Great Day. Yard Work. Episode 4 Nat. Parks.

It was a nice, dry, low humidity day today, so rather than do indoor stuff, we worked in the yard. We have plenty of jobs to do on bad days.

The Red Maple tree is getting so tall that we knew it needed support if it was to grow straight. I should have bought an older, larger one if I wanted it to shade the house in my lifetime!

The bird feeder was originally cemented in there to protect the tree from cars, and the tree will be a great place for the feeding birds to sit and wait their turn. Now the bird feeder will help support the tree. It has also been protected by a tomato cage since it was a little sapling. That was cut away from it today, so we made a 'stand-off' from the post, covered the added tall post with a split piece of garden hose. Now if the wind makes the tree rub against the post it should not hurt the bark of the tree. Then the tree was gently tied to the post with a rope through another piece of hose. The tree is up to the top of second picture, so it has really grown this year.

The plants in front of the porch had really grown up with the rain we have had. We cut some back, and thinned out others. Now one can see the white rock that was put in there a couple of years ago.

Ray and Shay love plants, and he spends ages watering them every

day. This is just a part of what they have around their front door.

They have shade there during the afternoon sun, so they can grow more than I can. I even have to be careful where my pots of aloe vera are on the porch, as they can get too much sun, and discolor.

Another episode of Americas Best Idea, The National Parks, on PBS tonight.

Episode 4 [September 30]Going Home (1920-1933)
"Burns focuses his lens on Rocky Mountain, Mesa Verde, Yosemite, Lassen Volcanic, Hot Springs, and Great Smoky Mountains, among others, with the help of writings and photographs of a young married couple, Margaret and Ed Gehrke. The residents of Lincoln, Nebraska, took dozens of trips to national parks, beginning in the 1920s—first by train, then in their Buick. Burns uses their story to introduce the automobile to the national parks, a development that Mather saw as full of possibilities for new visitors, but others compared to the serpent in the garden of Eden.

The importance of writing, photography, and art in bringing the visions of parks to the people and gaining support and appreciation is a focal point. We learn the stories of Horace Kephart and George Masa, writer and photographer who brought attention to the Smokies, and helped advocate for the park’s creation. We also meet Masa’s modern-day counterpart, French-born Vietnamese photographer Quang-Tuan Luong, who has visited all 58 of the national parks and feels an emotional tie to these landscapes. This episode draws attention to the need for park advocacy, relating Mather’s fights to fend off dams in the Grand Canyon, the Rockefellers’ purchase of land that would become the Grand Tetons, and President Franklin Roosevelt’s decision to commit federal money to the purchase of private land in the Smokies to form the park—the first time federal funds were put toward such a cause. Burns focuses his lens on Rocky Mountain, Mesa Verde, Yosemite, Lassen Volcanic, Hot Springs, and Great Smoky Mountains, among others, with the help of writings and photographs of a young married couple, Margaret and Ed Gehrke. "

Another interesting episode today.

Please Click Each Day. Episode 3 of Nat. Parks.

First thing it was cool, then hot and very humid, then it rained a torrent, and now it has cooled off.

Ray worked on yellowed headlight lenses again, with a couple of products. We are trying out different products on some old Volvo headlight lenses, to find out which ones really work.
Then he cut out a circle of plastic to glue to a broken sunburst shaped clock which goes in the middle of a sunburst mural in the little bathroom. Until tomorrow, it is sitting in a big tuna can and held down with a beanbag, while the glue dries.

Jay wanted to work today, and brought his pet tortoise with him, who likes to wander around my fenced back yard. During the downpour I put it in the big dog house as he didn't like all the heavy rain knocking on his 'roof '.
Jay helped me in the house, moving some furniture, vacuuming under and around it. I had to get behind the couch to hook up a new cordless phone.
Then he tried to fix a place where a winter northeast draft comes in, on the back door going out of the workshop. The door and jam were hung 'out of square' by the contractors, and there doesn't seem to be a way to fix it, without taking the siding off around that door. That would be quite an undertaking. Yesterday, I had bought some solid type weather stripping, but he didn't install it. Well, he did, but not where it needed to be, so took it off again!

"The Empire of Grandeur (1915-1919)" The National Park Service is established in 1916; Stephen Mather campaigns to establish the Grand Canyon in Arizona as a national park. "

When you click on the rescue site on the top left of this page, there is a place where you can be reminded to click every day.
It doesn't cost you a thing, but it sure helps those in need.

Please click on each section of the rescue site each day.

