Tuesday’s Show and Tail… My Shadow

It’s time to share another "Tuesday’s Show & Tail." Angela, over at West Virginia Treasures, has been hosting this special time for several months, and it is always a lot of fun to see all the interesting posts of the people who join in! This is the 36th week that Angela has hosted this meme to share about past or present pets, animal friends we’ve known, or interesting stories about animals. If you’d like to join, here is the link to the Guidelines.

Today… if I can get through it… I want to share about my old Shadow. He was a very special dog (but so many have been) that we got originally for my son, Mick. We first saw Shadow at an old Safeway Grocery store in March of 1990. He was in a shopping cart with a BUNCH more brothers and sisters. He was the skinniest of the bunch, and looked like he was mostly head (as do most animals who are starving) I couldn’t take all of them home, but decided we would try to save him as he was in the worst shape of them all.

He was part Border Collie and probably had some German Shepherd and/or Queensland Healer in him. He was TOTALLY smart, and learned very quickly. Of course, with good food and a lot of love, he grew into a very handsome, healthy dog and, since we moved out here a few months after we got him (one of the reasons that I knew we COULD get him) he and Mick had lots of room to roam. Mick lived on, and for horses, and they spent many hours riding the hills around here for miles with Mick’s brothers.

One day, when Shadow was a year or so old, I heard what sounded like a horrible struggle outside about 6 a.m.. It sounded like someone was being strangled. I jumped out of bed and ran outside (without my glasses), tripped in a hole and crawled to where the two dogs were struggling. Our other German Shepherd, Midnight, and Shadow had been playing when she got her jaw tangled in his choke collar and it somehow twisted around her jaw she couldn’t let go and it had tightened down on his neck and was strangling him while threatening to break her jaw.

I was yelling to try to wake one of the kids and praying desperately when suddenly one of the links broke! ( a TOTAL miracle as those were heavy, welded links) Midnight ran dripping blood from her mouth, and Shadow lay on his side, not breathing, his tongue blue, and he had already soiled himself. I gave him CPR ( I worked with little special ed. children, so had been taught how) Within a minute, he started to breath again, and we laid there, side by side, me petting him, crying and thanking God, and him gasping until he got his breath back.

His neck was cut and swelled up quite badly for several days, and Midnight had lost one of her front molars, but they both survived. From that time on, if Mick wasn’t home, and after he graduated and left home in 1996, Shadow was literally, in my shadow, until he got to the point where he could no longer walk and started to be in pain, at the age of 17. I took him to the vet and was with him as he went to the “Rainbow Bridge.” Mick drove out and buried him in our front yard, under the trees in his favorite spot.

Besides her Mama Mist, Shadow was OC’s favorite, and she followed him around and looked up to him totally. He was great with everyone and with other dogs, too, once he was told they were "ok." The only thing he feared was gunshots. I remember one day, the neighbors were practicing shooting out in their side pasture, and I heard a bang at the front door. I looked up and there was Shadow hanging from the flyscreen that’s on the upper half of the screen door. He reminded me of those old Garfields that used to have the suction cups on the feet that you could hang on windows… poor baby.

I wrote a poem about/for him the evening we buried him:

Goodbye My Shadow

3/90 to 7/9/05

That silver muzzle is no longer here

To nuzzle my hand as I shed my tears.

Old friend I will miss you so

As through this life I continue to go.

I remember your big head at six weeks old

Attached to that tiny body of bones.

We took you home and fed you up

And you became a sturdy pup.

And then when you were one or two

I shared the breath of life with you.

You’ve been my Shadow from that day to this

And you’re loving presence I greatly miss.

Today I freed you from your pain

I hope that my loss is your gain.

I looked to throw you a treat tonight

But no trusting eyes greeted my sight.

Later I reached to scratch your old ears

Then couldn’t hold back the flowing tears.

I know you’re in a better place

And smiling again with your doggy face.

By Linda Brock © 7/9/05

Proverbs 12: 10 The Treatment of Your Animals Shows What’s Inside…

I do another blog that is a Bible Study from the book of Proverbs, and today’s verse is one that is just so close to my heart that I wanted to share it here as well. I don’t think very many of you follow both blogs, so hopefully this won’t be a re-run for you.

Today’s verse talks about the way people treat their animals as being a way to judge their character. I find this interesting because we see more and more animal abuse and neglect as the incidence of other forms of crime, abuse and neglect rise.

Proverbs 12: 10 (NKJV)

10 A righteous man regards the life of his animal,

But the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.

righteous: Morally upright; without guilt or sin Upright: Adhering strictly to moral principles

regards: 1. To give heed; pay attention 2. To take into account; consider. 3. Obsolete: To take care of.

