Beyond The Rainbow

As much as I loved the life we had and all the times we played,
I was so very tired and knew my time on earth was soon to fade.

I saw a wondrous image of a place that’s trouble-free
Where all of us can meet again to spend eternity.

I saw the most beautiful Rainbow, and on the other side
Were meadows rich and beautiful — lush and green and wide!

And running through the meadows as far as the eye could see
Were animals of every sort as healthy as could be!

My own tired, failing body was fresh and healed and new
And I wanted to go run with them, but I had something left to do.

I needed to reach out to you, to tell you that I’m well,
That this place is truly wonderful, a happy place to dwell.

That your heart shouldn’t ache so… the pain should go away.
I’ll wait for you in comfort ’til you come for me some day.

That although we’re not together in the way we used to be,
We’re still connected by a bond no eye can ever see.

That when you need to find me, we’re never far apart.
Just look beyond the Rainbow and listen with your heart.

Anonymous

Laundry tags — those little paper thingies that are stapled to your shirttails when you pick them up from the cleaners.

Every day for the last week or so, Ginger has foraged the trash can and closet and every night, we find them on the bed — sometimes under the covers. We assume she’s playing with them, but have no idea what the fascination is.

Actually, the ones I just made were completely free.

Cut three strips from an old bath towel. The kind with nubs works best. I cut the strips about 3-inches wide across the width of the towel.

Take one strip and tie a loose overhand knot in the center. Slip the second strip through the knot and tie another overhand knot. Slip the third one through the first two and tie a third knot. Pull the ends of the strips to tighten all the knots and form a small ball in the center.

It took Dakota about 24 hours to learn he could use his paws to steady the collar while grabbing the inner seam in his teeth. Once he had a good grip on it, he was able to pretty much shred half of it in 30 minutes. Since the vet said we needed to keep the collar on for 5 days, we had to find a solution.

First we tried replacing the E-Collar with an inflatable Pro-Collar. That worked great for several hours, but he eventually found a position in which he could scratch the injury on the top of his head.

Necessity really is the mother of invention. I took what was left of the E-Collar and trimmed it to a width equal to the distance from where his regular collar sits at his throat to the end of his snout. I then threaded his regular collar through both the Pro-Collar and E-Collar with the E-Collar inside the other one, loosened his regular collar a notch and slapped it on.

That got us through another two days and then he figured out he could crack the collar by ramming it into the furniture. Three or four strips of duct tape got us through another day.

Then his sister Kisa decided to play tug of war with it and it was all over. Fortunately, this was shortly before our vet visit so we didn’t worry about it too much.

Take two small squares of bread, coat them with peanut butter and slap them together with the pill inside.

Not recommended for pets with allergies.