CRISP AUTUMN DAYS AND TWO WONDERFUL CRITTERS TO BOOT

POST # 380

OUR FIRST WALK OF THE DAY

In another few days, my current house/pet sit will come to a close, and once again I will have to say so long to two of my favourite four-legged critters.  Mac, the bonehead, and Bert, the furball, will have to cope without me, but I'm sure they will be just fine.

Autumn has always been my favourite season, and the past few days have provided perfect weather.  Crisp, frosty mornings evolve into bright, sunny afternoons.  Mac certainly enjoys going out for a walk or two, as Bert "guards" the house, while simultaneously taking a nap.

This location, as well as my last one, are in rural areas, and the main advantage of being rural is the peace and quiet, which I rate as  number one on my list, when searching for a house/pet sit location.  Number two is a resident bonehead, and number three, is a resident furball.  This place gets a perfect score, so my days spent here are as good as it gets.

EARLY MORNING VIEW FROM THE DECK

MAC

BERT

Rounding out today's post are some extra photos taken on the property, and a couple from today's visit to Gabriola Island to visit my friends Talyn and Mike.  As luck would have it, Talyn's dad, Gilbert was visiting as well.  Mac had a stressful ride across on the ferry, but it was worth it, because he really seemed to enjoy himself during our brief visit.

MAC "WATERING" THE NEW TREE GROWING FROM THE OLD STUMP

AND ONE MORE

BEAUTIFUL AUTUMN LEAVES

MIKE, MAC, AND TALYN

HEADING HOME FROM THE BEACH

maximizing my moments,

Paul
The Thoughtful Wanderer

WHY WOULD I VOTE?

POST #379

Today is Federal election day. I can't think of a more appropriate date to explain why I won't be voting.  In fact, I haven't voted for a very, very, long time.

The topic of voting came up in a casual conversation with friends the other day.  They are both voters, so perhaps they might find it difficult to understand why I wouldn't want to exercise my franchise, and choose a suitable candidate/party.

As I am prone to do from time to time, I went off on somewhat of a rant about how I tar all politicians with the same brush.  In my opinion, they are ALL very good at telling the people what they think the people will want to hear, and they are ALL prone to talking out of both sides of their mouths.  As far as I can tell, there are only two goals for any politician.  The first goal is to get elected, and the second goal is to stay elected.   Anyway, that was the gist of my short rant.  One great way to change the topic of conversation, is to talk politics.

After I had dropped them off at the airport, and was on my return journey home,  I found myself mulling over this recent conversation, and that got me to thinking.  So what follows, might help the reader understand one of the main reasons why I think that spending any of my remaining precious moments going to a voting station to vote is such an absolute waste of my time.  Here goes.

Let's say that one day you woke up, and you weren't feeling well.  It didn't seem like anything serious, so you figured that you would just ignore the feeling, and hope that tomorrow you would be feeling better.  The next day arrived, and you now felt worse, not better.  Your health continued to deteriorate, so finally you decided that the best thing to do, was to go visit the doctor.  Perhaps, the doctor could diagnose your problem.

The doctor asked all kinds of questions,  arranged for a multitude of tests, and told you to return in one week.

"Please sit down" the doctor said, and right then and there, you suspected that the news wasn't going to be good news.  You were correct.  After exhaustive tests, the results confirmed that you have stage 4 pancreatic cancer, and in the doctor's educated opinion, having looked through all of the SCIENTIFIC evidence, you now had six months and maybe up to one year left to live.

You had an inkling that the news was going to be bad, but certainly not THIS BAD.   So, what to do?
At this point you really only have a couple of choices.  You can accept the news, and try and make the most of your remaining time here on earth, or you can pretend that this is all just a bad dream, and that everything is OK.  But deep down, you know that the doctor is right, and as hard as it may be to come to accepting the doctor's diagnosis, you decide that it really is the best option going forward.

