May 2, 2020 thought for the day: The best kind of closed door is the one you can leave unlocked. Chinese Proverb

I love Saturday’s, always have even as a kid all those many years ago, and always will.  This one was no exception. I slept until the sun, with a little help from Sweet Pea, woke me.

Yesterday’s theme title was “a view from a window”. I have three windows that I can view life through as I sit at the computer. I took shots through each of the three and chose this one after the post processing.

Sue wanted to make a trip to Kroger. She can’t quite make the early senior hour at Kroger with me yesterday. I told her I would take her and wait in the car. I‘m not comfortable around large numbers of people particularly in this time in history. Actually, the parking lot was not full at all and I had missed some items on my list yesterday so I went in to. Yesterday the two isles of freezer food were down and I had to skip two items so I picked those up. I dropped her off at the dollar store too. Then we headed for home.

After some catch up on my emails, I took a stroll around my “back forty”...what I call my tiny little “flower gardens” that rim parts of the house and yard. I am even more certain I have lost some of the plants I planted last year. I laid out what I thought was a plan for blooming flowers for every season. So that I would have at least a stem or two of fresh flowers in a vase in the dining room all year.

Bob went back to work yesterday. We weren’t sure that was supposed to be the time for this car lots opening but apparently it was. He worked the whole day and goes back on Monday. He needs some more face masks. I crochet one for him but I think one of that nature is not really appropriate for his work. I have asked Rebecca to make one for him. She mentioned the other day that she was making some.  She said she would send one to him.

There’s nothing going on today so I may work on a “lesson” I am trying to teach myself. I am trying to make an ink sketch using a photo as a base in Photoshop. There are quite a few steps in the “lesson” that I pulled off Google. So it  takes some dedicated time. I

f I don’t work on that I may try making a brownie with marshmallow fluff and chocolate chips.

The word today is folds. We can see well into the past; we can guess shrewdly into the future, but that which is rolled up and muffled in impenetrable folds is today, Ralph Waldo Emerson.  Our life is two fold Sleep hath its own world, A boundary between the things misnamed Death and existence Sleep hath its own world, And a wide realm of wild reality, Lord Byron.  Whoever benefits his enemy with straightforward intention that man's enemies will soon fold their hands in devotion, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.  But friendship is the breathing rose, with sweets in every fold, Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. Woman is the salvation or the destruction of the family. She carries its destiny in the folds of her mantle, Henri Frederic Amiel. The least deviation from the truth is multiplied later a thousand fold, Aristotle. Knowledge is two-fold, and consists not only in an affirmation of what is true, but in the negation of that which is false, Charles Caleb Colton. Affliction comes to us all ...not to impoverish, but to enrich us, as the plough enriches the field; to multiply our joy, as the seed, by planting, is multiplied a thousand-fold, Henry Ward Beecher. 

Today’s photo challenge was “a drink”. Sue and I stopped for a coke and a coffee on our way home from the errands. That presented my photo of the day.

I like when military come home after successful service to their country....I love animals and to see them happy with happy human beings. This article fits both. I know first hand what pets can do to the human psyche and complete and total wellness. A group in Delaware, Ohio rescue dogs and find home for them with veterans who need them. One of the persons mentioned in the article said he applied to several agencies that offer this service to former military persons. He never got a response. He came across the Delaware County-based Veteran Companion Animal Services in January. They responded. He is waiting to get a dog once it is ready for it’s new forever master. He suffers with mental and physical pains and feels the dog will help him better deal with his emotions. A veterinarian started the Veteran Companion Animal Services in 2015. Her plan was to connect ex-military folks with rescue dogs who need a home. She hopes that the “friendship, structure and purpose” the veterans need are here in life of the animal that will be pared with them. The dogs come from region shelters and rescue groups. The dogs need the companionship as much as the people they will be with.

One of the men interviewed for the article said when he got his Border Collie Australian Shepherd mix his depression and anxiety was “at bay” as he shared his daily walks and runs with “Bandit”. He said “he makes me happy”. There is a seven weeks training session in the spring and fall offered for the vet and their family at the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars posts.

It took the veterinarian who started the program three years to get the funding from grants and donations then recruit volunteers and set up the mission and procedures. The process takes months to visit the shelters for the animals then make the home visits ant interviews. This year she set up plans for the dogs to be placed with a foster person before they decide where to place them with just the “right” person and companion for life. The Veteran Companion Animal Services covers the costs of food, veterinary care, training and supplies for the first year. Of note to me was that a veteran of the US Marine Corps is the most recent recipient of a dog named Daisy. He is studying environmental policies at The Ohio State University. He said “...I think she can tell when you’re not in a good mood because she’ll come up and cuddle”.

It’s taco salad for dinner tonight.

Joy