ReadLarryPowell.com

HAPPINESS IN ANIMAL STORIES; A CHANCE TO VOTE FOR DOGS; CONTEMPLATIONS

EDITION OF FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2019 [PetPowellPress] Halloween is over except for the candy. So here we are. In November. It is my favorite month. May have some winter, may have some autumn, may have some summer. Pretty sure it won’t have any spring though there could be thunderstorms. It’s got remnants of Halloween, the American Holiday Thanksgiving with parades and the arrival of Christmas decorations. (We’ll get to the November quote from Three Days of the Condor later.)
On November 1 here is a truth: I should never be left alone with a bag of Halloween candy. Oh, my, the sugar rush! Oh, my. Speaking of a sugar rush. Look at that cat! You’d think that would be enough sweetness for one day.
That is my longtime little girl Deputy Chief Kittie Leigh Johnson who, as I was typing this, jumped into my lap, crawled into my arms and waited to be adored. She didn’t wait long. 
It’s a privilege to be loved by a cat; an honor to love a cat. Raised her from a little grey, cross-eyed front porch feral kitten. I recommend adopting a kitten and taking a time out from your busy day to engage the cat in conversation. Pick a topic, then launch into the intellectual exercise. Kittie Leigh’s current favorite topic is “How will falling back at 2 a.m. Sunday affect the feeding schedule for cats in American homes?”
SOMETIMES YOU NEED
AN UPBEAT STORY
There’s a headline loaded with truth. You wouldn’t think this photo would introduce an “upbeat’ situation. But, if you keep up with Stephen Foster and the DFW Furgotten Friends you are going to run into an upbeat story. Here’s the Facebook LINK.
That is a photo of a dog then known as “Baby Blue’ and now known as Dwight. On the last day of September, Stephen posted a note about picking up a “special pup” from the Lancaster Animal Shelter. He wasn’t feeling too sporty when he wrote, “No matter how sick I am I have to suck it up to save another puppy that couldn't speak for themselves. From my house in Dallas to this puppy in Lancaster and back to my vet might be long but I'll bet this boy will never forget our trip and love me for life. They do understand when you save them. By the way. Does anyone want to foster?”

Well, someone did. Magdalena Bonnelly of the noted JP Bonnelly rescue family.
The second photo is a picture of Magdalena transferring the little guy.

As October was drawing to a close, Stephen posted new photos and a story. He wrote, “This is what one month of good food, medication, supplements and a lot of love can do. Thank you to everyone who has been supporting this baby boy. Especially Magdalena Bonnelly who lets him sleep across her neck or on top of her head every night.”

JP and Magdalena had picked up “our foster boy to nurse him back to health,” she wrote. And she said, “During the ride to Allen, I could feel the stages of his emotions - from fear and anxiety, to finally relaxing and at the end giving me little kisses and trying to wrestle the seat belt. … In no time, he will grow his hair back but to me he already is beautiful.”
And, on the left, you see his fabulous post-treatment face. Hallapuppyluyah!

[LARRY ASIDE: Someone is going to get to adopt a dog who understands what it is to be loved and cared for — he has seen what it’s like when nobody cares. And that makes me feel good today. A dog has beaten the odds in the battle against the “Don’t Care/So What” faction of heartless people.]
ONE MORE
HALLOWEEN NOTE….
Oh, this one makes me feel good, too. The great Karen Lee of barkleyworld.com sent a note with the subject line “Happy Howl-O-Ween from Barkley- world!!” And the featured model in this Halloween note was this girl Zuri. The photo cried out for an explanation so I asked Karen, “What’s the story on this dog?”
 Here’s the answer and it involves good hearts we periodicallyw rite about, Trinity GAP Rescue and Euless Animal Control.
Karen wrote, “We adopted Zuri thru Trinity GAP Rescue on Valentine’s Day in 2018.  She was picked up by Euless Animal Control from a home with too many dogs---the other dogs were Shih Tzus and were rescued by a Shih Tzu rescue but she was left behind because she is a Pug/Chi mix.  She was so scared in the shelter and cowered and barked all the time.  GAP took her and placed her in boarding and Steffenie Vela [GAP’s guiding light] convinced me that she was the dog for me! And she was right!  She is about 7 years old and is adorable!”
BOND, JAMES BOND….
Hard to believe, but Bond, James Bond, has been in the Mesquite Animal Shelter since July and hasn’t had a nibble. He’s #42099196. He’s nearly 3 years old. And he’s a black and white cat which, based on our experience at readlarrypowell.com, means he is entertainingly zany. I’m pretty sure he didn’t scribble on the walls in this photo. See Mesquite’s adorable adoptable by clicking HERE and you can also see how to adopt them.
CONTEMPLATIONS
VOTING TO HELP TEXAS DOGS; NYC GEESE WIN; CHIMPS SAFE; NOVEMBER & CONDOR
A story from the Texas Tribune explains how police dogs and others will be protected, I.e., not sold or euthanized, by a victory at the polls by Proposition 10 in the Nov. 5 election. We’re thinking this is an unusually kind effort by the State of Texas and it’s about time. Read HERE.… Speaking of kind, New York City is banning foie-gras, among the cruelest dishes a human can order off a menu. Thanks to New York City Council member Carlina Rivera, “force-feeding geese” to fatten their livers is about to be illegal as is selling the product. Here’s the CNN STORY.
[LARRY ASIDE: Never had foie-gras; never wanted it. Proud to be a vegetarian.] ….
Anybody see that CultureMap Dallas story about the chimpanzee sanctuary, Chimp Haven? Here’s the LINK...
A FINAL CONTEMPLATION for November 1 involves dialogue from the 1975 thriller, Three Days of the Condor. CIA “reader” Joe Turner [Robert Redford] is on the run and takes refuge with a woman named Kathy [Faye Dunaway]. He’s looking at her photographic work on the apartment walls and here’s the scene’s dialogue.
“Turner to Kathy: You're funny. You take pictures of empty streets and trees with no leaves on them.
Kathy: It's winter.
Turner: Not quite winter. They look like November. Not autumn, not winter. In-between. I like them.”
---
A favorite movie, favorite month — November. It’s a month for Thanksgiving and pie. Oh, no. I’m backsliding from my vow to eat healthy! Is there a “healthy pie” for a post-middle-aged man who hates exercise and loves pastry?
—- Offer pie recipes or diet tips by clicking on ‘comment’ below or emailing [email protected]. —-

WHEN HALLOWEENS WEREN'T COLD...

Halloween is supposed to be chilling, not freezing, right?
The holiday always makes me miss my childhood — my brothers and my pals and my school and its Halloween Carnival. I suspect I’m not alone in these emotions. Feel free to have some of those memories racing through your memory chips as your sort your Halloween candy.
I don’t remember a Halloween as cold as this one — I do remember a lot of sweaty Halloweens in Texarkana in the ol’ Hazel Street neighborhood.
It was more like the Hazel Street Corridor — a long street of homes and undeveloped lots and even a pasture or two for horses. Hazel is two blocks inside the state line. From our backyard baseball-football field/garden, you could see into Arkansas! Kids from streets on both sides of Hazel came into the neighborhood to play baseball, football, hide-and-seek, go to Cub Scouts and Brownies, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. At Halloween, we’d all go up and down each other’s streets trick-or-treating -- and we'd go to the school Halloween Carnival.
Our stories mostly started in 1947 and ’48 when my contemporaries were born and went all the way to Autumn of ’59. That was our 6th grade year at Highland Park Elementary School and in October the focus was the annual Halloween Carnival. [LARRY NOTE: In those days Highland Park Elementary School had a great reputation because of its dedicated teachers. People thought it was a well-to-do school, but here’s a hint: Our championship flag football team was the Highland Park Hobos.]
I don’t know what you’re wearing today, but as I type this I have on a costume inspired by Walt Disney’s Zorro. I’m kidding. That was part of my era — 1957-1959 and, on our TV, Zorro was in black and white even though it may have been broadcast in color. I was in the 5th grade (maybe) and a kid named Billy had a spot-on Zorro costume that he wore to the Halloween carnival.
That was also the year that the guy who was supposed to play The Wild Man of Borneo bowed out early in the evening and I was asked to stand in for him — well, crouch in for him in the wooden “cage” in the “spook house” created in the basement of our school. I got to scare both my brothers, though middle brother Barry swore he knew it was me all along. 
A room mother dressed as a “gypsy fortune teller” in a dimly lit corner of the basement convinced kids to put their hands in a bowl and feel “eyeballs floating in water.” Grapes. It worked for the little kids.
For the Powell boys, our costumes were always homemade. Mom had a certain flair with the sewing machine and we went along with her. One year my baby brother, Garry, went to the carnival costume as a cat — he had big whiskers, fake pointed ears and a ringed tail — he was in the first grade. I was a hobo, wearing a big ol’ floppy hat that Mom had made for a Zorro costume that never quite developed. I think there is a photo somewhere in one of the boxes I moved out of Mom’s house this year. 
Middle brother Barry, who’d grow up to be a lawyer, costumed himself as a matronly woman that year — it was Mom’s gleeful idea. Yep, he had padding, gray spray in his hair, a hat with netting…he was something. He walked into the Halloween Carnival expecting not to be recognized, but a girl in his class screamed with laughter and shouted, “WHY, BARRY POWELL!” and he turned around left the building, walked 8 blocks home without telling a single adult, changed into a shirt and jeans and returned to the carnival as himself. 

