This website has decided to retire early, just like me :)
Since blogging is addictive, I'll still be posting at my new site The Youngest Snowbird. Race ya there!
March 29, 2011
January 29, 2011
This Is NOT a Fairytale
Once upon a time there was a little family we'll call Dick, Jane and Spot.
Dick and Jane had adopted Spot from a doggie rescue and loved Spot to pieces. They realized that they were ready to adopt one more fuzzy friend so they scoured the internet day and night until they found little three legged Timbit.
Dick and Jane read Timbits write-up on Petfinder and he sounded like a great pup. That very day they emailed the dog rescue agency where Timbit lived and were given contact information for Timbits foster mom, the place Timbit lived while he was waiting for his new home.
Dick, Jane and Spot were sooo excited they could hardly sleep the night before the big meeting. They all hopped in the car early the next morning and drove two hours to meet Timbit, the pup who could become the newest addition to their family.
Three legged Timbit was a bit hesitant at first but warmed up to Dick and Jane after a few treats and walks. The adoption went through and Jane paid the rescue agency adoption fee of $250 and then threw in another $100 on top of that to help the other rescue dogs a bit.
Great story so far, but definitely NOT a fairytale ending. Or in this case - Fairytail.
During the adoption process, Dick and Jane learned that the foster mom (for clarity's sake we'll call her Cruella) was actually a puppy breeder. Three legged Timbit was one of Cruella's purebred dogs, but with only three legs he wasn't exactly the 'pick of the litter'. So she attempted to adopt him out through the very reputable website Petfinder - an online database of adoptable pets in the care of about 10,000 animal welfare organizations in the USA and Canada. I will also mention that Petfinder EXPLICITLY BANS BREEDERS FROM SELLING THEIR DISCARD DOGS on the site.
In the end, Dick and Jane returned Timbit to Cruella. They saved all the email communication regarding Timbit and they are contacting the Petfinder head honchos to report this abuse of a very credible and worthwhile adoption website. Jane is so ticked off she may also contact the local Small Business Owners Association and the BBB to report what happened.
It may not be illegal, but it was completely unethical.
Most dog rescue agencies do very thorough checks on potential adopters, to be sure their dog buddies are going to stable, loving homes. Jane offered (via email) to fill out a complete dog application and email it back, but the foster mom said it wasn't necessary. Dick and Jane also made it clear they lived in another country and would be taking Timbit with them, yet the only info the foster mom had was their email address and cell phone number. If you've ever adopted a pet from a rescue agency you know the process is much more complex and complete than that. As it should be.
And nowhere in the Petfinder ad for little Timbit did it mention that his foster mom also happened to be his original PUPPY BREEDER.
Dick and Jane are completely against puppy breeders. If you don't understand why, you need to read this:
Below is a letter from a shelter manager. It is intended to be read by anyone who breeds dogs, buys dogs from a breeder or is considering taking their dog to a shelter. It is very difficult to read but this is the reality of continuing to breed dogs when shelters are full to overflowing. Please pass this along to anyone and everyone you know who is considering buying a puppy from a breeder or taking their pet to a shelter.
Letter from a Shelter Manager:
I think our society needs a huge Wake-up call. As a shelter manager, I am going to share a little insight with you all: a view from the inside if you will.
First off, all of you breeders/sellers should be made to work in the back of an animal shelter for just one day. Maybe if you saw the life drain from a few sad, lost, confused eyes, you would change your mind about breeding and selling to people you don't even know.
That puppy you just sold will most likely end up in my shelter when it's not a cute little puppy anymore. So how would you feel if you knew that there's about a 90% chance that dog will never walk out of the shelter it is going to be dumped at? Purebred or not! About 50% of all of the dogs that are owner surrenders or strays, that come into my shelter are purebred dogs.
The most common excuses I hear are; "We are moving and we can't take our dog (or cat)." Really? Where are you moving too that doesn't allow pets? Or they say "The dog got bigger than we thought it would". How big did you think a German Shepherd would get? "We don't have time for her." Really? I work a 10-12 hour day and still have time for my 6 dogs! "She's tearing up our yard." How about making her a part of your family? They always tell me "We just don't want to have to stress about finding a place for her we know she'll get adopted, she's a good dog."
Odds are your pet won't get adopted & how stressful do you think being in a shelter is? Well, let me tell you, your pet has 72 hours to find a new family from the moment you drop it off. Sometimes a little longer if the shelter isn't full and your dog manages to stay completely healthy. If it sniffles, it dies. Your pet will be confined to a small run/kennel in a room with about 25 other barking or crying animals. It will have to relieve itself where it eats and sleeps. It will be depressed and it will cry constantly for the family that abandoned it. If your pet is lucky, I will have enough volunteers in that day to take him/her for a walk. If I don't, your pet won't get any attention besides having a bowl of food slid under the kennel door and the waste sprayed out of its pen with a high-powered hose. If your dog is big, black or any of the Bully breeds (pit bull, rottie, mastiff, etc) it was pretty much dead when you walked it through the front door.
