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You are here: Home / Archives for Make a Difference / Animal Protection

Animal Protection

“Call of the Cats: What I Learned About Life and Love From a Feral Colony”

October 25, 2016 by Joi Leave a Comment

Call of the Cats by Andrew Bloomfield
Can you believe it’s two months till Christmas?! TWO. How did this happen. It seemed like only yesterday I was dancing around my house celebrating the opening day of baseball.  And here I am dancing around celebrating the holidays.

As you’d imagine, I entertain my husband and cats greatly.

Speaking of cats (how was that for transitioning?), I just wrote a review for a lovely new book, Call of the Cats on my cat blog.

While this book is perfect for cat lovers, it’s also a must read for anyone who loves a great, inspiring read. For that matter, if we’re being completely honest, I can’t think of anyone who wouldn’t enjoy this book.

It’s that entertaining.

Read the review here.

I’ll be giving you a few “gift idea” heads ups during the coming weeks because, if you’re anything like me, you could use a little extra help thinking during these months. My thoughts get pretty tangled up with all the information flying around inside my head – Thanksgiving pies, Christmas shopping, gift ideas, decorations, Halloween candy, cookies, candy… too many thoughts for one brain.

This particular book would make a great gift idea for any cat lover in your life. Below are a few other books that’d be great gift ideas.

Cat Lovers

I Draw on Cats!

Cooking for Two: Your Cat and You

Furry Logic (Adorable!)

Cooks

Gluten Free for Good (cookbook)

The Quick Six Fix (cookbook)

The Chew: An Essential Guide to Cooking and Entertaining

Pepper: More Than 45 Recipes Using the King of Spice

Inspirational And/Or Health-Related

The Bulletproof Diet 

Jesus Talked to Me Today (Beautiful!)

A Gift of Love (Also Beautiful!)

Filed Under: Animal Protection, Book Reviews, Books I Love, Gift Ideas Tagged With: Book Reviews, cats, gift ideas

In Praise (High Praise) of Slowing Down

November 16, 2011 by Joi 5 Comments

Jelly Bean, a sweet and beautiful black cat.
Over the past two weeks, I’ve been reminded of the importance of slowing down and giving your entire attention and focus to what’s at hand. I’ve also become a HUGE fan of checking and double-checking, even when you’re 99.9 percent certain there’s no need to check even once. Doing so probably saved a very sweet cat’s life.

First off, let’s get something straight, I’m not a “go slow and be cautious” kind of gal. I’m a card-carrying “fly by the seat of your pants” kind of gal.  The kind who walks fast, talks fast, types fast, and challenges everyone and everything to keep up.  So, slowing down and scrutinizing details doesn’t come natural to me.  However, after living with my husband (who’s typing fingers, walking shoes, and words never seem to be in much of a hurry) for going on 28 years, I’ve picked up some of his country boy ways.

Slow down. Pay attention to what you’re doing. Check and double-check.

Sometimes when we’re in a parking lot and he grabs my hand in an effort to slow me down, I want to kick him in the seat of his pants. But I’d have to walk backwards to catch him.  I thought about his effect on me in this regard a few days ago and the last thing I wanted to do was kick him.  I realized I owed such a debt to him that the feeling of relief has yet to fade away.

At the risk of rambling (Who? Me?), I have to set the stage.  We live in a rural area that happens to be behind a gate (the gate’s probably a 1/2 a mile from our house).  From the window in front of my computer desk, I can see the gate, so I know when someone’s there. Usually the UPS man leaves our packages in a certain spot, but lately we’ve had a “fill in” that tends to turn around and take off.  Since we’ve got packages coming regularly for Christmas, I’m keeping a keen eye out.

The day before yesterday, I saw the UPS man pull up to the gate and ran out the door in my house shoes and jumped in my vehicle to go stop him from getting away.

As you probably know, we have 4 cats (3 outside and 1 inside).  It’s been chilly, so the outside cats have been staying in their various cat houses or even in the garage.  Even when they do occasionally get under the vehicles, they sprint out as soon as a door’s opened.

As I threw myself into the driver’s seat, I took a quick mental inventory of where I’d seen my cats (just minutes ago).  The two girls were in sight, by the carport door and I was 99 percent sure the sweet boy cat (Jelly Bean) was still in his favorite cat house, where I’d seen him only about 10 minutes ago.  As I saw the UPS man beginnng to swing around, I thought, “I’m just going to double check…” and I hopped out, got on all fours and looked under the vehicle.  Sure enough, there was my chubby, solid black, much beloved Jelly Bean SOUND asleep – right behind a front tire.  He didn’t even wake up when I called his name.

One of those nights, I guess.

