The topic on the cloned Pit Bull puppies has been a really hot topic among dog rescue, and pet groups. Discussions on selfishness, blind hope, and insanity have been used on this topic. One blog post on Frogdog Blog really touched on my opinion on the matter, so I wrote a comment about what my decision would be.

After reading about the cloned Pittys the other day, I did ask myself, “If I could afford to clone Traum, would I?” I even looked him in the eyes when I asked myself that question. Maybe someday, I won’t forgive myself for this decision, when his soft fur, and beating heart are no longer within my reach.

The post is here: http://bullmarketfrogs.com/blog/?p=620 target=”new”

And the quote that stood out is this: “But have you ever really loved a dog? Really? The kind that tears you in half if you think about walking through the world without them? The kind that makes it impossible for you to imagine the hole they leave behind? If you do, if you have - then I dare you to deny that woman her hope, and to tell her she’s a fool.”

My response: “Ya know, I agree with this completely. I really feel it. After reading this story the day it came out, I sat on the couch, snuggled with my heart dog, the love of my life, and the ‘person’ closest to me. The only one in this world, who I’m sure knows me inside out.

I looked in his eyes, and asked myself, “If I had the money to clone Traum, would I?” I looked in his beautiful eyes, teared up, and decided, no. I would not. The dog may resemble my Traum, but could never be my Traum.

Do I fault someone for making a differnt heart decision than me? Ya know, we all take risks, we all make sacrifices, and some of us, are daring enough to follow dreams, goals, and ambitions. This women, simply choose to take the leap, and to try in every attempt, to have a dog like him, in the most likely to be successful manner possible.

My leap, would be to do what I did before Traum came into my life, and heart. After Robbie passed, I swore I could never love a dog so much again. Traum showed me I was wrong. I know someday, when Traum is gone, another canine blessing will show me that my heart still has room for another ‘heart dog’.”

I think in times of desperation, we latch onto whatever we can to find hope. The women who cloned her dog, did the exact same thing I would do… just in her own way. If cloning would bring back a replica of Traum, bring back his love, compassion, the connection, loyalty, and those nights when it felt like he was all I had, crying into his mane…. I know I could never say no. The thing is, cloning would never bring back my dog. It’d never bring back his soul. It’d never bring back his all knowing eyes of wisdom, and his quirky ‘I think I’m a single child’ complex.

In reality, for me, if I cloned Traum, I think I would actually belittle the love he and I share right now. Degrade who we are, what we are. No dog can ever again be Traum. Why would I want to try and make another? No matter how hard I tried, how much I hoped, or how much time and money I spent to recreate Traum, I feel as though it would only degrade the memories of what we have now. His soft head resting on my foot, and feeling his breath on my toes. I know he’s there, and because he’s close, I feel safe. He understands I need him, and sees it as his Cardi duty to take care of me. As much as science can try to sell that, it can never replicate the story of love. Just create a close phenotype.

DreamEyce Studio on etsy just got it’s 100th heart! Thank you everyone!

New items will be listed shortly. I’ve been MIA from the art world and etsy, working on some other projects, as well as spending time in the fun with family and friends! It’s been much too nice to be locked inside

Babies out of the Sailor x Bagel litter. The merling is just stunning. The current pick babies are already looking to have LOTS of potential conformation-wise too. The hard part will be placing any of them!

Bagel is one of my ‘heart rats’, out of a long line of ‘heart rats’ (including Staples, Ruffles, and Max to name a few!) These kiddos have super big shoes to fill, but I bet they will!

I didn’t own him, and he had never lived here either. I only met him a small handful of times, but he was one of those animals, that just awes, and inspires you, and you can never forget.

Sisu as a baby, had an over-mothering mother, who took off most of his rear limbs while cleaning off afterbirth. After making it through that trauma so soon after birth, this miracle boy lived on, to act as though nothing was wrong. He walked on stub legs, which had to be washed, and babied.

Sisu was a very special rat, to everyone who met him. He was a sweet, strong, and kind soul. One of the ‘people’ who you looked into their eyes, and just saw this massive amount of strength, love, and passion. That rat was a super rat, who not only could live through the trauma of loosing 1/2 his rear limbs, but lived his life, as though nothing was wrong.

I don’t think anyone who met Sisu, could ever forget him. He was truely a blessing to all who had the opportunity to meet him.

Here’s a pic of King Sisu I took after his crowning as “The Rat King” at the ‘06 Mercer Island RatsPacNW show:

RIP sweet old man. the world is a lonelier, less snuggly place already without you.

Sisu was owned and bred by Lynn of ROUS Rattery in Seattle, but I’m grateful she shared that special little rodent with as much of the world as was possible. Sisu, he was really someone great, and I have no doubt that everyone who met him, feels the same.

I’m not much of a baker, or even a candle stick maker, but I had a WONDERFUL muffin a while back at a coffee shop that I’ve been CRAVING, and I had to figure out making some for myself! The muffin was a white chocolate, apricot, ginger muffin. Mmmm! I’d made some last week, but they didn’t turn out QUITE how I’d wanted, so I tried my hand at redoing the recipe to fit what I remembered tasting before.

Here’s the recipe:

White Chocolate, Apricot, Ginger Muffins

1 3/4 c. flour
1/2 c. sugar (Next time, I would add less actually, but I tend to not like things very sweet, and the preserves add enough sweet taste)
1 T. minced crystallized ginger (I quadrupled, or more on this… I looooooove ginger, and the ginger was the WHOLE point of these muffins for me! If you love ginger, go wild! It tastes REALLY good!)
1 1/2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
2 oz. premium white baking chocolate, finely chopped (side-by-side, I tasted no difference between the baking white chocolate, and the chips… the chips were cheaper, so I’ll just chop up chips in the future!)
3/4 c. low-fat milk (I used soy milk)
3 T. butter or stick margarine, melted
1 egg. lightly beaten
1/2 c. apricot preserves (I have a feeling that if I had cut out 1/4 a cup of sugar, and replaced it with 1/4 a cup more of preserves I would have liked them better. I’ll try that next time!)

1. Preheat oven to 400.

2. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups, level with a knife. Combine flour and the next 5 ingredients (flour thru chocolate) in a medium bowl, stir well with a whisk. Make a well in center of mixture. Combine milk, butter and egg; stir well with a whisk. Add to flour mixture, stirring just until moist. After those were mixed, I stirred in the apricot preserves.

3. Spoon batter into each of 12 muffins cups.

4. Bake at 400 for 22 minutes or until muffins spring back when touched lightly in center. Remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack. Makes one dozen.

Then eat them, and don’t let the muffin top stealing Covy dog get a hold of them

I had one tonight, and will eat another in the morning before heading to the farm with our friend Morgan!

I don’t quite understand why Hubby left his watch at home today, or how it ended up on the couch (joys of living with a toddler!), but Galaxy was quite content to keep an eye on it!

I bet she was simply wondering why she didn’t have a pink, diamond studded one her size…