If my typing seems weak, if my consonants are not quite as hard as they ought to be, please forgive me. I am suffering from something resembling a cold that has invaded my upper respiratory area. It could actually be a cold.
It could also be (a) spores from another planet, (b) the kennel sniffles, or (c) a voodoo curse placed on me by someone I don't recall insulting.
I'd rather be healthier. I'm not fond of tomato soup and the sweats. And when my giant nose gets raw from being over-tissued...well, that's a big honkin' discomfort. Here are today's items and you may think I've been hallucinating when you read the first one.
THINK LIKE A CAT: That's the pitch for the Meow Mix Acatemy, open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday through Sunday on the north side of the Fair Park Coliseum at the State Fair of Texas.
This is called the "world's first feline-centric school" and the folks promoting it say it "teaches people how to think like a cat." (The mug in that shot of the black and white cat is our cat Poirot who having read the previous sentenced looked askance and responded, "The world would be a better place if people could elevate their thinking to cat-level. More meditation, more tranquility. When's the last time a cat held up a convenience store or ransacked a corporation?")
Inside the Acatemy you learn how cats think eat, play, sleep, exercise and try to communicate with humans. Students can scale a climbing wall, play with a big ball of yarn, study catnapping, take a Cat Aptitude Test and take a swat at a tetherball made of yarn.
For each "student" who visits the Acatemy, Meow Mix will donate a pound of cat food to Operation Kindness, the no-kill shelter in Carrollton.
THE MUSEUM CATS: Cute little fellows, aren't they?
The photo is from the Dallas Museum of Art's exclusive Holly Morgan Collection. I'm kidding.
The photo is actually from Holly and the kittens were found outside the Dallas Museum of Art in downtown Dallas back in mid-summer..
Holly says everybody concerned thinks Hank and Sammy are "sons of a feral cat."
Feral cats in downtown Dallas? Of course. They're everywhere.
She is looking for "anyone who could care for two uber-sweet kittens who need to be inside-only. I have three of my own or I would keep them myself. My middle cat-child is particularly opposed to them -- unfortunately."
These kittens are very attached to each other and one has "a gimpy leg" so they need to stay together just so they can have some emotional comfort.
If you can help Holly with these two cuties, e-mail [email protected] .
You can see more photos of these kittens by clicking on a MySpace site HERE and at a Picasa site HERE.
MORE KITTENS: Sometimes I'm surprised the city limits signs around North Texas don't read, "Welcome To Our Town. Please Take a Kitten. Spay and Neuter!"
These are some of the kittens that are in the current inventory at the Irving Animal Shelter. As you know, the Irving shelter is a city-operated kill shelter, so these cuties are at peril, as are the other dogs and cats that are there.
Many people, however, are working to find homes for the animals and that is why we got an e-mail loaded with photos of available cats.
Our tipster in this case is Rhonda Barrientos of Citizens for Irving Animals who told me this morning that "some ladies" brought 12 cats to the shelter yesterday and promised to bring a dozen more today.
The Irving Animal Shelter is at 100 N. Briery -- that's at Belt Line and Rock Island, just a couple of miles south of the Airport Freeway (183) in Irving. Call 972-721-2256.
PLANNING AHEAD: Cute poster, eh? That's the promotional material for the Oct. 6 Howl-o-ween Bowl at noon at the Showplace Lanes in Euless. It benefits the Legacy Boxer Rescue folks. Get all the details by clicking HERE.
There'll be a costume contest in addition to bowling. Teams of four people pay $25 each to bowl for charity. And there are ways to make pledges if you're not interested in kegling.
Kegling?
Yes, didn't any of you people bowl in college? (I still have my old shirt.)
Ah, nothing like a spirited game of 10-pins to raise the charitable spirit.
I do think it would be entertaining to watch a boxer try to bowl. I can see the excitement on their faces as they approach the foul line, hit the brakes, slide the ball onto the lane and, posing with their heads cocked charmingly to one side, follow the path of the rumbling spheroid and eagerly anticipate success at the far end of the alley. Then they run down and grab the pins that didn't fall over and slobber all over them. I think boxers may be the reason bowling towels were invented.
Anyway, that's a pretty cute poster, isn't it?
LILY'S TALE: Oh, boy, now here's a dog that was literally trashed.
We get the story from Shelley Warren at Paws in the City. Lily was a puppy when she was found in a Dumpster, taken to a shelter, picked up by a Paws rescuer, fostered for a while and quickly dispatched to obedience training.
She is a spirited dog, they say.
And she's needing a special home that can monitor her, gently enforce her manners and make her feel loved.
She's believed to be part Sharpei, probably was born in early December 2006 and weighs about 50 pounds.
To ask about adopting or fostering Lily and giving her a good life, get in touch with Paws In The City by clicking HERE.
VANISHED: Back on Sept. 13 we mentioned this dog. Deborah Trevino had been trying to lure the dog into safety and out of a field in Garland.
She reports that the dog "disappeared from the field last Wednesday. Last time I saw him was that morning when I threw him some dog biscuits and he came to the edge of the field to retrieve them....I have no idea if someone was able to get him or if he moved to another location. I haven't seen the other dog that was with him at times, either. Hopefully, he got picked up by someone wanting to give him a home. I checked with Animal Control the next day and he wasn't there."
One hopes the right person got the dogs. And we are reminded again that dogs are often too clever for their own good.
A MOMENT OF SILENCE: I've been remiss in not paying tribute to Marcel Marceau who I watched on the Ed Sullivan Show when I was a child and marveled at in the film Silent 
Movie when I was a relatively young adult. So, in honor of the late star, we declare, " !"
No dog has ever been a genuine mime, though our little fellow Inky, the Cocker Laureate of Texas and a noted impersonator, offers this silent tribute, an impression of a hungry mime rushing quietly into an all-night diner after a big show and spotting the "Special of the Evening." Known as "the quiet meal," it's a steaming platter of unsnapped beans, muted mashed potatoes and Mom's Mime Meatloaf.
