Writing,poetry,photography, animals,nature,politics and the vagaries of a wandering mind.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Illegal drugs and the so-called war on them...
I am for the legalization of drugs. I am also in favor of medical marijuana and the growing of industrial hemp (which won't make you high in the field).
My Dad, a straight arrow, drank alcohol in the speakeasies during Prohibition. He also smoked marijuana, and he dated wild, flapper girls the same time (and on the same nights) he was dating my mother.
When they got married, he gave up his wild ways. There was one bottle of medicinal rye in the corner of the topmost shelf of the cabinet over the refrigerator. It came out when he broke his foot, and when Mom made him hot toddies when he had pneumonia. I don't think it was ever finished or replenished.
He smoked a pipe and an occasional cigar. He was a good kid from a large Italian family, who had an exemplary work ethic, a mild and kind manner. I couldn't have wished for a better father.
No one can win this war. Read why, here: http://www.alternet.org/drugreporter/89852/
What matters is that you bend the tree in the way it will grow when it comes to family and how you teach the kids.
My son hated the smell of cigarettes. He never smoked, married a non-smoker. I exposed him to smoke. Now I know the dangers of that. I feel guilty about it still, even though I gave up smoking decades ago.
The following site is supposedly the best regarding industrial hemp. http://www.industrialhemp.net/
How does your candidate measure up to this?
If he or she doesn't, maybe you'd better rethink your choices!
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson
never know how soon it will be too late.
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson~
Saturday, June 28, 2008
You are what you eat...
Take a look at this from Alternet.com. http://www.alternet.org/healthwellness/89453/?page=entire
Anyone want my soap recipe, I wonder, as I sit in front of my computer, with cds and plastics all around me. I'm walking on a vinyl floor having ripped up the carpeting finished off with urea. I am bombarded with electronic emissions. Chemicals in the food; my water comes from the Florida aquifer via my well. It contains iron and sulphur. I got rid of the tank that removed them that hooked into my water line.
I think you'll be examining labels in depth from now on if you read this.
Remembering George Carlin -
http://www.alternet.org/stories/89120/?page=entire
It's the link that you can read as one page.
Carlin was a wonderful social commentator and comic. I grew up listening to that guy and the comics like Shelly Berman and Lenny Bruce. I think I must have lived in the best of times for comics. They made you think; they made you laugh, they made it easy for you to consider something and turn it around in your mind, like a three dimensional object. Thinking and laughing are good things. You can do both at once.
I'm gonna miss George.
Friday, June 27, 2008
Do you remember sun showers?
It happened today. I didn't know why the dogs didn't want to go out. I hadn't heard thunder.
I stepped out into the sunny day, the sand (I don't have lawn - I have oak leaves and sand - and it had barely dampened it. There were big spaces between the raindrops left behind. When I got to the gate, it was over.
Time for play, for shrieking, happy children. Alas, there were none. Just me, feeling like a kid again, full of wonder at this lovely moment I shared with the dogs, inhaling the ozone left behind and feeling the dampness on my feet.
Here's the one that got away yesterday in case you want to read it.
Bulletin: A few minutes ago I...
nearly swallowed a spider. I killed one like it last night. I picked up a book (which I really want you to consider reading) off the small chest by the loveseat and took a mouthful , and then thought, "That the heck was that in the water?" How did it get dirty? I hadn't swallowed. I spat it out and there it was - the identical twin of last night's squashing. EEEEUUUUUUuuuuu!They say that you swallow about eight spiders in a lifetime. I'm going to be watching from now on.
It must have fallen in when I picked up the book. EEEEEEEEEUUUUUUUUUU. That was awful! Had the creeps for a long time after that.
Now, back to the book. If you scroll through the old posts, I had linked a video on our contemporary government and its threat to our liberty. My cousin Tom, a staunch conservative, ex-Air Force captain and Viet Nam vet, was very, very upset when he listened to it, because he believes Naomi Wolf who was pictured giving a lecture to students on how precious our liberty is, and how we have let others govern every aspect of our lives, steal our liberties and our rights is virtually a Communist. The book is "The End of America - Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot, a Citizen's Call to Action". Well, I don't agree. Not when you hear her speak, or read the book. What I am getting from it are the "GPS readings" of the warning signs of a disastrous disintegration of our country, and why.
I'm not too far into it. But Wolf has the unique gift of upending the box of the jigsaw puzzle, and show you where the pieces go.
We are here because of the singular courageous acts of our patriots. They were radicals in a time of unease and restraint. Liberty was a radical thought. Whether they were seeking religious freedom as the Pilgrims, or the sweetness of breathing the free air of personal freedom by escaping the rule of a tyrant king, these radical men and women eventually fought an impossible war on soil they claimed as theirs, which of course, displaced our native Americans, but I'm not going to light another fire. King George's fist reached across an ocean, but the blood of the new American patriots boiled and watered and fertilized that fabled tree of liberty. And America was born.
The concept of the founders of this country - that radical thing called FREEDOM - and the carefully crafted Constitution, called for all of us to be engaged in our pursuit of limited government, maximum freedom and the right to privacy. They wanted us to understand, as we walked through our lives to new centuries, that we were given individual responsibility, to protect the preciousness of freedom and liberty and understand the tenets they set down for us.
