=A View Through the Window=

"no man is a failure who has friends"

Have you ever thought about it? The idea of what a single person contributes to the lives of others, and to the world in general, without even knowing.

Bernie wanted to help the animals.
We wanted to help Bernie. We wanted to help the animals.

Help Bernie help the animals became the cry.

Everyone pulled out all the stops to help one person, do the seemingly impossible:

Build a sorely needed shelter for animals in her care. To save lives. She needed to win a challenge, the prize being a grant of fifty-thousand dollars. All for A Place to Bark and Meow.

Was that particular challenge won? No. Only the top four received the grants. Bernie's rescue came in fifth place. Was this a failure? Nuh-uh. Not in my eyes, but you be the judge:

People rallied. The message was simple.

We need to move a mountain. Fast.

A connecting chain was created around the globe nearly instantly and gained momentum causing a ripple effect.

Old friends gathered.
New friends were made.
And the impossible happened.

People donated what they could. The Zoline Foundation doubled some of the dollars. Money was sent from all over the world. Ten dollars here, five there, fifty, one hundred ... and it adds up, you know?

Nearly $80,000 to be exact.
That shelter will be built.
And all because of .::one person::. refusing to believe it couldn't be done. Someone believing we could make it happen.

Perhaps YOU were that person. And then the next person believed ... and then the next. Hundreds of believers.

Strange, isn't it? Each man's life touches so many other lives. When he isn't around he leaves an awful hole, doesn't he?
-- Clarence (the guardian angel in Capra's, It's a Wonderful Life, 1946)

What if, that ::someone:: hadn't been there? One less believer.
What if, each of the lives Bernie saves, left an awful hole because ::someone:: wasn't there to help them? How many other lives would be affected? Can we even count?

I for one am so very glad that Bernie is around. I honestly try not to imagine all she goes through everyday. The things we don't see, I thank her for. She shelters more than puppers. I am one of those that cannot deal with the reality of animal cruelty. Not up close & personal for any period of time. I do what I can but need the Bernie's out there when I have to look away. And truthfully, no one can do it all alone. Not even an angel. So she needs our support ten fold.

A world without Bernie in it?
What a horrible thought.

Wag your tail if you agree.

=^..^= love, zU

looking at the glass half full

Bernie.
No matter how badly things are going, Bernie is always looking for and finding something to be happy about.

She spends her days (and nights) caring for those that cannot change their circumstances without her. She does it all for love.

The velvet touch of a puppies tongue is all that she needs.

One soft sloppy puppy kiss of thanks and if given a bonus, a wagging tail. Payment in full.

Bernie's animals need our help. They want more than anything to give her everything she deserves. And all Bernie wants is to give them all that they deserve. Beginning with a second chance. A place where they are forgiven the fate of being born into an already too crowded world.

Bernie needs the glass to be all the way full this time.
Sloppy puppy kisses and purring kitten hugs help but they aren't enough. We need to help a dream come true.

Bernie's A Place to Bark and Meow needs a physical shelter built. And the reality is that requires a lot of money. More than Bernie can come up with alone ... It's save a life or build a shelter. Building a shelter will save more. Hard choice?

If you haven't heard about the magic (goodness, where have you been?) let me tell you breifly. Six Degrees dot org has paired with Parade creating, America's Giving Challenge. Badges to collect donations for charity were created and the word sent out: The TOP FOUR BADGES, those bringing in the largest number of unique people to donate by 3pm east coast time, the 31st of JANUARY will receive FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS for their cause! Yep! Your $10 becomes $50,000. Can't beat that deal, can you?

(If you haven't yet sent your $10 ... go click the DONATE on the badge at right). We'll wait for you.
(While we wait, watch this darling little flick by Claudine!)

Already sent your $10 ... FABULOUS!
Thank You and a million puppy slurps to you!
Kitten purrs & nose kisses.

Ummmm ... guess what? That deal where your $10 becomes $50,000?
It gets WAY better! How would you like to see $10 turn into $120,000?
Sound too good to be true?
Read on ....

