{Inexplicably, this posting didn't "take" this morning, so we're just now getting it to show up on Readlarrypowell.com. You'll apprecaite a "contemplations" sentiment at the end of the post.)
Happy birthday to you Feb. 29 folks. You Leap Year Babies. Leaplings, some people call them.
Yep, finally, your actual birthday shows up.
Must be the toughest thing in the world to explain to kids who have no concept of calendars. Oh, and it’s National Confusion Day For the Calendar Impaired. This will all clear up by the time the sun rises on Feb. 30
Oh, that photo?
Why that is a dog taking part in a Leap Day fund-raising campaign. We know this because we got the e-mail this morning from the folks at Legacy Boxer Rescue. You know Legacy, of course. It’s the group with it’s mission statement in its web address: www.savetheboxers.org.
At any rate, this is a photo of the Legacy Boxer Rescue alumnus Klondike. The email caption reads that “Klondike shows off his leaping skills for Leap Year! He would like you to donate $29 in honor of this day we only see every 4 years! He's a little sad every day isn't Leap Day!”
And, of course, you can click HERE to go to Legacy’s donate page.
While Legacy had the notice, probably any rescue group would love to get a donation today. And tomorrow. And the day after that. These shelters and rescue groups can’t just survive on puppy love and cat tales.
MAC TO HONOR TWO REAL MEN: A couple of years ago the Metroplex Animal Coalition and Dallas Animal Advocates started a spay/neuter campaign themed “Real Men Neuter.”
You may have seen the ads on the sides of buses.
Because North Texas is the nation’s Premier Party Prairie, MAC and Dallas Animal Advocates began organizing an annual Real Men party honoring actual men who’d made a difference in the world of animals. Last year’s was the first. For the second…well, click on that artwork to get the details.
This year, MAC plans to honor two more Real Men who’ve been instrumental in bringing attention to animal issues – Skip Trimble, longtime chair of the Dallas Animal Shelter Commission and eternal animal advocate, and the Dallas County District Attorney’s famed animal case prosecutor David Alex. (Aside: Both Real Men are attorneys and I don’t know what we can say about that except that in this age of idiot people, animals need lawyers.)
Click on that artwork to make it larger and see how to get your tickets to the Real Men Party on May 6 at Sambuca Uptown in Dallas. Just FYI: To see how to become a sponsor or to help in ways other than just showing up and celebrating, click HERE.
BE ON THE LOOKOUT: We got this note from Arley Hulstrand of Denton who has become a friend of Barbara Wagstaff who live in Livingston, Texas, and looking for her dog, Sugar, lost in Ponder back in October.
Arley says she first became acquainted with Barbara’s plight when she saw the ad that has been steadily running in the Denton newspaper.
You can tell from the photo that this is a not-so-big dog. In fact, his human, Barbara, says Sugar, now about 3, is a Miniature Schnauzer who has had neither his ears cropped nor his tail docked.
He’d spent his life playing in “safe woods,” she says, but now he’s in a dangerous area and she’s aware of the risks he faces.
But, she’s hopeful that someone knows what has happened to Sugar – Is he living with someone’s outdoor dogs? Has he been taken in by strangers and charmed them? Barbara is not so young that she can go look for him herself, so she has been trying to engage other folks’ eyes to look for her beloved therapy dog, Sugar.
Arley explains, “Barbara is an elderly woman who has been devastated by his loss, as she had rescued him from a bad situation and blames herself for his disappearance -- which she shouldn't.”
If you know Sugar’s whereabouts, call 207-337-0355 or email [email protected].
(Aside from Larry: Yes, we know this dog vanished in October, but every now and then dogs and cats show up after weeks, months and years in other homes or on the road. Maybe this is the case with Sugar.)
TWO NOTES FROM OUT AT THE LAKE: Ah, “out at the lake.” What a great thought on a day when the Dallas temp is heading toward the 80s and spring fever is setting in. The lake in this case is Cedar Creek Lake, about an hour southeast of Dallas and well known as a getaway place for Metroplexians. In fact, it’s a Dallas Colony and everybody at the lake might as well pay City of Dallas property and sales taxes – stop your gasping for air; I was just kidding. Nobody would try to figure out a way to pull that off.
--Our Friends of the Animals at Cedar Creek Lake tipster Sydney Busch forwarded a note from Kay McAdams. The subject line is “little dog dumped out – needs new home please.”
In fact, this is a photo of the cutie who was dumped.
And, as afternoon waned, we got a note from Kay that the dog, found in Mabank, already has a new home. So, there you go.
Kay wrote (on Tuesday), “This little girl was dumped on my street. She has grown up teeth, likes my other dogs, cats and is a very sweet and lovable .Will take for bath tomorrow and then needs home.” (To offer to help out, e-mail [email protected] .)
--We’ve been mentioning the special dog and cat food needs and money needs and volunteer needs and freezer needs at the Humane Society of Cedar Creek Lake shelter in Tool, Texas. Ah, but here’s the latest need: “weed-eaters.” Shelter Manager Krista Mc Anally says, “The grass is growing and the weed-eaters are worn out from last year! If you have a weed-eater that you would like to donate, we are in dire need. It would be greatly appreciated. We fear losing the dogs in the grass and spring has not sprung.”
To offer to help, e-mail [email protected]. Call 903-432-3422. Visit the adoptables at www.texaslittlecuties.org and see the Society’s website at www.hsccl.org.
LOSING THE BATTLE OF DEATH ROW:
--Earlier in the week we mentioned 3 animals on the clock in Carrollton and one of them – the Lab Blacky -- has been saved, but the little older stray Santiago and the black cat Jemma are waiting. This is their last day if nobody steps up. To save them, call 972-466-3420 or email [email protected].
--Also earlier in the week we mentioned that Dallas Animal Services has 16 dogs on the clock for 6:30 p.m. Saturday. Not a single dog – each and every one healthy and adoptable – has been claimed.
The contacts are [email protected], [email protected] or [email protected] or call 214-671-0249 or 214-670-8312. If you’re with a rescue group, e-mail [email protected] or call 214-670-8298.
Go to www.dallasanimalservices.org to see the inventory at the city shelter. And remember, in January, according to shelter figures, the City of Dallas taxpayers paid to have more than 1,200 dogs killed. It’s the ol’ Texas theory: “Got an animal problem? Let’s kill it.”
CONTEMPLATIONS: This morning I was swapping a computer problem frustration note with a local animal fan who wrote, “I want to throw all this crap into the deep blue sea.” It was a line that tickled me and, of course, I noted that should she do that, she’d simply come back home with a van full of orphaned penguins and down-on-their-luck walruses. … Also this morning, another animal advocate, a vigorous worker in the critter world for decades, lamented that sometimes she just wants “to drive off into the sunset…or open a snow cone stand on Maui.” These are emotions she’ll get over with in a few hours. … I guess “compassion fatigue” is more than a theory. But I am thinking of opening a booth at the end of a dock so people can walk out with a computer, donate to an animal group and throw that computer just as far as they can hurl it. Dolphins, too smart to be burdened by compumisery, would politely applaud the human folly.
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