What a lovely afternoon....

Guest Posting - Caring for Pets Responsibly

A great article on responsibility by Terry Sprague.  See Terry's website - Nature Stuff, Your Guide to Nature in Prince Edward County, in the sidebar under Worthy Websites.  Posted by Louisa.

 

CARING FOR PETS RESPONSIBLY  

Thursday, February 24, 2011, by Terry Sprague

“I can’t believe the stupidity of pet owners,” the voice on the other end of the phone line shouted. “People allowing their pets outside unsupervised, while at the same time, openly admitting to knowing that coyotes were present on their property! When I was with the MNR, we used to charge people when their dogs were allowed outside unsupervised in an area known to be inhabited by wild game.”

The telephone caller, a retired MNR employee, was commenting on several news items that have appeared sporadically in local newspapers this past year. In each case, pet dogs had been attacked or disappeared after being let outside, and it is presumed that rogue coyotes were to blame. In at least two of the cases, the writers admitted to letting their dogs out at night before going to bed and just shutting the door in their faces until it was time to let them back in. In all cases, they were well aware that coyotes were in the immediate area. Then they droned on with monotonous regularity, always asking when “they” will do something about this perceived problem.

One can moan and groan, shoot and trap, maim and frighten, or chase coyotes with snowmobiles like one cowboy was observed doing recently on Pleasant Bay, and it will change absolutely nothing. Coyotes will always be around. All it takes is just one in the wrong place at the right time.  Their occurrences this winter have been exacerbated by the amount of snow we have had, resulting in available prey being hard to come by, and coyotes being less than choosy this winter about what comes their way. Anyone with half a wit should be able to put two and two together and come up with a little more than three and a half! Even in Quinte West last week, coyotes entered a backyard and attempted to kill what the OPP described as “an unsupervised dog”. I have little sympathy for those who lose pets under such circumstances, but I do have a whole lot of sympathy for an innocent pet whose life was cut short due to lack of supervision. Pets depend on us to make correct decisions on their behalf. To do any less for them is acting irresponsibly.

Being irresponsible is something my family has never done on a dare and could explain why our pet dogs for more than six decades have lived to a minimum of 15 years, one of them, a Chihuahua, reaching 17 years. If any dog was coyote fodder, it was surely that one! Yet, pet owners continue to do act irresponsibly with their pets, knowing full well that we have coyotes, coyote/wolf hybrids, fishers, foxes and all manner of dangers lurking. Added to the dangers out there are motorists, many of whom refuse to slow down these days for any animal, and there are dognappers slithering about as well. Still, pet owners let their dogs and cats out at night to do their final toilet, unsupervised, and then go into a conniption fit when their pets fail to return.

Ordering that “they do something, or else” is not the answer. The answer is not with “they”, but with “us.” We now have coyote/eastern wolf hybrids, and we have had fishers for several years. Bald eagles are increasing and there is at least one local case of where an eagle attempted to catch a cat. These are all new dangers that have come along in recent years. We need to wake up and change the way we do business. If you leave a cat out at night, its days are surely numbered, and no amount of posters and lost pet announcements will bring it back. It is not lost; it has been ceremoniously consumed. Use it as a learning experience before you obtain a new pet, and move on.

The problem is with responsibility, or lack of it, to the point where it has become epidemic in the last decade. We instantly look around for someone else to blame, and if no one is around, we flee like so many hit and run drivers routinely do after hitting pets and people. We demand winter roads to be as they are in summer because we refuse to behave responsibly and drive more slowly when weather conditions dictate. Everybody needs liability insurance these days because no one will assume any risk or admit any responsibility for their actions. 

We know what the solution is, and it’s that Gawdawful term that today makes most people tremble uncontrollably. It’s called “responsibility” a word that is quickly disappearing from our vocabularies, because we loathe what the term implies. And today’s column is not going to change a damn thing. We will continue to lose pets, because that’s the way some people are, and a column is not going to change their habits one iota. And toddlers and infants apparently will disappear as well, since the comments I have seen in the press suggests that they, too, will be left unattended to be snatched by passing predators. It takes me a year to grieve the passing of any dog we have owned; I can’t imagine how I’d feel if my lack of responsibility resulted in losing my pet. And it ain’t gonna happen, because I have no intention of taking my eyes off our dog any time soon. Those who see me on the road every morning can verify that I have my dog under control at all times. To do less than that is irresponsible.

Responsibility. A term that is rapidly on its way to becoming the new era “F” word that one day will not even be allowed in print.

Terry Sprague, Naturalist, Prince Edward County Nature Tours & Stuff

Guest Posting - The Five Regrets of Dying.

Posted by Louisa, from her blog.  This is a very worthwhile read.

