A "quick" twenty-hour day (door to door) down to Dallas on a work trip, to sit in on some focus groups. I was so bleary-eyed from waking up at 4:00 am that I didn't take many photos, but here they are, in all their glory:
Lone Star breakfast
License to Mess with Texas
Perception Analyzer... I could have some fun with THIS!
I try to catch CBS Sunday Morning every week. My Aunt, Martha, turned me onto quite a while ago, and she occasionally calls to discuss it, so we virtually watch it together. Today's show was near and dear to my heart, an entire episode about animals and what they bring to our lives.
The most poignant excerpts of the show for me were the piece on "War Horse", the Tony Award-winning musical about the horses who served in World War I. The show stars remarkably lifelike, full-size horse puppets developed by Handspring Puppet Company in South Africa. Seeing the video from this show really made me want to go back to New York!
They also showed the Animals in War Memorial in London, which pays tribute to the countless animals who have served and given their lives for humans with the simple and powerful inscription, "They had no choice."
The interview with author Dean Koontz was also enlightening. He reminisced about his first dog, Trixie, a golden retriever, and said that, "One of the greatest gifts we receive from dogs is the tenderness they evoke in us." If you doubt that, tell someone you don't like their dog and see what kind of response you get! ;)
I have a VERY similar photo of my old boy, Justin. Need to dig that up...
In addition to the work for which he's best known, he wrote "A Big Little Life", a tribute to Trixie. He says she opened his "eyes to how much [I] started turning off the beauty of the world out of busyness." I believe that's very true, that animals force us to slow down and appreciate small moments which we might otherwise miss. He called Trixie a theophany; a entrance of God into his life. Companion animals are more than a little divine. I can't imagine coming home to an empty house every day. No matter how my day was, I have four little heartbeats eager to greet me every time I return, and that's something you can't take for granted.
He also said something else that I liked: "The imagination is a muscle... and the more you use it, the easier it becomes." I've always found my pets to be a source of humor and a springboard into my imagination. (Why did they do that? What are they thinking? What would they say?) As a creative person, having pets around seems to be a necessity.
As a true pet lover, Koontz supports Canine Companions for Independence, who train dogs to help handicapped people live fuller lives. The ability to train dogs to this extent has always interested me immensely, and someday I'd like to volunteer for them in some capacity...
The show talked about Duke University's Canine Cognition Center, which studies how canine behavior and intelligence can enrich human lives and the relationship between our species. And one of the dogs they showed when talking about canine intelligence looked more than a little familiar...
They also showed Chaser, a border collie who lives with a researcher and knows over 1000 words—both nouns and verbs—that she has remembered for years. She knows specific names for each of her toys and can bring them, point to them, nose them, etc. Smartypants!
Everyone who knows me knows I have a houseful of pets: the cats, Gypsy (14) and Atom (almost 13); and the dogs, Taylor (almost 5) and Aki (4). One of the great tragedies of companion animals is that their lives are so short. That's why they should be treasured so thoroughly for the unique personalities that they each have. And that's a big reason why I volunteer for the Humane Society and Shiba Rescue; because every pet and every person deserve a relationship as special as this. And when you save an animal and pair them with the right person, the joy is immeasurable.
One of my coworkers, Anne, has a strong interest in genealogy, and we've discussed it a few times this year, which definitely piqued my curiosity. I haven't delved into it yet, but there are some (relatively) famous Rareys that I'm very interested to learn more about.
"Rarey" started as a German name, "Rarrick," which was changed when my forefathers came to the United States. Because apparently "Rarrick" didn't sound silly enough.
I'm familiar with the work of George Rarey, a cartoonist and pilot who was killed in WWII. He documented his tour of duty through his sketches and designed characters to adorn the planes. (Much like how I document life on the front lines at Hallmark in cartoons, most often employed to harass my coworkers. Or more accurately, to repay them for harassing me. We MUST be related!) His son Damon has thoughtfully documented many of his images here. (Most images below are from this site.) Love, love, love his work, and hope someday I'll live up to the name!