         Synonyms: regard, esteem, admiration, respect

These nouns refer to a feeling based on perception of and approval for the worth of a person or thing

mercies: 1. Compassionate treatment 2. A disposition to be kind and forgiving  3. Alleviation of distress; relief 4. humane and kind, sympathetic, or forgiving treatment of or disposition toward others

wicked: 1. Evil by nature and in practice 2. Highly offensive; obnoxious

cruel: predisposed to inflict violence, pain, or hardship, or to find satisfaction in the suffering of others

By using the definitions of the main words of the Bible Text, we see that people that are morally upright, or adhere strictly to moral principles, will pay attention to the care of their animals. They feel that there is worth in living things, and that they have feelings and need love.

By contrast, those people that are evil by nature and in practice, and that are predisposed to inflict violence, pain, or hardship, or to find satisfaction in the suffering of others, just don’t seem to have the capacity within themselves to give humane and kind, sympathetic or compassionate treatment even to their animals.

This is SO SAD! I feel that one of the main ways to change people is to change their hearts, and only love, and in particular, the Love of God and His forgiveness in lives, will do that. When we ask Jesus into our lives to wash us from the sins we’ve repented of, and to become the LORD and Savior in our lives, then HE will change us from within, and when He comes again, Romans 8:21-23 tells us:

Romans 8: 21 – 23 (NKJV)

21 because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. 23 Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.

In Remembrance…

Tonight, we had our weekly Bible Study. We were studying in 1 Corinthians 11, and talked a lot about the Lord’s Supper. So often, THIS particular passage isn’t used in so many of the communion services that I’ve heard, or at least one of the most important parts of this passage, in my opinion, just seems to be skipped over. It is a part that I’ve always felt was VERY important and one that I always made sure that I stressed when talking to my children. Here are the verses I’m talking about…

Institution of the Lord’s Supper

23 For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; 24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” 25 In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.

So often when we’ve taken the communion in our church, the emphasis is on what Christ did for us by dying for us, and it is about the past. This is, of course, very important, but there is so much more involved. To me, these verses speak not only of the past and what was done FOR us, but of the present and what He IS doing, and of the future and what He WILL DO, as well!

That sacrifice gives us the opportunity, now, to be God’s children and have His Holy Spirit as a comforter and to give us wisdom and teach us God’s ways because He is in us and with us always. It also points toward our future in Heaven… that totally wonderful promise that we have nothing to fear from death for it is a portal to our REAL home, because we are just “passing through” this place.

This is always something I think about when I read this verse because of what it says in verse 26: “For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.” I’ve always felt that those last 8 words were totally important and the idea of the remembrance being “past, present, and future related” is what I’ve always felt that they meant!

It also reminds me that He IS coming, and THAT is what I live for!

Babe… Our First Family Equine

Time for another "Tuesdays' Show & Tail" hosted by Angela over at West Virginia Treasures! It is a meme to share about past or present pets or furry friends we’ve known. If you’d like to join, here is the link to the Guidelines. Angela, we appreciate the opportunity to share some of our treasured friends or other interesting animals we’ve seen!

Today, I want to share a bit about our first family equine, a little black Shetland, named Babe. I’d had a horse when I was young that my dad had gotten me, and I’d loved them totally since I was very little, so when we got to the point when we could afford one, we started praying. We put our names on the list for a corral at the local Horseman’s Association, and after a few months we got one. (This picture was taken about 1988, after we’d gotten several horses. L – R = Tai Pan, Peppy, Cory, Babe)

A week or so later, my prayers were answered, when one of my best friends called me. She worked at the local vet’s office and they had been called in by the Humane Society to put down a little starved Shetland pony, named Babe. When she and one of her friends saw the little guy, who had been kept in a back bedroom and only taken out at night for a few minutes to the park to graze, he was to weak to stand. She talked it over with her friend, and they asked the vet to give them a chance to save the little pitch black gelding.

He was so weak and little, that they could hold him up for several minutes at a time… and they did for four days, feeding him and paying for him to get shots and food IV’s and hand feeding him. Finally, he was able to get up and stand on his own, and they continued to feed him and care for him, but she really didn’t want another horse or pony, so a couple of weeks later, when she found out I’d gotten a corral, she offered to sell him to us for $50 (enough to cover some of the vet bills she’d paid) and we were able to get him for our kids.

My oldest son was 5 (the same age as Babe) and my daughter was 4. I was pregnant with my next son. We had Babe for 20 years, and he taught all of my kids how to ride. He was an ornery little thing, like most Shetlands, but a bit worse because he was “Proud cut.” His “gelding” wasn’t done properly and he thought he was a stud. By the time each of our kids were able to ride him, they could ride ANYTHING!!! They won many Gymkhana, Horse Show, and Parade ribbons on him.

