Last Day To Vote!!! 4-28-13

WAGS Y'ALL!!!

Mom and Dad went to a wedding yesterday and they say it was really pretty. Mom took some pics of course. 

Calvin and Mariana tied the knot!! Mom says she wishes them all the happiness in the world.

And we all got treats this morning!!! Joy got hers and wanted a second one so she just stood there with the first one in her mouth....waiting.

Mom relented and gave her a second treat. It took her a minute to figure out how to get the second treat in her mouth with the first one still there...but she managed!!

The Boyero festival is today!!! Mom says maybe one or two of us can go with them to see it!!

"Boyero" means ox driver. And they have these HUGE critters pulling these pretty, painted carts!!! Those carts sure look heavy!! They're all made out of wood and they still use them here in the sugar cane and palm fields!!

The kids perform with dances and stuff and everybody has a good time!! 

One year our BudBud even got to ride a HORSE!!!!! (Mom's including the pic!!)

We don't know about that ridin' a horse stuff....BudBud was pretty brave....we might think about it but .....hmmmmmm.....those horses are pretty HUGE!!!

Please don't forget to vote today!!! TODAY IS THE LAST DAY!!!!

Tailwags from the whole Lighthouse Crew!!

4-26-13 Updating Our Blog.....again

It's been quite a while since we updated our blog. We're sorry. The losses last year and new kids coming and going have kept us from doing our duty.

We are participating in the shelter challenge this time around and hoping to win!!
Thank you all for all the votes and for understanding our tardiness with updating the blog.

Here are some of the new kids who have come and gone or are still here.

One is a sloth that Mom and Dad rescued. He was injured pretty bad so they took him to ZooAve so the vet could take care of him.

Sprinkles

                                                         Tobi

                                        Orphaned Kittens

                                                                           Samantha

                                                   Tiffany

                                                                              Injured Sloth

Juliette Joins The Love Of Her Life

Our sweet, 15 year old Juliette went home to her BudBud yesterday. Mom was very torn about it because she KNEW Juliette was ready but in the past couple of days, when it started getting worse, she could not "read" Juliettes' thoughts. 
She didn't know if Juliette wanted help going to the bridge or if she wanted to go on her own. 
She and Dad took Juliette to the vet yesterday morning and talked to her. She said it takes dogs a long time to die from kidney failure. She said they just get weaker and weaker and, even though they are usually not in any pain, it is not pleasant for them. She said it can't be "repaired" or "cured." It is due to the heart medication Juliette has been on.
Mom and Dad decided to go ahead and let her go to BudBud. She passed away with that sweet smile still on her face.
Mom got a message from BudBud right away saying, "Mom, Juliettes mind hasn't 'been there' for several days. She COULDN'T tell you. I kept watch over her and she wasn't in any pain...but she was definitely ready to come to me. You did good Mom and Dad. She's here and she's SOOOOO happy!! 
I can't take one step without her kissing me and rolling those big eyes of hers. She's still that same prissy, little lady just like she was there. Catch ya later Mom."

Mom still can't really talk about it a lot.

Spanky Went To Be With BudBud 11-9-12

Hello Everyone,

I'm typing through tears again. This morning I found Spanky (the burn cat) laying in his favorite sunning place. He was only semi-conscious. There were no bite marks or injuries on his body.

I rushed him to the vet and when he found that Spanky had a VERY low body temp, thready pulse, and that his heart was very weak, he told us there was nothing he could do. Spanky was simply ready to go. That's how Spanky was. He always did things his way.

Spanky was never in any pain and seemed to be just going to sleep. We brought him home and he died here, peacefully by my side while I petted him and sang to him his "Spanky" song and kept reminding him he was my handsome boy. I could hear BudBud whispering in my ear the whole time, "Mom? Are you alright? Mom?"

Spanky had a very rough start in life. You can read his story here, 

http://lighthouseanimalrescue.tvheaven.com/spanky.html but he has been a joy to us ever since we rescued him 13 years ago.

Even after this horrible atrocity Spanky never gave up on humans. He just KNEW that there was good in all of them. He never let the opportunity to be loved get passed him. He thought he was a dog and would come when called. If dogs ran at him barking he would just stand there as if to say, "A CAT??? WHERE???" No dogs ever hurt him because he refused to run from them. It confused the dogs so much they just ran up to him and stopped. He was VERY loved. He adopted Sophia, the three legged kitten, and he was her "Mama" from then on.

