IN THE AUTUMN OF 2019, HEAT SURROUNDS US AND DOGS AND CATS NEED COOL PEOPLE

EDITION OF THURSDAY, SEPT. 26, 2019 [PetPowellPress] This is being written on the third day of Autumn, 2019, in Texas. Let me recount, please: Monday 1, Tuesday 2, Wednesday 3. So, Thursday is the 4th day of autumn and the North Texas forecast is for temps in the high 90s. In fact, the Channel 5 noon weathercaster Samantha Davies, on Wednesday, said something like “Temperatures are running high for this time of year…” Summer temps are lingering, too, she predicted. That’s a Texas sky this week -- shot through a windshield, of course — can’t really say those are rain clouds looking for companionship. They're just Texas Fluffy. Sounds like a name for a cat, doesn't it? Anyway, we’ll be addressing Texas Autumn in Contemplations in this edition. Not bitterly, I swear. 
Now, let’s get into some animal opportunities.
LOOKING AHEAD, IN CASE
THERE’S A NEED FOR A ‘SITTER’
We have a writing pal who has been “enjoying” some hospital time and he’s wondering if there’s an organization in the Dallas area that provides “caretaker services” for animals when their humans are out of commission for a week or two. Anybody know of an organization that offers that help? 

We’ve suggested petsitters — my funspouse Martha spent a few years owning and being owned by PetPowellPetsitting but she got out of the business. The memories of beloved dogs and cats remain strong nearly two decades later.
If anyone knows of a “relief organization” for pet owners, or has an idea for a petsitter who handles such things, email me, Larry “No Ideas Since the 1960s” Powell at dallrp@aol.com. FYI: For our illustration, I hired two feline actors, William Powell (left) and his young sidekick, Stevie Ray Treeboy, to sit in my office and look out the window as if they were wondering where their next meal was coming from. That captures the problem my writing pal is trying to solve before it occurs.
IS PUPPY & KITTEN SEASON YEAR-ROUND
BECAUSE HUMANS ARE PERSISTENTLY DAFT?
Perhaps that question is too harsh — that “daft” part. I should have stuck with “irresponsible.” More accurate and less incendiary, right? 
But, you see this photo? It oughta make everybody (a) in love with a momma dog and her pups and (b) outraged that they’re all in a shelter and depending on the rescue groups to have room.
We got the tip on this from Ginger Leach of Fort Worth Animal Care and Control. She named the dog. Ginger posted a note pre-noon Wednesday that said “Mama Pumpkin” had 8 babies. Then, about 30 minutes later, another note announced: “9 now 4 boys and 5 girls so far.”
So, that’s 10 dogs that weren’t wanted by someone and now they’re in a taxpayer-supported city shelter that works hard to find homes for everybody. 
Ginger’s first note about Mama Pumpkin (#42793625) urged, “Someone come rescue her with her babies. She is the sweetest mama. I've moved her babies and rubbed her belly while she took care of her babies and not once was she aggressive. She lets you help her … Someone come get her out.”

I don’t know what the backstory is on Mama Pumpkin, but the clues we have suggest someone didn’t want her, didn’t care if she had babies and didn’t want the babies or care about them, either. 
A rescue group who can care about Mama Pumpkin and her “li’l punkins” can contact the shelter at fwacctag@fortworthtexas.gov. Don’t call, use email — that’s the way FWACC wants it. Mama Pumpkin and her “punkins” are at FWACC's Chuck Silcox Adoption Center, 4900 Martin St., in southeastern Fort Worth.
AN UPBEAT POSTING
FROM DALLAS ANIMAL SERVICES
Something has returned to the DAS Facebook site. The note posted Wednesday reads, “We are thrilled to bring back DPD's Pet of the Week! For our inaugural week, we're featuring Natasha (#A1080599), a 4 year-old American Pit Bull Terrier mix that loves other dogs, and Senior Corporal Amber Roman, who serves in the Office of Community Affairs and as DPD's LGBTQ+ Liaison. Come meet Natasha and take her home for FREE during our #FallInLove Adoption Event! Read more about Natasha and Senior Corporal Roman: HERE. Thanks to our friends at Dallas Police Department for their support of adoption, responsible pet ownership, and DAS! They are #Dallas90! #DPDPOW."
Now that was an uplifting note. Then DAS’s Facebook page also posted something “live.” It began “We’re live from DAS playgroup this morning! We do playgroups here every single day to help keep our pups happy and healthy. All of these dogs are available for adoption and are ready to go home! Remember, now through the end of September, all animals are free for our Fall In Love adoption special! See who’s available at dallasanimalservices.org. 
Now, click HERE and you’ll see that live romping video from playgroup."
Oh, and by the way, those cats? Those babies are a reminder from readlarrypowell.com that DAS doesn't just have an outbreak of kittens but also has a great assortment of grown-up felines. See 'em at that dallasanimalservices.org address.  Click on the artwork to make it grow like a kitten.
MEANWHILE, CRITTERFANS, THERE’S
THE BRAZORIA CHALLENGE
Several times a year we’ll receive a note that originates — but may be forwarded several times — at the Brazos County Sheriff’s Office Animal Control in Angleton, south of Houston. 
Great dogs and cats and too many of them — that’s the traditional theme.
Those sisters are Lab/Great Pyr or Husky/Great Pyr mixes. May still be in the shelter, may already be gone. You see their numbers. 
The other white dog? Number not a name, but quite a story. The shelter note reads, “Urgent. Broken front leg. Needs out now” and calls him a “wonderful sweet boy.” He wags his entire body, the note says, and in an appeal straight to rescuers, the note from a staffer reads, “Came straight to me, nudged my arm to be loved on and started waggin' his entire body when I spoke and loved on him. he is wonderful. Please, please help him.”