Episode 2 on American Parks Tonight.

http://www.npca.org/bestidea/episodes.html

"Episode 2: The Last Refuge (1890-1915)
The second episode reminds us that although these sites were set aside by the federal government, they still require protection. In Yosemite and Yellowstone, the military steps in to protect the parks from vandals, illegal grazing, and poachers who hunt bison, birds, and other wildlife. We learn about the Buffalo Soldiers of Yosemite and General Philip Sheridan, who planned to visit Yellowstone briefly, and stayed for 30 years. Teddy Roosevelt emerges on the scene—John Muir forms the Sierra Club, and George Bird Grinnell starts the Audubon Society, and the importance of citizen action and advocacy becomes more clear. The Wetherill brothers discover the cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde, and soon a Scandinavian anthropologist expresses interest in taking samples back to Sweden—a move that sparks his arrest followed by the surprising discovery that he has broken no law. John F. Lacy changes that by leading the effort to pass the Antiquities Act, giving the president the power to create national monuments. Roosevelt invokes the Antiquities Act to create Petrified Forest, Mesa Verde, and the Grand Canyon, among the five national parks, 51 bird sanctuaries, 18 national monuments, and 100 million acres of national forests he leaves as his legacy. "

The weather turned hot again, AC and car sunshades were needed when I went shopping today.

Don't Forget PBS tonight!! My Foster Cats

Today, Ray and I finished up on the yard work. The man across the street was burning something stinky behind his board fence, so we fired up my burn pile of pine needles in self defense. He was up there on his roof, with some swear words, and a hammer, and it might have been his old roofing that he was burning.

My Foster Kitties:


As soon as I wake up, I paddle through to the kitchen, turn on the coffee maker, then the puter, let the cats out of the dog room, and open the blinds and door to the screen porch so they can go out there first thing. Then I have my quiet time reading emails, watching the news, and drinking coffee! Once I am dressed, I feed them their breakfasts in the dog room. Talk about herding cats !! Leading them carrying their food dishes, works! That gets them back in there, so that we can work, and not worry about them getting outdoors.

Mime, the tortoiseshell, (now “Prime”, as she is such a sweet cat), just doesn’t like staying in the dog room. http://www.petfinder.com/petnote/displaypet.cgi?petid=13334871 After she has had her breakfast, she clicks her nails on the glass door, imploring me with her eyes to let her back in the house. This is the only time that she asks for anything. When I let her in here, she just lays down somewhere and minds her own business. If we are not working I let her stay in the house. Sometimes she will just lay quietly beside me when I am working on the computer. When we are working outside, she has to be contained on the screen porch. She doesn’t trample the plants like Patches and Pretty do.

Now “Pretty”, the Siamese, is another story. She is a demanding little kitty. I can’t even check my email while drinking my coffee in the morning without her trying to get on the keyboard, and constantly brushing up against me. I pick her up, put her on the floor, saying “No”. She tries again, but if she doesn’t get down at the third “No”, then I put her back in the dog room for “time out”. She is learning, as usually on the second “No” she goes and lays down somewhere. I know you can train cats! Even a stubborn Siamese! I am still working on training her not to get under my feet in the kitchen, or she will trip me one day. She isn't listed on Petfinder yet, but has been spayed, vaccinated. and had her pictures taken.

Patches, the calico, http://www.petfinder.com/petnote/displaypet.cgi?petid=13461962 doesn’t interfere with the computer at all, in fact she hardly ever comes in here. All she cares about is her dinner, watching the world from a corner on the porch, and sitting on top of the recliner. Even she has learned to stay away from under my feet in the kitchen, not like Pretty. Patches lays down where I can see her and makes little noises to let me know she is ready to go back into the dog room for her dinner. She likes to be petted on her head, but she still hates to be picked up, so she positions herself so that is difficult to do. If she is picked up, she will struggle, but not scratch or bite. I think she taught Prime to click her nails on the glass of the dog room door when she wanted something. They are crafty.

Bobcat, my 15 year old Manx, (no tail cat) is doing better with her terrible elbow arthritis. After the beginning first five days large amounts of Metacam they prescribed, she threw up blood. Thank goodness I had trained her to throw up in the tub. Poor old gal, she was trying to get there, reaching. So I picked her up and put her in there. Scared the daylights out of me. The vet told me to discontinue it and buy something else from them. Now, I wasn’t convinced that the Metacam had caused it. By then she was supposed to be on the small maintenance dose, 2-3 times a week. I waited a couple of days and gave her that. Another couple of days and another small dose. Then she stopped limping, so the inflammation must have gone down. But I had also done another thing at the same time. She had been on Royal Canin Indoor Mature 27 dry food, and her Special Diet canned food. I switched to Royal Canin Active Mature 28, which also has Glucosamine, Chondroitin, and Omega 3 in it, for joint health. She even liked it better, so she might have been gluttonous, and that could have made her throw up. Now she just needs Metacam about every 3-4 days to stop her from limping. She even gets up in her bed on my wide bathroom window sill, to watch the traffic, something she hasn’t done for a long time. See picture. When she first started to limp she would lay in my late dog’s bed, under my bed, and couldn't get up in her favorite window. Maybe she won't have to have her bad arm amputated, after all.

