FIRST COMES THE CRASH

Today is the first day of vacation. Technically it doesn't start till Monday, but it feels as though I'm out the door TODAY, Saturday. I had a shitload of ambitious plans, but sleep crowded them all out. Usually Dobro, my dog, gets me up around 5:30 in the morning, but today I went back to sleep and he stayed curled up next to me till the early afternoon. Faithful boy.

A phenomenon exists in which the organism pumps out an incredible amount of adrenalin to survive a prolonged extreme situation -- being stranded on a raft in the ocean, for example, or living in a home where one cannot escape regular abuse -- but when the situation ends and the adrenalin stops flowing, the rescued organism crashes in exhaustion, sometimes even dying. It's not coincidence, but simple pathophysiology, if that is not an oxymoron. I guess I should have pencilled that into my calendar, some Post-Adrenalin Crash time. Although I had envisioned springing up out of bed and launching into activity, that just didn't happen today. I did surf the web with return dips into Facebook, and ended up volunteering to drive three hours to a shar-pei sanctuary near Cleveland next week where I'll be meeting some dogs that were rescued from a puppy mill.

The Animal House & Ohio Pet Placement has the following contact information:
2555 North Ridge Road, East, Lorain, Ohio 44055
440.277.7400
contact@ohiopetplacement.org
http://www.ohiopetplacement.org

Photos of a few of the rescued babies are below. Most of them are afraid of people and have medical issues such as skin inflammation and visual and/or hearing impairments in spite of their young age. They're now being cared for with love and patience, feeling grass in the open air for the first time, learning how to play, discovering that human touch brings comfort instead of pain.

                                                                                                                                    Pepperoni

Chicken

                                  Onion

                                        Ham

                                   

                                                                            Ham

Olive

Olive

I fell back asleep dreaming of these girls and boys and hoping I can adopt one of them so Dobro will have somebody to play with and I'll have a new baby to ... I don't know the right verb to use ... indulge ... nurture ... mother ... well, play with.  

Waking up later, hungry, it was with great pleasure that I remembered going to a country store a couple of days ago and buying many locally produced delights including honey, maple syrup, and turkey eggs from Mr. Adams' farm. They were huge eggs, speckled, with hard shells and tough membranes, but tasted pretty good this morning scrambled in chemical-free Earth Balance fake butter that really tastes like butter. A filling breakfast, and not eaten at the cost of causing animals to suffer. 

Speaking of suffering, I'm worried about Suedey, my little mini Rex rabbit, so named for his suede-like fleece. I took him to the vet a few days ago to get checked out because his usually voracious appetite has been flagging, and his usually impeccable grooming has become sloppy. Of course, at the vet's he was perky and fine. It never fails. The doctor did say that lots of people's rabbits are shedding now, and don't always feel too great during the process. She recommended I give him papaya tablets for the benefit of its digestive enzyme in case he has a hairball from all the fur. He was back to himself yesterday, but today he's not eaten much of anything and he's as bedraggled as if he'd been partying all night. I'm keeping a close eye on him because rabbits, being prey animals, hide their sickness and can die fast when they really do get sick. I'm kind of scared. I was going to take him to the Bunfest in Columbus at the end of next month, a celebration of house rabbits and featuring lots of exhibits, giving him/us a chance to meet lots of other bunnies and their humans. 

A rabbit's foot is supposed to be for good luck, so I'm posting a photo of Suedey's foot for his own good luck. 

I'm getting sleepy. Worrying about Suedey as well as having the SyFy Channel on all day and listening to giant drooling, squealing bugs battling humans has been exhausting. Dobro and I wish you a gentle goodnight.