Babe was a beautiful little thing when he was shed out in the summer, and looked like “Little Black” in the children’s books by Walter Farley, the author of the Black Stallion series. During the winter, he looked like a black furry bear. He was also VERY smart and learned many tricks. He could shake his head “no,” or “yes,” and “count.” He could shake hands and bow, and he could carry a buggy whip in his mouth and switch it up and down to “chase” you with it. He could also open gates…

He was 25 years old when he got cancer that went into his brain and one day, he started having seizures, so we had to send him over the Rainbow Bridge. He was a very special part of our lives for so many years, and brought a lot of joy, and fun into all of our lives. I wish I had more pictures of him…

Garden of Love by L.B.

Garden of Love

The people and pets we’ve loved in this life,
The ones that have been with us throughout life’s strife…

Each has planted a beautiful flower
With growing love it’s major power.

When we look at the way they’ve touched our hearts,
We’ll see a garden with beautiful parts…

Flowers with eyes that smiled our way…
Rainbowed dew on leaves that sway--
The tears their hands or tongues have brushed away.

The chuckling brook of laughter bestowed
By the antics they’ve played that lifted life’s load.

We water that garden and keep it alive,
When we pass love on and help others thrive.

Don’t let your Garden of Love wither and die,
By letting the weeds of bitterness thrive.

Look up towards the Son, and let Love’s light shine,
So that someday, in Heaven, with those friends we will dine.

Linda Brock © 12/18/09

Another "Show and Tail" Post

Time for another "Tuesdays' Show & Tail" hosted by Angela over at West Virginia Treasures! It is a meme to share about past or present pets or furry friends we’ve known. If you’d like to join, HERE is the link to the Guidelines.

Today, I thought I’d tell you about the first doggy love of my life. My Mom told me that I was only a few months old when my dad came home with a little, almost dead Chihuahua/Doxie puppy. It was covered with lice and fleas and several of its littermates had already died. They got the little thing cleaned up and de-bugged, cleared up it’s mange and gave her the name Bootsie because she was a dark honey color with four white boots and a white tip on her tail. (She's the pup between us)

They said she took to me right from the first and would lay with me gently for hours. Many is the night that I would fall asleep rubbing her soft, silky ear between my fingers. Bootsie, and Lena and Gonie (my two invisible friends) were my constant companions for the first 4 or 5 years of my life until my sister got old enough to play with, and then Bootsie was still always there.

This was over 50 years ago and it wasn’t horrible to have puppies, so Bootsie had a lot of them. That’s where I learned how to help birth them- though she seldom needed any kind of help, and mostly we just watched.

Bootsie was a born “MOTHER!” She raised puppies, and kittens and even a little duck! It was so funny because ducks tend to follow their mother’s while puppies don’t. That first day, she’d pick up the little thing and take it to her nest under the house (she always hid her puppies after a few days… probably to give them peace from us kids) and it would follow her back out, so she’d pick it up again and take it back… That went on for several hours until she finally gave up and brought all the pups out into a box Mama put in the washroom.

It was so funny to watch when the puppies would nurse, because the duckling would pick up a teat and sort of gently pull on it and open and shut it’s little beak on it like ducks do when they are grooming each other. At least THAT was a “puppy” she didn’t have to give up, and for many years, whenever they saw each other (when Bootsie would go outside into the back yard or chicken yard (later) they would go up to each other and Bootsie would lick the duck’s face and “Peep-Peep” would do little ducky kisses up and down Bootsie’s back. We have 8mm movie pics of that. This is a picture of my grandma, parents, sisters and me. I'm holding Bootsie and my sister is holding our new puppy, Petunia.

I had that precious little friend for the first eleven years of my life, and she was a very special part of it because I was kind of a shy, quiet little girl… always heavy… and, especially during those last years of her life (my pre-adolescent years) she was always there for me, loving me throughout everything… the kid’s teasing, my Dad’s heart attacks, etc.

I was heart broken, of course, when she took the "Rainbow Bridge," and what is so interesting is that I had never heard of the Rainbow Bridge until only a couple of years ago, but the night she died, when I thought I would too, and I wanted to follow her so badly, I dreamed of walking with her in a wooded area.

We came to an old bridge that crossed a river that was far below and there were mists raising off of it. It was night and the moon was shining so full. When we got there, Bootsie started to cross it and I tried to go with her, but she turned around and looked me in the eyes and I knew that she was telling me that I had to stay, and she had to go... I watched her finish crossing, and when she got to the angel on the other side, she turned again, to say good-bye, and then they went off into the woods on that side. That dream is still so very clear in my mind...