 This shelter also has a load of tabby cats, too. 
How do you reach the shelter to offer to help save some lives? The phones are 979-388-2365 and (cell) 979-997-2486. Email bcsoaco@gmail.com.

The shelter is at 3602 County Rd. 45 in Angleton, about an hour south of downtown Houston.
FYI: The logo atop Brazoria County’s website tells you something important about the place.

CLOSER TO THE INTERSECTIONS
OF I-30/I20 at THE TWO I35s

 There’s a geography lesson for you. Thus we turn to the team of Laura Macias and Leighann Hayden for information about animals on the brink of either rescue or disaster — we expect rescue because we have seen evidence of big hearts at work around here. Great expectations, you know.
FIRST WE LOOK AT WILMER. Wilmer is a little town on the southeastern side of Dallas along I-45. The note we got from Laura and Leighann reads that “there are two sweet girls there now.  Two that most people would pay no attention to.  They are sitting there now.  Waiting.  Day after day. They are both just the sweetest, sweetest girls.  Both adore other dogs.” (Call or text Laura at 214-949-2726 or email cat_girl_71@yahoo.com. Transport is available for any 501c3 rescue.
The big dog is Claire and the smaller dog is Aubrey. Claire is a Boxer/Bulldog mix. Aubrey is listed as a serious“bulldog mix.” She’s “a little pocket-sized girl.”
Wilmer’s shelter gets no traffic — except people dumping animals.
THEN WE LOOK AT LANCASTER, a shelter that is not really getting the positive publicity it used to get when it was rolling with the Furbabies of Lancaster non-profit rescue group. While the human situation has changed, the animal situation has not. Full shelter, no human traffic. So, Leighann and Laura keep plugging away, trying to get interest in the small shelter on the southern side of Dallas. 
These are some of the kittens at the shelter and that dog is also there. His name is Champ; he’s a boxer mix. The note from Laura and Leighann read, “We know the pics look serious, but he is the sweetest guy ever in person. Beautiful markings, Great boy. Please, he is here waiting and hoping to meet you. Won’t you save him?”
Again, the best route to helping the Lancaster animals is this: Call or text Laura at 214-949-2726 or email cat_girl_71@yahoo.com.
Please, also, take some time to CLICK ON THIS LINK. Sadly, I don’t have the techno skills to put all the photos of needy dogs and cats on that link. It’s part of a copy of the email sent by Laura and Leighann. Email Laura at cat_girl_71@yahoo.com and asked to be added to the mailing list to keep up with the challenge in Lancaster and see the photos. I’ll keep trying to defeat my lackluster technical performances.
CONTEMPLATIONS
HOT TIMES, THE TEXAS AUTUMN
I went to elementary school in the 1950s — don’t judge me because you think that makes me old. I type young. Here, read this: I haven’t had a steady job in years, I’m following a dream. That’s beyond a Baby Boomer, it’s darned near Millennial, isn’t it?
 Baby Boomers — I once heard a much younger colleague tell another one, “I’ll be glad when all these Baby Boomers are gone.” Yeah, well, I didn’t say anything then — too polite, but I got over that, so, now I’d like to say …..WAIT. Sorry, I can’t type what I want to say, so if you’re a Baby Boomer, go ahead and fill in the blanks in what would be my response — there are two blanks. Hint, hint.
So, hop into the time machine with me. We’re going back to an era before sophisticated regionalism in advertising. In the 1950 and ‘60s, “Back To School” meant the same products across the nation. Sweaters were for sale — never mind the fact that you’d collapse from heat prostration if you were showing off your brand new back-to-school Vermont-style autumn sweater to school in Texas. Jeans with flannel lining? I once saw a kid wear some to school in Texarkana — turned the cuffs up to show the red plaid lining. What a peculiar playground sight in a land where you’d wear shorts — after school, of course — nearly until Thanksgiving.
Halloween? You had to be careful with your costume — trick-or-treating sweat would wreck your illusion. The face of Frankenstein would become the Incredible Melting Man.
 So, here we are in 2019 at the end of the local Major League Baseball Season— it’s autumn and Texas hot. Kids are back in school. The old stadium — once beloved as “The Ballpark In Arlington” — is heading toward the end of its big league career.
Autumn means football and marching bands — and kids practicing and practicing. At halftime on Friday nights, the band has to be as carefully hydrated as the running backs and blockers.
That’s autumn in Texas.
And, here we are, sitting on the crest of a hill in Fort Worth — able to look East and West and North and South and the only indication of autumn is the arrival of Halloween merchandise in neighborhood stores from Texarkana to El Paso, from the top of the Panhandle to the Gulf of Mexico.
 And, you know what? All this Texas heat makes the arrival of that first chilly Autumn morning so wonderfully precious. Now, go find a sweater and get ready. Texas is already cool — we’re just waiting for the weather to catch up.
—- Offer opinions or objections by clicking on ‘comment’ below or by emailing dallrp@aol.com and put “sweater weather” in the subject line. —-