Indelible Quote for Posterity - Stepping on the scale (Dave Barry)

"I recently had my annual physical examination, which I get once every seven years, and when the nurse weighed me, I was shocked to discover how much stronger the Earth's gravitational pull has become since 1990."

-- Dave Barry

Arctic Fox Photo that is not to be missed

Arctic Fox
Originally uploaded by stephenoachs

A really good friend of mine is a fantastic photographer. His work repeatedly takes my breath away, and frustrates me because it keeps robbing me of the words for adequate verbal praise. No kidding, I just run out of words to describe his work. Really, how many times can you say, beautiful, wonderful, fabulous, stupendous, amazing, stunning, fantabulous... you get the point.

So, I think this time, I'm letting this simple, elegant photo speak for itself. If you love animals, especially wild animal, and furry ones at that, this photo will capture your heart. I kid you not. Once I look into the eyes of this fox, it's like those paintings where you feel it's actually looking back at you.

Stephen got sick while in Montana, taking photographs in the snowy, bone-chilling climes. He's coughing, sputtering and hacking now that he's back home, but after seeing his shots, I have to hope he feels it's worth it...at least, maybe he will after he feels better! Take a look and see if you agree...he has posted a shot of a Bobcat, and one of two red foxes "dancing" in the snow, on his Flickr photostream, and I urge you to check them out, then check out his Website. If you haven't heard of Stephen W. Oachs yet, you will!

(Ok, enough gushing--for now, at least. lol) ...Now back to our regularly silly brain excretions... oh, and there'll probably be an update on Dixie Doodle soon, so stay tuned!

P.S. I have begun to tweet on Twitter. If you'd like to follow me on there, check it out on the right side of this blog, or look me up under smilingwriter at Twitter.com.

Christmas plans went awry, but sometimes awry is a good thing...

I had planned to spend my Christmas time off, from VisiStat and various writing projects, at my mom's, but as events would have it, we were buried under a record-breaking snowfall. Day after day, night after night, snow, snow, snow! I think it lasted ten days solid. And I was stuck home...and then it snowed more.

I was fortunate that my electricity stayed on during Christmas week, but not so lucky with Internet. But that gave me a good excuse to be an offline human being for awhile! I need to disconnect from the Web every so often, to recharge my mental batteries. I'm not from the technology generation...I adopted it as a fully mature adult, so I periodically miss the days of my youth where there was no Internet, and entertainment involved stacks of books and an occasional old movie on TV. Being the reclusive writer that I am, I was easily able to enjoy myself while house bound. I called Mom numerous times, and the rest of the time I spent catching up on some reading, housework, some great old movies, and freezing in the snow trying to teach myself how to take decent photographs with my Christmas present... my new camera (a Canon PowerShot SX10 IS).

On Christmas day, I baked a delectable turkey breast (if I do say so myself) and made fried onions. Not traditional or much variety, but I had gotten caught off guard and hadn't made it to the grocery store before the snow hit. I live in a rural area, and it was too far to drive in for groceries in all that snow. Ok, I confess, I'm a winter driving weanie, so I believed it was too far and too scary to drive in the snow to the grocery store. Besides, I had ten pounds of moist, succulent turkey breast all to myself! And did I mention that delicious Cabernet Sauvignon a good friend had given me?

I thoroughly enjoyed my Christmas, and felt rested and very blessed. Talked to family, and had no deadlines to obsess over. It was really great.

Then Christmas ended, the weekend flew by, I took more photos of more snow, ate more turkey, and found my Internet was working again on Monday morning. I was working holiday hours until New Years day, i.e., no deadlines, just various low pressure projects and things that came up. And some fun work for a photographer friend, who I love to follow on Flickr (see his photostream here). There are a couple other photographers I enjoy following on Flickr, and one of them, chaybert, posted a photo of his new dog, Callie. His comments area mentioned petfinder.com, and being a pet lover, I was curious. So I popped over to the petfinder.com Website, and did a quick local search, just to see what I could see. Little did I know, that was a click that would change my life's balance and serenity...

