Wins and Losses…

Please don’t panic, but when I got to the lobby yesterday there was no sign of either of the puppies! I spent hours wandering through the archive sections,

and also, both my office and the Father’s counseling chambers, but to no avail. The little fluff balls weren’t anywhere within the lobby, leaving me feeling rather disheartened.

However, in the midst of my disappointment came several unexpected things, one of which is somebody’s puppy that must have been left here from Christmas Morning. Poor darling!

She’s missing her collar so I’m not sure of her name, nor do I fully remember exactly who came that morning. Perhaps, someone wasn’t prepared for taking a puppy home with them, and were afraid I might be disappointed if they rejected my gift. I get it! No offense taken, my friends. Whoever left her behind, was good enough to leave her in the lobby, where she would be safe and can be re-homed. If anyone is looking for a new baby to add into their family, I think she’s a Corgi mix of some sort. She is very affectionate and sweet natured from what I can see. She hasn’t stopped giving me kisses since I found her, poor thing… she must have been so lonely, and probably a good bit frightened. Quite honestly, I’m shocked and rather embarrassed that I didn’t even know she’d been wandering around in the lobby all this time! Now that I think about it, the puppies did seem to be eating a great deal more puppy kibble than is normal for such little things.

Anyway, if you hadn’t noticed it yet, the other discovery I made while searching for the puppies was my purpose! Do you know why it’s felt so important that I locate each and every one of the creatures lost to me? Within each one of those that are not visible to me at the moment, there’s a bit of me… things that I see in each of them that help me make sense of myself.

Somewhere while I was searching through the lobby for the puppies, God showed me that even without physically seeing those that are missing, the real me was still there in the room with Him. The things I write, the creations I invent are merely that… things, as adorable as they are! I am definitely learning more and more each day about the depths of my own heart… and how far God is willing to go, on my behalf. Maybe taking you with me, as I go in search of recovering these parts of what was lost to me (metaphorically speaking), there will be lessons to learn about His nature, which flows through my veins…

I believe!

***Go back and look at the picture of the woman with the puppy, for a moment. Look closely at the woman’s facial features and you will see the real me, or the AI version Avatar creation. It looks as if it’s an actual picture of me laying on the floor of a library with a dog. I gave my AI several actual photographs of my mother, myself, and two of my three daughters. This is the first time that I truly realized how much I look like my mother, as well as my girls! While you might not notice them, I can see exactly where my features are blended with my mother’s, and it’s amazing! If I’m being fully honest with you, it made me a bit emotional when I first saw the image.***

Reading is fundamental…

Daily writing prompt
If you could make your pet understand one thing, what would it be?

Can you imagine how fun it would be if we could read to our furry friends… and they could actually understand the words?

We could leave house rules on the fridge, thereby, leaving no valid excuses for peeing on the floor.

No more separation anxiety, my friends, not with smart phones and video calls and texts… just get them a floor sized tablet!

***Warning*** If you’re going to let them have internet access, parental controls are a must if you don’t want to end up with a years worth of biscuits and frisbees! And watch out for those furry chatroom channels… they’ll end up letting anyone in the house!

I wonder though, would they still ignore rules, guidelines, and warning labels like some humans? Well, let’s just adjust my answer to reflect that they would be capable of understanding basic words that are written down… they are animals, after all.

Have a cookie…

Puppy Sorter…

Daily writing prompt
What’s your dream job?

I’m just sayin, if there were ever a giant puppy factory… I want the job of puppy sorter!

I would love to spend my entire day, simply playing with puppies to determine what homes they should go to. All those chubby little things with their adorable puppy breathe… talk about fun! I wouldn’t even require much monetary compensation (though I do expect fair wages), and the overtime wouldn’t even be an issue. Actually, it would be a great deal of fun to bring my work home with me! Though, I’ll admit that I might mistakenly keep a few stashed under my bed when I return to work the next day. One of the hazards of the job, I suppose…

Don’t forget your cookie…

I picked them out just for you!

Who Knew?

Hey guys, it’s me Gabe…

Bailey and I thought it would be fun to play dress-up while mom’s out shopping this morning. Everything was fine til we got to the goat. Who knew that a goat would look so ridiculous in coveralls?

Oh well, at least we look cute! And that was really what our goal was, any how. Why was looking cute such an important goal for us? I’ll tell you why, my friends.

When mom goes to the store, she gets food. When she gets that food, she then brings that food back to the barn. Our cuteness factor has two purposes:

  1. One distracts with cuteness while the other pilfers the shopping bag and makes off with the treats.
  2. Cuteness often produces goodies without even having to employ puppy ninja tactics.

Who knows, we might even get bonus goodies for making her laugh about the goat’s coverall catastrophe.

One can dream…

Tuesday’s Tinkering…

I’m not really happy with the pictures I used to update Journey With Me’s website for the new year, so I’m sort of on a quest to find a fun theme for this spring.  What to do, what to do?

I could go full nautical, with short stories, ditties, and fun seafaring food recipes… stuff like that.

