Colleen Mooney's Blog, page 3

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Writing my last post made me think of all the funny, love sick, silly and romantic Valentines’ Days I have had.

If you have someone to obsess over and send a card, note, flowers, or some other lovesick display of your undying commitment, this can be fun.  But for a lot of people, Cupid’s torture lasts for weeks leading up to February 14th.  If there is no special someone, it makes you wish you had someone, and if you have a giant pain in the neck, you wish you could give them to someone who wants someone.  For many, this is a day of misery and unrequited love as much as it is a day of romance.

I have my share of cute Valentines made by my nephews when they were young.  They would make me heart shaped cards and make up poems. I got cute stuffed toys in high school from a squeeze.  I received a heart shape necklace and some lovely romantic gifts from my husband since we have been together.  All in all, I like Valentine’s Day.  I believe in love!

One of the strangest gifts, and we have all had them, was a heart shape of centipeed grass grown in my St. Augustine lawn.  I was completely unaware of it being planted and nurtured to be fully grown into its heart shape by VD.      My boyfriend, at the time, came to my house when I was not home,  and outlined the grass seeds in the shape of a heart on my lawn.  For about three to four weeks,  he would sneak over at night to water it.  If my dogs barked and I looked out the window I didn’t see anyone because he later told me he was hiding in the bushes of my garden hosing the grass seeds from under the azaleas  in case I looked out.

This was a lot of effort and I look back and think I did not fully appreciate it at the time.  It wasn’t something I could show my friends like a card or flowers. I had to trot them over to my house, stand on the sidewalk and show them the front lawn.   I do think back on all the work involved as one of the most interesting and certainly, the most well thought out and creative Valentines I ever received.

What about you?  Please share an interesting gift, gesture or Valentine someone gave you or you gave to that special someone.

 

 

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Schnauzer Rescue and Happy Valentine

I do animal, breed specific, dog rescue.  Miniature Schnauzers have had a special place in my heart since my very first dog that was just mine and not the family pet.   Over the last ten or eleven years I have taken in and placed almost 300 dogs.  All Schnauzers.

There is no exact science on how or why dogs find me but they come to me in various ways.  The way it generally works is I get a call from someone who can’t or doesn’t want to keep their dog.  They surrender it to me and sign ownership over.   Then, there is the odd anonymous surrender like one poor little guy left tied to my gate.  I am sure the person knew I did Schnauzer rescue or figured I would keep his dog since I had several running around in my yard already.

I get the dog vetted and that means getting him up to date on vaccines, spayed or neutered, microchipped and groomed, This is the easy part.

Then, I try to find him a good, loving, furever home.    The harder but more rewarding part is finding a new home that will keep, love and care for the dog.  This involves a lifetime commitment to the pet.  I meet many wonderful people who open their hearts and homes to a rescued schnauzer.

I get all kinds of people looking to adopt a rescued pet. An unusual one that comes to mind is a call from a man named Junior who left his number on my voicemail asking to call back.  I returned the call and when a woman answered,  I said I was with Schnauzer Rescue and asked for Junior.  I could hear a man answer in a normal voice as if he was standing right next to the phone, “Is that for me?”  The woman answered yelling at the top of her lungs,  “It’s for you! It’s that woman about the dog!”

The next thing I heard sounded like someone knocking over lamps, boxes, and furniture.  A very out of breath man answered the phone.  He sounded so winded as if he just ran a marathon, saying, “This is Junior.  Is this the lady about the Dog (but he pronounced it like D-a-w-g).

I said I was, and I asked him why was he looking to adopt a schnauzer.  He told me, “I just got divorced (dee-vorced) and my momma said to me, ‘Junior you are not happy.’  I said, Momma I know .  Then Momma said to me, ‘Junior, you just sit on that sofa all day and watch TV.  You need something to make you happy.’  And I said, ‘Momma, you are right.  I just need something to love.’  So I said to momma, I think I need to get me a dog (dawg) and give it a happy name so I am happy every  time I say it.   So I want a dog and I am going to name him, Happy Valentine, so it will make me happy, and my momma said, ‘Son, that is a good idea.'”

He asked me when could he come get a dog to name Happy Valentine.  I told him he first had to fill in an application with a vet reference and two personal ones.  I am sure his Momma was going to be one of them.  Then I told him our process is to bring the dog to him, do a home visit to make sure his yard is fenced and the dog will get along with him and his family.

I said I would email him an application.  He didn’t have email so I mailed it to him.  I guess he found something else to make him happy since I never heard from him again. That’s one home visit I always wonder about.

 

 

 

 

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Lent, What do you Give Up?

Lent.  It follows Mardi Gras and is the Catholic way of making us repent for all the fun we had at Mardi Gras and ready ourselves for Easter.  Of course, many people give up alcohol.  This is not so much as a penance but more to try and dry out after weeks of parading, fun and drinking mass quantities.

The other popular item to abstain from is candy or dessert.  Now, this really doesn’t work because what comes out right after Mardi Gras?  The answer is,  Easter candy.  And not just any Easter candy, but Elmer’s Gold Brick bars.  Like the king cake it is a good thing they have their seasonal window and aren’t available year round.  But, several do make their way into my freezer.   I can enjoy them until they run out and that is about mid June.  There are other good Easter candy choices, like Heavenly Hash, my Dad’s favorite or the pecan eggs,  but my favorite, Easter Bunny paws down,  is the Gold Brick bar.  The peanut butter and chocolate eggs are a distant second, mainly because you can get peanut butter and chocolate all year long.

What do you give up for Lent?  What is your favorite Easter candy?

 

 

 

 

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