I’m being lazy, not wanting to get out of my comfy bed. It’s nice and warm. I have a snuggly little boy who likes to climb into bed in the morning after his Dad gets up. And a spoiled puppy dog who snores, both cuddled up here with me. Moments like these are meant to be cherished as they won’t last forever. I’m very thankful for all of these blessings.
Spending time with Niki during her visit in September we talked of many things but one very important concept was living a life of gratitude. Not just simply being thankful, which in and of itself is a good thing, but acknowledging others, being kind and realizing how much we have to be thankful for. Meditating on it.
As the years pass, I am coming more and more to understand that it is the common, everyday blessings of our common everyday lives for which we should be particularly grateful. They are the things that fill our lives with comfort and our hearts with gladness — just the pure air to breathe and the strength to breath it; just warmth and shelter and home folks; just plain food that gives us strength; the bright sunshine on a cold day; and a cool breeze when the day is warm.
Laura Ingalls Wilder
When we live a life of gratitude it changes things. It changes how you think and act, even how your brain is wired, how you view the world, and how others view you (that’s not the goal but a side effect of sorts).
An important aspect of gratitude is expressing it. Telling others that you appreciate them and why, otherwise they may never know. Don’t let your moment of gratitude expression be at their memorial service. Tell them now.
Won’t you join me in practicing gratitude and post something every day for the next 30 Days? Begin the habit, if you’re not already, of expressing thankfulness in your own life.
She’s like a little kid. Whenever I come home from the store she’s checking the bags and looking at me with those “did you gets me new toy?” eyes.
She may be a little spoiled. But I’d rather her chew up a cheap toy than my Birkies. Lol
She immediately goes for the squeekies. They drive her nuts. She just has to kill them.
Invincible toy! We’ll see about that…
So excited to get a new toy. We usually time her to see how long the squeeky lasts. The first one she popped about 7 minutes in. The second one lasted a little longer.
No more squeeky.
But she hasn’t completely destroyed the toy yet. It’s lasting a lit longer than some of the others have.
Jake called me Friday morning and offered us some tickets to the Fraternal Order of Alaska State Troopers (FOAST) fundraiser concert that evening. What a surprise!
So Dean & I hurried around after work and Thing 1’s drivers Ed class, and made a date of it. Went to Louie’s for dinner, oh so good. We haven’t done that in forever! And then headed to the concert.
I’ll admit, I was a little skeptical about this band. I couldn’t even recall one song that they had, they were a little before my time. Lol
The opener was a comedian and he was pretty funny. It was nice to be out in public, in a mixed crowd, laughing and enjoying ourselves.
Funny guy with no face.
Then the band came on stage. First few songs I don’t think I’d ever heard before but then they started playing songs that were familiar. Turns out I did know some of their songs I just didn’t realize that’s who sang them. Indian Reservation for one.
Too far back for good pics
They did a few covers that were well done and very familiar, like “One” and “Devil in a Blue Dress”. There was a lot of singing along by all ages. It was pretty cool to experience that. All in all it was a nice little outing and we enjoyed it. Thanks Jake!
Panda Bear, as cute and good natured as she is, has one major flaw, she likes to roam. She comes by it naturally, her dad Kevin is infamous for his long Walk-Abouts and car rides to McDonald’s for ice cream with complete strangers. But that’s another story for another time.
She usually goes to one of three places: the neighbor’s house through the woods behind the sawmill because the ‘ol Captain has a playful Black Lab about her age and they like to get into mischief. Or she goes up to another neighbor’s house down the street who also has a dog that she plays with. But mostly she goes to Jake’s house.
Jake being her first hooman to know and love. One of two hoomans she gets so excited about that she pees a little. (Mo is the other!) Jake’s house being where her mom Sarah and brother Hank live. You see, Panda is just a social butterfly and has a lot of friends. She has places to go and doggos to see.
She either comes home in an hour or so or Jake calls to say, hey, are you missing something? Come get your dog. Or generally being a good sport, he brings her home.
But not so last night. Dean had her outside, as usual. He’s out there with her always, she doesn’t get to just be outside unsupervised. But as soon as you turn your back she is like Casper the Ghost. Quietly and quickly without notice she’s completely gone. Last night was just such an escape.
She was gone for 4 hours. Dean and the kids, and Jake too, we’re all out looking for her. The kids rode the wheelers around all over the neighborhood calling for her but she didn’t come home. I went looking for her on my way home from grocery shopping, stopping to talk to neighbors, with no luck. She was just gone. We were starting to get really concerned.
Then I get a call from a friend that she saw a post on Facebook with Panda in it, so she message me the info and I called and left a message. Then I rushed into to pull up the post and respond to it directly.
Lost Dog!
She was down the road a little bit farther and they had her inside. Before I could get ahold of them, Jake knew where they lived so he just went and picked her up. He’s such a softy when it comes to these critters. He brought her home and she’s both loved and welcomed home and scolded for running off. Giving us such a fright.
These four-legged friends sure do impact us. We’re happy she’s home but dang she sure is hard to break from running off exploring.
She’s lost her tag -again- with my number on it, which makes it harder to get her back. So once again I’ll try to get a replacement for her. Too bad they don’t make them big enough to print:
Hi, my name is Panda Bear, I’m on a walk-about, I like to meet new friends. I’ll go home so don’t put me inside. I’m happy with my home, I get fed and lots of attention, I’m just a free spirit, social butterfly. Nice to meet you. If you can call my hooman Mom and let her know where I’m at, that would be great.
The Life of Panda Bear
Even today, still another friend noticed the post and messaged me. Everyone loves Panda. Thanks to all of you good hoomans who help look out for, care for and return my doggo… Juni, Chris, Jake, Shelly & Skyler. ❤️
Just had a little earthquake. At first I thought it was the naughty (more on that later)dog moving the bed (cause it’s Sabbath and I’m resting in late) but no, she was looking at me like “why is bed moving hooman?”
Feel it? Report it!
It was close tho so it got the pull chains swinging on the ceiling fans. And all the kids out of bed. Lol great alarm clock I guess.
Alaska on my mind... 