Tiny Border Collie Puppy Herds Sheep

I have no idea where this video originated.  It was shared by a friend on Facebook from the page Border Collies Anonymous, but I don't think they're the creators.  All that aside, this may be THE cutest border collie video I've ever seen so I'm posting it here to share with a friend who isn't on Facebook.  And so I can watch it over and over and over whenever I want because I love it that much.

Posted by Border Collie Anonymous on Sunday, June 7, 2015

The Meme Says It All

We all make mistakes.  I make at least one every time I open my mouth.  I try to overlook the mistakes others make, in hopes they'll overlook mine.  Sometimes though, I just can't do it.  Sometimes, I have to withhold that "like".

Disney Animation Studios Short Films Collection: Warms My Heart (but my feet are cold)

Click here to buy on Amazon
Click here to buy on iTunes
Also streaming on Netflix

I'm having my socks blown off right now.  For real.  I just hopped on the treadmill to get my five miles in on a rainy day.  I flipped the tv on, fired up Netflix and was presented with a new choice: Disney Animation Studios Short Films Collection!  It's no secret that I'm a lover of animated movies, but they have to be really good to earn my heart.  Pixar is, of course, the gold standard, but even Pixar doesn't always live up to my high standards.  (I see The Toy Story trilogy, The Incredibles, Up,   Wall-e, and Ratatouille as high points in not only animation, but in filmmaking in general.  Cars2 not so much.)  I'm often less than impressed, so you can take my word for it when I tell you this is not your average collection of cartoons.  

Right off the bat, the first three shorts had me all but crying and in awe of their gorgeous art and story telling. John Henry told the familiar tale with gorgeous stylized art and real feeling, but I thought the cats doing the tango was the best I'd see.  The art and animation was so vibrant, creative and fun!

 

Then came a wordless, beautiful telling of The Little Match Girl.  It was so different from the dancing cats, but so pretty and poignant I had to like it even more.

Then my nostalgia got going with a new Goofy short that felt just like a Goofy short from my childhood, you know, the pre-Katzenberg era when Disney was creative and fun and well, goofy! 

Of course not every short in the collection is ground breaking artistically and some are definitely made for commercial appeal (the Tangled and Frozen sequel shorts are included) but each one tells a complete story and all are better than anything Dreamworks will ever crank out (How to Train Your Dragon excepted).  So here's to Disney!  They're not only furthering the possibilities of animation technically, but also raising the bar artistically.  Thanks for  always telling a great story and for making me smile. Thanks for twelve sweet tales that warmed my heart today.

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Develop Confidence! 3 Tips from TED-Ed

This video was in my Facebook feed yesterday.  I like it so much I want to always know where to find it, so I'm sharing it here.  It was created in partnership with the #LikeAGirl campaign, but it's great advice for everyone.  We can always use more confidence.

3 tips to boost your confidence
Happy #InternationalDayoftheGirl! To celebrate the occasion, check out this lesson on confidence we made in partnership with the Always #LikeAGirl campaign:
Posted by TED-Ed on Sunday, October 11, 2015

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(Almost) First Day of Autumn - It's Boot Season!!!

It has begun.  All the sharing of pumpkin recipes, fall bucket lists, leaf crafts, Halloween memes.  They're everywhere!  All that is fine and good, I mean, who doesn't love pumpkin flavored everything while hot gluing colorful leaves around your house?  For me though, the best part of autumn is that my boots are back in season.  Sure, flip flops are great.  Sandals and flats are nice, but I love just grabbing a pair of boot cut jeans and slipping into my Ariats.  A good pair of boots feels like a hug on my feet. They're like arriving home after a long vacation. They're the ultimate go anywhere, do anything shoes.  So hooray for boot season!  I'm glad you're back.

The Boots I Live In

Ginny

I wrote this post almost two months ago.  My dog Ginny was rapidly declining, and I could not ignore the inevitable.  The night I really understood her end was near I stayed up late, unable to sleep.  I finally wrote this on my phone but was too raw to post it.  She hung in there exactly a week, which is almost a week longer than I expected her to.  Ginny has been gone now just over a month, and I'm okay with sharing this.  I can read it without weeping, and choose pictures that make me smile for my sweet girl.
-rue

The last picture I took of Ginny, the day before she died.
She had a great day and I hoped she would rally and stick
around a while but the next morning there was no question
it was time to let her go.