One of the attractions at the carnival was the cake walk. You paid a quarter to walk in a circle — costumed kids and adults walking in a circle to Pop Goes the Weasel — and you’d hope the music stopped while you were standing on the winning number. We never won a cake. That’s OK. The school got the money. I think. It didn’t use the proceeds to put in air-conditioning, as I recall bitterly.

I’m dedicating this Halloween edition to the kids I knew. And their siblings. And their parents. And grandparents. People knew people, you know?
One year a bunch of us — all of us were first-year Boy Scouts by this time — decided to leave the Halloween Carnival together and walk through the neighborhood in the dark, dark night. We spotted the carnival’s “Hayride” — a big ol’ flatbed truck with wooden rails on the sides and bails of hay spread in the bed. The truck, filled with grownups and kid trick-or-treaters was puttering along near the school. One of our guys said, “Let’s egg the hayride” and he ran home and got a dozen eggs. We waited, he came back, handed out eggs and we took positions in somebody’s shrubbery and waited for the ride to come back.
[LARRY ASIDE: In retrospect, this was a mean thing to do. But we didn’t see ourselves as “mean.” We were thoughlessly having what appeared at first to be fun!]
Suddenly the flatbed truck rolled around a corner and someone stage-whispered, “There it is! Wait on it. Wait on it” and as the truck, loaded with grownups and goblins and princesses, rolled even with us, we unloaded the eggs toward a target about 15 dark yards away. It was a case of “throw and run” and we lit out. Behind we could hear people yelling at the villains who were terrified and running.
The post-egging conversation went something like, “I think I might have hit the truck” and “I’m not sure — mine looked like it went over the hood.”
Our ringleader said, “Let’s go to my house and get some water balloons.” We were up for it so four of us walked to his house and he opened the front door, turned and said, “Come on in” and we walked into the little frame home and suddenly realized his dad and his mom, who we all knew and loved, were trying to calm his little sister. “What happened?” our pal asked, suddenly very concerned.
And his dad said, “Somebody egged the hayride and hit your baby sister right in the head. Got egg all in her hair.” 
It was one of those “a hush fell over the crowd” moments. Big brother and the villains were quiet. I can’t remember how we extracted ourselves from this, but we were polite and unrevealing. For years.

The next Halloween, roughly the same bunch of boys made another appearance at the Carnival and left to walk through the neighborhood. We had paper grocery sacks to collect candy and apples and other Halloween treats — popcorn balls! How could i forget those? What a messy treat.
We were happy and having a fun time when we saw a guy, illuminated by a porch light, sitting in a rocker and watching the passing world and handing out candy to little kids. 
The guy who’d egged his sister knew the porch man and greeted him by name. The man sternly looked at us big ol’ sixth graders and said, “You boys are too old to be out doing this.” Stunned into silence, we walked away without any treats.
I guess he was right. The next year we didn’t go trick-or-treating in a “gang.”
I don’t know what we did. A couple of the guys may have had girlfriends by then, I probably stayed home reading or watching TV. Neither of my little brothers dressed as a matronly woman of the ‘50s.
The Halloween Carnival became the “Fall Festival,” TVs got color screens, schools became air-conditioned and the world changed. But not one of us ever egged another hayride. I’m almost certain.
—- Happy Halloween. Send calorie-free candy to [email protected] or click on “comment” below and tell your stories of Halloween. —-

QUILTS, CRITTERS AND CONGRESS (MAKING ANIMAL CRUELTY A FEDERAL CRIME?)

PM EDITION OF WEDNESDAY, OCT. 30, 2019 [PetPowellPress] I feel the need to apologize. At some point Wednesday morning I thought, “Good grief, I miss August.” So, my apologies to anyone who isn’t missing the searing heat of a Texas summer. I also thought, “Wouldn’t a good quilt be nice….”

And don’t miss Contemplations — making animal cruelty a federal crime will need the voices of the voters.
AN APPROPIATE
QUILT FUNDRAISER
We’ve frequently quoted Karen Lee of barkleyworld.com about efforts to help animals. It’s her mission.
And, as it turns out, a barkleyworld.com supporter known as “Elaine” has made these quilts to help raise money for 501C3 Barkleworld’s mission. (It is this: “Helping families in need of catastrophic vet care for their pet is the heart and soul of Barkleyworld.  We know many pets are surrendered to shelters or euthanized due to lack of finances for vet services.  We are all about keeping families and pets 2-gether.”)
Elaine has once again organized a “Quilt Raffle” to benefit Barkleyworld. The drawing is on November 2, so you can buy tickets from the moment you read this through the last minute of Nov. 1 at midnight.
 According to the raffle rules, the winner gets to pick from either the Fall Theme (Autumn Leaves) or the Christmas Quilt (red and green). They’re shown on a queen-size bed. The Christmas quilt is 78-by-89 inches and the fall quilt is 75-by88 inches.
Raffle tickets are $5 each or 5 for $20 — go to www.barkleyworld.com and click on the Donate tab or buy via PayPal at [email protected] (type “quilt raffle” in the comments and be sure to include your name and phone number so you can be notified.
Take some time to visit Barkleyworld’s facebook page HERE so you can see the good work being done for animals.
ON THE SOUTHERN SIDE
IN THE SMALL SHELTERS…
At midweek, the folks with 4-Legged Helpers continued to work on the behalf of animals who are almost never visited by potential adoptors.
The latest note from Laura Macias and Leighann Hayden says Lancaster’s city shelter is at the “full” state. There are many animals there. We’re using these photos of Rusty, listed as a “Flat-coated retriever.” No idea why he’s in the shelter, but he is and that means first you get him out then you give him a home, then you contemplate how you were fortunate enough to adopt him. Call or text Laura at 214-949-2726 or email [email protected].
Then, in the Wilmer/Hutchins shelters east of Lancaster along I-20 and I-45, Laura reports, there are more animals without a bit of help except the 4-Legged Helpers trying to draw attention to their adoptability.
The dog’s we’re spotlighting are Kiely, a new-to-arrive Chocolate Lab, who is “sweet as can be.”
Still waiting are Noah, the Bulldog Mix, who looks so sad but “loves everyone including other dogs.” And Blue is the third dog. There are more. Call or text Laura at 214-949-2726 or email her at [email protected] to ask how you can help get them out of a “jail” that nobody visits.
CONTEMPLATIONS
ANIMAL CRUELTY — A FEDERAL CRIME?
We opened an email from Shelby Bobosky of the Texas Humane Legislation Network and found an appeal for help with making animal cruelty a federal crime — it is, after all, a national issue. 
The opening passage read, “The U.S. House has passed an important bill to protect animals and now it’s the Senate’s turn! Senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz need to hear from you.”
Yep, “impeachment” and “the Fed cutting rates” aren’t the only national topics in Washington, D.C. 

[LARRY ASIDE: Go to thln.org to see how to become a member and increase the power of your voice on behalf of animals.]