He has lived a wonderful life and was always the "greeter" here at the shelter. He loved every person who came here and always greeted them with total trust and love.
He is now at the bridge with BudBud and all the others.

Message from BudBud:

MOM!!! Spanky's here and safe and YOU OUGHT TO SEE HIM!!! Man!!! I almost didn't recognize him!! His eyes aren't even slanted anymore and he's got EARS!! And NO SCARS!!! And he just SHINES!!!!!!!!

I ran across to greet him 'cause I knew he was coming. I was watching ever since you found him this morning. We hear things like that and go right quick to help. Did you know when hearts break we can hear them??? They sound like crystal hitting the floor and shattering.

Are you alright Mom? I know this was a pretty big shock but you know Spanky. "HIS way when HE says so."

He's happy Mom. And we're all happy to see him. Don't worry. We love you Mom.

Second message from BudBud:
MOM....Spanky has got the angels all confused!! As soon as he got here he ran over and started hanging out with the dogs!! The angels all ran over real quick and tried to tell him where the cats hang out. I mean....we all can be anywhere we want to be but we just kinda hang with our own y'know.

Some of the dogs here "enjoy" chasing cats so they still get to do it here but they can't hurt them.

The angels tell us some of the cats actually enjoy the chase too and they are the only ones who get chased.

But they can't figure Ol' Spanky out!! wagwagwag!!!
He's so new they hadn't had a chance to find out if he likes being chased or not. When he came running over to the dog area they all kinda didn't know what to do!!

The "chaser" dogs all went running at Spanky...the angels were all fluttering around trying to head off a free for all...and well....you know Spanky...he just turned around and looked at those dogs with that "look" he had. You know. The one that says, "What in the heck are you guys barking at?"

It was hilarious Mom!!! You would have laughed SOOOO hard!! The dogs all stopped and looked at Spanky like he was crazy. Then Spanky walked over and LICKED ONE OF THEM ON THE NOSE!! WMFWB!!!!!! It was SOOO funny!!

The angels are all laughing now and it sounds like little tiny bells ringing!!

We love you Mom

A New Message From BudBud

Thank you ALL for all the sweet notes about BudBud. I still cry but not constantly like at first. Probably only a couple hundred times a day now. :-)
His messages come in little bits and pieces and I try to take notes and then put them all

together to send out.
He was quiet for a couple of days and I was wondering what was going on. Funny, I didn't "worry" but just "knew" that there must be a reason. Y'all know what a worrier I am. So it was a new experience for me NOT to be worried.
The photo is another one I took his last day with us.
Here is BudBuds most recent message. It's a long one.

Thanks again,
Hugs and prayers,
BudBuds Mom

Hola Mom,

I haven't sent a message for a few days. I bet you were wondering what happened huh? You're used to me talking pretty  much non-stop so I bet the silence was deafening!! wagwagwag!!!

A couple of the "special angels" came and got me and our Ebony a few days ago and told us to come with them. I was a little worried 'cause I figured I maybe did something wrong and was gettin' called on the carpet...but our Ebony was real cool about it and told me not to worry and just come along like the angels said. (I'm pretty sure this is one of her regular jobs and she took me along to teach me how to do it.) 

They took us over to the "unclaimed" area where the "unwanted-on-earth" kids usually hang out. 
It's not like they can't hang out anywhere they want but they just kind of stick together 'cause they never learned about love on earth and it's a little strange to them.

There was all kind of kids there. Some were babies, some were just a few years old and some were old like I used to be. There were dogs, cats, cows, horses, deers, lions, birds, fish and EVERYTHING!!!! They weren't actually "sad" but you could tell something was missing. I knew right away the missing thing was love.

The angels sat down and just let our Ebony take over explainin' what "love" means.

I felt kind of bad 'cause I ALWAYS had love and these kids didn't even know what it was...so I just kind of sat down in an angel lap and listened to our Ebony while she explained it to them.

Our Ebony called them all into a circle. (It was a BIG circle 'cause there's lots of them!!!)
The little bitty ones kinda snuggled up to her 'cause she is so warm and she just glows so WHITE up here!! She looks like a really warm light.
One little goat that had not even been born yet on earth snuggled right up against her warm tummy.

She started telling them about how some humans don't know how to love. They haven't learned how. She told them there is a thing on earth called "money" and some humans never learn about love 'cause all they ever want is that "money" thing. We call them the "sad humans."
(By the way, Mom..."money" is a bad word up here so we don't get to say it unless we're explainin' something to new kids.)

