THE CREATION

When God made the Earth and sky,
the flowers and the trees,
He then made all the animals
the fish, the birds, the bees.

And when at last he finished
not one was quite the same,
he said, "I'll walk this world of mine
and give each one a name"

And so he traveled fare and wide
and everywhere he went,
a little creature followed him
until it's strength was spent

when all were named upon the Earth
and in the sky and sea,
the little creature said "Dear Lord,
there's not one left for me"

Kindly the father said to him
"I've left you to the end,
I've turned my own name back to front
and called you dog, my friend"

Author Unknown

See Pale Male

And bring her back to comfort us" ~ AN OLD RUSSIAN PRAYER 

Animals are such agreeable friends - they ask no questions, they pass no criticisms ~ George Eliot

The mountains have always been here, and in them, the bears -  Rick Bass

A Mouse Story

A mouse looked through a crack in the wall to see
the farmer and his wife opening a package. What food
 might it contain? He was aghast to discover that it
was a mouse trap. Retreating to the farmyard, the
 mouse proclaimed the warning: "There is a mouse trap
in the house, there is a mouse trap in the house.
 "The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head
and said, "Mr. Mouse, I can tell you this is a grave
 concern to you, but it is of no consequence to me. I
 cannot be bothered by it."

 The mouse turned to the pig and told him, "There
 is a mouse trap in the house." "I am so very sorry
 Mr. Mouse," sympathized the pig, "but there is
 nothing I can do about it but pray. Be assured that
 you are in my prayers."

 The mouse turned to the cow. She said, "Like wow,
 Mr. Mouse. A mouse trap. I am in grave danger. Duh?"

 So the mouse returned to the house, head down and
 dejected to face the farmer's mouse trap alone. That
 very night a sound was heard throughout the house,
 like the sound of a mouse trap catching its prey.
 The farmer's wife rushed to see what was caught.
 
 In the darkness, she did not see that it was a
 venomous snake whose tail the trap had caught. The
 snake bit the farmer's wife. The farmer rushed her
 to the hospital. She returned home with a fever. Now
 everyone knows you treat a fever with fresh chicken
 soup, so the farmer took his hatchet to the farmyard
 for the soup's main ingredient.
 
 His wife's sickness continued so that friends and
 neighbors came to sit with her around the clock. To
feed them, the farmer butchered the pig. The farmer's
 wife did not get well. She died, and so many people
came for her funeral the farmer had the cow
 slaughtered to provide meat for all of them to eat.
 
 So the next time you hear that someone is facing a
 problem and think that it does not concern you,
 remember that when the least of us is threatened, we
 are all at risk. In the book of Genesis, Cain said
 about Abel his brother to our God "Am I my Brother's
 keeper? "We are all involved in the "spiritual
 warfare." We must all have a keen eye out one for
 another and be willing to make that extra care and
 encouragement to each other.

Author Unknown

There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats
- Albert Schweitzer

George Bernard Shaw

Atrocities are not less atrocities when they occur in laboratories and are called medical research.

Burly and big, his books among,
Good Samuel Johnson sat,
With frowning brows and wig askew,
His snuff-strewn waistcoat far from new;
So stern and menacing his air,
That neither Black Sam,
nor the maid
To knock or interrupt him dare;
Yet close beside him, unafraid,
Sat Hodge, the cat.

"This participle," the Doctor wrote,
"The modern scholar cavils at,
But," - even as he penned the word,
A soft, protesting note was heard;
The Doctor fumbled with his pen,
The dawning thought took wings and flew,
The sound repeated, come again,
It was a faint, reminding "Mew!"
From Hodge, the cat...

The Dictionary was laid down,
The Doctor tied his vast cravat,
And down the buzzing street he strode,
Taking an often-trodden road,
And halted at a well-known stall:
"Fishmonger," spoke the Doctor gruff,
"Give me six oysters, that is all;
Hodge knows when he has had enough,
Hodge is my cat."

Then home; puss dined and while in sleep
he chased a visionary rat,
His master sat him down again,
Rewrote his page, renibbed his pen;
Each "i" was dotted, each "t" was crossed,
He labored on for all to read,
Nor deemed that time was waste or lost
Spent in supplying the small need
Of Hodge, the cat.

The dear old Doctor! Fierce of mien,
Untidy, arbitrary, fat,
What gentle thought his name enfold!
So generous of his scanty gold.
So quick to love, so hot to scorn,
Kind to all sufferers under heaven,
A tend'rer despot ne'er was born;
His big heart held a corner, even
For Hodge, the cat.

I could sense your disappointment
As I left my prison cage.
Oh, I hoped you would accept me
And look beyond my age.
You took me out of pity,
I accepted without shame.
Then you grew to love me,
And I admit the same.

Never believe that animals suffer less than humans.
Pain is the same for them that it is for us.
Even worse, because they cannot help themselves
Dr. Louis J. Camuti

Animals cannot tell us in words that they suffer; but they tell us in many other ways. Like us, they want to live, and they want to avoid pain and suffering - Mary Lou Randour, Animal Grace.