The note with Shelby’s appeal reads, “The Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture Act (PACT) Act, S. 479, will make it a federal crime to commit malicious cruelty to an animal on federal property or in interstate commerce.  THLN applauds the U.S. House’s passage of the companion bill, H.R. 724 last week. If this bill passes in the Senate and becomes law, it will serve as an important tool for law enforcement to target abusers who crush, burn, drown, suffocate, impale animals and commit other bodily injury toward any non-humans.
“Texas’ animal cruelty statue was strengthened in the 2017 legislative session. The PACT Act will complement Texas’ tough animal cruelty law when crimes are committed on federal property or across state lines.  Passage of this Act is an important step in keeping our communities safe on a national level.
“Animal cruelty is a community issue. Data shows that if you improve animal welfare, you improve public safety for everyone.”

There you have it. Click on the artwork to make it grow. This campaign for animals is something to contemplate and the THLN has provided the numbers of the two guys you need to call when you’re done contemplatin’. Be nice. Ask for their support. Get in touch with THLN for "talking points."  [LARRY FYI: My cat, The Senator, endorses the PACT Act. He's fed up with animal cruelty and the people who commit it. If you don't have a cat or dog, you can still be against animal cruelty. It's a stand for decent behavior on Planet Earth.]
— Offer support or opinions by clicking on ‘comment’ below or emailing [email protected]. —-

THE AUTUMN, THE ANIMALS AND YOU -- THE FUTURE AND THE PAST

EDITION OF WEDNESDAY, OCT. 30, 2019 [PetPowellPress] Oh, my! Autumn has arrived and turned the metrosprawl into a place where colorful leaves may become the local norm. Maybe. Amidst the beauty, of course, animals left outside are always at peril around here. For example, some weather forecasters have us all on a “freeze watch” for Thursday — that’s Halloween.
Our dogs and cats have inside quarters -- ours. I’m sure most people reading this have indoor dogs and cats, too. (We’ll get to the SPCA’s Halloween advice in a second. In the meantime, I was smitten by this pose of my formerly feral cat, William Powell, as he sits at the window and looks at an autumn drizzle and, I hope, thanks his lucky stars that I lured him into our old garage with promises of regular meals and honest conversation about literature, film, baseball and dieting (he doesn’t contribute much).

So, what do we do to remind hard-headed people to protect their animals from bad weather? “Ah, strip ‘em humans nekkid and tie ‘em to an aluminum pole with frozen water out of reach and food only if it stops raining.” Wait, sorry. I got that out of the unpublished “Payback Handbook,” another novel written by my sweet girl Porche Noel, a once limping, rasping (no bark), unwanted dog of the streets. Well, at least we can use this paragraph to remind people that there are laws that protect tethered dogs and there are suggestions for turning “outdoor cats” into “indoor cats” so they won’t fall victim to weather or the two biggest predators in North Texas: The so what/don’t care humans and the coyotes who have been displaced by “progress” in the suburbs.
HALLOWEEN ADVICE
FROM THE SPCA OF TEXAS
If it’s Halloween, we’ll hear some safety tips from the SPCA of Texas — and these are based on decades of experience in dealing with the convergence of dogs and cats with odd little visitors who don’t look all that human in the porchlight.
I opened the news release sent by the SPCA’s Victoria Albrecht and one of the opening sentences read “With all of the gremlins, goblins and ghosts out on the prowl, the SPCA of Texas wants to remind pet owners to keep their pet’s safety in mind this Halloween.” You can see the entire list by going HERE .
The idea is to keep the animals safe from humans and humans safe from animals. It’s the right and kind thing to do.

The SPCA release's last paragraph has a great sentence that shout get a “Right on” reaction from longtime rescuers and shelter workers in the greater autumnalplex.
After noting the scariness of the holiday, it reads, “And of course, if the thought of more homeless, unwanted dogs and cats scares you like it does the SPCA of Texas, always remember the importance of spaying and neutering your pets.”
You can go to spca.org and see a great listing for free spaying/neutering for “community cats” on Halloween.
 A long as we’re at the SPCA’s website, we’ll list some adoptables. That cat with the great face and the championship whiskers is Jinx (41495272), a 6-year-old small neutered boy cat. Great marking on that nose — looks kind of like a handbell.
And that dog who appears to be naturally costumed as a sad circus clown is Casper (414354630), a 2 1/2-year-old Mastiff Mix who is a “big marshmallow” who is rattled by a shelter environment. SPCA says he needs a “calm and quiet environment.” (You can foster him to help him get ready for adoption. Email [email protected] to check into that.)
ANOTHER DOG FACES PERIL
AFTER A DALLAS DECISION
We heard about this petition from the veteran animal advocate Elaine Munch. It focuses on saving the life of a dog named Cookie who has had a run-in with legal matters and, as a result, may be facing the needle.
But there may be a way to save Cookie from euthanasia for being an unattended dog. The opening of the petition to save her reads, “Cookie was deemed dangerous because she was loose and a neighbor felt threatened. Her label was not appealed and nothing can be done about her being legally labeled ‘dangerous’ despite lack of bite history.” There’s more. Here’s THE LINK.
[LARRY ASIDE: Would it be impossible for the City of Dallas, which spends so much money on an animal shelter, staffing and operating Dallas Animal Services while trying to increase adoptions and rescues, to establish a Municipal Animal Court? That way animal issues would get swift and thoughtful individual attention instead of being lumped in with the oppressive wave of human criminal cases that daily swamps the city. Just a thought. Offer opposition or solutions to keeping animals from being handled as “just a dog” or “just a cat” by emailing [email protected]. Such a court might put the focus on the bad guy humans and not on the victim animals.]
 Just an FYI: Dallas Animal Services has a load of dogs and cats, two hamsters and two rabbits waiting for homes.
We decided to highlight this boy ScoobyDoo (A0869050), a 6-year-old Lab mix (brown and white and blessed with such expressions in his eyes. ScoobyDoo is on the first page of the 30-plus pages of dog listings at dallasanimalservices.org listing. He came into the shelter in early October. [LARRY FYI: The listings on the DAS site and on the PetHarbor site differ somewhat as to population — that’s PetHarbor in the color listing.]
  But you have to go all the way back to the 30th page of the cat listings — there are even more pages — to find Mr. French (A1086811), a neutered Tabby who is thought to be “about 10 years old.” He came into the shelter on Monday. 
To ask about either of these or both of them, call the shelter at 214-670-6800 or stop by t I-30 and Westmoreland.
A GREYHOUND REMINDER
Lots of fundraising social stuff coming up for the Greyhound Adoption League of Texas. Here’s a LINK to the current GALT newsletter — always informative. And we decided to post this GALT “Photo of the Week” which is described this way “Dug, FKA ‘Davis” and his kitty friend both look ust a bit put out by having to share the couch. ‘Mom! He’s touching me!”
The thing is this: Both cats and Greyhounds are known as legendary “Couch Potatoes.” Here's photographic proof from GALT.

CONTEMPLATIONS
THE WAY THINGS GO
How about that big birthday celebration in Dallas. I’m getting as many of these things in my inbox as I am calls from student loan advisors, house flippers and people trying to sell me a new health insurance policy. It’s nice that The Formerly Big Paper Downtown is celebrating this anniversary. Ah, kids, I was there when the company that ownedThe Really Big Paper Downtown/AcrossThe State, Nation and Around The World celebrated its sesquicentennial. That’s a word that means 150th anniversary — in case you didn’t know. That event wasn’t celebrated with a two-fer sale, but it was a big gathering on the plaza of company headquarters at the Belo Building at 400 Record across Young Street from The Rock of Truth home of The DMN. … You know who showed up to unveil the historical marker? Texas Gov. Ann Richards — that’s her in a DMN picture. She’s gone now. So is the name "Belo Building "— once a towering office complex for a sprawling media company, it’s now a multipurpose building owned by somebody else and renamed 400 Record. Things change. In the April 11, 1992, edition of The Really Big Paper Downtown, Et Al, the great writer/reporter Barbara Kessler (one of our top reporters who knew how to be careful with company stories), wrote, “A.H. Belo Corp., one of the nation’s largest media companies, on Friday became the first business in the state to mark its sesquicentennial.” (Texas had celebrated its 150th in 1986.) Anyway, back then the powerful, historic company  owned not just the paper but also WFAA, Channel 8, and many other companies. Again, things change. The company’s stock (AHC) closed at $3.62 a share Tuesday. The stock had a higher price when you could buy an edition for four-bits, as the old guys used to say. That’s 50 cents — translating for 21st century people who never use cash and never read a colorful book. … Funniest memo I can remember from my days at The DMN — well, the funniest memo that I didn’t write, I mean. Our night news editor Frank Reece grew weary of a copy editor arriving late and slipping out early on a consistent basis. So he wrote this to deadline editors: “Please do not be offended if you are asked to work a complete shift.” Worked, for a while. I really oughta write a book. I never signed any “I’ll keep my mouth shut” agreement. I’m kidding — besides, all papers I worked for have funny stories. Some stock prices are more amusing than others.

