Serenity in the Storm

Cranberry Applesauce

I got hit with a major cold the day after Thanksgiving. Honestly, I started feeling a little under the weather on Wednesday night, but chalked it up to being over-tired and needing a good night’s sleep and a long weekend away from school and work. On Thursday, the flurry of preparing to host vegan Thanksgiving for 8+ people took over and Eric and I went into full cleaning/cooking mode. We had our dear friends Karen, Oliver and Jeremy and their lovely friend Asia and Maria Elena, Tony and their 6 month-old (Little Tony) over. Karen brought some lovely roasted potatoes and roasted brussel sprouts and a delicious pumpkin spice bundt cake. Maria Elena brought a veganized Waldorf salad (the first I had ever tried!) and some really delicious sweet potatoes she had made after reading Mark Bittman’s ode to the sweet potato in the NY Times. We made the vegetable pot pie recipe from the blog, which turned out well. And mushroom gravy, which was a total flop–too many mushrooms, not enough liquid. I made the savory stuffing and took this updated photo of it.

And the raw cranberry orange relish and took a new photo of that as well.

Overall, except for the mushroom gravy, dinner was delicious and it was really nice to spend time with such good friends. By Thursday evening, though, I was definitely feeling pretty sick. I fell asleep on the couch at 7:30 and went up to bed at 8:30 and slept for 12 hours. Friday, I spent on the couch, trying to get some grading done and drinking lots of cold remedy drinks. I made a mixture of the turmeric detox drink and the lemon ginger cold remedy and used almost an entire roll of toilet paper blowing my nose. Eric went to spend time with his brother’s family on Friday night and I stayed home, ate Thanksgiving leftovers on the couch and watched episode after episode of Drop Dead Diva (my latest fluffy TV show pick that Eric refuses to watch). Saturday, I wasn’t feeling much better, but I did drag my sorry ass out of the house to go to Costco (a special kind of hell on the Saturday after Thanksgiving) and the vegetable stand for food for the dogs. Sunday, we hung out with Eric’s brother and his family and had everyone over for dinner. Smoky lentil stew, mashed potatoes and mushroom gravy, kale salad with persimmons, roasted cauliflower, roasted radishes, and cranberry applesauce.

Cranberry Applesauce: The Recipe

Serves 6-8

8-10 smallish apples (mixed variety)

2 cups fresh cranberries

2 Tbls maple syrup (or more to taste)

juice of half a lemon

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Peel and dice the apples, removing the core (you can leave the peels on if you don’t mind them). In medium/large saucepan, add all ingredients. On medium/low heat, cover and let simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until the sauce cooks down to the consistency you like. You may need to add a small splash of water at the beginning if the apples are too dry, but they should quickly cook down and provide enough liquid for the rest of the cooking process. Taste and adjust spices as you like. Serve warm with a sprinkle of cinnamon.

Geography, Decolonization and Inspiration

I imagine I’ll come up for air sometime soon. It is week nine of eleven of the quarter, which means that the pressure is on…Grading, squeezing in student meetings, reading and planning for class, trying to fit everything in before the end of the quarter, and so on. This quarter, things are intensified by the fact that we have sweet Saoirse who is settling into life with the pack. I try not to leave the house for more than a few hours at a time, so after I teach, it’s a race to get back home before she has an accident in the house. These next few weeks are, in some ways, about treading water…making sure I’m there for any students who need me, being attentive to Saoirse and the other animals with whom we share our home, planning and hosting a vegan Thanksgiving, and generally hanging on until the end of the quarter. But I’m also trying to enjoy each moment. The teaching is wonderful and I love to learn from the students new ways of thinking about the material. Some of the students suggested that we have a vegan potluck so that everyone can taste some vegan food and learn about veganism. So next week, everyone is going to bring vegan food and we are going to get together for a meal—I think it should be a lot of fun!

