Ai yi yi! So sorry about your fall, Lighter. Dang it. Wasn't that the same side where you previously had a shoulder injury?
I felt my chest relax when I read that YG's toxicity is out in the sunshine and has now been seen by others, too. That's protective, I think. I'm so glad you maintain your YG boundaries without worry now.
You've been seeing bear cubs? Dunno how I missed that. We have bear pix and accounts on a neighborhood website again. I used to post and re-post the info about not feeding birds while bears are out of hibernation -- a few folks are now saying they bring feeders in at night, so that's partial progress. But a couple say bears destroy their feeders to get the seed in broad daylight. Bears: 1, Humans: 0.
Every spring I've posted and re-posted the Dept of Wildlife's fact sheet about human responsibility for drawing bears into residential areas where they naturally wouldn't go, and all the ways to stop it. I guess you can train a captive bear to perform for humans but you can't train humans to stop wanting every pleasure I enjoy because I enjoy it exactly the way I want to enjoy it when I want to enjoy it. Their natural habitats are captive to developers, who are ravenous.
Bear encounters will increase and some won't be so picturesque. I keep asking, why don't more people do something different to attract birds? You can plant nothing but native shrubs and trees and other plants for landscaping and ensure that birds (and Monarchs) will begin to recognize a little paradise on your property. You can hang little net bags with hair from brushes and dryer fluff tweezed partway out of the holes (just here and there to show birds the purpose, then they figure it out) on shrubs, branches and fences and enjoy watching many birds collect the material for their nests. You can position multiple birdhouses and birdbaths (including a few ground ones) to watch from every comfy chair. It's so delightful to watch, and especially when it's hot, the baths are clean water to drink are bigger benefits to them than feeding. Cleaning baths regularly and refresh the water for free also is better than spending on wastefully-harvested birdseed.
Ah well. We all got our rants. I think I often focus on this because I feel so helpless in the face of climate change, vanishing species (including so many birds) and yet our consumption just grinds on like a massive devouring unsustainable machine. We have eight years to turn it around and where's the urgency? Small good changes happen and then are politically undone. For the first time, I'm facing the idea that humanity really is going to succeed at destroying the planet for future generations. No wonder mental illness in teens is reaching pandemic proportions.
I can't remember where I told the pooch story, but I've reluctantly disallowed myself to become a "foster fail" with tiny Newpooch. She will be readily adopted and loved, I am sure, because she is so petite, gentle and charming. But she also is nearly impossible to housebreak (for me). I've worked with her for 3 weeks and she nearly gets it 90% of the time, but that 10% means she pees so often (common to very small breeds) that the amount of bending and cleaning, and especially having to block off two doorways to keep her off rugs which means I can't move freely through my house, has defeated me. If I had a true "spare room" I could.
Two thoughts were the final Cons in the Pros/Cons list. One was Pooch, whose sadness got to me terribly...I'd hoped they would bond and Newpooch would add to Pooch's pleasure in life. They're better together now and Pooch has lightened up a little, but it really affected our connection. She got her heart broken by me and I felt awful! I think she will be confused but relieved when Newpooch goes away.
The other was winter. Newpooch would need coat and boots on and off and on and off and she's needed to go out on average every hour and a half all day long. I don't want to live with puppy pads or dog diapers and our winters are not made for a fragile little creature from Texas (or Mexico). I imagined going out with over and over her on winter nights, as I head into my 80s (Newpooch is a lot younger than I'd had in mind, only 5, and likely to live 10-12 years more. It's high maintenance though zero fault of her own, but in my case, it's taken over my life. And Pooch's.)
And she's also gentle, funny, sweet and delightful, and I will really miss her. The amount of guilt I've felt has been quite painful at times. She trusts me utterly, has decided I'm Her Person, and tomorrow morning I take her back to prison, where she'll either be spayed or possibly have puppies (I'm not sure, but I think it's possible she's pregnant). Because of her size, she'll go to another foster to recover from either -- the shelter will just be too much for her. And then she'll be offered for adoption and I'm sure she'll be readily claimed and loved.
I just feel terrible FOR her, the new trauma she's going to go through, and what she will be feeling. I may just not be cut out to be a dog foster parent! I know absolutely that dogs psychically pick up what's going on in our minds, especially when it is sad. She had never done this before (she's quite shy) but last night on my bed she came nearer and laid her head on my leg and just looked at me, full eye contact, for ages. OWW, the guilt.
Still, in the long-term view, I know it's the right decision for her and for me. Somebody else with ability to manage all the pee needs will be able to snuggle her for a decade. She deserves that, not an aging person who's just not up to her energy. She is so FAST she can whip through an opening and take a quick pee by the time I turn. But I've learned a lot and have enjoyed her so much. I hope one day when the timing's right I'll have the chance to adopt a lazy old smallish dog who has previously lived in a home, and is house trained and mostly wants to hang out and be company. I'm sure I will; the SPCA team loved the adoption-post description for Newpooch I wrote for them.
One big thing is that I believe she might've been in a rancid puppy mill. She's never been on a leash that I could tell, and ducks as your hand lowers to pet her (she's learned my hands are always gentle, but you can still tell). Such a SWEETIE.
Whew, felt good to write that down! Although I suspect my longwinded posts chase Board posters away sometimes. I miss everybody.
Glad to read your updates Lighter, and especially about your capacity to work with joy and seize the happiness every moment it's available. Bravo, you.
hugs
Hops
