Mardy PopIns and O'Rio - Summer to Fall 2020 Transitions

When I took this photograph of O'Rio Grande in summer of 2017, he was 12 and a half years of age; I knew it was what I'd think of him doing after he passed. It turns out, as his life came to an end, fortunately with incredible compassion and skill from his most recent veterinarian / technician team, I was thinking of this. Run like you're free -- then rest in peace! And in his case, stay busy and have fun watching somebody or something -- obsess about a ball.  He had been able to get up and walk to the bathroom door and poke his head in at our home we got to renting just three weeks before his life ended.  

Because of the border collie in him --- he was a watch dog extraordinaire!  Because of carpeting around his bed and throughout except baths and kitchen, he had been able to get up and walk to the bathroom door and poke his head in when he didn't see me walking around for a while.  I was, finally, getting a long-overdue epsom salt soak.

The veterinary management was exceptionally kind to me -- without my needing to ask -- because they knew how I had to juggle funds and put off other things and prioritized what would benefit him, help his pain, his functioning -- mostly his walking.  He even ran one evening in late June when we went to the park in a neighborhood we were fortunate to live in for over a year -- houses with no steps.  I began using yoga mats on slick floors or short carpet to help him.    He was greatly helped by the Help 'Em Up harness the veterinarian recommended, seen here on Memorial Day 2020.

I'd gotten him into a home he could easily navigate and enjoy for the last part of his life. And now I'm liberated from "being Mardy PopIns", and the time and efforts previously given to helping in the housing home can go to making income.  By mid October I had additional clients and work beginning, but of course that doesn't result in funds until later.  I'd planned to ask small groupings of people I know for funds, "crowd funding" in a selective way, and that provided September's rent and utilities funds.

I've filed, before October 15, for the initial economic recovery / stimulus funds and it's accepted and in process, but so far the direct deposit has not happened. Even when electronic deposit of funds is requested, they use street address in the process. I'd presumed they were eager to get the funds to us stragglers, but it's still not arrived, and the rent is overdue for October; they are aware I am waiting on IRS funds.  So, if you can and want, please help me raise the $1,100 to get to them A.S.A.P. and then I can use those funds for November and maybe have it to them by the first of the month as I of course, would prefer to do.  In light of the debacle I've cleaned up, I'd sure appreciate their understanding my situation and time limitations, but so far, not.  

What I'll Do For Those Who Help

You will be included, by credit I'll give to you via a clever alias or pseudonym, in my celebration of retiring as the Mardy Popins living in housing helping others.  I'm going to hike, for the first time since 2008, to Independence Monument, and if you want, I'll send you a copy in the mail or electronically.  It will be posted on Lumigrate, with the pseudonym / alias names as well; credit where credit is due.  I REALLY appreciate it.  And want to make this an example of handling things in a positive way. Even in light of difficult people and circumstances.

HOW TO HELP -- No amount is too small, of course.  Thanks to all who do. 30 people doing $40 will take care of it.  $20 would take 60x, $100 would take 12x.  In September I had very generous helpers, who I got ahold of before the 5th day so I wouldn't have a penalty.  This month I resigned myself to I'd need to do the $5 a day penalty because I was, as I said, busy getting new clients lined out so I don't need to ask for "HELP" again.  

WHAT I'LL DO -- I like FUNdraisers, and I'll be hiking to Independence Monument, if all goes as hoped, sometime in the fall season.  Those who give, no matter the amount, will be included in a memorialization I will do on Lumigrate which will be with clever pseudonyms, to protect the identities. 

The last time I did that particular hike to the base of the iconic Independence Monument was fall of 2008 when Lumigrate was just being created, photo below.  I did recently go half way, and back and was fine afterwards, so I think this can be FUN and is DO-able!   

Since the "Contact Us" tab cannot be changed at this time, and that information is not correct since 2014, I put my most current information at About Us and update it, while sprinkling requests for supportive contributions in a variety of ways, leading here for details.  Thank you for being here! 

---

An issue with so many ways of contact as is needed today is something can be missed, so please don't end up in a crack if I don't respond.  Try again!  

My phone (and I text) is ----- 970 as area code, 462 is the prefix, and 8662 are the last four.  CELL PHONE NUMBER can help you find me on Venmo, PayPal, and Zelle. 

My address is: Mardy Ross; 202 North Avenue #177, Grand Junction, CO 81501

I'm on Facebook (Mardy Ross) and Messenger.  I will respond. If I don't, it's because I've missed the message so use another means.  Keep trying until you reach me!

