Assorted notes dealing with books and dogs in trouble (not the Dallas Cowboys, of course)

On a Tuesday morning after that Dallas Cowboys game what are we to think? “Thank Heaven for the Texas Rangers and the World Series,” That’s what I think.
Our topics today will include The great American Association of University Women Book Fair in Arlington, a shot-up dog near Beaumont and a blind pup and two escape artists in East Texas.
Life is varied. Here goes:
FOR YOUR PLANNING PURPOSES: The Dallas Animal Shelter Commission’s next meeting is at 1:30 p.m. Thursday in Room 6ES at Dallas City Hall. See the agenda HERE. Among the items is a proposal to let the SPCA of Texas handle the city’s animal cruelty investigations and enforcement. There’ll also be discussion of the ordinance that makes rescuers who pick up dogs criminals if they don’t try to find the owner and turn the dog over to the city’s kill shelter within three days.
BOOKS, BOOKS, AND MORE BOOKS AND OTHER STUFF, TOO: The 28th Arlington Branch-American Association of University Women Book Fair opens Thursday and runs through Sunday. This is one of the great highlights of the year for people who love books. [The schedule is in a separate item in today’s Contemplations at the end of this report.]
You might ask why a guy who writes about dogs and cats and critters gives a hoot. I’ll tell you: I expect both of my granddaughters, Hannah Rose and Emily Grace, to be University Women some day. (I would have been a University Woman except, well, I only went to junior college.) You know, this sale isn’t just raising money to buy cupcakes for breakfast meetings. Nope, the proceeds go to educational causes such as Reading is Fundamental scholarships to UTA, etc.
And the fair is at the Arlington Museum of Art, 201 W. Main St. in Arlington which will give you an opportunity to see that there’s more to Arlington than traffic jams on I-20 and, along I-30, a world-famous thrill park, the place where the 2010 World Series will be played and the stadium that’ll host the 2011 Super Bowl.
That photo? That’s our own Inky, the Cocker Laureate of the State of Texas, demonstrating how he felt when he realized all copies of his volume “Poems From a Hairy Face” have already been claimed by fans. He is honored and will be happy to sign your copy of his book.
At the end of today’s report, I’m going to point out some of the books I spotted in the catalog and why they’re more interesting than, perhaps, other items. Books are always worthy of contemplation. Some books more than others, of course.
THE DOG THAT WAS SHOT IN THE FACE: Regina Eagleson of the Groves Veterinary Clinic in Groves, Texas, down by Beaumont, is trying to find a place for this dog.
And what makes this dog special? Gunshot survivor. Yep. Caught it in the face. But he sure looks pretty happy in this photo, doesn’t he? Well, he is. Now. Here’s the story, according to Regina, who works for the clinic where her boss is Dr. Tillman Richey.
“My boss' wife [Cheryl] was on her way to pick her granddaughters [Rhianon and Emerald] up to go to school and she saw this puppy at the edge of a wooded area [near Orangefield]. They have a long driveway to get from the road to the house and this puppy followed her car as she went down the drive.  “The girls, who are 3 and 5 years of age, saw this pitiful, mangy looking puppy that was bleeding from the nostrils and mouth...wounds on his face, swollen nose and below his left eye.
“They immediately brought him to their grandfather, ‘Big Daddy’, who is a veterinarian in Groves. 
“We thought that maybe he had been in a fight with some other animal that gave him the wounds, but x-rays revealed he had been shot in the face.
“We cleaned him up, gave him antibiotics, treated him for shock and placed a feeding tube in him. He was also full of intestinal worms (hookworms).  The feeding tube was in for a couple of days until he could eat by himself. 
“After he was starting to heal, he was de-wormed, vaccinated and eventually neutered. This was in August when he was found.
“He is a very happy and playful pup now. He has a very outgoing personality, He’s housebroken, great with people and other dogs, He’s not head-shy despite the injuries.  He seems to be about 5 months of age -- not sure of what breed he is. He needs to be placed in a loving home, any help would be appreciated.”