My great-aunt Stella, who lives up in Waterville, Maine is the only other artist I'm aware of to which I'm related. She is a skilled watercolorist and has been showing her work as well as presenting her paintings as gifts to family and friends for many years. She's 90+ years old now and is one of the warmest and funniest people I've ever met.
As for my love of animals, I assume I inherited that from John Solomon Rarey, the original horse whisperer ( Wiki / Rarey.com )
I regretfully admit, however, that I am not as skilled at training canines as he was with equines. And Ginny's horse, Bud, pretty much underscored the fact that I don't take after John with horses either. Here's Bud at a gallop, swishing his tail as if I were a fly to be swatted:
Look, one of Bud's ancestors is trying to bite off John Solomon Rarey's arm! But as you can see here, Rarey, thinking quickly, thwarts his attack by poking the errant equine in the eye. Much as I did on my ride. Except by "poking him in the eye," I mean, "holding on for dear life and trying not to curse like a drunken sailor while wetting the saddle in front of my friends."
Someday I want to grow up to be a Complete Horsetamer Farrier just like John. And Bud wants to grow up to be a Complete Rareytamer. And the battle of wills shall continue until one of us pays the ultimate price: most likely me, with Bud forcing me to wear the bit.
Back to Earth. According to the White Pages database, there are only 276 of us Rareys in the U.S. (and who knows if that includes my sister, who is technically a Coleman now?). The Rareys are highly concentrated in my home state of Ohio. And according to the heat map, I may be the only one representing in Kansas and Missouri. Represent!
There are 2 "Jennifer Rareys" on Facebook, in addition to myself. I haven't been brave enough to friend either of them yet. Would that be weird? One of them likes Olan Mills, so that's one thing we have in common. I like to make fun of Olan Mills. We're practically SISTERS!
I do keep in touch with and occasionally see Cousin Dave, who owns a Thoroughbred racing stable in New York... glad SOMEONE in the famiy got John's genes!
And I also occasionally have a Facebook convo with Cousin Jeff, who serves in the military and is based in Heuchelheim, Germany (okay, this is getting eerie now... George Rarey, anyone?), as well as a few other assorted cousins, aunts and uncles on Facebook. I need to start asking them what research they have done into our lineage to give me a head start.
But perhaps the most strange is a book from 1968 entitled "John and the Rarey," about an odd boy who discovers an odd creature, oddly named after my family, apparently. I found the book by accident at a flea market in small-town Missouri over 10 years ago. (I'm sure you heard my jaw hit the floor that day. Remember that?) What I find most odd is that "Rarey" in the book is capitalized, though it's referring to a creature and not a surname. ...Or is it?
And by the way, if you're lazy, don't even bother coming after me. Because if you haven't heard, It's a Long Way to Tipperary. (Try telling that to our corporate challenge flag football opponents. They not only tipped me, they attempted to grind me into the field. I shall draw cartoons to mock them! Then they'll be sorry. With their gold medals.)
That's all for now on the strange and exciting history of the Rarey clan. Can't wait to see what other weirdness I turn up when I actually put some time into this...
This morning I got up early, fed the dogs & let them outside, then went upstairs to take a shower. The usual routine. Except that when I turned the water off I immediately heard wild barking. Awesome. I'm sure my neighbors really appreciate the 6 am wake up call! I threw a towel around myself & flew down the stairs, yanked the patio door open & saw the dogs standing near the door, looking up & barking at a dark silhouette on top of the bar. I jumped. At first I thought it was another raccoon, but it turned out to be a black cat, and his back was arched & his hair standing like a real Halloween kitty!
I had disrupted the scene and distracted the dogs, who looked at me just long enough for kitty to make a run for it, hitting the deck & tearing around the side yard, scaling the 6' fence like it was nothing. He sat on top and glowered at the dogs, who were by then right under him. I dragged the dogs in the house to leave the cat in peace. I'm not sure if it was the neighbors' cat, Mitty Moo, or the suspected stray I saw the other day, but I'm betting he won't be back.
Coincidentally, I had lunch with Madel today & she told me about Pinterest, which suffers from a terrible name but allows you to create "boards" of images that you like, categorized as you wish, & share them with friends. WOW. After a quick setup & Google image search, I turned up the images you see in this post. I'm hooked.