The email is: mardy dot poppins at yahoo dot com

Thank you for

1) Being a YOUser at Lumigrate if you've accessed this topic.  

2) Giving if you will take the time, energy and have the funds and are so inclined.  

3) Letting others know of the resource for information AND a place they can give if interested in helping us to help YOU! (the overall).  

~ Gratefully, Mardy

 

HOW TO CONTRIBUTE 

Mail, see address in box, above. 

PayPal link is: paypal.me/MardyRoss (or you can use my name or phone number, above, too)

Venmo : venmo.com/Mardy-Ross

Zelle : A banking app, you can find me with the telephone number listed above, and my name (Mardy Ross). You can also find me by the email address but everyone so far is using the phone number so I'll just stick to suggesting that here.  Perhaps text or call if you're going this route so I know to look for it, or certainly if any difficulties arise.  

Corresponding, cropped, screen shots of my accounts -- so you can better recognize them if it's the method you will use, are:

A Bit About O'Rio

I'd become O'Rio's primary caregiver in the summer of 2015, and began intentionally rehabilitating him right away, which wasn't a request of the former owner, who just wanted him to have better care, and not have to have a family member or friend come daily to feed and water and visit a while, as they'd been doing for two years. In Grand Junction, Colorado, the biggest city with 200,000 in the area, the tendency is to migrate to Denver or other bigger Front Range cities for university studies and new jobs or experiences in life. This last remaining dog had a family that was no exception, and without clarity on long term plans, he stayed at the home where he'd been born and lived his whole life.  

After about a week together, I saw progress I couldn't account for due to enhanced diet (scraps), bottled water not tap, more regular walking / running, and of course being happy to have someone around all the time and not just an hour a day and 23 hours alone in the garage (with ability to get outside and come and go as he pleased, it was on many acres of land). He was balancing on three legs, lifting one to pee standing up, not squatting as he had been.  I had noticed the first morning after moving in to stay a while, his back had lumps like I had at the height of "fibromyalgia", and the second morning he sat down with his back to me -- wanting another massage.  What a smart dog, I thought.  I began to see this was about advancing my learning as much as it was about his owner having dog sitting.  

Soon the German doctor offering to mentor me in the basics of his realm of medicine posted a photo of his dog on Facebook (where we'd connected in 2011), and he said that his dog had died that day.  Funny coincidence, it was a big black and white dog like this character I was just starting to get to know.  So I figured out how to take a photo and sent it to him through Facebook chat.  "That dog has the same root cause as you." I'd noticed he had similar but exaggerated / worse symptoms to mine -- was starting to think about doggie autism.  "Wow, dogs are getting what people have", I thought.  And so, it began.  Mid June 2015.  

His rapid change in ability for standing to urinate was part of the story I told an artist in Denver in 2017, which then became part of the work of art I have to remind me of "Our Dog O'Rio", completed in 2018.  I was thinking ahead, about not only teaching how to deal differently with aging and dying and the interrelated emotions from that, but for my own process when the difficult time came. 

As the time came this summer, we'd have the beautiful blessing of dovetailing into the end of a lease on a home of a now former Mardy PopIns client, then my leasing the place beginning in September. It was a really lovely way to come full circle with the phase of my life where I was being Mardy PopIns.

Nothing with the move went exactly as I'd forseen. It's typical that a lot of things don't, or some things don't, but this was just "punishing".  We got through it -- slowly but surely. O'Rio had to go to the vet after nothing I was doing was helping solidify his feces.  He was on again, off again, improved at the time we moved and finally the week before Labor Day I took him in and diet was recommended with antibiotics by end of week if it didn't improve.  The antibiotics did help, but that whole time I was dealing with a dog that needed help to get up and to squat sometimes. There's communal grass where the home is, so I'd have to go with him, and it was frequently.  I was doing lots of his laundry from his bed on the floor.  That's easy enough, but ....

.... a massive wildfire was 15 miles away, smoke and ash rained down, affecting our health and abilities.  I got vertigo.  I had to lift O'Rio's rear end a lot, help him stand, help him lie down, and .... I was dizzy if I tipped my head to the right.  From the evening before the place was finally (3 days late) ready for us to head to and get underway cleaning and settling in, I got nosebleeds.  The peak of the fire when the most smoke and ash was in the air occurred exactly as we were doing the most of the moving in. 

