Sunday is Pet Memorial Day

I found out about it from Squidoo, and the site is here. Squidoo is a neat kind of, well, website, I guess. They call it a "lens", easy to make and share with the world. Short bits of info on whatever you want.

http://www.squidoo.com/national-pet-memorial-day

So, on Sunday, I'll walk out to the garden, where there is a collection of stones as I do each day, and think about all the love that is under my feet, and the ashes that were released there.

More joy has been given to me because of those wonderful souls that came into my life than I can tell you. The grief at losing them is the price you pay for the joy of them all. Most of them were rescues. Dogs and cats. Even Muriko, my Moluccan cockatoo was a rescue, as was Mrs. Ricky, a Blue-crowned conure, who came from the trees in the yard, a lost bird in the neighborhood, to come and join Ricky, another of her kind. They lived happily for many years. It wasn't too long after she died, that he died, too. I'm sure it was a combination of age and longing for her.
He had far outlived the norm of 15 years and was well up into his twenties.

And remember those precious ones on death rows in every shelter in the country. One of those innocent animals could fill your life with love and devotion and years of happiness and companionship. You don't need a puppy or a kitten. Adult dogs and cats who have been through the trauma of being placed in a shelter, their lives changed so suddenly, understand the gift they have been given - that second chance. They will pay you back for your kindness every day of their life.

Pictured above is Buffy. I found her on the internet years ago while trying to place two Anatolian Shephers, mother and daughter, in California from here. She was in a high kill shelter in Los Angeles. Two guardian angel rescuers there arranged for her adoption. Barbara had her spayed, and she recuperated with her. Then Buffy was shipped to me via Delta Dash to Panama City.
She's the sweetest girl. Here she is with a haircut.