Visiting Canines

               Bonnie has been acting squirrelly lately.  We didn’t know if it was because of her allergies or the elements that animals can seem to sense better than any mechanical weather forecaster.  I let her out yesterday and noticed that there was another dog near our unused black car.

I heard Jenna cry, “Why would you let her out?!”

“I didn’t realize there was another dog out here.  Besides, why wouldn’t I let her out?  Maybe she needed to go.”

I don’t know that Bonnie had even tried going potty.  I tried luring back into the house.  She wanted to check out the dogs (turned out there were two of them) but was not vicious about it – which must have meant they were both male.   The border collie seemed a bit put off by Bonnie’s presence and would growl and then Bonnie would growl louder.  Jenna did not get a picture of the three of them interacting on the hill but Bonnie was obviously the smallest of the three.

 

Jenna brought the other two dogs into our brand new room.  I don’t think it was intentional at first, but it seemed a way to keep them safe.  Unlike our neighbor’s menagerie behind our yard, we don’t recall ever having seen either of the dogs before.  Especially the larger of the two.  I would have remembered seeing a St. Bernard before.

Roland jumped the gun and called animal control to come collect them though neither Jenna nor I agreed with his presumption.  She had taken pictures to post to instagram or other media in which others might be able to view.  Her friend dropped by and they both hung out in the back room with the two dogs.  They referred to the dogs as Collin and Bernard.  Jenna said she was willing to keep Bernard and Ruth could take Collin as she seemed to have a better relation with the dog and Bonnie was more tolerable of Bernard than Collin.

Both seemed to be well-mannered and friendly dogs.  They also appeared to be an added expense just in dog food alone.  And it’s not as though our yard has the best room to house a St. Bernard.  But there was a response to the post.  The information gave Jenna an approximate location.  The girls walked them to the area and let them off in a trailer – are you kidding me?  A dog that big needs more room than that!

Just after the girls returned without the dogs, the sheriff went around the house to claim the dogs which had already been returned.  The girls were happy that they no longer had them to put into his custody.  They said he looked mean.  I did not even see him.  When I went out to talk to him I saw a white SUV backing out of our driveway.

I hope the owner of the dogs is okay and that the dogs do not escape again.  I would love to ask them how it is they ended up in our yard.

Oh, That's Not Good

     Jenna and I both need our hair thinned.  I called the hair salon just the other day to learn that they are shut right now due to COVID, but do plan to reopen.  Well, great.  Do I even want to go anymore - although the last time we went, it was just the three of us there.

    A lot of businesses have closed due to staff members testing positive.  Businesses that are open are short-staffed.  I don't think any of us should be shopping anyway.  Unless it's essential - like toiletries and medicine.

    Jenna was supposed to start high school on the 31st this month.  A reminder was sent out last week on the 19th.  Yesterday we found this post: 

    Oh, please.  Jenna could have finished her schooling last year at ORCA but had wanted the opportunity of socializing with her friends once again.  I wonder how many of them will make it to graduation.  I wonder if there will be a graduation.

Your “Free Agency” is Infringing on Mine

        Sunday’s meeting was quite awesome. Our bishop tackled the sensitive subject of following the counsel of the prophet.  He started off sharing one incident in Church history in which the saints were being persecuted and how the division that exists today was alive back then.  I notice that during my studies how often our own lives parallel with the saints.  In a way we are “marching” to our own “Zion’s Camp” (here) as we struggle to do the right thing and shed our pride or judgment.  

https://history.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/3-
little-known-details-about-zions-camp?lang=eng

       We have our free agency to follow the prophet or follow the crowd.  But I often feel that the “free agency” abused by others infringes on my own.  I remember airlines, restaurants, hospitals and other places who offered smoking sections – as if the smoke is seriously going to linger  only in those sections.  Come on!  I happen to be allergic to cigarette smoke.  Lighting up from two to ten feet away from my nose is the same as blowing it directly into my nostrils. 

       Eventually workers who came in contact with the second hand smoke started to experience health problems that were similar to the smokers.  So the smokers had their “freedoms” for a time, but eventually they were taken away.  Some places offer smoking sections but it seems like the majority of buildings (at least in the western states)have a no-smoking-anywhere-in-the-building policy.  Not only does the smoker have to go outdoors but are required to remain a certain distance from the building and only on a certain side.

       I can’t speak for everybody, but I enjoy the quality of non-polluted air.  I can breathe a lot freer in a building that doesn’t have that stench lingering.  I can’t even smell it when I am around it, but my body still reacts negatively when it does happen to linger in my presence.  So yesterday we were infringing on the rights of the smoker vs. the non-smoker.  Today’s issues are mask and no mask and the vaccination.  It’s a trial that each of us is dealing with.  Are you going to stand up to President Nelson or Joseph Smith or God?  Are you going to say they got it wrong and you know better? 

       I’m certain that it was not an easy talk to give.  I hope all those who were present (even those who attended virtually) were able to feel the same spirit that I did.    

Never Saw That Before

 We had been walking Bonnie around Millsite Park.  Jenna pointed out the pinecones and asked if they normally grow on the trunks.  

In all my days of seeing pinecone producing trees (and I have seen A LOT) I have never seen them growing into the trunk like what is pictured above.

Testing Negative

               On Saturday I received my first COVID test ever.  I’m sure the person who was testing was being as gentle as possible – my poor nostrils.  I honestly was expecting that blood would come out of my nose.  It didn’t help matters when Roland (who’d been tested fair) coughed and spewed – or whatever he was doing.  He is NOT a wimp and I am so if he was having problems I figured it was bad.