Don't forget to watch PBS today.

America's Best Idea- National Parks Show Tomorrow

Just to remind you of a TV show tomorrow, so that you can watch it, or tape it:

http://www.npca.org/bestidea/viewers-guide.html

"On Sunday, September 27, PBS will begin airing the newest documentary film from award-winning director Ken Burns. This time, he'll spend six nights telling the story of America's Best Idea--our national parks.The footage in this film is breathtaking. But the most powerful moments are the stories of the men and women who created these special places and continue the fight to protect them. It all combines to create can't-miss television, so check your local listings and set those DVRs now. NPCA has even created a special viewer's guide where you can see a video preview of the film, learn about the viewing parties our members are hosting across the country, and find new ways to get involved with our efforts to protect our national parks. Click here for NPCA's exclusive viewer's guide to Ken Burns's newest film--The National Parks: America's Best Idea.

The broadcast of this powerful documentary is an important moment for all of us who care about preserving the parks for our children and grandchildren. Media coverage and public attention will reach new heights as more people see the film and learn more about the parks. NPCA will be organizing hundreds of thousands of activists and park supporters across the country to capitalize on this moment and stand up to protect the parks. We want you to be a part of this movement, so I'll be sure to keep you posted. But the first step is to enjoy this terrific film: to get inspired and learn more about our Best Idea. We've put together some great resources to make your experience even better. I hope you will enjoy it all as much as I will. "

AVG seems to have made a big difference to this PC. But it is taking ages for the laptop to download it at 3.14 KB/s. No wonder I am tired of it. After a couple of hours of downloading, Pretty jumped on the laptop, the download stopped, and I had to start it all over again. There wasn’t even a “resume” icon! A couple of hours later there was another glitch, still no resume icon, so it had to start again. This has turned into an all day job. So the laptop had no protection all day.

My daughter and I had our usual early Saturday phone call, and she, like others, seems to think that when I get a new laptop, it should be a Dell. She also suggested that I wait until closer to Christmas, when the sales are on.
I thought I had better try to get mine going faster, especially if I am going to wait until the sales. But I only use it when the power is out. That happens often, as I am out in the country. A drunk hits a pole, a tree, or limb falls on the lines, or any number of things.

Now, when I buy the new laptop, I would want it to replace my PC, too. I am tired of all these boxes, parts and wires cluttering up the place. It would have to be very comfortable to use for my little online job twice a day. It needs to be a laptop that I can take with me in the RV, too. Of course, then I would be looking for a smaller printer, too!!

Some hair trigger (camera) pictures, today

Computer Shopping!

Another day that Ray couldn't work.

While I was trying to read mail, and IM with a friend, the darned power went out. It took forever to crank up the laptop. It is always hooked up to a phone line for these emergencies. I needed to tell them what had happened, so they wouldn't think of me as rude. But I missed them, and had to email.

While the laptop was online, I thought I might as well update the version of AOL. The newer one, 9.1, doesn't take up so much space and is easier to use. I must have pushed the wrong button and it started installing, not upgrading, and I didn't notice the difference. I busied myself with things around the house, organizing my pictures on the PC, but after 2 hours, the laptop said it had only installed 50% !

I was livid, and drove into the next town.

I had written down the specs of my laptop and PC. Just like most people, I wanted faster than what I have!! I have 5 computers sitting around here, they all work, but I have never had a brand new one. One laptop even has Windows 98 on it!! It was given to me, maybe because I live at the lake, they must have thought I needed a boat anchor! The sixth computer was my first one, it had 32 RAM, is no longer here.

I stopped at WalMart just to see what they had, but they weren't much help. So I went to Best Buy. I picked out an HP duel core laptop that I liked, but I am going to ask other folks who know about computers, before I buy it.

My slow laptop got my goat, today.

24th. Sept. Found Google! Fridge

Windows open all day. Nice.

Well, I am back on my PC, all clear of the virus, and as my MacAfee had disappeared off it again, I installed AVG instead. I have had it before. It did ask me to buy other things, but I didn't. Too Scottish!!

As Ray couldn't work today, I had time to play around with this PC. I did fourth cookie cleaning, even deleting my passwords. I don't know how, but I managed to get on the Blogger Main Page. I just stumbled across it by accident. I haven't been able to do that before. It had a place to sign in at the top of the page. That enabled me to sign into Google, as it seemed that I wasn't signed in any more. I had tried from other places to sign into Google, but I got the same "This program cannot display the webpage" or Navigation to the page was cancelled".

I don't know why it didn't just show the place to sign in?

Still can't make Live Writer and Blogger to associate with each other, and a few other wrinkles, but I guess they will get ironed out.

