it was a relatively peaceful day...

one last time william.....the city called and said i needed a kennel licence...i went in and filled out the applications they gave me.....the bylaw officer came to saints with 2 animal control officers and inspected us and sent us a licence in the mail and it said to hang it in plain view on the wall and that is what i did.
i am not the least bit wary to answer this question at all, i am just getting tired of saying it over and over again.
i am sorry you don't think the answer is good enough... but that is truthfully the full facts of the whole licensing thing.

geeze louise..do you think i held a gun to someone's head, lied on the application and misdirected the inspection team to my neighbors instead or bribed or blackmailed a counsel member??
please give it a rest here....there is no deeply hidden plot here... whatever you want from me i simply don't have...except i do have the current 2010 license posted on the wall (and the previous years in a file somewhere) if you really need to see it that badly.

now i am turning the question comments off permanently...because i am becoming short tempered and frustrated..not good for me or anyone else.

Our question regarding the business license was one of honest curiosity. It became other than that when it was and is still not fully answered. There are many types of business licenses. Storefront, restaurant, hobby kennel etcetera etcetera etcetera. What type of business license is allowed in your zoning area was and still is a legitimate question. I can accept that you are wary to answer, but are unsure as to why. Unless you/Saints are over stepping?

I believe in order to sue ( in Canada, not aware of other countries practices ) the onus is on the person/organization that is suing to prove that any written/oral word is an untruth. If there is any truth, if it is simply a recollection of thoughts, then it is not considered legitimate. Copyright infringement is quite obviously something you have little or no knowledge of. Perhaps your webmaster should be contacted by yourself and fully explained.

No Carol, we do not have any connections to any persons with regards to Saints. I find it reprehensible for you to suggest that we may be party to anything other than curiosity! I can not speak for others who may have been or are wondering the same items as ourselves. Why is it that those accusations happen quite often when someone questions items? Deflection is so very easy to proceed with it seems. Do you see how it makes one wonder even more?

Life altering? Not in our world. Our life altering moments revolve around births, deaths and the like. Certainly not a blog.

And finally, yes Carol. I/we are being "totally open and honest" with whomever you perceive as being "us". I would expect only the same from a registered charity.

I will not reply any further. It seems to be of no end.

i will do the full bed buddy list...merry, caspar, jerry, chica, daphne, angel, lola, kira, joey and peluchi are the regulars...al pops up sometimes and lil big bud asks up sometimes too and suzie splits her time between sleeping with us or with squirt.

only one wish? i have so many...and they change depending on what is happening around here on any given day.

last week, i might have asked for tyra back...and spritely, and petunia, and cole and wee hopeful bug..and so many others who are such a forever part of here...yesterday..i might have asked for a world renowned donkey lung specialist to help us care for ziggy as best as we possibly can.... when i am looking at the vet bills i might wish for us to win a big lottery.

and today i am wishing that god gave to saints someone bigger and better than me.

(but tomorrow i will probably be back to wishing to win the lottery...i do wish for this quite a lot.)

oh and i just recounted everyone..our numbers are down from the last count of 140...34 dogs, 36 cats, 18 rabbits, 13 chickens and ducks, 4 goats, 3 cows, 3 horses, 3 sheep. 2 pigs, 1 llama, 1 donkey. 2 budgies and 2 cockatiels...122 i think total if i added correctly.

Just spent an hour reading the blog(sorry to my employer,just got caught up in it)
I now remember why I am a recovering volunteer. I spent many years trying to be the best mommy in the world. Volunteering for every activity that my children were involved in, school, hockey,t-ball,you get the picture. I was constantly astounded(and hurt) when those that didn't have time to volunteer would swoop in at the end and let me Know"how I could have done better" "how I could have worked harder" how I could have made the event better for their children"
Having said that I have never been to saints. I am an avid blog reader and I have had many occasions to meet Carol and I respect what she does! No I could never be her. So I read, laugh, cry and empathise and try ever so hard to never judge.

i will answer katie's questions and then that is it. question section is closed. actually closed.

Q1. I'm guessing here, but Joey, Paluchie, Daphne, Merry, Jerry and i think Lola tries to get in there, but isn't.
Q2. Saints can sound like absolute chaos if the dogs are excited, why, well, dogs bark. they get really excited if someone the know arrives. Saints can also being amazingly quiet, it is a lovely feeling when it is quiet out there, there is a peace about it. usually happens around 3pm, when everyone is tired from their visits.
Q3. Saints has a few different smells. In the very early morning when the dogs have been busy, it can be a wee bit odourous (did i make up a new word?) but once the cleaning starts, it usually resembles and much cleaner smell with a hint of bleach
Q4. this breakdown can be found on our website here: http://www.saintsrescue.ca/about/numbers.htm it is not spot on accurate as i haven't updated it, but i'm just missing the new chickens and bunnies.

I will leave the second Q3 question for Carol to answer if she's wants to.

I was unable to ask any questions during the "open questions" blog post, and do have a few. I'd really love to know these, because well, I live too far away to volunteer (East Coast USA) at this shelter, and love reading the blog and hearing about the animals. So, I hope you can answer these. And I mean none of these in a negative way; I love Saints, and would like to get a better feel for it, since I can't visit.

Q1. How many bed buddies are there? (I know it changes, but at this moment)
Q2. What does Saints sound like (both indoors and out)
Q3. What does Saints smell like? Does the indoors smell of fuzzy bodies and happiness, or poor animals who can't hold their functions, or apple pie, or vanilla, or freshly washed dog (I happen to like this smell)?
Q3. If you could have any ONE thing for Saints, what would it be? (genie in a lamp wish)
Q4. Are there really 140 animals right now? How does that breakdown (barnyard, dogs, cats, buns, etc.)?