I went to Vancouver this past weekend for the annual Cascadia Critical Geographies mini-conference. Last year, it was discussed that calling this region Cascadia is a new form of colonization—a claiming of the territory as an economic trade zone that further denies the indigenous claims to land and the region. In the spirit of the conference, I tried to think carefully about the ways in which my work relates to colonization/decolonization without trying to force a connection. Many animals were originally colonized and domesticated alongside land and indigenous peoples. These animals were then selectively bred and over time constructed as commodity producers who became more and more efficient at this role. These animals were then used in other colonization projects as tools of colonization. As land was violently appropriated by colonial settlers from the indigenous groups living on the land, agriculture became a way of physically claiming space and transforming the land. The cow was a key figure in claiming this land (the near extinction of the bison, after all, was caused by colonial settlers slaughtering bison to make room for cows on the land). But in addition to the ways in which animals were and are used as tools/weapons of colonization, they were and are also colonized themselves. My talk for the conference was on this theme and this was the first time I was thinking about the cow in dairy production in this light.

The title of the talk is “Re-placing the ‘Dairy Cow’/De-colonizing the (Animal) Body” and you can listen to a recording here:

Replacing the Dairy Cow Talk November 2012

This conference was thought-provoking and exciting and reinvigorated my interest in Geography in a lot of ways. I got some really productive feedback for thinking about these issues moving forward and I’m always so grateful for questions, disagreements, and provocative conversation. Much of this was due to my getting to spend time with Rosemary, an amazing graduate student at UBC who is writing her dissertation on the exotic animal trade and animals in the film industry in Hollywood North (Vancouver). I’ve known Rosemary for a few years, we’ve chatted over email and organized conference sessions together a couple of times now. But it wasn’t until this weekend that we actually got to sit down and talk for hours about our work and interests. What we discovered was that our projects are quite similar. We’ve both used the auctionyard as a site of research and a way to gain access to otherwise shut-off worlds. We are both thinking about the commodification of animals in these spaces. Our theoretical framings overlap quite a bit. In these and many other ways our work is very similar. And yet, the specificities of our work that make each project unique and different complement each other so well. Her work touches on issues of captivity and captive breeding and what being captive means for the animal; mine explores domestication and selective breeding. Rosemary’s subject is about the extraordinary, the ‘exotic’ animal—the captive parrot, flying squirrel, camel, etc. My work is about the ordinary, the mundane, the everyday animal—the cow. Talking with Rosemary was inspiring and thought-provoking and it made us both want to sit down and write our dissertations! I realized as we were talking just how starved for this kind of exchange I was. I am really lucky (and grateful!) to have so many family and friends who are interested in the work I am doing and who talk with me for long hours about it and provide amazing insight and unique perspectives. But there’s also something really special about talking to another geographer who is reading many of the same texts, engaging with the same ideas in her work, fighting the same struggle to make a place for this work in geography.

And so I returned to Seattle ready to write my dissertation and other writing projects and eager to continue these invigorating conversations. But first, to finish up this quarter of teaching with this glorious group of students!

Sunday with Saoirse

The caption for this picture is “Really, Katie? A park that is JUST for dogs? I don’t believe you.” Saoirse has been with us a little over two weeks now and I already can’t imagine life without her. She is fairly nervous in general and scares easily, which is certainly understandable considering that until two weeks ago she was used in lab research. But everyday she makes a little bit of progress. She jumps on and off the bed and the couch on her own, she wags her tail at least a hundred times a day, and she’s gotten the treat thing down (when she first came, she would shake with fear when we offered her treats). She plays with Maizy, which is HILARIOUS. She gets all wild and dashes around the house with her ears flapping and her tail wagging. Maizy is very gentle with her and they really seem to love each other. Maizy’s not much of a snuggler, but Saoirse has started snuggling up to Maizy on the couch or the bed, and even tries to share the dog bed. Maizy tolerates it.

Last Friday, I took Saoirse to the vet so that they could check her incision, which ended up needing a little attention, get her a microchip, and one vaccine that she had not had before. I was bracing myself for a severely traumatic experience, but she actually handled the vet much better than expected. He recommended we brush her teeth (she has halitosis and some metal staining on her teeth and a chipped tooth from the chewing the metal bars in the lab), her ears could be wiped out occasionally, and her eyes were a little red, so he recommended some natural tears eyedrops to clean out any residue that gets in her eyes throughout the day. Otherwise, the vet reported that she was the picture of health.

