sevendaysky - Tumblr blog

[sevendaysky]

Now for something slightly different: meet my new gishfriends Allie, Birgitt, Amanda, and Nora.  ~127,535,039 rubber ducks separate us.  How's that for a #GISHbond? P.S. Many maths went into the creation of this image. You’re welcome.

[sevendaysky]

Pip the otter going into the water for the first time!

[sevendaysky]

Keep on swimmin’ Roger!

[sevendaysky]

On top of all of this, there is a special place for service dogs and the people that train them.  The trainers work hard to hone the dog’s natural instincts in ways that help others, and then they have to give them up to new homes.   Sometimes they never really know what happens to them after that; the lucky ones get pictures, letters, emails, a constellation of points on a map that, connected, show them where their beloved ones have gone. 

And the dogs work hard day in and day out, not because they must, but because they want to.  They are happy to be helpful and to be loved.  Some of them come out of places like New Leash on Life (and similar programs); some of them are bred specifically for purpose and never know hardship.  Others appear out of shelters, out of the fog of unknown pasts - glimpses that we as their partners only see when conditions are just so.   All of them have immense hearts and drive, and they are truly the best friends we can have in life.  

The dogs in programs like New Leash on Life work on their humans just as much as the humans work on them.  If you have committed a crime, there is a penalty to pay, to be certain; but at the same time, must that crime forever lock you into a box of if-then?  People can change, it is true, and sometimes it is adversity that forces that change.  Sometimes, though, that change comes through the weight of a warm soul that wants nothing except your love.  Have we, the members of the SPN family, not seen this for ourselves?

We are not dogs, but as a family, our love supports and provides for each other in ways we never dreamed possible when we started out on this road.  It was a lonely road when you stepped onto it, barren blacktop in the middle of nowhere - but now that you are here, we have become a great parade, joined not by chains but by the ties of common understanding and fellowship.  

The people in these programs give of themselves so that someone else can be happy.  They experience the heartbreak of separation and the frustration and struggle of trying to teach something to a creature who does not understand logic (such as a 45 pound dog who decides they are a lap dog, damn the physics).  They do this by choice. No one forces them.  Along the way they learn something about themselves and learn to be different - to be better than they were.  Criminals once, certainly, but still people, and their willingness to change, to improve themselves is deserving of our respect and support.  

Oh, and the pups are cute, too.  Pulled from dark places, uncertain futures, and given what they need: love, safety, a new family, a chance to shine.  So yeah, even if you don’t have the money (like me) to buy a shirt, to donate, you can support them in other ways.  Spread the word of mouth, shine a light on the things that matter, because those lives -- canine and human alike -- are so important.  Maybe not so important in the grander scale of the world or even the country, but they are important.  Ripples spread further and further, and you never know where they may go or the lives they may cross.   It might be you.  It might be someone you know.  It could be your grandchildren, down the way;  go forward with faith in a better future and your belief will help make it so.  

It’s not just about the dog.  It’s not just about the prisoner.  It’s about the big picture.  It’s about love, hard work, sacrifice, and a safe place to fall.  It’s about learning about who you are, learning that the world can be a kind place.  It’s about believing, with the entirety of your battered, bruised, scarred heart that there can be a better day, a better way.  One dog, one person, at a time. 

And now I’m going to shut up and go cuddle my service dog.  She thinks I’m upset and doesn’t understand the concept of happy tears... or the fact that 45 lbs is not really lap sized.  

“just”....

“It’s just a dog.”

Anyone who has ever cradled the body of their best friend or wept to the point of not being able to breath after hearing news they couldn’t bear from the vet has had this in their brain. Someone says it or we feel it. Then we reject it.

A dog is an angel in fur. It reflects our deepest connection with our highest selves. A dog laughs without a voice, comforts without words and holds us without any of that opposable thumb-ness that so often gets in the way of administering care. They are pure feeling and they encourage the same from us.

I have a friend named José who knows all of the gods that exist, some that don’t, and they all like him. He says, “Life is experience. As soon as we try to put that experience into words, we lose a piece of it. Stay in the feelings and you stay in life.” A dog is pure life.

This is why a dog can be behind bars at a high-kill shelter as the clock counts down and still be joyously barking for attention. It isn’t five minutes into the future, leaving this world too soon. It is here and now in the present, whatever that present may look like.

Usually, and I use that word with great pain, they die.

But sometimes there is a miracle, and they are spared.

“She’s just a lost cause.”

Men and women behind bars are the opposite. Most of them cannot find a way to be in their experience because it is too painful. They are too laden with guilt from the past and to paralyzed with fear of the future. They may not have a literal death sentence, but they have lost their lives. Eventually their time is served and they are free.

