternoon and see how that goes.  Foxtrot's intense bond with me is working toward a positive end.  His choice is basically between getting love & attention from me or fighting with Valentine and this morning he chose positive attention from me instead of the latter.

Progress!

Backsliding and Becoming Buried

Once again I have been neglecting both my blog and my constant inclination to write.  To say my life has gone to the dogs is something of an understatement.  We're rescued five more dogs since my last post and I think I might have shaved my legs once or possibly twice since then (honestly not sure about that).

My spare time is usually the several hours past "bedtime" that I'm unable to sleep and I spend it watching social/cultural/food-related documentaries or British mystery TV shows on Netflix.  The former of which sends my mind churning and gives me plenty to write about, but by that time of the night I'm too unmotivated to do more than write out an outline that inevitably gets lost under pages of notes about dogs, potential fosters, shelter contact info, etc.

I've been cooking less or at least cooking less interesting things.  Mostly peanut butter and raspberry preserve sandwiches (usually with sliced jalapenos in the mix) or some concoction of brown steamed rice with veggies, beans, etc.  My home has also become almost unbearably cluttered, which doesn't help my mental state (which is already overwhelmed as it is).

The combined symptoms lead me to believe that I am:

A.   Over-worked

and

B.    Becoming depressed

My solution to that is to drink a lot of coffee today and start sorting things to donate & get rid of.  That might sound like an odd place to start, but it's mentally refreshing for me to get rid of "stuff."  Over the years I have become less and less a fan of "stuff."  Having too much of it around actually annoys me, but I often don't have or don't make the time to get rid of it properly.

More later today about better and brighter things, but for now I need to get to work...

Meet the Newest Stars!

Curious about the first four dogs we've saved in 2013?  I mentioned Sherlock in the last post, but here is a little bit about each of them.

Victor is a lemon & white purebred English pointer between around 7 years old that we rescued the day before he was going to be euthanized at a rural shelter in Georgia.  Victor is heartworm positive and even though he exhibits no outward symptoms (which means it is probably a low level infection) no one was interested in adopting or rescuing him.  He sat at the shelter since the end of November, waiting, and now he is en route to Tucson.  We will be driving out to meet a Pilots N Paws pilot in Las Cruces, NM to pick him & Sherlock up from the airport tomorrow afternoon.  I am fostering Victor in my home while he goes through several months of treatment.

 Sherlock is the dog I mentioned in my last post.  He escaped euthanasia at the shelter in Ft. Worth, TX for two days before we were able to coordinate his release.  Sherlock is also a heartworm positive English pointer (his colouring is orange & white) and he's around 6 years old.  He's spent the last week getting some R&R at Paige's home in Dallas and will be flying with Victor tomorrow.  Sherlock will spend the weekend at my house so we can get him & Victor to the vet for their heartworm antigen tests and chest x-rays before Sherlock goes to his foster home.

Artemis was found scavenging for food at a dump outside of Mammoth, AZ.  Skinny and very scared, she was rescued by two good samaritans who took her to the vet to get checked out, vaccinated, and spayed.  At only about 3 years old the vet determined she was very over-bred and had probably had a litter every time she'd gone into heat since she reached maturity (between 7-8 litters).  She is very gentle, but is still very timid and we're looking for a foster home to give her the one-on-one attention that she needs.  Artemis is a purebred liver & white German shorthaired pointer.

  "Shy Girl" doesn't yet have a name, but at least she has a safe, loving foster home to go to.  Rescued at the 11th hour the night before she was going to be euthanized at 5am for being shy.  Yes, that was actually the shelter's reason for putting her down.  Thankfully we got her taken off the e-list and are picking her up this afternoon.  We're not sure if she's a solid black German shorthaired pointer, maybe mixed with Weimaraner... it remains to be seen, but there is no question there is a lot of pointing breed(s) going on in her DNA.

You can check out our website at www.arizonabirddogrescue.org or "Like" us on Facebook by clicking here.

Oh, January Where Hast Thou Gone?

While I can believe that it's taken me a week to find the time to write another post, what I can't believe is that January is already nearing its end!  I didn't make any formal resolutions for 2013, but I did hope (somewhere in the back of my addled mind) that it would be a successful, happy, productive year and so far I've gotten that in spades.

World's most handsome office assistant: Gatsby!

probably brushed my hair and gotten dress a total of three times.  Most days are spent in front of my computer (laptop on a vintage TV tray), on the sofa, with the dogs as bookends, while trying to coordinate 4 rescues, 3 transports (2 from out of state), and 2 adoptions between messages/comments on Facebook, the rescue email, and texts on my iPhone (plus FB and email there, on the rare moments I escaped from my home office to do exciting things like buy dog food and pick up a cute pair of librarian-esque green loafers).

I feel a bit like I am reneging on my promise to myself that I would only buy garnetscarabin.com for my blog if I kept at it until the end of 2012.  Admittedly, post-layoff from my job, I found it hard to find both the energy and the time to coincide.

Hopefully after weekend my life will slow down just a bit.  Enough to take a breath, do some laundry, drink some tea, and knit while watching Netflix while attending to my responsibilities as the president and director of a dog rescue that has tripled in size during the past year.

Shoes worthy of Nancy Drew.

I'd like to write more about the books I'm reading, food I'm cooking, projects I'm doing around the house, the biggest "secret plan" for this year, and my attempt at remembering that "I'm a Girl!" etc. but the last couple of weeks have really been all about the dogs.  And yoga pants.

This is the nature of rescue; it fluctuates between non-stop chaotic activity interspersed with downtime where almost nothing seems to happen.

Also: check out my next post to meet the four above-mentioned recently rescued dogs!