Today, the Supreme Court has legislated law - not interpreted the Constitution - in the case of the sentencing of rapists, particularly in the case of children, in Louisiana. Rapists, including those who viciously rape children, will only be put to death when they kill their victims. I heard Bobby Jindal, Governor of Louisiana speaking on Glenn Beck's show today, so impassioned, so angry and frustrated that the Justices would disallow the death penalty for rapists of children.
In the case of Heller, a case which decides whether or not residents of Washington, DC are "allowed" to keep and bear arms for hunting and personal protection, they were deciding on OUR RIGHTS, to which we are entitled the moment we are born, if we are free children of a free country. There are, however, restrictions on the types of weapons, and if law enforcement can have them to use at will against free citizens, then we should have them available to us.
The Founders, I'm sure are banging their fists against their coffin lids wherever they are buried, or their ghosts are pacing the cemeteries, forests and fields where they fell birthing America.
This is not really a digression from Naomi Wolf's book. We've been sleeping. And when we awoke, we took liberty and freedom and placed it in the hands of politicians who are mercenaries of corrupt global entities whose sole purpose is the destruction of the concept of freedom and liberty because they don't want us to feel our power. We didn't take the smoldering fire with us as we trekked through those 200+ years from then to now. We didn't teach our children, and we didn't think it was so important that the Constitution be taught and understood in the classroom. Seldom if ever do we hear about it in church, yet it gives us the right to worship as we please.
President Dubya Bush has signed our liberties away with a penstroke many times. And now we are headed into draconian times if we aren't careful...our lives as free men and women are seriously under siege.
Whether you are liberal, conservative, middle of the road, please acknowledge the right to the word "patriot". It is the name proudly worn and earned as a defender of the Constitution in a time where political correctness has sullied its meaning. The rights it denotes, are divinely bestowed to each human being, and not bartered or begged for. It doesn't mean fight and die on foreign soil for a tyrant who made you think it was for the good of America. That war we're fighting, I am convinced is a scam; there is now so much evidence to prove that we have been duped. The forces that control our politicians never sleep.
But neither do patriots.
Read the book for a wake up call.
A Must Read Book by Naomi Wolf
They say that you swallow about eight spiders in a lifetime. I'm going to be watching from now on.
It must have fallen in when I picked up the book. EEEEEEEEEUUUUUUUUUU. That was awful!
Now, back to the book. If you scroll through the old posts, I had linked a video on our contemporary government and its threat to our liberty. My cousin Tom, a staunch conservative, ex-Air Force captain and Viet Nam vet, was very, very upset when he listened to it, because he believes Naomi Wolf who was pictured giving a lecture to students on how precious our liberty is, and how we have let others govern every aspect of our lives, and steal our liberties and our rights. The book is "The End of America - Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot, a Citizen's Call to Action".
I'm not too far into it. But Wolf has the unique gift of upending the box of the jigsaw puzzle, and show you where the pieces go.
We are here because of the singular courageous acts of our patriots. They were radicals in a time of unease and restraint. Liberty was a radical thought. Whether they were seeking religious freedom as the Pilgrims, or the sweetness of breathing the free air of personal freedom by escaping the rule of a tyrant king, these radical men and women eventually fought an impossible war on soil they claimed as theirs. George's fist reached across an ocean, but the blood of the new American patriots boiled and watered that fabled tree of liberty. And America was born.
The concept of the founders of this country - that radical thing called FREEDOM - and the carefully crafted Constitution, called for all of us to be engaged in our pursuit of limited government, maximum freedom. They wanted us to understand, as we walked through our lives to new centuries, that we were given responsibility, individually, to protect the preciousness of freedom and liberty and understand the tenets they set down for us.
Today, the Supreme Court has legislated law - not interpreted the Constitution - in the case of the sentencing of rapists, particularly in the case of children, in Louisiana. Rapists, including those who viciously rape children, will only be put to death when they kill their victims. I heard Bobby Jindal, Governor of Louisiana speaking on Glenn Beck's show today, so impassioned, so angry and frustrated that the Justices would disallow the death penalty for rapists of children.
The Founders, I'm sure are banging their fists against their coffin lids wherever they are buried.
This is not really a digression from Naomi Wolf's book. We've been sleeping. And when we awoke, we took liberty and freedom and placed it in the hands of politicians who are mercenaries of corrupt global entities whose sole purpose is the destruction of the concept of freedom and liberty because they don't want us to feel our power. We didn't take the smoldering fire with us as we trekked through those 200+ years. We didn't teach our children, and we didn't think it was so important that the Constitution be taught and understood in the classroom. Seldom if ever do we hear about it in church, yet it gives us the right to worship as we please.
President Dubya Bush has signed our liberties away with a penstroke many times. And now we are headed into draconian times...our lives as free men and women are seriously under siege.
Whether you are liberal, conservative, middle of the road, please acknowledge the right to the word "patriot". It is the name proudly worn and earned as a defender of the Constitution and the rights it denotes, for rights are divinely bestowed to each human being, and not bartered or begged for. It doesn't mean fight and die on foreign soil for a tyrant who made you think it was for the good of American. That war we're fighting, I am convinced is a scam; there is now so much evidence to prove that we have been duped. The forces that control our politicians never sleep.
But neither do patriots.
Read the book for a wake up call. http://www.amazon.com/End-America-Letter-Warning-Patriot/dp/1933392797/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1214508708&sr=1-1
Observations from the past re...
What I find "interesting" is this:
Patrick Henry - "The great object is that every man be armed..."