When I pulled out a bottom drawer in my fridge, I noticed that something had spilled all the way to the bottom. Looked like dried up milk. I had to remove the two bottom drawers, the shelf they hang from, and the shelf and rack that are on that shelf. This is at floor level, so I put down a kneeling pad, soaked the mess with a wet soapy towel until it loosened, so that I could scrape it with a plastic scraper. Fortunately, the sink is across from it, so I managed to pull myself up each time! That must have been a sight! There must have been a small hole in a jug of milk, and it had dripped all the way down at the back where it couldn't be seen, and under the drawers.

I have wanted a fridge with a see-through bottom shelf for a long time, but they are rare in that size. I would like to see what is in my salad crisper drawers, as I forget!

On the way to the grocery store, there was an older Ford pickup, not vintage, just an old pickup, with Hawaii plates. I had never seen any HA plates before. I wondered who would pay to ship that truck back to the states. Then I realized that it must have been the military.

No AC needed, as it has been a cooler day.

23rd. Sept. Cooler, So Yard Clean Up Time.

The weather forecast was for a lovely day. Cooler with low humidity.
Just the day to be herding all the pine needles to the burn pile.

Armed with two rakes, Ray and I didn't take too long. Looks Better!

While we were out there, we put a piece of wood, as is used in expansion joints in cement driveways, across the end of the walkway. One end block kept on trying to drift.
We anchored the wood by making a trench for it to sit in, packed the dirt back against it, and anchored it with a couple of pieces of short rebar.


Those two last blocks aren't going to go anywhere anymore.

Still fussing over PC, but a lovely day.

22nd.Sept. Spiffing up the Mirage for Viewing.

Even with the rain, I had a couple coming to see the Mirage this morning, so Ray and I were doing a last cleaning. We vacuumed it, and it did look good when they arrived.


They were looking at it for someone else, and seemed to think that it would be ideal for them. But no $ yet!

While I was showing it to them, Ray cleaned up a couple of toaster ovens that I have for sale. The weather has cooled down enough to think about having a yard sale, and when I have one, I really do it up good.

Still fiddling with the PC today.

21st.Sept. On Laptop. Shipped Aloe.

Monday, was a bad day. My PC was messed up with that virus, so I was struggling with my laptop. I don't use it very often, so it had to update, do scans, and all that stuff. It is so slow it couldn't catch a cold, as it is on dial-up, but it never was very fast anyway!

My pictures aren't in it, and I can only access them by going into my Picasa Web Albums when I am using it. But on the laptop, the pictures are smaller than a pencil eraser, so you can hardly see them. It has a slide bar to magnify them, but it doesn't do any good. I wonder why it did that, and if it does that on all laptops? It just isn't the same. I was ready to give up blogging and just keep a diary for my family and me. Then I read Mom of Bark And Bite's comment. I didn't realize that my little ramblings were appreciated.

One tech told me to take it to a computer shop, but I didn't want to go that route. Been There, Done That! By doing some searching, and trying out other "cures", which did nothing, I found Malwarebytes which took the virus off my PC. But I could not get into anything to do with Google. I was on the phone with so many Tech Supports that I must have got sand in my hard drive.

Picture courtesy of Netters. Thanks.

They had me do so many things to this puter, but it didn't work. So resigned myself to cranking up the laptop if I wanted to make any comments on any Blogger's blogs, or moderate any that were made on mine.

Ray did a few more little touch-ups on the Mirage, as we had got interrupted the other day. Then he helped me pack a big order of large Aloe. We had to make special protectors for those large plants, and pack them carefully in a big box.

With that done, I turned on the PC after it had done some more scanning and re-installing of MacAfee, and blow me down, someone else had bought some aloe.

After lunch and a quick nap, as I hadn't slept well, I packed that small order. I had been kept awake with leg cramps. I had been so engrossed in the PC's problem that I had forgotten to take my calcium with D, and extra A and D for my osteoporosis.

A trip to the Post Office, the Dollar General, and home for the day.

20th.Sept. Odd Job Day. Humane Society Closed. Then Virus.

This is a draft I had in Live Writer, so that is why it is out of date order. I still can't post from Live Writer, so I had to copy and paste!!

Sunday, 20th. Sept. 2009

The weather is not hot enough to make the AC’s compressor come on, but it is so humid that one has to turn them down just to get the sticky feeling out of the house.

Ray and I put some more seam sealer on my kitchen floor to fill in the gouges a bit more. The little hole in the metal bottle tip is so tiny, that it doesn’t put much down at a time. It is as fine as the wire in a paper twist tie. We know that, as we had to burn the paper off one to clean the tip. When the time comes to do Ray’s kitchen, we might just drill that hole out a bit more.

Then we tried to fix my old black cordless phone. I had taken it, and the new battery that Radio Shack sent me, to their store yesterday, as it still wouldn’t work. The lady said that the new battery was the same as the one they had sold me at the store. So now I have two new batteries and it still didn’t work. I wish I could have found another phone that small years ago, and then I wouldn’t have to fool with this one. We took it apart and sprayed contact cleaner on the contacts, and this time the charge light came on, but no dial tone. (the battery had been charged up) Then I sprayed all the phone and cord connections, and I got a dial tone. But not with the battery they sold me at the store. They finally re-imbursed me for the one I bought at the store.

