The Dalai Lama

{Excerpt reproduced in "The Compassionate Diet" from Nobel Peace Prize Recipient His Holiness the Dalai Lama speaking on basic rights of animals in his statement to The Nineteenth World Vegetarian Conference in 1967.}
"...Life is as dear to a mute creature as it is to a man. Just as one wants happiness and fears pain, just as one wants to live and not to die, so do other creatures."

Newly released, The Compassionate Diet, addresses health concerns both for the individual and the planet as a whole. It is scientific, pragmatic, and elegant in presenting not eating animals as beneficial to the physical and spiritual well-being of individuals and, collectively, a planet whose resources can no longer be considered inexhaustible.

Scientific arguments are presented for a compassionate diet addressing cancer, cholesterol, diabetes, antibiotics fed to animals, pesticides, coronary disease, genetically modified organisms, estrogenic hormones, saturated fat, obesity, osteoporosis, herbicides, factory-farmed-and-drugged animals, benefits of organic agriculture to the individual and the planet, and many stirring quotes from some unexpected, yet highly recognized leaders throughout history advocating a vegetarian way of life.

Approach your diet for your own health, a commitment to sustainable living, a contribution to lowering Global Warming if you believe it is real (as you melt) or simply a way of life that extends
our own personal humanity to the mute brothers and sisters whose stewardship we may or may
not choose to accept.

There are many arguments pro and con regarding a vegetarian way of life addressed by scientific data contained in this book. And there are stirring pleas, from Jane Goodall to Abraham Lincoln, from Mahatma Gandhi to kd lang, to consider the price each of us pay for the consumption of animals. Whether you are interested in improving your own health, the sustainability of our planet, or are stirred sympathetically by the plight of each mute animal brutally put to death in meat processing plants, "The Compassionate Diet" presents each of us something to contemplate if we are self-reflective about who we are and how we wish to carry ourselves in this world, as well as the planet our children inherit.

Just some thoughts late at night while the guinea pigs sleep soundly, their bellies full of sumptuous watermelon!

Our New Book!

Today the author of our new book autographed it for mom and she gave him a copy of
the C2 Coffee Table Book, courtesy of Eric Blehm, who sent us two copies as gifts.
We know Arran will love his new book as much as we love Arran's.
It's only available through Amazon but if you are interested in healing yourself
and the world one meal at a time, why not cruise over there and thumb through it?
We wanted to eat it but mom said "Piggies!" in that voice with that tone
so we said, "What ya gonna give us, then?" and she produced watermelon.
We spared the book.
(This time!)

Mom's Beautiful Day!

Speaking to us today: Arran Stephens, owner/founder (with his wife, Ratana) of Nature's Path, the largest organic foods company in Canada! He has received numerous awards for his efforts advocating that we leave our living earth better than we found it and is the author of the newly released book "The Compassionate Diet" (with Eliot Jay Rosen) now available through Amazon, all of whose proceeds are donated to charitable organizations.

Arran's son, Arjan and his wife (celebrating their one year wedding anniversary)
Rimjhim, daughter of Sant Rajinder Singh Ji Maharaj. They live in Vancouver, B.C. Our guinea pig sanctuary/hospice was mom's wedding gift to them. They asked their friends around the world to do something kind for others instead of buying them wedding presents so people all around the world DID! 
EXTRAORDINARY COUPLE!

Friends mom hasn't seen in a long time all gathered together beneath the orchard trees and mom was so happy to see them her hands shook with emotion; not the greatest photo but happy faces all 'round!

Today was the 25th Anniversary of the Sawan Kirpal Meditation Center in Birch Bay, WA where mom learned the meditation she practices today. Arran Stephens, Founder/Owner of Nature's Path Organic Food Company in Vancouver, B.C. recounted to all how the Center was established from its earliest days...how terrified locals originally "asked if they were cannibals who ate their children" when a very unusual  newspaper article broke the story of who had purchased the property! Locals had mom's friends confused with...well, some "cannibals who ate their children" although exactly who those cannibals were was never exactly disclosed. Apparently, the news reporter was a little #?$%#@!?

