Fostering Dogs - Mo the Chocolate Lab Mix

This beautiful, sweet thing's name is Mo. I'll explain why we changed it from Sunshine to Mo in a minute. She is a sweet heart. Mowgli, Mo, whatever you want to call her she is so sweet.

She is a year old, chocolate lab mix (greyhound? Look at the long face:)

As you can see in that last picture ALL OF HER RIBS, you might guess, the poor thing was starved. Probably abused too judging by her temperament and skiddish-ness. But she still LOVES humans. She's incredible.

We got her in August and we still have her. :) YAY! But for any of you in the Salt Lake area, she is up for adoption! Check out the Humane Society of Utah's dog adoption page and she is there. And Blue :(

**Update: Mo has a potential new owner we will meet on saturday**

Anyways, back to Mo. She came to us as starved, scraggly, Sunshine but that wouldn't do. While she is a ray of sunshine it just wasn't her name. We tried to be clever and come up with 'thin' or 'skinny' or 'bone' in another language since she was SO SKINNY. None of those sounded too good either. Lindsay had started calling her Mo on the ride back from the HSU just because it was what she thought of when she saw the dog. After a couple hours of debating and voting and not choosing a name Lindsay said let's just call her Mo. It fits and she will always need mo' food. So Mo it is. 

She is a great dog. So obedient and calm. She crosses her front paws when she lays down which just SLAYS me it is so adorable. 

And she inspired us to build a killer doghouse:

More on that later.

We love Mo so much. Even if she ends up with this potential family she will always be ours. 

Love you Mowgli. <3

William Carlos Williams

I want to write poetry like William Carlos Williams does:

The Red Wheelbarrow:

so much depends
upon

a red wheel
barrow

glazed with rain
water

beside the white
chickens.

It will mean things and people will be baffled **shoutout to my 8th graders** by what it is.

I'm glad I have worked my life out thus far

First: There but for the grace of God go I.

Second. I am glad I have ambition and desires in life. I am thankful I wasn't married and having babies beginning before my second year of college. I am thankful I am the way I am.

Why 7 out of 10 of you should go adpot a dog from the local shelter in the next 6 months

Here are a bunch of links to things you can read to convince you to go adopt a dog from your local shelter:

http://news.distractify.com/geek/science/reasons-you-absolutely-need-a-dog-in-your-life/

• This one gives 20 reasons to get a dog
• Like:
• reduce allergies, eczema
• helps overcome PTSD
• aids with all sorts of conditions

http://news.distractify.com/avericlements/21-ways-that-dogs-show-you-they-love-you-more-than-anything-ever/

• This one explains the way dogs express their love for you
• Like:
• not eating the food off the counter
• when the leave a few inches of bed instead of taking the whole thing
• when they bring back the things you throw for them instead of leaving them across the yard

http://list25.com/25-reasons-why-you-should-consider-owning-a-dog/

• This one gives 25 reasons for owning a dog
• Like:
• fitness
• love and affection
• teaching responsibility
• teaching discipline

http://www.webmd.com/hypertension-high-blood-pressure/features/health-benefits-of-pets

• And this one gives health reasons for having a dog

SO GO GET A DOG ALREADY!!

Superstition

So I learned in my Anthropology of Religion class about superstition and why it is even a thing.

It isn't that it actually has a physical effect on the universe or whatever. Like throwing salt over your shoulder after you've spilt it doesn't change some force of nature from wreaking havoc on your being.

INSTEAD...the power in superstitions comes from the psychological changes it creates in a persons being. That person feels safer for throwing the salt over their shoulder and so they ARE safer.

When everything else is out of their control, the superstition gives them an explanation for WHY things happened. People can handle things better if they think they know WHY said thing happened.

Lindsay came home today and asked to see my ring **spoiler alert** **I'll get to that later**. I showed it to her and she asked if she could put it on. Then she quickly said, "wait, isn't that bad luck or something?"

I am going somewhere with this, I promise.

So the superstition is that maybe if someone else tries on your engagement/wedding ring, that brings bad luck upon the couple. I thought about that and thought about how it would be sort of a comforting thing.........STAY WITH ME. THIS WILL SOUND AWFUL BUT IT WAS AN EXPLANATION THAT MADE THE SUPERSTITION THING MAKE A LOTTA SENSE TO ME.

OK....so if something awful ever happened and Christopher and I were not together forever and a day for whatever reason, it would be a comforting thing to be able to look back and say, it is because I let Lindsay try my ring on. Like he dies of Ebola or something...the explanation that he was exposed to it and the virus did this that and the other would not be a good enough explanation. WHY was he the exposed one? **Thinks back to when I let someone try my ring on** That is why. It would be weirdly comforting.

Practically speaking, I know that it is ridiculous to find comfort in that. But THAT is the power of superstitions.

There is an anthropological piece by Evans-Pritchard (THERE IS A VIDEO THAT YOU CAN TAKE A GANDER AT) that tells how the Azande explain things like this.

Say a person stubs their toe on a path they've walked 10, 208 times without stubbing their toe. They claim it is witchcraft or magic that made them stub their toe that particular time. It is how the explain it. Or a granary collapses on a person and kills them when 203,734 people have sat under that same granary 120,421 times. Witchcraft. That is why that particular person was smooshed by the granary.

It is the same with superstitions. I might write more about this and like knocking on wood....

NOTE TO SELF: I did everything I could (knocked on wood) and so there was nothing else I could do to fix what happened. I can be ok with it...

Don't be in a hurry

https://www.lds.org/ensign/2010/06/dont-be-in-a-hurry?lang=eng