Young & old, all in need...

We're gonna package up a potpourri for today.

And, yes, as a child of the radio era, I learned the word "potpourri" from Paul Harvey when I was in elementary school. He's always said, "And now a potpourri of today's news." Some the other words that I know, I learned from my classmates. No need to go into those.

A ROUNDUP FROM DELLA:

--Item 1: Our pal Della Wallace stepped up last week to take over care and feeding of  10 motherless Lab puppies. You may recall the episode -- that's the 10 in the bundling basket, er, laundry basket.

She worked hard to find places for the puppies to go -- Renee Eden of Lone Star Dog Ranch in Anna took a couple -- you can see their puppy faces on the Ranch website HERE www.lonestardogranch.com. Over the weekend, Renee picked up five more because, Della explains, "She has two friends who volunteered to take them." Two others had already been claimed, so what we have here is dog people teaming up to distribute the responsibilities of saving some puppies.

This leaves Della with three: a yellow male, black male and chocolate female that she has named Annie (for Orphan Annie) -- Della has fallen for Annie, so, we'll see how that works out.

This photo shows these three dogs in the laundry basket that once held 10 puppies -- obviously, in a week's time, these puppies have had a growth spurt.

Della says she may soon take them to a mother dog in another city, a dog that "has been rescued from a pound and can feed them. They are growing like weeds. I think they need to learn 'dog' and after they are weaned, I will get them back to adopt out."

(If you want to help Della in this project,  e-mail dellaw@airmail.net.)

            --Item 2: Then there is this report from Della. It has to do with the conviction and sentencing of Michael Charles Soto, 24, who threw Annie the dog off a second floor balcony, went downstairs and tossed the injured dog into a trash bin. She was rescued, but later died from her injuries. This bad guy entered a guilty plea and got a three-year prison sentence. Della wrote that she went to the courthouse "to watch that creep get sentenced to three years. Should have been much more."

            Well, yep. But just a few years ago he wouldn't have even gotten a ticket for littering in Texas. It used to be OK to kill your dog any way you wanted. We're almost becoming civilized out here on the frontier. (To get involved in making Texas cruelty laws tougher, visit the Texas Humane Legislation Network at www.thln.org.)

A NOTE ON BEHALF OF SENIOR DOGS: Some people enjoy the puppy stage -- all the chewing, training, yapping and surprises. But, there is a lot to be said for having an older dog around the house. Besides, all of 'em eventually become older dogs. Older, huggable, enjoyable companions.

Is this just about the best old guy face you've ever seen?

This dog is Spyke and this thoroughly-grayed old gent is available at the Carrollton Animal Services shelter -- and he's also on the list of animals facing a bad fate on Wednesday. You can see other Carrollton animals, including a parakeet named Gumball, by clicking HERE.

Gumball? Came in as a stray and had no wallet with him, so might as well call him Gumball.

Back to Spyke.

He's a Golden Retriever -- No. 18059 --  with some life experience. Here's the official story: "This kind gentle old soul was found as a stray, and no one came to look for him. He is a sweet quiet boy with a good personality and a lot of love to give to the right person."

To save Spike, call 972-466-3420 or e-mail Joe.Skenesky@cityofcarrollton.com. Trust me, the Carrollton folks WANT to save these animals -- otherwise they wouldn't issue bulletins begging for help.

BACK TO CITY HALL: The forces that are uniting to try to keep Jenny, the Dallas Zoo's only elephant, in the United States at the Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee, are planning another visit to Dallas City Hall -- this is for Wednesday's city council meeting and is designed to demonstrate that the Jenny Force is strong and will not fade away.

According to a note from Concerned Citizens for Jenny, "This is a psychologically pivotal moment.  We must take advantage of it by having as many of us present as possible. The press will be present and will report on how many Concerned Citizens for Jenny are there (for good or for ill)."

The meeting starts at 12:30 p.m. in the council chambers on the 6th floor of Dallas City Hall. More info is available from Margaret Morin at 972 578 0370 or e-mail dogs_good@yahoo.com.

BURNS FLAT REPORT: After a weekend of agonizing over the overflowing conditions at the Burns Flat, Okla., animal shelter, tireless rescue worker Terry Lynn Fisher managed to get two dogs in boarding at $10 a day. That saved some lives, but the animals still need to be removed from the kill shelter. Among them is a male Border Collie/Terrier mix, a hound, a Husky mix, a "white and gold boy," and a "little bitty pitty girl." To help Terry Lynn save some lives e-mail remembering_oddball@yahoo.com or call 580-330-1459.

REMINDER: To secure some free ink for your animal event in the next edition of Urban Animal magazine, send the info to lrpmail@aol.com. Keep it simple -- just text, please, send me no elaborate flyers that must be downloaded or are too big to be viewed in a single glance. Put only these things in your note: Who, what, where, when, why. Give an active e-mail address or a phone number in case there are questions. Don't assume "everybody knows" the name of your group. I have no time to play detective today.

Try to wrap it up in one short paragraph. Example: "The Befuddled Rescuer Society of Dallas will benefit from a pigs-in-a-blanket-eating contest at 7:30 a.m. Saturday in the Cotton Bowl. Call 555-SYRUP or e-mail Caloriefree@younme.com. All-you-can-eat tickets are $5." See how easy that is?

CONTEMPLATIONS: Radio makes people look better. ... Every day I check the Drudge Report and sometimes I'm tickled by the juxtaposition of headlines. For example, when I clicked onto the site this morning, the headline "Magazine 1st-half newsstand sales drop 6.3%" was followed by "Half of all Americans have poor eyesight." Note to magazine publishers: Some of your "styling" with hard-to-read type printed on top of photographs, or type that's too small, or odd creative design is making those of us with passable vision go blind. ... Suddenly yesterday C.J. Wilson, the Texas Rangers reliever, announced on his personal website that he's about to undergo arm surgery. It's being described as "season-ending" but, frankly, C.J. Wilson's season was over months ago. The Rangers ought to get an OK from the commissioner to just go into the stands each night and ask someone to be the day's guest pitchers. That's not much of a step down from what they're doing now.

Comments

[Nicole Kopec]

Larry...it looks like the old Golden, Spike, was rescued this morning by DFW Metro Golden Retriever Rescue. I e-mailed them about him when I saw him on your site and they told me he was picked up this morning. So, good news! My golden was rescued by DFWMGRR and I have a soft spot for Goldens(and German Shepherds...I have a rescued GSD, too!)
Nicole