That Hobbit Lady

Last time I wrote about my experiences with the newborn kitten and mentioned how this gave me an idea. A brainstorm, really, an epiphany. I said it would probably have to be a “When I win the lottery” kind of undertaking, not something easy start up unless you have a lot of money, as well as a lot of time. So I’ll present this idea now as a “Someday/Maybe” wish for the future.

If I won the lottery (or somehow came into a ton of money so that I didn’t have the work and had tons of time as well as tons of money), I would like to develop a charity to help people get their pets fixed.

I’ve known for a long time (and indeed everyone knows, if they just take the time to think about it), that there are far too many unwanted animals in the world, and a lot of them cannot be adequately cared for. Far too many are left at shelters simply because their guardians could not afford to keep them, or someone moved in with an allergy, or developed an allergy, or the new apartment will not allow pets. There are too many reasons why people abandon their pets, and not all of them are really good reasons. It’s a shame these things happen, and these things will no doubt go on happening, and there’s probably nothing that can be done to stop the problem completely, but there is one thing every responsible pet owner CAN do.

Spay or neuter.

At least this way, the population of unwanted animals will be kept under control. Because every time you spay or neuter, not only are you preventing a litter of unwanted puppies or kittens, but you are preventing countless future litters of unwanted puppies and kittens. (I recently heard that a single mom and dad cat can lead to up to 450,000 more cats over the course of seven years, if none of the offspring and their offspring are ever spayed or neutered. Yikes!!) This is the sort of thing that can easily be “nipped in the bud” (if you’ll excuse the expression.) A little action now will go a long way into the future.

So…why do people not spay and neuter their pets? Probably lots of reasons, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they #1 reason who people don’t spay and neuter is because they feel it just costs too much and they think they cannot afford it. To my way of thinking, if you can’t afford the cost of spay or neuter, then you cannot afford to keep a pet. It should be that simple, but it’s not. The truth is that there is and there always will be plenty of people who can’t afford to keep pets, but will keep them anyway.

That’s something I can’t change. But I would love to be able to change this: to give the “I can’t afford it” people no excuse to not have their pet spayed or neutered. Of course there are plenty of places in every community that will do the job at a discounted rate or for free for people who truly cannot afford it. But my idea is to take this one step further.

Think for a moment if you will about the child sponsorship charities such as Save the Children or Compassion International, where people send a certain amount of money per month to help support a needy child, usually in some underdeveloped country. When you sign up for this charity program, a lot of times they will ask if you want to sponsor a boy or a girl, and you can even pick which country your sponsored child is from. Then that child will send you letters and pictures, etc., so you feel like you have a relationship with someone that you are truly helping. It’s a very immediate and concrete demonstration of exactly how your donation is helping one specific person in the world.

So here’s what I propose: I want to start a charity that follows a similar pattern, but it will be for keeping the pet population under control. People who sign up to donate will be paying for a spay or neuter of one specific animal. They can choose cat or dog, they may even be able to choose what state or city that animal is from. And in return for their donation, they will get a picture of the pet that they helped, so that they can always look at that picture and say, “This animal has a happier life, and is not contributing to pet overpopulation, and it’s ALL BECAUSE OF ME.” An immediate and concrete demonstration of exactly how your donation is helping.

On the other side of this equation, this organization would somehow work with vets and animal clinics that provide spay and neuter services in order to find those pet-owners who are in need of financial assistance.

As for the pet owner, in exchange for receiving the benefit of financial assistance, all they need to do is provide a picture of their pet, the pet’s name, and perhaps a brief history or description of the pet’s life (“Fluffy is four months old and was adopted at the local animal shelter. She lives with a family with two children and loves to chase balls of crumpled up wrapping paper across the living room floor.”)

See, the real problem with all this is working out the details—how to get the donors and the owners matched up, how to find the vets and clinics providing the actual service, and how to make the payments.

Being a sort of cynical person, I am also on guard against potential fraud. How do you guarantee that there really IS a Fluffy, and that she really did get spayed? How do you make sure the clinic isn’t just telling you they provided these services for non-existent animals, and then pocketing the money?