Now let's move to the topic of abrupt, irreversible climate change.  This is a subject that I have been following now for 15 years, so I think that I have a pretty good handle on what the truth is.  And the truth, according to the science, is that things are very bad, and getting worse, and there isn't anything that anyone can do in order to reverse our course.  And here is where I get to the point of this essay.  And that is, there isn't anything that any politician from either side of the political aisle can do, that would have an impact on the trajectory that we are on.  Wile E Coyote has already run past the cliff edge.  Thelma and Louise are already flying through the air in their car.  You get the point.

So as the title of this blog states, "Why would I vote?"  Everything, and I mean everything comes in as a distant second place to abrupt irreversible climate change.  So no matter what topic the politicians are spouting off about, it has become totally irrelevant at this late stage of the human experience.  Hence, I won't be voting today, or any other day for that matter.

Instead, I'll spend some quality time with my current furball, Logan.  He, like all of my other four-legged friends are totally oblivious to the state of the planet in 2019.  They've got it good.

"Hey Paul, isn't it time for our afternoon nap."

"If you don't want to nap, I can always keep myself amused with the fish."

Here is a link to my previous story about the Federal election,  four years ago.  As it was then, it is the same now.  The ECONOMY always seems to be the MOST important issue.  As my friend, Guy says, "If you think that the economy is more important than the environment, try counting your money while holding your breath."  See how well that works out.

http://wherespaulnow.blogspot.com/2015/10/another-pointless-election-that-avoids.html



maximizing my moments,

Paul
The Thoughtful Wanderer

THIS JOURNEY BEGAN A LONG TIME AGO

POST # 378

MARCOTTE

"Clarence and Madonna (nee Lambert) announce the arrival

of Paul Francois on March 3rd, 1955, weighing in at 4 lbs., 9 oz.  

A brother to his four sisters, who will spoil him later."

It's debatable whether or not I was spoilt by my four sisters, but I do know that I most certainly have been showered with their love over the ensuing years.  I suspect that this love, combined with the love from my parents, has been the major reason that I never feel lonely on my journey through life.

Crawling turned into walking, and I've never looked back.  In spite of the fact that my walking pace isn't as brisk as it was prior to March 4th, 2012,  I still manage to keep moving forward.  There are no plans to settle down at this late stage in life.

And so now I'm off to my next location.  There will be a total of three, four-legged furry friends to keep me company, for a little more than a week, after which time, my journey will continue.

What more, could a Thoughtful Wanderer ask for?

Maybe a new pair of walking boots?

maximizing my moments,

Paul
The Thoughtful Wanderer

A SHADOW OF HIS FORMER SELF

POST # 377

It has been quite some time since I had the opportunity to take care of Shadow.  He has had some health issues during the interim, which  resulted in a significant weight loss.  He is now just a shadow of his former self, and is finally living up to his name. He can now stare at himself in the mirror, and know deep down that he is living a life that is true.  That sounds like a good plan.

His new slim profile hasn't had any negative impact when it comes to his energy level, and if I was meeting Shadow for the first time, I would never have thought that he had had something wrong with his health.  I still get to enjoy his playfulness and companionship during my time here.  In fact, Shadow seems to be even more playful and affectionate than before.  Perhaps he is living even more in the moment than he used to do.

Of course, being a furball, he can't spend all of his day playing, and so he manages to get in some well deserved rest throughout the day.

We wouldn't want to see him get overworked, now would we?  This is just one of many strategic locations that Shadow has, to catch up on his sleep.  

One trait that has remained the same as before, is Shadow's love of having his back smacked repeatedly, just in front of his tail.  I have only come across a few furballs that enjoy this treatment, and one soon finds out whether or not any particular furball is on board.  They either just stand there, purring contentedly, or you end up getting swatted at by them, usually with their claws out.  Shadow is most certainly in the former category, as can be seen by the short video below.

This is just round one of my time with Shadow for 2019, and in about another month, I'll be back here for round two.  For now, I am content to get re-acquainted with him, as we enjoy our week together.

maximizing my moments,

Paul

The Thoughtful Wanderer

PS: In spite of the fact that Shadow is a furball, I keep calling him, Dora.   Hmmm!!!

