The Cure for a Shitty Mood

Been in a shitty mood all day.

No particular reason.

No, that's a lie.  I'm mad about something someone said and I have had no opportuinty to express my feelings to the individual so I have been spending a  lot of time muttering to myself instead. Hence, shitty mood. Kept it up most of the day.

This was my day: went to work, just two hours today, went to the dog rescue and walked three dogs, went to the grocery, went home and fell into a hole of depression. I couldn't settle my mind, couldn't focus on anyting constructive.

Part of the problem was the the presence of a stray dog on our deck.

She followed Paul and Jody home. Just your basic black lab, a friendly, sweet natured middle aged female dog who looks like she's had too many litters. She appears well fed but has an extensive skin rash of some sort.  She curled up aagsint the door and lay there for hours.

We called our security person, Jan. Jan knows all the dogs in the neighborhood and thought she knew the lab from our description. She said she'd come by and take the lab home.  It took her about four hours to show up and I had pissy thoughts about that which were unfair to Jan because she was busy. Apparently the Trench War that the PUD is waging against us homeowners has caused some people to have pink water from their taps.  Anyway she finally got over to check on the pooch and, as it turns out, did not recognize her.

Dilemna.  Serious problem. Paul and I are leaving on vacation tomorrow. Jan is off duty for the next two days. The kennel master from the dog rescue is about to leave on a vacation for two weeks. What were we going to do about this dog who lay curled up at our feet on our deck, hopefully wagging her tail? Poor baby, I told her, your timing is bad. I was afraid we'd have to just drive off tomorrow and leave her to fend for herself.

But I went in and got my dog rescue phone list and started phoning people. It turned out that our kennelmaster had  not left yet. She gave permission for me to bring the dog into the rescue that evening. I was so releaved I almost started crying.

I opened the car door and she jumped right in.  She settled down with her head in my lap. While I drove I thought about names for her. I had been calling her Sweetie Pie because she is, but that name seemed unnecesarily sacharine. I thought of pretty names: Elizabeth, Antonia, Veronica, names that would compensate for her rather boring basic black dog appearance.  Then I thought of Lady Jane, a name that is pretty and relfects her gentle, polite demeanor. So that's it. "Your name is Lady Jane" I told her. "Janey, for short".

She's down at the rescue now, hopefully curled up in bed, sleeping. Tomorrow she will go to the vet and be spayed and start treatment for her skin condition.  Hopefully she will go home with a loving family soon.

And I haven't had a shitty thought all evening. The Dalai Lama says that the antidote for anger is compassion. He meant compassion toward the source of anger but compassion for some other living being seems to work as well.

Thank you Lady Jane for coming to us for help.