What You May Not Realize About Being an Animal Shelter Volunteer

Lending a hand, helping out and volunteering at an animal shelter....invites a lot of comments. We hear them constantly; "how do you do it?", "isn't that so hard?" and "I could never go to there, it's so sad it would break my heart." Actually.....what's heartbreaking is seeing people NOT coming to help, because there is only so much the staff and core volunteers can do, and with animals coming in constantly, there is always a need for willing hands and loving hearts. See, what you may not realize is that there is nothing wrong with these dogs and cats. They aren't here because they did something, they found themselves here when their human passed away, moved, had a baby, or decided they had no more time for a family member.

Goodbye January; this time, I won.

So long, chapter one...... you set the bar for 2025 by refusing to be easy, kicking me around, making me dig deep just to stay focused, and more or less, I did. January wasn't everything I'd planned it to be, but neither was anything else; it seems that for some reason our family traditionally finds the first month of the year really challenging. (Maybe so we become tough enough to survive the rest of the year? 🤪)

Winter Images, Clip Art, Snowmen and Backgrounds

Winter clips, snowpeople of all kinds, and frosty fun ⛄ ~ images I've collected over the years for cold weather. I especially love creating the backgrounds, which are often my snow photos layered with snowflakes, blue and white effects, etc., and there are a bunch of stock clip art images here as well.

Homemade Salt Dough Ornaments are a Big NO for Pets

Did you know that those fun to make "salt dough ornaments" are extremely toxic to animals, and in many cases, fatal? They are so easy and delightful to spend an afternoon making, however the main ingredient is what attracts pets to them, and that can lead to disaster. While there are many hazards which can present problems for pets during December, this is one I feel often gets overlooked.

The More Tough Things You Do.....

....the stronger you become. 

"Do more difficult things" ~ this was my phrase back in September, as I returned to a part of my life I'd had to take a break from. Volunteering is a big piece of my world, but for a number of reasons it had been months since I'd been able to help out at one particular place, along with getting back in shape physically.