Yesterday, we took Maizy and Saoirse to the dog park and met up with Anika of The Vegan Score and her partner Kirby and Louise Bubbles (a hound dog who also came from the lab in the last couple of weeks). Saoirse was pretty freaked at first by the car ride and the park, but soon she relaxed and started dashing around, playing with the bigger dogs–Maizy and Lou. It was adorable. I think we’ll be going to the dog park with Saoirse more often from now on, now that we know she can handle it.

The feline family members are surviving the transition. Eden must have whacked Saoirse in the nose at some point with his razor-sharp claws, because she has recently become terrified of him and shakes when he comes close to her or even looks at her funny. Abigail is probably having the most difficult time (poor goose!). She is pissed! On Saturday, she caught my eye, made sure I was watching her, walked over with a flip of her tail to the dog bed, squatted down, and peed. Yep, she’s mad at me. She would really prefer to not have any of these other animals (particularly these dogs) stealing the attention that is rightfully hers. I make sure that we have a few good love/attention sessions every day–in particular, she loves to be brushed, so I brush her and brush her and she purrs and purrs. She’s just a very sensitive cat and needs to be tended to. In fact, she’s so sensitive, that she will only eat her food if we sit there and tell her how pretty she is when she’s eating.

Overall, things are going better than expected on the nonhuman animal front in our house. The house training is probably the most difficult thing (and this should not be down-played). We have cleaned up A LOT of accidents in the house as we try to find the right rhythm for taking Saoirse outside frequently enough and at the right times. But she seems to be learning and we all are SLOWLY getting the hang of it.

Hope you all had a good weekend!

Did you know that pigs love…

PEANUTS? They do! And in honor of the amazing pigs at Pigs Peace, the new fundraiser treat is….Peanut Butter Cups! With Peppermint Patties for Pigs Peace, we raised a total of $1876 for the sanctuary. Hot damn! Let’s continue that trend! I talked to Judy from Pigs Peace a few weeks ago and she suggested that I switch up the treat for the Pigs Peace fundraiser…try to spread the love to those with different favorite candies. Vegan peanut butter cups it is! I went up to Home Cake Decorating Supply Co. yesterday to get a few supplies—namely peanut butter cup papers. That place is awesome! I ended up coming home with the papers, some colorful mini cupcake papers for a later date, a shortbread cookie cutter, and two mini springform pans. In my pre-vegan days, I was obsessed with making my mom’s infamous cheesecake recipe. I’m very particular about cheesecake and hers was the be all end all of cheesecakes. I’ve been wanting to try to make a vegan version, but I’m so terrified to waste a lot of ingredients on a full-size cake in the event that it turns out nasty. So mini springform pans should do the trick for exploring the wilds of vegan cheesecake making!

But back to Pigs Peace and peanut butter cups! You can read the details for the fundraiser on the Peanut Butter Cups for Pigs Peace page. In short, the same rules apply. Donate $50 or more, get a dozen handmade peanut butter cups, a 5×7 photo of one of the sweeties at Pigs Peace, and a handwritten thank you note from yours truly. Donate $35 or more, get a 5×7 photo of a pig and thank you note!

Pigs Peace depends on donations to keep things running. Judy has the pigs’ care and happiness first and foremost in mind and Pigs Peace is a truly extraordinary sanctuary! Please help if you can and, speaking of social media, please share the fundraiser on your social media networks to let others know about this opportunity to help out. Thank you!!

Chantarelles and Wedding Bells

Okay, so maybe that post title is slightly cheesy, but today is an exciting day. Same-sex marriage was legalized yesterday in Washington, Maryland, and Maine. This is the first time that same-sex marriage has passed through the popular vote. In my opinion this is long overdue; regardless, today we celebrate! Now ALL of our friends in Seattle can marry if they choose to and have it recognized by the state. And now, my amazing sister, living in Baltimore, can marry if she chooses to. No pressure, Lucy! (Though just imagine the awesome kitchen gadgets you get when you have wedding!)

