On Friday, these reports...

We have reached -- simultaneously -- the end of the work week and the end of November. The week ending, I don't mind. November just went by too darned fast.

So, let's just get this out of the way first: If you know someone who is looking for a dog or cat, send them to a city shelter to save a life. (Each week about this time I get a flush of desperate notes about the overwhelming numbers of dogs and cats on death row in Irving, White Settlement, Little Elm, Marshall, Longview, Texas City, Carrollton -- all over! Pick a city and find desperation, you know?)

And remember, you can also send your animal-less friends to a rescue group to save a life. That'll free up a spot in the group so they can pull an animal from a pound.
Or tell your pals to keep their eyes open because they'll see free dogs and cats wandering loose. Fact of life. Wish it would change, but people being people, animals are often out on their ears and left to fend for themselves. Reminder: Animal abandonment is against the law in Texas.

The City of Dallas, with encouragement (Would "hounding" be the synonym?) from animal rescue folks, is making a monumental effort to turn the tide. The new Dallas Animal Services Adoption Center is open and in case you haven't seen this method of advertising, here is a photo of a DART bus with a big ad for the city shelter stretched across the back. (Click on the photo to make it larger.)

Blame my photography for the lousy reproduction here, but I was driving 85 miles an hour down Jefferson in Oak Cliff  while holding a cell phone in one hand, a burrito in the other and snapping the photo with my nose while the camera balanced on the steering wheel as I chased this bus.

I'm kidding. I pulled up behind the bus as it was paused on its route and STILL I couldn't get a good clear photo. But, perhaps, this photo is worth at least 800 words -- or maybe it'll remind someone to go to the city shelter and save a life or two.

HARLEY IS FOUND: The note about Harley, missing after a car crash on Nov. 16, has been making the rounds this morning. But just after 10:40 a.m., I spoke to Jim Garber, who says the family got the dog back last night.

"Someone had turned him in at the McKinney Animal Shelter," Jim says.

The original note about Harley, written by Jim's wife Billie Joe, tells about the major accident Highway 380 in front of John Deere Tractor in McKinney. "My Infiniti flipped 3 times and landed in a field across the highway about 2 feet from a telephone pole."

Rescuers, according to Billie Jo, apparently just let Harley go. "He was spotted the next morning at John Deere and then in the subdivision behind," Billie Jo wrote. "Harley is my heart and soul. I am lost without him."

But a call from Jim this morning reveals that Harley is back home and "he ate real well last night," Jim laughed. The folks at the shelter had been playing with him and enjoying him. He's a loveable dog. And he's doing fine.

Jim says, "It worked out pretty good. We lost the car but we got our dog back."

A CAT THAT MIGHT HAVE A HOME: Our longtime pal and colleague at the big paper in Dallas, Kim Pierce, is involved in feral feeding on the SMU campus and she says the feral folks have come across a "tiger-tabby-on-white who is obviously someone's pet."

This cat is well-fed, has a great coat and is a neutered male with all four paws declawed.

So, as you can tell by the description, this is probably not a feral cat even though he's been living the feral life.

And the feral folks would like to find his rightful home and get him "off the streets." If you know where this cat belongs, call 214-534-0233 or e-mail cats@smu.edu.

At Readlarrypowell.com, we appreciate the intellectual nature of cats. But unless this guy is a graduate feline doing research for dissertation titled "Living the Feral Life at SMU," this clawless cat belongs in his proper protected environment.

LOOKING FOR HOMES: Gail Whelan of Companion Animal Network has sent us some notes about three dogs that need homes. As is the eternal case in the rescue world, they all have stories.

The little guy --22 pounds of posed pup in this photo -- is Keifer, pulled from the Tri Cities Animal Shelter's death row several months ago. Gail says he's been in three foster homes and has been returned "because he is 'needy.' No one seems to be able to deal with this. Keifer just wants to be WITH someone."

He is a lap dog, but he doesn't like to share people, so that makes him a good candidate for an "only dog home."

Gail writes, "I do not know what happened to this precious little dog, but it left him damaged and afraid."

She suggests that perhaps a retired couple or individual would offer the ideal home for this guy. He's 3, healthy and "housetrained if you go out with him. He is afraid of being abandoned and will not go outside alone." (Personal note: Who among us cannot relate to that! It's why I won't go outside alone, but let's keep that between us.)

Now, the two Labs are Daisy and Roscoe -- they're currently being boarded but Companion Animal Network is short on funding, so the rescuers are hoping someone can step up and foster or adopt the dogs. And they don't have to be adopted together.

Their story? "A rescuer in Louisiana saved them -- a volunteer drove from Dallas to Louisiana and back to save them." Since their arrival, things have sort of fallen apart and the dogs find themselves in need of saving in Texas.

To help any of these animals, e-mail adoptions@companionanimalnetwork.org.

WE ADMIRE SPUNKINESS: This is in the category of "spunkiness" -- veteran rescuer Barb Oates has started her own pet-sitting business. Yep, she's aware of the time demands and the business pressures of the profession and is happily embarking on this career.

The business is Velvet Ears Deluxe Pet Care -- I'm almost certain it's not named for Barb's ears, but you never know!

She's revealed this professional step, as she says, "just  in time for all those pet lovers who will be out shopping or visiting family/friends over the holidays and need a pet sitter to drop in or come and visit several times and check on the cats and dogs!

"I am mostly serving Fort Worth, Arlington, Irving, Grand Prairie, Watauga, North Richland Hills, the Mid-Cities, Grapevine, Southlake....although if there are needs outside of those areas they can contact me as nothing is off limits!"

You can reach her at 817-808-8558 or velvetears@sbcglobal.net.

Dear readers, I've reproduced (poorly as I am weak in technology) Barb's business card here. My funspouse Martha was a professional pet-sitter for nearly five years -- she loved it.

And I got a kick out of this line on Barb's card: "Your dog won't even notice you're gone."

At our house, the line is "Our dogs are grateful we're gone -- they get the TV remote and a chance to catch up on their sleep."

WRAPPING UP THE WEEK: Oh, goodness, how about the Dallas Cowboys? They beat the Green Bay Packers. Is the Super Bowl in the Dallas future? And this Sunday, when the Cowboys aren't on TV, why, lots of fellows will be doing Christmas shopping and hanging decorations and repairing things they've been meaning to fix since July. ...

We saw this week that the folks in Austin are trying to raise tuition at the University of Texas. (Click HERE for the Austin American-Statesman story.) Frankly, in Texas, we ought to be trying to make a college education free. Make it easier to be smarter. I say this from the position of a guy who never had enough money and time simultaneously to finish a degree. Knowledge is a good thing and the solid foundation of civilization, why should we make it more difficult to acquire?