The pup has a docked tail and appears to have some Weim in the family tree. To ask about adopting him, call Regina at the clinic at 409-718-7465 or 409-962-1738 or e-mail her at gv77619@aol.com.
(Aside: Of course, if you know who shot the dog, call the authorities. Don’t call an animal lover because that would result in another crime, probably. You just can’t give a good beating to the people who need a good beating without some spoilsport calling the sheriff.)
CURIOSITIES AT THE LAKE: You just never know what’s going to show up at an animal shelter – or what’s going to show up AGAIN at a shelter. Here are the two latest things from Krista Mc Anally, the manager of the Humane Society of Cedar Creek Lake Animal Shelter at Tool, Texas.
First there’s this blind puppy.
Krista writes, “This is Brett. Brett was found dumped in a ditch on a private road in Henderson County.  A good guy stopped and picked him up and brought him in to us.”
The little guy is “totally blind.” Just guessing but this may be the result of poor breeding maybe even from one of the infamous East Texas puppy mills Krista says, “He has no retina – which is why he was dumped.”
Yep, who wants a blind dog? We’ll find out, I guess.
When found, he was covered with fleas and starving. “He is currently living in our cat room,” says Krista. He’s going to get all the things a puppy should get and then he’ll need a home. Right now he needs a foster home.
Then, there’s the story of the sister. Krista writes, “This is the ongoing saga of Cinnamon and Cheyanne.  These are two Lab sisters have been at the shelter on and off since they were 6 weeks old.  At about 3 months both girls were adopted together.  At about 6 months they were returned because they could not be contained by the fence that the family was allowed to build where they live.  The girls are completely vetted and spayed.  We will have to re-test for HW at this point. 
“Anyway the new chapter!!  On October 12, I received an email from Red Collar Rescue in Houston saying they would take them.  I was very excited because the girls are now 8 months old.  I had transport arranged and the day before they were leaving, they escaped out of their kennel and could not be found.  Until TODAY [Monday]! 
“They are now back at the shelter, thin from their month on the run.  We were driving down the road to the shelter and saw them.  We pulled into a parking lot and they saw us and came running to the van.  “So now we start the merry-go-round again to find them foster or rescue.  They are great girls and obviously meant to be together.  It still amazes me that after be loose on their own for a month, they were still together.”
To ask about helping Brett the Blind Dog or the Elusive Lab Sisters, e-mail Krista at dogshsccl@yahoo.com. You may call her at 903-432-3422. Read about the shelter at http://www.hsccl.org/. And visit it by going to Tool, about 52 miles southeast of Dallas.
(Aside: If you know who dumped the blind puppy in the ditch, please contact the authorities. Abandonment is against the law. And this is a particularly mean abandonment. In fact, if you know who did this to little Brett,  let me know. I’m not saying anything will happen, but this could be, as they say, a “teaching moment.”
What a low-life thing to do – dump a blind dog in a ditch in an area with coyotes and other predators. Despicable.)
STILL WAITING IN CARROLLTON:  Adoptions were moving not at all yesterday at the Carrollton Animal Services Shelter. We’re all full up with dogs here or we’d go get this guy Chaney.  Something about the photo. And if you want to see Chaney up and moving, Carrollton’s Joe Skenesky has posted a video of the big rascal on his site, Joe’s Animal House. Click HERE to see a video of Chaney.
Tomorrow is euthanasia day at Carrollton. To offer to help these animals, call  972-466-3420, or e-mail Joe.Skenesky@cityofcarrollton.com.
CONTEMPLATIONS: Indulge me, please, as I write lovingly of books and stories and the gift of being able to read.
Since you’re not going to have to work the Dallas Cowboys’ NFL playoffs schedule into your leisure time this season, maybe you’ll want some books to read.
And that brings us back to the event we mentioned in the opening, the Arlington Branch-American Association of University Women Book Fair.
Each year the Arlington Branch publishes a catalog of the interesting pieces for sale. This year the catalog isn’t a booklet you can hold. It is, for the first time, an online catalog and you can see it by clicking HERE.