There are lots of ways to celebrate this victory and the other victories from the election (e.g., Obama, Dream Act in Maryland, legalizing marijuana in Washington and Colorado, etc.), but one of my favorite things at this time of year is the chantarelle mushroom! It was dry much longer than normal this summer and for a minute I thought we weren’t going to get any chantarelles (they need some rain to grow). I’ve been eagerly waiting for them at the vegetable stand, so far to no avail. But they did make an appearance at our local grocery store this past week. I bit the bullet and bought some last night. And aren’t they beautiful? I made them last night while we watched the results come in with some pearl couscous. Pretty good, but not recipe worthy for the blog, I think. Do you have a favorite recipe for chantarelles or other seasonal mushrooms?

Voting for Justice?

I hope you all are planning to get out and VOTE today! If you haven’t voted yet, read this later and get your behind to the polls! And I hope you’ll think about equality and justice for all while you’re there.

These last few weeks in my “Animals, Ethics, and Food” class, we’ve been talking a lot about ways of making change for animals. Of course, one of the common reactions among students is that the government needs to step in—that passing the right bills and measures will increase protections (and possibly rights) for animals. This always leads to a discussion about the relationship between government and Big Business and the difficulty of moving forward meaningful legislative change for animals when the interests of the meat, dairy and egg industries (in other words, economic interests) are what drive the state.

Thinking about this topic frequently, and with today’s election coming up, I was (at first) delighted when I opened my VegNews Magazine this month to an article entitled “To the Polls!” written by Michael Markarian, president of the Humane Society Legislative Fund. The promise of the article is that Markarian will “tell [us] why the November elections matter more than ever to animal advocates everywhere.” At first I thought, “Great! I don’t usually know where candidates stand on issues of animal welfare and I want to be informed when I vote.”

However, my heart quickly sunk as I read the article. Markarian picked out his Top 5 picks that animal advocates should watch. I was surprised to see that three out of five were Republicans and I know that I tend to disagree with where most Republicans stand on the issues that matter to me (e.g., women’s rights, gay rights, the environment, immigration, gun control, incarceration, etc.). Immediately, I scolded myself for judging these candidates who HSUS is backing before learning more about them. So I hopped online and looked them up. Here’s how they stand on the issues:

Christie Vilsack (D)- Iowa 4th:

Refused to state her stance on any of the issues.

Roscoe Bartlett (R)- Maryland 6th:

Anti-choice record, against women’s right to choose
Voted YES on banning same-sex marriage, YES on banning gay adoptions in DC, NO on prohibiting job discrimination based on sexual orientation
PRO-death penalty, voted NO on alternative sentencing (i.e., pro-prisons), NO on enforcement against anti-gay hate crimes
YES on increased military border patrol, YES on prohibiting needle exchange and medical marijuana in DC
YES on off-shore drilling, YES on banning the EPA from regulating greenhouse gas emissions
YES on international Free Trade Agreements.
YES on guns and YES on banning gun registration in DC

Michael Grimm (R)- New York 11th:

Anti-choice record, against women’s right to choose
Opposes marriage equality
YES on off-shore drilling and the construction of new nuke plants
Anti-Arab/Anti-Palestine voting record
Questions global warming

Betty Sutton (D)- Ohio 16th:

Pro-choice
YES on prohibiting job discrimination based on sexual orientation
Voted to re-introduce the Equal Rights Amendment
Pro-Labor record
Supports needle exchanges
NO on off-shore drilling

Mike Fitzpatrick (R)- Pennsylvania 8th:

Anti-choice, against women’s right to choose
PRO-Free Trade
YES on off-shore drilling, YES on banning the EPA from regulating greenhouse gas emissions
Opposes government-run healthcare
Voted YES on building fence on US-Mexico border

Based on this quick research, Betty Sutton might be a good choice for human and animal justice if you’re in Ohio. Fitzpatrick, Grimm and Bartlett, however, support racist, sexist, and homophobic policies. Their stance on the issues reflects a lack of concern for equality and justice for humans. And yet, VegNews, Markarian, and HSUS have no problem promoting these candidates in a completely uncritical manner. We cannot afford to see with tunnel vision only the issues we care most about. Yes, it would be an amazing stride to ban the trade of primates as exotic pets as Fitzpatrick supports. Yes, it would be significant progress to ban the use of chimpanzees in research and ban the use of live monkeys in chemical warfare training by the US Army as Bartlett is advocating. These are vitally important and much-needed steps forward. But at what expense and for how long?