I lured him out and took off for the UPS man, ironically enough, thinking, “Slow down for crying out loud! What’s your freakin’ hurry?”

I’ve been thinking a lot since then.  If I had ran over my sweet chubby faced cat that day I’m not sure I would have ever recovered.  My vehicle is a big heavy thing and he would have, undoubtedly, been killed.  I cannot even imagine the feelings I would have had if the unthinkable had happened.  It’d take another animal lover to understand when I say that it’s something I would have lived with forever.  Jelly Bean was a feral kitten that I won over with endless patience and even more love.  In the picture above (in his thinner days!), I was as close as I could get to him. He’s now a big baby who trust me completely. He purrs loudly as soon as I even look at him.  Such a sweetheart.

Thanks be to God – and to the influence of country boys who refuse to get in a hurry about anything – the scenario ended with one caught UPS man, two delivered packages, one relived cat mom, and (most importantly) one safe and unharmed black cat who isn’t so unlucky after all.  Can you even imagine the cat treats he got that day???

On a lesser… make that much lesser… level, I have also dropped the ball a couple of times lately.  I’m sure it’s because my mind is on Thanksgiving recipes, Christmas gifts, and cookies but I’ve made a couple of STUPID spelling errors and little goofs online lately.  Ironically, one was even a huge pet peeve of mine.  I forget the details (because they’re too horrifying to remember for someone who has always had a love affair with grammar) but I sent a tweet out in which I used “there” instead of “their.”  I happened to catch it several days later and was mortified.

Yes, silly to be mortified by such a thing, but I’m obsessive about things like that. Allowing myself to get in a hurry and not taking the time to slow down and double check led to a regret.  That almost always happens, doesn’t it?

This post is simply to serve as a reminder for everyone to take pains to slow down and double check what’s going on around you.  We live in a society that’s so fast-paced right now, it’s almost on hyper drive.  Think about it, people get ticked off if they have to wait in a drive through for more than 3 minutes!

I’m convinced a lot of grief could be spared if we just learned to slow down and live completely in the moment.  At worst we’ll spare ourselves embarrassment, at most we’ll save a life.

Filed Under: Animal Protection, Self Awareness

Martin Luther King, Jr. Quote About Doing the Right Thing

July 16, 2011 by Joi 2 Comments

Civil Rights Leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Making a Speech
Civil Rights Leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Making a Speech
Never, never be afraid to do what’s right, especially if the well-being of a person or animal is at stake. Society’s punishments are small compared to the wounds we inflict on our soul when we look the other way. – Martin Luther King, Jr.

More Martin Luther King, Jr. Quotations

Filed Under: Animal Protection, Daily Quote, Helping Children, Make a Difference

Daily Quote: For the Love of Animals!

March 12, 2010 by Joi 3 Comments

I believe in animal rights, and high among them is the right to the gentle stroke of a human hand. – Robert Brault

Photo Credit: The one website I’m on at least 3 times a day, I Can Has Cheezburger.com – The only thing I’m on more than ICHC is caffeine.

Filed Under: Animal Protection, Daily Quote Tagged With: animals, inspirational quotes, motivational quotes, quotes

Motivational Quotes About Focus

September 15, 2009 by Joi 11 Comments

Focus - Concentration Is The Secret Of Strength

Focus: Concentration is the secret of strength.

Excellence is in the details. Give attention to the details and excellence will come. – Perry Paxton

Our life always expresses the result of our dominant thoughts. – Soren Kierkegaard

When you focus on being a blessing, God makes sure that you are always blessed in abundance. – Joel Osteen

I think the one lesson I have learned is that there is no substitute for paying attention. – Diane Sawyer

I never see what has been done; I only see what remains to be done. – Marie Curie

All that we are is the result of what we have thought. – Buddha

Focus on where you want to go, not on what you fear. – Anthony Robbins

Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life – think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success, that is way great spiritual giants are produced. – Swami Vivekananda

We can always choose to perceive things differently. You can focus on what’s wrong in your life, or you can focus on what’s right. – Marianne Williamson

Focus on your potential instead of your limitations. – Alan Loy McGinnis

I just try to concentrate on concentrating. – Martina Navratilova

I never did anything by accident, nor did any of my inventions come by accident; they came by work. – Thomas Edison

More Quotes About Focus!

* The breathtakingly beautiful art print at the top of the post is by Brian Horisk. It features one of the most gorgeous, threatened, and misunderstood animals on earth, the wolf.

You can buy the Art Print at AllPosters.com. What a beauty!

Filed Under: Animal Protection, Daily Quote, Must Reads Tagged With: focus quotes, inspirational quotes, motivational quotes, quotes, quotes about focus

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