Another Day At The Ranch.

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First things first – Thank You for dropping by my blog today.

I consider it a blessing to have you here, and to be able to reach out to so many people every week.

I’m pleased to announce that – well, we’ll do that later this week. For right now I’m just going to thank you all, again, for the kind words after my post about Edzell. Between the different social media sites and my email it’s been a soothing balm on a road-rashed old man’s hide.

There is some lesson to learn in everything we do in this life. We usually aren’t smart enough, or aware enough, to see the message as it rolls by our eyes. That’s especially true when it involves a personal tragedy like the death of a loved one. And if the dog you’ve shared thousands of sunrises with isn’t a loved one, you need to see a doctor and make sure you have a heart.

Edzell held a great spot in my heart. All my dogs have taken hold in my life and enriched me beyond my wildest dreams. In the three days since Edzell’s passing I’m once again in a position to learn from yet another dog.

Over the past six months you’ve read countless (well, I’m sure somebody counted them, I didn’t) posts about my girl Stormy. She’s a rescue dog who had a tough life before coming to live with us this past Christmas. My wife and I have worked very hard to give her the love and understanding she needed to heal. She was very fearful at times and almost always socially distant.

As Edzell walked off the stage, she put on her best outfit and walked to the center of the boards. Once that spotlight snapped on and centered up on her she began to reflect that light. In the past three days she no longer reflects that light: she generates one of her own that is brighter than a thousand suns – her personality.

Stormy has what she always sought: her own home. She is confident that she is “the one” in our lives. We had talked about this months ago when we knew that Ed wouldn’t see another winter. My wife and I agreed that this girl needed some time to shine on her own with no sidekick to steal the scene.

It was the right decision. She’s spending her time in the room with us while we read or watch television. She hung out in the yard while we trimmed a tree and never once made a move toward the gate when it was open. She’s moderated her barking (part super-soaker and part new attitude) and is seeking pets at about ten times the rate she was before Saturday. And last night she hopped up on my bed and slept next to me without so much as a clap of thunder in the neighboring states.

Stormy is shining like the Sun.

Sometimes we forget that lonely people, and creatures, are afraid to compete for that love and kindness that we offer them. Sometimes they just need to be the only option before they feel they are beautiful.

Sometimes we need to look outside of our own perspective and peer at the world through their distant eyes. We couldn’t, wouldn’t, have done anything differently with Stormy. But we were blessed enough not to have another dog standing by to take Ed’s place.

Ed was a kind soul. I think he’s probably smiling right now at Stormy moving up next to the couch. He’s as happy for her as he is for us. We will miss him until we see him again in Heaven. But in the meantime, Stormy is stepping up to the task at hand and doing a radiant job of lighting our lives.

God provides for all of us in different ways. I’m just glad I got to be part of the family where Stormy changes to Sunny. Maybe a name change is in order to match her change of heart.

Selective Quotes Can Cost You Your Soul.

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A few weeks ago a friend of mine put a post on Facebook with a link to her blog www.iliveloud.net. It was hot on the heels of the riot in the Texas State House during a vote on late-term abortion. The article (linked here) was a moving story of my friend’s personal decision on abortion. I’d appreciate it if you’d take a few minutes to head over to her blog and read the article before we continue with my posting.

Now that you’ve read her article, I think you’ll probably agree with me that it is a great example of someone sticking by their convictions and honoring not just God, but their unborn children. I’m proud to claim Jessie Kirkland as a friend. She’s exactly the type of heroic person that I like to hang out with in my life.

Jessica Kirkland

Heroic? Yes. My definition of that word includes people willing to sacrifice their own lives for the lives of others. It also includes people willing to put their life on the line for their principles. Do I advocate risking your life for every cause? No. Not every cause is worthy of such a level of effort. But the ones involving life and death, especially the death of another, are among the reasons one might contemplate such a sacrifice.

The thing that amazed me even more than her blog post was the response. A friend of mine put up a post on Facebook within 48 hours that appalled me. It was an argument, allegedly based on The Bible, that it is not human life until the child draws a breath of air.

Think about that for just a moment. Aside from the fact that it’s ignorant of the book’s message, it’s an example of being able to prove any point, any argument, based on picking and choosing from 66 books and taking one or two sentences out of context. Every cleric I’ve ever talked to, or listened to in school, warned that that little trick was a one-way ticket to stupidville.

I won’t throw the vile thing a link, but if you were to Google “life begins with the first breath” you’ll find a host of these things going back for decades. Almost all of them that I found came from groups with names like (this one is fictitious) “Crazy Liberal Christians Who Defy Your Paradigm.”

The logical extension of the argument (and it was actually made on one of the sites) was that even a baby at day 280 (well past 9 months) who had not yet emerged from the womb is not a human being, and could be aborted with no moral compunctions. The phrase the ghouls (yeah, I’m calling names on that one) use is that it’s “living tissue” but not “human life” until a breath is drawn.

