Saying Goodbye

Usually I think and contemplate what I am going to blog about. Do I have a Metamorphosis Monday post or a Outdoor Wednesday, etc. I put quite a bit of thought in it.

But . . .

last night, something just told me to talk about our dear dog, Molly, and how she adopted us.

This morning, Craig came to me and said that Molly had not eaten the food he put out for her and asked if I had seen her. I told him that I did not get home until after dark the night before so I had not seen her. He went out to go to school and looked over in the flower bed and found her. She looked very peaceful so we guess she died in her sleep.

Last night, something just told me to talk about Molly. 

Goodbye, Molly.

Needless, to say, we are sad here "at home on pine ridge" today.

Take Care and God Bless!

Molly

I'm not an animal lover. I know, I know. It's not that I don't like them, I have just never been a big lover of animals. We always had a dog growing up and I liked having them around but I don't ever remember playing with them much. (I guess with 8 brothers and sisters I always had someone to entertain me.)

This is Molly.

Molly is our dog, we think. We did not buy Molly. She was not given to us. We like to say that Molly adopted us.

Before moving into our current home 6 years ago, we lived on 40+ acres. We always had cows and I loved watching the little calves frolicking in the pasture. We also had poultry houses. About the time we started building the poultry houses this stray dog started coming around. My husband didn't pay much attention for awhile because we lived by the landfill (city dump) and we figured someone dumped another dog. But she stayed around and stayed around so my husband started putting food out. Slowly she befriended my husband and then the rest of us. That was at least 10 years ago. She is still hanging out with us.

See all of the gray. She was gray when she adopted us. We don't know how old she is. We do know that she has been beaten in her life. For years after she came around, any time we picked anything up (water hose, newspaper, stick, etc.) she would cower away from us. So sad. She is no longer afraid of us or anyone that comes to our home. But she is terrified of storms and gun shots and fireworks. She is an outside dog but my son often leaves the garage door open 6 or 7 inches so she can come in when it rains or when it is cold. She has a doghouse, with a light for heat, on our back patio. Sometimes she uses it, sometimes she doesn't.

I know Molly is very old and there has been a couple of times this winter that I thought we were going to lose her.  And . . . I was very sad. So, maybe I am becoming an animal lover after all.

Take Care and God Bless.

It's Friday - Baby, it's cold outside!

"Two works of mercy set a man free:  forgive and you will be forgiven and give and you shall receive."

Augustine

This wrapping paper says it all this morning. We are in the single digits here in the River Valley of Arkansas--the coldest temps we have had since 1989. Tomorrow morning is supposed to be colder than this. I know a those of you that live in the north and Canada deal with this all of the time. But we are "pansies" here and don't know what to do with these temps.


Wasn't sure what I wanted to write about today, I decided I would introduce you to a member of the family you haven't met yet. This is Molly. We don't have any idea how old Molly is because she adopted up about 7 years ago. She already had some gray hair then. Last week was not a good week for her. She acted funny and didn't move very much or eat very much. We think she may have arthritis and worry that she may not make it through the winter.  This picture was taken on one of those bad days. She had no sparkle or life in her eyes. But this week, she is back to her old self again. 

Well, its' Friday. For me this is the start of a weekend. I have been blessed to have a Monday - Friday job for over 16 years now. As I watch my children go to work on Friday and Saturday, it reminds me of the many years (10) that I worked in a grocery store and did not have weekends like most people do because I worked most weekends.

While I am very proud of them for working while in college, I also feel a little regret that they do not have weekends to look forward to. But then again, I guess they do because they don't have school and sometimes that is probably much more stressful than their jobs.


That being said, school was closed on Monday for snow and bad weather. Wednesday morning I received a call saying school was cancelled for the day due to the school (and most of the town) not having any gas -- so hmm . . . no heat. I was afraid we would not have school yesterday because of ice, but we did.  The weather tonight is supposed to be in the high teens with wind chills of 1 to negative 5 degrees. We have not had temperatures this cold in 20 years or longer.  Even though I will only have school 3 days this week (counting today, I hope), I do not look forward in getting out in the zero degree temperatures this morning to go to work.



Then again, it's Friday. 

How do you plan to spend your weekend? Is Saturday and Sunday a weekend away from work for you? 

I'm not sure what we will do. Mr. Paramedic will be working Saturday (out saving lives -- as he says) so if we decide to do anything it will need to be Friday night. With temperatures in the single digits expected, we will probably stay in and keep warm in front of the fireplace.


Have a great weekend!!!


Until tomorrow . . 


Take care and God Bless.