Zachariah Johnson - "The people are not to be disarmed of their weapons. They are left in full posession of them." Elliot's Debates, vol. 3 "The Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution."
Thomas Jefferson - "No freeman shall be debarred the use of arms..."
and "The greatest danger to American freedom is a government that ignores the Constitution." Third President of the United States
"… the people are confirmed by the next article in their right to keep and bear their private arms"
Philadelphia Federal Gazette
June 18, 1789, Pg. 2, Col. 2
Article on the Bill of Rights
Alexander Hamilton - "The best we can hop for concerning the people at large is that they be properly armed." The Federalist Papers at 184-8
George Washington - "Firearms stand next in importance to the constitution itself..."
Samuel Adams - "The Constitution shall never be construed... to prevent the people of the United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms." quoted in the Philadelphia Independent
Gazetteer, August 20, 1789.
Therefore:
Four out of Five SCOTUS justices declared the US Constitution (Second Amendment) to be unconstitutional...
This comes from a member of a gunowner's/Second Amendment list.
How weird are posts lost in cyberspace to a perfect stranger...
Naomi Wolf gave a talk to a class about freedom and liberty and how those two states of being, and our rights from God as free men in a free country have been compromised. The video is here if you scroll down far enough. It impacted me profoundly. My cousin Tom, an Air Force captain, conservative Republican, his heart and soul stamped with "USA", tagged her a liberal, and I believe is full of scorn for her. BUT, what she will bring to your attention most of all, is how we came to the shining shores of freedom, how we got to be free, how we have left the responsibility to be engaged in ensuring these rights and freedoms are not infringed in any way. These two states of being - being personally free and having personal liberty - is infringed every time a law is passed or a president decides to bypass Constitutional law and make a decision on a pen stroke, and in recent history, start a war on foreign shores based on lies and fraudulent information, frenzy-fed to us by bombarding media, and economically, bringing us to our knees, and killing innocent people, including our soldiers.
Do I believe the war in Iraq is a cruel boondoggle? Yes I do. You know that already.
Do I believe we have taken "freedom and liberty" for granted? Obviously.
We have given these precious, simple states over to elected officials for safekeeping because we thought they would do the work. They have been bought by the rich and powerful and so sold us out. We have been serenaded by media to believe we still have them when we don't. There really are people in power over our government - they are the global elite, bound to destroy America as we want to know it.
We are many generations away from the wars on our soil that set us free. We think we know what it feels like not to be subjects - but we are; we have become unwitting sheep to the masters with strange names like "The Bilderbergers" and alphabet soup entities like WTO and CFR who pull the strings of our politicians and our media. Freedom feels better than swimming naked in a mountain stream, safe and unfettered. Ever do that?
We need to take the responsibility back for returning the country to it's original glory - full of self-reliant, courageous people who believe something's not right, and who are dedicated to take the reins.
Like the spider I nearly swallowed yesterday, had I not been vigilant and curious about what I saw just before the fluid passed my lips, we need to be every watchful, because our nation deserves our full attention.
No matter what flavor of American politics you are, you deserve to read Naomi's book because it will set up red flags where you didn't see them before. You can get inexpensive copies from Amazon, used. Circulate it. Make your children read it and discuss it over dinner.
I am very impressed.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Black and Blue Jam
I got this bug about two months ago, that my grandchildren and friends enjoy the bounty of wild blueberry jam. So every couple of days, on my daily walk (now accompanied by Slaty dragonflies), I bring a container with me, so I can bring them home. My friend, Jean, who has lived in the area all her life said that once this was a thriving blueberry and citrus district. I can understand the blueberries, but not the citrus. There are some beautiful blueberry bushes in the area I walk, which surely are remnants of the farms long gone. The fruits are large and sweet. Funny thing about the wild ones. The blueberries are tiny, or maybe through cross pollination have become other varieties, because even the leaves are different. And they ripen at different times, too. I have blueberries springing up all over my yard, and because the birds love them, I'm leaving them, or moving them around. They're good for the birds. (And grandchildren.)
I interviewed a man for a magazine article who was the head of the US Bird Banding Laboratory in MD. He lives up the highway. George. He is the consummate birder, and that was his recommendation to me. Let them grow where they are or plant more; the birds will come.
So as I'm plucking from a 10-foot blueberry in Jean's yard, I am serenaded by a mockingbird each time, who no doubt has a nest among the trees and shrubs that grow down one side of her yard and is the boundary between her property and the road. Everytime I go to pick berries, I am treated to a burst of song. Talk about guilt! So I leave behind plenty for the birds and pick only as far as I can reach. The rest is for them.
Last night at about 6:30, the long eared owl started calling. There is a pair that lives around here. I thought it was early, but it had rained, and maybe it was hungry. They wake me at night with their conversations. I wrote a poem about them once, when my little Baggy still had her hearing. I'll stick it here at the end.
Walking up the circle to home with my blueberries and blackberries tucked into the bottom of my shirt, the frogs started singing. It was 6:37 p.m. That's when they tune up - at approximately the same time every night, in every season. After about five minutes the swamp gets silent again. At dark, they begin their nightly chorus for real.
So, since there are buckets of blue- and blackberries to pick as they ripen, I will continue to fill up my plastic freezer bags. I'm working on the fourth quart. I thought it would be fun to combine both blueberries and blackberries - for the medicinal oral treatment of bruised knees and toe bunkers. It's summertime after all, and time for rowdy play for my two year-old Ryan and Alexis who is four.