I haven’t worked out the details yet, but you get the main idea: no one should ever again be able to say “I can’t afford to get my pet fixed,” because this organization (and I haven’t yet figured out a snappy name for it) will always be available to everyone who needs it.

I think there would probably be plenty of pet-lovers out there as well, who would be more than happy to donate a certain amount of money to know that they made a specific dent in pet overpopulation. If I knew there was such a charity, and I could feel secure that my money was actually going to help a particular cat or dog, and if I could get a picture of that specific animal that I helped, I would be more than willing to help. If paying for one spay and one neuter could prevent even a fraction of the estimated 450,000 unwanted animals in the world, I think that would be money well spent.

I feel like I have the germ of a good idea here, but working out the particulars seems nightmarish. Administration of such a charity would be a full-time job! A sort of “matchmaking” service for pets—but in reverse! I think the way to start would be to do this on a very local level at first, see how it goes, then look at expanding over time.

So that’s the beginning of what I think is a good idea. Still needs a bit of fleshing out. If anyone has any further ideas on how to accomplish something this ambitious, please let me know!

Last Wednesday, while Russ was visitng his mom in the hospital, I drove home alone and found a kitten on my front lawn. Barely even a kitten, the little thing could not have been any more than 48 hours old—palm-sized, eyes closed and the stubble of the umbilical cord still attached. It was “mewing” to beat the band, which was the only way I recognized it as a feline, not a rodent. Very small… and very upsetting.

Upsetting, because I had no idea what to do. First, I called Mary, remembering that Slayer came to them at a very young age (though not this young, to be sure!) and she gave some good advice about goat’s milk and feeding with an eyedropper. I looked on my computer, and learned that warmth was essential. It was a pleasant day, so I left the kitten on the lawn for 30 minutes or so, hoping mama would return to pick up her baby, but that didn’t happen. Eventually I got a box and towels and set up a safe haven for the little guy while I ran off to the nearest pet store for something to feed him.

That evening, and that night (2am and 5am) I fed the kitten warm formula from an eyedropper, and in the morning, I called several local pet organizations, hoping someone would have a litter where a surrogate mother might take this one in as her own. Not only did I find no litter, but I discovered that one place had completely closed down, and the Humane Society is all volunteer, so you can leave a phone message and they’ll call you back in 24-48 hours—not very helpful at the moment. Also, the ASPCA Shelter is currently under renovations, so they’re not accepting animals at this time.

What to do? I was advised to start calling local vets. The first was busy, but to my amazement, the second said they were already bottle feeding a two week old kitten, so sure, bring this one over! I was so relieved and packed up the little guy for the journey.

The lady at the vet was so nice, and showed me the two week old kitten, who was ABSOLUTELY ADORABLE, and it amazed me to no end that as little as 10 to 14 days could turn this little runt from something resembling a field mouse to a full-fledged feline. She took my name and number and said she would call me if anyone decided to adopt the little guy. (I think I may have given her the impression I would love to keep him, but I just couldn’t take care of him, and I went on and on, etc. etc…)

Well, I left him there, glad all had turned out well. But a couple of hours later I got a call from the vet’s office, telling me that they had given him fluids and done everything they could, but “he didn’t make it,” and “he was just probably too young.”

Totally bummed out by this news. I even went so far as to wonder if this “nice vet’s office” had simply taken one look at the little guy and said, “Eh. More trouble than he’s worth. Let’s just give him the shot.” Because when I had left him he was still “mewing” to beat the band.

But the more I thought about it, the more I realized the odds were against him from the start. I read online that even among healthy kittens that have every advantage, 10-30% will die. This one was definitely too young to be separated from his mother. And why had the mother left him, anyway? It struck me that maybe she had a large litter, and while moving them, instinctively knew he wasn’t going to make it and left him behind, so there would be more food for the ones who did have a fighting chance.