“Pretty” got pretty rambunctious this morning and scattered the things that I had taken out of the Mirage. So it was time I did something with that pile of stuff. There was no use keeping it packed down as it is for sale. I got some bins and sorted it out into what went back into the TranStar, what I would donate to the Mirage, and what could be put away or put in a yard sale.
The weather is getting closer to being right for a yard sale. I hope it stays that way for a while, not like last fall when Winter started very early. That was the longest Winter I have had in this neck of the woods.

It doesn’t seem that I can make it to Kerrville, but I am aiming for Rockport. My foster kitties might have forever homes by then, and I am not taking in any more. (Famous last words!)

This hurt us, SPCA, especially on our Adoption Day, but I am glad for their animals:

“CONROE, TX (KTRK) -- Dozens of cats and kittens have new homes, now that the Montgomery County Humane Society is closed.
The shelter shut down Saturday because there wasn't enough money to stay open. The humane society said it would have to euthanize about 50 animals if they were not adopted. The shelter waived all fees to ensure the pets could find new homes. We're told all the animals were adopted. The city of Conroe is supposed to take over the shelter. “
There is another big shelter, south of Conroe, down on FM 242, but I think that is run by Animal Control.

I was just going to hit ‘Publish’ on this when I got a virus on my PC, so that is why I wrote:

Oopps, I have to go, have things to do today.

"Windows PC Defender" is a Virus.

Just as I was doing a post, trying out Live Writer again, I was hit by a virus on my PC. It is OK, I used my laptop, until I got the virus out of my PC. "Windows PC Defender" is mimicking the real Microsoft "Windows Defender" and looks genuine, until you find out that it wants $$ . I called AOL and they told me it is a virus, and that even if you pay to have this virus "removed", it won't remove it. I had to use Malwarebytes to get rid of it.

But with all the scans and mucking about, I can no longer sign into Google or Blogger on my PC. Techs have tried to find out why, but no one has come up with a solution, yet. They have had me do so many things to my PC that it made my head spin. All that even messed up my MacAfee, so I installed AGV on the PC. I can do everything else, and access everywhere else on my PC, but nothing where I have to be signed into Google. Any geeks out there who have any ideas?
AOL told me to write to the webmaster of Google, but I haven't had a reply yet.
For a poor little old computer illiterate great grandma this has been very difficult!

So as I can reach Blogger on my laptop, which I hate using, I thought that I had better let you know about this vicious virus. My laptop doesn't have the memory that my PC does, so it is naturally slow. Then to make things worse I can't get it to connect to the broadband, so I can only use it on dial up. But I can moderate comments on my laptop, so if you know how to fix this Google thing, I would surely appreciate it.

I even have drafts in Live Writer, but can't get them into Blogger, not even from this laptop.

I wouldn't be at all surprised to find out that the people who devise these viruses are also cruel to animals, or fight dogs, or sport cock fights, and/or their families, as they obviously have no regard for others feelings!

So you have a vacation from my Blogger ramblings.

Have a safe day.

More on Animal Cruelty

Today I just went into town to get some errands done, and came home to tend to my animals.

It seems that I am just targeting Canada, because I posted about a petition about animal cruelty there yesterday. I was just trying to get some more signatures for a good cause, wherever it might be.

Here is another in the US:
"This petition hopes to make animal abusers receive harsher punishment for their crimes. Although cruelty such as dog fighting is considered to be a felony, the consequences do not reflect those of a felony crime. If we could help prevent animal cruelty, we save the animals as well as ourselves. Many who abuse animals also become guilty of domestic violence against humans. Serial rapists and murderers have been shown to begin their acts of violence on animals. If these criminals were actually punished for animal abuse, rather than given a slap on the wrist, it would make a difference. When they know they can get away with abusing animals, its no longer a challenge, so humans are next. Not only that, but someone must speak for the animals, we are supposed to protect these precious creatures! If only we were as loyal to them as they are to us! Harsher punishment for animal abusers says it is NOT ok to harm animals, and if you do, you will pay a heavy price! Please be the voice for those who cannot speak for themselves! They would do the same for you! " From: http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/harshpunishanimalabuser/

And one for just South Dakota, home base for many RVers;
"Make Animal Cruelty a FelonyTarget: South DakotaSponsored by: April B. Currently there are no provisons for felony charges on animal cruelty in South Dakota. People who commit such vicious deeds, such a mutilating a poor helpless puppy, need to be charged with felonies, in by doing so they will have to disclose that they are a felon and what they did. How many animal abusers work in pet stores because they didn't have to disclose that they injured animals in the past? Help me to save countless animals! "" From:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/6/make-animal-cruelty-a-felony