You can see these books (and thousands and thousands of others at bargain prices) during the sale – most of the books and videos and tapes and whatever else is offered are listed at dramatically low prices.
The Book Fair opens Thursday and runs from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. ($3 admission that opening night only; the rest of the time it’s free). Sale hours on Friday are 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.  and on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. On Sunday the sale runs from noon to 5 p.m. – and on Sunday all items are deeply, deeply discounted to half the marked price.
In the general inventory you’ll find all sorts of fiction, non-fiction, self-help books, computer books, romances, etc. History, movies, genuine literature, beach fiction, holiday items. I hesitate to refer to this book fair as the “Brigadoon of Book Sales,” but it really does appear just once a year and offers genuine treasures before vanishing into the realm of fond memories.
Now, we can’t list all the items for sale, but I’m going to point out some of my favorites from this year’s catalog and I am going to note, also, that in the past I have purchased many great literature textbooks including some that I had in high school. These allowed me to revisit the works of Carl Sandburg, Robert Frost, Ogden Nash and many others and one textbook purchase allowed me to re-read a John Steinbeck short story, The Affair at 7 Rue de M, which is about a kid’s chewing gum that comes to life. People say, “That doesn’t sound like Steinbeck.” Trust me, it is.
Another copy of the Adventures in Literature textbook may be in the stacks this year. Who knows?
As I opened the Book Fair’s catalog, I thought, “Must be someone British helping with this.”
Why? Because of this line “A Sale of Used and Collectable Books.” An American would say, “Hey, y’all misspelled ‘collectible.’” And someone else would  note that the Oxford English Dictionary lists “collectable” as the first preference and that, on this planet, “collectible” is the American usage and “collectable” is the British usage. Both mean the same thing.  You say “tomato” and I say “tomito.”
Here are some of the collectables or collectibles available at the book fair:
For a Texas flavor there’s Hoot Owls and Orchids, Hattie McFadden Drummon’s “autobiography of a Texas pioneer woman.” Published in 1956 and priced at $15.
Then, if you like your cowboys with a bit of flash, there’s the book “Hopalong Cassidy and His Young Friend Danny,” a 1950 book with a tail of the famed hero of the old west – that’s priced at $18.
From 1894, there’s a book (priced at $22) called When Molly Was Six.
And from 2001, for $50, you can get a first edition copy of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol autographed by his great-great grandson, Mark Charles Dickens.
For $100, you can get a 10-volume collection The Works of J. Fenimore Cooper, published in 1893 -- the volumes are bound in dark blue cloth and it’s illustrated with “woodcut portraits.” Can you imagine how this survived more than a century?
And from 1827 there’s a book from London called “The Genuine Poetical Remains of Samuel Butler.” Priced at $10. Eighteen twenty-seven! Imagine! Whose hands have touched that book?
Speaking of poems, there’s a volume called Texas Poems priced at $35. What makes this special is it's from 1936 – that’s right Texas Poems produced for the year of the Texas Centennial – the year Dallas’ Fair Park with all the art deco buildings opened. Historic.
And, finally, I’m almost hesitant to mention this because I know there are H. Allen Smith collectors who will beat me to it – that’s OK, I’ve got about a half-dozen copies of this book. It’s the famous story of a cat who inherits the Pittsburgh Pirates: Rhubarb by H. Allen Smith, from 1946. Priced at $18 – a true bargain at that price.
H. Allen Smith is one of the funniest writers who ever dropped his fingers onto a keyboard and let fly. He gained fame as a columnist in New York, then, having grown weary of people, moved to Alpine, Texas, and became a travel writer. He also was part of the gang of writers and intellects who whipped up the famous Terlingua Chili Cookoff, the first event of its type.
FYI, around here the most famous chili expert and Terlingua personality was Mr. Smith’s chili rival, the great Dallas News columnist Frank X. Tolbert, whose daughter, Kathleen Ryan, with her family, operates Tolbert’s in Grapevine.
As you can see, when books are involved, the whole world is connected and we’re all a lot smarter. Well, some of us are smarter. Mercifully, with pleasure reading you don't have to take a test.
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