Forgive and Forget?

Michael Vick has been reinstated into the NFL. There’s a debate running over on Facebook about whether the Seattle Seahawks should sign Michael Vick to the team.

It seems to me (and my unscientific observation) that many of the guys responding are all for it but many of the women are not. My little cousin is all for it, as is my former boss. Both love dogs. But they also love football.

Should Michael Vick, after having served his time, be forgiven? My gut reaction is no.

Yes, he served his time but he showed an complete and utter lack of respect for the law and for the basic suffering of life in his actions. I’m not sure two years in jail has ‘fixed’ his views. Has he truly shown remorse? What is he doing to become a better citizen and show others the error of his ways?

“As you can imagine, the last two years have given me time to re-evaluate my life, mature as an individual and fully understand the terrible mistakes I have made in the past and what type of life I must lead moving forward…”

Has he spoken out against dog fighting? Has he started any sort of organization to rehabilitate or rescue dogs? Kids look up to football players and sports people. I would never want my son to wear a Vick jersey…ever.

…Vick finally pleaded guilty after his three co-defendants had already done so. They told of how Vick participated in the killing of dogs that didn’t perform well in test fights by shooting, hanging, drowning or slamming them to the ground….He plans to work with HSUS in a program designed to steer inner city youth away from dogfighting.

Well, until he takes some drastic steps - speaking out STRONGLY against dog fighting and the brutality he put upon those poor dogs I can’t stomach his return to the NFL. I’m not opposed to forgiveness. And I do think people can change. But I’m really unsure in this situation. Is he really such a great football player that his past should be completely overlooked and forgotten (or forgiven)? Apparently some fans think so.

Seriously though…is he the ONLY player who is good enough to save the Seahawks? I kind of doubt it. The PR issues alone seem to trump his skills on the field.

What do you think? Would you support a football team that signed Vick? (Not that I watch a lot of football…it’s not exactly my favorite sport.)

What Would You Sacrifice?

How about a couple of fingers? If your pet was in the jaws of a gator?

Without a thought for his own safety, Grounds ran through the brush to the water’s edge, where the gator had what it thought was breakfast clamped between its crushing jaws. “I just grabbed the lower jaw with this hand and the upper jaw with this hand,” he said, indicating his bandaged right hand and his left.

That is just so scary. I can’t imagine seeing one of my babies snatched by a predator. It wouldn’t be a gator in our area…but if we move to a more isolated area I can definitely see me worrying about bears, cougars, and coyotes. I think Trooper and Timber could handle a coyote but you never know.

Keep your babies safe!

I'm Such a Bad Mom

Two days in a row…TWO DAYS in a row…I’ve locked my sweet baby girl outside.

I’ve been sick and came home from work early yesterday. I let the doggies out and thought they’d all come back inside so I shut the door. I laid down on the couch and took a brief nap for less than an hour when hubby got home. I looked out the back door and Quinn was outside!

It’s not exactly cool in our part of the world right now. I felt so bad - she was very thirsty. Of course, she loves the heat but an hour for a girl her age in 80+ temps isn’t the healthiest.

Today I take a break from work and let the doggies outside and I would have sworn on a bible that she’d come back inside. About 30 minutes later I’m at the computer and look outside and there she is! What the heck is wrong with me!?!?

She’s inside now, in the bedroom with the air conditioner on. My poor little girl. Mommy is losing her mind.

It’s supposed to get up to over 100 degrees this weekend…Even her heat loving self shouldn’t be out too long in that weather.

I’m not sure what we’re going to do on Sunday because hubby and I have a ‘baby’ class at the hospital that lasts all day. Even though their kennel is in the shade, it will still be too hot to leave them outside from 9 to 5. That’s just cruel. But leaving them inside the house alone, all four of them, for that long. *gulp* Makes me VERY nervous. I’m going to see if my sister in law can come by and give them a break for an hour or so.

We are not a heat friendly family. We prefer snow!

Our Very First

Award that is. How neat!

Rebel and Suzy decided that we at Home Zookeeper were worthy of the slightly scary Zombie Chicken award. I’m honored! And so are the pups.

Timber is doing really well by the way…up to his usual antics digging holes and counter surfing in the kitchen. Oh and trying to avoid the dive bombing hummingbirds. They are mean suckers!

Here’s the award graphic…scary right?

The rules of the zombie chicken say…

“The blogger who receives this award believes in the Tao of the zombie chicken - excellence, grace and persistence in all situations, even in the midst of a zombie apocalypse. These amazing bloggers regularly produce content so remarkable that their readers would brave a raving pack of zombie chickens just to be able to read their inspiring words. As a recipient of this world-renowned award, you now have the task of passing it on to at least 5 other worthy bloggers. Do not risk the wrath of the zombie chickens by choosing unwisely or not choosing at all…”

Oh my…five? I’m getting kind of tired tonight…I hope I can last long enough to choose only 5.

For sure Pamibe - I love the photos she takes of her Daisy and Bree. Plus her politics are my kind of style.

And definitely Comedy Plus, though I know she’s on vacation right now. Whenever I need to laugh I know I can count on Sandy.

That Mutt always has wonderfully thoughtful posts with helpful advice for raising dogs and even fostering. Her dog Ace rocks.

What would we do without Daisy the Curly Cat and her brother Harley? Two amazing smart and sophisticated felines.

Last, but certainly not least, Nearly Dr Ferrox is a must read for any animal lover. I could never work as a vet - reading his stories are inspiring.

I hope everyone enjoys the award. Zombie chickens don’t scare me too much…Zombie people do though! =)

Update

It’s been an insane couple of weeks. In addition to my mother in law being diagnosed with Leukemia, I was diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes. Then a week later I was told that I have a tumor on my placenta.

Good times.

So I had to head to the big docs in Seattle and we got good news. And not great news … the baby is too big - most likely due to the diabetes - so I’ll probably have to go on insulin.

All this stress has had a negative effect on hubby and I…as well as the doggies.

While all this was going on Hubby went back to work and this last weekend was hardly home at all. When he was home he was sleeping. So Timber was a wreck. It was almost cute…whenever papa was home Timber was glued to his side. The minute papa started getting ready for work Timber would slink to the front door and mope. I felt so bad for him…he so missed his papa.

I tried to take him on a walk, but the pain in my back and abdomen makes it very difficult for me to control him. It still takes some strength to correct him when he tries to pull too hard. He was okay until the neighbor dogs started barking at him and then he started hopping and pulling. We made it for about 20 minutes but that’s all I could handle.

Thankfully Trooper is a bit easier for me, though I still get pain even just walking with no dog.

Timber gets to go to daycare this Friday and I know it will be super good for him. I’m going to continue to try to walk Trooper twice a week if I can. I’m also going to talk to the daycare staff to see if any of them would be willing to stop by our house three times a week to walk at least Timber while I’m huge.

Sorry for not updating more often. I keep thinking of great things to write about but just haven’t been able to log in and update as much as I want. It’ll probably continue that way for a bit longer. I’m swamped at work and have four days of jewelry classes coming up starting Thursday.

Darn life…It certainly likes to throw kinks into my plans.