POSITIVE THOUGHTS 07/27/2010
Inside the prayer wheels are scrolls with mantras written on them. It is believed that by turning the prayer wheels the thoughts contained in the mantras will spread out into the world. As with the mantras inside prayer wheels, there are thoughts inside our minds. Focusing positively on what you want and visualizing positive outcomes will change your life accordingly. “You can close the windows and darken your room, or you can open the windows and let light in. It is a matter of choice. Your mind is your room. Do you darken it or do you fill it with light?”—Author Unknown  Taken on my 1st day in Nepal I had a dream a couple of nights ago that was very sci-fi and nightmarish. When I was going over the details that I could remember the next morning, and as typical with my dreams, there were a lot of things I could recall, I asked myself to put a few words together that would summarize the meaning of the dream. As dreams often are, it was entirely bizarre and I wondered what on earth it everything meant. But as I began to decipher it I came up with one statement: There's power in positive thinking. There was a part toward the end of the dream where I was so frustrated with the events and the feeling of being captive that I discovered if I just used my thoughts I could protect myself and use them as a power against all the evil that was around me. I could go through walls, and move through inanimate objects without being hurt. It must be a message in my own life. I've certainly been challenged these past few months with circumstances that feel so out of my control and so unjust. I thought I would share this message since it's one that would benefit everyone. Jasper And The American Flag 07/21/2010
 Jasper on Flag Patrol - by Betsy Seeton The photos of Jasper with the American flag are not done in photoshop. All images are straight out of the camera with some minor lighting adjustments and cropping. I've trained him to hold flags. This is part of a series with Jasper, Chippy’s son born last summer. Also see him with Bear. JUST HANGING OUT 07/19/2010
It was a good day .... I always have nuts in my jean’s pockets when I'm at my cabin because of all my critters. Today I looked up from my computer and saw Half Tail (one of my chipmunks) walking across the clothes line. He was checking my pockets! Since my animals come to me and I can teach them things … it gave me this idea ….  Chippy Just Hanging Out - by Betsy Seeton  Pocket Full of Jasper   All images are for sale at my online gallery. Images come as postcards, greeting cards, or framed prints. PROTECT THEIR INNOCENCE 07/19/2010
“If we don’t stand up for children, then we don’t stand for much.” Marian Wright Edelman  photo by B. Seeton I have a friend in France, Amely-James KOH BELA, a truly remarkable African born woman who endured a brutal childhood as both a domestic slave and incest survivor. She was a slave from the age of 4—the same age as the girl in this photograph. Amely got an education and went undercover as a private investigator for twelve years exposing the dark underworld of child sex slavery and has authored two important books on the subject. She currently goes village to village in Africa educating her people about the rights of children and is dedicated to ending child trafficking. You can read more on my website about this remarkable woman. Take a piece of paper. Write down these numbers. Two. Seven. Comma. Zero. Zero. Zero. Comma. Zero. Zero. Zero. Now read it. That’s how many people are slaves on the planet. And children are half of all the people trafficked (bought/sold, stolen, forced, kidnapped) worldwide for sex and domestic slavery. Those are the statistics. 27,000,000 is the number of human beings who are at this very moment living lives as slaves. And I mean slave in every sense, in every horror of the definition, and every imaginable way and then some. These people (mostly women and children) have no choice about the way they live their lives. Not ‘no choice’ as in you have a crummy job you want to change and you wish your car was newer. I mean NO CHOICE and they’re brutalized in countless ways all the time. Many have no choice over their own bodies. They have no say about who touches them or how. Many are repeatedly raped day in and day out. They are often beaten, starved, and in addition to the physical abuse, most are emotionally tormented. They do not have control over where they work, how long they work, or where they live or when or what they get to eat—if they get to eat. Then there are child soldiers … “Gilbert did not mean to kill anyone. He did not even intend to go to war. He was 10 when a relative enlisted him in a rebel army in eastern Congo and 12 when he led a raid in which his cousin died. ‘I was ordered to kill the son of the leader in my village. I was put in charge of the group, and ordered to fire as people fled. The leader was my uncle; his boy was six years old.” A news story by Mary Ridell. Read more ... Please get informed about child trafficking. You can begin helping by insuring the products you buy are slave free. Look for the free trade certification. Start by buying only slave free coffee, chocolate and cotton. These are small steps, but steps in the right direction. (Nestle has been one of the worst offenders of child slavery.) When consumers begin demanding ONLY slave free products, manufacturers and retail operations will begin to care. A Stroll Through My Neck of the Woods 07/19/2010