Or, I could head for the hills with a camping, hiking, woodsy theme…

I don’t think I’m up for foodie stuff on a large scale, and I doubt you are either.  We’ll just keep to the cookies,

with an occasional review from Gabriel, who considers himself a pretty good judge of flavors…

What I am seriously considering is a fun mystery kind of theme.  Some of you may remember when I did several episodes last year called Tuesday Tattler, which read somewhat like a journalist writing a column in a paper…

If I do a mystery theme, I think it would be really fun to take this miniature version of my persona and take her around the world on some hilarious assignments…

If you haven’t noticed yet, I deplore boredom… can’t stand wasting my brain!

And… if I don’t like reading the same old same old, I suspect that you don’t either…

As a writer, it’s important that I keep your reading experience fun and engaging, among other things.  Your thoughts are important to me, so let me know what you want to see more of this year…

And I’ll get right to it!

As Castle says, “It’s what I do!”

Monday Message…

We finally got to sleep in, with mom’s back hurting and keeping us up and all.  She actually slept all night long… and barely even moved!  I, being the older puppy (even if it was only by 12 minutes), felt some concern at first.  I insisted that Bailey lick the inside of mom’s ear just to see if she would move.  She did, but only to swat at her ear, nearly missing Bailey’s backside as she did so…

No worries… my sister slid down onto the pillow safely.  But, you have to admit that it would be pretty funny if mom’s hand made contact with Bailey’s bootie at just the right time, flinging her onto dad’s head.  On second thought, maybe not…

It’s really nice here, and we might both get kicked out of the bed… guilty by association, dad would say. 

Anyways, as I, Gabriel, seem to be the only one concerned about  sending you your Monday message (well, the only one awake), have taken the time to make breakfast for everybody. 

Help yourselves and enjoy the goodies.  I think I’m gonna snuggle back down with mom and sis for a bit…

Have a wonderful Monday!

Laughs from the past (U-Pick Pet Adoption Agency)…

This was my answer from two years ago, I think, but it still makes me laugh!  I’ve not made any changes to it, so you’ll have to forgive that.  Enjoy…

You pick out your pet… We help you find it… No more middle man!

Daily writing prompt
Come up with a crazy business idea.

Have you ever dreamt of your favorite pet, but either cannot afford the breeders fee or fear getting something you weren’t prepared to care for? Well not anymore! Here at UPPAA we aim to please any and all who employ our services. 

Other agencies only offer the service of inviting you in to view and adopt a pet with all the cleaning, caring, treating and rehabilitating that someone else did for you… no no no… that is considered false advertising around our offices!

Instead of having you come to the nearest breeder or pet shelter, we here at UPPAA employ only the most qualified representatives to collect you, equip you and then, back you up, while you find the nearest stray animal in your area. Upon locating said adoptee, our representatives will then assess whether or not you desire to, or are capable of continuing on in said venture. From your response comes the next part of the package we offer. Here is where we will simply wait in the car, as you approach and retrieve the pet you have selected. 

Photo by Spora Weddings on Pexels.com

**Stipulations are in place here that you must adhere to, in order for the completion of our services. Not only must it be very clear that these pets do not belong to some one else, but the pet must actually need your assistance. We will not, under an circumstances, be a part of nor participate in the willful theft of the fluffy white puppy living in your neighbors back yard! (this had to be added to our contract for a specific reason)**

Once you’ve selected and retrieved your new pet, following our rules and regulations, we will then deliver you safely home to begin your new life together. There is no need to come back to the office, as you’ve already signed all of the paperwork that enlisted and guaranteed our services, as well as paying all agreed fees, so you’re all good to go!

All of our fees, being quite reasonable, come with a money back guarantee! If, after a full 15 days of care, cleaning, feeding and rehabilitating your chosen pet, you are dissatisfied… we will be happy to come pick you up, return you to the adoption site so that you can put the animal back where you found it. We will also return your fee, minus the fuel. 

Our goal, here at UPPAA, is to ensure that you find just the right pet that you deserve, in the most real way possible, so that you truly appreciate who the animal is, where it came from, and what it might possibly be like from here on out! We are able to keep costs down here, by never having to hear why you didn’t know what you were getting into, or that this pet is nothing like what we advertised! We boast a perfect track record of no rehoming pets returned for the third time.

We have representatives standing by right now, waiting for your call at 1-888-PIC-APET. Our first 10 customers will get a complimentary catch pole.

**We are not responsible for lost or stolen common sense, nor are we obligated to provide first aid, physical assistance nor the picking up of poop… welcome to pet parenthood!**

Monday Messages…

I guess we weren’t supposed to dig here… mamma has a funny look on her face, right now. If she puts us outside for this, would you be so kind as to talk her into letting us back inside? Thanks!

Oh, and don’t work too hard because it’s only Monday, so you have to pace yourselves!

Monday Matters…

Mom is making us sit on these weird matts today. It’s not our fault for peeing and pooing under the big tree in the lobby last night… we didn’t know it would be such a big deal.

Apparently, it is!