—— To offer advice, therapy or contradictions, click on ‘comment’ below or email [email protected]. —-

WE LOOK AT A CAT'S RESPONSE, SOME ANIMAL ISSUES AND OTHER THINGS....

EDITION OF TUESDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2019 [PetPowellPress] Writing on a Monday requires a certain amount of extra motivation. A person has spent the weekend focusing on other things, i.e., other writing and household chores, maybe being congenial and he awakens to face the blank sheet. 
The night before he had an idea of what he’d write about, but somehow that carefully organized plan vanished among the blank spaces in the nocturnal mind.
I was beginning to explain all that to young Stevie Ray, currently an office cat, when, after listening carefully for about 10 seconds, Stevie Ray gave my whining a full human reaction. He yawned. And I returned to writing, having made a vow to cut back on his treats and increase his lessons on “How To Be An Appropriate Cat.” (I may be writing that book…we’ll see…Once upon a time a human was bewildered. His cat was not. His cat had won Lotto Texas … The story sort of stalls right there. Cat’s have no plans for spending lotto millions.)

OK, back to the mission of readlarrypowell.com: Raising the awareness of humans and promoting their abilities to help animals. And, of course, picking just six lousy winning lotto numbers.
THE FURBABIES SAVE A KITTEN;
TECHNOLOGY PLAYS A ROLE...
Yeah, remember when there was no Facebook, no websites, no email and all you could do with a telephone was talk on it or slam it back into the cradle? 
Here’s a cat that was saved by communication on the Next Door neighborhood social media site. 
You know of the Furbabies of Lancaster, the organization that used to work with that little Texas city’s animal shelter until things got crossways with the city government over an election.
Furbabies continue to save animals. On Monday morning, Furbabies, operating under the relatively new name (see it, Paws-atively Takes a Village Rescue, on the logo or on the Furbabies Facebook page), posted a “Purrs and Biscuits Alert!” — that’s what they call it. 
And it begins with this: “A Furbabies team member saw a frantic post on Next Door about a poor kitten in Red Oak who was found with a broken leg. The person who located it was not able to manage his care. The team member rushed over to get it, wrapped him in a towel, and drove him right over to the vet in DeSoto.  The little baby was about 6 weeks old, wormy, starved, scared and yes - had a broken leg. Eventually the decision was made to amputate as his poor little leg was just too broken to heal right.“

 And there you go, simple, eh? Not quite. There needed to be some money and, yes, there was “thanks to a very generous donation from the community.” A “team member” fostered the kitten and, this is the sweet part: “Because of his fighting spirit (and some aquarium rocks the poor starving thing had eaten scrounging for trash) he was named Rocky and he quickly became quite the little character.”
Furbabies says that “now Rocky is living in his forever home with a large family and collection of fur siblings who report he is just the funniest, sweetest boy. His missing leg evidently doesn't bother him a bit and he races around the house like a rocket.”
MEANWHILE, THE WAIT CONTINUES…
ONE
 RETURNS BECAUSE SHE’S PREGNANT
Months and months ago, Laura Macias and Leighann Hayden and supporters who focus on small shelters with a lack of foot traffic or adoption programs, stepped in to help at Lancaster when the city and the aforementioned Furbabies had a parting of the ways.
These “new” people have become the non-profit group 4-Legged Helpers and they are trying to get more people to visit Lancaster and more people to respond the emails 4-Legged Helpers issues nearly daily. The latest has new dogs waiting in Lancaster including (above) the pretty little Aussie Shepherd mix Bonita. She’s PREGNANT. The 4-Legged Helpers note reads, “This beautiful girl was recently adopted but returned due to being pregnant. She is between 1 and 2 years old. She needs a 501c3 rescue right away. The shelter is no place for puppies to be born. She is very sweet and so cute and lovable.”

That other dog is Thomas, a “Springer Spaniel or mix” who is “just precious,” the note reads and adds, “So sad to see him here.”

To help with any animal in the Lancaster shelter, call or text Laura at 214-949-2726 or email [email protected]. And, remember, transportation is available for dogs claimed by a 501c3.

THE ROSCOE MISSION
CONTINUES IN FORT WORTH
Good grief, is there no help for an adorable dog?
Tami Kukla has been trying for a while to find a home for this Fort Worth Animal Care & Control dog Roscoe. He’s been in FWACC’s care longer than any other critter — more than 8 months so far, according to Tami’s info. And he was at the Rogers Roundhouse Yappy Hour over the weekend, but nobody fell for him. Tami’s post says that this photo represents Roscoe saying, “Roscoe here. Go Cowboys. Go Astros. Please come adopt me so I can watch some great sports with you on a couch with burgers.”
And an earlier post included this key info. “Some of my superpowers include being in whatever room you are in and being very relaxed on car rides. My adoption fee is sponsored. To meet me as I have been waiting for 8 months visit me at PetSmart Alliance or email one of my sponsors at [email protected]."
[LARRY ASIDE: In honor of good dogs and cats everywhere: Save ‘em all. Don’t let the don’t care/so what people drag the rest of us down with them.]
OH, FOR CRYING OUT LOUD,
SOME OKLAHOMA THREATS
You may recall the item we posted last wee about the resilient Burns Flat, Okla. rescuer Terry Lynn Fisher working hard to save two dogs and a dozens of cats on a property near her Western Oklahoma town. 
[LARRY ASIDE: Terry Lynn sent a graphic photo to emphasize the horrible conditions: a picture of a dead cat. Might have been shot. Who knows? I’ve chosen to re-run this photo of the two live dogs because, frankly, even I -- ex-police reporter, former ambulance driver and animal rescuer -- can’t stand the ugly nature of things sometimes.]
 Terry Lynn needs help with this situation. Email her at [email protected]. Maybe you know someone who can help her. Maybe you have time and money to help her and the animals. Remember, this isn’t about egos, it’s about cats and dogs and saving their lives.
Read on and you’ll see how dangerous things are.
 Terry Lynn reports, “ I’m still working on all the cats.  The owner moved and left over 30 cats and two dogs. I went out today (Sunday) to feed and did not see near as many days.  We did find several dead ones but they looked to have been dead awhile. …

“I don’t trust the landowners.  When the Oklahoma City news station wanted to do a story they forbid it.   I explained it would help us get them safe but they said if I did it they would stop me from getting the animals and ‘handle it themselves.’ Pretty sure that means shooting them.   I’m terrified some have already been killed 

“A neighbor said they saw a dead dog in the yard a couple weeks ago.  I can’t imagine the horror these innocent babies have been through
.
“I’ve caught 11 babies and have them in boarding right now. I saw three more today but couldn’t catch them.  I need help.  I need places for them.  We need funds for vetting. One beautiful calico has an eye missing. My heart is breaking.  I feel so helpless here. Please. I’m begging.  I am on way over my head and need help.”
And, she adds, “I have no business taking all this on but nobody else would so what do I do?” 
Again, email [email protected].
CONTEMPLATIONS
ENID'S WOLVES, THE BIG 'D', & MUSIC TO WALK BY

Funny thing happened Monday morning. I opened a note from Enid Breakstone, formerly of Dallas and the founder of The Queenie Foundation. She Facebooked a video of 50 wolves howling in the forest. It was magnificent. Starts with one wolf and grows to 50...I was momentarily distracted after I started it and about 3 wolves were into the group howl when I left the office. I thought I hit the “pause” button. Then, I got distracted and when I returned to the office, my office companions at the time, William Powell the Veteran Tabby and Stevie Ray the young black and white cat, were sitting in the office chair and intently staring at a video of howling wolves. I don't know how much psychological damage I've done to two city cats who, to my knowledge, have never heard wolves. Here’s the VIDEO LINK. And a special thanks to our ol’ pal Enid. … I watch the news. I hear the news. Now and then I even read the news online. I’m starting to think the “D” in “Big D” stands for “dangerous.” I hate that. Dallas deserves better. Of course, it has to work on getting less dangerous. Everybody has to work on it. … Feel like getting into your time machine and going back to 1977 for some brisk walking? Click HERE.
— Offer malaise advice or calorie-free chocolate recipes by clicking on ‘comment’ below or emailing [email protected]. —-

