It's been a busy week but not a crazy week. One thing is for certain not having a 9-5 job brings new experiences to my life each week. On the gray days, the bleak will-this-weather-ever-end days, I sometimes long for the 9-5 routine. I am a creature of habit. Aren't we all? It's been over ten years since I had a 9-5 routine (actually it was a 1-9 routine) and how I loathed it then. The grass is always greener as some people say. I do have routine. Even if I don't get up at exactly the same time every morning, I do follow my own schedule. The discipline that graduate school required taught me that I have to deal with tasks as soon as they come up. I learned the importance of scheduling. So even if I never work in my field of expertise (I don't believe that though, I at least will deal with issues head as they come up. Routine yes, but the week can always be jostled due to my on-call part-time, occasionally full-time catering job. This week I had one shift, but next week I will be needed twice so far. Who knows what next week will bring?
I've been dealing with some old conflicts that have never been completely resolved. Each year that continues without resolution just adds another layer of complication, another tangle to the web. Unexpectedly, I've discovered that helping a friend deal with her post-surgery recovery (she's housebound for a while) has given me some perspective. Caring for someone else is quite healing for both involved it seems. Even just sitting with her while she nods off and the t.v. quietly murmurs as I knit has given me some peace, some time away from my usual. As for the friend, she's been up and down as the pain seems to be constant with differing degrees of intensity. On top of it all being housebound for someone who is so incredibly active socially and physically must be maddening.
Other bits of concern for me this week has been news related. The death of a police horse was all over the news and I was extremely saddened. Again I could not help but think of the other recent news story that doesn't make the evening news, but comes through my animal news network about the horse meat trade and "useless" horses ending up in the slaughterhouse, facing the bolt gun. Imagine the strength and power of a horse struggling against the death it can smell, hear, sense, see etc. So this recent story of the police horse being widely mourned makes me question why can't people see the connection? How can one animal be a pet and one a product? As some of you may know, I did touch on this subject with relation to the fur industry and made a short film called
Pe(L)ts that was inspired by a comment my cousin made about my cat and "what a fantastic fur coat she would make." Obviously I was horrified. So the question continues for me and maybe I'm just naive on this front to ask why don't people see that animals are living creatures, and could all be called pets or companion animals? All animals have individual personalities, feel pain, and have the capacity to love.
The other news story is a continuing one that I've mentioned before on my blog found here in the archives on the spread of avian flu. My 2006 issue of Farm Sanctuary's news looks at bird flu calling it a "virus of our own hatching." As far as I can see I have yet to see a mainstream news story examining the industrial commercial "farming" of chickens in our world that has continued to grow and is a perfect, in fact ideal, environment for spreading the virus. The focus continues to be on migratory birds and the migration of the virus and how it is beginning (i.e. learning) to jump species. The newest edition of "Veg News" does also raise issue with how the story is being mediated. This is a story I'll continue to follow. Hopefully another virus won't arise in the mean time as the world tries to deal with "bird flu."
In positive animal news, Ruggles of Red Gap went to the defense of his mommy (my sis) when he dashed to her rescue when one of her other cats bit her during play time. Ruggles growled and rushed to her defense. Chengo (the offender) was startled by the fraidy cat Ruggles charge. He's reassessing the pecking order as I write.
Tomorrow more cat and nurse duty.
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