"To be a philosopher is not merely to have subtle thoughts, nor even to found a school, but to so love wisdom as to live according to its dictates a life of simplicity, independence, magnanimity and trust." Henry David Thoreau  Flowers, bees and butterflies ... To My Brother Charlie 07/17/2010
 Chippy's babies 2010 -- My first pics of them! My brother suffered a stroke four years ago. It left him partially paralyzed on one half of his body and he is now basically bedridden. Since the stroke, his favorite memories are of being in the Colorado mountains where we grew up. He has a similar love for wildlife that I do. He's been enjoying all the pictures of Chippy and the Crew. He and I used to have a pet chipmunk when we were children. My brother rescued baby "Chippy" from the bottom of an old, wet, and rusty can. I was his little shadow -- going everywhere he did. I was two years younger and adored my brother. I grew up with three older brothers; I was the baby of the family and the only girl. Charlie was always good to me. I was his little helper building tree houses. We did a lot of stuff together: rafting the little creeks in homemade contraptions, camping out with friends, driving around in old 3-wheel mail scooter and exploring on our minibikes. We hiked and fished and played with our dog. Ahhh.... so many good childhood memories....  One of Chippy's babies taken July 17, 2010 by B.Seeton Hi Charlie, It was great talking to you today! After I got off the phone, I noticed Chippy's babies for the first time! Two of them were on the hillside behind the cabin. I've been on the look out for them for two weeks! They've gotten big. Last year's litter made their debut above ground on July 4th. I got to experience their first day exploring life around the cabin. It was so adorable. They were smaller than the chipmunks at that time. Thought you would appreciate seeing these new pics. You're in my thoughts often. Miss you and love you sooo much! Your sis, Betsy  Two of Chippy's babies taken July 17, 2010  One of Chippy's babies - July 2010  This chipmunk saw me feeding Chippy and talking to the babies and came up for a nut!  This one just came out of her burrow...  The babies always experiment with what they can eat....  This baby found an empty nut shell and was so excited! It's cute watching them figure out what's good to eat and what isn't..... TIME 07/16/2010
"As if you could kill time without injuring eternity." Henry David Thoreau  Boy Chip Pondering - I thought this was the perfect image for this post. (photo by B.Seeton) As you head into your weekend I'll leave you with this ... Time is precious. Don't always feel the need to fill it though. Try being reflective and find your own way of being meditative. I have no doubt you'll find new value in your time. For those going the speed of light to get everything done .... slow down. Make time for quiet. Try listening to the sound of your own heart beat or breath. Let your thoughts, those that are buried deep within, percolate to the top of your conscious mind. American culture is obsessed with being sooooo busy and feeling value only when their day is jam packed and when they've got their list all checked off. Time is worth so much more than that. Explore new ways to experience time ... Tell me about what you find... Nearly every day I sign a petition (or several) or send a letter to a politician or post something on this website that needs action taken or do all of the above. Today, for some reason, was a bit overwhelming. In fact, the past few weeks have felt overwhelming. There are just so many causes ... so many things that need attention and so much change that desperately needs to happen. I have broken into tears countless times after watching a video or reading a story ... my emotions are raw and I don't quite understand. I've been doing this type of work for a long time. I usually find balance, but not today. Not yesterday. It's getting to me... Today's headlines told of more women being sentenced to death by stoning in Iran. It's a barbaric crime against humanity!! Then America's Wild Mustangs were rounded up this past weekend in Nevada by the BLM and their ignornant methods and timing killed some of the horses. The animal activists (me included) are fighting to stop these round ups. It's outrageous what's happening and how politically motivatated this stuff is. Children are being stolen and forced into being young killing machines as soldiers in wars that shouldn't exist. More children are being sold into a life of sex slavery. Other children are forced into labor under horrendous conditions and some are dying as a result. Exotic pets are able to be owned and used for profit making and if they are abused or neglected our laws fail terribly at punishing the wrong doers. Sighhh....... I find it hard to process all this stuff sometimes. It's hard to find that fine line between caring and carrying the burden of so much pain. I'm driven to keep this website going because it's one way I feel like I have a chance at helping. But it does feel dismal at times. I can't even get many of my Facebook friends to join in and sign things that I know they care about ... why is that? It doesn't take much time to click and sign ... It does if you have to find the causes yourself, do all the research and write and post articles... but not just to click and sign something that a friend has posted. I signed the petition "Captivity is cruel - don't go to a