Also Spain: "Join us to protest the mutilation of 15 dogs in spain, and change the Law in Spain in order to make animal abuse a felony. I am sorry for disturbing you but we need as much support as possible to change the laws in spain after the brutal torture of 15 dogs.I beg you to simply add your name (Animal Concerns and/or other interested organizations) and send it to the address below. See details on website. Many thanks in advance: "
http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/help-us-change-animal-abuse-from-misdemeanor-to-felony-in-spain.html

As you know I am from Britain, where the animals cruelty laws are very strict. From: http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2005/08/20/un_american_about_animals/
"To measure how far ahead other countries are, we can first look at British animal protection legislation. British law makes it illegal to keep breeding sows in crates that prevent them from walking or turning around -- the way in which about four out of every five US sows are kept. In Britain, law does not allow veal calves to be denied adequate roughage and iron, as is common in the United States to help produce the gourmet veal often served in restaurants.

Nevertheless, it is not Britain but Austria that has the most advanced animal protection legislation. In May 2004, a proposed law banning the chicken ''battery cage" was put to a vote in the Austrian Parliament. It passed -- without a single member of Parliament opposing it. Austria has banned fur farming and prohibited the use of wild animals in circuses. It has also made it illegal to trade in living cats and dogs in stores and deems killing an animal for no good reason a criminal offense. Most important, every Austrian province must appoint an ''animal lawyer" who can initiate court procedures on behalf of animals.""

So it is not just Canada, it is all over. The point that I am trying to make is that the main problem in Canada seems to be that they don't have enough laws in force to convict all the abusers, just like many other countries. http://redstarcafe.wordpress.com/2008/04/02/failing-grades-for-canadian-animal-cruelty-law/

"There is an intrinsic link between battered pets and battered women and children. The likelihood that women's shelter personnel will encounter women and children who have been threatened by batterers using animal abuse as a weapon is high. This is because more families in America have pets than have children. Secondly, the majority of pet owners are themselves parents with children. Thirdly, 64.1% of households with children under age 6, and 74.8% of households with children over age 6, also have pets. Lastly, as many as 71% of pet-owning women seeking shelter at safe houses have reported that their partner had threatened and/or actually hurt or killed one or more of their pets; 32% of these women reported that one or more of their children had also hurt or killed pets. Battered women report that they are prevented from leaving their abusers because they fear what will happen to the animals in their absence. Animal abuse sometimes is used as a form of intimidation in domestic disputes.""

I have seen my pets tortured and killed, and I have been battered and suffered broken bones, so I know how these poor animals feel. They are only just getting laws in place for that. Before, it was just swept under the rug as a "domestic dispute".
I am just one person, saving one animal at a time, but I try to jolt the public into REPORTING any animal that is suffering. That is the way the system works.

". . . Saving just one pet won't change the world. . . but, surely, the world will change for that one pet . . . "

'Nuff for today.

"Pretty's" Day. Animal Cruelty Laws and Petition.

Today I had to meet Kenya, my SPCA boss at Petco in the next town.   "Pretty" had to have her stitch out, be vaccinated, get ear medicine, and have her picture taken.  They can't use the pictures that I take.  Something about the way they have to go onto the Petfinder.com site.  We still haven't figured out why the vet didn't use dissolving stitches on the outside.  Pretty wasn't crazy about the van ride, but she got used to it.  She enjoyed seeing the sights at Petco, and watched us set up all the cages for Adoption Day tomorrow. As you can see, Pretty is still skinny, but she has put on over a pound.  She wouldn't have lasted much longer roaming the streets after she was abandoned.  I don't know how people can do that!

Traveller commented on my blog last Wednesday, the one about the cat walking,  and said... "Hey there, please take a sec and sign my petition, which is linked on my blog, asking the Canadian government to include animal rights in the constitution. And ask others to sign too.""
http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/put-animal-rights-into-the-constitution/sign.html  This can be signed by US residents, and anyone else, so please do your part and sign to help the animals north of the border.

Horses from the US are trucked there for slaughter, so we want our horses treated humanely before they are killed to make dog food.

It is difficult for me to understand why a big country like Canada would not have animal cruelty laws in force today.

PS. I will amend this to say: It is difficult for me to understand why a big country like Canada would not have SATISFACTORY  animal cruelty laws in force today, due to Rick's comment.
Here was what I had already researched before I wrote this post:
http://cfhs.ca/news/new_animal_cruelty_law/
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/699331695  Another petition.
http://cfhs.ca/features/help_us_stop_bill_s_203/
http://cfhs.ca/law/federal_legislation/
http://www.ifaw.org/ifaw_canada_english/join_campaigns/national_and_regional_efforts/stop_animal_cruelty_in_canada_support_anti-cruelty_laws/index.php
My humble opinion, I think it ought to be in the Constitution in any country.
Canada, like a lot of countries, doesn't seem to have anything to REALLY protect the animals, and REALLY punish the offenders, today.