There are cats at the end of our street. I don’t know if they’re feral, or simply somebody’s outdoor cats. I think they must belong to someone, because they always look so clean and healthy. If they’re feral, someone is at least feeding them well. One of these must be the mother. But I have not yet seen any evidence of a litter. I’m going to keep my eyes open during the next few weeks.

In the meantime, every time I come home from work, I look at the spot on the lawn where I found the little kittle, and get a stab of melancholy. Yet, I can’t help thinking this was not just a random occurrence. Call it a mid-life crisis, but lately I’ve been feeling like I’m too wrapped up in my own life, wondering what I can do to make a difference in my world. Blogs and podcasts are fun, but they’re simply entertainment, a diversion. I’ve been looking for something that touches my heart, a cause I can get excited about, a way to truly make someone’s life truly better.

No, we are not adopting a new cat. But I have at least decided to start donating to the Humane Society, and if I can figure out where to find the time, I would not be averse to volunteering. Of course, there is a danger in volunteering. Well, two dangers, actually. One: I would have to be convinced that there is no way whatsoever I would bring home fleas or any terrible cat diseases to Squee. Secondly, the reason Squee is a member of our family at all is because Mary volunteered at Cats Exclusive and fell in love with the little kittle then known as “Zorro.” (By the way, here is a recent picture of Squee as the great outdoors adventurer. With the weather getting warmer, we’ve been letting him out in the yard now and then, and he loves it!)

As much as I love cats, I don’t want any more at this time. That day may come, when I’m old and gray, but right now, Russ and I are in agreement on this. But I still would love to help the animal community in some way. That having been said, I’ve had another idea, a big idea about something to do in the future when I have more time and money (in fact, this might be a “When I win the lottery” type of idea) but I’ve said enough already for one post, so I’ll get back to this at a later date.

The main point I’m making here is that I believe God in His wisdom orchestrated the events I’m relaying here, and that one of the purposes of it all was to help break me out of this self-contained bubble I’ve been in for far too long. I’m no Mother Theresa, never will be, but I know I can do more than I do. Maybe it’s time to start trying.

And oh yes—I’ve got this firm image in my head that when I die and go to Heaven and am surrounded by all my beloved pets that have gone on before me, among all the furry, smiling faces, will be one more beautiful black cat to whom I’ll say “I’m so sorry…but I don’t believe I knew you.” And this cat will say (because it’s my belief that on the other side, if animals can’t actually “talk,” they will at least be able to communicate with us in some way), this cat will say, “Yes, you did know me. You tried to help me when I was the tiniest newborn. I was not meant for that world, but came directly here, but I have not forgotten you, and the way you tried your best to take care of me. My mother abandoned me, but you cared about me and tried to find me the help I needed. And for that, I belong to you always.”

This scene is strong in my mind. It may be because I recently read a brief review about this book, Heaven is for Real, written by a boy, with his father (and with help from a “real writer”) about his experiences when he died on the operating table and went to heaven and met, among his other dead relatives, a miscarried little sister he never even knew he had. That story sent chills up my spine and reminded me that Heaven is real, and I’m going there someday, and when I do, there are many people I’ll meet again. And animals, too, of course. And it’s a happy thought.

Only now, when I think about it, I didn’t read this book review until AFTER the incident with the little kittle. So that is actually NOT what put the idea in my head that I’ll meet this kitty again.

Maybe the idea is just in my head because it’s true.

A couple of weeks ago I spent six days in Florida visiting my family. It went way too fast. I didn’t even have time to get bored. Mostly, it was a relaxing time of just hanging out, doing a little shopping, and some eating. To my delight, when I returned, I was the same weight as when I left! It’s great to go on vacation and not gain weight.

Of course, everyone in my family is into healthy eating now, so mostly I was eating salad, drinking water and tea. There were a few nights with delicious chicken as well, and some vegan stuffed cabbage, made with lentils instead of beef. Not bad! When I spent the day with Mary, we went to Sushigama in the mall. That was different and fun! I don’t think I’ll ever become a big sushi fanatic like Mary is, but it was nice to try something different.

