Too many, indeed!

Sorry -- gotta step up onto my soapbox for a minute.

Today I read about a rescue shelter in upstate New York with over 800 (!) animals waiting for adoption -- over 400 cats, nearly 200 dogs, plus a variety of other homeless critters. People, we can do better than this. Please spay or neuter your pets to prevent pet overpopulation. And if you're thinking about adding a new pet to your family, please visit your local rescue shelter first.

Thank you. < stepping down from soapbox >

Farewell, friend

I did the math -- 800 walks with Lola during our nearly 14 months together. When we adopted her knowing she had mammary cancer, we weren’t sure how long she would be with us -- weeks? a few months? -- so reaching her year anniversary in September was quite the happy milestone.

I sure do miss my little 30-pound walking tether. Even during her last week she was excited to get outside and sniff/walk, albeit a little slower paced than only a week prior, but she got out there and loved every last sniff. It broke our hearts to take that away from her, but she was gradually growing weaker from not eating -- fracture of a hind leg was already a possibility due to a bone tumor, and her weakening state only heightened that possibility. Lola was an excellent doggy teacher with a full lesson plan about all things dog -- only one of her lessons totally stumped us. We do miss our Lola, those chestnut eyes and whirligig tail. Her stay with us was short on time but long on good memories. Thank you Lola, and happy sniffing, dear friend.

Lola
2000 - November 12, 2013

Finally

Strange title for the start of a new blog, eh? Well, it took me a while to decide to share a part of my life with the world. I'm not into the whole social media thing, so this is a pretty big move for me.

By now you've likely checked out the rest of the just keep sniffing site and maybe you're saying to yourself, "Oh, just another site trying to lure me into buying their products." Well, um, yes, there is that -- but that's not all. My main objective is to get the word out, especially to animal shelters everywhere: anyone can make some extra money by becoming an affiliate at Zazzle. Of course, opening your own Zazzle store is also an option -- okcshelter, for example -- but posting a link on an already established website or social media site can be just as beneficial. And, yes, Lola is real. Her sweet face has been published numerous times online and in print (she's apparently more into social media than I am) -- most recently I received a mailing from the shelter we adopted her from, and one of my pictures of her was used on the envelope. We celebrated a year with her last month, so, finally . . .