Rain

Rain has not stopped for several days now & the once parched landscape around Chiang Mai is sodden and localised flooding is occurring on roads & paddy's. Grasses are starting to show signs of new growth, streams are near to their capacity and houses & roads are getting a well needed clean from the dusty times we have had these passed few months.

This all sounds rejuvenating, spring like (indeed birds can be seen carrying their nest building materials for the last week), refreshing and young. Frogs are calling 24 hours a day and they seem to be practicing their symphony in ever varied pitches & tones. And the views of the mountains are lush green, misty and more appealing than ever. Indeed at times I look out across the swelling ground behind my home and think of the new bright future that people could make here in Thailand.

At the shelter its a different story. The residents stand where ever they can find shelter from the rain under straw thatched huts we have erected and there are constant skirmishes for space and best position. About 30% of the ground area is covered with pools of water from the constant downpour and although this will soak or run away quickly, the mood is a little depressing.

The mud that was refreshing and cool on their bodies last week, is now chilling and unsightly. They were too hot last week, this week its too cold from having constant wet coats. Wet dogs spells problems ahead we fear. Maybe some coughs & colds coming.

When I visited the shelter the last few days, I have come away with a heavy heart for all their sad eyes and pleading faces. To see their coats soiled and wet made me cry and feel low. I spent a while with as many individuals as I could, trying to give each one their fare share of attention, without all the others barging in.

The puppy's Happy & Sleepy were best off in an area screened off from all the bustle out front and they were getting along with living, looking bright, interested and above all active, which is more than can be said for them 2 weeks ago at their family home!

Paul is still not moving his back legs but has managed to find himself a dry corner to hang out and BuunRod is trotting around on 3 legs and sometimes 4, hiding under any bench, away from humans which frankly I tend to think is not such a bad practice.

We have last weeks sterilisation girls, wearing their plastic funnel collars (to stop them licking & damaging their wounds) sitting & standing in another enclosure, wondering what the heck is going on!

Phuky is not happy and constantly wants to escape, climbing the internal area 6 foot high wire fencing, despite her weakness from the TvT and the neglect, she wants to be free & roam. Her external tumour is already showing signs on the edges of drying and shrinking and that is just after 1 injection.

Sherry (the dumped Bull Terrier) is running round like a playful child, wearing an England 7 sports shirt and Misha, clearly the elder resident, has taken to sitting in a shelter far from the others all on her own. She has seen all this before in her troubled life & is probably as cynical as I am.

But getting back to a brighter future..... sadly that is not something that all people share. Tragically it seems, one person found things all too much and ended their life yesterday. As I write this I still have images in front of me of our finding the body of a woman who called us to help her but we were too late. She had taken her own life in a bizarre way at her remote home location in the hills of north Chiang Mai.

I will not discuss this too much here as I am still in shock and maybe it is not the right place to do so either.

However, looking out through the rain, at the mountains and listening to the birds & frogs, thinking of the shelter residents, with views of hope and prosperity, I cannot get it out of my mind that one person had yesterday felt so committed to kill themselves.