Here's how: http://www.pickyourown.org/blueberryjam.htm
Laughing at the Moon
by
May Lattanzio
Baggy asleep on my pillow wakes me growlng.
As blindness crept across her eyes, her hearing
took over.
She detests that insolent owl; yodeling, barking, tittering
owl-howling, doing stand-up comedy, practicing
in the dark,
All alone, sitting on a branch somewhere in the
yard.
Master of disguise. A secret belied by owl-joking, having
a hoot at Baggy’s expense.
Out there in the night, waiting for rats and flying squirrelsTo capture on silent wings.
Steaming dinners, fresh caught, fuel the comic,
fuel the hunter.
I saw it once, statue still in a dead tree high over the corral.
Got the flashlight.
Long-eared owl, there you are,
staring back at me in the ink of a new moon.
Summer passed, so did autumn.
Now it is January. Cold. Where are your rats?
The dogs think they are
in the shed, eating grain. Silent flyer -
What do your great golden eyes see?
Full moon glowing through leafless trees.
I hear you telling jokes.
They’re wasted on the dogs, except for Baggy sniffing air.
But not on me.
Break a leg. You’ve practiced long enough,
You’ve got the routine down. It’s showtime!
I hear something different tonight in the fog.
Someone’s answering you close by.
A lady owl’s laughter right on cue.
You’ve got her attention. Now you’re both owl-laughing.
Lucky you.
Now there are two.
(my apologies for the loss in formatting)
A Slang Dictionary for everyone -
It's nice because you can sign up for updates, and there's slang from all over the world, and you can contribute.
Neat.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
SOLICITING MURDER FROM A TALK SHOW HOST
But did you ever think a radio talk show host would solicit the murder of another (Mark Dice, founder of "The Resistance") on the air and not be arrested, tried and sentenced? So he apologized to the target of his hatred by phone. Big deal.
What you'll hear should shock you into calling the station or getting on talk shows yourself and questioning why Michael Reagan is being protected. Is it because he's a dead President's son? IF you and I were plotting like this in a coffee shop and were overheard, we would have the police take us away in handcuffs, arrested, tried and sentenced.
He said it. Like the genie in the bottle, the words can never be erased or put back in the bottle.
There are a lot of unstable people all over the world who might want to gain a little glory from committing a deed like this, especially since Reagan will supply the bullets. Incredible. Listen, please.
Don't get me wrong. I want our military home. I don't want any more lives lost or a war funded that is helping to bring us to our knees. But I do believe our soldiers were wrongly sent on a mission that was a United States set up. I would rather be wrong, but evidence is strong against it. Apparently, Senator Karen Johnson feels the same way. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lgEpaLVjgo&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsEK3kyKfeA&feature=email
BE THIN AND HELP YOUR COUNTRY - SELL YOUR BODY FAT FOR ENERGY!
This is just the things to make the dreams of every obese person in the world come true!
A special look at being overweight at this link: http://www.alternet.org/stories/89127/
It'll give a new meaning to visiting a fat farm. I mean, if this is taken seriously soon we can go to a fat farm to lose weight and profit! Though liposuction is dangerous, we could be paid to give up our fat at a fat farm. Farm our fat!
Maybe "they" could develop a little valve to be placed on our bodies, less barbaric than the crude, cruel methods used in draining bile from the bears at the bile farms in Asia.
Eat all the sweets, Doritos and potato chips you want, and make a visit to a fat farm to get your fat sucked out and do it all again. Dangerous? Maybe. But think of what you'd be doing for America.
I'm ready to do my part - I want to be first in line.
Friday, June 20, 2008
More Sturm and Drang about food...
I got an email from someone very close to me. She and her husband run a very successful plumbing business. The part-timers are gone; they will be taking a couple of trucks off the road. Two men were sent home for lack of business.
I can't afford full tanks of gas. A couple of weeks ago it cost $65 to fill up the tank in my van.
Trips to town, 17 miles away, are put off until I just can't any longer.
From a link on Carolyn Baker's blog, came this story. It's about food, weather, shortages. You need to read this. If this is the only thing you read today, please take the time.
My friends who farm in Missouri had flooded corn. They are serious farmers.
The price of fuel effects the price of food; how it is planted, how it is harvested, how it is processed, packaged and brought to you. Weather affects the price of food. Cattle are being sold because they are too expensive to feed, which means there will be no calf crop; the same with other livestock.
So, to make your day better, or worse (a matter of perspective), please go here and read this article and get prepared for some rough times ahead.
http://cryptogon.com/?p=2753
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Try to get your head around this one...
It's about techno-fascism. If you don't know what that is, then you have to read it...right?
Poaching and the Gorillas of Virunga
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2007/12/gorilla-massacre/massacre-video-interactive
I have read "Gorillas in the Mist", Diane Fossey's book which brought these mountain gorillas into public view. In this short clip, with its beautiful photography and sensitive narration, you will understand why they were so important. They had their niche in this world. Be forewarned. It is painful footage. The gorillas were murdered, essentially, for charcoal - an industry which is decimating forest - and when no forest is left, what will be left for anyone; any thing?
Like with oil, need must be tempered with common sense, so that conservationists, oil companies and native species coexist.