The basis for the argument is the same on each site – they take 5 examples from the Old Testament and extrapolate. The first is talk about the formation of Adam beginning with God breathing life into him. True. First human life was indeed initiated by God breathing life into Adam. Gotta start somewhere, and after that God used his plan for the rest of the human race involving sexual reproduction.

The second item usually cited is that Mosiac Law, the ten commandments we use most often, came from God in an oral fashion. And that Moses altered them to suit his whim. The tangent then tracks off to talk about foreskins and placenta being “living tissue” as well and there’s no big sweat over them “being murdered” so why should an unborn child be any different. Sadly, I’ve spent enough time doing public speaking and debate in my life to see where they get their argument. I also understand the mentality of the woman who told me “George Wallace is secretly a Catholic Nun” during a stay at the Minneapolis Greyhound Depot in 1976. Eh, I have a soft spot for this kind of thing it appears.

This is traditionally followed with quotes from Job, Ezekial, and Exodus. Again, taking things from a limited context and proving their point.

Yawn. It’s boring. And hateful. And stupid. Yes, stupid. I posted an item about a brave friend and why she doesn’t support abortion. The response was, essentially, “Hey, you. Think you’re a Christian because you read the Bible? Well, you missed the part where God says it’s just fine to abort kids until they suck some oxygen through the old pie-hole. So shut up and let us do what we want.” That may be a loose interpretation of what they actually are saying, but it’s close enough for my money.

Yes, I am a Christian. Strangely, I’ve read that other part of the Bible – The New Testament. That one talks a bit about birth – two births and two children in particular: John The Baptist and Jesus The Christ. Some good reading there – about life in the womb, the baby stirring at the prompting of The Holy Spirit. Lots about the sanctity of life in that part of the book as well. I’d encourage anyone who has questions about abortion to give it a read. It might just change their heart.

What’s the point of my blog today? You can justify anything you want (almost) by selectively citing the Bible. But you look like a fool. Moreover, you show what evil lurks in your heart when you do what these articles do in the case of abortion. Beware of how you use scripture – the author is kind of finicky about copy write.

Doggie Update.

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Healing begins once the wound has fully opened. It works that way in the emotional world as well as the world of physical wounds. Our healing commenced with the lovely phone calls, emails, and comments that you all sent after the post about my friend Edzell.

I thank all of you, including my brothers, sister, mom, mother-in-law, friends, and complete strangers who have written such lovely notes and called regarding the death of my friend, Eddie Bo-Beddie, Eddie Spaghetti, Edzilla, Eddie the Paper Shredder… well, the list goes on and on and on. He had more names than you can imagine. But he will always be my buddy Ed.

Stormy has taken the opportunity to step up to the plate and claim a bit of the house for herself. She’s always been a “background” dog – never at the front of the line, always in the other room, seldom seeking favor for herself. She figured out that Edzell wasn’t coming back after a very short period of time yesterday.

The first sign was that she came close when we gave her a big treat. She actually hopped up on the couch between us with the thing in her mouth. And then, for the first time ever, she hopped down on the floor and laid on top of my foot while she gnawed on the bone. That’s right where Edzell would have spent the time – on top of my foot. I always took that as a sign of respect and honor when he did it – it’s just been doubled.

So, perhaps, she was just waiting for the giant shadow he cast to fade in the distance before she stepped into the light and looked for her own penumbra. It’s there, girl, so bask in that light for a while.

I close this update with a video that my friend Debra sent to me. It made me cry. Debra, that’s my job, making readers cry. But I’ll let it pass just this once.

He Got His Summer Days. Farewell to Edzell Wullenweber Courtemanche.

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Edzell Wullenweber

I wish to announce the departure of my loyal friend of 14.5 years. Edzell was a Shetland Sheep Dog, or a Sheltie. Edzell left a gaping hole in our lives just an hour ago. There will be no Sponsorship Sunday post this week. I’d like to focus on my friend’s life this last time and honor the contributions he made to our household.

Edzell Wullenweber Courtemanche was a Cryptologic Technician dog from day one. He was named for a large antennae farm in Scotland. My wife and I had never been to Edzell, but it seemed a fitting name for a dog of Scottish heritage. Continue reading →

Update And Preview

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The “way back machine” made a noise today and a reader provided a link I’d asked for help with last year. In a post entitled “My mom’s going to kill me” I’d put up a graphic and asked for help in sourcing it.

Well, got the citation for the artwork this morning from reader Untung Wang. Turns out this piece of art came from an ad campaign done by BBDO Atlanta. It is entitled “Save The Children.”

Next Tuesday I’ll be posting a column on abortion. Given the amazing sweep of activities in Texas this past week, and my recent articles on adoption and abortion, I decided to post a longer article. So make sure you come back on Tuesday for an unusual read on the topic.

Again, many thanks to the readership for helping me find articles, links, and wisdom.