Beauty from the struggle

Fine wine and butterflies are such an inspiration and encouragement for me. Beautiful creations many times comes through the struggle of getting through various stages in life, such as the caterpillar and the butterfly. I learned that fine wine comes from the struggle of the grapes during their growth and survival of the environment around them. The more they struggle the better the wine. I am struggling with the "joy" part of my life. I pray to Jehovah to give me joy through his holy spirit. The kind of joy that doesn't require putting on "the mask" and just doing what is expected. The struggle I'm going through will make me a better person in the long run. I hope that I will be able to share my experience with others and help them find the beauty in their life in spite of the struggle.

When I saw this comic in Drabble, it reminded me so much of Rascal. Lots of puppy doxie energy!

Isn't this the best? I love Drabble Comics!

Is it spring yet? Snow in Arizona

Here it is one day before spring officially begins and we are having high levels of snow in Arizona. Flagstaff is reporting up to 30" in two days! We had reports of 9.5" yesterday and today in West Sedona but it is wet and melts underneath as it is still accumulating. I have snow drifts in my yard. Rascal is going outside to potty but he is almost covered with snow as he get's down in the yard. He has a little trail down the ramp with snow up to his belly and then he found a way to tiptoe along the edge of the porch where it is dry and does his business. Then he tiptoes back up the ramp and RUNS inside! I caught the cutest picture of him as I was outside assessing the situation. He is peeking over the gate with those sad curious eyes and appears to be asking me, "why can't we go for a walk?" At least that's my perception. Another funny Rascal story....I have been taking him out to stay in Clarkdale with a dear friend who also teaches dog obedience classes. He stayed out there recently overnight one week and then another week recently. She has a big back yard, fenced, with lots of space over an acre. She has left the landscape as natural as possible so there are low desert bushes in the yard and oak shrubbery. This is a good place for Rascal to run and play while he searches for birds to chase as they fly away from him. He can spend hours out there and gets a good workout. Well, he STILL does not come when I call him and even Joanna tried to teach him while I was gone. He could care less about food, treats, cold, wind, and rain when he is out chasing those birds until he just gets flat tired. Both Joanna and I have now experienced him zipping around the yard while we say "come" to deaf ears up to 45 min. to an hour. We both have learned not to let him out in the yard without his leash if we want to go somewhere and just letting him out to do his business before we go. All you can see is this little brown streak flashing by. If I try to walk or chase after him, he just goes faster. I saw this cartoon on comic.com Doxies really do know how to entertain themselves and others.

Here's some snow pics I took today.

On a smoky Sunday morning... Jan. 15, 2012

I had a terrible flashback the smoky Sunday morning of Jan. 15th. I woke up that morning to firetruck sirens and smoke. The mobile home 2 doors down (#36 and #37- I'm #38)was on fire. When I looked out my window I saw that #37's roof was on fire, so I got dressed, grabbed Rascal and my purse and drove my car to the dirt parking area to watch the fire and stay safe. At that point all I could think of was my house was in danger and I  needed to get out of there. As I watched the mobiles burning, I started crying thinking of that awful night so many years ago when my inlaw's mobile burned on an early morning in Las Vegas where we lived. Paul, Bill's brother - my brother-in-law was severely burnt saving his family. Lives can change in an instant...barely a blink of the eye. My home is fine. The firefighters came by off and on all night to make sure no embers relit. #36 is totally destroyed. The man who lived there...another Bill (we had 3 living in a row while my Bill was here) had probably left a candle burning before he went to sleep and got out alive with just his feet being badly burned due to the rubber soles of his slippers melting to his feet. The neighbors in the nice doublewide next door..another Bill and his wife Laverne...get up around 3am everyday and she looks out the window around 7:30am every morning. She calls herself the "nosey neighbor." She saw #36 on fire and called 911 or he may not have made it. Then she realized her living room was on fire and her and her husband escaped. The firefighters saved their home but the front room and roof is pretty damaged. Later I heard the windows blew out and the frames melted. All in all it will turn out ok as they both had insurance but lives were changed. When I told Paul about it and my emotions, he reminded me that he almost lost his eyesight too. I had not remembered that. He had been afraid he would never be able to see again or play guitar since his hands were so burnt. He said Alberta brought an elder from the Mormon church and they prayed over him and here he is today...good eyes and still playing guitar and keyboard. He was blessed. I think how hard that must have been for him, Alberta, and the four kids. And how grateful that we are all ok since back then and here today on our little street in Sunset Village.

So is it Cleo or Pretty Face? Story about our new cat

One day a couple of weeks ago, I had this "thought" that it might be nice to have a cat so Rascal wouldn't be alone during the day when I'm in school or working. So I stopped at the mailbox to check my mail, and as my customary routine, checked the bulletin board for any new information in the park I live in. There was this ad "6yr old beautiful friendly calico cat named Cleo needs home" along with a picture of this very pretty cat with the most beautiful eyes that looked like they had been permanently lined with black eyeliner. The cat was in our 55+ park so I'm thinking...ok I'll call. Maybe, the owners are getting older and can't take care of her anymore. So I called and talked to this nice man who told me he wanted to be careful and give the cat a good home. I could come over at 5pm and see the cat and we could talk. When I arrived at 5pm at a mobile just up two streets from me, the man came to the door and had the cat all ready to go! He picked up the cat carrier with the cat inside (I didn't even see it very well), had a small paper with the cat's name and prior vet with a copy of the tag that he couldn't find. His wife was there and making over the cat having a new home. They kindly walked me out the door and towards my car with the cat, food, cat litter, and a scratching pole in their hands. I'm not even sure they heard my name! I had brought a card of pictures of my last pet sit to show them I was good with animals and the man looked at it briefly and asked if he could have it as they turned around and went back to their house. "Cleo" didn't put up any kind of fight or even make a sound. So off we go. I had a cat and Rascal would just have to learn to live with it. I brought "Cleo" into the house in her carrier and took her to Rascal's larger crate in the living room thinking she might like to be close to us for awhile. Rascal barked and she hissed for a bit and they both finally calmed down. She ate her food in the crate and seemed calm and content. The next day I let her out and put Rascal in the small crate. She ran into the closet and hid behind the suitcase all day. Finally, I got her out early in the evening and set her up in the art room with a small bed that Eileen's neighbor no longer needed, her litter box, scratching post, water, and her food. I put a fence up at the bedroom door so she could see us but Rascal couldn't get in. Ok. That worked!
I finally took time to look at the paper the man had given me and an article was attached. This was the couple in their 70's, Betty and Bob Matas that had hired a taxi to drive them and their two cats from Queens NY to Sedona in 2007! I went online to research the news and found several articles with pictures. This was Bob Matas with "Cleopatra!"

WOW! That wasn't my "Cleo." Then I looked at that paper that he had given me from the vet and it said the cat's name was "Pretty Face." Also, she was born in 2002....uh 10yrs old...not 6yrs old.
According to one article, the cats had to be separated because the "fought all the time." That explains Bob's comment to me that they were keeping one cat. They didn't get along and the other one they kept was easier for them to care for. Sadly, the woman I met was not Betty as she had died of kidney and heart problems a couple of years ago.



So...now I have decided my cat must be Pretty Face and she seems to respond to that name much better. Now to get Rascal to calm down so she can make friends with him...or maybe not since the two cats weren't good friends either. Oh well, she's content and her and I get along just fine.