THE MISSION OF ANIMALS & A PERSONAL CONTEMPLATION OF 10/27/04

EDITION OF SUNDAY 10-27/MONDAY, OCT. 28, 2019 [PetPowellPress] The Dallas Cowboys had Sunday off, the State Fair of Texas has been closed for a week, the weather was beautiful and we decided to focus on other things.
Most people reading this already know of the ongoing mission to save animals not just from the streets, but from the city/county shelters that house so many unwanted dogs and cats.
At our house, we’ve never gotten a dog or cat from a shelter. They just show up in our path of the day. I found Texas Earl the Cheeseman, a Rottweiler, in a city park waiting for his ride to come back. [That's Wendy on the couch, Earl sleeping and Dudley gnawing his tail -- he has needs.]
I walked out the front door one day and found a black and white kitten named Stevie Ray clinging to thin limb in a mimosa tree.
The range of “recovery” at our house is pretty much between those two situations: From someone’s unwanted dog encountered in a public place to dog or kitten showing up without a note or an explanation. Seriously, why would one smaller-than-your-hand-sized kitten show up in a yard that had no known feral cats?
Just another one of your urban miracles. That’s my funspouse Martha cuddling Stevie Ray, the Oak Cliff tree kitten. Left, he's growing up.
All of you veterans of animal rescue have enjoyed your own adventures in getting new dog and cat friends for somebody else. Bless your hearts, your patience and your pocketbooks. Yeah, I didn’t win Lotto Texas this weekend, either.

A QUILT FOR A CLINIC?

FIVE BUCKS A TICKET!
Quilts are works of art, don’t you think? They look great and you can sleep under ‘em, too. With a cat or dog. Or both. They know quilts are made for sleepin'. And some are made for displayin'.
We’ve mentioned this fundraising campaign before, but it’s such a great quilt, you probably would be miffed if we didn’t remind you that tickets in the December 1 raffle are only $5 each. [LARRY ASIDE: You can’t park at a Dallas Cowboys game for five bucks, but you might be able to curl up under a blanket with a canine or a cat during a football game. Three happy individuals gently sleeping like newborns in a hospital display window.]

We got the reminder of the lottery from Sydney Busch, the reliable tipster and enduring mainstay of Friends fo the Animals at Cedar Creek Lake, the non-profit that operates the world’s most successful spay/neuter clinic at Gun Barrel City.

Coincidentally, Sydney notes, “this fabulous quilt” was “lovingly handmade and donated by the Gun Barrel Quilter Guild to Friends of the Animals.”
You can get the tickets at the clinic in Gun Barrel City each Tuesday (spay/neuter day) or at the clinic’s Second Saturday special events (10 a.m. to noon.) And, you may also call 903-451-4701 to ask about buying chances to win that Gun Barrel Quilter Guild artwork.
Speaking of artwork, you can read about the Gun Barrel Quilters Guild online HERE
and that is where you’ll also see this artwork with the goal of “straight stiches.” Well, the picture had me in stitches! I think it might have been the boots — I’m a native Texan, you know.
HERE’S THE LATEST PROMO
FROM DALLAS ANIMAL SERVICES


Yep, another good deal at Dallas Animal Services.
And while looking at the DAS Facebook page, we ran across a video of this available dog and an explanation from DAS with (for you who don't read comics, a Peanuts reference): “His name is Max but we're wondering if we should change it to Linus? 🤔 Max (#A1070702) was cold yesterday and decided to let our staff know that he wasn't letting go of his blanket anytime soon. He's available for adoption at our PetSmart Everyday Adoption Center on Coit Rd." See the video HERE. And you know to go to dallasanimalservices.org to see the dogs and cats waiting for a home or a needle.
***
[LARRY ASIDE: We put the animals ahead of our personal contemplation. Animals are our mission -- animal and the people who help them. What follows is a bit of a look into a heart.]
***


ONCE UPON A TIME
IN A WORLD NOW GONE
THERE WERE LOYAL STAFFERS…

A PERSONAL CONTEMPLATION FOR 10-27-2019 — Ah, how I miss The Dallas Morning News -- the one that I knew.
I know I’m not alone. The date 10/27 is an anniversary. There were a bunch of us excused from further participation on 10/27/2004. Fifteen years ago. The shape of things to come in newspapers, it turned out to be. I'd only been there since 1975, writing a column for more than two decades of that time. (That’s me at age 15 at a high school journalism conference --I did not know that a newspaper would break my heart 4 decades later. The possibility wasn’t  mentionedin the textbooks back then. What? Gray sweater and slacks, yellow button-down oxfordcloth shirt, matching yellow socks, loafers -- no beard until 1971. I'd have been a model, but I'd already learned most of the alphabet.)

Some of the “10/27s” have moved on to other careers. Some keep writing. Some retired. Some, as it is said, “have gone on.”

The paper looks different now — the printed one, I mean. [LARRY ASIDE: I haven’t picked one up since 10-27-2004. I abruptly but politely cut short my exit "gee-we're-really-sorry meeting with the suddenly former bosses to go downstairs and cancel my subscription. Seemed like the thing to do.]  
I know The Big Paper Downtown publishes online. I read it there. I know that it has great writers — some new to the place, some “leftovers” whose career paths changed. Not sure it still has local copy editors. I’m not in the loop on office memos.
 And the newspaper moved from a can’t-miss-it stately and majestic monument from the previous century [I took that photo a year ago, before it was sold.]. 
The paper is now in an office you have to hunt for in downtown Dallas. That’s OK, it’s not the size of the building, it’s the size of the heart in the building. Not sure if — two decades into a “new century” — newspapers have hearts, but I know their journalists do.
To the current staff, I would like to be there with you, gang, but, then again, I’d have missed a lot.
I got to spend a decade writing for the great animal advocate Bob Walton’s beloved Urban Animal Magazine. I’d have missed about 4 years in marketing for the non-profit World Affairs Council of Dallas/Fort Worth — an enduring organization that strives to make a positive difference by responsibly informing people of the state of the world/nation.

 And, I’d have missed editing some entertaining books, such as House No. 5: A Memoir, the romantic adventure on a Greek island written by my ol’ DMN colleague and friend Bob St. John and illustrated by his wife, Sandy THE Artist! It’s a great book — has travel, heart, adventure and humor. It’ll take your mind off politics. It's an excellent read about heroes and good people on a wonderful island. A story of real people.
Of course, if I’d been allowed to remain at The Big Paper Downtown, I could have afforded home repair and important dental work. 
But, I’d have missed writing about thousands of dogs and cats — loved or in need of love — at www.readlarrypowell.com. I’d have missed posting wisecracks about modern life, modern news reporting and modern predicaments. 

This is a good point to quote the Greek philosopher Heraclitus: “The only contant in life is change.”
But I did get one constant from The Big Paper Downtown. My laughterspouse Martha — she was the boss’s secretary. She quit a decade and a half before the paper tossed us 10-27s. Why? She’d founded PetPowell Pet Sitting Service. One of her newspaper bosses (notorious for being unreasonably tough) asked why she was leaving, and she replied, ‘“I’d rather work with animals than with you.” Everyone laughed. In different ways, but they laughed.

Nowadays, most newspapers appear to be in a state of transition, moving from an ever-thinning packet of printed sheets to an every-increasing collection of “clicks” on line. For now, you can still hold the paper and read it with morning coffee. You can choose to hold actual paper in your hands, or you can choose to hold a plastic screen that connects you to the world and allows you to check out how OTHER papers and media covered a story. 

