Remembering Decoration Day

While we celebrate the unofficial start to the summer season, lets not forget the true meaning of this holiday.

Thank you to our soldiers......past, present and future!~

TDIPT goes to the Fair

well sorta.....
The members of TDIPT are kickin off the summer w/ our second annual County Fair group launch! We had so much fun last year w/ our "A Fair to Remember" launch, that we've decided to make a County Fair launch an annual TDIPT tradition.
This year we present to you..... "A Day at the Fair"!
We'll start listing our County Fair themed offerings right after Memorial Day, and we'll continue right on through the week.
Be sure to type tdipt into your ebay search to see all of the top notch prims being offered by our talented members. They never disappoint!
or
Just click here to see our fair offerings beginning Tuesday May 27th!

~~ See ya at the Fair!~~

Where There's a Will.......

I received this story via email this morning from a friend. I thought it warranted sharing.

Meet Molly. She's a gray speckled pony who was abandoned by her owners when Katrina hit southern Louisiana, USA . She spent weeks on her own before finally being rescued and taken to a farm where abandoned animals were stockpiled.

While there, she was attacked by a pit bull terrier, and almost died. Her gnawed right front leg became infected and her vet went to LSU for help. But LSU was overwhelmed, and this pony was a welfare case. You know how that goes.

But after surgeon Rustin Moore met Molly, he changed his mind. He saw how the pony was careful to lie down on different sides so she didn't seem to get sores, and how she allowed people to handle her. She protected her injured leg. She constantly shifted her weight, and didn't overload her good leg. She was a smart pony with a serious survival ethic.
Moore agreed to remove her leg below the knee and a temporary artificial limb was built. Molly walked out of the clinic and her story really begins there.

'This was the right horse and the right owner,' Moore insists.
Molly happened to be a one-in-a-million patient. She's tough as nails, but sweet, and she was willing to cope with pain. She made it obvious she understood (that) she was in trouble. The other important factor, according to Moore , is having a truly committed and compliant owner who is dedicated to providing the daily care required over the lifetime of the horse.

Molly's story turns into a parable for life in post-Katrina Louisiana . The little pony gained weight, her mane felt a comb. A human prosthesis designer built her a leg.
The prosthetic has given Molly a whole new life, Allison Barca DVM, Molly's regular vet, reports.
And she asks for it! She will put her little limb out, and come to you and let you know that she wants you to put it on. Sometimes she wants you to take it off too.' And sometimes, Molly gets away from Barca. 'It can be pretty bad when you can't catch a three-legged horse', she laughs.

Most important of all, Molly has a job now. Kay, the rescue farm owner, started taking Molly to shelters, hospitals, nursing homes, rehabilitation centers. Anywhere she thought that people needed hope. Wherever Molly went, she showed people her pluck. She inspired people. And she had a good time doing it.
'It's obvious to me that Molly had a bigger role to play in life', Moore said, 'She survived the hurricane, she survived a horrible injury, and now she is giving hope to others.''

She' s not back to normal,' Barca concluded, 'but she's going to be better.

To me, she could be a symbol for New Orleans itself.'

This is Molly's most recent prosthesis. The bottom photo shows the ground surface that she stands on, which has a smiley face embossed in it. Wherever Molly goes, she leaves a smiley hoof print behind!

She's sure left a smile in my heart today!

Read more about Molly and see more pics here.

~Welcome~

Here's my new offering for TDIPT Mercantile
My Welcome Doll has found a new home, but be sure to check out the Mercantile as there are lots of lovely offerings, and new mega-talented artists as well, so head over to have yourself a looksy!

Rest in Peace, Eight Belles

I know by now, most of you have heard about the tragedy that occurred in the final moments of the Kentucky Derby. Eight Belles, a beautiful gray thoroughbred filly, was euthanized on the track only moments after finishing second in the high stakes race. Driven hard through the race, she suffered breaks to both ankles so severe that she couldn't even be moved into a trailer to be taken for medical care. The pictures of her sad end are gut-wrenching, but during the TV coverage, cameras turned away from the brutal reality of horse racing, choosing instead to focus on the winner, the horse who wasn't run to death this time.

The horrible injury that ended Eight Belles' life


In the midst of yet another horse racing tragedy, even those close to the sport are now questioning its future. Veteran sports columnist Sally Jenkins wrote an article for the Washington Post in which she acknowledges honestly that, "... thoroughbred racing is in a moral crisis, and everyone now knows it. Twice since 2006, magnificent animals have suffered catastrophic injuries on live television in Triple Crown races, and there is no explaining that away. Horses are being over-bred and over-raced, until their bodies cannot support their own ambitions, or those of the humans who race them."

She goes on to state that an average of two horses per day an injured so severely during a race that they are no longer able to be used in competion. Persian Brave, a former racehorse in sanctuary at SASHA Farm with a similar injury, lived through his career-ending leg injury. He is merely crippled. Many aren't even that fortunate.

Feten (left) and Persian Brave (right), Former race horses living at SASHA Farm

Defenders of the 'sport' will say that the horses are athletes who are just doing what they love. Horses aren't athletes. Athletes choose to train and compete. Do the horses get to choose? On certain days, when the mood strikes them right, the three horses here, two former racers and a spunky little quarterhorse mix, run so hard that we can feel the ground rumble on the other side on the sanctuary. It's absolutely breathtaking to watch them sprint through the pasture. They do love to run, and they even love to race each other, but they get to choose how fast, how hard, and how long they run. When they're tired, they stop running and rest. Eight Belles didn't get to choose. Someone sat on her back and whipped her so she wouldn't stop, or even slow down when her body told her she was tired. Horses don't choose to run until their legs break.