Nicole I am so happy to read about Jenny... she is a wonderful dog & was becoming one of the barn buddies till she lucked out & became a member of your crew !! Pics would be appreciated .. I miss her cute face.

It's great that Sandy has a pal when she comes to hang with you guys.

William, the blog entry you are directing your comment to has been closed and it is inappropriate to continue that discussion in this post. I would suggest if you have further comments or questions regarding that blog entry and any comments made there that you contact Carol directly @ carol@saintsrescue.ca

i am done with answering the licensing question..i answered it fully and honestly three times if you would like to look at it yourself, it is hanging in the office, on a wall, in plain view where it is legally required to be displayed.

as to copyright laws....it is my understanding any published material on the internet on any public site, may be copied in its entirety with authors credit.

i was actually doing the author a favor..i think morally once i personally decided to post it here for people invested in saints to have the opportunity to read as per my open and transparent policy...that i actually made the personal decision not to sue for slander and liabilty..i cannot really blame the author for any damage to my personal reputation if i chose to post it where more folks could see.

i have a question for you tho william....and i would appreciate an honest answer...do you have any personal connections with any of saints people, past or present, either thru friendships, rescue, or other human relationships?

i just find two things odd..one, your determination to make some kind of life altering point here and that until i posted that post, you had never once before posted on this blog at any time.

it makes me wonder...what is the connection here...why do you care so much...no one else who came thru the open house seems to be as invested in all of this as you are.

so are you being totally open and honest with us?

"i sometimes wonder if the animals ever even have a clue of the flurries and furies whirling around and about them…i think they don’t…they are currently napping on clean beds and floors..they leave all the anger and worry and angst filled drama for us humans to enjoy."

As Walt Whitman so eloquently wrote:

"They do not sweat and whine about their condition, they do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins, they do not make me sick discussing their duty to God, not one is dissatisfied, not one is demented with the mania of owning things, not one kneels to another, nor to his kind that lived thousands of years ago."

May we strive to be more like non-human animals.

Hello Carol and supporters,

I would like to say something to the lady that posted that relayed my questions were hurting her. That was never my intention. I simply wanted to voice my ( and my wife's )opinions. We had questions to ask. If questioning hurts feelings, well, that is too bad. Such is life. We are indeed stymied as to why the lady took it personally.

I would also like to state that I-we never thought that the blog entry turned "ugly", as Carol has stated. Just perhaps it was "upsetting the apple cart" as they say. While we realize the supporters of Saints seem to know what happens, the individual outside does not.

It is easy to turn around and point the finger of why we do not come to Saints and lend a hand. Physically we are not able. This is why why we "lend a hand" by financial donations. As small as they may be, we hope they help.

All that said, we have not yet received an answer as to what exact business license Saints has. It makes us more curious as to why the question was never completely and honestly answered.

Saints is a registered public charity. As such, they should be open and above board in all respects. As a member of the public I do believe my question/s are not "out of line".

One more thing ( sorry everyone for taking your time ) , my daughter-in-law visited to the blog Hunde Haus that seemed to begin this entire "thing". She noted that there is a copyright listed at the top of the blog. Being that there is such antagonism between "Hunde Haus and Saints, I would put doubt that you had permission to copy the authors words on this, Saints blog. A very small thing of course, but one which makes us wonder if such small things can be done, what larger things can be/are being done?

Sincerely, best to all, especially the animals at Saints.

Carol, I will be there tomorrow.

yay sandy! yay jenny! yay shrek and fiona too for being the best couch potatoes in the entire world!
kai sent me an email today from LA...a 14 yr old min pin and a 10 yr old pointer...luckily the bio's and pics did not make it thru to i said no without seeing their faces.
but i have to say that all of the LA dogs have truly graced all of us here.

i have one more happy thing and one more worrisome thing for today...
reggie and ziggy helped me with bedtime. i felt bad for reg who did not get a good run today..i just was too busy and unwell for most of the day to get them all out in the fields.
so i took reg with me to put the barn guys to bed...he was really good and he really enjoyed the one on one (he being the only dog) dog time.

ziggy is a great little helper....he follows you to put out the hay and he follows you back and forth with everyone's dinner to the feed room and barns. he stops to visit briefly with herman and the cows and the goats at the various gates..i don't know, maybe he is giving them dinner prep updates.
anyway..he is quite a lot of fun and very good company too so i think i might let him be my helper more often.
if reggie keeps being so good too, he can always join us.


the worrisome thing is...just as i came back into the house from the barn, harold was in the midst of a seemingly small seizure...i say seemingly because it ended very quickly after i walked in the door. now i am wondering if when he was hit by the car..it didn't just break his pelvis in 2 places but if he suffered a head injury too. harold is such a very nice dog.

a happy thing for today,
Sandy is staying at my place while my parents are on holidays, so she is less than thrilled. I can't take all the dogs on a walk together because i only have 2 arms, so i took shrek and fi and then came back and got jenny and sandy.
We went to the off leash dog park near my house and off they tottled. Sandy started getting the zoomies, running around us in circles. Jenny started chasing her, it was so funny. She had to do it in really small spurts because she's not in great shape, but they had lots of fun and now everyone is pooped which makes me happy. and sandy finally has a friend with one of my dogs. (she's terrified of shrek and fiona)