Six months later, it’s time for the 2015 mid-year review creatures. This virtue relates to caring about both my dogs and the wild creatures that live in my garden and nearby.

Domestic Creatures

I wanted to keep my dogs happy, safe and healthy, and I thought this would require appropriate care that met their specific species needs:

• diet, weight control and exercise
• keeping their vaccinations and worm/flea treatments up to date
• giving them the odd chewy thing for their teeth

I confess that my failure to care for my own body in terms of diet and exercise has flowed onto them – like me, they could do with losing a couple of kilograms. All their medications are up to date, but they are both troubled a little by arthritis, and I have been giving them a vet recommended supplement which does in fact, seem to be helping. I have tried a variety of chewy things, but they are Labradors and have a tendency to swallow them whole (I wish I had learned how to clean their teeth when they were puppies). For the most part, I am doing well, but I feel that my failure to keep their weight under control is doing them a grave disservice and I must be more vigilant about this.

Rating:

Wild Creatures

My hope was to support local creatures in their battle against non-native species and protect them from neighbourhood cats and the dogs. I would do this by providing water and replanting native flora to feed nectar eating birds and attract native bugs for the carnivorous birds and lizards. I also wanted to create a place for bees to set up home.

We have done a lot of work in the garden, removing invasive plants and noxious weeds and all our new plantings are native (though at the moment all you can really see is a riot of daffodils). The plants were all selected with birds and bugs in mind. We also made a conscious decision to pursue more humane methods of rodent and spider control. Our water tanks leak (and have overflowed with all the rain) and unexpectedly, we now have frogs which is delightful (and reminds me of one of my childhood homes) and we are looking into ways of encouraging them. We haven’t seen them, but from their call, we deduce they are Litora verreauxi (Verreaux’s Tree Frog).

Overall I am happy with our wild creature progress.

Rating: 

 

So moving forward, take better care of the dogs weight, and keep going with the garden. How have you fared with your creatures?

Next time I’ll be re-examining my human friendships.

 

Recap

Reviewing the virtues of:

• beauty – (body, presence, home, and garden)
• friendship – (creatures, friends/family/contribution)
• pleasure – agreeing to seek out new experiences as well as make time to do unproductive things.
• wisdom – understanding ourselves and making choices based on the things we value
• wealth – having sufficient income to meet our needs and spending it wisely

Planning for the virtues of:

• beauty – living authentically and taking care of our physical well-being and surroundings (body, presence, home, and garden)
• friendship – treating the planet and other beings as well as we want to be treated (creatures, friends, family, contribution)
• pleasure – agreeing to seek out new experiences as well as make time to do unproductive things.
• wisdom – understanding ourselves and making choices based on the things we value
• wealth – having sufficient income to meet our needs and spending it wisely