March 1, 2025 a thought for today, He who talks a lot, talks about himself the most. Yiddish Proverb

My first upload for yesterday was “a hand”. As I was waiting for my groceries to arrive I was snapping photos of what was going on around me. When I got to Photo shop I realized I had captured just this hand with the cart....perfect for this title. 

The next upload was “what I can’t wait to do”. I changed it slightly to what I can’t wait for... in the new growth and sign of spring.

The last upload for today and for the month of February was “free choice”. I decided to use one of my new series of “partial”,,,, someone walking across the parking lot. 

Life today. The temps dipped again. Right now it is 28 degrees. My furnace is shut off and has been for over two hours. The men are here installing the new air conditioner. I hope they will be done soon.  

I had changed my grocery pick up day to Friday for this week, knowing that we had this appointment. I want to make the rice krispy treats that I had planned for the other day but didn’t get to. But I don’t want to get started on cooking something while we have work going on in the house. 

The first upload for today is “new beginning”. This is the new AC unit they were putting in today. We don’t need it right now but will in a couple of months. 

I think I mentioned before that Sweet Pea has decided she doesn’t care for plain old dog food any more so I have changed her diet. She now gets a selection of boiled chicken, fried lean beef, canned chicken to supplement the boiled, canned salmon now and then as well as a taste of sardines as seasoning now and then. Since there are certain vitamins in dog food I have gotten senior multivitamins for dogs. So far she seems to be adapting to this new diet very well. Along this line, yesterday when I got the groceries I had ordered a whole chicken to boil and shred for her. The chicken was bigger than I had envisioned. I had to use a pot larger than I have been using in recent years to cook the chicken. The chicken meat fell off the bone when I took it out of the pot. I left it for today to separate for freezing. It looks like it will be enough for about three or four weeks. As far as the vitamins go I think I “over dosed” her on the first dose. I gave her a full one and I think she should have had a half one. The instructions say over 25 pounds, one pill, under 25 half a pill. She has been weighing between 25.5 and 28. And been losing some since she hasn’t been eating properly. 

The second upload today is “my choice”, another of my “partial” series. 

The word today is suffer.  The greatest deception men suffer is from their own opinions. Leonardo da Vinci.  We are more often frightened than hurt; and we suffer more from imagination than from reality. Lucius Annaeus Seneca.  God judged it better to bring good out of evil than to suffer no evil to exist. Saint Augustine.  They who go Feel not the pain of parting; it is they Who stay behind that suffer. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.  He who fears he shall suffer, already suffers what he fears. Michel de Montaigne. The punishment which the wise suffer who refuse to take part in the government, is to live under the government of worse men. Plato.  The Indian knew how to live without wants, to suffer without complaint, and to die singing. Alexis de Tocqueville.  I think it better to do right, even if we suffer in so doing, than to incur the reproach of our consciences and posterity. Robert E. Lee.  If thou suffer injustice, console thyself; the true unhappiness is in doing it. Democritus.  The devil put before me that I could not endure the trials of the religious life, because of my delicate nurture. I defended myself against him by alleging the trials which Christ endured, and that it was not much for me to suffer something for His sake; besides, He would help me to bear it. Saint Teresa of Avila.  Often they benefit who suffer wrong. Ovid.  There are more things to alarm us than to harm us, and we suffer more often in apprehension than reality. Lucius Annaeus Seneca. The injuries we do and those we suffer are seldom weighed in the same scales. Aesop.  The man who does ill must suffer ill. Aeschylus. The pleasure of those who injure you lies in your pain. Therefore they will suffer if you take away their pleasure by not feeling pain. Tertullian. 

The last upload for today is “panning”. This is a view from my desk chair. It is a part of the dining room, kitchen and living room. 

Article: Here’s another animal/pet story. Personally, I think they are worth sharing ways they are beneficial in so many ways to our human lives. The title is “Just having a pet doesn’t help mental health – but pet-owners with secure relationships with their pets are less depressed”. It was written by a professor of psychology. As those of us who live with pets feel first hand the article opened with “For many people, pets provide unconditional love, companionship and a sense of security”. The article also mentions that there is a responsible side also, the care of these friends and pets. For me it is close to the same as tending to the needs of a child.  Then there is the fact that most, nearly all animal in the pet genre don’t live as long as humans so at some point their loss has to be felt and dealt with, a part of life. Bonds are formed, attachments are comforting, and companionships are cemented.  The author suggests that the quality of your bond is a strong part of the bond. It is best to not be lost in worrying about the end of life part of the relationship. In considering this the author wrote that “the quality of the attachment matters more than its intensity”. She found that “while frequent pet interactions were linked to stronger and more secure human-pet bonds” it didn’t therefore mean a positive mental health outcome. This side of the relationship is shown in “emotional security in the relationship, rather than just the frequency of interaction”. The way we bond with out pets “may be just as important as pet ownership itself in shaping well-being”.

I think it will be chili for dinner this evening. 

Joy 

February 2025 photo a day composites