Joy to the World – Verse 1

A few blogs ago, I mentioned that I'm trying to look at the words of some of the Christmas Hymns and let God speak to me through them... Well, this one has really touched me:

Joy to the World , the Lord is come!

Let earth receive her King;

Let every heart prepare Him room,

And Heaven and nature sing,

And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing.

God DID give His Joy to the World that long ago “Christmas” Day. It might NOT have been on December 25th that it happened, but it did happen. God sent HIS son into the world… The one that reigned with Him on high, to live as a human, sharing our joys and pains to truly “walk a mile in our shoes…”

Because Jesus KNOWS all of our problems, temptations, and heart pains… our tiredness, our anger and hurt that makes it hard for us to forgive, and all the rest of our sin, and STILL loves us enough so that He would pay for our sins on that cross, we have a “FREE” ticket into heaven.

Through the gift of His Holy Spirit that comes into our hearts when we repent (turn away from) our sins and become “born again,” we have a way to find peace that passes understanding as we travel through this life.

YES!!! These things should bring us JOY! When each of us accept that gift and acknowledge HIM as our Lord, He HAS come for each of us and we, (now of earth) can receive our King and worship him when we make room for, and have "communion" with Him in our own hearts. (Communion = 1. The act or an instance of sharing, as of thoughts or feelings.
2. Religious or spiritual fellowship)

His Word says that the Angels of Heaven REJOICE when one of us comes to KNOW Him and accept Him. It also says that soon, when He comes back, all of nature that groans now WILL sing with joy just as our Corgis "sing" with joy when they see us coming home, because of the love we share.

A Christmas Carol…

This year the holidays, for me, have been quite a mixture of the Past, the Present and the Future. So often I’ve found myself thinking about the past…

Past Christmases and Thanksgivings with my parents, and my kids have played over and over in my mind. These were times that were always so special. My parents always made the holidays into times of wonder for us. I think that they were often more excited than we were to see our reactions to the presents, lights, tree, food, etc. I remember the sight of my own kids being so excited to go to Nana’s (we always had our holidays at my Mom’s house) and the gatherings we all shared there with both of my sister’s and their families and usually several other friends. There are so many wonderful memories

Living in the present during the holidays, for me, is an up and down roller coaster. I miss my parents and most of my kids live so far away now, that I miss them, too! It’s harder during the holidays to not have them near, I think. I don’t feel that I “know” them or my grandkids well enough, anymore, to know what they like, so I can’t get excited about what to give them.

I am so grateful, though that Robert is here with my hubby and I and that we have the corgis. I’m usually to busy to dwell for long, on the sadness of those that are missing from my life, now, and that is a good thing so that I don’t go into a depression.

I’ve spent a LOT of time praying for so many of my friends and relatives that are also having a hard time this year: My oldest son and his four daughters that lost their Mom this past January, and another son that is having problems finding a job to support his family and dealing with the stresses of life that financial instability brings. I have so many friends and loved ones that are having huge problems with health issues, too, to pray for.

I think that the pain in those around me, that I know and love, is something that I have to be very careful to “cast” on Jesus, for He’s told me to “Cast all my cares upon Him, for He cares for me.” I know that He has everything in His control and can use all problems and joys to work together for the good for those that love Him, and I am so blessed to know that most of my loved ones DO know Him.

I know that He loves all those that I love that DON’T know Him yet, and is working in their lives to draw them to Himself, and that helps me too, to have faith that He is working things out! These are some of the things in the future that I can look forward to… that and seeing all my “dearly departed” that have gone home to a place of peace and rest that I can look forward to as well.

Each day, as I’ve been listening to the Christmas Carols that are being sung, I’ve been trying to LISTEN to the words and think about what they are saying, telling of the joy that God brought into the world when He GAVE HIS son, knowing what that would mean … a life filled with the joys, sorrows, pain and love that would allow Jesus to KNOW what life as a human was like, and then to sacrifice that Son He loved so that WE wouldn’t have to pay the price for our sins…

I’m trying to be sure to keep my eyes on the REAL reason for the season, and have Faith in what it meant/means for me and my loved ones in the past, present and future. He came to give us a HOPE, and He has plans for a blessed future for us, because He Loves us so much.

My Comfort…

I heard someone talking about this, and it really touched me…

Those loved ones that have died as Christians, are NOT only in your past, BUT are also in your future, so LOOK FORWARD to seeing them again as one of those treasures that are laid up in heaven, instead of looking backward, unless it is with good memories, and living in the past which only leads to depression…