The Zoline Foundation wanted into the fun and has offered to meet each of the donations given...Every one of your $10 DOUBLED dollar for dollar up to $25,000 ... ON TOP OF THE OTHER CHALLENGE!
The offer was: If you can get twenty-five thousand, we will make it fifty! Just do it by June of this year. HA!

Did you look at the numbers on Bernie's badge? Yeppers!
YOU'VE ALREADY DONE IT for Bernie's Puppers!

The first $25,000 donated by YOU has become ...

FIFTY. THOUSAND. DOLLARS.

Well, that took The Zoline Foundation right off their chairs.

Good folk and they saw ... People care! So what did they do? Three days ago they made a second offer.

If Bernie can get the donations to $35,000 ... (Ten thousand more in less than a week)

...THEY WILL MEET IT DOLLAR FOR DOLLAR on top of the first twenty-five!

That's right. The offer is at $70,000!!!
All we need is to get to thirty-five thousand on the donation badge by noon PST January 31st. Plus don't forget, the top four badges will get $50,000 on top of this!

As Bernie says: It's Win-Win!

Expect to find good in the world and you will find it.
Things just get better and better.

If you haven't donated $10 .... PLEASE PLEASE if you can, send ten dollars. It's super easy and you will be walked through a safe and secure process. You will be allowed to use PayPal if you wish.

EVERY UNIQUE PERSON SENDING $10 COUNTS.

A PLACE TO BARK needs to stay in the TOP FOUR BADGES to win. And believe-you-me another Fifty-Thousand for the Rescue is everything!

And ... If you can send even more EVERY DOLLAR now COUNTS to be matched!
If you can only send $5 ... do it!

If you can send twelve, fifteen or twenty ::HOORAY:: because THE CLOCK IS TICKING! With LESS THAN 48 HOURS TO GO ... We need to hit $35,000 for Bernie and the puppers! We are SOoooo close! Lookie at the numbers!

We need to get those number totals up!

I know Bernie believes in you. And I know she always looks at the bright side. Bernie believes there are people that care. The glass is always at least half full in her eyes.

Show Bernie you believe in her. That the precious lives she is devoted to are worth saving.

It's time to make that glass overflow.
Lets show her a river.

=^..^= i believe!

a magical place

We could use a little springtime here.
Gloomy and cold outside today.

Snow predicted for tomorrow.
Outdoors all the little root children are tucked in for the nights, asleep underground perhaps soon covered with a blanket of white.

Inside our tiny dwelling the little bears & animals are gathered about the fire, watching expectantly out windows for the first snowflake, and staring at the hoomans of the cottage to see what will be read aloud tonight by firelight.

Someone has left a copy of jill barklem's, Winter Story where I can see it ...

(I expect it is a ::wish:: to hear the tale of The Snow Ball again.)
It is a favorite of my little brood.

They Ooo and Ahhh at the pictures of The Grand Palace of Ice built by the mice of Brambly Hedge, a palace carved from ice in which to hold a winters dance. For days the boys of the cottage talk of nothing else but how they will build one too ... The girls talk of what they will wear, sneaking peeks at the boys wondering if one might ask them to attend. The boys pretend not to notice, but clearly are delighted.

Tonight ... Potato soup w/carrots and fresh cornbread for dinner. Candied ginger pieces passed out later for a treat. Beeswax candles to be lit leaving their yellow glow in steamed windows.

Perhaps a second watching of this movie, then asleep dreaming of waking to an icy wonderland.

Winter isn't so bad.
It fills the need to make excuses to stay in and nest. To hold up and cuddle under quilts and read until the light disappears outside and you can't see the pages anymore without lighting a lamp.

The talk of summer from friends of the Australian blogland makes me itch to go out and play in the dirt. To fill vases with bouquets of bright flowers, pick raspberries and pull weeds in the sun. Alas, it is not the view from the windows today.

Today it will have to be the paintings of flowers remembered, with my feet in the fire and a corgi princess at my side. Tonight stories of mice that live in a magical place close enough to touch will warm my heart.

Snow is on the way ::sigh:: It is an inside day.