 My heart was beating hard, as it used to when I had a chronic kidney infection -- just trying to cleanse my body I presume, due to the air quality and my not being able to do as was recommended -- stay inside and filter your air.  The place has a swamp / evaporative cooler, and it was replaced not long before apparently but in the evenings it was not keeping up, as temperatures were 100 degrees -- it would be 80 inside.  My body is affected by heat similar to how those with M.S. experience their neurological disease. 

This would have been enough had it been as I'd envisioned -- the house was moved out of, cleaned as you would if leaving, and I was just to disseminate the items not taken, do further cleaning.  And that was not the case.  The place was left in a state looking ransacked. So many things to pick up. Carry, throw away.  My feet ached.  I had to "pace".  The first trash day, five days later, over 20 large bags were taken away.  The next week several more and an upcharge for a box from someone who had bought a large flat screen television and left it in the garage.  

The place was left by the exiting occupant (related to the ex client doing this lovely gesture) three days after they'd had said they would be leaving and the date the utilities changed over to my name, as that was how they wanted to handle it.  Since there was an exact date, I'd planned my work around that and so was sitting there for three days not moving and waiting on them, then I had my day of work and got the text they were on their way, so I got my stuff into the car that was needed, O'Rio being among the things of course, and off we went. 

In those three days, apparently, a big party went on. Someone had forgotten their shoes and came by after I went to bed and turned off the porch light.  "Ma'am, they should have not left (the house) the way they did." I had to explain why their hair product they left as well was somewhere in two large trash bags I'd already filled if they wanted to take them and go through them they were welcome to. The whole house was just scattered with body care products, cords to electronics, old peripheral electronics, trash, and junk.  I'd find a used, yellow condom even, next to push pins from the walls that were on the floor.  I couldn't get underway with more work to generate income until I got the house sorted out.  And I did that, the new work is going to begin this week (as I write mid October).  

The carpets needed washing, and re-treating for cat urine smell. The cat was left and my former client knew I would be rehoming it.  I'd put myself on the list to take it to an organization as soon as I got the utilities scheduled to go into my name on August 12th, and they were ready for me to bring it in, which I did, it was about a month after I arrived.  I never saw the cat not use the box when I was taking care of it, and it hadn't done it when the adult who adopted it as a kitten for the teen to get pet experience was here. So I hadn't expected to be dealing with the carpet over and over.  Owners of house are aware, are not doing anything about it -- up to me I guess.

As October arrived, I moved in the furniture to create work space for the things I need to do before getting busier, and spent the time to do what I needed to do to find new clients that will, ongoing, be providing the funds for this return to having housing costs.   I interviewed with one family that was nearby when O'Rio was alive, and I'd need someone nearby, and they had to talk it over and wait for others and then wanted the discounted rate I give people who cannot afford the regular rate.  That cost me two weeks.  But I'm on track now.  

Another Bit About How O'Rio Got Better, Flew Up That Hill, and Lived to be over 15-1/2! 

In summer of 2017, two years into my being his primary caretaker, he had improved drastically due to having a week of the highest quality canned food I found on the market, which was very expensive even with the discount I finally got from the manufacturer, for just one case. (And that was a year after switching him from the kibble he'd been on for the first eleven years to one that cost about the same but was better. He was enjoying that same brand, as treats due to digestion difficulties, at the time of his passing, and enjoying half canned food and half hand made rice and protein.) I'd done the work to get the discount and his owner had agreed to try it, because they were going to have their family's new, young (hyperactive) dog come stay for a while.  I basically said Okay but you have to pay for good food.  

I figured out that summer when the ideal canned food seemed to help but was cost prohibitive, that for $5 per day per dog for ingredients, I could make very clean, mostly organic, meals.  It was impressive what that step did for both of them.  I was, for two months in early summer, helping full time with the care of their young dog that had been rehomed to every qualified person willing to try, and was seeming incorrigible.  The first day, a few hours in, I thought "maybe this is the first dog I'm not going to be able to train!".  But then, they came around. And I'd soon see signs of canine dysautonomia, turn to the Internet and find out about things that can help that.  Both dogs got treatment, from different providers, but it was really effective. 

That lead to changes in future food purchases by the family, not only for the dogs but the people.  "Animals showing us the way."  And then they were onto making other decisions which entailed my being on my way as Mardy PopIns (Mardy PopOut, I jokingly call it).

I offered to take O'Rio with me, as he had special needs and they saw that I knew how to address them. We basically had to live the same kind of lifestyle, avoiding traces of one element in the periodic chart, and this wasn't something in their realm of reality.  But they saw that it helped him, so in the fall of 2017 he transitioned to being mine.  I think of it as they kept him for me for the first 12 years until I caught up!  This photo was taken at the time of the transition of guardianship.  

