Moments With Baxter by Melissa Joseph

A co-worker brought my attention to Moments With Baxter: Comfort and Love from the World's Best Therapy Dog by Melissa Joseph, photographs by Dennis Bussey. Amy knows how animal crazy I am, so as soon as this was checked into our library, she pointed it out. As you can see above, the dog on this book's cover is incredibly cute, which hooked me immediately. But, this book has much more to offer than a sweet cover.  If you are an animal lover and are interested in some inspirational non fiction, you should literally check out the story of Baxter.

Now deceased at the age of 19, Baxter, a Golden Retriever and Chow mix, brought much love and comfort to people during his lifetime. He was a rescue dog turned gifted therapy dog, regularly visiting the folks in San Diego Hospice and actually getting in bed with them for a cuddle.Heavily illustrated with color photos, the book covers 36 brief stories of Baxter's relationships with his hospice friends. He loved them all, young, old, disfigured, frail, it didn't make a difference to him. I found this book incredibly touching and it inspires me to spread kindness in the world. I would love it if my daschunds could be therapy dogs, but we have a ways to go. Joseph describes the things that Baxter had to do to pass his certification test. Our doggies would flunk  early on, beginning with ignoring other dogs. There's some obedience training in this pet parent's future. :)

All proceeds from this title go to charity. Enjoy meeting this "Angel of the Hospice."

Blessing of the Animals

Our dog Zoe meets a piglet at last year's Blessing of the Animals

During one of my favorite church services of the year the pews are crowded with wagging dogs, adaptable cats and assorted adorable pocket pets. Last Sunday morning, we had the Blessing of the Animals at Hennepin Church.

“But ask the animals,
and they will teach you;
the birds of the air,
and they will tell you;
Ask the plants of the earth,
and they will teach you;
and the fish of the sea will declare to you.
Who among these does not know
that the hand of God has done this?" — Job 12:7-9

I am a crazy animal lover, so I get a thrill from walking around before the service and visiting with the pets and their people. Then we have prayer, song, sharing of what we learn from our animal companions (punctuated with woofs, howls and me-ooows) and our ministers bless each animal. We take our daschund, Zoe, who is overjoyed to see pastors Leah, Bruce or Sally. Our cats Thelma-Louise and Griffin prefer to stay home, so they are blessed by proxy through their photos. We also took a photo of Guinan to be blessed.

Bless the Beasts and the Children

(Perry L Botkin, Jr. / Barry De Vorzon)

Bless the beasts and the children
For in this world they have no voice
They have no choice

Bless the beasts and the children
For the world can never be
The world they see

Light their way when the darkness surrounds them
And give them love, let it shine all around them

Bless the beasts and the children
Give them shelter from the storm
Keep them safe, keep them warm

Light their way when the darkness surrounds them
And give them love, let it shine all around them

Bless the beasts and the children
Give them shelter from the storm
Keep them safe, keep them warm

This year among the faithful, we saw a King Charles spaniel puppy, a Brussels Griffon, a Bassett Hound, a dear Corgi named Hoover Von Vacuum, and many others. A few brave kitties were also there, including a slightly put out twenty year old Himalayan. The smallest vistor we saw was a hamster transported in his habitat. Our friends Mickey and Sara were their with their Border Collie mix Brumby, Springer Spaniel Ellie and Chi-Weenie (Chihuahua & Daschund), Wednesday.

A Prayer for Animals

Hear our humble prayer, O God,
for our friends, the animals,
especially for animals who are suffering:
for any that are hunted or lost of deserted
or frightened or hungry;
for all that must be put to death.
We entreat for them all Thy mercy and pity,
and for those who deal with them
we ask a heart of compassion and gentle hands and kindly words.
Make us, ourselves, to be true friends to animals
and so to share the blessings of the merciful.
- Albert Schweitzer

Rest in peace Guinan ?1990-2009

Cuddling in 2006


We lost our oldest cat, Guinan yesterday. She was about twenty years old, and she was failing, so we had to put her down. It was a bad and sad day and she is really missed. My husband had her almost her entire life. I was privileged to be her Mama for two and a half years.

Guinan was a gutsy, sassy girl. She was very bossy about mealtimes, and in the morning she would pat your face with her foot until you woke up and fed her. This was not always gentle, and it could result in little scratches. Once you were up,she would escort you down each step of the staircase, looking up into your face to ensure that you were with the breakfast program.

She was very stubborn and we used to joke that the roof could fall down around her and she still wouldn't move from her chosen spot. She loved sunshine and flowers. We thought that she could levitate because she could always find a way to chew a bouquet of flowers, no matter how high up we placed them. She loved to be put in the window overlooking the back yard, so she could sit in the sun, be petted and oversee the goings on outside.

After I got home from work, Guinan would come and sit with me and cuddle up under my chin. She slept at the foot of my side of the bed. At the vet's they said that we were lucky to had a cat with such a great spirit. I will always love her.