Those dogs just don't get adopted. It doesn't matter how sweet or well behaved they are.
If your dog doesn't get adopted within its 72 hours and the shelter is full, it will be destroyed. If the shelter isn't full and your dog is good enough, and of a desirable enough breed it may get a stay of execution, but not for long . Most dogs get very kennel protective after about a week and are destroyed for showing aggression. Even the sweetest dogs will turn in this environment. If your pet makes it over all of those hurdles chances are it will get kennel cough or an upper respiratory infection and will be destroyed because shelters just don't have the funds to pay for even a $100 treatment.
Here's a little euthanasia 101 for those of you that have never witnessed a perfectly healthy, scared animal being put-down. First, your pet will be taken from its kennel on a leash. They always look like they think they are going for a walk happy, wagging their tails. Until they get to The Room, every one of them freaks out and puts on the brakes when we get to the door. It must smell like death or they can feel the sad souls that are left in there, it's strange, but it happens with every one of them. Your dog or cat will be restrained, held down by 1 or 2 vet techs depending on the size and how freaked out they are. Then a euthanasia tech or a vet will start the process. They will find a vein in the front leg and inject a lethal dose of the pink stuff. Hopefully your pet doesn't panic from being restrained and jerk. I've seen the needles tear out of a leg and been covered with the resulting blood and been deafened by the yelps and screams. They all don't just go to sleep, sometimes they spasm for a while, gasp for air and defecate on themselves.
When it all ends, your pets corpse will be stacked like firewood in a large freezer in the back with all of the other animals that were killed waiting to be picked up like garbage. What happens next? Cremated? Taken to the dump? Rendered into pet food? You'll never know and it probably won't even cross your mind. It was just an animal and you can always buy another one, right?
I hope that those of you that have read this are bawling your eyes out and can't get the pictures out of your head I deal with everyday on the way home from work. I hate my job, I hate that it exists and I hate that it will always be there unless you people make some changes and realize that the lives you are affecting go much farther than the pets you dump at a shelter. Between 9 and 11 MILLION animals die every year in shelters and only you can stop it. I do my best to save every life I can but rescues are always full, and there are more animals coming in everyday than there are homes. My point to all of this DON'T BREED OR BUY WHILE SHELTER PETS DIE!
Hate me if you want to. The truth hurts and reality is what it is. I just hope I maybe changed one persons mind about breeding their dog, taking their loving pet to a shelter, or buying a dog. I hope that someone will walk into my shelter and say "I saw this and it made me want to adopt." THAT WOULD MAKE IT WORTH IT.
For those of you that care, please repost this letter and email it to your family and friends.
The end.
January 25, 2011
Addicted to Traffic Paint
Not ingesting it... just marking my territory :)
Since My Fella and I discovered pickleball, we've been playing every day. And recently the local pickleball court has been resurfaced but the lines haven't been repainted.
So I volunteered to do it. Actually I volunteered 'us' to paint it. My Fella loves when I do that :)
We picked up the supplies from a Tucson Home Depot yesterday. The paint, a 2 pack of painters tape and mini roller/tray/brush set cost the same as one gallon of traffic paint in Canada.
A pickleball court is about a quarter the size of a tennis court and the owner just wanted the outline of the court and the center line painted so that saved a lot of work.
The whole project took about 4 hours and I'm pretty pumped to try out PBE (pickleball extreme) on the newly resurfaced court.
January 21, 2011
Lovin' the Pickleballs
Hangin' out with all our new senior buddies, this was bound to happen.
My Fella and I have fallen hard for Pickleball.
Pickleball is the fastest growing sport you've never heard of - a cross between tennis and ping pong. It's played on a surface the size of a badminton court, over a net 34" at the center and 36" high at each end - a few inches lower than a regulation tennis net.
And apparently Pickleball was named after the founders' dog Pickles who chased around the balls, which to me is reason enough to love it :)
Tennis has been my sport of choice since my teens and My Fella and I have been playing regularly, five times a week...
Until I recently got tennis elbow - from ten pin bowling, of all things. My tennis game has really gone downhill, and my lack of strength when trying to grip a tennis racket is just frustrating.
Several of our neighbours here at Dodge City RV (including Uncle Jerry and Auntie Iko next door) all rave about pickleball, so we fell victim to peer pressure and gave it a try. Turns out we love it.
We're still learning the rules, but it's more exciting and a much better work-out playing our own style: No Rules Extreme Pickleball. Yup, we made that up, but it works for us.
