Posted in In my humble opinion...

SoCS-3-11-23 Adopting Wesson

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “mat/met/mitt/mot/mutt.” Choose one or use them all, any way you’d like in your post. Have fun!



I didn’t have time yesterday to post a stream of consciousness. I may have skipped it all together, but the prompt gave me an opportunity to talk about a kind of ‘mutt’ dog you may not have heard about.

About 6 years ago, we adopted a dog from a rescue in Arkansas. My adult son wanted a companion and my cousin had worked with that rescue as a liaison to bring some of them to New England. {The abandoned dog numbers in the South are astronomical.]

We asked them which dog they had a special interest in ‘saving’ and we happily adopted Wesson. He was named for the man who had found him hairless and abandoned (at about 8 weeks old) whose last name was Wesson.
Wesson was labeled a terrier/lab mix to avoid the stigma attached to the Pitbull bloodlines, but I can see he has some of that too.
Then a year after we got this extremely smart and devoted dog and he became a member of our family, I saw an ad for a dog adoption site labeled “Potcake”. The dog on that page resembled Wesson in every way. So, I researched the label of Potcake and found the information below. I have no doubt that Wesson is a Potcake Dog. Having been located in the Delta region of Arkansas, all of the clues further came together.
I’ve only known one dog equally as intelligent. That was my former pal, Ollie who was an Irish Jack Russell.
Wesson has been a beautiful addition to our family. I encourage anyone seeking to adopt dogs to check out rescues in our southern states. They are quite desperately overwhelmed. Wesson’s specific rescue was from Humane Society of the Delta in Helena, Arkansas. I got another dog (Norah) from there two years later. Sadly, their transport system across the country has since been shut down because of our current dismal economy.
Hope you had a wonderful Saturday, my friends.


Potcakes are mixed breed dogs originating from the Caribbean Islands.[1] They can commonly be found near the islands’ beaches or wandering the islands as stray dogs, but Potcakes are sometimes rescued by organizations or tourists and, despite their unknown gene pool, have since evolved into a breed with a common look. Though Potcakes are mixed breed dogs of unclear descent, many share similar traits with one another.
Did you know? Potcakes were named after their original food source, which was the caked remains of pot rice and pea dishes. As strays on the streets, they had to beg for this food, and likely because of this, they are known for having especially tough stomachs and can supposedly handle some foods that other dog breeds can’t.

https://lindaghill.com/2023/03/10/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-march-11-2023/

Posted in Writing Prompts

Weekly Smile April 26, 2021- Norah’s Freedom

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Sweet Norah

Norah was delivered to me from an Arkansas shelter (via trailer truck transport) on July 20, 2019.
Her story was sadly very common. She had been turned into the shelter, the January before, about to give birth to 9 pups. The pups happily found forever homes but Norah (formerly Georgia) was still waiting there in July.
That summer was bittersweet because on June 27, 2019, my 15 year old Jack Russell (best pal), Ollie, crossed the Rainbow Bridge. I was heartbroken but searched almost immediately for a dog to rescue. I’d known Ollie’s days were numbered and decided that I’d let his passing determine the timing of my search.
The rescue shelter (Humane Society of the Delta) was constantly overflowing with HUNDREDS of dogs. That area has a crisis in that, the culture there, has an attitude of dogs as ‘throw away’ items.
I found Norah on the last page of their online site. Her adult status and imperfect ‘figure’ due to giving birth made her a hard case to place. BINGO! I was hooked.
I changed her name to Norah because it means ‘honor’ and her new home was in honor of Ollie.
My smile happened this weekend. Norah had had quite an adjustment to make for trust issues. She had a sweet disposition but seemed overwhelmed by ‘the good life’ as a treasured pet. (I’m glad I don’t know anything about her pre-shelter treatment. It wasn’t likely nice.)
We own 30 acres of forest land where we spend a lot of time camping, and for 2019 and 2020, Norah had to remained leashed for her own safety. This will be her second full summer as a ‘camping dog’. Our other dog knows not to run off and roams freely.
At some point, the bond Norah and I have developed has taken a firm hold and she is now able to be unleashed under supervision! This is a BIG milestone!
She keeps me in her sight and doesn’t try to haphazardly roam away, which is something she attempted in ‘tests’ in 2019 and 2020.
Now Norah can be a real dog! She can lie on our deck and sniff and dig holes all she wants.
Norah knows we’re family now and she’s FREE.

<FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THAT WONDERFUL SHELTER RESPONSIBLE FOR NORAH’S SECOND CHANCE>
Animal Shelter | Humane Society of the Delta | United States

The Weekly Smile for the 26th of April, 2021 #weeklysmile | Trent’s World (the Blog) (trentsworld.blog)