Christmas Tagged

I'm it, I've been tagged Christmas style by my beautiful Wendy

Here's what you have to do. You post five things you want Santa Paws to bring you, and then you post the names of the five pups you are tagging. Then you give each of those five pups five bones. So its 5/5/5 :)

I want Santa Paws to bring me:

1. Love, warmth and happiness to all my pup pals and their parents.

2. Raquet balls.

3. Lots of treats, yummy food and cheese.

4. To eliminate Puppy Mills FOREVER!!!! Every pup should be loved.

5. Lots of kisses from my Wendy.

Now these are the 5 friends I am tagging:


1. Lexi

2. Maisie

3. Iver

4. DT

5. Scone

9/11/01

A friend of mine was telling me about a cousin of hers and his heartache the day the earth stood still for many in the world.

This is all we can say about her cousin....it's from an interview he did......he also lost a brother in the Viet Nam War....
"I was 8 to 10 blocks away when it came down," he said. "On television they condense both of them to the size of that little screen. You don't even begin to get it, to get what it was like looking up at that."

"I saw that building go down knowing my brother was in it," he said. "Coming down, slowly and surely crumbling. It made me angry at every disaster film ever made, because they don't begin to have the horror. I headed down the West Side Highway until I was knee deep in ash." He paused.

"You know your brother is in there somewhere and there's nothing you can do," he said.

"The first few days I went all over the hospitals and checking lists. Somebody posted his name as being safe on a Web site, but it was someone different. I went back to the hospitals. I filled out one of those nine-page police reports that you know is just to identify the body. I went back to the armory to bring in something with the DNA."

"My brother didn't have an enemy in the world. He didn't have a political thought in his body, not a religious thought in his body, to the chagrin of my parents. Even the people who hated me loved him."
"I have one brother left, and one sister," he said. "I lost another brother during the Vietnam era and still haven't recovered from that. This I'll never recover from."

Mom's special memories.....

Back in the 60's when my Mom was in high school...she had a cousin who was sent to Viet Nam. Mom didn't pay alot of attention to the "conflict" until her cousin was there. They wrote back and forth, but he didn't say awhole lot about what he was going through. Then Mom found out in one of his letters that he was at a hospital....while he was out in a field on a mission...he stepped on a land mine. He had to have alot of surgeries on his leg and he got to come home. A few years later he developed leukemia. He figured it happened when he was exposed to Agent Orange. His sister gave him some of her bone marrow. It looked like it might work...until he developed pneumonia. He died of pneumonia.

When her cousin was over there Mom got a POW bracelet. It had a picture and history of the soldier on the braclet. He was so young. Mom started writing to his parents. She found out that their son's status was changed from POW to MIA to KIA. She continued to write to the parents. They told her of the commendation they recieved and sent her a picture of it.
Mom wrote his parents for 20 years and she finally got to meet them. Mom chaparoned a 4-H trip to Washinton DC and New York. It was on that trip they arranged to meet. It was after Mom had visited the Viet Nam Memorial and found their son's name on there. After she found it...she went over and found a quiet spot to sit on the ground by herself and write a letter to their son. When Mom met the paren't she gave them her braclet and the letter. It was a very emotional meeting and a memory she will never forget.

Mom has a very special gold color bracelet with the soldier's name on it.....his name was Major Eugene Pabst.

Link to his page...

Major Eugene Pabst

A Soldier's Prayer

Look God: I have never spoken to You,
But now I want to say, "How do You do."
You see God, they told me You did not exist;
And, like a fool, I believed all of this.
Last night from a shell hole I saw Your sky;
I figured right then they had told me a lie.
Had I taken the time to see the things You made,
I would know they weren't calling a spade a spade.
I wonder, God, if You would shake my hand;
Somehow, I feel that You will understand.
Strange, I had to come to this hellish place
Before I had time to see Your face.
Well, I guess there isn't much more to say,
But I am sure glad, God, I met You today.
I guess the zero hour will soon be here,
But I am not afraid since I know You are near.
The signal - well, God, I will have to go;
I love you lots, this I want you to know.
Looks like this will be a horrible fight;
Who knows, I may come to your house tonight.
Though I wasn't friendly with you before,
I wonder, God, if you would wait at the door.
Look, I am crying, me shedding tears!
I wish I had known you these many years.
Well, I will have to go now, God.
Goodbye - Strange, since I met you,
I am not afraid to die.