Ironically, just before O'Rio's incident that ended his life, I had checked out The Art of Racing in the Rain from the local library.  I was in a hurry and selected what was "recently returned" or otherwise really easy to see on the shelves.  Interestingly, the DVD player had started playing in black and white.  Was that a coincidence, or a sign?  It's hard to tell sometimes, but I did have a coincidence of providence happen in the parking lot of the grocery store, also where Chow Down Pet Supply is, and where we'd run into his former owner in December. 

I knew something was unfolding, it was "divinely happening", and that brought me comfort that night.  And O'Rio kept me learning right to the end, the subject matter taught through the story you see a photo of the cover, below. The mineral he would be deficient in as I tell in the story, became an issue I presume because of what was getting expended in his body after the mishap, essentially a spontaneous injury. Supplementing it quelled his angst.  And from that point on, it was smooth, peaceful, placid sailing!  He went from yelping in an angst way, to sleeping and then watching me the next morning as always.  He didn't have anything to eat but before I gave him the supplement he was eating like I'd not fed him in days. 

I wish he and I could have enjoyed the time together more, but the place was a mess and needed extensive time and energy from me, to be 'basically livable'. I got it good enough for him within a couple of weeks, I got it good enough for me by the start of October, and then had to get printers fixed when trying to install them, but I'm with presses rolling now. 

I have the 1st stimulus funds on the way, to my bank account as I write this, but they're not arriving soon enough to satisfy the people who own the house.  I needed the street address before filing and then as I said it was fire, dizzy, dog was having problems, needed help to walk, nosebleed, a huge mess to clean up before I could move my things, had people helping me move things so had to do that, and then new clients to get meeting, and finally time to file, time to write this, and work on getting "shored up". I'm asking those I rent from foro patience and not getting it, so now I'm asking you to help me get my funds together to get caught up and be able to move forward helping people I serve without unnecessary distractions. 

Again -- HOW TO HELP -- No amount is too small, of course.  Thanks to all who do. 30 people doing $40 will take care of it.  $20 would take 60x, $100 would take 12x.  In September I had very generous helpers, who I got ahold of before the 5th day so I wouldn't have a penalty.  This month I resigned myself to I'd need to do the $5 a day penalty because I was, as I said, busy getting new clients lined out so I don't need to ask for "HELP" again.  

WHAT I'LL DO -- I like FUNdraisers, and I'll be hiking to Independence Monument, if all goes as hoped, sometime in the fall season.  Those who give, no matter the amount, will be included in a memorialization I will do on Lumigrate which will be with clever pseudonyms, to protect the identities.  The last time I did that particular hike was fall of 2008 when Lumigrate was just being created.  

Since the "Contact Us" tab cannot be changed at this time, and that information is not correct since 2014, I put my most current information at About Us and update it, while sprinkling requests for supportive contributions in a variety of ways, leading here for details.  Thank you for being here! 

---

An issue with so many ways of contact as is needed today is something can be missed, so please don't end up in a crack if I don't respond.  Try again!  

My phone (and I text) is ----- 970 as area code, 462 is the prefix, and 8662 are the last four.  CELL PHONE NUMBER can help you find me on Venmo, PayPal, and Zelle. 

My address is: Mardy Ross; 202 North Avenue #177, Grand Junction, CO 81501

I'm on Facebook (Mardy Ross) and Messenger.  I will respond. If I don't, it's because I've missed the message so use another means.  Keep trying until you reach me!

The email is: mardy dot poppins at yahoo dot com

Thank you for

1) Being a YOUser at Lumigrate if you've accessed this topic.  

2) Giving if you will take the time, energy and have the funds and are so inclined.  

3) Letting others know of the resource for information AND a place they can give if interested in helping us to help YOU! (the overall).  

~ Gratefully, Mardy

 

HOW TO CONTRIBUTE 

Mail, see address in box, above. 

PayPal link is: paypal.me/MardyRoss (or you can use my name or phone number, above, too)

Venmo : venmo.com/Mardy-Ross

Zelle : A banking app, you can find me with the telephone number listed above, and my name (Mardy Ross). You can also find me by the email address but everyone so far is using the phone number so I'll just stick to suggesting that here.  Perhaps text or call if you're going this route so I know to look for it, or certainly if any difficulties arise.  

