I realize that I talk about Penny a lot, but I haven't presented her to you yet.
Here she is in the mini-stall I built in my bedroom for her (don't ask me why I bothered - She sleeps on the pillow net to mine at night and cries every time I put her in her blanket-lined laundry basket when I have to get up and fetch something) - She's very weak still, and can't stand on her own legs yet for long, but she's improved dramatically since we took her in, she has an appetite again, her bowel movements are back to normal, and she's getting very good at vocalizing what she wants; "I have to pee!" "Put me DOWN for a minute, I want to try standing up!" "Um, you're going to get the bottle, right? It isn't going to float over here and feed my by itself..."
![[Image: HzdIwHc.png]](http://i.imgur.com/HzdIwHc.png)
And here's how I hope she'll look when we get her all fixed up:
![[Image: 7CmTK9R.jpg]](http://i.imgur.com/7CmTK9R.jpg)
It just goes to show you that people CAN change - Here I am in 1985 graduating Ranger school...Do you think that young fellow (if you can pick me out of the lineup) wouldn't have burst into tears of laughter if you'd told him then that he would be a broken shell of a man in less than 30 years, who dotes on animals and grandchildren?
![[Image: IBaOnA1.jpg]](http://i.imgur.com/IBaOnA1.jpg)
At Camp Rudder, the Florida phase of the Ranger course, each squad is given a live chicken and told that if they want to eat that night, they had best get busy. I admit freely that I snapped that chiken's neck before anyone else in my squad knew what was happening, and got busy plucking it while telling my squad mates to look for wild onions or any other herb they could find, and to get the damned pot filled with water and started boiling...but that was Ranger school - You ate and slept every opportunity you got (I lost 32 pounds over the course of that 8 week and 1 day course).
These days I keep almost 100 chickens, and wouldn't dream of eating one, they are pets.
So a reminder to you youth of today - You won't always be invincible, and kindness is a virtue to cultivate; you'll appreciate having done so when you are older.
This week's Kipling signature is a tribute to all of our Army Rangers, past, present, and future (and yes, I welcome the three ladies who completed the course into our ranks, although we'll have to sop calling it a "small brotherhood" now.)
This post is a reminder that regardless of what you once were, you don't have to remain that for the rest of your given days.
Sua Sponte,
- b2g
Here she is in the mini-stall I built in my bedroom for her (don't ask me why I bothered - She sleeps on the pillow net to mine at night and cries every time I put her in her blanket-lined laundry basket when I have to get up and fetch something) - She's very weak still, and can't stand on her own legs yet for long, but she's improved dramatically since we took her in, she has an appetite again, her bowel movements are back to normal, and she's getting very good at vocalizing what she wants; "I have to pee!" "Put me DOWN for a minute, I want to try standing up!" "Um, you're going to get the bottle, right? It isn't going to float over here and feed my by itself..."
And here's how I hope she'll look when we get her all fixed up:
It just goes to show you that people CAN change - Here I am in 1985 graduating Ranger school...Do you think that young fellow (if you can pick me out of the lineup) wouldn't have burst into tears of laughter if you'd told him then that he would be a broken shell of a man in less than 30 years, who dotes on animals and grandchildren?
At Camp Rudder, the Florida phase of the Ranger course, each squad is given a live chicken and told that if they want to eat that night, they had best get busy. I admit freely that I snapped that chiken's neck before anyone else in my squad knew what was happening, and got busy plucking it while telling my squad mates to look for wild onions or any other herb they could find, and to get the damned pot filled with water and started boiling...but that was Ranger school - You ate and slept every opportunity you got (I lost 32 pounds over the course of that 8 week and 1 day course).
These days I keep almost 100 chickens, and wouldn't dream of eating one, they are pets.
So a reminder to you youth of today - You won't always be invincible, and kindness is a virtue to cultivate; you'll appreciate having done so when you are older.
This week's Kipling signature is a tribute to all of our Army Rangers, past, present, and future (and yes, I welcome the three ladies who completed the course into our ranks, although we'll have to sop calling it a "small brotherhood" now.)
This post is a reminder that regardless of what you once were, you don't have to remain that for the rest of your given days.
Sua Sponte,
- b2g