...Author Unknown

Freedom Isn't Free

I watched the flag pass by one day.
It fluttered in the breeze
A young soldier saluted it, and then
He stood at ease.
I looked at him in uniform
So young, so tall, so proud
With hair cut square and eyes alert
He'd stand out in any crowd.
I thought how many men like him
Had fallen through the years.
How many died on foreign soil?
How many mothers' tears?
How many Pilots' planes shot down?
How many foxholes were soldiers' graves?
No Freedom isn't free

I heard the sound of taps one night,
When everything was still.
I listened to the bugler play
And felt a sudden chill.
I wondered just how many times
That taps had meant "Amen"
When a flag had draped a coffin
of a brother or a friend.
I thought of all the children,
Of the mothers and the wives,
Of fathers, sons and husbands
With interrupted lives.
I thought about a graveyard at the
bottom of the sea
Of unmarked graves in Arlington.....
No -- Freedom isn't free!!

...Cadet Major Kelly Strong
Air Force Junior ROTC

Tagged

I've been tagged by my sweetie Wendy....

The Rules: Each player starts with 7 random facts about themselves. Dogs who are tagged need to write down in there own diary about 7 random facts and the rules! You need to choose 7 dogs to tag and list there names. Don't forget to leave them a a comment that they have been tagged and to read your dairy! So here is 7 things you may know or don't know about little me :o)


1) I am Mom's baby boyl!
2) I LOVE racquet balls!
3) I love to sit in the sun regarless of the temperature.
4) I arrooo at Dad when he comes home!!!
5) I have caught quite a few rabbits!!!
6) Wendy is my girlfriend
7) Mom named me Petey because her maiden name was Peterson and her nickname was Little Petey after her Dad!!!


The pups I will tag are:
1) Digby
2) Rocco
3) Benny
4) Dixie
5) Josh
6) Ichy
7) Boo Babes

A Homemade Dog Food Recipe

With the commerical dog food scare.....here is a recipe that you can make to feed your dog safely.

Katie Cudlin’s Dog Food - Dog Food Recipe

8 cups oats
2 cups brown rice
6 Cups barley
2 lbs. carrots finely grated
3-4 bunches broccoli - grate stems, chop flowerets
6 zucchini grated or 1 lb. green beans chopped
1/2 bunch parsley, chopped
4-5 cloves garlic, minced
Use 8 quart stock pots. Cook oats. In another pot, cook brown rice and barley. Cool (to save time, cook in evening and cool overnight). Next day: Cut vegetables - use food processor. Using rubber gloves, combine all ingredients in a 25 quart stock pot. Shape into balls about 1/4 lb. each. Wrap and freeze. This recipe can be easily scaled down for smaller batches.


Here is a site with lots more free recipes for doggie treats, cakes, waffles, etc.

http://www.i-love-dogs.com/dog-food-recipes.html

Hope this saves just one of our canine friend's life.

Wow...what a snowstorm

Mom says we got 14 inches of snow.....and it blowed around and made drifts and all. All I know is that we can't run all over our yard. Dad only made one long path for us. I have long legs but I can't plow through the snow...I tried and got stuck. now that wasn't fun.
This was the second storm in five days. The first one had alot more ice. The second one had alot more snow and wind. We have 22 inches of snow on the ground and we don't like it. Humpf...we want winter over...we want mud!!!!!

A Rainbow Bridge Poem 9/11/01

WELCOME AT RAINBOW BRIDGE
By Alexander Theodore, Bouvier, Fourth Year resident.

On the morning of September 11th 2001, there was an unprecendented amount of activity at the Rainbow Bridge. Decisions had to be made. They had to be made quickly. And they were.

An issue not often addressed here is the fact that many residents really have no loved ones for whom to wait. Think of the pups who lived and died in hideous puppy mills. No-one on Earth loved or protected them. What about the many who spent unhappy lives tied up in backyards ? And, the ones who were abused. Who are they to wait for ?