She told them we need to feel sorry for those people 'cause they will never know the real happiness that love can bring them. She said some of them don't even love other humans. All they want is m

oney and the more they get...the more they want!!! 

After she told them about how they should feel sorry for the sad humans...she told them that love is a SUCH beautiful thing...kind of like a blue sunbeam and rainbows all mixed up together!!!! It's in the hearts of all the GOOD humans and of course ALL us animals have TONS of it stored up in us!!!! She said animals have more love in them than all the humans in the world!! She said some of them just never get the chance to give it to anyone or anything.

She said the good humans are all working to try to make it so that there are no more unwanted animals. She said the good humans are trying to stop the puppy mills and kitten mills and backyard breeders from making babies. 

(I remember you talking about those places Mom and I remember a lot of our rescue kids were from those places)

She says the good humans are trying to tell other good people about not buying animals from pet stores and that the animals there all come from horrible, nasty places. They're asking people to please get their pets fixed so that "accidents" don't happen and make more unwanted babies.
She said they're trying to stop all the cruelty and neglect and to stop all the people who are using animals to make money or hurting them for money or even just for fun.

You should have heard her, Mom!! She was BRILLIANT!!!!!

The kids were all sitting there bein' SO good and really listening to her 'cause she talks so sweet.
Mom, her voice is like MUSIC!! And guess what!!! She always says, "Hey Baby, it's gonna be ok now," to each one in that soothing voice and it sounds just like when YOU used to say it to the new kids!!

Then she told them she had a surprise for them!! She told them they had ALWAYS had humans who loved them!!!!
They all got really excited about that!!! They were jumping around and barking...real happy like!!!
Then they all stopped.......and just looked at her with the obvious question in their eyes. "Who loved us?"

Our Ebony had the BESTEST answer...HECK!! I should have thought of it!!!! She sure is SMART!!!!

She said, "Animal rescue people and animal lovers all over the world loved you before you were even born!! They ALWAYS loved you!! Even if they never saw you they still had TONS of love in their hearts for each one of you!! They were able to rescue some of you...and they do the very best they can to rescue ALL of you....but there's just too many. But even though they didn't get to you in time doesn't mean they didn't love you!! You ALWAYS had love. And when those people come here each of you will get to go with them to be their special baby forever."

Mom I wish you could've seen how happy that made 'em!! They were jumpin' around and dancing happy dances and barkin' and woooo woooin'!!!

Most of those kids ran up and almost drowned her with sloppy kisses and they stirred up a real whopper of a breeze with their tail waggin'!!! Clouds and rainbow pieces were flyin' everywhere!!! Even the angels wings were flappin' in that breeze. The angels liked it though and laughed and laughed.

Then she called me over and we both passed out tiny pieces of OUR pieces of the hearts we wear!! (She's got THOUSANDS of pieces!!)
EVERY kid got a piece!!!

You would have been SOOOO proud of our Ebony Mom. You always LOVED seein' the unwanted ones find out about love!!

When we went back to our cloud place all the kids gave our Ebony a waggin' ovation!! They had all been watching from their clouds and heard what she told the new kids.

She told me that we will probably have to go back there in a few days 'cause there's ALWAYS a lot of new, unwanted-on-earth kids comin' in. She says next time she's gonna let ME do the talkin'.
I think that'll be fun!! I do love to talk and now I know the answers!!! Our Ebony promised to go with me though.

All the kids up here have "jobs" and each job is REAL important!! The angels always help us though so we don't mess up. Some of the kids here are really hyper and they get distracted pretty easy. The angles just pick up where they left off and finish their jobs for them. Nobody ever gets in trouble.
They all send HUGE tailwags and kisses. They say they will send rainbows and sunsets whenever they can!!! Watch for them!!

OH!!! And we get to visit you once in a while. The angels tell us you might catch a glimpse of us or hear our toenails clicking on the floor, or hear a scratch at the door, or maybe hear our bark. They say that little bit of spirit we left with you will mold itself into the little spot where we took that little piece of your heart and it won't hurt quite so bad.

Gotta go Mom. I know you miss me but please don't be too sad. It's great up here and we're all happy and healthy.
It looks like I'm gonna have a pretty important job helpin' our Ebony welcome the unwanted-on-earth kids.

