AH, THE CHALLENGES OF LIFE, ANIMALS,THE VICK DOGS, THE SPCA THEORY & A/C-CABLE....

EDITION OF THURSDAY, SEPT. 19, 2019 [PetPowellPress] Yeah, you don’t need to be told Thursday is North Texas Giving Day. Told again, I mean. So, let’s move on.

This early part is being written as we — the dogs, cats and I — wait for the a/c repairman. Might be a freon leak. Might be the Curse of The Texas Summer. That cat? That is the formerly semi-feral feline William Powell in my not-yet-organized office keeping watch out the front window for the a/c guy. William has adapted to air-conditioned life. He continues to ask when I’m going to put up the curtains.
Aftermath? Not the freon. Our tech Chad, a dog-lover, said the fan motor had failed and was operating only sporadically. He replaced it and I am typing while wearing gloves with the ends of the finger cut out — they match my sweater. Bring on the snowstorms, you know? We live on a quiet hill in Fort Worth now and I’m looking forward to buying new skis for the winter season. I’m kidding. The only time Texas was ever a winter attraction was when it was a nation and owned New Mexico and part of snowy Colorado.
More later on the challenges of Wednesday. Let’s focus on some animal stories.
AN OMITTED DOG, 
A WAITING CAT
One of our first emails arriving Wednesday morning was a note about this dog Bella. She’s a Border Collie mix awaiting adoption or rescue at the Lancaster Animal Shelter. Laura Macias and Leighann Hayden are the monitors of small shelters and promoters of adopting and rescuing from the facilities that are nearly as small as their city budgets. Miniscule. 
The Border Collie Mix is Bella (same name as the Lancaster German Shepherd we mentioned in the previous edition). The story of Bella the BC is “this sweetie pie was accidentally left off” the appeal issued Tuesday. And the note reports, “There are also 6-7 dogs not yet pictured — this shelter is full.” Bella the BC is “super sweet, loves other dogs and adores al children… She is a wonderful girl.” 

That cat is one of the many kittens waiting either for rescue or adoption or a cold needle at Lancaster. To ask how to help or to volunteer to promote the smaller shelters, call or text Laura at 214-949-2726 or email cat_girl_71@yahoo.com.
Oh, one more Lancaster dog: This big, handsome fellow Tristan, an Australian Shepherd described as a “complete cutie pie” who is “very friendly and loving.”

OH, MY…REMEMBERING
THE MICHAEL VICK CRIMES….
Animal fan/advocate Becky Dodge tipped us to Wednesday's Washington Post story about the Michael Vick dog-fighting crimes and the surviving dogs. The opening paragraph on the story by Emily Giambalvo is the kind of “lead” that draws the attention of readers with hearts. It reads: “Twelve years ago, 47 dogs were rescued from Michael Vick’s dog- fighting operation and allowed to live. They've enriched the lives of countless humans and altered the course of animal welfare.”
 Here’s the LINK and let me caution you that there’s a quote from Michael Vick that sort of demonstrates how out of touch he might be with the reality of his crime. He told The Post,
“I think people have moved on. I think they’ve moved past it. It’s been 12-plus years since it all happened, so I don’t get any questions about it anymore. People don’t talk about it. They don’t ask me about it. Life is kind of normal. But I still have a responsibility, and that will never change.” (He’s a member of the Fox NFL Kickoff pre-game cast, in case you don’t want to watch it.) 
And, in case you don’t remember, that Washington Post photo is of a Vick dog, Mel, who was adopted by the then-Dallas broadcaster Richard Hunter. Their story is outlined in the Post report. And you may recall that at a rally at city hall Richard Hunter gave a passionate plea for “justice for Justice,” a little dog who, in 2013 in Pleasant Grove, was set on fire — basically burned alive — by three jerks who later went to jail for the cruelty crime. [LARRY ASIDE: We need to remember that it's not just the famous who are notorious when it comes to animal cruelty. The beasts walk among us.]
CONTEMPLATIONS
PRINCESS BRIDE, THE SPCA & A HOT SPELL AND A COMPUTER CHALLENGE
We’re throwing in with Cary Elwes (left) about a remake of the 1987 classic The Princess Bride. It’s been made perfectly with the perfect cast and should simply be hailed as a permanent classic of the big screen as is. All kids should be required to watch it -- for fun. Before we continue:  All hail Wallace Shawn (right), for example! To remake The Princess Bride would be as misguided as remaking the Ford Mustang as the Mustang II. To quote the Shawn character, “INCONCEIVABLE!” … Continued congratulations to Karen Froehlich, the newly confirmed President/CEO of the SPCA of Texas. We got her mugshot from the great SPCA Vice President for Communications Maura Davies who also confirmed that it appears our theory is correct: Karen Froehlich is the FIRST FEMALE PRESIDENT/CEO of the SPCA OF TEXAS. How about that! … Back to my Wednesday, if I may continue to carp about the air-conditioning, now fixed! In high school, my biology teacher told us that if we drank warm beverages in summer we’d feel cooler. As the heat began to rise Wednesday morning, I prepped a hot cup of decaf and sipped away. My experiment did not support the biology teacher’s theory. But, I was ready for failure. I had a refrigerator full of icy bottled water. If the Great Chad hadn’t been able to fix the AC, I was going to pull the water out of the ice box and crawl in with the dogs. The dogs were grateful that the AC was fixed. The cats were nonchalant and preferred not to comment. … Later in the day, our cable/wifi system crashed. Ah, the challenges of modern technology. Our report was treated as if something was wrong at our house. Then, about the time other people began to arrive home from work, magically the TVs began working again and the wifi system was gloriously rejuvenated. There may have been a tsunami of complaints instead of one ol' cranky guy. My theory is the cable TV system clearly needed a new fan motor.
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