I had a macaque once, and not for very long. Her name was Mickey. In "Waltz on the Wild Side - an Animal Lover's Journal", I wrote of her. She was tied into a tree by a long chain. The people were moving, as I remember, and couldn't take her. So we bought her, altruistically thinking a primate - this monkey - would fit easily into our eclectic family of critters and be a companion for my son.
She was wild as the wind, and it became almost immediately apparent, that I did not have the knowledge or the facilities to cope with my little cousin. So I gave her to the friend who was second in line for her purchase. Mickey became vicious and had to be returned to her original owner, once again to be tied into her tree. A couple of weeks later, she had hung herself.
Perhaps, with Carol and I, she remembered being in a house, free of her chains, even for a little while. Perhaps not.
I realized, because I experienced it with Mickey...that primates belong in the forest or their natural habitat...not a prisoner of chains. We incarcerate people. We should not let our closest relatives be incarcerated, nor should we condone the destruction of their homes, or murder them for greed while destroying our homes, too.
God - can't we leave anything alone?
An irreverent look at food shortages, tongue in cheek (whose tongue), of course.
from Jason Miller's blog.
Bon appetit!
(And this at 8:16 in the a.m. from a tree hugging, nature and wildlife loving Grandma who makes no excuses for her passions?)
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Hydrogen powered cars are a reality...
Fox News did a nice report on this technology as it applies to Dennis Klein of south Florida and his hydrogen powered car. The by-product is WATER! Take a look. Why aren't our car companies doing this? Just gotta wonder.
Black pets and adoption...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25123004/#storyContinued
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Microchipping Pets - Have we been fed Pie-in-the-Sky?
A microchipped pet finds its way home again. What a wonderful invention.
Maybe not so wonderful. The internet is loaded with pros and cons from the chip makers, BUT the con is always CANCER. The maligancy grows around the chip, encapsulating it or growing adjacent to the implant.
Would you take the chance of microchipping your child if you knew it would cause a rapidly spreading cancer in a short time?
Although there is far more information than I give you here, it is up to you. The site above has a 60 page report on the growth of cancer in rats, mice and dogs. Please read it, including the notes and commentary.
I have a lot of questions for my vet, and for AVID and the FDA tomorrow. Like any drug company, the makers of chips for potential human use are a powerful lobby. Is it a question of money, I wonder? Who would subject their dog or child or elderly Alzheimer patient to this?
I think surgical removal may be an option.
HOORAY FOR SHENAYNAY!
There are two purebred Golden Retrievers and a mom and 13 puppies who look like Weimaraners who need fostering or they will all be euthanized shortly.
Anyone interested?
Saturday, June 14, 2008
THIS IS SHENAYNAY, AND SHE NEEDS A HOME!
She is an inmate of the Bay County Animal Control, a state-of-the-art facility in Youngstown, FL, run by a staff of compassionate, dedicated employees who are not only a credit to the County, but to the animals they are trying to place. The new Director is Jim Crosby, and he has taken this high kill facility down to 50 per cent kill rate through aggressive adoption outreach. His goal is to reduce it further.
Bravo for Jim and his staff.
Shenaynay (Gentle Spirit) is suffering from Big Black Dog Syndrome, through no fault of her own. She was just born big and black. She is half Great Dane and half Doberman, though her head says Dane. Her color is, I am told, blue, though at first she appears black. She is only 14 months old. She seems to know basic obedience, and here she was focused on a Cheerio, fed one at a time.
She came into the reception area with exuberance and met small children, adults, a tiny puppy, and two adult dogs. I've been told that cats do not bother her.
Someone chopped her ears off. A hack job like that tells me that it is possible because she was a big puppy, that she may have been pit bull bait. I just have that feeling.
She is still a silly girl, being so young, but her time is running out. She has been at this facility for weeks.
If you know anyone who rescues Danes, Dobermans or crosses, please direct them to me at inkslinger@bellsouth.net or to Debbie Evernham at this facility, devernham@co.bay.fl.us for more information.
If you are in Florida or the tri-states area, or anywhere else in the USA, we will try to organize
transportation through a canine run.
Please consider this gentle soul for your companion. She is beautiful, inside and out.
Thank you.
Friday, June 13, 2008
Reciva Radio
I sent the site to my musician friend, Kei, and he emailed back and said he was in South Africa.
So I'm sure if you're curious about music from other countries, you'll love this site. Right now, I'm not moving from Brasil.
Friday, the 13th of June
and listen to Reciva Radio. Do you enjoy listening to music when you write or use the computer?
Well, may I suggest Reciva. It's an international site of radio in all subjects from talk to (ugh!) rap, and it's simple to use. Type a country into the search bar after you've registered, and it will list the stations, what they produce, like talk, news, music (and there's all kinds of music), and you're off and listening. Tonight I'm listening to Brazil and bossa novas. Rosa Passos is singing Besame much to a bossa beat.
Good stuff. Easy on the ears and the brain.
I'm starting to pick up pieces of lyrics since I've been reading my Brazilian Portugese word-a-day in my sidebar.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Words of comfort from a friend...
The end of the internet...
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060213/chester
From "Slate"
http://www.slate.com/id/2120440/
Another: http://uwadmnweb.uwyo.edu/infotech/internet2/what.htm
And another: http://networks.internet2.edu/
Here's one from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet2
One thing I have learned. NEVER believe anything you read. Check it out for yourself. Be smart, be aware, be prepared and then do something about it.
Another political website you might like -
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Obamarama....I don't think he's the American Savior...
