Lip Balm and Protests

Speaking of re-re-re-re-discovering things, I just stumbled upon Etsy.   I’ve been there bunches of times in the past, usually looking for handmade vegan lip balm or the like.   It’s  never really occurred to me to sell there, despite the fact that selling crafted items is what I did for years.   I’ll have to try & come up with a plan for creating animal-friendly art that could benefit my rescue.   I’m open to any ideas!

Tomorrow I’m going down to Millersburg OH to protest the Buckeye Dog Auction.   This is the largest puppy mill auction in the state….basically it provides an opportunity for puppy millers to unload dogs & purchase new “stock.”   For anyone who doesn’t know, the vast majority of pet stores that sell puppies get their dogs from puppy mills, or from brokers that purchase pups from the mills.   Dogs in puppy mills are essentially breeding machines, kept for their whole lives in tiny, filthy cages with no human affection.   Most never even set their feet on grass.   Vet care is almost non-existent, and the dogs are usually killed once they get too old to breed.   Purchasing a dog from a pet store is unfortunately endorsing this cruetly.  

There will also be a protest at the grand opening of the new Petland store in Mentor OH tomorrow.   Petland sells puppy mill puppies, and their presence in the NE Ohio area has been growing.  

I’ll do a write up of the protest (and the auction if I’m able to stomach checking it out).  For more info on puppy mill cruelty, please visit:

www.stoppuppymills.com
www.idausa.org/petland.html
www.petstorecruelty.org
www.thevoicefordogs.org

Welcome

Emerging from a depression is similar to waking up after a night of heavy drinking.   Nothing makes much sense and you’re vaguely aware that a number of people may be mad at you.   

Physically, the feeling is more like the first halfway decent day after a bout of the flu.    The heavy limbs, the aching joints, the ability to function with large amounts of analgesics, but barely.   For some reason in this state of mind I always feel the need to try something new, repeatedly (and misguidedly) blaming my mood on the circumstances of my life.   

Anyway, today I’m finally off the couch after yet another spell, and I’ve decided to set up this blog.   It’s not due to any great creative surge, rather it’s an idea I’ve had for a while, and today seemed to provide the perfect combination of enough functioning brain cells to excute it, combined with the physical urge to stay in one place for most of the day.

The idea for the blog stems from the Huston Smith quote above:  “The only thing good without qualification is extended vision, the enlargement of one’s understanding and awareness of what reality is ultimately like.”   It’s been a favorite of mine since college…I recently re-re-re-discovered it taped to the front of an old computer monitor.   Even though I hadn’t thought of it for maybe a year, I still find that it’s been behind almost every decision I’ve made in that time (the concept if not the actual words).    I do try to live my life out of a sense of endless curiosity, and considering the aforementioned depression, that’s probably the only reason I’m still here.   A college professor of mine used to say that the only reason he was still alive was to see what would happen next…that’s it, exactly.

The idea of this blog (she says to no one) is to focus on learning in a more formal manner,  educating as I go.   Like many people, I’d love to go back to school but, like many people, I don’t live a life that would allow that.   Also, I’d love to teach, but am far too shy.   So I spend a lot of time half-heartedly researching this or that, but giving very few topics the enforced study that’s demanded in college.   I’m hoping to use this blog as my own unforgiving professor, hovering over me with whiskey breath and  protruding nose hairs.   Perhaps (perhaps) more importantly I hope to educate others in the process.

My main area of interest is animals…animal rights, animal rescue, animal advocacy.   But any topic is fair game.   If this blog gets too cluttered I will divide it up into several more focused blogs, but for now I’m going to see how it evolves.   I’ll also be adding ads at some point, but all proceeds will go to supporting my animal rescue, Serenity Now Ranch (SeNoRa).

Typically the day *after* emerging from a depression is like the first really good day after the flu.   You don’t feel all that great physically, but are just so relieved to be fully functional again that normalcy is ecstasy.   It doesn’t last, but I’m expecting great things from tomorrow…