New Blogger.Poisonous Plants.Seaming Lino.Norman Borlaug.

Just trying out what I found out about Blogger Thanks, Al.

Oh, Boy you can make the pictures go where you want them and they stay put.  About time someone trained them! But I do miss the spellchecker!  Maybe I just don't know where it is yet

Plants and Your Cat.
"Plants add the needed finishing touches to any decor. But, if you have a feline, that beautiful plant could become a deadly enemy.

Listed here are plants poisonous to cats that must be avoided if there are cats in your home. Note that lilies(*), in particular, are dangerous to cats. While in some cases, just parts of a plant (bark, leaves, seeds, berries, roots, tubers, spouts, green shells) might be poisonous, this list rules out the whole plant. If you must have any of them, keep them safely out of reach.

Should your feline friend eat part of a poisonous plant, rush the cat to your veterinarian as soon as possible. If you can, take the plant with you for ease of identification." The list is here:  http://www.cfainc.org/articles/plants.html

It is so much cooler these days that I often don't have the AC on, and have the windows and patio door to the screen porch open. Sometimes it is humid, so then I have to close up the house again, and turn on the AC. This is lovely weather, and great for camping, in this part of the world, anyway!

Ray and I finally were able to seam the linoleum today.  Mine left, his right.  Mine was to cover up some deep gouges from moving a piece of furniture, and his are from installing their bathroom lino.  It is covered with pieces of vinyl siding temporarily. The raised edges on the siding are keeping it off the floor, so that it can 'set'. 

 We couldn't start on any other projects as Shay herself locked out of the house she was cleaning, so Ray had to drive down there to get her in through the garage.

"Perhaps more than anyone else, Borlaug is responsible for the fact that throughout the postwar era, except in sub-Saharan Africa, global food production has expanded faster than the human population, averting the mass starvations that were widely predicted -- for example, in the 1967 best seller Famine -- 1975! The form of agriculture that Borlaug preaches may have prevented a billion deaths.

Yet although he has led one of the century's most accomplished lives, and done so in a meritorious cause, Borlaug has never received much public recognition in the United States, where it is often said that the young lack heroes to look up to. One reason is that Borlaug's deeds are done in nations remote from the media spotlight: the Western press covers tragedy and strife in poor countries, but has little to say about progress there. Another reason is that Borlaug's mission -- to cause the environment to produce significantly more food -- has come to be seen, at least by some securely affluent commentators, as perhaps better left undone. More food sustains human population growth, which they see as antithetical to the natural world."

Norman Borlaug died at age 95 on the 12th Sept.

Because of him, many million people are alive today
.

Just Hangin' Around. Cat Walking 15,000 KM.

Ray had a problem with his ignition or something, so he had to get that fixed. That left me 'just hangin' around'. We were supposed to finish lino seam sealing. So I busied myself by getting extra laundry done, like bedspreads, cat beds, etc, and looking up stuff on the internet.

Bobcat has a good appetite, and doesn't seem to be in pain from her terribly arthritic leg, but she threw up blood the other morning. It terrified me, I just knew that she would have to go to Rainbow Bridge, so I didn't want to talk about it then until I saw how she felt. I researched and found out that the new, expensive, medicine that the vet prescribed for her can cause that. Gee, aren't there any prescriptions that don't have side effects. The vet said to take her off it!!

I came across the diary of a French couple who are walking 15000 KM, (9300+ miles) from Miami to Ushuaia, Chile, with a cat. The journal is in French, which I understand mostly, but I ran it through Google Translate to understand it better. Who says cats aren't travelers?

"Kitty, a little kitten found in Louisiana in the middle of the road has not left Laetitia and William. Kitty is now part of the expedition. It is a 4 ½ months. We had it at 1 month and a half old. She could hardly see. She is very intelligent, and never leaves on our backpack and jumps from bag to bag while walking. She never falls and when she feels threatened, she goes back in the bag. She has never left. She often walks beside us or following us and imitates the sound of a crow when she sees one! Kitty has her papers legally no problem later customs (passport, vaccinations, etc..) to bring back to France at the end. This is certainly the first cat in the world to walk 15000 km! ""

http://translate.google.com/translate?client=tmpg&hl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fenfanceart.free.fr%2Fmiami_ushuaia%2Fnews.htm&langpair=fren

Here is a 10 minute video of them and the cat, in French, but you can hear her mimicking the crows in any language, so cute. http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x9q1uh_kitty-le-chat-globetrotter-turnofth_travel

Then, after looking in the freezer and some recipes, I decided to have either Salmon Patties or Salmon Bisque today.

Patrick Swayze. "Pretty", the Siamese.

