Brummet's Conscious Blog

Poetry Time Elephant Visit I woke to find a familiar weight on my chest It pressed and crushed the air from my lungs, Shredding and shattering something inside; I felt the crackle and the sharp stab in my heart. My chin drops, I glance down at my chest  To see the familiar grey, wrinkled foot The ivory toes spread across my chest. As my eyes travelled upwards, our eyes met Hers full of regret, remorse, sympathy, empathy... ...Sorrow. Mine full of the awestruck knowing, it has come. Yes Grief , the elephant, visited me again And I do not feel angry... this time. I saw Grief's compassion  Her eyes spoke to me " I am sorry, but you must go through this ." It made me think of the dentist, having recently been... Does she, hands loaded with syringe and tray full of tools, Does she say to herself:  " I am sorry, but you must go through this "  Just before entering the abyss? Yes Grief, the elephant, visited me again. Though her stay was quite brief The ache of my lung...

This week, we mourn the passing of our old grandma fur-baby, Duchess.  She came to us via a pet shelter where she was surrendered to, I believe, because she was not working out as a farm gate-protector... all chained up protecting the gate. She was not even 3 years old, and she met her older "sister" here, Skyla (who passed about a year ago), and Duchess stuck by my side ever since - helping with everything I did, protecting me from garden earth worms, and chasing flies, playing and rolling in the grass and showing that soft furry belly every chance she got.  She was never a very athletic dog, she just wanted to be near; she loved food and was often guilty of harvesting from the garden, however we didn't mind too much. 13 years old in one month... she didn't quite make her birthday.  Apparently the beach play was an exertion for her that her little heart said that was enough. I could tell yesterday morning that she was hurting and we needed to give her meds and call t...

Celebrating Skyla Skyla came to us as a puppy 12 years ago - rescued by the BC SPCA from a puppy mill in Prince George... sadly during that rescue only a few puppies and dogs were in a state that the SPCA could save, a lot were put down. Skyla was emancipated, had a heart murmur, worms, and a sensitive-afraid-needy nature... she survived by eating other dogs' poops and any dropped snacks she could find. She was just 4 months old and barely filled in a tile on our kitchen floor.  She was my baby, my fur-child. ...Always at my feet in the office. ...When she was young I was still running the radio show and you could hear her chewing her squeaky toy and doing her best to keep my attention. Talk about me learning multitasking skills, lol.  She joined us camping, hiking, mountain biking on the old railway beds, snowshoeing in the winter, pacing by the lake edge while we played in the water... she never did like getting wet or dirty or messy and always avoided puddles when we walked...

-- Metal Recycling -- According to a recent press release: “ The latest figures from APEAL (the Association of European Producers of Steel for Packaging) show that 70% of steel packaging are recycled in Europe .” Over 2.5 million tons of food and drinks cans and other steel containers were recycled in 2008, which is a much higher return rate than any other packaging material (plastic 29%, beverages 33%, glass 62%), saving 3.9 million tons of CO2. Belgium attained the highest recycling rate for food and drink cans at 93%. The fact that steel is magnetic makes it the easiest and most cost effective material to sort and recover. Steel does not lose strength or inherent qualities in the recycling process. -- Recommended Resources -- Information on the fascinating world of recycling: Recycling International : www.recyclinginternational.com The Worldwide Orphans Foundation - http://wwo.org - transforming the lives of orphaned children by helping them to become independent, productive membe...