show!". I'm asking you to sign this petition to help us reach our goal of 100,000 signatures. I care deeply about this cause, and I hope you will support our efforts. Click to get more information and sign the petition. Here's the pledge to sign: Dolphins have evolved over millions of years, adapting perfectly to life in the ocean. They are intelligent, social and self-aware, exhibiting evidence of a highly developed emotional sense. Here are just a few of the issues with captivity. - Captures of dolphins are traumatic and stressful and can result in injury and death of dolphins. The number of dolphins that die during capture operations or shortly thereafter are never revealed in dolphinariums or swim-with-dolphins programs. Some facilities even claim their dolphins were "rescued" from the ocean and cannot be released. This claim is almost invariably false. - Training of dolphins is often deliberately misrepresented by the captive dolphin industry to make it look as if dolphins perform because they like it. This isn't the case. They are performing because they have been deprived of food. - Most captive dolphins are confined in minuscule tanks containing chemically treated artificial seawater. Dolphins in a tank are severely restricted in using their highly developed sonar, which is one of the most damaging aspects of captivity. It is much like forcing a person to live in a hall of mirrors for the rest of their life their image always bouncing back with no clear direction in sight. Join us and pledge that you won't go to a dolphin show. Here is a list in no particular order of captive dolphin facilities that were closed or never opened. These success stories were accomplished by ordinary people like yourself who actually showed up to protest these dolphin abusement parks. Join us and pledge that you will not go to a dolphin show or any swim-with-dolphins facility. Here's what I added to the pre-written letter: Birds don't belong in cages, dolphins and whales don't belong captive in tanks, and no animal should be forced into entertaining humans such as we see in circuses and road side shows. And while I'm on the subject, exotic animals belong in the wild -- not in someone's home! Exotic animals aren't intended to be domesticated. They belong free to live in their natural environment. The whole attitude towards animals needs to change. Animals should not be the property of humans for profit - period. Signed, Betsy Seeton Baby Bird With Mom and Dad 07/14/2010
It's been my own little nature show around here. I've been watching mom and dad bird feed their babies for two weeks. The nest is about 30 feet from the ground, so I don't get a great view but I can climb onto the hillside and get a little better perspective. I've been hearing the baby birds chirp for over a week and today one of them popped a head out after mom fed the babies what looked like a mouthful of red ants. This nature stuff makes my day! I know it must seem so insignificant in the grand scheme of life, and maybe even boring to city dwellers, but not to me; this is what feeds me and makes life make sense when there's so much crazy in the world.  WHY CARE ABOUT ECO FRIENDLY SUNSCREEN? 07/14/2010
 California Surfer 2010 - by B.Seeton In June of 2008, Peter Fimrite, San Francisco Chronicle Staff Writer wrote an informative article about how certain sunscreens and body lotions are washing off people into the ocean and bleaching (killing) coral reefs. This important article has now resurfaced and is recirculating. I missed it the first time around and maybe you did too. Directly quoting from Peter's article, "Sun care products, including lotions and lip balms, bring in an estimated $1 billion a year in the United States alone, and a lot of it is used in tropical vacation spots. As much as 6,000 tons of sunscreen ends up in the coral reefs where people swim and snorkel every year, according to estimates by environmental groups and the World Trade Organization." READ WHAT THIS IS DOING TO AQUATIC LIFE .... The bottom line is to look for eco friendly products that when washed down the sink and washed off our bodies in the ocean, they don't contaminate our environment. READ PETER'S ARTICLE : WHICH SUNSCREENS ARE OCEAN FRIENDLY? "..... people should demand to know more about the chemicals in sunscreen and other products so they can make informed decisions. The more we know about these chemicals, the more consumers can ask for less harmful products," Choksi said. "We can have wastewater treatments plants that are more advanced and take out these products if we decide that's what we want."  Godwit in California 2010 - by B.Seeton  Pacific Beach, CA - by B.Seeton Please think about how interconnected everything and everyone is on this planet. As consumers we need to care about the entire chain of production from what's in our products, to who made them (child slaves?), to where they come from (destructive manufacturing) and choose only to purchase products made with fair labor practices and items that are environmentally healthy. WE CAN NO LONGER AFFORD APATHY. BEGIN TO GET INFORMED ABOUT PRODUCT LABELING AND HOW TO MAKE INFORMED CHOICES. | AuthorThis is your new blog post. Click here and start typing, or drag in elements from the top bar.  I visited the Tiger Temple in Thailand & later found out it is under investigation for tiger trafficking and animal abuse. Read full story ArchivesJuly 2010 Please Share:
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