My dog is dying.  God, what awful words.  How unfair it is that our sweet friends are given such short lives.  To be honest, Ginny has technically been dying for a while now.  We found her first tumor two and a half years ago.  We chose not to treat it because she was already nine years old and I decided that if the cancer grew quickly it was already too late (the tumor was soft ball size and involved a leg when we found it), and I didn't want her remaining time filled with uncomfortable (at best) treatments.  If it was slow growing, I hoped we'd get to keep her to a natural lifespan, which for her breed is 12-15 years.  Fortunately, it was a slow grower and she lived well with it.  It has caught up to her now though, and the end is coming.  The stupid, heartbreaking end.

Ginny was a bonus dog in my life.  My father-in-law imported her grandfather from England.  He was a rancher who bred his own dogs to help work his cattle.  Ginny's grandfather was his star dog.  Her father, Hooper, had been a special gift to my husband when he was in college.  We bred Hooper during what became his last year alive to continue the line. I called them heirloom puppies.  We only meant to keep one, but when we went to pick up our choice, I couldn't stop looking at Ginny.  She was fat and wiggly and sweet.  Her pretty little face just stood out from the rest, and considering there were eleven beautiful puppies in her liter, that's really saying something.  My husband saw that I couldn't leave her alone.  We had already chosen one dog, the only one we intended to keep, but he said "Do you want to get two?"  Oh boy!  Did I!!!  I would have kept all eleven if I could have and he knew it, so giving me the go ahead to claim another one was like Chirstmas in August. Bonus dog!  I scooped her up, happy as a clam.  

As we got to know our new puppies, we could see Ginny was a meek one.  I decided to name her after the Harry Potter character who was shy but strong and also a beautiful red head.  Her brother Rex became the king.

Elise with Ginny.  They were a great pair from the start.

Our oldest daughter was seven months old when we brought the puppies home, and Rex was a little rambunctious for her.   Ginny as very calm and patient.  Our daughter was crawling and figured out pretty fast how to find the puppies.  She loved to pat Ginny and Ginny allowed it.  Rex would take a little affection, but he liked to jump on her and play too rough.  Ginny just wanted snuggles.

Madelyn, rubbing Ginny's tummy on her last good day.
Madelyn knew Ginny wasn't well and wanted to make her
feel better.  You can see from the look on Ginny's face
that she basked in the attention.

Ginny always wanted snuggles.  She was willing to play fetch, go on long walks or perform all the fun tricks she knew, but you could hear her heart sing when she got a good loving.  Her favorite thing is still having someone sit on the floor and rub her tummy.  Just tonight I rubbed and rubbed and rubbed that tummy.  She smiled her dog smile and was happy.  

These good dogs grew up with our kids, and I suppose there is a case to be made for the whole comparison of kids leaving the nest and dogs moving on to explain why I'm so sad, but honestly, I'm a mess every time a pet dies.  I'm practically weeping just writing this,  how am I going to tell my kids about Ginny?  They can see she is very sick, but how will I get through telling them it's time for her to go?  That she's gone?  I hate this.  

Book Review: The Tragedy Paper by Elizabeth Laban

Buy it on Amazon

       I picked this book at the library based on three factors - it was on a shelf of books nominated for a Beehive Book Award (best/favorite books in Utah), it had an interesting title, and good cover design.  ( Hey, I was there with my three kids, I didn't exactly have the luxury of pouring over each book, deciding which to choose for myself.) When I got home, I read the inside jacket and wondered what I'd been thinking.  A teen romance?!?!  Jennifer Weiner gave it a glowing review?!?!  I hate her books!  I did eventually open it and was surprised.  It wasn't terrible.  It was fairly well written. I liked the device of one boy telling another his tragic love story remotely, and the characters were okay for a teen romance.  However, it was a really slow read.  I had to force myself to finish it.  So, I didn't hate it but I won't rush to find another like it.

(This review also appears on my other blog, Lost Cat Books.)