Good morning all. Cool here today....and cloudy. It was 64 when I took Alfie out for his morning walk at 8:30. Now, at 11:27 it is down to 60.8.
Just took a dried heel of a bread loaf out and broke it up into tiny pieces and scattered it around the corner of the backyard for my winged friends.
I was glad to see that my tomato plants did not suffer from being transplanted from their little boxes into the ground. At least they did not wilt like they sometimes do at first. Hard to believe that we had 95 degrees back at the beginning of the week. We had just over 1 inch of rain on the plants after I put them in the ground and that helps. Mother Nature's water is so much better for plants than our treated drinking water. At least the growing things seem to think so.
My day was ruined when I opened our morning paper on the computer and read the story about a sub human type in the little town of Slater, Missouri who shot video tape while he slapped his little 8 month old Beagle around. She was helpless and tried to fend him off with her front paws but he'd continue to hit her head hard enough to send her tumbling. Then he showed it around to friends so they could see how this coward spent his time enjoying himself. Well.....it got posted on the Internet....and the response has been world wide. One of his "friends" took the puppy away from him but the local law enforcement cowards said no law had been broken. Initially they returned the puppy to him but I guess it is being fostered by someone else right now, "until things cool down". Then I suppose the poor little gal will be returned to him to suffer more abuse. Missouri is such a "pit". Last November the voters, statewide, approved a proposition to drastically increase restrictions on puppy breeding operations....increase penalties.....and lots of other restrictions in an attempt to close down the puppy mills that Missouri has become famous for. But democracy does not exist here. The breeders and agricultural organizations poured money into the campaign funds and pockets of our corrupt state legislature and governor to get a bill passed which effectively wipes out what the voters had approved. So Missouri will continue on as the puppy mill capital of the country....along with Iowa, Nebraska, Illinois, Arkansas & Kansas. There are times I would genuinely support some vigilante action against these sub-human primates that run the operations and treat animals like this. They are cowards, of course. A little 8 month old puppy can't do much to defend herself. If she bit him he'd probably just beat her around more severely. Honestly....there are many times when I'm just plain ashamed to be a part of the human species. Anyway...guess I'd better dive into some housework that my wife still can't do with her bad shoulder, while she is at her therapy session. Perhaps I can push this story of the puppy out of my mind....for a while at least.
Hope the rest of you have a better day than mine has started out to be.
P.S. I forgot to mention the sweet black Lab who's owner had left her chained to her filthy dog house in Kansas City......and some teenage sub-humans came along, poured gasoline on the helpless dog and set fire to her. She was rescued....taken to a vet....lost both ears and severely burned on other parts of her body. Imagine the pain she must have suffered. I guess she's going to recover and the vet's people say she is easy going and sweet tempered. If I were that dog I'd be ANYTHING but sweet tempered after that experience. Cops say they have a suspect but so far nothing has happened. The owner should be charged too as far as I'm concerned.
I wonder if Alfie and Charlie and the rest of all our pets realize how lucky they are. No, of course they don't. Alfie thinks he's abused if his dinner is more than 15 minutes late....or he gets left at home alone for a while.
Know what you mean about humankind. 
But think of all the good humans who do everything to make animals' lives better/comfortable. And I'd say that is all of us on this forum who have furkids.
Jackie (kitten rescued last July 4th) broke an upper canine off, about 1/4 of bottom was missing. Luckily, we noticed it early since we do regular teeth checks, and she was getting her daily play time (to lose weight).
Tooth was saved with a root canal! Care Credit to the rescue, payments with no interest; but still, the debt we go into for our animal buddies.
Root Canal, before
Root Canal, after
Before
After (special mix of human colors to match her tooth)
spd2demun wrote:Know what you mean about humankind.
Jackie (kitten rescued last July 4th) broke an upper canine off, about 1/4 of bottom was missing. Luckily, we noticed it early since we do regular teeth checks, and she was getting her daily play time (to lose weight).
Tooth was saved with a root canal! Care Credit to the rescue, payments with no interest; but still, the debt we go into for our animal buddies.