My beautiful Blade is gone...
Today was the point of no return. Nothing would spare him pain or get better. I will collect his precious ashes on Friday.
Dogs love unconditionally. Blade forgot the abuse done to him by the man who raised him as a puppy. He was happy; the undisputed king of the pack, my fierce protector and my baby.
And now he's gone.
A LIVING LOVE
If you ever love an animal, there are three days in your life
you will always remember....
The first is a day, blessed with happiness,
when you bring home your young new friend.
You may have spent weeks deciding on a breed. You may have
asked numerous opinions of many vets, or done long research in
finding a breeder. Or, perhaps in a fleeting moment, you may
have just chosen that silly looking mutt in a shelter--simple
because something in its eyes reached your heart. But when you
bring that chosen pet home, and watch it explore, and claim
its special place in your hall or front room--and when you
feel it brush against you for the first time--it instills a
feeling of pure love you will carry with you through the many
years to come.
The second day will occur eight or nine or ten years later.
It will be a day like any other.
Routine and unexceptional. But, for a surprising instant, you
will look at your longtime friend and see age where you once
saw youth. You will see slow deliberate steps where you once
saw energy. And you will see sleep when you once saw
activity. So you will begin to adjust your friend's diet--and
you may add a pill or two to her food. And you may feel a
growing fear deep within yourself, which bodes of a coming
emptiness. And you will feel this uneasy feeling, on and off,
until the third day finally arrives.
And on this day--if your friend and God have not decided for
you, then you will be faced with
making a decision of your own--on behalf of your lifelong friend,
and with the guidance of your own deepest Spirit. But
whichever way your friend eventually leaves you--you will
feel as long as a single star in the dark night.
If you are wise, you will let the tears flow as freely and as
often as they must. And if you are
typical, you will find that not many in your circle of family
or friends will be able to understand your grief, or comfort you.
But if you are true to the love of the pet you cherished
through the many joy-filled years, you
may find that a soul--a bit smaller in size than your
own--seems to walk with you, at times, during the lonely days
to come.
And at moments when you least expect anything out of the
ordinary to happen, you may feel
something brush against your leg--very very lightly.
And looking down at the place where your dear, perhaps
dearest, friend used to lay--you will
remember those three significant days. The memory will most
likely to be painful, and leave an ache in your heart--As time
passes the ache will come and go as if it has a life of its own.
You will both reject it and embrace it, and it may confuse
you. If you reject it, it will depress you. If you embrace
it, it will deepen you. Either way, it will still be an ache.
But there will be, I assure you, a fourth day when--along
with the memory of your pet--and
piercing through the heaviness in your heart--there will come
a realization that belongs only to you. It will be as unique
and strong as our relationship with each animal we have loved,
and lost. This realization takes the form of a Living
Love--like the heavenly scent of a rose that remains after
the petals have wilted, this Love will remain and grow--and be
there for us to remember. It is a love we have earned. It is
the legacy our pets leave us when they go. And it is a gift
we may keep with us as long as we live. It is a Love which is
ours alone. And until we ourselves leave, perhaps to join our
Beloved Pets--it is a Love we will always possesed.
(by Martin Scot Kosins)
I was greatly blessed by this wonderful boy.
Don't kill the (internet) messenger
I don't think so. The thought/internet police will try to limit and eventually end it. When the genie came out of the bottle, I don't believe anyone knew how rapidly the internet would grow. Knowledge is power, and that endangers governments and shadow governments.
Just because I'm paranoid doesn't mean someone isn't following me!
Your choice on whether or not to click on the site:
http://ipower.ning.com/
What do you think? What do you want to share?
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Tomorrow, I play God -
He had chocolate ice cream tonight; earlier, chicken gizzards and Basmati rice and chicken livers the way he likes them. He almost couldn't finish his ice cream; unusual for him.
Tomorrow I will pack up the chicken livers, put a blanket on the back seat of my van, and take him for a ride. His doctor will come out to the parking lot, so as not to make him walk. Holly misstepped tonight and stepped on the tumor. It hurt him. He cried out. And then, when the chicken livers are gone, my boy will go to sleep.
Tonight he crossed the yard with the others at a trot and not a dead run, to see Emma at the fence. Emma lives next door. The others ran ahead of him.
He has difficulty jumping up on the sofa, so he's been lying on folded serapes or pillows on the floor.
He doesn't want Sophie to bother him, so she is trying very hard to make Maya take his place.
Sophie is in love with Blade - ever since she was a baby. She is nearly a year old and still crazy about him. See the photos in the beginning of the blog.
I will drive him to the facility that will cremate him.
I knew this was fatal. I knew this day will come. There will be no sleep for me tonight.
I cannot allow myself to weep. If I do, I may never stop.
Keep in touch with our soldiers...
No matter how you feel about the war in Iraq or the military in war conditions in Afghanistan, they are the warriors. We have no idea what they are going through.
The effort is explained at the site.
Sunday, June 8, 2008
My newest photo essay on JPG Magazine's site...
Harvard Commencement Speech by J. K. Rowling
Wonderful on many levels - for writers, rescuers, friends and those who are afraid of failure.
No one will entirely forget her words.
Saturday, June 7, 2008
A Blade progress report - Dr. Lowe was right...
