figuring out what rescue really means...

depending on my mood, it can mean lot of things. it can be more about people than it ever is about animals. it can be about who is right, who is better, who is bigger, who is smarter and who is the most crazy.

it can be about who wants what, in which way, and to what ends will they go to get it. it can be about who has what, how did they get it and how can you take it away.

rescue is weird.

but really, i do know what it really is, at least what it is for me (most of the time)...unless i choose to forget...

it is about helping animals to find a better life then they had before. it is about taking them in and giving them another chance. it is about taking good respectful care of them (ok, i am not always that respectful of clyde and phoebe but those dogs are dorks sometimes too.) it is about placing their needs before your own and doing the very best that you can.

it is about finding them good homes that fit, and if you can't find that home...stretching to fit them yourself. it is about following thru and walking the whole road and not leaving them out there to finish the road on their own.

i get alot of animals that have been thru other rescues...it is a good thing when it is planned, like the animal has needs that the rescue can't meet. it is not such a great thing when i rescue them from homes they should never have had and it was rescue that put them there in the first place.

i don't believe animals should ever have to be rescued from their rescuers, but sometimes this happens like it did in pahrump. it is hard sometimes to draw that invisible line before things get right out of control.(i struggle with this all the time....hmm, kinda like now)

but above all to me what it means to rescue, it to see a smile on their faces as much as we can. dogs like clyde, and cole, and raymond and francis had never smiled so it was hard for them learning how to do that. and it is knowing that sometimes even for the ones who know how to smile, (like cody and sparky), they can forget when they lose that lost home (cody has her smile back now and sparky, i am working on it so be patient.) rescue is about bringing back that lost smile and not forgetting that they need to see you smile alot every day too....they can't help but smile right back.

so today for my smiles...pokey pete rearing up to play with me, (god that goat is TALL) edith running ahead to beat me to her barn (she won), a softly whimpering clyde with his front feet up inside the dryer drum trying to convince me to kiss him instead of tang (he won too), corky biting my nose just because i put it close to her face, sanjaya falling off the upper shelf in his rush to reach the door just so he could say hello, cleo stalking me thru the kitchen window (AGAIN), maude's roll over for a belly rub, and my utterly magical 450 pound pig who let me kiss her perfect pink nose.

it was a nice homecoming tonight, greg had all the barn guys in for me , he put on that heated tape so our water lines won't freeze up again tomorrow, jesse and trina had the house and feeding all done, and tammy finished off for me when my lunch break was done...and that is what rescue means too..helping out where ever you can.

i am not even going to worry about tomorrow, i am still working, trina is off and brenda can't come. i have the barn figured out cuz greg said he would do it, i can manage the americats and bunnies on my lunch break and the rest will get done when i get home.

and that is the other thing that rescue is about...having faith that you can get thru the day well and with grace... sometimes i forget that. faith has gotten me further in rescue then i ever imagined and i bet it gets me alot further yet. and well, grace i still have to work on, but i am thinking about that now

so, now i know what rescue really means...it means having faith in yourself and the people who surround you that it is the animals who determine what is truly important....it is all about them.(i know this is true because they all keep telling me this every minute of every single day!)