The first directors of the center, Barbara and Dieter Schugt (RIP) were close friends of mom's and Barbara still is. Dieter went on to become the beloved mayor of Blaine, WA, and the Center is now a much sought-after haven and refuge enjoyed by all who come, irregardless of race, religion, education, politics...here we are all friends.

(Dieter was so well respected and admired that one summer mom and bff Susan were coming off Mt. Baker when some older climbers were throwing their ice axes into the car next to them. Mom figured they were locals and asked where they lived: Blaine. They also knew Dieter and Barbara, so when mom shared her close friendship with the Schugts, they invited mom and Susan to dine with them after the climb, but Susan had to return to Seattle...shucks! (This year 50 feet of snow
and you can't get up there without an ice axe! TRANSLATE: MOM AIN'T GOIN' CUZ IT HATH BEEN DECREED THAT NOBODY GIVIN' OUR MOMMA NO ICE AXE!)

All we know about meditation is this:
When mom left home today she felt very, very sad.
(Calvin and me having our bone diseases.)
When mom came home tonight she was real happy and peaceful inside.
The current directors of the Center, Sandy and Ron Kulman are also wonderful friends who never let mom come home empty-handed, so watermelon for us piggies TONIGHT: "SQUEEEEEE!"


We don't know much, but we do know this: mom + meditation = Big HAPPY.
And always treats for us! Ommm...nom-nom-nom, chomp, slirpy watermelon!

‪K.D. Lang sings Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah‬‏ - YouTube

‪K.D. Lang sings Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah‬‏ - YouTube

This moves us. "Love is not a victory march..."

Dirty cage cleaning late at night what love is. And heart Breakage.
That what love is: Hallelujah.

P.S. Mom read all about "Job" to us, losing his herds

of everything and everything...(such drama.)

(Shhh...she ain't no Job, ya just didn't hear it here!)

Hallelujah...

Dear Friends,

It is very unusual for gregarious Raj Mahal not to race around his obstacle course during Runabouts with his brother. Yesterday, he crawled into his box and stayed there. We have never seen him do this. Nor has Taj, who was so concerned he went to check on his brother. Why aren't you playing with me?

This behavior is often a sign that an animal is ill and when mom sees this she takes us to the vet immediately. Guinea pigs instinctively disguise illness because, in the wild, in the Andes Mountains, it would make them vulnerable to predation. So, by the time you notice one behaving differently, chances are he/she is already quite ill.

If Raj is sick, and we don't yet know, for this happened yesterday and he has not yet been seen by our new vet, that would make half the herd...mom is taking this pretty hard, and even began reading the Bible last night FOR THE FIRST TIME IN HER ENTIRE LIFE: The chapter on Job! Because to have half the herd...well, she needed spiritual succor. And lollipops or ice cream. We only had the Bible. (Although today the gluten-free vegan baker has a bag o'goodies saved for her at Avellino's Cafe!) He only bakes these on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. He is also going to Italy in the fall, but only for two weeks. We will have to buy and freeze A LOT!

Mom played the song she loves listening to when she cleans our cages and cries (what is
with That crying and this song?!) It brings her to her knees, and since she is already there
as she cleans our cages, we figured it was just convenience?!

This is our response to those who have told her to "get rid of us so she can take better care of herself."WE ARE THE BETTER CARE, PEOPLE, WHAT PART OF ANIMAL RESCUE
DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND?  She tells them: "They rescue me," then notes never to have
further contact with that person: cold hearts don't make good friends.

Leonard Cohen says it best and kd lang sings it best in "Hallelujah" because anyone who
works in any field of service to others experiences that it is not always a "feel-good" experience
for - if it is truly an act of humble, selfless service, THERE WILL BE MUCH HEART BREAKAGE. If your heart doesn't break...well, we don't have any friends engaged in animal
rescue or other forms of service whose hearts do not break. Without fanfare, in the silence of
the night, often alone...we weep. We do the best we can and never manage to save them all.
So we weep. We sing "Hallelujah" then get up the next morning and do it all over again
because that is who we are! And we have found our Calling. And we LIVE IT AND IT
KILLS US AND THAT IS SOMETHING WE ACCEPT. For those of you who don't
"get it" please go to the Humane Society and hug the sorriest, most pathetic, least likely
to be adopted animal and see if you don't "get it" after that!