The tumor is starting to wrap around to the front of his leg, just at the joint, and now is preventing full motion when he walks or trots. No more streaking around the yard, although he has chased a couple of squirrels, and Vern and Dottie (the cats) a couple of time this week. Today he was lying against the front door and couldn't get up. His bad leg was the one he needed to get up on, and he couldn't. After several attempts, he rolled over to the other side to where he could rise on the other rear leg. He hasn't wanted to go out today. It's very hot outside. It's ok with me.
When I saw that, I knew that it's probably time to say goodbye. I sauteed him chicken liver in butter, flavored with garlic and cajun seasoning. Very tasty to me, and obviously to Blade, too.
I sat in the bedroom with him with the air conditioning on, and fed him one by one.
He needs a bath; this year for the first time, his coat is coarse. This area has had a terrible time with fleas - nothing works - Advantage or Frontline. Both have lost their efficacy. Adams spray still works, but just for a little while. It does knock the fleas down immediately, though. Thank goodness I got rid of the carpets. I stopped feeding the squirrels and dust outside with Sevin where he lays. But it rained a couple of times, and now they're back in full force.
I'm not going to bathe him. I can't take the chance of fracturing that bony tumor. If I put him in the bathtub with nice warm water, and he slips, he'll break his leg in that spot. The cancer thins the bone.
The arrangements have been made with his vet, and we will say goodbye on Wednesday. I will bring chicken livers and feed him, if he wants them, so the last thing he'll know before he shuts his eyes for the last time, is that he was eating something yummy before he got so sleepy...
My beautiful, goofy boy. There's so much life left in him. Damn that tumor!
He'll be cremated and the ashes returned. I have a little jar in my dresser where the ashes of my dearly departed - the dogs and cats I've had cremated reside. I'm taking them with me when I go.
The Last Roundup -
Bet you didn't know this is in the works:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=9238
If you are a writer, an activist of any kind, a photographer, journalist, a Constitutionally savvy citizen, you have to find time to read this. It is a long article from Radar magazine, and it affects YOU!
Friday, June 6, 2008
My sidebar...
What came to me in my email today was appalling. There are 17 elderly apes in several; laboratories the oldest is 54, a frail old lady. R and R has a sanctuary for these animals. What possibly can science gain from these old folks who, I believe, are our closest living relatives. How about some peace in their old age. How about...some humanity; some human compassion?
If you're interested in signing a petition for their release and removal to a safe haven so they can live out their days in peace and comfort, please click on that link.
A new friend who does beautiful studies of primates is Adam Morely, a young man from the UK.
I just found his beautiful work today. Check his images out here: http://www.jpgmag.com/people/typeministry.
Adam signed the petition today. Thank you, Adam.
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Like elephants...
As Maya and I work through her separation anxiety, I remember back 30+ years ago to when we lived in Coloma, CA. There was no more beautiful place on earth, and so when our house sold in Shadow Hills, CA, we packed up and rented a log cabin overlooking the American River, upstream from the Gold Discovery Site park on the other side.
During that time, we made the acquaintance of a woman, also a dog lover, who had taken in a homely little "mostly Pug". Her name was Pugsley. If she was purebred, surely she was the worst example of the breed who ever lived. Her muzzle was gray with age, some teeth were missing; just an old, ugly dog that had found a new foster home as an owner surrender in distress. Her owner and the owner's son had found themselves evicted. The woman was an alcoholic. And Pugsley became the old story of a given up, elderly dog and with that mug, not much of a chance in the shelter at all.
So, knowing all that, and expecting to stay forever in the green and gold valley, we took her in. It was a good fit, and one of the first dogs we ever had to sleep under the covers, snore and outgas all night.
We took her everywhere. She was a tiny little thing. But one day in the parking lot of Raley's, a
large chain grocery in Placerville, she came undone. I was in the store shopping, and my husband held her outside. As hysterical as any human, Pugsley went into the most pitiful array of behaviors, whining, barking, crying, attempting to pull out of her collar.
And then her former owner appeared. It was a tearful reunion for all of us, and for Pugsley, too, who, I'm sure, wept dog tears. It was a humbling experience with a painful lesson. Dogs remember. They remember who loved them in their other lifetimes, and they feel loss to the depths of their doggy souls.
The worst part was the parting. Pugsley's old owner could barely move off and when we turned, Pugsley, in my arms, watched her go.
What terrible things we do to dogs (and cats), and other animals whom we have loved, and have to give up.
Before we moved back to Los Angeles, we gave Pugsley back to her foster mother who said she would keep her.
I don't know. You never know; can never be sure.
There is a wonderful book on animal behavior and emotion called "When Elephants Weep - The Emotional Lives of Animals" by Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson and Susan McCarthy. For anyone
who believes that animals do feel emotion similar to ours, and unbelievers, too, it is excellent.
They do feel.
I have always felt guilty that Pugsley couldn't remain with us, but our situation was unstable then. You do what you must.
As for Maya, shuttled so many times to new environments, I can only hope in time the memories will dim. But she won't forget. They never do.
Monday, June 2, 2008
Mending holes in the fabric of life...
It’s been a long time since I’ve made an entry here.
My German Shepherd, Blade, whose photo appears here and in earlier posts (try the beginning) has been diagnosed with osteosarcoma. My vet said he didn’t need to put Blade through intensive tests; that his hands would tell the story. The story was what I expected and it has cast a pall over life on Sleepy Creek.