Did I tell you the angels gave me a star on one of my feathers?? It looks really good and I'm keepin' it shiny!!
Our Ebony told me that was really special!!
She and I snuggle together a lot. It feels a lot like when I snuggled with you.

We'll wait as long as it takes Mom. Take your time and keep rescuing those babies.

LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Tailwags!!!
BudBud

Message from BudBud at the Rainbow Bridge

15 year old Mr BudBud left us for the bridge on the 11th day of October, 2012. 
This was the message from him a couple of days later.
This photo was taken the morning of the night he left us.
We miss him terribly.
Mom, (Frances)

WOW OH WOW OH WOW!!!!! You folks should see the view from here!!! I thought we had the best view EVER in Costa Rica but this.......THIS!!!!!!!! AMAZING!!!! 

I can see the WHOLE WORLD from here!!!!

Did I mention I've moved??? Yep!!! on Thursday, 10-11-12, I started a whole new adventure!!! My angel came for me!!!!!

She's BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!

I had had a really good day and Mom was so happy to see me smiling and getting around so good.
She took a pic of me and I'm attaching it to this email.

About 8:30 PM my left front leg started hurting REAL REAL bad!!!
Mom noticed right away 'cause I was holding my foot up really high and then I would chew at my foot!! She could tell I was in some pretty bad pain even though I wasn't crying or anything.

Mom figured something had stung me on my foot so she grabbed me up and checked but she couldn't find anything.

I was still hurting really bad so she and Dad took me in the clinic room and took a closer look at my foot. Still nothing.

Mom got on the floor with me and was trying to comfort me and she realized I could not stand up so good and I was having trouble breathing. She called Dr. Sharon and Dr. Sharon promised to meet us, right away, at her clinic.

Me and Mom and Dad got in the car and took off!!!
Mom was holding me in her arms and talking in my ear the whole time telling me, "It's ok BudBud. Mama's got her boy. Mama loves her BudBud."

We got to the clinic in no time and Dr. Sharon started an I.V. and then gave me a shot to calm me down 'cause I was pretty agitated. Then she gave me another shot to help me breathe a little better, but I kept getting worse.

After about 30 minutes Dr. Sharon finally told Mom there was nothing more she could do. She said I was having a heart attack and she couldn't help me.

Mom could see I was REALLY in distress so she told Dr. Sharon to help me go.

Mom was still talking low in my ear the whole time telling me she loved her boy and that it was ok to go if I needed to.
That was a HUGE relief for me 'cause I didn't want to upset Mom and Dad but I really did need to leave.

Dr. Sharon gave me another shot and I went to sleep REAL quick.

All of a sudden I see this HUGE BEAUTIFUL light and then my good eyesight came back and I could SEE!!!

I was on TOP OF A RAINBOW!!!!

And guess who came running, fast as lightening and straight as an arrow, across that rainbow to greet me?!?
BUNNY!!!!!!!

I could see Ebony standing on the other end of the bridge, smiling and waggin' her tail!! She's the one who sent Bunny to meet me so I could see how good Bunny could run!!!

Ebony is taking care of all of us REAL good!!

She ran like the wind!!!! And she could see me PERFECTLY!!! She didn't run in circles or anything!!! She ran STRAIGHT TO ME!!!! She kissed me all over my face and told me "C'MON BUDBUD!!! Everybody's waiting!!!"

AND I COULD HEAR HER!!!! I'm not deaf anymore!!!

EVERYBODY was on the other side of that bridge!!! Ebony, Krystal, little Me, ShaSha, Peaches, Zipper, Neesie, Soldier, Cat, Don Gato....EVERYBODY!!!!!!!!
Even dogs and cats and other animals I had never met but had heard Mom talk about!!! AND I KNEW THEM ALL BY NAME!!!!!!
I can tell you there was LOTS of waggin', barking, meowing, moo'ing, oinking and EVERYTHING goin' on!!!!

This place is UNBELIEVABLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There's a kazillion miles of green, grassy fields with little rivers and lakes of fresh, cool water tumbling around. There are soft beds for everybody and we NEVER get hungry!!!

And GET THIS!!! When it rains....nobody gets wet!!! We all feel it and enjoy it but it just goes away...poof!!! When we want snow it just starts falling on us and it turns into ice cream when it hits the ground!!!!! Even though we're not hungry we still love to taste it!!!