"Love is not a victory march
It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah"


~from "Hallelujah"
written by Leonard Cohen
best sung by kd lang...have hankies

To Love Another...

"To love another person is to see the face of God..."
~ from the musical "Les Miserable"

We sing: To love an orphan creature is to see the face of God.

We are being sorely tested here at the Sanctuary on every level. We have turned
within in Silence to conduct a profound inner assessment of our values in Life.
And we choose Love.
Whatever trials await us, we choose Love, and for those who do not understand why
animal rescue people choose Love, we pray for them to experience the Love that rescue
work brings. But, more than that, we pray for those who do not understand, to recognize
that - in the end - those we rescue Ultimately rescue us.

We Choose Love. So, to our Challenges and Challengers: BRING IT! WE CHOOSE LOVE!

Raj Goes Leaving...

"Don't wanna hear no more bad news. I is hiding until you gots good news. Or fresh treats...NO!
Good news...Fresh treats...no, GOOD NEWS!"

Raj is upset with the news about Calvin.

We all are.

But he came back when he heard mom open the fridge...they always do.
Now if we could just hear some good news.

Next month she is taking me and him to a new vet here in town, close to home.
They not "exotics" specialists but they is willing to take us and our blood,
from the sound of it. That next month, then we all gonna follow Raj like in
this picture!

And mom had better get happy because we haz just about had enough with what she
callz "Menopausal Mood-Swings" which we know is just sadness about us. We
isn't sad, we is happy: Guinea pigs just don't know any other way. Glad we isn't
human, frankly, mom not setting a real good example right now. But she is
cuddling us more.  If she don't buck up we gonna get the "Annies" from the
Annie-Pa-Looza they had to all come in and sing "Tomorrow" while she still asleep.
We said we is happy. Nevah said we wasn't BAD!

What Men-oh!PAWZ anyway?

‪Adele - Rolling In The Deep‬‏ - YouTube

‪Adele - Rolling In The Deep‬‏ - YouTube

Watch and Listen^^^

We LOVE her:  Woman got soul!

Reminds mom of Southern women,

steel magnolias...helpin' mom today.

She sleeping but got on her favorite

radio station from Seattle to keep her

heart beating...Calvin seems like his

old self, just happier for his runabout.

And Coconut now wantin' The Love

she been getting...the girl wasn't

at all socialized when she came here.

MacNutPie helped her a lot after he

moved in. But mom combing that flea

comb through her and scratching her

"sweet spot" while she munches on

her favorites treats, yeah, life is GOOD.

Mom took her migraine meds and gonna

sleep for a long, long time, we can tell.

So she got our cages all stocked up and

we are going to stomp our feet to this

song, hop in the air and steal food outta

each others' mouths, and love Calvin and

YumYum, whose spine is slowly fusing...
Vet never called back with a diagnosis or
info on Calvin.

So, together we embrace Life:
let no moment together slip by
unaccounted for,
because
Heartbreak bears her own
gifts, unasked for, perhaps.
But if we move trembling hands
and paws courageously to unravel
Heartbreak's Ribbon... peer Inside...
we discover We are bruised,

NOT BROKEN:
Rolling IN THE DEEP,
STEEL MAGNOLIAS.

Calvin Bueller's BIG NIGHT OFF! BUSTED! SQUEEEEEEEEEE!

BUSTED?! WHO, ME?

Some receive bad news and roll up into the fetal position, rocking back and forth, bemoaning their fate.

Not Calvin!

CALVIN LIVED THE DREAM OF EVERY CAVY! LAST NIGHT HE ESCAPED AND SPENT THE ENTIRE NIGHT WITH THE ENTIRE APARTMENT ALL TO HIMSELF AND HIS CHOMPERS! PAPER ART WORK, ELECTRICAL CORDS (unplugged) HAY STREWN ON THE CARPET, SINCE MOM DIDN'T VACUUM LAST NIGHT...

WE Salute you, Calvin: You are no longer Calvin the small, You are Calvin the Pirate King!

