Quiet morning along freeway...

The holiday week has arrived and you can tell about 5:30 a.m. – the usual solid wall of automotive roar is diminished by two-thirds on the downtown-bound freeway a few blocks away from the international headquarters of Readlarrypowell.com.
You can hear birds chirping through their gas masks.
Clever schedulers started their Thanksgiving holidays last Friday
Some kids are still in school, right? Any other old codgers remember the glee of that last bell on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving? Holy smoke, four days away from school and no homework unless some spoilsport assigned a term theme or a book report.
I guess nowadays kids get the whole week off. Too bad. There’s a place in life for the happy freedom of a 3-day school week and a 4-day session of goofing off. It teaches appreciation instead of stress.
Now, let’s see how much we can cram into this Monday report without overstressing the seams, which, I believe, is the traditional theme of the week: “Overstress the seams.”
That is our Readlarrypowell.com staff impersonator, Inky, the Cocker Laureate of the State of Texas, giving us his impression of a freshman returning from college, opening the front door of the home where he used to live and spotting a big platter of Mom’s My Baby’s Back Meatloaf. Mom serves it through gentle tears and the student displays the manners learned in a dorm – “It’s dog eat dog,” he explains, “Where’s the taters and gravy?,” before he learns that Mom is watching his diet for him.
OK, enough of Norman Rockwell’s America, here’s our report in no particular order:
PET PEEVE: Oh, for crying out loud. I got a copy of a note about a bunch of dogs and cats on the clock in the Arlington Animal Services Shelter and one of the dog is this big pit bull fellow named Boo Radley (#14502601).
First, the poor guy (named after a character in To Kill a Mockingbird) must have run into a real dunce – and, as you know, in the Dallas/Fort Worth area we have an annual bumper crop of dunces.
But the idiot who had the dog decided to treat the mange by pouring motor oil onto him. It’s an old folk cure and it didn’t work on old folk, either. Idiot.
Also in the Arlington shelter is Snickers, a Pit Bull pup who came in with a broken leg but has managed to charm the staff during recuperation. Of course, there’s no need to recuperate if nobody adopts her. She has been healed just to be killed.
Call the shelter at 817-459-6156 or 817-878-7033. For more info Google the shelter – anybody can Google. If you are smart enough to pour motor oil, you can Google.
Yes, anyone who pours oil on a dog to treat it for mange ought to be charged with cruelty. Or soaked with runoff from a cesspool. Idiots.
BREEDER’S PUPPY DODGES DEATH FOR NOW: Garnell McMichael sent out a note explaining that Tiny Tim – this fluffy little Shih Tzu pup  -- was on the brink of being sent to a shelter by a breeder at Trenton, Texas, in Fannin County.
The little guy can’t stand up – something’s “wrong” with his hind legs but he gleefully gets around. Could be fixable, might not be. Could be the result of bad breeding. Don’t know for sure. A vet’s involved because the little guy is now in the care of Tzu Zoo Shih Tzu Rescue and the group wants to make sure Tiny Tim is healthy and in peak condition when he finds a new home.
Garnell explains, “This sweet 8-week-old boy was about to be taken to the shelter to be euthanized by a breeder. A rescue friend sent out a plea for a rescue group to take him. Tzu Zoo (a Shih Tzu rescue) stepped up for him, and now he has a chance at a great forever home. ... He is full of tail wags, and doesn't seem to realize he is ‘special.’
And, of course, he was named Tiny Tim, after the kid in A Christmas Carol.
To ask about helping Tiny Tim’s medical case or to volunteer to adopt or foster, go to the Tzu Zoo Rescue website HERE.
ASSORTED NOTES:
-- Collin County Animal Services has its traditional load of available animals right now, but also has, according to shelter walker Allyson Roberts, FOURTEEN Chihuahuas “from a hoarding case.”
Most weigh 8 pounds are less. Other than a flea infestation, they appear to be healthy – and they’re available to rescue groups only. To ask about them, e-mail both ldrummonds@co.collin.tx.us   and animalshelter@co.collin.tx.us Also, call  972-547-7292.
--The population increases at the little Burns Flat Animal Shelter in smallish Burns Flat, Okla., but it’s a crisis. Our reliable tipster Terry Lynn Fisher writes, “I am too swamped...They HAVE TO LEAVE. The city has given me a week to find place for all of these, or they will be KILLED.  PLEASE, I am begging...I cannot bear to lose all these innocent babies...If you can help, even with just ONE, let me know ASAP.  Even if it's just short term. I will work on getting more kennels I just need them gone from the shelter.
Lab mixes, shepherd mixes, a Dachshund, pit mixes, heeler mixes, a Cocker Spaniel mix, and a dog named Dusty described as “pure cuteness.”
And there’s also a pit -- Roudie is the dog’s name -- that's her in the photo. Terry Lynn angrily writes, “This one p****s me off. I tried to get her 2 months ago...but her family LOVED HER AND COULDN'T DO WITHOUT HER...YEP...now, they call me every day to come get her because I have that magic place for all the unwanted dogs She is only 4 to 5 months old and sadly, I think they have thrown her out back and pretty much ignore her.”
To help Terry Lynn help the dogs, e-mail remembering_oddball@yahoo.com or call 580-330-1459.
MEANWHILE IN CARROLLTON: When I opened the latest report on the animals available at Carrollton I was immediately taken by the handsome Elvis – that’s Elvis the Earhound, thankuvurymuch.
He’s in the Carrollton Animal Services shelter because he was a stray. But, Adell, the cat – well, there must have been some divine intervention somewhere.
Adell arrived as a very loving stray and was going to be available to the general public when, over the weekend, she delivered four kittens and now is available to rescue groups only.
Elvis and Adell are on the Carrollton euthanasia list for Wednesday.
Again, the euthanasia list for Wednesday.
To ask about saving any animal in Carrollton’s city shelter, call 972-466-3420 or e-mail care@cityofcarrollton.com.
CONTEMPLATIONS: Gasoline – why can’t it be cheap year round? Cheap -- wait, that's the wrong word. ... Now and then wouldn’t it be neat to be an elementary schoolkid learning about Pilgrims and Squanto and Plymouth Rock and – wait, do they still teach that stuff? ... Mincemeat pie. Yes or no? FYI: I vote a dramatic and adoring “yes.” Of all the pies, mincemeat is the most exotic of the holiday pies. Pumpkin – traditional and perfect. Mincemeat – magnificent. And it has no calories. That’s what I heard.
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