Two months ago, he was limping suddenly. I thought maybe he had caught a toenail in the AC duct cover on the kitchen floor. It’s not screwed down because I was going to replace it, and I thought maybe he went through it with the other leg. That would make sense, mechanically. It began swelling that afternoon, and just went from there. He held his leg up for three days, walking on three. And then he began testing it to balance first, then putting weight on it gradually. When he’s in the yard and can extend himself, you can see just a bit of a limp or a weakness. But he’s happy, eating well. Had one or two not-so-good days and I gave him a prescribed pain reliever. The research I’ve done on canine osteosarcoma said that when the tumor erupts, it has already metastasized to the lungs. But he’s not coughing or short of breath. Yet. He’s just barely slower than usual, more content to lounge on the sofa. He’s not out much; it’s been hot. I’m keeping it cool for him inside. He’s out when he wishes.
The decision was made to introduce another dog to the pack. I put my rescue feelers out and ‘lo and behold, there was a beautiful German Shepherd female in the neighborhood in need of a home. Never one to not investigate a dog in need, I got in the van, not really wanting another until Blade was gone. Fate works strangely and in this case, via an email from someone I wasn't sure about a German Shepherd (did I really want another? I was thinking Doberman.) But when the door opened and I saw who was there to greet me on the other side, I dropped to the floor to make friends. Needless to say, Maya (her collar says Maia but I like this spelling best and not because of my name), came home.
She’s been a handful, but I can’t say I blame her. Maya suffers from separation anxiety. Her all too familiar story goes like this. A puppy was taken to a new home. The puppy grew up; the family couldn’t take her on their move, or didn’t want her, and she was put in one of our animal controls or the Humane Soc. of Bay County. Then, a rescue found her and she was put into a foster home. Last November, she was adopted by the girl who gave her to me. She is going to law school and can only take two dogs, not three; not her fault. Last Saturday, Maya came home for good.
Maya’s great with the cats, who disregard the dogs as excessively stupid and classless, although Dottie finds great joy in ambushing and chasing them. And so too, she is good with the other dogs. She will rip up a newspaper (not a big problem). Since she has decided to become my shadow, we are dealing with her insecurity and separation anxiety, which is her greatest problem.
Left for an hour the first day, she tried every window and then opened the back door, letting everyone out. Roxy stayed in the house in the air conditioning, Sophie was on the top back step; Maya and Holly were outside the gate (which had been pushed open, though clasped). I ran in to get a head count. Back outside, I bellowed for the others…Buffy, Bernie, Maggie (Blade stayed in his hole by the barn), and the three vagabonds came running from a romp down by the water. Not good. Alligators.
I made Maya her tag and attached it to her collar.Went to town to the mall Saturday, and again, all the dogs were standing at the gate waiting, panting, but inside. I filled the kiddie pool, to make sure they could all cool off if it happened again..
Yesterday morning, assuring myself the door was closed securely and a cement block placed on the top step, I went for a paddle. As I expected, most of them met me at the gate.
Now that she knows she can open doors, Maya’s not going to give up. I am introducing her by short periods (like ten minutes) to a roomy kennel under a pole shed, and hoping she doesn’t feel the need to try walking up the chainlink and over. I’ve seen that done before by a Queensland Heeler. Doesn’t even ruin the manicure if it’s done right.
Fortunately, Blade’s having a good day, though the vet said he would start showing signs maybe as soon as this week. But he seems no worse. He was prescribed meds for his pain, which I’ve only given him three times, but vets can’t prescribe us humans anything for our pain that comes from waiting and watching: The deathwatch.
Meanwhile, he’s still blocking my path when I walk up to the house, pressing close, then turning to sit on my feet before throwing himself down for a belly rub and scratching his back on the sand. He’s eating like a pig – actually, more than I’ve ever seen. The long-acting prednisone may be responsible for that. His eyes are still bright and he seems happy. I saw him chase a squirrel yesterday. He’s not ready to check out yet. He still reminds the others that he's the alpha male.
Life as an abused puppy has long been forgotten.
When the time comes, I think he might like some of his ashes placed under the gardenia bush. He has a special branch he loves to rub his back on. It has grown tall and full over the years, and the fragrance spreads over the yard like a blanket in May. It’s just to the side of the front gate. He’ll be able to guard his yard from there. It’s cool and shady underneath. He's always been a "hot" boy.
The question is when will I know? Lucky told me with one look with her jaundiced, yellow eyes.The week before, she just didn't seem "right". She didn't want her cookie. When I looked at her beautiful Rottweiler face, I noticed immediately the sclera was yellow. I knew immediately what was happening, and off to the vet we went. Again, I had guessed right. Her liver had failed. A week of meds did nothing. She lies peacefully in the garden with the others. How will he tell me, and am I right to wait? Do I make the decision before I see him suffering with no quality of life?
To me, daily life is made of fabric. The familiar faces of those we love make the tapestry, and there aren’t any holes until one face is missing. That hole, until it is mended and filled by time, doesn’t mean that I’ll forget. Not at all. But over the years I’ve found that the best way for me to fill that void is to place another responsive face near that hole. It makes the emptiness easier to handle. And that’s how life goes on in my head. There are no voids right now, but Blade will leave a big one when it is his time.
It may be the same with dogs. Maya has a big hole in her heart and in the fabric of her life. But we’ll deal with that, won’t we?... one hug, one kiss, one touch, one cookie, one "Good Maya", at a time.
Welcome to your forever home, girl.