If I Were A Rich (Wo)man...

As soon as I read the topic for this month, that song from The Fiddler on the Roof came to mind:

If I were a rich man, daidle deedle daidle
Daidle daidle deedle daidle dum
All day long I'd biddy-biddy-bum (not sure what that means, lol)

If I were a wealthy man
I wouldn't have to work hard... (well, much as I like the odd day of not doing much, I'm not sure I could do that forever. I still have my family to look after, my stories to write, my pets to care for, my cosplay to make. Being a bit of a control freak, I'm not sure I could just hand those tasks over to others - though there are definitely some days I wish I could!)
I'd build a big tall house with rooms by the dozen
Right in the middle of the town (enough rooms to have a whole one all to myself for writing! But maybe not in town - too noisy. Maybe right out in the country, or even a private island of my own...)

A fine tin roof with the real wooden floors below (well, maybe not a tin roof. Imagine the noise in the rain!)

There would be one long staircase just going up
And one even longer coming down (lol, an Escher house!)
And one more leading nowhere, just for show (my husband would love that. He loves quirky houses with secret staircases and passages, odd little rooms and nooks and crannies. Or maybe a castle.)

I'd fill my yard with chicks and turkeys and geese
And ducks for the town to see and hear
Squawking just as noisily as they can (um, no. I have my chickens though, and if we had no close neighbours I'd keep some cockerels so we could hatch chicks of our own, and have huge fox-proof runs for them to enjoy)

And each loud "Pa-pa-gee! Pa-pa-gaack! Pa-pa-gee! Pa-pa-gaack!"
Would land like a trumpet on the ear
As if to say, "Here lives a wealthy man", oy! (Well, not sure I'd want to announce to the world that I'm rich, otherwise a huge chunk of money would have to go on security!)

I see my wife, my Golde, looking like a rich man's wife (swap that for husband, though aside from a few more geek tee-shirts, I'm not sure he'd want to change his style of dress all that much!)
The most important men in town will come to fawn on me (no thanks!)
...
And it won't make one bit of difference
If I answer right or wrong
When you're rich, they think you really know (sadly I think this is true. Maybe I should invest some of that money in a few more educational courses...)
If I were rich, I'd have the time that I lack...That would be the sweetest thing of all, oy! (ya know, there never seems to be enough hours in the day whatever I do. If only we could buy extra time...)

I'm Pippa Jay, author of scifi and supernatural stories to engage your emotions, and I hope you enjoyed the post.

One Treat Away: A Charitable Story

By Courtney Leigh

Sometimes, most times, a charity needs manpower more than funds. Without volunteers, all the money in the country would do diddly-squat. So time, time, time is more valuable than gold...

The front page of my local paper reported a dog breeding kennel (only about 15 miles from my family's dog boarding kennel that I manage) charged with several counts of abuse, neglect, unsafe conditions, etc. The kennel had been reported in the past, but it had remained untouched. There were lots of people that had been waiting years for the county to do something about this particular breeding puppy-mill set on the side of a major roadway. Drivers could literally see dogs--TONS of dogs being neglected--as they drove past. 

Three days after reading the story, I got a call at work from a dog rescue group in this area.

The director asked me if our business would help their charity deal with housing 50-60 Kuvasz over a 4-6 month period (not all at once! No more than 3 at a time:). For those of you unfamiliar with the breed, Kuvasz are big, white, fluffy, and were originally used for sheep-guarding.  Which is why they blend with sheep so well. They're thinkers and jokers (I personally think they have the BEST senses of humor), and can be great family pets.

In any case, my mother and I discussed, and decided we could afford to commit 2 of our 8 kennels in the facility over to assist the endeavor of relocating the Kuvasz to foster homes, to other rescue groups throughout the US, or adopting them out to new families.

Though we do charge $5/day per dog, we have donated more time than anything else into these unsocialized, never-bathed-in-their-lives, insecure beasts who really do like people, but whose distrust is ingrained, instinctive and natural.

I've learned hotdogs are a great tool in luring never-been-touched Kuvasz. I've also learned how fulfilling time can be when you spend it well. And while I tell those volunteers to keep going, keep doing good things, keep striving for that end goal, they thank me for my time, too. Just think about who you'd like to help, what you can do even if you don't have much money to spare.

Because most of these dogs are one treat away from being a great pet. And it's such a gratifying sensation once you step up and help...I don't think I'll be able to look at hotdogs the same way after all of this is over!