Good catch, spd! And good images, too.
docbombay
Saw a pet story on the local news here 2 days ago that just made me sick. Somebody had a Newfie that looked just like Charlie and the owner didn't like him barking. So he took him to a fly-by-night vet who severed/removed his voice box. Scare tissue formed blocking half his throat and owner decided he didn't want him anymore. Dog was rescued, scar tissue removed, and the sound this happy-looking dog made was pathetic. Felt like hunting the original owner down and doing the same to him. 
Glad they fixed Jackie's canine Spd and looked like they did a really good job. Thanks for the pics!
I mentioned in the weather thread a Catbird here is driving me a little nuts with it's call. Well, yesterday pruned all my hedges back including one which was 8' tall down to 6'. Last evening was cleaning things up and heard a bird call and this bird swooped down and just brushed my head/hair. Didn't peck me or anything and I must have heard him coming because I ducked.
Today I found the Catbird nest in that bush and it was only 6" down from where I pruned the bushes back. And I'll have to try and get a photo of this nest. Too funny because the bird found a long thin piece of while ribbon, like comes off of a helium balloon people let go of, and wrapped it around the nest. Believe the male built the nest and he's serious about this chick with no cattin' around. 
Y'all already know how I feel about animal abusers. All I can hope for is they go to a bad place in the next life. 
When I used to do rescue (besides my private brood!), I had to think of the Starfish Story. If you've never heard of it, take a look here; each life saved matters to the one being rescued. 
Read a story in the Houston paper about a police officer shooting a dog in the face! There's a video in the story, and the caretaker just wants the Vet bills to be paid; the city said the dog is considered property!
Then a guy near Houston claims a feral cat got into his house and terrorized him, so he stabbed him with a knife. Cat was tested for rabies and put down. Nice! I can tell you I've worked with many ferals and I've never had one attack or chase me; cats run, unlike most dogs. Something very fishy about this story and the cat died for it.
edit URLs
Real nice Starfish story Spd and hits home.
If indeed the Houston Police consider a dog to be "personal property" than the owner should contact their homeowners policy and let the insurance agents go after the city. They're going to be paying a whole lot more in bad PR than in paying the poor dog's vet bills.
Yeah, something's really goofy about that whole cat story and doesn't make sense. All feral cats I've seen are super elusive and will run from a human in a heartbeat.
Guess I'll we can do is do the best for the pets/animals rescued and apply pressure for harsher penalties for those who abuse animals.
I liked the starfish story, SPD. Point taken.
One more.... and then I'll drop it. Walking Alfie yesterday morning....along one of our regular routes. There is a home with a couple and one little girl....perhaps 4 or 5 yrs. old. They recently acquired a new puppy....a Beagle. As we walked by the girl was out in the front yard, alone with her new puppy. Puppy was doing its jobs and then wanting to be playful with her.....like puppies do. But I think the child was not all that happy about having to take puppy outdoors and wait for it to finish its duties. She had a stick in her hand and....until she spotted Alfie and me approaching, it looked like she was about to start hitting the puppy. But she stopped when she saw us. The question ran through my mind....what should I do if I witnessed her abusing the pup? Say something directly to her?....Go to the door and say something to the parent?....Just stand there and glower at her? (I've got a pretty mean glower that I used to control my 3 boys with)....or do nothing and just call the city animal control? I've already got myself in dutch with a neighbor who leaves his little Parson Russell Terrier outside in all kinds of weather. Last summer daytime highs were getting to 100+ degrees and that little dog was left out in it all day long. I offered to check on him and fill his water dish during the day when they were gone. Boy did he ever jump down my throat....informed me that his wife was a stay-at-home mom. At home all day....and that they loved and took care of their dog and that I was sticking my nose in their business. He was really mad and literally shouting at me right out side my front door. My motivation was good. I do not feel guilty. Dogs are especially vulnerable to high temperatures. Their only cooling mechanism is through their tongue when they pant.....and, I guess, to a certain degree the pads of their paws. They do not perspire as we humans do. I could also add that they often leave the dog outdoors all night during summer and he barks at anything he thinks he sees or hears during the night....and our bedroom is on the corner of our house facing their yard. Ever try going back to sleep after being wakened at 3 to 4 AM? Was I being nosy? In either case a dog-loving person can get into hot water for getting involved on behalf of the abused animal. I guess, probably, the best move is to just call animal control or the Humane Society. They will normally not reveal who reported the incident to them and that would preserve peace among neighbors. Oh yeah...now the little terrier has a friend that his family acquired for Christmas. Same breed. Just as noisy...maybe more so.