Mom went to bed with lil'Cal tucked into his Indian blanket like always. The bed is low to the ground, just a mattress on a futon, so she can stick her fingers into our cages and pet us if she sick in bed and (let's get REAL, O.K. - so She don't fall outta it!)

Well, she wakes up with a bed full of poo. And Calvin has the BEST poos of us all! Seriously. Because of his magnificent poos, mom will no longer neuter male rescues to prevent bowel obstructions because he got his cajones and they ain't obstructing NOTHING! We got Proof.
Look at mom's bed-sheet: LOL! EPIC WORK, CALVIN, EPIC!

Mom woke up blurry-eyed, just grateful they weren't HERS! But, lying there in bed...Calvin's Indian fuzzy blanket beside her...a light bulb went off in the dimness of her brain...slowly, ever so slowly...she glanced into his cage.

NO CALVIN!

OMG! OMG! It was like the beginning and the end of Richard Attenborough's epic "Gandhi" when the Mahatma gets shot and his dying words were: "Oh, God, oh, GOD!" Except nothing like that,  really. Mom lost a CAVY!

CALVIN WAS NOT IN HIS CAGE!
CALVIN WAS NOT IN HER BED!
CALVIN WAS NOWHERE IN SIGHT!
CALVIN HAD SLIPPED OUT ONCE MOM FELL ASLEEP, WITH KNOWLEDGE THAT TODAY WHEN THE VET CALLS HE COULD HEAR SOME VERY BAD NEWS, SO HE
LOOKED THAT NEWS STRAIGHT IN THE EYE AND SPENT THE NIGHT DOING WHAT
MOST PIRATE-PIGZ ONLY DREAM OF... HE PARTAYED THE NIGHT AWAY,
CELEBRATING THE GIFT OF HIS LIFE! St. Calvin, no
longer small, now saintly, bold, and courageous! If guinea pigs
had a S.E.A.L. Team 6, ain't a one of us wouldn't be honored to serve in battle under his leadership! Who could imagine that such
a gentle little pig could face such horrific news and defy his fate
with such gusto! LET HIM BE AN INSPIRATION TO ALL!

Mom  eventually found him asleep beneath her art table...tenderly picked him and his exoskeleton up,
held him to her, and said: "Well done, Calvin, well done!" NONE OF US HAS EVER ACHIEVED SUCH GREATNESS, yet this little runt looked disability and possible impending DEATH IN THE EYE, and LIVED what we think Oprah called: "Your Best life EVER!" (We doesn't watch Oprah, but don't she or didn't she or doesn't she say that in every issue of her magazine upon which she is featured on every single cover, which kills mom: that someone would create a magazine and feature herself on every cover! Mom just jealous, what that is.)

CALVIN, WE SALUTE YOU. MOM SALUTES YOU: "SMALL" NO MORE, YOU HAVE INSPIRED US ALL!

Now, Phase 2, in which mom discovers, over time, exactly HOW MUCH FUN Calvin had, which
could take months, as the living room floor is strewn with chewable paper art and much, much more!

CALVIN HAS JUST EARNED THE EQUIVALENT OF THE "GUINEA PIG MEDAL OF HONOR!"

...now we await the vet's dreaded phone call. But, no matter.  Our "Small-No-More" Calvin has taught us such an inspiring lesson in courage we will carry him if his bones give out and he cannot carry himself. If he does not have bone cancer, we will carry him! We will love him MORE! We will research supplemental vitamins and alternative therapy. Yesterday will not be a death sententence: merely a Call to become Resourceful and we will contact BEST FRIENDS Animal Sanctuary in Kabob, Utah and ask how to care for boneless vertebrates. They do it! And if he has to live the rest of his life tucked into his fuzzy Indian blanket, it will be the Best Life Possible! BECAUSE LAST NIGHT, CALVIN SHOWED COURAGE UNDER FIRE! Calvin used his own life as an example
of another way to respond to fear, with his spunky: "BRING IT!" attitude. We remain in awe.

Mom wussed out: Crybaby!