       It actually was not as bad as I had allowed myself to believe.  Nor was it as easy as my friend, Carol, had indicated the previous day.  It hurt!  And when I said it allowed, I heard Jenna behind me saying, “Thanks, Mom” 

       The person doing the testing told Jenna how brave she was – really?  Hadn’t I been any less brave?  We were told to wait 15 minutes for the results.  Roland started joking that “mom and Jenna” would be negative but his would come out positive.  Not funny.  So we were all more than concerned when they had him take the test again.  Negative.  We had all been vaccinated and had tested negative.  That is reassuring.

       We were told in the beginning (was it last year? Or last century?) that the rural areas would be hit the hardest.  The cocky people of this county didn’t believe – many still don’t – even though Douglas has been proved to be the worst county in the state (don’t forget, Douglas County is also the fifth largest county in the nation) and guess which city in Douglas County currently has the most cases?  That is right, Myrtle Creek’s three thousand somewhat population has contributed to the most cases in Douglas.

       I think I have mentioned before that aside from the massive geographical size of our county, Douglas offers only one hospital located in Roseburg.  Recently they lost a patient from the emergency room.  The patient had been there for two hours or more waiting for an ICU bed to open up.  The patient died of COVID.

       Jenna had come in contact with a friend who had tested positive for COVID. Hence our little jaunt.  Thank you Public Health for your service.

Polio Had Claimed Many Lives Back in the Day

    My brother posted an 11 minute video which he labeled as “ranting” but he had some valid points. One was that if you are purchasing a ticket to the place where he works you are agreeing to a contract to follow the rules – one being “Wear the mask”.  You DON’T have to purchase a ticket if you can’t wear the mask either by choice or because you are not medically able to.  It’s a rule.  The mask has to be worn.  The employees have to wear the mask the entire time they are at work – which is three to four times greater than those who purchase tickets.  Not a big deal.  At least it shouldn’t be.

Jenna and I have a mutual acquaintance who has decided to abandon her teaching career so that she doesn't have to get the vaccination.  OHMIGOSH!! Just overcome your pride and get the damn shot already.  Students are required to have certain vaccinations before they can be accepted into school - which I guess is one reason that some parents choose to homeschool.  Homeschooling doesn't require students to be vaccinated.

 Another one of Corey's comments was about our great uncle Reese who died of polio when he was only 17 years old. My dad loved his uncle.  He was only eight years old when Reese passed away.  More than 40 years later he still choked up about having lost him when they were both so young.

  The vaccination for polio did not come out until ten years later.  Polio was the COVID of the day. People then were probably excited to get the vaccination.  It prevented many others from dying.  We don’t even hear about Polio anymore.  We should be grateful for the opportunities we have to receive an effective vaccine and have it available without having to wait decades.

 How better off I think we would be if people could understand the seriousness of COVID as they did Polio or Measles or Scarlett Fever for example.  But  then again, those that think this whole COVID thing is a hoax probably don’t believe that Measles and Mumps were a real thing either. 

There are those who were against the vaccine who have chosen to follow the prophet and sadly there are so many others who most likely will learn and have learned the hard way.  Those (as the former educational instructor I suspect) that may lose loved ones that could have prevented it.  And sadder still, there are those who will never admit that they could have done something to slow down the disease to keep it from spreading.

Why Do We Hurt The Ones We Love?

         When Estella meets up with Horace and Jasper they become family.  Estella’s desire to create fashion doesn’t work out to her expectations.  At least not for a while.  Eventually she is given opportunity to work for a prestige designer and learns things about her own past that do not set well with her.

The first she learns is the location of a family heirloom she had lost just before meeting up with Horace and Jasper.  The Baroness has the family heirloom and Estella wants it back.  She arranges for Horace and Jasper to steal back her necklace and makes herself the distraction by shedding her darker personality which her mom had named “Curella”

https://screenrant.com/cruella-main-characters-ranked-worst-to-best/

At the time of the break-in the “distraction” notices that the necklace in question is dangling from the Baroness' neck and removes the necklace as Horace escapes the guards who found him trying to steal from the empty vault.  As Jasper tries to escort Cruella away from the Baroness the necklace ends up in the belly one of the baroness’ Dalmatians.  

The next day Cruella emerges into more than a distraction.  Cruella wants revenge.  She decides to leave Estella behind her and allows the evil to consume her.  Still wanting the heirloom, she orders Horace and Jasper to kidnap the dogs for the necklace is bound to come out of one of them at some point.  She is so unkind to Jasper and Horace who had always had her best interest and she them.  She is so consumed with revenge that she doesn’t recognize how her behavior is wrecking her relationship with them.

I think Jasper and Horace start giving into her demands out of fear and are no longer comfortable with their once good relationship.  They miss Estella but Cruella thinks of her former self as a wimp and won’t allow Cruella to show any sign of compassion.  She is mean.

I love the show.  I have seen it several time.  I have laughed each time.  I laugh more during the "Estella" moments rather than the Cruella parts. And yet I hear opinions and critisms.  Granted, I myself wouldn’t recommend it for children – but there is a lot of humor if you aren’t set out to take the movie seriously or analyze what each movement represents.  Come on, already, people!  Why is it that so many Disney movies have been criticized because of its underlined themes.  These movies were created to entertain.  And I am definitely entertained when I watch Cruella.

https://d23.com/cruella-chronicles-hear-from-emma-stone-and-emma-thompson/

I love the soundtrack.  I love Emma Thompson’s portrayal of the Baroness and Emma Stone as Estella.  I love the humor – especially right now with the world in such a crazy and often scary time.  And to all of those who criticize this movie I ask, “Before you spent money to see this movie, you were aware that Cruella is the villain, right?”