Our beloved Shadow

Our 18 year old Shadow passed away yesterday. We are devastated.

I use this blog as a bridge-builder and to show everyone that we all have more in common than not. If you have ever had an animal companion pass away, you know our grief. It doesn't matter if you are vegan or not, gay or straight, what your political or religious/spiritual beliefs are, or whether you're an animal rights activist or not. It just doesn't matter. The pain is the same.

We adopted Shadow when she was 14. I think it's called a "failed foster". We were fostering her and realized that no one was interested in adopting a 14 year old dog. What a miracle for us. I picked her up at a boarding place where she was in the cat area due to being quarantined while they checked her out. She was thrilled to see me and I will always remember her in the truck while on our way home coming over to me and giving me big kisses.

Shadow couldn't see well so when approached her typical reaction was to snap. I loved snuggling her face to face and letting her realize that it was me, and the snap would turn to kisses. She loved having her head rubbed and her neck scratched. She would allow us some time right next to her in the TV room but usually she would have enough of close time and give the signal that she was ready to go to the bedroom.

Her piercing bark was a great welcome after a day at work. All the other dogs would bark and she would chime in from wherever she was. Sometimes she wouldn't even get up, just bark from the bedroom.

Feeding time will be a lot quicker now as she definitely took her time while eating. The other dogs would finish in a couple of minutes and she would take about 20. Mike and I were laughing last night that Monty, one of our Yorkies, would lose his major food source, which was Shadow's bowl as he snuck in bites while she was eating.

I will miss cuddling with her in the mornings and at night, while reading before bed, sharing time with her and watching her shake her head after a scratch session and looking into her beautiful eyes. The same beautiful eyes I looked into yesterday when she left this world.

Mike and I will always remember Shadow. She was a huge part of our family, of our lives, and we will forever be grateful for the time we had with her.

I couldn't write about Shadow without reminding everyone reading that our shelters are filled with senior dogs and cats and all they want is love and a comfy place to sleep.

Thanks for reading.

One Day at a Time in activism

Making the world a better place for all living beings is what we are all about. As we know from our own experiences and those shared by friends and readers, life can quickly become filled and sometimes it is easy to get overwhelmed.

In recovery circles, "One Day at a Time" is all about doing the best one can TODAY, and not worrying about yesterday or tomorrow. This is equally powerful for activists.

What can I do today to help end the suffering of animals on factory farms?

What can I do today to support another activist?

What can I do today to promote veganism and a plant-based diet?

What can I do today to take care of myself?

Many days this is a pretty simple list: go to work, have dinner with my husband, love on the furries, write a blog post, promote veganism, pray and meditate.

Other days, well, you know!

Life gets crazy sometimes. If you are like us, you are inundated with information about these dogs about to be euthanized, this cat needing a home right now or she'll be killed, sign this petition, like this page, join this group, and etc!

Whew!

My head is so much more clear when I stay in today. Sometimes just staying in the moment. This is part of taking care of myself and I always feel like I am a better husband, friend, activist, and voice for the voiceless when I am doing this. If I get consumed with what I did or didn't do yesterday and get freaked out about what I possibly can't get accomplished tomorrow, then today has a good chance of being a wasted day. And quite simply, there is too much at stake for that.

Past posts I have written have included simpler actions one can take when trying to make the world a better place for all living beings. Add this idea to that list.

Today I am trying to get a couple of dogs adopted. I signed a petition. I talked to a couple of people interested in animal rights about dead piles at feed lots. I loved on my husband even more for making me delish vegan oatmeal cookies.

What a day!

Thanks for reading!

Our first restaurant review(s)

We live in Lakewood, CO, a suburb of Denver. Most of the restaurants we go to are in the west metro area. We try to support places where we live.

We are ecstatic to share our experiences at two restaurants just west of downtown Denver (10 minutes from our home): Linger and Root Down. Owned by the same person, we tried them both last week and just had to share our thoughts with you. I realize that if you don't live in the Denver area this might be some sort of a tease, yet that just means you know you have great places to eat when you come to Denver!

Both restaurants are rather new in the Denver restaurant scene. If you have ever read any of our restaurant reviews on Yelp, you know that when we review restaurants we focus on two things: the availability of delicious vegan food and the presence of great service.

Both Linger and Root Down blow it out of the ballpark in both areas. As vegans, one of the great deals about their menus is that all vegans dishes or dishes that can be made vegan are clearly marked. No guessing. And the dishes we tried were so delicious that we totally took our time eating and savored each bite.

At Linger we enjoyed dishes that were centered around eggplant, butternut squash, and ethnic delights from Thailand and India. Yet the best was to come. If you are ever there for dinner and they have their vegan Peanut Butter & Jelly Cup on the menu, order it! Seriously, every bite was a little taste of heaven and each taste was more unbelievable than the previous one. We could not believe this dessert. After 16 years of vegan desserts, this was truly one of my all-time favorites. Maria was our server and made us feel incredibly welcome and that she was glad we were there. Also, as each dish was brought out, those helping Maria explained what we were eating and knew everything there was to know about the dish.

Our experience was very similar at Root Down. Again, all vegan (and gluten-free) items are marked so no guessing. Again, prefect service, thanks to Hillary and one of her peers whose name I cannot remember. We sat at the bar as there was no room in the restaurant, and we had a blast. Mike ordered the Risotto and I ordered a tofu dish, both incredibly delicious. We started with a vegan slider. Hillary recommended a cocktail for Mike (he loved it) and when I told her that I don't drink alcohol she made me a delish mocktail!

I could go on and on. We can't wait to go back. We highly recommend reservations as they fill up all the time and the bar fills up too. Both places make it easy to share, so order several dishes. For us, both restaurants are on the high end regarding cost yet 100% worth it. And during happy hour they have vegan items on the menu.

Check them out, and let us know what you think!

Thanks for reading!

Building bridges

In 1993 a group of Baptist churches in southeast Virginia paid for a full-page add in the Virginian Pilot, the largest paper in southeast Virginia, to make it clear that they believed homosexuality was an abomination and that all practicing homosexuals were going to hell. They paid for this add because there had been some confusion as to whether all of their churches were on the same page regarding homosexuality based on an article the week prior in the same newspaper.

Gay, but not completely out of the closet, I joined several dozen protesters one Sunday morning in front of Norfolk Baptist Church to speak out against the ad and against spending so much money on an ad like that when the money could have been used to serve the less fortunate (or something like that). It was a bitter cold day and the church invited us in to get warm. The press interviewed me and that evening and all the next day I was all over the news with my comments.

Comments based on love in my heart for all people and a conversation I had just had with a family from the church. We chatted as they were leaving and the father said something that has stuck with me ever since: "We all have more in common than not".

How true, and part of our mission at The Gay Vegans and at Cruelty-Free World is to promote that idea. It is the opposite idea of trying to demonize someone with whom you disagree.

I came face to face with that idea with reaction to my recent blog about the rodeo.

Since starting this blog back in June I have received a lot of feedback. Many people disagree with what I write, whether it's animal rights activists saying I don't write strongly enough against non-vegans, people who have to clarify that they are not anti-gay because they believe I am going to hell (yet think I'm a great guy otherwise), or people who get mad for writing against something they have lived with their entire lives.

Take away their one or two opinions to which we disagree and then we can start the bigger list of things we can agree on, and in the even bigger picture, work together to make the world a better place for all living beings. And in the end, I believe most people support equality, condemn cruelty to animals, and are against discrimination in any form.

We all have more in common than not.

Thanks for reading.