But our CALVIN ROSE TO THE OCCASION AND PARTIED, LEAVING POOS IN HIS WAKE! (that mom slept in: ROFLMAO!) SQUEEEEEEEEE & A HEARTY "ARRRRGH!" TO YA, MATEY! NO PIRATE-PIG IN THE WORLD COULDA DONE MORE MAYHEM! HA!

GO, CALVIN, GO! WHATEVER NEWS TODAY BRINGS, YOU HAVE TAUGHT US ALL SUCH A PRECIOUS LESSON: COURAGE CAN COME IN VERY SMALL, WARM, FURRY PACKAGES! WE LOVE YOU, CALVIN, AND SHALL NEVER THINK OF YOU AS SMALL EVER AGAIN. WE SHALL THINK OF YOU WITH WONDER, AWE,
RESPECT FOR YOUR AMAZING GRACE, AND  UNCONDITIONAL LOVE. BONES OR
NO BONES, YOU ARE A TRUE PIRATE-PIG!

Nothing Good Can Come From This...

Mom under a lot of stress and in a lot of pain and has decided to take her fitness to the next level for strength, agility, and energy! Yeah, she been doing yoga since 1973. Yeah, she got an actual physical condition (don't laugh cuz it is REAL and been diagnosed by many rheumatologists, called "Ligamentous Laxity" which, loosely translated, means she is pretty flexible, but not necessarily in a healthy way since her relaxed ligaments allow bones to go places they don't belong) but here's the deal: SAVE HER FROM H'SELF! DEPICTED HERE IS RODNEY YEE, not mom! You ever seen her on a balance ball? DON'T! Seriously. We wish we hadn't but whenever we hear a loud "THUD!"
followed by words we cannot Blog, we look for that balance ball and when we find it, mom ain't on it, but she is near it and kind of in the position you see above, except sideways, upside down, or worse...and still saying them words we cannot Blog...this is only good for goofy YouTube videos and not for mom or us.

O.K. we giggle. Sue us! I mean, SERIOUSLY! WHO DOES $HIT LIKE THIS? AFTER LATTES?

So, if you don't hear from her...we got: 1) migraines, sick in bed 2) migraines, sick in bed 3) migraines sick in bed 4) YOGA on the balance ball...sick in traction. Sigh...and she thinks Calvin got problems with his exo-skeleton...what is this, some kind of competition?

Why are humans so...forgive me please...speaking strictly of mom here: __________ (well, YOU fill in the blank! Just not in the "comments" section cuz then she'll know we ratted her out and some of you have proven to be her "Voice of Reason" so she gonna know it us you got it from...
Ms.A, Marifun...you listening?

Calvin the small

Calvin is having a hard time now, and all of us appreciate your kind thoughts, loving prayers, and good vibes, please: Our hearts are breaking. But tonight he will sleep with mom, tucked into his special fuzzy Indian blanket, until just before mom falls asleep. In the morning we will hear more from the vet. For now, we carry on being the best guinea pigs money can't buy~
We are "gifted" to the Sanctuary & every one of us mom's most precious Gift.

p.s. one piece of good news: WE DON'T HAVE MITES!
one piece of less-good news: WE GOT FLEA COLONIES GROWING IN THE ROOTS OF OUR FUR! THAT WHY FLEA-DIRT CAME OFF ON THE FLEA COMB: Blame mom! Flea combs for dogs and cats; if she hadn't gotten one for us, she would have never seen such nasty filth and who would've been any worse off for it? (Except, they is pretty itchy...)
So, mom, you do realize them fleas is in your bed now, too?
Oopsie-Doodle, just part of livin' with PIGz!

An Act of Kindness...

"Sometimes it only takes one act of kindness and caring to change a person's life."
~ Jackie Chan

From a TWITTER about his "Build a School For a Dollar" charity foundation.
Jackie himself was sold by his parents at a young age to the Peking Opera because they were too poor to care for him. He was younger than the others and continually bullied and beat up. Yes, this is true. He comes straight up from the heart! We love and admire his talent, but with some knowledge of his traumatic childhood, we most adore that he made enough of his parcel in life to become generous
enough to save others like him from it. We love Jackie! Fights for the little ones...with love.