And you don’t have to wait for morning to get the news (sometimes) — the computer era made almost all print news “instant” — just like radio and TV. With that competitive pressure, reporters and editors (There are still some copy editors, right?) have to be quickly accurate and undertanding of the facts so they can responsibly report a story. It’s not easy.
But doing things right is good for the democracy and its residents. 
[My current editor, The Senator, agrees with that position. He wandered up to our house one day, handed over his resume and got the editing position. We've never had layoffs in our newsroom. Darn, looks like my hair has gone gray since that 1991 wedding to Martha!]
There are fans of newspapers. Now and then, at readlarrypowell.com, we’ll post someone’s appeal for newspapers. Is that an appeal for the “industry”? Of course not. The appeals we publish are from rescue groups, clinics and shelters asking for donations of newspapers to help keep the kennels tidy. I think you know what i mean. Newspapers have always been a multi-purpose product — ask a parakeet or a puppy.
So, and this is directed to my fellow 10/27s, has the passage of time diluted my resentment over being tossed out of a newsroom I loved? Not hardly. Heck, I didn’t think I was done with a long career that went from copy editor, to assistant news editor, to national editor, to metro features editor, to metro columnist and TexasLiving writer. Of course, I wasn’t the one doing the thinkin’ at the company.
So, yeah, I’m still miffed. I still wish our ageism case had survived an appeals review. I’d like to have a newsroom job back just long enough to write the farewell column I was denied after decades of trying to help the paper triumph daily. 
I still have one other thing I’m hoping to see: For the sake of the city, the county, the school district, the state and the nation (thus the world), I’m depending on the current crop of journalists and managers to promise that they’ll keep honest newspapering forever strong, honest and dependable.

And here’s how I know there’s no going back for me: My favorite office chair is in the dump.
That’s it, there. 
This was my chair for more than two decades. People put bumper stickers on the back. I edited and wrote in that chair for so long that on 10/27/04 I got to take it home. It was like me - the company didn’t want it, either. Call it a parting gift. 
I used it and repaired it and, finally, a few months ago, gave it the “final chair rites” and rolled it — 3 wheels still worked — into the big ugly pile at the City of Dallas Sanitation Transfer Station on Westmoreland next to Dallas Executive Airport. Best editing/writing chair I ever had. Comfortable and room to squirm when you needed to tell a reporter, “Take another shot at this.”

My favorite bumper sticker has to do with SMU and the NCAA Death Penalty that shut down the storied football program from 1986 through 1988. When SMU began to play football again — against horrifying odds — someone published bumper stickers reading “SMU FOOTBALL A Quality Program Since 1989.” 
In 2019, the Ponies have made a comeback. It should happen to all 10/27s. There’s no statute of limitations on making a comeback.

Here are some personal facts:

— Now, a few months after the trip to the dump, I still miss that wonderful chair. 

— Fifteen years after 10/27/04, I still miss the newsroom — even dream about it and the people, the great and wonderful newspeople. The brightest in town.

— Management? Don’t really have what you’d call “dreams” about those people and their lawyers. Love ‘em though. Of course, I love mangy dogs that bite me, too.
 [That's my girl, Porche. She'd never lay me off to use my enormous salary to make up for management decisions. She promises.]
And if any of you in that management team are still at the paper, well, heck, you just go ahead and have a nice day. You know, on Friday, the paper’s once-soaring AHC stock closed down at $3.78 a share. At a Dallas convenience store Sunday, the price of the Sunday edition of The Once Big Paper Downtown was $3.99.
I’m not sure what that means. Paper carriers will never throw rolled up stock certificates into your shrubbery. I'm almost certain. But I don't really understand 21st century newspaper management. Sometimes I think the understanding of the mission has been lost.
Here’s the way we used to end stories in the “old days”: We’d type ‘-30-.’ But this isn’t the old days. And, at the end of this contemplation you should know that I still think an honestly edited and written newspaper is the greatest tool for preserving democracy and freedom.
I don’t have enough money to invest in a newspaper, but, heck, I’ve got cats and dogs to feed. They’re all housetrained, so we don’t take the paper.
—- List advice or job offers by clicking on ‘comment’ below or emailing [email protected]. —-

THE CAT WHO UNDERSTANDS LAUNDRY

This weekend’s edition of Let Sleeping Dogs Lie & Napping Cats Nap is featuring an individual who can be described as a “Full Service Cat.” She focuses on laundry, among her many interests. A “practical cat,” the poet T.S. Eliot might have said.
Here’s how Chloe got the focus. It’s a travel story. 
Chloe is, as you regular Dear Readers know, the rescued cat who lets Andy and Annie Fisher and rescued dog Maxie live with her in the headquart- ers of the readlarry- powell.com Eastern Seaboard Bureau. That’s on the shores of Indian Lake in Denville, N.J.
The travel element was introduced in Thursday’s email from Bureau Chief Andy Fisher. 
“In advance of our trip to Maine tomorrow,” Andy wrote, “I did a wash. The folding came to a sudden stop when my supervisor decided to curl up on my nice warm pajama top.”

The next morning, in the early hours of Friday — long before sun-up in chilly, soggy North Texas — Andy sent a note reading, “ ‘Reel feel’ temperature in Denville this morning, 43° in Dallas, 36° ….Even weirder: Portland, Maine, our destination for the day, 50°!”
The hosts in Portland, in addition to humans, included “domiciled feral Cosmo and Fiona.”
Andy added one more note about Chloe’s being featured.
As her spokes- man he wrote, “Chloe’s agent loves the publicity; she finally let the pajama top go after about five hours and there was a pair of socks underneath it!”

Yes, Chloe was clearly keeping the socks warm for her aide’s toes.
This is not the first time she’s taken it upon herself to help with the laundry.
In mid-September, Andy sent the "Chloe: Stripes on Blue" photo with an explanation: “Laundry day. So I go to fold my US Senior Open golf shirt and I get one sleeve folded over and then Chloe takes command.” 

As you can see Chloe can demonstrate how to make almost any material look good. (Yes, "Stripes on Stripes!")
And, in that final photo, Andy swears Maxie was “whispering a secret to me."
 Might have been in the form of a question: “Does the cat get union scale for these modeling gigs?”
So, there’s the weather, dog, cat, travel and laundry report from the Eastern Seaboard Bureau of readlarry- powell.com. The message is: If you don’t have a rescued cat and a rescued dog, you’re missing out on rescuing the joys of life.
[LARRY REQUEST: As I sit here typing and astonished that Friday has been a chilly, wet day in the Metrosprawl of North Texas, allow me to urge you to send photos of your sleeping dogs and napping cats and any other snoozing beloved critter to Larry “A Catfan” Powell at [email protected]. Tell us their story, how much they’re loved and how your life is blessed by them. We’ll use their stories and photos to influence other people to give a home to dogs and cats and any other critter that could benefit from a loving human heart.
 Remember, seeing dogs and cats comfortably sleeping may encourage insomniacs to believe that they, too, can get some sleep if they can just find the right laundry that’ll allow them to spend quiet time in the folding department. Insomniacs will test any theory — in fact, tonight I’m lounging on my old Texarkana College bowling shirt, hoping to get rid of wrinkles while sleeping like one of the characters in T.S. Eliot’s 1939 poetry collection Ol’ Possum’s Book of Practical Cats. I'm not practical and I'm not a cat, but would it be so wrong to get a full night's sleep?

ONE MORE THING: That cat? Not a Jersey cat. That’s an SPCA of Texas cat, one of several I spotted in the adoption center while buying cat food at the Greenville Avenue PetSmart in Dallas last week. That is Charlie Bear. Yep, Charlie Bear.
Charlie Bear (42993534) was one of several charming adults and three pretty darned cute kittens in the SPCA display. He’s 2, an Orange Tabby and came to the SPCA when he was transferred from another facility. I didn’t notice this — I was fascinated by his face — but his former family had put nail caps on his front paws — you have to wait for them to fall off. Can’t yank ‘em off. But at least the humans didn’t “declaw” him. He’s ready to be someone’s loving personal housecat. I don’t know how he came to be known as “Charlie Bear,” but, as with all cats, there’s a story there somewhere. — From Larry Powell, in honor of cats who need homes.
—- Offer cat advice or market tips by clicking on ‘comment’ below or by emailing [email protected]. —-

TREES, LEAVES, AUTUMN, DOGS, CATS AND HUMANITY: IT'S FRIDAY

EDITION OF FRIDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2019 [PetPowellPress] The signs of autumn are here. There’s the sticker I got from my pals at Ben Franklin Apothecary in Duncanville Thursday. I also actually got the flu shot — my second ever. First one was last year -- after I had pneumonia the previous year. I moved the sticker from my cheap hoodie to my expensive keyboard so you’d know I’m not contagious with either the flu or pneumonia (got that one last week).
Now, you also see this beautiful autumnal tree photographed lovingly (more on that in a minute) by our Eastern Seaboard Bureau Chief Andrew Fisher, the veteran newsman and not-quite-enthusiastic arborist. You can see hints of fall color across Indian Lake in Denville, N.J.
 Since I grew up in Northeast Texas, I’m familiar with Pine Trees, Oak Trees, Sweetgum Trees Pecan Trees, Peach Trees -- I’m sure I’m leaving some out. And, there are Maples in Texas (the Lost Maples State Natural Area, for example). So, what is this Denville Maple?
 Andy reports, “It’s called a Silver Maple,” and then he adds some personal information. “Not a Sugar Maple; my relatives in Vermont have several dozen of those, and into her 90s, my Aunt Edith would sit in the ‘sugar house’ every spring and create that peerless Grade-A maple syrup. This Maple tree just produces leaves. Lots and lots of leaves.” (Hence, the "not-quite-enthusiastic arborist.)
Naturally, keen on my state nicknames, I asked, “And you turn them into a mash that becomes ‘New Jersey Garden Tea’?
”
Nope, he says, “I just go to Starbucks for a pound of Yukon Blend.”