I saw a photo (the one posted to the right) of a "spayed female Beagle" at a local animal rescue shelter. I didn't know anything about petfinder.com, or the shelter, and doubted the dog was still available. There was something about that little face, the floppy strawberry blonde ears, the sleepy eyes, and the patient stance.... I wasn't ready for another dog yet. I'd lost my 12 year old toy poodle about three years ago, and there was still a hole in my heart, and a bit of fear of feeling that sense of loss again. Besides, I was getting used to being unfettered. After 12 years of caring for a poodle with a back injury, I was finding the freedom rather appealing. Don't get me wrong, I really missed having a dog. I've had one almost my entire life. I had been thinking about maybe looking into getting one this summer. But I wasn't sure, wasn't ready yet. But there was something about that little face...

The next day, I went back and looked at the picture of this little sweetie, named Dixie Doodle. I don't know what it was about her, but she was sticking in my mind. So, I clicked on the link and went to the local shelter's Website, ColvillePetRefuge.org, to see what Dixie's story was, or if it even told. Once there, I found that the links listing their available pets weren't working. I wrote to let them know, and that night I got a phone call from them. We discussed the links and I helped with some advice on an easy way to remedy the situation, and was asked if I'd like to fill out an adoption application over the phone. I was a bit hesitant, but decided, why not? I could always say no at any time. After an over the phone interview, application information and a really nice conversation, Mary told me about Dixie Doodle...oh, my heart...

After more conversation, Mary said she'd call Dixie Doodle's foster home if I wanted to know more, and make arrangements to see her. I thought, what could it hurt. I could always say no at any time.

Ten minutes later, Bonnie, Dixie Doodle's very sweet foster "mom" called me. She had talked with Mary, and seemed to believe I would be an excellent match for little Dixie. After hearing more about her, I was beginning to agree, but did I really want to take on that responsibility again? Then Bonnie told me Dixie was such a good girl, but she'd been shuffled around so much, and hadn't really had a stable home where she could be herself, let herself have fun and just be a loved pet. Oh, my heart...

I told Bonnie I'd like to meet her, but the roads were horrible, and I didn't know when I could get to her. It might be quite awhile, since there was another storm coming. So we left it at waiting for the weather to improve. Maybe it wasn't meant to be...

The next day was New Year's Eve, and the roads were awful. Not awful for a winter driving weanie, but really awful! I wasn't sure that the visit with Dixie would go any further, and I have to admit, I felt so sad for Dixie, picturing her having to always be quiet and self-restrained, always feeling unsettled...but was I being selfish, not wanting to have another dog? I went to bed that night feeling sad for Dixie, confused about what I wanted, and figured I would "sleep on it" and see what happened. I have a very faith-based Christian viewpoint, and I prayed that the best for Dixie, and best for me, would happen, whatever that may be. With that, I drifted off to sleep.

I was awakened on Dec. 31st by my neighbor knocking at my door. I'd slept through my alarm and was afraid I'd be late for work...wait...the alarm clock was dead! I answered the door, and was told our electricity had been out for some time (which I should have known by how cold it was in the house!). After checking, I found it was going to be out for some time. Hmmm, and it wasn't snowing for the first time in many days. And the sun was shining for the first time in many, many days. And I unexpectedly had the day off, because without electricity, there was no computer or Internet. AND, my neighbor offered to take me out to see Dixie in her 4-wheel drive. I guess that prayer was answered pretty thoroughly, wouldn't you agree?

So around 1:30, I met Dixie Doodle. I called her name and she came running toward me, sat at my feet and wagged her tail until I petted her. Then she jumped into the car, curled up on the seat, and just looked up at me with those big, soft, sleepy eyes that tugged at my heart on petfinder.com. Guess what? She never left the car! We took care of the paperwork, fees and I adopted her that afternoon.

As I write this story, I have a 25 lb, 2-year old Beagle/Rat Terrier little girl stretched out next to me. We've just finished playing tug of war, her favorite game, and she's sleeping peacefully with her favorite toy at her paw tips. I think I see a little smile on her face! I know I have a smile on my face.

True, I am not as free as I was. I now have a living creature depending on me again. And I'm enjoying every minute of it. Yes, there's white hairs on my furniture and on my clothes, but I am getting out and walking with Dixie at least three times a day, and every time I look at her, I smile, and my heart fills with that special feeling reserved for animals and innocence. And she has the softest ears...

My Christmas and New Year's plans went awry, but awry was a very blessed thing.

Happy 2009 to each of you, and I wish you all contentment and joy the whole year through!