Mama Mallard's Family Hatches

Hatching babies

Fuzzy ducklings

Mama tucks them under

At our library, this pretty Mallard duck made a nest right outside our front doors, in the garden between some plants. She sat for more than three weeks, and we staff worried about her and protected her from people who wanted to pick up her eggs.

Yesterday, we were all thrilled when her little ones hatched! She has since taken them away, hopefully to the pond behind the library.

Pictures courtesy of Floating Lush.

Daisy Mae from Feline Rescue

Kitty photo from the Snuggle website

Last Thursday, eight library teens , my lovely and talented co-worker Suzie and I spent an hour learning to knit or crochet a Snuggle blanket for local homeless cats. Suzie is super at both needle crafts and got the teens into it. I can muddle by with crochet, and showed them the rose and pink Snuggle I had produced over about three Desperate Housewives episodes the night before. We intend to donate our handiwork to a no-kill cat shelter in Saint Paul called Feline Rescue. Another library friend, Amy, is a shelter volunteer and tells me about the lovely kitties who live there, such as Daisy Mae (above).
The patterns for Snuggle making can be simple and don't require much yarn (mine took 1 skein) and cats and dogs aren't critical of your stitches. In spite of my imperfect handiwork, my cat Thelma at home was crazy to try out the Snuggle as it emerged.

For more information, visit the Snuggles Project.

Frog Wedding to Bring Rain

I love this. An elaborate frog wedding to please the rain gods and end the drought.

Frog Wedding

Swell Vintage Doggy Photo

From http://www.flickr.com/photos/spixworth/, 1903 photo found on Life In Grayscale

I've been looking at Flickr mashups on my Librarian page, and one I enjoy is Life In Grayscale. It searches old photos in Flickr, based on the years that interest you. You can browse pictures on a sliding timeline from 1900-1970. This is heaven for a history loving browser such as me. Once you find a picture that you like, you can save it under your Flickr favorites. A couple of things keep it from being perfect, however. Many of the photos that come up aren't really in any way connected to that particular year. Luckily, you can flag those pictures to be reassigned. More frustrating, though, is that once you enlarge a photo to view it, there seems to be no way to close only that window. When you close it, you close everything, and you have to entirely reenter the site. Still, it's interesting enough that I'll have lots of viewing hours ahead of me.

Super Cute Animal Rescue Program!

Tri is ready to meet fans!

Blossom the Beagle is ready for adoption!

Today at my library, Miss "Carol Has Her Nose in a Book" hosted a wonderful animal rescue program. Our guests were Homeward Bound http://www.homewardboundrescue.com/, the Humane Society http://www.mnhumane.org/and the K9 unit http://www.ci.west-saint-paul.mn.us/index.asp?Type=B_BASIC&SEC=%7B327EFD67-EC59-4B64-A75B-1105C0329D3A%7D with the West Saint Paul police. They brought lovely animals: Blossom, the Beagle, Phineas, the American Pittbull puppy, Tri, the kitty, and Mike, the German Shepherd police dog.

Here is Blossom's profile:

Name: Blossom (I'm on HB's Top 5 List for "Best Mellowest Dogs")

Breed: Beagle

Age: Mature Adult

Gender: Female

Description: Looking for a gentle, lady to share your home with? Perhaps one that comes trained, with a steady, patient personality, and a lot of love to share? If so, look no further! Blossom is a lady-like name for a lady-like Beagle girl who sure wants out of rescue life fast! She has spent the first 6 years of her life being a well-loved, well-trained family dog but was reluctantly surrendered when her family had to move. She doesn't know why they left her here and needless to say, she is finding rescue life to be overwhelming, chaotic, and just downright scary. The quiet life she knew has been turned upside down, yet she handles it all with incredible dignity and a loving, steady temperament. She has impeccable manners, is housetrained, and is trusted loose for the workday because she has proven so good. She gets along with other dogs and kids absolutely wonderfully. Blossom knows a few basic commands, likes to go for walks but isn't at all hyper, and would love nothing more than to lie on the couch next to you and relax for hours on end. It isn't much of a stretch to say this girl is pretty close to the perfect dog. If a well-trained, steady personality dog is what you are looking for, you won't find one much more grateful to be rescued than Blossom! You can email Sherri at sweeperjunkies@comcast.net for more information. She can also send you a pre-adoption questionnaire. For obvious reasons, all animals adopted from Homeward Bound MUST live indoors only. This dog has been spayed/neutered, vaccinated, and tested for heartworm and lyme disease.

I'm crazy about animals. so this was really exciting for me! More pictures to come.

The day before...

These guys are dressed up as cotton candy. Aren't they great? http://www.flickr.com/photos/frankiedarling/1751326841/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mbkepp/2943101572/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/88094911@N00/2922918656/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/stacylynn/2973657700/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/springhawk/1948028377/

Small pets celebrate!