We don’t talk about it that much up here. We share our loved ones as they arrive, happy to do so. But we all know there is nothing like having your very own person who thinks you are the most special pup in the Heavens.

Last Tuesday morning a request rang out for pups not waiting for specific persons to volunteer for special assignment. An eager, curious crowd surged excitedly forward, each pup wondering what the assignment could be.

They were told by a solemn voice that unexpectedly, all at once, over 4000 loving people had left Earth long before they were ready. All the pups, as all pups do, felt the humans’ pain deep in their own hearts. Without hearing more, there was a clamouring among them-“May I have one to comfort” ?

“I’ll take two, I have a big heart”. “I have been saving kisses forever”.

One after another they came forward begging for assignment. One cozy-looking fluffy pup hesitantly asked, “Are there any children coming ? I would be very comforting for a child ‘cause I’m soft and squishy and I always wanted to be hugged”.

A group of Dalmatians came forward asking to meet the firemen and be their friends. The larger working breeds offered to greet the police officers and make them feel at home. Little dogs volunteered to do what they do best-cuddle and kiss.

Dogs who on Earth had never had a kind word or a pat on the head stepped forward and said, “I will love any human who needs love”.

Then all the dogs, wherever on Earth they originally came from, rushed to the Rainbow Bridge and stood waiting, overflowing with love to share-each tail wagging an American flag.

A different Christmas Poem

I got this is an email....feel free to copy it and send it around the world!!!!
If it wasn't for our troops of past and present...we wouldn't have the freedom to celebrate our holidays.


The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light,
I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight.
My wife was asleep, her head on my chest,
My daughter beside me, angelic in rest.
Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white,
Transforming the yard to a winter delight.
The sparkling lights in the tree I believe,
Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.
My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep,
Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep.
In perfect contentment, or so it would seem,
So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.

The sound wasn't loud, and it wasn't too near,
But I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear.
Perhaps just a cough, I didn't quite know, Then the
sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow.
My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear,
And I crept to the door just to see who was near.
Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night,
A lone figure stood, his face weary and tight.

A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old,
Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold.
Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled,
Standing watch over me, and my wife and my child.
"What are you doing?" I asked without fear,
"Come in this moment, it's freezing out here!
Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve,
You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!"

For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift,
Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts..
To the window that danced with a warm fire's light
Then he sighed and he said "Its really all right,
I'm out here by choice. I'm here every night." "It's my duty to
stand at the front of the line,
That separates you from the darkest of times.
No one had to ask or beg or implore me,
I'm proud to stand here like my fathers before me.
My Gramps died at 'Pearl on a day in December,"
Then he sighed, "That's a Christmas 'Gram always remembers."
My dad stood his watch in the jungles of 'Nam',
And now it is my turn and so, here I am.
I've not seen my own son in more than a while,
But my wife sends me pictures, he's sure got her smile.

Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag,
The red, white, and blue... an American flag.
I can live through the cold and the being alone,
Away from my family, my house and my home.
I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet,
I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat.
I can carry the weight of killing another,
Or lay down my life with my sister and brother..
Who stand at the front against any and all,
To ensure for all time that this flag will not fall."

"So go back inside," he said, "harbor no fright,
Your family is waiting and I'll be all right."
"But isn't there something I can do, at the least,
"Give you money," I asked, "or prepare you a feast?
It seems all too little for all that you've done,
For being away from your wife and your son."
Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret,
"Just tell us you love us, and never forget.
To fight for our rights back at home while we're gone,
To stand your own watch, no matter how long.
For when we come home, either standing or dead,
To know you remember we fought and we bled.
Is payment enough, and with that we will trust,
That we mattered to you as you mattered to us."

PLEASE, Would you do me the kind favor of sending this to as many
people as you can? Christmas will be coming soon and some credit is due to
our U.S.service men and women for our being able to celebrate these
festivities. Let's try in this small way to pay a tiny bit of what we owe.
Make people
stop and think of our heroes, living and dead, who sacrificed
themselves for
us.

LCDR Jeff Giles, SC, USN
30th Naval Construction Regiment
OIC, Logistics Cell One
Al Taqqadum, Iraq