"dirt"

Here's the "Teddybear" sunflowers that were doomed to never see another day. Squirrels use them for dessert, I guess.



People get all grossed out by dirt. Have you noticed? It's brown, it's often made of something else's poop, and it's literally crawling with life. Eeeewwwwww.

Well, we are, too. Crawling with microbial life, that is. Freaks people out, so no-one talks about it. We just keep slathering on the anti-microbial soap & alcohol swipes. Stripping our own microbes of their ability to protect us. Plain soap isn't tough enough anymore. Oh, reallY?

Dirt is what we are made of too, like animals. Animals get how precious dirt is. We keep scooping it up, and dumping it elsewhere, so we can pave/sewer-pipe/build, build, build..
Dirt has a bad rap, and it's not really undeserved. There are bad microbes out there. Guess where some of them originated!! People, birds and swine. Guess we're closer than we thought. We can indeed give these animals our diseases, and vice-versa. The poxes with cattle..

We've pressured our birds and swine through factory farming, blithely feeding them antibiotics and growth enhancers and oooh, vaccines for various diseases, which wouldn't be necessary if the animals weren't so stressed. Not a fan of factory farming, in it's most barbaric forms.

The factory farms are getting better, but there are still many improvements necessary to keep the animals happy. It's in the interest of ourselves, f'r cryin' out loud, to show these animals a good time.

ANYway, the latest swine flu has the medical community in a twitter, because it's a "mutant" of two different types of flu. Bird & swine together. To me, it's the cluster effect. Time for another vaccine. More $$$$ for the drug companies. The frail and the ill do have something to worry about. Worrying the healthy segment of the population is counter-intuitive to me, anywho.

Personally, I just try to stay out of populated areas:) Cook your food well, wash your hands after food preparation. Don't lick your hands after handling raw meat.
Duh.

Oh, and scientists have (gasp) discovered that women have a more developed immune system. We're tougher, even those of us with an over-developed immune system. I knew that. Now, if doctors could just figure out a way to not damage our breasts when they check 'em, for fun, we'd be laughing. But noooo, instead, we have developed a dog that glows red under infrared light. Now, that's handy. I love my science magazines.

No idea where thaT tangent came from. I have always felt we've taken our dislike of dirt to a point where we forget what dirt is, is all. Over-vaccination of pets is a case in my point. If you follow me:) A little dirt is a good thing. A lot is a bad thing. Well, to-hell-with-housekeeping is also my mantra, but that's another explanation.

I really wanted to blather about animals, and how they speak to us.

My nightmare neighbour, MB's first dog, pseudonym CK, was a border collie/GSD cross, maybe. Tall, narrow, solid black, one windswept ear, one half-pricked ear. Long haired. Oh, CK was a sproinger. Coiled energy, effortless, beautifully moving dog. Painfully smart. Much smarter than her owner. No idea where MB found her, although MB did tell me the dog pooped diarrhea all over the back of her truck, when she got her. The dog was just reacting to her terrible fate, poor thing.

Gawd, she was a nice dog. My husband's GSD, Sam, HATED her, of course. Sam didn't get along with any other dogs, except my old red dog. Sam & CK had many battles in the beginning, CK losing all of them. When Sam became older and ill, CK came very close to killing him in revenge. Almost threw him in the back pond, and if I hadn't been there to haul him out, he'd have drowned. I yelled at her for it, but couldn't really blame her. Sam was really mean to her, when she was a young dog.

Naturally, MB chained CK outside. And left her alone, unattended, minimally fed, in all weather, year-round. I called AC. Often. CK barked and barked and barked. I can hear what animals say. I am surrounded by dog's voices, clamoring for company, where I live. Many dogs are ignored, where I live. I can hear their despair, their loneliness, their insanity. Their owners don't.

I'd clandestinely slip CK food, and water, and if I was sure MB wasn't due home, (after Sam had passed), I'd let CK off her chain for walks and plays. I'm the only one that ever talked to CK like the smart creature she was. My dear old red dog liked CK, and CK was always pathetically grateful to us. CK's life was empty. Her life was the view from a 6' chain. MB owns a horse, (!!!), and brought the horse (lame, btw) over to hack on the property one day. I watched as CK went very nearly insane, and then tried to jump her 8' gate. If she'd been successful, she'd have hung herself.

Weeks before, I had watched MB introduce CK to her horse, by using a longe whip, and hitting CK whenever she went near the horse:(

CK learned to break any type of clip or snap or rope or chain. She'd slam to the end of her tether, and slowly wear down whatever was holding her back. I slipped over to check on her one day, and noticed MB had left a particularly heavy clip on her chain. I joked to CK that she could break that one easy. Half an hour later, CK was at my back door, smiling for all she was worth. I never fed her at my house. I always fed her at her own place. (In case you were wondering.)

CK came over for love and companionship, what ANY animal wants.

I'm not finished with this thought, whatever it was. I can't find the one good picture of CK that I have, in her second last summer. I'd slyly convinced MB that I was needing CK's company for old red dog. I'd been able to feed her up a bit. CK glowed with health that summer. She looked like a little black bear, moving like a thoroughbred.

I reached a point with CK where I knew what each of her barks meant. "I'm lonely and hungry" sounded completely different from "There's someone here", or "My idiot owner is home".
Their voices are so clear, to some of us.

Blathered enough for one day, though. Trying to get back to relevant, if not educational.

To Your Animals.
They are so lucky to have you.

To Paddy. Huge hugs, from me. I hope through your tears, you can find some smiles, as you remember your dear girl. She had a long, happy life. How many animals do not?


Here's a pic of Flip and a GSD friend, before Flip came to be my dog.


Have a great weekend, everybody!