Spent a day with Terry as well, we went thrifting, and had breakfast at Dunkin Donuts. I had a bagel and cream cheese, and that was probably the worst thing I ate the whole time I was there! Didn’t get too much at the thrift shops, just a few items, but still, managed to go down with one suitcase and come back with two. (Best find: a thick terrycloth bathrobe with a completely intact hanging loop for only $3! The loop on my robe has been broken for ages, and terrycloth is not the fabric of choice for bathrobes at the moment. I found plenty of them in the stores all winter, but they’re all kind of…fleecy. Yuck! Who wants to put that on when you get out of the shower?)

My mom gave me a ring that used to belong to my great grandmother. It surely existed before 1900, though not sure how much before the turn of the century. It’s a beautiful ring, but what I love most about it is the history. Apparently, years ago, my great-grandmother, or my grandmother (forgot which) used to bring this ring to the pawn shop every November so she would have money to buy the Thanksgiving meal, and then in December, she would get it out of pawn. I look at the ring on my finger and wonder how many holiday meals this ring has financed!

My dad is still watching the Spanish language soap “La Patrona” on Telemundo, only now they have removed the captions, so you don’t know what’s going on! He said he had the cable company in to look at it, but they weren’t able to do anything. Mary says she’ll give a call to the cable company. It there’s one person who can be a squeaky wheel and get things done, it’s Mary!

One thing I did see on Telemundo, which struck me as hilarious, is the AT&T commercial where the guy is talking with the little kids. It was in Spanish, but it wasn’t simply dubbed into Spanish, it was actually a whole different commercial! If you know the original in English, you’ll probably get a kick out of this Spanish equivalent:

The weather was extremely pleasant while I was there, not hot at all, and the whole time I only saw two bugs! Not bad, for Florida! Everything looks pretty much the same. I guess as long as I keep visiting at least once a year, there shouldn’t be too many shocking changes in the landscape. Oh, wait! The building where I used to work was completely torn down and they’ve build something bigger on the same site. I didn’t go visit. It’s been so long now, I’m sure nobody I used to work with is still there.

I’ll be returning to Florida in the summer, but this time on a road trip with Russ, and we’re Disney-bound! Also going to get to spend some time with Joey. Joey’s got a new car, and he’s working on going back to college. Go, Joey! We may spend a day with him at Universal Islands of Adventure.

Both kinds of vacations are nice—the quiet, simply visiting type, and the wow, let’s go to the theme park type. By the grace of God Russ and I are now in a place where we can afford to step away from our “real lives” now and then and enjoy a little of each.

Recently spent a week in Florida with my family, and will write more about that later, when I have more that 10 minutes to sit down at the computer doing something that isn’t related to the podcast, forum or blog. But for right now, I feel compelled to share this recipe for the most delicious and easy to prepare chocolate chip cookies in the world. Just got back from the inlaws, where Marianne served us these homemade cookies, and I couldn’t stop eating them.

If you are in the mood for chocolate chip cookies that you can’t stop eating, try this:

1 package yellow cake mix
1/2 cup oil
2 tablespoons water
2 eggs
1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350, drop on cookie sheet (her recipe doesn’t say, but with a half cup of oil, I’m guessing “ungreased” would be fine), and bake for 10-12 minutes.

Haven’t tried baking these yet. Scared to actually have these in the house. Will not do any good for my diet. I’m thinking to try some modifications, like switching out half the oil with applesauce. Or maybe using carrot cake mix and raisins! How about chocolate cake mix with walnuts and/or macademia nuts? You could go nuts with this recipe!

Doing the Dark Shadows podcast really gives me the opportunity to re-connect with my past, and one of the 60’s phenomenon we keep running into is the Cowsills. When I was a pre-teen, I was nuts about the Cowsills. Well, you can see why—there’s lots of cute boys in the band! I don’t know who I was crazier about—the Cowsills, the Monkees, or Bobby Sherman! Actually, there was room in my heart for all of them. And I think I did my fair share towards keeping Tiger Beat magazine in circulation.

