When I got there, I noticed the dogs. They wagged their tails happily and ran over to greet me with such enthusiasm that just took my breath away. Dogs are the sweetest, most loving creatures on the planet!
And this is Gracie! Now, Gracie's my favorite. ;) This is her story:
The day before I left USA to return to Malaysia this summer, Taylor, Cathy and I went to the animal shelter to look at the dogs. Out of the hundreds of dogs in that shelter, we spotted Gracie, sitting quietly in her cage amidst the other barking canines. She had the saddest big brown eyes. Cathy asked the lady at the shelter if we could take a better look at Gracie, so the lady brought Gracie out and this skinny dog started running in laps, joyful to be out in the sun, away from her cage. She was horribly skinny. The lady said Gracie was rescued from a puppy mill. Puppy mills are awful places; the concept behind a puppy mill is laced with cruelty.
Basically, dogs in puppy mills are treated like breeding machines. They're forced to birth as many puppies over and over, and they aren't enough fed well or taken care of. Many dogs have died of starvation and neglection. Gracie was one of the lucky ones who was taken out of the mill and placed at the animal shelter for adoption. She was really, really lucky to be adopted by the Neals. Because the Neals lavish their pets with comfort, food and love. :) This is one serious animal-loving family!
I love dogs, but I never got the chance to have one. Gracie is the sweetest dog you'll ever meet. She's the dog I never had. She would lay her head on my lap and just look at me with her liquid brown eyes while I stroked her back. Often, she would roll onto her back and let me rub her belly. If I stopped for just a second, she would look up at me and tap my knee with her paw as if to say, "Don't stop."
She is spoilt! :) But she's fatter now and she looks so much healthier than she first did when I saw her at the shelter.
Taylor turned 21 on Saturday! We were going to the shooting range on Saturday morning to fire some shots, but I'd never held a gun before (because they're sorta illegal in Malaysia), so on Friday night, Taylor's dad showed me his gun collection and explained how to work each of those guns. He had two rifles and a couple of handguns. So there I was in their garage, holding up a rifle (unloaded, of course.) Dang, that thing was HEAVY! :P
In case you were wondering what my shirt says, it's: I'm Not Short, I'm Fun Size =)
On Saturday, we used a .22 revolver which was a lot lighter and wasn't too hard on the ears.
There were several guys with big ass guns just a couple feet away and I would jump each time they fired a shot because their guns were BOOMING loud. A metallic echo followed every shot. Haha. Well yeah. More about my first shooting experience soon.
That evening, I went for Taylor's birthday dinner with her family at the Outback Steakhouse, an Aussie-themed restaurant. The manager treated us both (since we're 21) to free drinks. I went ahead and got the strawberry daiquiri and instantly knew this was my FAVORITE alcoholic drink. I'm not a fan of alcohol, to be honest. I just don't fancy the bitter tang in my mouth. But the strawberry daiquiri was perfect; I barely tasted the rum! It was sweet and delicious - just the way I'd hoped for it to be.
For dinner, I ordered the chicken quesadilla. Being a Malaysian, I'm used to pronouncing almost every letter in every word, so I said, "Cassadilla." Apparently, the right way of saying it is "case-a-di-ya."
Uh, DUH. :P But I took all night trying to get it right.
Dining with Taylor, her parents and her relatives.
The lovely Taylor and I :)
Came back to Conway yesterday. It was a good, relaxing weekend with awesome company. :) It's the start of a new school week now... four more days until the weekend. Can't wait!
No comments:
Post a Comment