Category: Pets

It’s Black Cat Appreciation Day!

~ Carrie

You may already know that black-colored animals are less likely to be adopted from shelters than animals of other colors, but there’s no logical justification for it.

Black cats (and dogs, both of which I’ve had the privilege to live with) are just as lovable as full of personality as those of other colors, but superstition and lower photogenicity (not their fault – cameras struggle to show nuance with black) mean that they’re avoided or overlooked…unfairly.

If you’re considering adding a cat to your family, consider a wonderful, glorious black cat – or two or three. All hail the beautiful and mysterious black cat!

Under Pressure: Second-Time-Around Beef Bone Broth

~ Carrie

I’ve been saving the bones from the grass fed and grass finished beef soup bones and oxtail that we purchased from a local farm. These were the core of a variety of soups, including Korean-Style Oxtail Soup, and we’d already enjoyed the meat and marrow attached to the bones. Would there be anything left in these pressure-cooked bones to make bone broth? Definitely!

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Haiku: Who Are You?

~ Carrie

Someone came by last night – the tracks indicated that it was a feline. Was it a neighbor’s cat, returning to a home…or a stray cat, just hoping to find food and some shelter from brutal cold? I hope it was the former, but fear that it was the latter. I hope it wasn’t the tuxedo cat with the limp. Sadly, not all cats have a safe, good life. I wish they did. I’ll think of the visitor as I feed my cats, warm and well-fed, tonight: may you find a safe haven.

Haiku: You, Everywhere

~ Carrie

Just because someone dies, their presence doesn’t simply disappear – sometimes, loved ones may visit in dreams or appear in daydreams. I often “see” one particular soul, missed dearly, in manifestations of nature…I think of her daily, though she has not been here now for years. And I will think of her until I am no longer here.

Life is a dichotomy of joy and sorrow, each (unfortunately) seemingly in fairly equal measure, and not subject to our will. I will not avoid sorrow because doing so means I also avoid joy. I’ll hold fast to the joy and hope the sorrow simply crashes over me like waves at the shore: they may batter me, but I’ll get back up, shake the sand out of my suit, and be glad that I had the chance to swim in the glorious sea.