Tough Love

So I'm trying a different approach to Tahoe's eating habits, because he is driving me nuts. As I said in a previous post, this dog does not really care for food in general. He will gladly eat a piece of cheese or a hotdog at all times of the day, so I know there is nothing wrong with him. The night before last, I fixed him chicken, rice, and broccoli with chicken broth poured on top like a soup. I placed the bowl before him, and he looked at me like, "What else do you have? I'm tired of this dish." I am NOT kidding you. There is such an expression! He refused to eat, but I could tell he was watching me to see if I was going to make him something else. He was waiting for me to break out the hotdogs. But I was strong. Yesterday, I went to Petsmart to buy him a new type of dog food that he might like more, and I got talked into buying this HUGE bag that I was thinking would take him a year to consume. I was telling the sales lady about Tahoe's eating problem. She said that he is completely controlling me. She was right. Begging a dog at 10 o'clock at night to eat, so I can go to bed is NOT how I want to spend my evenings! She told me not to give him any treats or human food until he establishes the pattern of eating his dog food. This is sooo hard for me because I don't want him to lose any weight. Yesterday he didn't eat anything except for a few treats he ate that afternoon. Today he isn't going to get any treats until he eats his dog food. Everyone has assured me that he will eat when he gets hungry enough, but really, this is killing me. I guess I just have to remember that skinny dogs are much healthier than overweight dogs, and coyotes probably don't eat a meal everyday, and they survive just fine! It is just so hard to say no to this cute face!

Kittens!

This morning at work we discovered kittens out in the back parking lot. Apparently the mother got scared away with everyone moving equipment around. She had left them in a pretty safe place in a cage that had some old car seats piled on top of the tray where they were laying. We decided it was best to just leave them alone since they were so young, and hope she would move them when things quieted down some. After about 5 or 6 hours we went back to check, and they were still there. We were afraid they were gonna get dehydrated. I was also afraid she might move them to the dumpster or up in the engines of vehicles... It sounds weird, but both of these things have actually happened, and it has been tragic! So we took them, and are now bottle feeding (well, my friend's daughter is!) all 7 of them every 2 hours.

They are so cute when they nurse on the bottle! I hope we made the right decision to take them. I think I might be keeping one of the orange males. Tahoe might like a pet of his own!

Socialism

I heard some audio clips of this on the radio last week... It actually sent chills up my spine. The entire thing is kind of long but worth listening to, especially the last half. His comments about doctor's rights and freedoms are really potent and scary.

Day 3

So today is day 3 of my diet. I am doing the very low (almost nonexistent)
carb, all protein one. It can be brutal, but this is a tried diet for me, so I know it works! I am only doing it for 1 week, (or until I barf, which ever comes first) so I am trying to keep that in perspective. A week is only a week, right? I know this is good for me to set a goal and practice discipline... along with building up more compassion inside myself for starving people. All good things.

Here is my basic menu:

meat
cheese
eggs
some plain vegetables so I can poop
protein powder mixed with water
some more meat

This does not vary too much because there are only limited resources for protein in this world I am discovering. If you're looking for carbohydrates though, there is a very vast ocean! I'm sure there are recipes that can make these items taste better, but since I'm not much of a cook, I am sticking to the essentials. Meat does not stimulate your appetite like other foods do. It's weird. I'm finding I want to eat less even though I'm hungry because the thought of gnawing on another piece of chicken is just so unappealing! There is one food that seems to be making this bearable though, and that is sugarfree powdered bone marrow, i.e. JELLO! For the praise of this food is what this post is about! I am actually eating HUGH bowls of it everyday, and it seems to be helping tremendously! It's fake sweetness has actually tricked my senses, so I have almost forgotton what real sugar tastes like. It's actually pretty great considering that it has almost zero ingredients of anything! Anyway, I really believe in the reward system, so after all said and done, when my week is over, I'm gonna go to Starbucks and have a vanilla latte (with real sugar) and a muffin! This glorious day will be Thurs morning August 20th, 6:00 AM!

The Pursuit of Happiness

" All men seek happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end. The cause of some going to war, and of others avoiding it, is the same desire in both, attended with different views. The will never takes the least step but to this object. This is the motive of every action of every man, even of those who hang themselves.
And yet, after such a great number of years, no one without faith has reached the point to which all continually look. All complain, princes and subjects, noblemen and commoners, old and young, strong and weak, learned and ignorant, healthy and sick, of all countries, all times, all ages, and all conditions.
A trial so long, so continuous, and so uniform, should certainly convince us of our inability to reach the good by our own efforts. But example teaches us little. No resemblance is ever so perfect that there is not some slight difference; and hence we expect that our hope will not be deceived on this occasion as before. And thus, while the present never satisfies us, experience dupes us and, from misfortune to misfortune, leads us to death, their eternal crown.
What is it, then, that this desire and this inability proclaim to us, but that there was once in man a true happiness of which there now remain to him only the mark and empty trace, which he in vain tries to fill from all his surroundings, seeking from things absent the help he does not obtain in things present? But these are all inadequate, because the infinite abyss can only be filled by an infinite and immutable object, that is to say, only by God Himself. " - Blaise Pascal

I heard this quote on a cd this weekend... It was published in 1670. I thought it was really inspiring and filled with tremendous truth! It's weird how people have known this throughout the ages, but it takes us so long in our lifetimes to figure this out for ourselves.

Rainbow Connection

This made me happy this morning on the way to work! I don't think I have ever seen a rainbow with a full arch in my whole life! My little camera couldn't capture the entire thing, but here is a piece.

Hair trouble

I got my hair cut last week... It no longer looks this way. Why is it so difficult for me to style my hair this way? It is once again in a stubby pony tail.