ROLE REVERSAL

POST #376

HAPPY DORA-DOG, THIS MORNING

As the old saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words.  A short two weeks ago, the rolls were reversed.  Dora-dog was looking sad, while Murphy was the happy one.  But here on September 28th, things have changed.

MURPHY'S LOOK AS I WALKED OUT THE DOOR

Dora is having fun with The Thoughtful Wanderer,

and Murphy?  Well I'm not sure what he is doing at the moment, but my guess is that he may be relaxing in one of his favourite positions,  and by now, he will have totally forgotten about the past two weeks that we spent together.

YOGA, MURPHY STYLE

Perhaps some day in the future, the two of them will have the opportunity to play with each other again, so that they can both be happy at the same time.

maximizing my moments,

Paul

The Thoughtful Wanderer

THE LAST DAYS OF SUMMER 2019

POST # 375

 

 If I don't mind saying so, the photo above is one of my better efforts.  It was late afternoon, and for a change, the sun was shining, the light was perfect, and Murphy was looking very regal, as he "stood" upon the flower in the foreground.   I couldn't have asked for a better photo, and I was thankful that Murphy co-operated by looking into the camera.

Autumn officially begins here, at 12:50am, Monday morning, September 23rd which is a little bit later than usual.   

"During the equinox, the Sun crosses what we call the “celestial equator”—an imaginary extension into space of Earth’s equator line. The equinox occurs precisely when the Sun’s center passes through this line. When the Sun crosses the equator from north to south, this marks the autumnal equinox; when it crosses from south to north, this marks the vernal equinox."

The above quote was taken from "The Old Farmer's Almanac" so I guess that is as good of a source as any other. 

The days are winding down regarding the season, and so too are my days remaining with Mr. Murphy. As before, he has been a wonderful companion, for which I am grateful.  In spite of the fact that I call him Dora every now and again, he doesn't seem to have taken it personally, and our relationship has remained firm throughout.   

Aside from our daily walks, there is plenty of time to interact with one another, and Murphy has become my four-legged shadow.  As was the case last year, I will be sad to say goodbye to him when I leave, but who knows, perhaps I will have another opportunity at some point in the future, to spend time with this wonderful critter.

Last night, we were fortunate enough to do our evening walk, just as the sun was setting, so I took the opportunity to snap one more photo of him, prior to returing home.

 

 The sunset was much more spectacular than it appears here, but at least Murphy was doing his part to assist the photographer in capturing the moment.


maximizing my moments,

Paul
The Thoughtful Wanderer

PS: My sister Gerry had a birthday this week, and the date ended up being a palindrome, 91919 which was rather unique.

HELLO AND GOODBYE

POST # 374

 

 HAPPY MURPHY

Yesterday, I arrived at my current house/pet sit, accompanied by my dear friend Mary, and Dora-dog.  Mary generously offered to drive me here, and we arrived at Murphy's place in the early afternoon.  Murphy was out for a walk with one of his owners, so the three of us went looking for them.  Within minutes I spotted Murphy, and called out his name.  He came bounding across the field to meet us, and more importantly, to meet Dora.  The two of them hit it off right from the get go, which I had expected, but it was still a relief to see them playing together.

Back at the house later, the four humans, and the two dogs had time for a visit, prior to Mary and Dora getting back in her car in order to head back home to Washington.  As much as I am happy to be here for the second time, it was sad to see Mary and Dora drive away.  I took this photo of Dora just moments before they drove off.  Her face reflected my mood as well.  Such is the life of a wanderer, but by now I am very familiar with this feeling, and I also know that it won't last forever.  

In no time, Dora will be back chasing squirrels, bunny rabbits and deer, so I'm quite sure that she will be OK, as will Mary,  as will I. Perhaps I will make the transition a bit more effortlessly, because of all the wandering that I have done in my journey through life.  Saying hello and goodbye is as natural to me as breathing, however the goodbyes are always more difficult, and especially so, considering the world we live in, in late 2019.

But for now, it's time to settle in with Murphy, and enjoy my time here.  It's all that I can do.

 

 SAD DORA-DOG

maximizing my moments,

Paul
The Thoughtful Wanderer