[LARRY FYI: The Eastern Seaboard Bureau is providing our Napping Cat for this weekend’s edition of Let Sleeping Dogs Lie & Napping Cats Nap. Be sure to visit and celebrate the joy of animals the trust their humans to let ‘em catch a few winks. And, of course, keep watching the Texas leaves — they’re bound to change colors before the wind knocks ‘em off the branch. Surely.]
LET’S TALK SMALL SHELTERS
AND DOGS ON THE CLOCK
Yeah, these ARE NOT in Lancaster. These dogs are in the Wilmer/Hutchins small shelter zone. We got the tip on them from Laura Macias and Leighann Hayden, the guiding lights of 4 Legged Helpers, the non-profit that focuses on smaller shelters that get little life-saving attention. 
“Just added 3 more dogs,” Laura’s note said. “This is so sad. None of these dogs stand a chance without your help.”
For these animals, call or text Laura at 214-949-2726 or email [email protected].
That opening photo may be the saddest shelter-dog photo in memory. The dog is laced as “Noah, M, Bulldog.” But that’s just for convenience. The bio reads, “This may be a Girl. Did not receive information when we received the picture. We can find out if someone can help or is interested. Please? Regardless if boy or girl, this sweet, sweet dog is hoping and waiting.” 
[LARRY ASIDE: So, you see, that’s what happens when a city can’t devote any money to staffing a kill-shelter with anything more than the bare minimum strategy of keeping the animal alive until you can kill it. That’s an awful way to run a shelter, isn’t it. Surely it affects the hearts of people who are responsible for voting on budgets and employment. They claim to have hearts…well, moving along before we start lecturing on the difference between right and wrong, life and death and dumba…whoa, Larry, let’s not get accurately disgusting. Somebody help me off this soapbox.]

Also waiting (in order of photo appearance:
Autumn, with her paw in the fence. “This silly lovable precious little girl is wearing a collar but sadly no one has come for her. She is just as cute and sweet and cuddly as can be. Just wants to be loved.”

Beau is the baby Beagle/Terrier mix who, also is “very sweet and just adorable. This baby loves everyone and everything.”

Derek and King are a couple of neutered German Shepherds. “These two gorgeous dogs are just as beautiful as can be.  Very smart and very sweet.  They were found out together but their owner never came for them.  Please help. Available together or individually.  They are good dogs that are buddies, possibly brothers, and are very sweet.”

And Blue, the bully (mix?) Is an “awesome boy,” his bio reads. “He is just adorable. Very sweet and such a beautiful dog.”

The note also included a bio of the small shelters. It reads, “If you recall, both Wilmer and Hutchins are VERY close to the Dowdy Ferry area.  Wilmer Shelter is one of those storage-type metal buildings where there are no public adoptions. It's on property no one can even enter with a huge locked gate.  So dogs here stand ZERO chance.  None.  No one sees them.  There are no public adoptions. 

“Yet in spite of this, any dog coming into this shelter is always, and we mean always, the best.  They are SO grateful.  Always so sweet, so loving.  Always great with other dogs. SO DESERVING.  It's one of those things where after seeing this time after time, you just begin to realize they KNOW.  They just KNOW they are in a kill shelter where no one sees them.  You have never seen happiness like you will see when one of these dogs gets saved.  THEY ARE SO VERY GRATEFUL.  We hear repeatedly from people, that dogs that they have rescued and saved from Wilmer are the best dogs ever.”
MEANWHILE IN BURNS FLAT,
WEATHER AND HEARTS ARE COLD…
We periodically issue an appeal for “cold weather” supplies for the Burns Flat, Okla., shelter. The temp there at 5 p.m. Thursday was 36 degrees — just as autumn gets to New Jersey before it gets to Dallas/Fort Worth and winter gets to Burns Flat before it gets to the Metroplex.
But, there may be nothing colder than the hearts of some people who dump animals in both Texas and Oklahoma.
Terry Lynn Fisher, the warm-hearted constant rescuer in Burns Flat, has the story on these two dogs and the more than 30 cats they were found with.
She writes, “I received a call concerning some animals that had been left when tenets moved out of a home north of my town...  We went out to check things out and found these two wonderful dogs, along with over 30 cats. The dogs are timid but very sweet.  I honestly feel they have been looking out for the cats there and they are the only reason the coyotes have not killed all the cats.
“Look at the video. The love this dog has for the cats is unreal. Both dogs are like that with all of them, even the tiniest ones...These boys need a safe place to go.. right now, they are still at the property. I go out and feed and water each day.”

Email Terry Lynn at [email protected].
CONTEMPLATIONS
TRADITION, FOLIAGE AND TWINKLE LIGHTS
Before we get to the SPCA’s NorthPark tradition, allow me to draw your attention to the “Fall Fix,” a spay/neuter campaign sponsored by the SPCA of Texas and the Dallas rescue group, Paws In The City. Helping animals is a great tradition to adopt, don’t you think? On Thursday we got a news release from Victory Albrecht at the SPCA of Texas about the “Howliday Tradition” at NorthPark, Dallas’ legendary shopping center. It’s the 29th (that’s a tradition-length timespan, wouldn’t you say?) — let me restart: “The 29th Annual Home for the Howlidays” opens November 21 and runs through December 23 at NorthPark. The SPCA Adoption Pavilion will be in its 29th year at Northpark — it opens on Nov. 29 (Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving) — for the past 5 years the event has “also featured a wonderful auction of custom-made, luxury dog houses and cat condos thanks to a wonderful partnership with AIA Dallas and TEXO, The Construction Association.” You can read the entire news release HERE.
And remember, you can also see adoptables at spca.org — you can adopt your dog or cat before someone else adopts the sweetheart at NorthPark…
BACK TO AUTUMN — Check out the vivid autum colors -- I may need to look up the definition of "vivid" --in that photo from the East Texas Fall Foliage site HERE. [LARRY ASIDE: There are a number of foliage-monitoring sites online — you know, so you can drive out of DFW and see autumn from the windshield. I would have posted a photograph of the Bald Cypress in our front yard (previous owner planted it years ago). It is changing colors — but that’s not because autumn has arrived. I think the tree may be dying —it got cool temps and dousing rain too late to survive the viciously hot North Texas summer. We’ll see. If it’s still vibrant at Thanksgiving, I vow to wrap some twinkle lights through the spindly limbs and celebrate a Thanksgiving of Tree Survival. …
A SPECIAL NOTE TO STUDENTS WHO’VE HAD TO CHANGE SCHOOLS: Those of us who went to the same school for our entire careers cannot imagine how tough this tornado has made things for you. But, vow to learn from the experience; don’t mourn the change. You’ll make new friends, maybe. Have experiences you may have missed. Once you leave the stability of a school and go into the “real world” you’ll see that, as the Greek philosopher Heraclitus of Ephesus said around 500 BC, “The only constant in life is change.” Bless your hearts and gain knowledge and friendships. They’re both vital to a happy life.
—- Offer opinions by clicking on ‘comment’ below or emailing [email protected]. —-