Looking out from within. A winters reflection.
Wish you were here.
=^..^= love, zU

on making a difference:

... sometimes i dream.

We make a difference by being present for others and by using our lives to make an example. We need to make this a place where all peoples of all different faiths, nationalities and races and gender orientations are valued by their hearts and merits and not by their social strata or their checkbook.

sometimes i dream.
=^..^zU

Skipping Starbucks ... to change the world

Have you heard? Ten dollars can change the world.
It can make it a better place.

With a little help from her friends,
Bernie is changing the world one life at a time.

Bernie and the puppers at A PLACE TO BARK and meow ... They need us. Every one of us. Something very wonderful is happening and you can be part of it.

It is a challenge.
The top FOUR charities who bring the most PEOPLE to donate as little as $10 each by 3pm EST January 31st ... Will receive an extraordinary prize.
Yep. Not only will she get your donation, but on top of that ...
The top four will receive FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS.

Bernie and her puppers can win this challenge and all it takes is every one of us to click and send her a small donation.

Ten dollars. That's probably just a couple of days without a Starbucks ... Renting a DVD & popping corn at home instead of going out to the theater.

So easy. The objective is to get as many people as possible to send $10 ... (Duplicate donations from the same individual will only be counted once).

Goodness ... Send Bernie all you can, but get your friends to help out too! Each individual person will count! Give your friend $10 for their birthday with Bernie's name on it ::GRIN::

Get a pool together at work and everyone give a dollar ... For every ten dollars gathered, have one person send it to Bernie! Everything counts!

Spread the word. Tell your friends.
What if EVERY PERSON READING THIS post was to do something ... Together we could take Bernie and the pups to number ONE and keep them there!

Watching the happenings this week has been nothing short of amazing. Bernie hit the top ten in a flash ... Then YOU got her to the top five. Then in a matter of days ...

With less than two-weeks left to go (and with a 3-week late start) A Place to Bark is in the TOP TWO badges already.
The TOP TWO! Do you realize what this means?

It means you are making a difference.
That you care enough to make a difference.
And it means ... We have to work even harder.

The top four badges will be awarded $50,000.
We simply must get Bernie into a solid position and KEEP her there to win!

This is the miracle Bernie has been praying for ... that we have all prayed for, for her. It would mean a shelter at A Place to Bark. Shelter from winter's elements and summer's peak heat. It would mean room to save more animals! And it is sitting right in front of us to help give it to her.

Animals seem to find their way me. I rescue. I love them.
The horrible things I see even randomly break me to bits ... I want to run screaming. I want to hide and forget what I have seen and heard. Although I wish I could, I cannot bare to look through the shelters. But Bernie is somehow able to do what many cannot. She searches and takes in those stories that make most of us die inside. How she does it is unimaginable to me.

I do what I can with what little strength I have. This is the opportunity to do more. I see that clearly.

I cannot fathom doing what Bernie does. Seeing what she sees on a day to day basis would kill me. So when a gift like Bernie is given to the animals, I support that angel with everything within me. It is how I can help. I cannot do what she can ... But I will do whatever I possibly can to help HER do more.

You can too.

PLEASE. Reach into your hearts and send your support.
(for donations to count they must go through the official badge)

Help Bernie.
This dream could come true before our very eyes. All she needs is a little help from her friends.

=^..^= love, zU
(watch the magic numbers here)

Oh you just know what's about to happen ...

Gotsta be the cutest photo series on the net ...
And you know you want to watch.

Will Biscuit win? Will he get a rose?

Grab the kids to root for Biscuit ...
Er, if your puppers is in the room, might want to advert his/her eyes less s/he learn any new ideas techniques.

CLICK the link below and buzz on over to Carrie's at Violets are Blue. See what happens!
. . . :: Biscuit takes the cake :: . . .