As for the Cowsills, I recently had the opportunity to watch a documentary about them on Showtime, and it was a real eye-opener. As a kid, of course I thought they were the perfect family and I would have loved nothing more than to be a part of that family, or to at least be BFF with Susie Cowsill. Watching the documentary I discovered that it was not all rosy for these kids growing up. They’ve had their fair share of heartache and difficulties. But many members of the family are still going strong, still making music.

I’ve been listening to some of their music these last few weeks, and some of it is quite good! Just for the record, I believe that this song, We Can Fly, is absolutely the HAPPIEST song every recorded. Take a listen. If this doesn’t have you smiling, nothing will.

While checking the Weather Channel online earlier today, I saw that our local forecast called for both a Freeze Warning and a Fire Weather Warning, and I thought….how odd! To have both at the same time. And it reminded me of that Robert Frost poem I learned in high school:

Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.

Two powerful forces, and some great poetry.

A while back I posted about these great videos you can find online that combine the wonders of science with some really cool music. I ran into them again recently, and I’m really enjoying them, so I wanted to share.

As a kid in school, science was never one of my favorite subjects, but I think if teachers were to show these videos to kids today, the enthusiasm of the scientists in these videos would be so contagious that at least SOME of the kids who were determined not to like science would be softened up and decide to at least give it a chance.

Of course today “nerds” are cool, and what’s nerdier than science, right? Back in my day, being a nerd was definitely not cool, and you would rather be just about anything else than a nerd. You would rather be invisible than be a nerd.

My, how times have changed.

You’ll notice over on the side of this page there is a new image with the words “The Drawing Room Forum.” This is a forum Russ and I have just created a couple of weeks ago for our Dark Shadows Podcast website. We were encouraged by one of our listeners to start up a forum, and others joined in saying yes, we would like to see a new forum for the show! So we’ve put it together, and here it is!

If you are a fan of the show, I would encourage you to click on the picture and go to the forum and take a look around. Maybe “set a spell” and join in the conversation on all things Dark Shadows.

It’s just now getting off the ground, and we’re trying to get as many members as possible so we can have good, active and varied conversations there. If you know anyone who is a fan of Dark Shadows, please point them in our direction!

At the same time we’re opening up the forum, we are also cutting back to once a month on the podcast, so that we have a more regular schedule and have more time to devote to other projects as well (one of those projects being…moderating the forum!) There are so many things I would like to be doing, but there just are not enough hours in a day. Where is the 25 hour day? That would be convenient. Would also be convenient if I could get by on less sleep, but I know what my limits are, and 7-8 hours a night is what I need to feel comfortable and rested.

They say as you get older you need less and less sleep. Well then…I guess I’m not old yet! 🙂 So, when I find I can get by on less sleep, it will be a double-edged sword: yes, I’m getting older, but yes! Now I have more time for the things I really want to do!

Every cloud has a silver lining…

Caught a little cold a couple of days ago, but I’m trudging through it. Haven’t taken any time off work, because there’s just too much that needs to get done, so I hope I haven’t been infecting eveyone else in the office.

The first night Russ went out and got us “extra hot” Mexican food, and last night’s dinner included hot ramen noodle soup. Been using the vaporizor and going to bed about 8 or 8:30.

Feeling a bit better tonight, but still looking forward to that early bedtime. Good night!

Yesterday was pretty cold. The forecast called for “flurries” but they never happened in our neighborhood. Still, it was uncomfortable going out shopping in 39 degree cloudy, windy weather.

Some of my readers up north will scoff at my reference to 39 degrees, but those in Alabama and Florida will understand. However, nobody will scoff at this account of “The Ice Bowl,” a football game played in -16 degree weather on New Year’s Eve, 1967.

Russ and I ran into this bit of football history while preparing the history segment for our Drawing Room podcast. We’ve been reporting the history for 1967 since we began doing the podcast, and now at last are getting ready to turn the page and move into 1968. Finally! But before we leave 1967, one more great news story. Take a look at this short account of that historic “Ice Bowl” football game.

Even if you are not a football fan, you have to feel for the people involved. And the fans! What devotion! And what a great way to leave 1967. I wonder what news stories 1968 will have in store for us…