Counting My Blessings Today

Today I’m counting my blessings…

 

Yeah, even staunch “political operatives” (passionate voters and civil rights/equal rights proponents like me) have to take a break sometimes to shake the sh** from our feet and enjoy a strife-free, rage-free day now and then and remember the many things in our lives that count as blessings.

 

Not that I’m any less passionate today about kicking the Anti-Everyone-But-Rich-White-Men Club to the curb than I am any other day, but today I’m going to create a partial list of my blessings instead in a concerted effort to “write my sorrows in sand and my blessings in stone”:

 

Progressive Candidates and Activists who never seem to grow tired or get overtly-discouraged by the Culture Wars

 

Women and men who speak truth to power, past, present and future–the testifiers, resisters, protesters, feminists, “troublemakers”. (The entire list is available at the “women” link above–it’s massive!)

 

Friends (you know who you are!)

 

Pets (eight laying hens, four goats, three cats*, three ducks) (two turtle doves and a partridge in a pear tree!  okay–this last part is a lie, but it just begged to be included!)

 

My home (which is duplex-like: I share it with my sister Jackie; she lives in the larger half because she has a son and daughter-in-law and grand kids who visit often)

 

Sisters Laurel and Jackie

 

Social Security and Pension. As puny as both are, they are crucial to keeping me alive on  Planet Earth

 

My love of reading and writing. I’m nearing the end of book 4 of the Happy Potter series.

 

My readers and “viral sneezers” (people who LIKE and SHARE my book lists and blog posts on FB and elsewhere, especially those who’ve read every book I’ve written, and sometimes buy multiple copies for friends during the holidays or for birthdays and other occasions, or just because they want the most recent edition. Here’s looking at you  Sue Hutchings, Billie Rae Walker, Edward Smith, and Jim Westbrook!)

 

The Internet, which has leveled the playing field for small business owners whose customers/clients are global

 

Net Neutrality, which ensures that big companies can’t screw little companies more than they already do

 

Online freelance websites (as infuriating as they can be to find work that pays decently on them)

 

Good health

 

Semi-retirement. Being semi-retired allows me to veg or do something else contributory and/or fun when I want and to work when I don’t feel like doing anything else. (I love to write, so I either need to be writing a new book, adding to an existing one to expand it, or writing for clients!)

 

My list of blessings could go on and on. But I’ll stop here and talk about my newest blessing, a foster child.

 

 

I’ve taken in a young cat named Charli. She arrived two days ago feeling understandably anxious and unhappy for having been uprooted and brought to a new home that already houses two other cats.

 

The first night was a nightmare; she just would not stop meowing at the top of her lungs in my bedroom, even though the other two cats were locked out of it to help her acclimate before I introduced her to them.

 

Last night was much better. She has finally figured out that I’m okay and that the other cats aren’t out to get her. She’s arching for petting and settling in nicely now.

 

I was planning to get her some “chill pills” (calming pheromones) at Petsmart this morning, but it looks, now, like she won’t be needing them. Hallelujah!

 

Charli is truly adorable. She’s black and white, beautifully marked, and has a cute, perfect, appropriately-placed mustache markings.  Walt Disney could have designed her for the silver screen.

 

She’s  very petite build-wise, even though she’s reportedly close to a year old.

 

I’ll get a photo of her the next time she emerges from the closet. (She’s asleep right now, so I don’t want to disturb her.) I’ll post it here before I publish it so she’ll be the image you see when you spot this post on Facebook…

 

Haven’t caught another glimpse of the pigeon since I turned her/him loose a few weeks ago, so s/he is probably out enjoying life with a flock somewhere. (I’ve never seen a flock of pigeons here in my neighborhood, so I have no idea how s/he ended up in my back yard to begin with.)

 

I’m feeding my goats Purina Goat Chow now instead of hay because they eat every bite, don’t waste any, and the cleanup is just pellet poop instead of compacted hay. I’m getting too old to muck out goat sheds every spring. This way I can power wash the gravelly areas and flush the compacted poop out of it. I think that will make spring cleaning a lot easier…

 

The weather here has turned rainy. It’s been that way for several days now, so it seems fall has fallen big time here in the Pacific North-Wet.