Corresponding, cropped, screen shots of my accounts -- so you can better recognize them if it's the method you will use, are:

As I began writing this blog thread in the morning, at sunrise time on the middle Sunday in October, I was reminded of how I used to sit most mornings on O'Rio's bed on the floor, him on my left (usually), coffee with cream on my right, almost always in the same cup the whole five years.  I'd have a spiral notebook and pen in my lap and pet and rub his hips a bit while thinking, then write some in the notebook.

Or sometimes I'd "do my Facebooking", using my cellular telephone.  I never got a good photograph of us doing that together, because I relish the quiet of the mornings and the serinity I feel after having been to "dreamland". 

Some say you go across the veil and travel if you're in a good place sleeping.  I think it may be true, because I often have a good handle on things at that time.  It can easily be disrupted, as it was this week on one occasion, which is why I am bring this topic here today.  I am looking for help -- short term.  For those who know nothing or not the latest about what has transpired for me, and O'Rio, I'll provide an overview here that I hope is thorough enough but also a fast read.                                                              

This is the cover I put together with my 1980's style skills for pasting down photographs on printed paper, when I finally got the first of a "story to teach with" completed on, coincidentally, my 58th birthday.  I had the photograph of the mini sculpture of O'Rio from the Denver artist but the piece wouldn't make it into my hands until later that summer, a collaborative effort on the part of three of my friends from elementary school working as a team, and my happening to be enough in touch to see how maybe they could tag team when one was going to be coming my way for a conference.  

The miniature sculpture was created early in 2018 when I had O'Rio in Denver in order to get a form of veterinary technique from a Greeley provider that the creator of the technique insisted I do if I were going to write about the technique on my website.  A good technique performed by a skilled and experience provider resulted in incredible results in just one 15 minute session that cost $25.  But the costs to get there, be there, and get back -- direct and indirect -- incalculable. 

Two years of various things that I had done -- daily, everything from water he consumed that went inside his body to the type of water I'd let him get on outside of his body ---  exercise ---- addressing what made him anxious and working around what I could -- it ALL helped him reverse symptoms and improved his wellness and functioning.  And maybe mostly, being able to make him a priority at this point in my life, as I did.  

Today I sit with a laptop, on a dog bed that's atop a sleek, modern futon that is not at all comfortable for my old body, pillows around and behind, coffee on my right, of course -- and a display behind me which is simple, but nicely memorializes O'Rio.    

The beautifully done footprint that came with the euthanization / cremation fee, the fall flower arrangements were given to me just after O'Rio passed by a very special person who hosted us for a year in their home, and last but not least, and the Mini O'Rio Sculpture providing a lot of comfort to me in this transition.

I'd planned it out a bit, as adopting a dog at 12, as I did, I knew it could be devastating when he passed if I didn't start pre-paring for it, in a way that would work for me.  And I was afraid that I might not love him as much if I was afraid of getting really badly hurt, so this was what I came up with, and so far, it's worked for me. 

Maybe it will give others ideas, too.  I plan to take it on the above-mentioned hike, which contributors will get to be part of. 

This is all atop the lacey curtain panel that I found on top of the move-out trash in the alley next door to the downtown Grand Junction house we were helping at in 2018. O'Rio was "helping" / watching, and the sun was so hot with his black coat.  I "picked it" from the trash, tucked it under his collar, and it helped a lot!  And he looked like "super dog". 

We'd end up having that house be rehabilitated enough to house us in 2019-2020, though it was rather unplanned by us, and I am proud to say that despite rough going along the way, upon return two months after leaving, it was a success -- lasting changes came, and improvements have held.

Not all the homes were about us bringing change, some were merely wanting horses fed or dogs kept company, or cleaning or a break in the monotony of their ordinary lives. But overall, living house to house, getting housing in trade for helping lowering or eliminating what they'd pay, was an experience for me that made me stronger and more knowledgeable, and a lot of good came from it for those we served. AND I HOPE I am retired from that, and I'll not be out on the streets any time soon.  Five nights the first summer I slept in my car before a second house I could stay at was connected to me through the home owners friend.  When O'Rio's family returned, and I had not forseen I'd have difficulty finding homes that would house me for a short time. And I therefore am more compassionate and empathetic and not sympathetic with the homeless out there.  

I'll be keeping a rough summary here of the progress as I go about letting people know of this thread and my request and need.  Let's see if we can turn a negative into a positive, and have some FUN in the process.  

To all good people, thank you. 

Let's show the others how it's done! 

Gratefully ~ Mardy

Here's to the good person, friend since kindergarten, who embellished the above photo after inspiring my taking it by posing for a selfie with her black lab who was older and had some white, very much similar to O'Rio.