The pickleball addiction has hit so hard that we're springing for our own pickleball paddles and balls. And we have to buy everything online since we can't find them in any local sports stores. The rackets cost $30 to $60 bucks each and a bag of a dozen balls is $20.
It's an easy sport to learn and extremely fun to play. And if you go all out with Extreme Pickleball, you'll get an excellent cardio workout.
My Fella and I will definitely be bringing our new balls and paddles home to play Extreme Pickleball at our local outdoor tennis court in the BC backwoods. After reading how little exercise most Canadians get I'm hoping the sport eventually catches on in Canada as well.
*Another quick entertainment note: We recently caught The Social Network at a matinee at the cheap theatre in Tucson - $1.50 each. Haven't paid that price for a movie ticket since junior high. The Social Network is loosely based on the creation of Facebook, by Mark Zuckerberg and pals. The flick is excellent, especially since Facebook just raised $1.5 billion in investor cash from Goldman Sachs. Two paws up for The Social Network.
December 20, 2010
Lunar Eclipse
My Fella is excited to get up at 1:17am to see the lunar eclipse tonight.
Wierdo.
Of course I usually wake up at 5:45am every weekday to get caught up on the business news. And I don't even have a job.
Hmmm. Apparently us wierdos stick together :)
August 01, 2010
Tennis Court Update
When my pal NewsMama was here she wanted to know if I finished painting the tennis court lines.
Typepad locked me out of my blog the day after I started painting so I hadn't posted an update. Since you are clearly following the tennis court saga very very closely, here is the finished court.
It took me three days of taping/painting, two supply runs into the 'big city', and a lot of non-solicited advice from interested NON-participants. But I finished.
Since then, My Fella and I have been playing 4 or 5 times a week and I see a lot more locals using it now, which is great. Anything that gets folks more active.
And it was a nice surprise to spot a small article in our local community newsletter thanking me for volunteering my time. Actually it must have been a slow news month out here in the BC backwoods, cause I got two mentions on both the front and back pages of the newsletter : )
And you gotta love a community where the word skookum is part of our everyday vocabulary.
June 21, 2010
The Return of the Traffic Paint
Last year I re-painted all the traffic lines in our old condo parking lot.
Clearly I haven't had enough line painting torture, because I've recently volunteered to repaint the lines of our local community tennis court. My Fella and I are the only ones that ever really use it (although it will probably get more use now that summer is here) and the lines are almost non-existent.
The court is supposedly being resurfaced next year, but it really doesn't need a new surface, just new lines. The community association folks promised to reimburse me for the materials, so a few days ago I bought one gallon of white traffic paint, a small roller with two roller pads and paint tape - total cost of $52 including taxes.
Unfortunately when My Fella calculated the amount of painters tape needed, we forgot that everything needed double lines, so I ran out tape halfway through.
We won't get into town to buy more supplies until tomorrow or Wednesday so the court will have to stay half-painted until then.
The right side of the court definitely looks a little naked, but my back is very happy about getting some rest in between painting sessions.
Here's a couple views of the gorgeous scenery my eyeballs see when strolling from our RV resort down to the tennis court.
And in local wildlife news, when I got home from painting this morning I noticed that Mama Sparrow has been very busy.
Sparrow Nest #2 (tucked away in our cedar) now has four little blue eggs.
Nature rocks.
June 14, 2010
June 04, 2010
Interviews
For one third of my life I worked at a big city radio station.
It was usually number one or two in the radio ratings and as a result, we got to host a lot of fun interviews with musicians, athletes and other famous folks, like the Dixie Chicks.
My fave interview was with David Chilton, author of The Wealthy Barber. He's smart and witty and rich (thanks to his best-selling book) but still very humble.
Figuring he was probably a squillionaire by now, I asked him to marry me (on the radio) and he said yes. After the interview, he sent me an autographed copy of his book, with this written inside...
"I look forward to spending the rest of my life with you..." Funny guy :)
The one person I've never met, but would love to sit down with is Ron MacLean, from Hockey Night In Canada.
He falls into the category of "Celebrity Crush Old Enough to Be My Dad", but there is something so interesting about him. Like David Chilton, MacLean is smart and witty... and I admire how smooth he is leading Don Cherry during Coach's Corner.
And My Fella just gave me something new to admire about Ron MacLean.
Yesterday, while you and I were enjoying lunch, The Ronster was rescuing a suicidal man from the Delaware River.
May 18, 2010
Woman Sues Rogers After Her Cell Bill Exposed Her Cheating
If you haven't heard about this you can read the full story at The National Post online. If I had written this news story, the headline would read:
The More People I Meet, the More I Love My Dog .
