That is absolutely disgusting, Dagmar. And I'm not grossed out easily.
Hope you didn't have a rough evening....

Last day for kids at school today....
I work through next Friday...
I've almost decided to skip the staff party today.... I certainly don't want/need any buffalo wild wings.

Turns out Trixie didn't eat anything - she was bitten in the face by the muskrat she went after. DH is keeping her on the leash in the woods now - which was what I wanted him to do all along but he had to decide that for himself. It's basically a dumping ground for all the apartment buildings around it, home to all sorts of homeless people, and the creek is majorly (cromulent word that) polluted. Not a great place in terms of safety or health.

Dagmar

I was very emotionally stricken by a video on Fb last night. It was of a woman singing a lullaby to a little blind pig to calm his fear of loud noises. I couldn't stop crying and couldn't figure out why this was affecting me this way.

Today I realized that there isn't a whole lot of compassion in life any more, at least not city life where I am. This woman was able to show a whole lot of compassion to this little pig who had been stricken by illness and was trying to deal with the after effects (his bout of meningitis left him blind).

I am going to try to be more like this woman. City life is pretty brutal. Any niceness that I can bring to others - human and animal - living it with me has to be a plus.

This is very contrary to who I have been up til now. But life is change, yes? And it's time for some more in my life.

Dagmar

Dagmar, it brought tears to my eyes reading what you wrote. I know, just because you choose to work with animals, that you have a lot of innate kindness and compassion. But expressing it in the face of, as you say, the brutal life of the city, is not always easy. And life is brutal anywhere, really. I live in rural central California and most of the time have a hard time feeling compassion for the people around me. I feel a lot more for animals than I do for people. The thing that's changed about me over the years is that I try harder to make positive remarks to people (esp DH) and think three times before saying anything negative. Smiling is a good thing, too. It helps make the world a more cheerful place.

As far as animals, I know that I can't rescue all the animals that get dumped near our property (although 6 of our 7 cats were strays). It is hard put aside the sadness that comes from taking strays to the pound, but I know it's kinder than having them roam around and starve. When I finally get old and decrepit enough to want to stay home all the time, I will probably get some animals like that little pig or an old dog or cat, who need extra care to at least have a year or two of a good life. Right now I've got too many hiking trails to explore (although lately my knees have been telling me to slow down a little).

I bought DH a premium hot sauce sampler today. I wanted to give him a small gift - I'm away for 2 weeks and he's going to look after the animals and cook dinner for me every second night when I visit - but I didn't want to get him something to derail his diet. I went to an art and craft show today and saw the sampler - 4 different kinds of small batch hot sauce - and it's perfect.

He thanked me for being so patient with his "being a bum". I guess my try at being more compassionate has already begun - I've been keeping my criticisms to myself and letting him work through his job loss and subsequent sloth. Silence is best sometimes.

Dagmar

Yes, I do agree.