Phil, since you have Alfie with you, maybe approach her and ask about her new puppy. What's his/her name? How old?
Then start with a line of Did You Know facts about puppies/dogs. Use Alfie as example--puppy pictures, what he likes to do, how to play fetch...
Most likely she has no clue and the parents obviously haven't taught her anything. You sure don't want to get shot or something by the parents! You could try talking to them next, but what you've already gone through with the other neighbors, be careful.
Take a video if you see it again; send it to a local TV station and see if they'll investigate--or post it on YouTube.
Then there's always ALDF.
And again, because humans are always moving in and taking over. My answer would have been HUMANS (kill more people each year).
More caring animal-people. And to cheer up Phil.
After dark, teams comb tornado ruins for lost pets...
When the sun goes down, frightened and lost pets emerge from the rubble...
Apparently it didn't work since I saw TV footage of animals trying to swim, deer on rooftops (laying down), raccoons all wet and up trees; they can't stay there until the water recedes without food. Thanks, Corp!
I feel strongly about this since they could decide to do the same thing out here. We're near an Army Corp. of Engineers project that was built in the 1940s because of constant downtown Houston flooding. This was not a populated area then, and mostly farmland. Not true today, but I'll guarantee you WE won't count if it's a choice between here and downtown.
Just like who gets a space shuttle...money talks. I feel bad for those who are getting flooded; and why was NOLA spared? I'm not going futher as it'll get political...
Going off-topic from the off-topic ...
I've always been a Netflix fan. I've been a member since about 2007, and have been renting DVDs (and then Blu-Rays) for a long time. However, they kind of changed their focus about a year ago, and focused more on streaming than discs. I have tried to stream a few movies, but have been so disappointed in the quality that I stop watching after a few minutes. Plus, I'm a Blu-Ray fan anyway.
But ever since the focus on the streaming instead of discs, many movies that I've queued they either don't have on Blu-Ray, don't have available at all, have as streaming only, or there's an incredibly long wait.
So late last week, I started investigating other options and was amazingly surprised by a few things.
First, I signed up online with Blockbuster. Unlike Netflix which has focused on streaming, Blockbuster seems squarely focused on discs. Nearly every last Blu-Ray that I was looking for and unable to get at Netflix was available at Blockbuster. I received my first one from Blockbuster on Saturday (original Tron), and thoroughly enjoyed it.
The other thing I did was sign up for Redbox. The Redbox kiosks are everywhere, and while the selection is much smaller than Blockbuster or Netflix, the key with them is being able to get a new release very quickly. They carry Blu-Rays too. You can actually look up a film online, and reserve it at a kiosk, and it'll let you pick it up when you go to the kiosk. They also allow you to return the discs to any kiosk, not just the one you rented it from.
With the new bandwidth caps that are supposed to be here but aren't, I think disc rental may pick back up somewhat as people may not be able to stream as much as they like. The cool part is that Netflix, Blockbuster, and Redbox are all standing by to keep sending those discs in the mail though, which rings up 0.0 GB on the bandwidth meter.
Anyhow, I thought I'd share for those who may not have used one or more of these services that they're all excellent.
Phil -- this may be too late to help, but usually you get into safe mode by holding down the F8 key while the computer is booting. You could also use the task manager to stop certain processes and/or services which may be affecting performance. Nice of you to help out your b-i-l!
I have a bunch of vinyl LPs from the 60's, but have never gotten around to digitizing them. My turntable's in a closet somewhere, not even hooked up. One of many "get around to its" I never got around to!