 

“Five Regrets of Dying”

Written by a public health nurse, Pat Russell:

“For many years I worked in palliative care. My patients were those who had gone home to die. Some incredibly special times were shared. I was with them for the last three to twelve weeks of their lives. People grow a lot when they are faced with their own mortality. I learned never to underestimate someone’s capacity for growth. Some changes were phenomenal. Each experienced a variety of emotions, as expected, denial, fear, anger, remorse, more denial and eventually acceptance. Every single patient found their peace before they departed though, every one of them. When questioned about any regrets they had or anything they would do differently, common themes surfaced again and again. Here are the most common five:

1. I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me. This was the most common regret of all. When people realize that their life is almost over and look back clearly on it, it is easy to see how many dreams have gone unfulfilled. Most people had not honoured even a half of their dreams and had to die knowing that it was due to choices they had made, or not made.

It is very important to try and honour at least some of your dreams along the way. From the moment that you lose your health, it is too late. Health brings a freedom very few realize, until they no longer have it.

 2. I wish I didn’t work so hard.

This came from every male patient that I nursed. They missed their children’s youth and their partner’s companionship. Women also spoke of this regret. But as most were from an older generation, many of the female patients had not been breadwinners. All of the men I nursed deeply regretted spending so much of their lives on the treadmill of a work existence.

By simplifying your lifestyle and making conscious choices along the way, it is possible to not need the income that you think you do. And by creating more space in your life, you become happier and more open to new opportunities, ones more suited to your new lifestyle.

 3. I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.
Many people suppressed their feelings in order to keep peace with others. As a result, they settled for a mediocre existence and never became who they were truly capable of becoming. Many developed illnesses relating to the bitterness and resentment they carried as a result.

We cannot control the reactions of others. However, people may initially react when you change the way you are by speaking honestly, but in the end it raises the relationship to a whole new and healthier level. Either that or it releases the unhealthy relationship from your life. Either way, you win.

 4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.
Often they would not truly realise the full benefits of old friends until their dying weeks and it was not always possible to track them down. Many had become so caught up in their own lives that they had let golden friendships slip by over the years. There were many deep regrets about not giving friendships the time and effort that they deserved. Everyone misses their friends when they are dying.

It is common for anyone in a busy lifestyle to let friendships slip.  But when you are faced with your approaching death, the physical details of life fall away. People do want to get their financial affairs in order if possible. But it is not money or status that holds the true importance for them. They want to get things in order more for the benefit of those they love. Usually though, they are too ill and weary to ever manage this task. It is all comes down to love and relationships in the end. That is all that remains in the final weeks, love and relationships.

5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.
This is a surprisingly common one. Many did not realize until the end that happiness is a choice. They had stayed stuck in old patterns and habits. The so-called ‘comfort’ of familiarity overflowed into their emotions, as well as their physical lives. Fear of change had them pretending to others, and to themselves, that they were content.  When deep within, they longed to laugh properly and have silliness in their life again.

When you are on your deathbed, what others think of you is a long way from your mind. How wonderful to be able to let go and smile again, long before you are dying.

Life is a choice. It is YOUR life. Choose consciously, choose wisely, choose honestly.

Choose happiness.”

November, Month of Reflection (by Louisa)

Our first 'hard frost' happened last week, proven by the blackened basil (not what's pictured). It tollerates light and medium frosts, but definately not the hard ones. The water in the bird bath was solid, and the windshield had to be scraped. So late autumn is here, although there are many who will refer to this as wintertime. There's a ways to go until then!

What is it about November that can get us down? Certainly the lessening daylight hours and increased, heavy grey cloud days can have effect. But I don't think it stops there. I'm thinking the light and temperature and cloud cover are catalysts for us as they are for nature - plants and animals and who knows what else.

The seasons all have their purposes - spring for renewal, summer for growth and reproduction, autumn for ripening and closing down. Winter for rest. And possibly reflection. So here we are in our 'wind-down' phase, late autumn, the elements forcing us to go inward towards introspection. Maybe we don't like what we feel or see there?

For me right now along with this, a lack of sleep is affecting me. We recently turned on the furnace for the first time, and discovered that it gives a dull 'crack' when it kicks on, and the sound of it heating up - its propane fired - creates the weirdest roaring sound that reverberates around the deck outside the bedroom window like a locomotive. Add to this some early morning, nearly pre-dawn shotgun blasts from the duck hunters nearby, and I feel like I'm a walking zombie working on a sleep deficit.

Compared to spring and summer, and even early autumn, there is not a lot of colour outside. But there is some, and it's up to us to make sure we see it. The colour is there, it's just muted. We're cued by nature to stop paying so much attention to our external world and do a bit of internal viewing.