My point is this: The same structure of oppression is at play in oppressing and exploiting animals as is at play in oppressing and exploiting humans. If we look the other way on issues that impede social justice—like marriage equality, anti-immigration policies, foreign policy, environmental protection and women’s rights, we cannot expect to make any lasting change for animals, no matter what incremental changes are promised in the short term. If we think the oppression of animals is a more important issue than the oppression of humans, we will not make lasting change. Conversely, if we think the oppression of humans is a more important issue than the oppression of animals, we will not make lasting change for humans or animals. We cannot afford to be outraged by the oppression of animals and say that we are okay with the oppression of a human based on sexual orientation. And we cannot afford to be outraged by the oppresson of a human being based on sexual orientation and say that we are okay with violence against animals (as I wrote about in this post on Chik-fil-A).

I’ve been thinking a lot about the intersections of oppression and the underlying structures that cause racism, sexism, speciesism, etc. Until we explore the intersections among these and the fundamental structures of power, violence and hate woven through the fabric of discrimination, I don’t see how we can make lasting change for any group. Take the women’s rights movement, for instance. The 1970s was a time of great change for women—amazing strides were made in rights for women, changes in public consciousness, and policies that improved women’s experience of the workplace and the world. Admittedly, we still have a long way to go. Currently, women’s rights are back on the table in a way that harkens back to decades prior, with the attacks against women’s right to choose, against women’s health and rights more generally.

I suspect this will continue to be the case until we recognize the intersections among all oppressed groups. We are trying to change the symptoms of the problem. But the problematic structure of inequality remains the same.

Hopefully we will all get out to vote today and vote with our conscience and what feels right in the most holistic way for each of us. But later today and tomorrow and the next day, why not think about this process and the project of destabilizing these underlying systems of oppression. Going forward, let’s think about the kinds of candidates who were on this ballot and the kinds of candidates we want to see on future ballots. Let’s think about the political process more generally and its ability to make change (or not). Let’s think about ourselves and each other and try to be better versions of ourselves—more kind and compassionate, more inclusive and tolerant, and more radical in our demands for justice.

Social Media Love

4314365065_f64a614b9d — Source: Dean Vella

Thanks to the generosity and kindness of Janessa (of the Epicurious Vegan) and the other lovely organizers of Vida Vegan Con, I won a ticket to attend the Vida Vegan Con Tech Seminar. This seminar was all day on Saturday here in Seattle and I learned a ton! From basics of website design and coding to podcasting on a budget and integrating video into your blog to the ins and outs of social media. I brought home a ton of great information and ideas about moving forward with the old blogaroo. One thing I learned a bit about at the seminar was maximizing the potential of social media. I’ve been somewhat resistant to social media and only recently started posting on Facebook (though I’ve been a Facebook voyeur for years) and Twitter (it still goes against my writer’s sensibility to condense communication to 140 characters (or whatever it is)…I do actually really like complete sentences and punctuation and proper grammar. Nonetheless, I’m making an attempt. A few take-home tips I learned this weekend about social media were as follows:

Choose just a few social media networks that work for your purpose and get good at using those, rather than doing all of them half-assedly (speaking of language–is that even a word?!)
Be clear about your goals. What is the goal of your blog? When you identify what your goal is, you can choose to use social media to advance that goal. Also, think about your audience and what networks they are most likely to use.
Be responsive and share others’ content. In addition to sharing your own content, share interesting stuff from other people. These networks are best used as an exchange of information and as a way of networking in both directions. Rule: for every share you make, you should share 7 items from others.
Share different content in different spaces. Don’t duplicate the same content across all social media sites (I’m really bad about this and want to work on this).