A THURSDAY REPORT ON ANIMALS, PEOPLE, JOBS AND HALLOWEEN CATS

EDITION OF THURSDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2019 [PetPowellPress] Good morning, and, as we re-shape our daily schedule at home to accommodate appointments and tasks, we’ll just dive right into today’s report. Anybody else think they’ve got a cold? Well, never mind my personal burdens, achoo, here’s the report:
AND THEN THERE’S THIS
GARLAND DOG CHALLENGE
We’ve been writing for years about the rescue adventures of Deborah Verner. She’s got this challenge in Garland right now and needs some help. Email her at [email protected].
She writes, “I stumbled upon a group of five stray dogs recently, which includes 3 adults (2 males, 1 female), and 2 puppies. One male is a boxer mix, white with brown on ears, and the other male appears to be a large Newfoundland mix, with dark brown fur with white markings (white neck, neck, paws, and white tip on tail). The female and two puppies are German Shepherd mixes. The puppies appear to be around 4-5 months old. They are all skittish, but the puppies could probably be coaxed with food.  They come up close when my friend puts their food down.
“Neighbors state that they have been in the neighborhood for about 6 months. If that's the case, the pups were born out there. And, Animal Control can't catch them. Duck Team 6 can help, but needs somewhere for them to go once caught.  I, personally, cannot take any. We are desperate to get them caught, but a rescue is needed to take them.  Neighborhood kids taunt them, and residents (one in particular) have been destroying the feeding station that was set up.  Plus, a small church right there doesn’t want us or the dogs there.” Again, email [email protected]. 
And somebody remind those kids and the adult that there are laws that protect animals from idiot human behavior.
THEN THERE’S THE STORY
OF LUCKY AND FLASH
This is an upbeat ending to a downbeat opening. You may recall our note last week about Lucy and Flash. Amy Poskey, the volunteer monitor of appeals at the Denton McNatt Animal Shelter, had reported, “These two boys were surrendered by the son of a deceased man and he wanted them to be euthanized.  Well, the shelter staff soon realized what WONDERFUL, SWEET, HEALTHY, HANDSOME boys they are and decided they deserve a chance to find a loving family!
”
They’re still together, but they’ve gone to a good spot.
“Saved by Legacy Humane Society!!!,” Amy reports. She wrote, “These delightful boys have left the building!!!  Once again, Legacy Humane Society has saved the day!  THANK YOU LEGACY!!!  Lucky & Flash will be in a WONDERFUL foster home while they wait for their furever home!”
UPDATING A NOTE
FROM OUT AT THE LAKE
The report from Gun Barrel City is that last-minute negotiations managed to arrange a contract result that pleases the Humane Society of Cedar Creek Lake and its supporters. The HSCCL shelter in Tool, down the lake from GBC, will continue to take in and attempt to adopt out the stray dogs from Gun Barrel City. HSCCL proudly notes that it never euthanizes to make room for the next unwanted animal. 
That little Min-Pin is “Rocky.” The cat is “Mrs. Whiskers.” You can see them and other HSCCL adorable adoptables HERE.
And when you click HERE you can see Buttercup, the last member of a litter — her siblings have been adopted and now she’s playing alone in a puppy pen. Needs a human.
MEANWHILE IN LANCASTER
The folks with 4-Legged Helpers report that this healthy 3-month-old tabby TJ is in the Lancaster Shelter because of an allergy event. The report is, “Sadly, the people that adopted him aid that one of their grandchildren broke out in hives due to allergies so they could not keep him. They had named him Midnight originally…. the vet paperwork for the combo test can be supplied.”
Also waiting, according to the note 4-Legged Helpers report, this beautiful blonde German Shepherd Dog Ginger. She’s describe as a “very friendly and sweet girl.”
As you know by now, the Lancaster Shelter has little human traffic, so the newly-registered non-profit 4-Legged Helpers continues to try to help the animal in the city facility get some life-saving attention. To ask about these two animal or any critter in the Lancaster, Wilmer or Hutchins shelters, call or text Laura Macias at 214-949-2726 or email [email protected].
[Rescue groups: “Transport available for 5601c3 rescue — we will deliver any dog directly to you."]
4TH ANNUAL BIG TEX JOB FAIR
SET FOR FRIDAY AT FAIR PARK
That photo provided by the State Fair of Texas is of the most recognizable worker in the State of Texas who isn’t a politician or athlete, Big Tex, the symbol of the great autumn festival. He’s also the symbol of employment.
We got word from Karissa Condoianis, the Fair’s Senior VP for Public Relations, that the 4th Annual Big Tex Job Fair is scheduled from 1 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Friday in the Briscoe Carpenter Livestock Center — it’s sponsored by the Fair and Goodwill Industries of Dallas.  The news release says — Get this! — “Forty-nine local companies will be taking applications and interviewing for employment positions across a broad range of skillsets.” 
Go to Gate 2 at the Fair and you can get free parking for the Job Fair — it’s in the livestock center at 1403 Washington St. And “The State Fair will also be running free shuttles from the DART station at the front gate.”
If you want to apply for a job, you almost cannot find a way to NOT get to the Big Tex Job Fair. Private or public transportation. Just get there on time — a valuable employment requirement!
[LARRY ASIDE: Big Tex won’t be there. The 55-foot-tall Midway Cowboy has left Big Tex Circle Wednesday and is in his Fair Park condo — if I were him, after watching all those people eating corny dogs, I’d have my boots off, my big waist ornament unbuckled, get out of my Big Tex Spanx and I’d have myself a bowl of State Fair vegetarian chill with extra onions and a bottle of sparkling water, a Bavarian Waffle and a long nap while waiting for next September when the Texas Rangers are driving toward the American League Pennant and the World Series. Like Big Tex, my dreams are big and my sentences can be long.]

CONTEMPLATIONS
HALLOWEEN SEASON
Yeah, we’ve had black cats — Bob the Cat was the king, then, after he left us, my catladyofOakCliffspouse Martha chased a kitten off busy Zang Boulevard and grabbed her out of the bushes. She became “Annabelle Bob,” named in honor of the great Bob the Cat. Martha had Bob around 15 years and we had Annabelle Bob about that long, too. They were spectacular cats. But aren’t they all. [That's Annabelle Bob, about 5 pounds lighter than the original Bob, but in one of her most eerie poses a decade ago.] … I was at a meeting Tuesday night and missed both the start of the 2019 World Series and the annual broadcast of It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. Fortunately I can watch it on demand on our cable system — during our recent move I misplaced our dvd player and about 10,000 DVDs and videotapes, too, including the Charlie Brown Halloween. My technology lives in the past. Anyway, speaking of the past, the half-hour, animated It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, debuted October 27, 1966. I missed it — I was working the night shift at The Texarkana Gazette — a college freshman, a reporter, an intellectual… well, two out of three. Years passed in the pre-VCR era before I got to see this great cartoon. I’m going to watch it tonight if I don’t nod off. I have insomnia. I’ll probably watch the cartoon, then follow up with The Ghost and Mr. Chicken, the great Don Knotts film released in January 1966. Ah, 1966 — a great year for entertainment. … Any schools still have Halloween Carnivals? One year in the late '50s I played “The Man From Borneo” in the basement “fun house” at Highland Park Elementary School in Texarkana. The Man From Borneo was the most frightening thing in those days -- we hadn't yet seen the future of American politics (relax, Nixonians, that's a joke.) Ah, I DO look back, think of the stage and wonder “What could have been?” Note to Producers: I’m available to reprise The Man From Borneo on stage. Union pay, please.
—- Offer advice, opinions or an agent’s contact by clicking on ‘comment’ below or emailing [email protected] and put “EERIE MAN FROM BORNEO” in the subject line. —-

AT MIDWEEK, A MORNING LIST

EDITION OF WEDNESDAY, OCT. 23, 2019 [PetPowellPress] Our mid-week edition is light on facts. It’s a travel day and we’ll be back “after while,” as we used to say in the woods of Northeast Texas.
I do have the shoppng list, however.

Paper towels.
Sparkling water
Cat treats
Dish washing liquid
Lettuce & Tomato
Cat treats
Apples
Oranges
Cat treats
Toothpaste
Catnip
Electric blanket
Two flats of Exquisicat, The Caviar of Catfood.

Hey, wait a minute. I believe my shopping list may have been hacked!
[Offer shopping suggestions or strategies by clicking on ‘comment’ below or sending a sizeable contribution to The Senator’s Fund For Healthy Catlife at [email protected].
Hey, now I'm serious. Wait just a minute! Don’t send any contributions! I’m putting this cat back to work. I’m going to get him a job as an adjunct professor in Practical Politics and The Science of Schmoozing. As you can see, coming or going he still looks like a cat -- can't say that about every politician.]
—- Thanks for your patience. Click below on ‘comment’ or email real notes to [email protected]. —-