In autumn so much in nature slows down, goes dormant, stops eating or hibernates. It has a rest. Us humans don't allow ourselves this - it's the same work schedule, the same routine with the kids, the same size meals - if not larger (ie comfort foods on the sofa before bed). What would happen if we all just allowed ourselves to slow up, do less, sleep more, eat less, do less, work out some problems, shore up our spirituality during these days when it feels like a curtain is being drawn? I'll try it out and let you know :-))

And remember, the beauty in each season not only lies in what we discover in each one, each day, but in the fact that one season inevitably leads into another, right on time. Each season is only about 90 days long, so when you're feeling dull, remember these sights and so many more are just around the corner:

Food (and Animals) For Thoughts

Lynne recently invited me, her friend Louisa, to post on her blog. She asked that this particular post, which I recently added to my own blog, be added to hers. I'm honoured that she would ask me to do so. Thank you Lynne.

Last Sunday I was walking with Sayde on the trails in the old farm field near us, and watched a woman in a paddock picking burrs from a pony's tail. Another horse was some ways off from her, and as I watched, she mosied over to the woman and stood with her head just over the woman's shoulder and watched her work. Or maybe she was wanting to be next. Or maybe she was just soaking in the human comradship. The woman leaned into the horses big face several times, perhaps uttering words, perhaps not. I left them like that but began pondering a topic that has had me fascinated and mystified at the same time ashamed, for many years. Why are some animals cared for, revered almost, and others not? I ponder how animals feel. Because clearly they do. I've often been envious of them for the way they live and perceive life and their circumstances. They seem so free of egotistical behaviours, of angers, of pettiness.

Specifically what bothers me is how and how much animals feel pain and how the human race pays no heed and in fact inflicts this pain. The pain that humans have inflicted on them for centuries and counting. Some people/scientists/animal experimentists believe that animals don't feel pain. How do they know for certain that they don't? (There are studies showing that they do.) Are they just making comparisons as per how humans feel and experience and more so, how humans express pain?

Some people will argue that we have developed cures and vaccines for diseases thanks to animal lives - do you want to die rather than an animal, or have whole populations die? My question is: how did it become the responsibility of one species (or actually several) to be the ones to sacrifice for others, when all they get in return is illness, suffering, and being murdered in the end? Sounds more like cowardice. Sounds like mass murder. Sounds like pre-meditated mass murder. What a legacy to be part of on this planet. People continue to use and abuse other species for their own means because they're afraid to die themselves? Because they can have power over these gentler, forgiving, accommodating species? Because they want to make money and fluff up their egos with perceived prestige? (referring here of how animals are used in money-making or amusement purposes - horse racing, contests, circuses, dog breeding, fishing and hunting [termed sport, and the unfortunate deceased is stuffed and displayed with glass eyes], etc. etc. etc.)

I wonder this: Are animals actually on such a higher, conscious plane than us, closer to enlightenment than us, that they don't experiece pain as we do? They are not plagued with the "me, me" egotistical ways of living. It's not all about them. They live as life is meant to be lived - close to the earth, cleanly, basically, without by-products that mar the earth and ruin their very own health and way of life. We can't compare them to us - we are self-destructive, they aren't.

There's a thought by some that humans are superior to animals. Compared to what? I look around and I don't see anything so very wonderful about what humans are doing on earth. We are destroying our own food and water sources. (And we argue about it all). No, maybe animals are actually superior because they've got it together about life. Marc Becoff in his book Minding Animals states: "I never cease to be perplexed by the paradox that we know how we wreak havoc on Earth and the universe and then continue doing so as if nothing happened." I don't see what's so superior about this behaviour. Animals are at peace with their positions, understanding something bigger about the universe than we do. They do not identify with their position and any sense of injustice on the planet, in their involvement with humans and other species because they accept. Humans seem to have to fight against everything, not trusting in life or nature to know best.

We have all heard of the conditions in factory farms, myself included, and yet we continue to buy products from these places, somehow brainwashed or numb to it all, acting helpless. Billions of animals in these factory farms have given up their lives for us. A question put out byJeffrey Moussaieff Masson in his book The Pig Who Sang to the Moon really hit me: "Why should my pleasure trump another's suffering?" A statistic quoted for one year (year unknown) states that in the US alone, at least 93 million pigs, 37 million cattle, 2 million calves, 6 million horses, goats and sheep, and yearly 10 billion chickens and turkeys were slaughtered for food. And on the animal experimental research front, in 1996 (survey by US Dept. of Agriculture), there were 1.3 million individuals used (this figure doesn't include rats, mice, and birds) in experiments. This figure includes 52,000 nonhuman primates, 82,000 dogs, 26,000 cats, 246,000 hamsters, and 339,000 rabbits. This is in just one year.

I recently researched a local organic farm's website for information on their products, and they state that many types of animals call their farm home, and that they raise them for the joy of their company, and that they enjoy being surrounded by their animal friends. This just sounded odd to me. Who kills and eats a friend? Who kills and packages them for profit?

The right actions to take seem like a no-brainer. But then there's the problem with us humans.