Storm watch

This is what my little church looked like after a big snow storm a couple of years ago - and so it will be interesting to post a photograph maybe on Thursday after the big dump of snow we are all supposed to get - along the north east coast of North America - tonight and tomorrow.

The kids will all be saying "Yay a snow day, we get to stay home! No school!" And they'll go out and play shinny on the local pond, or build snow forts and snow men. Up here, they might just go skiing, or more likely snowmobiling.

I don't know why people who own snowmobiles like to do it in a snowstorm - something about the challenge of Mother Nature I suppose - but I seem to see more of them during a storm than otherwise. Everyone has different ways of having fun in the snow - I love that - the variety and ingenuity to find ways to enjoy what is.

And here in the wee church, we'll be warm and cozy - I will likely be reading or writing, the dogs will be desperate to get into the snow which they love - and plunge headlong into drifts or roll around in it like mad things. The cats will watch the birds wistfully from the door or window seats I've made for them in the church windows and then go and curl up in front of the fire in the wood stove.

That's the plan - I wonder what the reality will be.
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And a PPS to the PS I added to my blog yesterday - some people have told me, and rightly so, that we could never have made the discoveries in medicine that have provided cures for things like polio, assistance with diabetes and other diseases, that truly help people without testing on animals.

I admit I have some reservations and concerns about all this - to explain just a bit how I feel: to me it's the humane and ethical treatment that is more important, though I really thing we need to find better ways to test things than use live animals.

The point I was trying to make is that it does not seem ethical to take sentient beings from their wild life, throw them into cages and transport them in what must be a simply terrifying experience half way around the world for research that may be questionable. First of all how can an animal's body be anywhere near normal from that kind of experience, and then to live a completely different life locked in a cage and poked with needles and cut open or fed stuff - well you know what I'm getting at. The adrenalin alone coursing through that frightened creature would skew any results wouldn't you think?

And frankly the bigger criminals in terms of the ethical use of animals in research are the huge cosmetics companies who test products like lipstick and hair spray on rabbits and other animals. I won't go on, it's too sickening. But it too is something to really think about. There are many companies that don't test on animals. If they can why can't they all?

But enough of my rant. Today we wait for a storm that may cause havoc in cities and towns in eastern Canada and I think the north-east US - hopefully there will be no tragedies. Hopefully everyone will get a snow day - and be able to play - at least for a short while!