Fly! Be Free!

Oh, I hear you grumbling: “I’ve been checking in to DODR for the last two weeks, and Konchog followed a birding post, saints preserve us, with a full-throated whine, and that’s it! Right after we’d had such fun yapping about icky food. What gives? Thought he was supposed to be compassionate. DODR, sad to say, may have entered its long, decadent dénouement.”

Well, ha ha ha! Y’all didn’t reckon with Brother Konchog’s Inverse Law of Blogification, didja? This immutable law states that blog traffic and subscriptions rise in inverse proportion to steadfast lack of posting, or posts which plumb hitherto unknown depths of inanity. And that’s exactly what happened. Not that that translates into dime one for yours truly, but a big ol’ gloat’s gotta be worth something.

OK, seriously, I was really sick, man. Only yesterday did I feel like all my pistons were tentatively firing and I’m still coughing. Just for the sake of an image, let’s say that my relentlessly efficient Mucous Production Team was named Madge. Now picture them sitting across from my Creativity Neurons and sneering at them, “You’re soaking in it!” Drowning's more like it. It just seemed impossible to do anything. I felt viscous. Like Sid Viscous.

Anyway, good thing I'm healthy now, cuz this morning was tough, as I bid Floki farewell.

I looked back at the first photos I took. She was such a dinky little thing! And so precious. And so...female! Now I think she wasn’t much more than six weeks old at the time. Much smaller than Moojie. Just now, she’s getting her big-girl teeth.

Of course, I took photos of Floki today, especially since I shampooed her last night. Look how she’s grown! The Mooj is gonna miss his buddy:

Here she is with my friend Hazel in the car. Poor little girl looks so anxious!

Hazel kindly called after they arrived to say that except for one bout of car sickness (it’s an awfully bumpy, six-hour ride to Kharkhorin) Floki was content and everyone who met her thinks she’s wonderful. To allay the concerns of Kirt and maybe others, she’s not staying at the monastery proper. I gave her to the monastery’s abbot and she will be well cared for out of his house, with the freedom to run around as she likes. It’s not on monastery grounds.

In a funny coincidence, I bumped into a lama friend on the street today, who told me he travels to Kharkhorin just about every weekend and I can go with him whenever I wish. So I imagine I’ll go pretty soon.

If I had been filming this, after I had waved my damp hankie goodbye and schlumped up to my apartment, I would have cued “She’s Gone” – the '74 Tavares version, not Hall & Oates. But honestly, it’s better, thinking of the general happiness of all concerned.

Animal rescue has become an integral part of my spiritual community’s activity, from my teacher on down, so much so that we’ve set up a separate non-profit, Tara’s Babies. In Buddhism, it’s said that the more helpless a being is, the more determined we should be to come to their aid, and the more powerful is the good karma that comes from doing so. Our lovely retreat land in Arizona, called Dakini Valley, has become a haven for animals we’ve extracted from unspeakably miserable situations. There, they thrive under the care of our beloved Ani Kunzang and others.

We’re in the last phase of securing this sanctuary for good. I know so many of DODR’s regular readers are hopeless animal lovers, so I’m inviting you to help us own this property outright, so that our adorable outcasts always have someplace to call home. If you’re so inclined, please don’t delay. Mr. Creditor is currently twirling the tips of his oily, black moustache as he eyes a deadline that’s about two weeks away. You can read Ani Kunzang’s blog from Dakini Valley here, and make a secure, tax-deductible contribution here. May you yourself always be surrounded by love in freedom and happiness in every future lifetime.

Comments

[rho1640]

I'm sitting here boohooing about Floki going to her new home (where I know she will be happy and loved) so I can only imagine how you were and feeling ill on top of it all.

That bug is worldwide ya know? Everyone here has had it too.. be careful because it has gone to pneumonia for a few people in this area.

[sarah]

We named it (the coughy mucous syndrome) The Lung Fung, after the Chinese restaurant that's on our street. (Actually, the Lung Fung is so successful there's TWO of 'em in Portland!) Mooj is really gonna miss Floki - look how he lurves her! Maybe you should find a smaller, more manageble buddy for him?

[Palzang]

Farewell, sweet Floki!

[marylee]

Wishing you the same. No photo of the 2 of you together today? I'm cooking a theory about you and photos. I just have to simmer it a wee bit more.

[Norma]

Be well, Little Floki!

And you too, Cuzzin Tom!

[Jim]

Well shoot! I'm really going to miss Miss Floki. I do hope she has a very happy life in her new home and that you can send us new pictures of her now and then.

[sis Laura]

Do you get visitation, and will post a picture or two of her as she grows and thrives?

[Tim Nelsen]

Hey Konchog!

Hope your feeling better, glad it hasn't dulled your vajra wit in the slightest. You really had me rolling with that punch! punch! stuff, reminded me of Nepal cyber cafes with dirt floors and weird posters of Dalai Lama, Nepali Royalty, John Lennon and Kurt Cobain and Bob marley as if the all would have liked to hang out together.
So I am down in Tampa now so I don't know when I'll see you but this last burst of fundraising for Dakini Valley has reminded me of all the good times we we all had on retreat there and in MD. It seems so long ago and yet still palpable if a bit dusty. Well I'll see if the Buddhists down here might be up to having you down here to share your experiences of Mongolia and the project.
PS have you ever thought about some kind of a humerous set up like "If your in a cyber cafe in a giant captains chair trying not to punch a teenage gamer by recalling the infallible consequences of karma....you might be a an American Buddhist monk in Mongolia" etc etc.

[Konchog]

Thanks, everyone. I know how you feel. But on the other hand, because certain enormous, rambunctious puppies didn't jump on my bed and sit on my chest at 6 this morning, to indicate that it was way past time to go out for a pee, I slept in to an unheard of 10am. Constantly interrupted sleep may have been why this dumb ol' illness was prolonged.

But you know I'm gonna go see my girl and get photos, etc., don't fret.

And hey, Tim Nelson! What a welcome arrival you are! To introduce him to the rest of you, Tim is one of the funnier people I know, and we did have hilarious times on retreat together. He's also a thangka painter and an ardent enthusiast of the feminine in Asian form. How he got to Tampa is anyone's guess. Click his name to see his cool artwork.

[Vedran]

That's excelent!
Please do visit Floki in her new home when you get a chance.

[minnie]

just make sure you take pics of floki when you go visit her. we want progress reports! and i'm donating as we speak (i tend to multitask like a madwoman, lol)