=^..^= :giggle:
love, zU

Weather 4 Ducks

The first storm(s) of the year here in Northern California were wild! What a way to start the New Year. It began on Thursday (the 3rd) but it was what hit on Friday that made it real. The largest storm to hit us in a decade they say. The National Weather service warned us just after midnight:

"The 4 inch of rain that fell Thursday ... was just a teaser of storms to come. There's some truly nasty weather on the way today and into the weekend. The valley floor could see wind gusts of up to 80 mph -- rain is expected through Sunday as second and third storms are expected to slam into the state. Before it's all done, there could be more than a foot of rain in parts of California and up to 10 feet of snow in the mountains."

"A rare blizzard warning is in effect for the horseshoe of mountains surrounding Northern California. If you're not in the Sierra by this evening, don't go," Ken Clark, a senior meteorologist at Accuweather.com said Thursday. "It's a life-and-death situation. It's going to be an all-out blizzard."

But I had no idea what we were in for. Really. I hadn't really listened. I figured it was not going to be anything big deal and only half paid the warnings any mind. Thank goodness I nailed the studio stained glass awning windows shut. I don't know why I at least did that. Glad for it though. My beloved Queen Ann door on the studio blew open and the antique wavy glass window panes in it, shattered to bits. I should have nailed it shut like the windows. Hind sight. But who'd of thought to nail a door? I mean, it was locked!

My animals spent most of Friday under beds or in my lap. All of us in the dark. Listening to the howling, hearing things propelled by the wind and praying along with me as I watched the trees out the window that nothing big would hit the cottage. I sit surrounded by some big'uns. Sequoias to both sides that I didn't know could bend like they did. I mostly worried over a huge pecan in my backyard considered my pride and joy. She stretches a good eighty feet across and cradles in her arms a very special squirrel nest.

My reason for the worry? Not even light out yet, winds only at their beginning and ... CRASH. Just down the road the neighbors tree when down. Took out everything in it's path.

I took one look at the damage and was offically in awe of Mother Nature. I started trying to remember what I had read about the incoming storm. Blast! Why hadn't I paid more attention? They had cautioned everyone to prepare.

Something about ... with the expected high winds, expect damage. Power might be knocked out for extended periods:

"City and county officials are preparing for what could prove to be a wet, windy and wild weekend.
A series of powerful Pacific storms is predicted to begin coming ashore this afternoon, bringing torrential rain to the valley, up to 10 feet of snow in the highest elevations, and winds that could produce hurricane-force gusts.
Snow will accumulate above 5,000 feet, but it's not the rain or snow that has local authorities making preparations. It is the potential for violent winds."

"... toppled trees and downed limbs, can knock down power lines and trigger outages. We anticipate there could be people without power for 24 to 36 hours," said Aldrich. "We want to stress for people to be prepared."

::Ahem::
I counted six days here ... No power.
Last Friday's storm brought wind gusts as high as 163 mph on the Sierra crest. Yikes.

I wasn't ready for this big of a storm or one that lasted so long. They said 2 days no lights. Okay, I can do two days. After five ... I sat nights burning candles with nothing left to read in the house. Not even a cereal box was left unread. I still can't tell you how my electronic appliances work (storm or not I staunchly refuse to read how to manuals), although I can say I need to change cereals. After reading the ingredients I need to go shopping. That is the sign of a real storm -- when you run out of reading material leaving time to ponder cereal and ideas of organizing cupboards. Then actually doing it. Eww. Poor me.

At least it's resumed being more of the normal type of storm system now and mostly light 30 mph wind gusts getting everything wet and muddier if that is even possible. My cottage floors are covered in the foot prints of the four-legged occupants. Sigh. Heaven help the cat that might be forced to use an indoor litter box. Oh no. Much better to brave the wet weather outdoors and race back in with muddy feet, slide past me (waiting with the towel), and instead deposit muddy feet on the newly washed bedspread. SIGH.

At this point ... I'd much prefer snow.

On the other hand, the ducks are happy.

=^..^=love, zU

: For the worried Godmommies out there: ChiChi and his girlfriend, Cathy, have relocated into my garden shed ... I discovered them there the next morning after the storm. Curled in a tin bread box on a shelf, the lid on the floor. My garden apron tucked inside where it had been dragged & placed to suit the builder. Noted: A container of black sunflower seed had also been pillaged. That's my boy!

On every Star I saw at Night