Usually, and I use this word with great pain, they return.

But sometimes there is a miracle, and they are spared.

New Leash on Life, USA is one of the miracles that happens. They adopt dogs who are often moments away from dying and bring them to men and women in prisons who are eternities away from living. There, both dogs and prisoners receive training and rehabilitation that create active, productive members of society. Their experiences join in a way no other program can do. It has been proven. The recidivism rate among graduates of the program is drastically lower than the national average. As is the adoption rate, which is running at a hundred per cent.

Most of us have the option of coming back to this moment in our lives. Sometimes it is painful. Sometimes it is glorious. But it is always improved when we help another achieve the same place.

Take a moment. Even if you don’t like dogs, be in a little bit of dog-osity right now. This is where you are. You are safe. You are loved. And if you so choose, you can help another spirit feel that way. There is no “just” when we are talking about this life.

http://bit.ly/s_kt

[sevendaysky]

Contest voting assistance, redux

Signal boost please guys. :(  So that contest I’m in?  Have to get into top 3 of votes… top one has 512.   I have… 55.  Please share this around and try to help boost me up!  Would really, REALLY super appreciate it.   The link is here: http://tinyurl.com/ya6usgt8  -  just do a user name search for Winchester and you can find my entry.  It only takes a moment and you can vote every 24 hours, so please vote and signal boost if you can.  

Many thanks and mad love for my SPNFamily and GISHpeeps. 

[sevendaysky]

“All I’m getting from you is…colors.“ Dean got the colors long time ago pass it on

[sevendaysky]

Contest voting assistance, redux

Signal boost please guys. :(  So that contest I’m in?  Have to get into top 3 of votes... top one has 512.   I have... 55.  Please share this around and try to help boost me up!  Would really, REALLY super appreciate it.   The link is here: http://tinyurl.com/ya6usgt8  -  just do a user name search for Winchester and you can find my entry.  It only takes a moment and you can vote every 24 hours, so please vote and signal boost if you can.  

Many thanks and mad love for my SPNFamily and GISHpeeps. 

[sevendaysky]

Vote assistance requested please

Hi guys long time no typey.  I lurk a lot.   Anyway, I’m here to ask for your help.  Don’t worry, it’s not EMERGENCY help, but a moment of your time.  I’m in a contest to try and win a drone (for GISHWHES of course) but it’s by popular vote (bOO)   So, if you go here  https://display.engagesciences.com/display/container/d/84b98433-a774-44e8-a9a2-a723df3b021e/gallery?ngxItemID=248177853&r=529a9842986b3f9f74392e93781d9bad  and then “sort by popular” (hit button twice until it shows high to low) “show more” and then you can do a browser “find/search” for “winchester” and it should take you to the matching picture.   Alas I can give you nothing in exchange except digital doggy kisses and hugs of love and gratitude from one human being to another.  (I promise I’m not Keplerian) Spread the word! Make this your random act of kindness today!

[sevendaysky]

While I realize the range of human experience varies, it’s really disappointing to hear you tell people with disabilities that they need to work harder to better themselves... when the only judge you’re advocating for (At least out loud) is the person themselves.  Do you really think that the person in front of you isn’t trying their best, from day to day, to make the best of their lives?  If so, you ARE judging.   Look, it’s fine and okay to say that accommodations should be offered (As you have). Don’t mar that by then saying “oh but at the same time WORK HARDER!” Keep that in mind when you are talking to people with disabilities.  It’s one thing to offer ENCOURAGEMENT if they are currently and actively working toward some goal or another (comprehension training for CIs, for example, or learning to use a new piece of medical equipment) but if they’re just chillin’ and livin’ their lives (as people do) don’t.  Just... don’t.  

[sevendaysky]

The best version of themselves, as judged by whom exactly? 

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It is when you keep repeating it as you are, and acting like every Deaf person (or any person with disabilities really) has the exact same ability and capacity to “better themselves”.  If you even stop and think about it, it’s blatantly impossible for that to be true.  And you act like it’s our fault, because we didn’t “better ourselves” enough to be able to NOT need to ask for accommodations.  THAT is ableism.    

[sevendaysky]

Because I am all hot and bothered and needed a cute.

