Wordless Wednesday

 

Beat This Caption

 

So, they were out of Tom Cruise and you got this?

Monday Question

 

How old were your parents when they got their first pet?

What was it?

Since then, what is the longest time your parent hasn't had a pet?

A dog was already living in Mama's house when she was born; they always had dogs and cats throughout her childhood. Her longest time without a pet was three years when she first got married.

Daddy also was born into a family with a dog, a giant beagle. He went 10 years, from after college to marrying Mama without a pet. The rumor that he married Mama just for the pet is false. 

The Ruby Rose Report: The Flying Alligator

 

This week I saw something strange while on my walk. 

While I lived in Florida, I was warned of alligators that would snap me up like Skittles. I was glad to come north to get away from those things. But, I encountered something stranger and potentially more terrifying.

I saw it and stopped in my tracks, thinking it was an alligator, except this one stood on two long skinny legs that did not seem capable of supporting its plump body. The thing had a long, thin, gross neck and, at the end of that, a bird head with a sharp beak. It was an alligator, for sure.

I had no idea what an alligator was, except that it lives outside, looks weird, and smells terrible, and I must have found the actual article. 

Then it did something most unexpected. It spread its wings and made a horrible squawking sound.

I did not know alligators had wings, and I would have to email my Florida siblings. This changed the avoid-alligator tactics completely.

I stood and growled at the flying alligator because that was all my tools. Before we became alive, when we were getting the tools we would need when we were born, I skipped the sharp teeth line completely and took two helpings of cute. I realized my mistake. The only good that would do when confronted with a flying alligator was to bite it. All I could do was luck cute, so the alligator went "AWWWW" before devouring me.

"Don't get upset," my dad told me, calmly looking at the flying alligator like a dope. "It's just a turkey."

Great: Now he was disparaging the dog and man-eater. One thing I learned about alligators is they are sensitive. My only hope was that it would attack my dad first, and he could kick at it for long enough for me to escape, but I had no hope this was true because he is a the curl-up-and-die kind of guy. 

The alligator spread its wings and took off, flying to the north, where there must be better prey than a ten-pound dog and a guy carrying around a body of spoiled me. 

We were lucky this time, but I am keeping my eyes open for an attack and barking at anything near me.

Alligators have long memories and hate being called a turkey. 

Foley's Tails From Rainbow Bridge: Nola Sticks the Landing

 

When you are on the mortal side, you don't have time to examine life; no more than you can see every bit of the road as you are racing down the highway. It is not when we reach the Bridge that we can look at our life spread out before us, from beginning to end.

For most of us comes the moment when we know the end is near; it is like spinning out in a car and heading in a completely different direction. It is not the end of the line, just a new beginning.

That spin is a critical moment when we transition from beginning to end. It is the end of mortal life, and we all want to stick to the landing.

No one did that better than Nola and her mom Lisa.

The spin-out started as a limp: Something very innocuous. But it can be that way, and this limp was a sign of spreading cancer. Nola would have happily given a limb to stay, but the tumor rapidly overtook her body.

Faced with the end, Momma Lisa made every day they had left together unique. To squeeze a year of fun into a few hours. Nola was delighted and didn't want to fade away but to go out like a fading firework.

The family packed up and drove up 95 for a camping trip to Baldwin, Maine. Nola knew it was her last time, and she breathed in the clean air, unlike her home city, which always has a fragrance of linguica and chow-mein sandwiches.

Nola treasures every minute, remembering the scenery, the sound of laughter, and the love.

Nola enjoyed her first bit of real ice cream; it didn't matter. No one was checking her weight. She also got a Happy Meal. She was flying high, with no fear of falling, because she was a half angel by now,

Then, thanks to his mom making the biggest sacrifice of all, taking on all of Nola's pain, suffering, guilt, and sorrow, and setting her free where she was met by hundreds of angels he had met when they were all mortal and who admired how she transitioned from being a family dog to an angel.

The mortal world is lessened by not having Nola's physical form amongst it, but those who can see the unseen know it is better because a full-hearted, loving angel is now guiding events.

Welcome home, Nola.

You definitely stuck the landing/

Poetry Thursday

 

Welcome to Poetry Corner

 

My good friend Angel Sammy and brother Teddy have supplied us with another picture for Poetry Thursday.

Here is my meager contribution.

 

 

When Daisy was invited to see old friends

But she knew it was regret she must send.

Tommy was a handful and needed his mom.

When it came to children her husband Jake was dumb.

 

But Jake said he could handle the tyke.

He knew going out was something would very much like

She was worried about what she would find when she got home.

She had vowed never to leave her child with someone with a Y chromosome.

 

Reluctantly she went out for the night.

Worried that upon return her home would be urban blight.

She returned in only an hour.

Her worry made everything taste sour.

 

She found Jake on the couch.

Watching TV in a half slouch

She asked where Tommy could be.

She pictured him outside running free.

 

She was told he was in his room.

If she believed in him, that is what she should presume.

She said she would go up to check.

Hoping the bedroom was not a wreck.

 

She found her son followed in Hershey syrup.

Enjoying it with their six-month-old pup

She hurried Tommy into the bath.

And yelled downstairs her voice full of wrath

 

When Jake appeared, she asked how Tommy got the bottle.

While in her mind him he did throttle

He said he had no idea how.

Maybe he milked a chocolate cow.

 

She told him to take the pup outside.

While she rubbed off her son’s tiny hide

He offered to help clean son.

Oh, if she only had a gun.

 

She said there would be more work to do

After licking up the chocolate the dog would have to poo

And to make sure he did not come in until the dog pooped another and another.

And by the time he got back she would be living with her mother

Wordless Wednesday