Ray and I went around doing a few more titivating jobs on the Mirage. Some of the nuts on the mirrors had rust on them, so Ray went around with a little artist brush and touched them up with "Hammered" paint. An older couple were coming to see it today, so he had to quit before they got here, so the paint would be dry. The lady was really crippled up, rather portly, and had a walker. She had RVed a lot, but her husband had not. I could tell that the Mirage wasn't for them. I don't know what RV would be suitable.

After they left, Ray and I made some more triangular shipping tubes cut out of cat litter boxes for shipping the aloe. I had sold a big plant, so we had to make a special tube for it. We also cut some more of other sizes so that I will have them.

This is a picture I took of "Pretty" today. She is a sweet cat, and it might take a while to get some weight on her. She had been starved. The other picture reminds me of Pretty, as she often holds her ears like that.

Well, we lost a great man, who happened to be a movie star:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Swayze He tried to lead a simple life on their ranch with his beloved wife and horses. Patrick was a great animal lover, and made countless donations to animal organizations.

From his obit: "He loved his animals and supported many animal charities. Perhaps we may follow in his kindness and continue to help animals in his honour! We will surely miss this rich hearted man. May his wife find peace and future happiness. R.I.P"

So it was a humid and sad day.

Fixed Mirage. Be Prepared List

Another humid warm day. I received a reply from http://www.allexperts.com/rts.com/ Where you can ask questions about just about anything, for free. I had asked in the "Nissan: Ask a Question" part of it, and we followed the steps they recommended. They even told us how to check the blower motor itself, but we didn't have to go that far. We took my electrical bag out there, this is a bag that we grab when doing electrical work, and it goes in the RV when traveling. It is just a man's shaving kit bag, but it holds all we need. Ohmmeter, needle nose pliers, fuses, crimper/stripper/cutter, various connectors, shrink tape, electrical tape, one prong electrical tester, two pronged electrical tester, etc. Ray and I got a trouble light under the dash of the Mirage, and did a thorough search on the fuse panel under the dash. We sprayed all the connections with contact spray, and found one fuse that was bad, it was missed yesterday in the dark. With the ignition on, and fan blower on, once we put a new fuse in there, the fan started blowing. Great, that job done.

While we were out there, Ray cleaned up the front of the Mirage where those darned wood bees had been boring into the RVport rafters again, and dropped their mess on it. I cleaned the windows, in and out, and put some LoShine Armor All on some parts under the dash that had been missed.

By then it was raining again, so we retreated into the workshop to look at the seam sealer we needed to use on the new lino in the guest house. I have a place were my lino got scratched up when something was being moved, and I had bought some seam sealer at a thrift shop a long time ago to fix that, but never had done it. So we practiced with that, not the new batch I just bought at Lowes. Then I taped a plastic lid over the repair with wide blue masking tape, so that I would remember not to step on it. Also to keep the cats from batting the lid around!

We also tried out another product that said it would take the yellow out of headlight lenses. Ray's son had some that Ray had tried, and it worked well, but Ray didn't know the name of it. But this wasn't it. We might just have well have tried " You'll wonder where the yellow went, when you brush your teeth with Pepsodent"!

Yesterday, we remembered Hurricane Ike. But it is still the season for them.

Since then, there have been lots of list put out about preparedness.

"Important information to always keep handy:
Plan ahead and include your pet in your family's preparations.

If you are going to evacuate, take your pet(s) with you.
Some important steps to ensure your pets safety.
Identification: Make sure your pet wears a collar and I.D. tag with up-to-date information.

You may also want to consider microchipping your pet for permanent identification.
Have some pictures of your pet, even in your cell phone, in case you get separated.

Vaccinations: All pets should be current on their shots.

Keep a copy of the vaccination records sealed in a plastic bag.
Sleeping Quarters: Help your animals avoid shattering glass and falling objects.

Don't place your pet's bed below windows or shelving.
A home away from home: Every animal in your house should have a crate - a molded plastic carrying case. Familiarize your pet with the crate before the disaster strikes so that they will be comfortable when it is necessary.
Check your yard: Make sure all fencing is secure and all holes and potential escape routes are blocked.
Plan ahead: Identify animal shelters, local boarding facilities, veterinarians, motels and friends or relatives that may temporarily house your pet after a disaster.

If you evacuate, take your pet! "

A DISASTER PREPAREDNESS CHECKLIST
Use this checklist as a guide for building your own disaster preparedness kit for your pet.
Molded plastic pet carrier
Copy of your pet's rabies and vaccination records sealed in a plastic bag
Pet first aid book and kit
Two-week supply of pet food
Bottled water
One-month supply of your pet's regular medications
Non-spill food and water bowls
Cat litter
Cat litter pan
Leash
Plastic bags (for pet waste disposal)
Sheets (one to cover each pet carrier)
Blankets
Non-electric can opener
Newspaper
Disinfectants
Paper Towels
Comb/Brush

I wonder where this poor doggie is today?