Linens For Animals, and other topics...

We’re publishing a second edition today to make sure we’ve blanketed as many things as possible.
Blanket is the key word. Now, pay attention to the details. Yes, I’m testy today.
LINENS FOR ANIMALS AND ITS FREE BLANKETS PROGRAM:  When the Dallas Animal Services shelter asked for donations of blankets and bedding earlier this week, people immediately responded.
Some donated. Some e-mailed.
Some of the e-mailers, ugly tone in their typing, sent notes suggesting that Linens For Animals charged for blankets, that Linens For Animals would not donate to kill shelters, etc.
So, just after noon today I spoke to Lori Birdsong, the founder of Linens for Animals who is both puzzled and irritated at the misconceptions expressed in e-mails to her and about her.  She declares that the linens and blankets are free to “anybody who is helping animals” – kill shelters, no-kill shelters, etc. Free. You can donate to the cause if you want, but you don’t have to.
It is so simple, Lori says. Go to the website www.linensforanimals.org. Click on the order form and, Lori says, it will “walk you through it. Fill out the order. Send it.” She will tell you where to pick up the order (Do you want to get it at Linens For Animals facility in Alba or Plano?) “Let me know when. It’s there and ready.” she promises. Usually, orders are picked up at 1 p.m. on Thursdays.
She has two 18-wheelers of linens, blankets and such material waiting for free distribution in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. (The linens are “gently used” recycled hospital linens.)
Linens For Animals is a certified 501(c)(3) and it also operates a sanctuary in McKinney – you can read about it at the website where you will also find a number of adoptable (and some not quite so adoptable) dogs. (LFA is in 19 states and 5 others are in the process of establishing centers, Lori says.)
As for the sanctuary, openly for less than a year, it is making headway adopting out cats now that it has support from Petco and PetSmart.
And, this dog with this item is Rockie, a 2-year-old Boxer/Catahoula mix. Her story from the shelter reads, “Rockie was left to fend for herself in the country by her so called ‘owner'. She lost her way, so it took a while for her to trust humans again. She doesn't do well with other dogs, cats or children.”
You can ask about adopting Rockie by going through the Linens For Animals website HERE.  She might just be a one-person dog, but , then again, she might blossom into a virtual public relations hound. You never know until you try to let her love you.
ASSORTED NOTES ON A FRIDAY AFTERNOON THAT IS SO WINDY IT MAKES ME THINK I’VE BEEN KIDNAPPED, BLINDFOLDED AND MOVED TO MIDLAND, TEXAS, WHERE THE TREES ALL LEAN FROM THE PERSISTENT BREEZE: Whew, that was a windy mouthful. Here we go.
--- Happy Tails of Gun Barrel City needs donations for its food bank. Tina Hamilton, the rescuer and Happy Tails founder says, “Sadly when times get tough the family pet is the first thing to go. By providing pet food through these times, family pets can stay with their families.”  To ask how to donate, e-mail [email protected].
-- From 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. Monday, Dallas Animal Advocates will benefit when you buy food and drink at the On the Border, 3130 Knox Street west of Central in Dallas. More details at http://www.dallasanimaladvocates.org.
--Did you realize that Sunday is Oak Cliff Earth Day? Yeah, the real Earth Day is April 22 – next Friday. But because there are so many Earthlings all over the place, I guess they stretch it out for the entire week. Anyway the Oak Cliff Earth Day celebration is from noon to 5 p.m. at Lake Cliff Park at Colorado and Zang just over the Trinity River from Downtown Dallas. We learned about all this because we got a note from the folks with Greyhound Adoption League of Texas who will have a booth at the celebration and have designated Eno’s Pizza Tavern in the Bishop Arts District as their Earth Day Oak Cliff headquarters.
--The SPCA’s SIXTH Annual Strut Your Mutt 3K Fun Run and Walk is Saturday in Dallas’ Fair Park. Usually draws a hug crowd of critters and people for the family-oriented fun. See http://www.strutyourmutt.org.
---Creek Craze, a family and critter-friendly event is Sunday in Lee Park in Dallas. Paws In The City will be there handling the costume contest. See details at http://www.leeparkconservancy.org/. (Just FYI: on Sunday the 24th (Easter Sunday), Lee Park will host the 26th annual “Easter In The Park” family-oriented festival with a free Dallas Symphony concert. See details at www.turtlecreekassociation.org.
--And demonstrating that there is hope for a future, we got a note about the 2012 Pampered Pets calendar from Sydney Busch, the devoted, hard-working tipster from Friends of the Animals at Cedar Creek Lake. As you know, the Friends operate the world’s most successful spay/neuter clinic at Gun Barrel City, Texas. So, for a $40 donation to the clinic, you can get a spot on the calendar for your animals. There will be pages dedicated to 10 dogs and 10 cats. The Pampered Pets calendar is known not only for its wonderful photographs, but also for its calenderic accuracy, having never gotten a day out of order. I think I may have made up the word “calenderic.” OK, to ask about donating to get your critter into the calendar for 2012, e-mail [email protected] or call 903-451-4701.
CONTEMPLATIONS: I have, so far, had a long, busy day. I may not have time to nap, but I might sit in the pickup, listen to country-music and pretend that I’m somewhere near Alpine plotting the Great Texas Novel, though I think Larry McMurtry has already written four or five of them. Maybe I’ll settle for the Lesser Texas Novel about a rescue group that discovers by accident that one of its foundling dogs can talk and runs him for governor. I’m looking for a title, but so far I think “Marking My Territory” might work. ... The local TV stations covered last night’s spring storm in North Texas with so much intensity that it would have eclipsed stories on a tsunami wiping out Comanche Peak Nuclear Power Plant at Glen Rose. I never watch the Tonight Show With Jay Leno, but I wanted to see Tyler Perry, the filmmaker. Unfortunately, all I got was droning on and on about potential hail, radar “hooks” and discussions of whether the gusts in Garland hit 40, 60 or 80 miles per hour. Miffed. I told you. I’m testy today and I’m blaming KXAS-TV, Channel 5. .... I was talking to a friend of mine this morning about being so disgusted with animal issues that I felt like tying one on, something I haven’t done in quite a while. She said, “Salty snacks are my drug of choice.  They’re cheaper, fill you up (and out) ... And you can’t get arrested even if your blood  salt level is 10.9.” Yep, Texas has yet to enact the Driving While Salted law. If they can make a buck, though, get ready to pull over and spit into a cup.
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