[sevendaysky]

Stepping right the fuck in here.    I’m the “Winchester” that article refers to.   You are using this issue as a platform for YOUR issue, which is entirely separate, controversial, and completely irrelevant to the actual situation.  That’s pretty darn rude of you.   And looking at what you keep saying, you are so incredibly biased.  I have hearing aids, have a consult in progress for CIs and will probably be rejected (for a reason I’m about to explain).  “Work on being self sufficient”?  There are absolute limits to what you can do independently.  I have an auditory processing disorder on top of my physical hearing loss.  That means that at 33 years old with HAs for 32 of those - with them in, I approach nearly normal hearing levels, but I cannot understand what I hear.  You could be standing behind me and talking.  I could hear you, but wouldn’t be sure if you were even talking, much less what you were saying.  I’m an excellent lipreader (there’s that whole “teach yourself to be self-sufficient” thing you keep yapping about)  but that is imperfect and incomplete and inadequate in SO many ways and conditions.  When I go in for my CI consult, I realize that one of the conditions is that I must be able to identify sounds with a certain percentage of accuracy, and I expect I may fail that.  Then what are you going to say to me? I didn’t practice, or try hard enough because I didn’t “train my brain” to “hear and listen”?   That whole “hearing and listening” shit is BULLSHIT on so many levels, and for me to go into it here would make this both a super long post and detract from THE ACTUAL ISSUE. The actual issue, in case you forgot, is that human beings are being denied equal access to events.  In some cases, there are laws - in some cases there are not.  The law should not matter.  People should look at it as a basic human right to grant access even if the law does not demand that they do so.   Take your “hear and listen” and get the hell away from me with it.  Go find some other issue to staple it to, because I am having none of it here.  

[sevendaysky]

“A house I pass on the way to work has this sculpture in its yard. Its about 8 feet tall.”

(Source)

[sevendaysky]

Happy All-idays, Gishers! 

CLICK TO UNWRAP YOUR PRESENT!

[sevendaysky]

I know it’s a little early for Christmas but here we are. A while ago, I hit 3k followers and I wanted to doing something special for it. So whilst I’m sat here almost at 3.3k, this is finally ready to go.

RULES

must be following me (it’s a follower giveaway)

reblog to enter, likes only count as bookmarks

reblog as many times as you want but always use the tag entered

you have to be ok giving me your full name and address

i will post internationally (although i have no idea about custom charges)

ends december 26th, 12:00pm BST

prizes will be posted as soon as i can

first place, second place and third place prizes

winners picked by random number generator

all prizes are mostly supernatural related

must get 200 notes

PRIZES

first place

choice of tshirt (sizes medium or large)

notebook

pair of socks

samulet necklace

samulet braclet

pentagram necklace

castiel necklace

castiel bracelet

join the hunt keychain

bitch and jerk bracelet set

headphones

nail stickers

charm necklace

castiel/crowley/sam/dean/baby/gym dean pins

three pin sets

castiel, dean or sam pop!keychain

second place

second pick of tshirt (sizes medium or large)

sam necklace

sam pin

samulet necklace

pin set

green or blue four leaf clover necklace

castiel, dean or sam pop!keychain (second pick)

third place

third pick of tshirt (sizes medium or large)

samulet necklace

green or blue four leaf clover necklace (second pick)

castiel, dean or sam pop!keychain (third pick)

Pictures of prizes under cut

if this reaches a substantial amount of notes, more prizes will be added

that’s it; i love you and good luck ♡ ♡

Keep reading

[sevendaysky]

I know it’s a little early for Christmas but here we are. A while ago, I hit 3k followers and I wanted to doing something special for it. So whilst I’m sat here almost at 3.3k, this is finally ready to go.

RULES

must be following me (it’s a follower giveaway)

reblog to enter, likes only count as bookmarks

reblog as many times as you want but always use the tag entered

you have to be ok giving me your full name and address

i will post internationally (although i have no idea about custom charges)

ends december 26th, 12:00pm BST

prizes will be posted as soon as i can

first place, second place and third place prizes

winners picked by random number generator

all prizes are mostly supernatural related

must get 200 notes

PRIZES

first place

choice of tshirt (sizes medium or large)

notebook

pair of socks

samulet necklace

samulet braclet

pentagram necklace

castiel necklace

castiel bracelet

join the hunt keychain

bitch and jerk bracelet set

headphones

nail stickers

charm necklace

castiel/crowley/sam/dean/baby/gym dean pins

three pin sets

castiel, dean or sam pop!keychain

second place

second pick of tshirt (sizes medium or large)

sam necklace

sam pin

samulet necklace

pin set

green or blue four leaf clover necklace

castiel, dean or sam pop!keychain (second pick)

third place

third pick of tshirt (sizes medium or large)

samulet necklace

green or blue four leaf clover necklace (second pick)

castiel, dean or sam pop!keychain (third pick)

Pictures of prizes under cut

if this reaches a substantial amount of notes, more prizes will be added

that’s it; i love you and good luck ♡ ♡

Keep reading