This workshop especially gave me the chance to reflect on what social media I use, how I use them and how I might improve. On that note, I’ve noticed recently that a fair amount of traffic has been coming to my blog from Pinterest. I haven’t been on Pinterest, but last week I finally signed up for an account and started adding some stuff. I had a lot of school work to do this week and I can already tell that I could spend A LOT of time on Pinterest pinning other people’s photos, etc. What I came away with from the social media workshop is a commitment to using three social media sites and trying to use them more effectively. I would love it if you would follow me on:

I will do my very best to offer unique content on each of these networks and be a responsive member of each of these social media communities. I also want to do more research on how to best utilize these tools because I have A LOT to learn.

What social media sites do you use most often and why?

Last Chance for Peppermint Patties to Support Pigs Peace!

Through the Peppermint Patties for Pigs Peace fundraising effort, we have raised $1826 together to help support the pigs at Pigs Peace Sanctuary. That is amazing! Thank you to all of you who donated! Your generosity is so appreciated and helps Pigs Peace continue to do their fantastic work for pigs! I’m winding down the peppermint patty project in just one week. On Friday November 9th, I will announce a new handmade treat as a thank-you gift for donating. So, if you would like to support Pigs Peace and you’re a peppermint patty fiend, this week is your LAST CHANCE! Click on over to the donate page and I will whip you up a very special batch of vegan peppermint patties!

SAOIRSE UPDATE: If you missed the post on Monday about our newest family member, you can read it here. Saoirse continues to settle in. On Tuesday she jumped off the couch by herself and when I went to get the leashes to take her and Maizy out for a walk, she ran up to me and waited while I put the leash on…No shaking or hiding (!). This seems normal for a dog, but for Saoirse, this is leaps and bounds from where we started. Until then, we would lift her onto the couch and she would stay there until we moved her. We would have to come to her to put the leash on to go out for a walk. She has been increasingly interested in meal time. Maizy always sits right next me while I make her meals, and Saoirse is finally catching on. We are gradually shifting her to Maizy’s diet, mixing it with first her kibble and now some wet canned dog food just until she gets used to the new consistency/foods. She doesn’t stay in one place for long when she’s down on the floor exploring. She runs around quickly checking everything out—clickity click, clickity click—her toenails tapping on the floor. She is so snuggly and when we’re on the couch or in the bed, she nestles right up against us and goes to sleep. She is wagging her tail more often lately and, yesterday morning, Maizy tried playing with her and we saw a glimpse of what’s ahead—a crazy little beagle running around in circles with Maizy playing with a stuffed squeeky toy shaped like a carrot (from Auntie Lucy). Eric and I both tear up any time she wags her tail or approaches us for attention. It is so beautiful to watch her progress. Tomorrow, we go to the vet to get her incision from her spaying checked out. Luckily our vet is AMAZING with animals and is very sensitive and thoughtful about their experience of coming to the vet. Hopefully that will help Saoirse get through what I know promises to be a traumatizing adventure.

Persimmons

So apparently…persimmons are delicious! Who knew?! A lot of people, I’m told! It seems to be persimmon season and my sister and I were at the vegetable stand and she couldn’t believe I had never tried a persimmon before. We bought some and she sliced them up when we got home and we ate them. Holy smokes! What a nice treat! The verdict is that they have a consistency like a mango, but with a much more mild, sweet flavor. Lucy said that sometimes she’ll add them to salads, and that in addition to eating them fresh, she likes to stew them up and eat them on toast, like preserves.

I am clearly late to the party—nearly thirty years old and I’ve never tried a persimmon before. I love trying new fruits and vegetables and just when I think I’ve tried them all, I come across a fruit or vegetable that I see all the time and think, “How have I never tried a persimmon before?!” Have you had persimmons? How do you like to eat them?

Welcoming Saoirse!

I have to apologize for the inconsistency in posting. Teaching duties and other work have been taking up my mornings when I would normally post and we’ve been in the midst of negotiating the adoption of a new canine family member. I’m delighted to announce that we finally got to bring her home on Friday!