PETA has launched a campaign to end horse racing, hoping that public outrage over the recent tragedies will have some power to affect change. We hope it will, too.

I received this info via email from SASHA Farm, a wonderful farm sanctuary here in Michigan.

New for Simply Primitives

Here's just a peek at my offerings for the May 1st. update on Simply Primitives. You only get a peek, and to see them in their entirety you'll have to wait for the update...but I'll give you a little clue, they are the latest from my RED WHITE and DENIM Collection!

Thanks so much for stopping by :)

Because of you......

my eyes were opened and my life forever changed.

A tribute to my Lucky Girl

It wasn't my intention, I didn't plan for my life to change after my encounter w/ a stray black dog. But it did, and profoundly.

She was just a stray black dog, I had seen this countless times in my life before, but this time was different. I had seen this dog walking w/ people along the busy streets just outside of Detroit, and at first I thought to myself "How neat that you can walk your dog w/ no leash on a busy street like this". Then I saw her again, a few days later, same scenerio, same dog, different people.

This time she chose a lady w/ her small children. She looked as if she belonged to them, and I think she wanted to, but she didn't. This time, I had to ask......even though I didn't want to b/c I think I knew the answer, and my thoughts were right. As I circled around again, I noticed the stray black dog drinking out of the mud puddle, and I poked my head out of my car window to ask "Is that your dog?", the young mother said "No, she's just following us". I sighed heavily, b/c I just knew my hope was too good to be true, I knew this dog did not belong to anyone, only desired to. I knew I couldn't just turn away and leave her.

She agreed to take the dog home, as she said her husband had been wanting one, she said. I told her thank you, and I gave her my address and number and told her to call me if she decided not to keep the dog, and I would come get her. I sure didn't know what I would do w/ her, as I already have two of my own at that time.
Well.....a couple of days later, I went by, and they said they could not keep her, she was a sweet dog, the husband would say, and he were certain that she must have been beaten, as she cowered so often. They told me how their little 2 year old girl would carry food around in her hand and the dog never tried to take it from her, she was a good good dog, but she kept going potty in the house, and the young mother had her hands full w/ her own small children. No time to devote to this young stray, and I understood completely.

I went and got my crate, and returned to pick her up. It seemed as if she knew me forever. I had intentions of taking her to the Michigan Humane Society, but instead brought her home to give myself time to think it out. I decided I would take her to my Vet to be sure no worms, and to get her shots.

It was love at first sight, and I don't use the term loosely. I named her...her name would be Lucky, b/c she was. I was going to keep her.
She was such a scared girl, the man was right, someone had mistreated this girl, and left her to fend for herself on the streets. She clung to me, and went everyhere I went. She was easy to potty train, she was one smart dog. But, she was scared, scared outside when she would hear a noise. It made me realize what she must have went through and how scared and lonely she must have been wandering those streets searching for refuge, just wanting to belong somewhere. I knew I had to keep her, I loved her, and I don't mean maybe. She worshiped me, and I knew she knew I had saved her life.

I have never seen more gratitude, it was clear and evident, this dog was thankful for me.

As time went on, I noticed her becoming more and more protective and posessive of me. My hub could not even kiss me goodbye w/out her doing a slight lunge at him. Nothing drastic, but certainly some red flags. All of a sudden out of the blue, Lucky and my Mia began to fight viciously, and I got in the middle of it, and was bit on my thigh. It was horrible. It happened again, this next time w/ my sweet Nelly who was scared of her own shadow. Lucky lunged at her and started to fight. I couldn't have this, it wasn't fair to Nelly and Mia, and my nerves were shot, but I loved her so. How could this creature who was so very gentle w/ a baby be so mean w/ another dog? It made no sense to me. I was forced to contact a rescue. I had never done anything like this before. All I could do was cry, and cry and cry. My love was so strong for this dog, but I could not keep her. I took her to Petsmart for the Adoption Fair, and she was adopted that same day. I wasn't prepared to say goodbye so soon, but I had to. I'll never forget that day, the day I handed the leash to the new owner, and walked away. Lucky's eyes followed me all the way as I walked out of that store as if to say "Where are you going", I knew she didn't understand why I was leaving her, b/c she thought I loved her, and if so, then why was I leaving. Oh, it took me so long to get over her, and my feelings of abandoning her. I would call her new owners, and they would ask me if she had tried to jump the fence at my house, and no, she had not, not once. I knew then she was trying to come back to me. It was heartbreaking for me, and I would wake up in the middle of the night worried about her. No one understood, they tried, but they just could not understand how I could hurt so over a dog.

Like any heartache, time was the only thing that eased my pain. I kept having to remind myself that she would get used to her new home, and she would adapt. And while she may not be treated as good as what I treated her, it was still better, better than what she had before our paths crossed, and my life was forever changed. Better than her wandering the streets wanting to belong. I couldn't give her the beautiful life I felt she deserved, but she certainly was better off.

I still see her occasionally, and she has adapted, and no longer tries to follow me out to my car when I visit. Even her eyes have stopped following me. It's bittersweet, but I am greatful. She has made the transition, she has adapted.

It's been 5 years now, and I have had to put it behind me, and move forward, forward to help others in her situation, looking to just belong.

I am so thankful for our chance encounter. Lucky is responsible for saving so many. Because through her, I have realized the need, the need for me to stop what I am doing and take the time to help. And while I can't save them all (as my Vet tells me), I know that to the ones I can, it makes all the difference.

I'll be sharing more of my foster stories in the future.

I love you Lucky girl!