Did you folks know this bridge goes ALL THE WAY AROUND the earth??? It's HUGE!!!! And OH YEAH!! When you folks see a rainbow from down there it's not really an arc. You're just only seeing part of it!! It's ALL THE WAY AROUND!!!!

There's even ticks and fleas and stuff here but GUESS WHAT!! Since none of us ever get hungry...they don't bite us!!! We're all friends and we even play together!!!

We can see ALL the stars at one time!!! You folks have no idea how many stars there are!!!! We can see the moon and the sun ALL THE TIME and we can see ALL THE WORLDS from here....but earth is the one we all look at the most!!

The moon is ALWAYS a FULL moon!! And when it shines on this rainbow HOLY HORSE POOP!!!! IT'S AMAZING!!!!! Just wait'll you see it!!!!! OH!! And there's horse poop and cow poop and even giraffe poop here for us to roll in!!! But we are the only ones who can smell it and it doesn't make us look dirty!!!

You folks aren't gonna believe this!!! Up here the sun is BLUE!!!!!!!!!!! And it's not hot!!!! It's just really a nice "warm" and sometimes it sends some rays down here to the rainbow so we can run through them and play!!!

We keep a very close watch on the bridge all the time watching for you!! If we happen to be playing at the time, or bouncing on a cloud, or chasing an angel...a little bell rings in our ear to let us know you are arriving!!! How neat is that!!!

There are these really neat things called angels here and they play with us ALL the time!!!! If they're not playing with us they are sitting around petting us and scratching us behind our ears and on our rumps or tickling our bellies and under our chin!!!!
Sometimes they fly around through the rainbow and stir it all up!!! It makes LITTLE "rainbow tumble weeds." All us kids laugh about that.

Some of the "special" kids, like Bunny, get WINGS right away!! You ought to see her dive bombing us and giggling!! What a little stinker she is. But mostly she uses her brand new legs to run and run.

The rest of us get our wings more slowly. You know...like a feather at a time. (They kinda tickle at first) We don't really NEED wings 'cause the angels fly us anywhere we want to go...but the wings add a nice touch. :-)

And we all get to bounce around on the clouds!!! They're kinda hard to describe. Nothing at all like what they look like from down there!! Up here they are not all white. The rainbow bridge reflects on them and their colors change CONSTANTLY like those turning light thingys we had at Christmas!!!

It's SO MUCH FUN HERE!!!!!

ALL of us are young and happy and healthy!!! Nobody has any aches or pains.

One of the angels let me watch Mom and Dad the day after I came here. There's a quiet place, near one of the lakes, where we can go sit in the shade with the angels and see you really clear. It's like we're right there in the room with you!!

Mom and Dad really loved my old shell. They took it to another vet.
Mom held it and cried into it's fur and called it her BudBud, her Boy for a long time before she handed it over to the young man. Then they went up some stairs to a room with a furnace thing in it and the man showed Mom that it was clean and empty before he laid my shell in there.

Then he turned it on and told Mom and Dad to come back in about three hours and they could take my ashes back home with them.

Mom held my ashes in her lap all the way home. She put them in a really pretty urn and put them on the same spot where our Ebonys ashes are.She's gonna put a picture of me on the urn just like on Ebonys urn.

Could you folks kinda watch out for Mom and Dad please? I told Mom all this stuff last night and told her how good I feel and how Ebony is taking care of me so she already knows......but she still cries a lot...Dad does too.
They need lots of prayers.

Anyway....y'all don't worry about us fur/feather/fin kids up here at the bridge. We're all waiting for you to get here but we're having a ball so take your time!!!
The angels told us today that we left a little piece of our spirits down there with you folks to stay beside you and help you.
They say you will ALWAYS have that little piece with you forever and ever until you come up here to join us.

And guess what else!!! Each of us got to bring ONE THING with us. It's a little piece of each heart that loved us when we lived on the earth. Some of us only have one piece but lots of us have a WHOLE STRING of them!!! They shine like diamonds!!!! Wait'll you SEE!!!! And when we see a kid with no piece of anyones' heart we all share a little piece with them so they end up with more pieces than anyone else!!

All the kids here are beggin' me to "SEND LOVE TO MY FOLKS TOO!" so here's YOUR message!!! They send a bazillion kisses and tailwags and purrs and licks and head snuggles. They say to tell you when you feel that tiny, whispy breeze on just your neck, that's them sending you a kiss from the bridge.

Tailwags from a REALLY happy, healthy, young BudBud