Saoirse (an Irish name, pronounced SEER-SHA) is a 1 1/2 year old beagle who has spent her life until now in a research lab. Beagles are commonly used in lab research because they are small, friendly, and adaptable. Eric and I went to the facility a couple of weeks ago to meet her and she was pretty much petrified of humans. Her tail was tucked between her legs, she shook when we tried to touch her, and her forehead was wrinkled in worry.

She had never been outside. She had never seen the grass or the sky. She has a blue tattoo with an identifying number on the inside of her ear, which makes me want to cry every time I look at it. She is more comfortable behind bars and hides behind baby gates, chair and table legs, or the door to her crate at every chance she gets.

We had to wait until the lab could spay her to bring her home. I visited her by myself a couple of days before her surgery. She was terrified of me and I just let her wander around the visiting room checking things out and didn’t try to touch her at all. By the end of my time there, she came up to me, laid down beside me and wagged her tail twice—huge progress!

My sister, Lucy, has been visiting and she, Eric and I went to pick up Saoirse on Friday to bring her home. Eric worked from home that day so he could be here to help out. When we brought her into the house in her carrier and opened the door, the other animals were here to greet her. Maizy was so sweet and friendly and they greeted each other with tail wagging, sniffing and circling each other. Eden (one of the cats) sat on top of the carrier as we opened the door and tried to play with Saoirse’s tail as she came out of the carrier. She had never seen a cat before, so we were a little worried about that, but she is so timid that the cats are not threatened or frightened by her at all and so it has been a shockingly smooth transition in that regard.

It’s amazing with a dog like this, who is so terrified of the world, that things like her tail wagging once or twice, or her tail being slightly up when we are out walking (instead of tucked between her legs) are cause to rejoice! She is so scared of so many things—like the TV, for example. We turned the TV on and the images flashing across the screen made her shake with fear. We lifted the blanket up in front of her eyes so she couldn’t see the TV and she relaxed immediately. Every noise in the house makes her start and look around. When she’s on the floor in the house, she runs around somewhat frantically, looking for a place to hide. When she finds a place, she cowers there and won’t move. So we’ve been lifting her up onto the couch or the bed with us and letting her snuggle in the covers and watch what’s going on from the safety of the couch/bed. This seems to be hugely comforting for her.

The first time we took her outside on Friday, she had to learn how to walk down the front stairs. That alone took ten or so minutes. She adjusted quickly to being outside and loves going around the block with Maizy. Maizy has been very patient and shows her all the best spots to sniff and Saoirse pees in all the same spots Maizy pees. She wasn’t house trained, so we’ve been working on that over the past few days. She had an accident in the house as soon as we got her home, but other than that, we’ve been taking her outside with Maizy every couple of hours for a walk around the block and she is learning that routine like a pro.

Maizy has been great. Saoirse already clearly loves her and looks up to her like a big sister. We have been trying to give Maizy lots of constant attention so that she doesn’t feel jealous of Saoirse. We’ve been taking Maizy on her own walks everyday, too, so she gets her normal longer walks at a faster pace. She likes to cover a lot of ground and Saoirse is still on the one block in twenty minutes thing.

The first night, she spent sleeping in the crate the lab sent home with us. But I woke up early on Saturday morning, took her outside, and then lifted her into the bed instead of putting her back in the crate. She immediately snuggled in between Eric and me and so we’ve been sleeping with her in the bed (with Maizy, too, of course!) since then. Saoirse snores!

She gets a little more comfortable in her new home every day. Tiny, incremental steps…but steps forward nonetheless.

We named her ‘Saoirse’ because it means ‘freedom’. We want to give her a life of freedom. Freedom from pain and human use. Freedom from fear and worry. Freedom to sniff all the smells of the world and explore the outdoors. Freedom to sleep in the bed or the couch or wherever her heart desires. Freedom to wag her tail and run and play. Freedom to love and be loved.

Welcome home, sweet Saoirse! You are already so loved.