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FOR TUESDAY'S EDITION, AN ASSORTMENT OF OPPORTUNITIES

EDITION OF TUESDAY, JANUARY 19, 2021 [PetPowellPress] I don't know what the weather is like where you are reading this, but on our calendar, it's National Popcorn Day. A lot of people think Wednesday the 20th is Inauguration Day, but Holiday Insights notes that it's also National Buttercrunch Day, National Cheese Lover Day and Penguin Awareness Day.
This is Tuesday. We have no other Penguin notes today, but by Wednesday, who knows? We could wind up in an airport restaurant interviewing the rare flying Penguin who wants a cheeseburger and follows it with Buttercrunch Ice cream for desert. It's America -- anything can happen, apparently. [SIGN EXPLANATION: That's a helpful penguin sign from mysafetysign.com. Who could have predicted that sign would be for sale somewhere in the world?] That dog? That's Conway and we're going to get to him a little bit later in this edition -- he may be about the size of a penguin...I'm not sure.
PONGO IS FOSTERED;
BEAUTIFUL NALA'S CHALLENGE
Here's a good story to get our post-holiday session of weekdays going. The upbeat report comes from Amy Poskey who announced as the weekend was arriving that she was "thrilled to report that Heart of a Border Collie Rescue (HOABCR) in Minnesota has tagged Pongo."
You may recall that Pongo is an older, heartworm-positive dog.
Here's what's happened lately. Amy reported Monday, "After lots of juggling, shuffling, emails, discussions, blah, blah, blah…  The wonderful dynamic duo, Mike & Joyce McKennedy, pulled Pongo this morning and will be fostering him until his road trip Minnesota!  THANK YOU, MIKE & JOYCE!!!  So, Pongo will be able to enjoy being in a loving home environment here in Denton instead of going to boarding with the vet in Irving!  THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO OFFERED TO TRANSPORT PONGO TO IRVING!"
This is a photo of Pongo "getting settled in with Mike & Joyce so he can decompress while being spoiled rotten with lots of love and good food. Again, I am just so humbled by EVERYONE in the world of rescue and I can’t thank y’all enough for helping this precious boy find love!!!" [LARRY ASIDE: You may recall Pongo is going to need medical care when he gets to Minnesota. Here's the LINK to support the efforts to make Pongo totally healthy again.]
THAT BRINGS US TO NALA THE ELEGANT!  Honestly, isn't that a beautiful dog? Whoa. Our tipster Amy refers to her as an "elegant lady."
And she's got a peach of a story, too. Here's what Amy reports. "On October 21, 2020, Nala was found on a country road and picked up by an officer. On November 3, 2020, she was adopted and then returned the next day because 'Nala was chewing on her bed, most likely due to nervousness from being in a new environment, so the owner 'scruffed' Nala in an attempt to make her stop the chewing and was bitten as a result.' When the owner arrived at the shelter with Nala it was noted that there was no break in the skin, etc.
"Nala was adopted a second time in November and had a similar experience… 
“Nala was in her new home and began to chew up her dog bed so the owner shouted at Nala in an effort to stop the chewing. Nala growled at the owner and then the family dog growled at Nala which resulted in an altercation between the two dogs.  When the owner attempted to separate them, he was bitten.
"
The shelter staff strongly believes Nala is just needing positive redirection and a patient owner.  She has been an extremely sweet girl, with a sprinkle of stubbornness, while in their care!"

Nala is a 2- or 3-year old Hound mix -- she's healthy and weighs 72 pounds and is said to be "people friendly" in spite of the incidents.
Call Denton's Linda McNatt Animal Care and Adoption Center at 940-349-7594 or email the shelter personnel: gayla.nelsen@cityofdenton.com, Randi.Weinberg@cityofdenton.com or Dorcas.Johnson@cityofdenton.com.

As Amy says of Nala, "She reminds me of the sleek and elegant gazelle appreciated for their grace and beauty!  Look at those long legs!!! 
MEANWHILE IN LANCASTER
A COUPLE OF CATS PLUS DOGS
The folks with 4-Legged Helpers sent this appeal for help with two cats that need a place to go rather than the Lancaster Animal Shelter where human traffic is limited.
 Alea is the apparently pregnant girl (right) and Ash is the boy. 
Our tipsters report that the person who brought them to the shelter  said the cats' owners "had moved and apparently left both kitties.  So extremely sad. They are loving, sweet, gentle, and really beautiful.  This sweet boy (shelter believes male but had not checked at the time of this posting - we will ask they verify) is very sweet.  Please, won't you help save them? We will try to get more pics - shelter staff took these quickly before they closed on Friday."

To help Alea and Ash, call or text 4-Legged Helpers' Laura Macias at 214-949-2626 or email cat_girl_71@ yahoo.com.

The dogs still waiting include three we've mentioned before: handsome Brent (saved from wandering in southern Dallas County), Kenzie with the possibly broken leg and a substantial donations to help her and, of course, the wonderfully beautiful child-loving Pebbles who was handed over to the shelter, taken from the kids she loved and now waits for either a human or the needle.
AH, CONWAY --
HELLO, DARLIN'!
Can you possibly top the "cute rating" on this little guy? We first wrote about him last week thanks to Barbara McCurry who is tending to the fellow and trying to find a great home for him. He's currently in Seven Points southeast of the Metrosprawl near Cedar Creek lake.
The first photos Conway sat for were not quite revealing of his total sweetness, so Barbara got her granddaughter Emily Haley to snap some new mugshots of this little boy.
You may recall that he'd been living with some other pups and not getting along well. It was upsetting to him. No way for a smallish dog to live.
So Barbara's trying to find a good home for him and, if next attempted home doesn't work out, she'll take him back and try again.
 When she tried to take photos of him, "he acts like he's afraid of my phone. He runs under my bed when I point it at him."
She says, "He's not big but he's full grown. He was bought as a 6-week-old 3 years ago at Christmas, so I assume that's a big as he'll get."

Bottom line? He's very sweet and he's available. Call or text 1-903-880-7794. (You may recall that our original tipster on Conway's story was Sydney Busch of Friends of the Animals at Cedar Creek Lake, the non-profit that operates the world's most successful spay/neuter clinic at Gun Barrel City, Texas.)
CONTEMPLATIONS
A SIGN, A SQUEAK AND A BIRD
This photo? Snapped it from the parking lot of the Fort Worth Library's branch near I-30 and 820. Not sure why the Dallas message is on a Fort Worth billboard. Mi espanol es muy malo. (How's that? Please be like my high school Spanish teacher and grade me with abundant mercy.) ...
It's only January 19 -- that too late to watch a Christmas movie? FYI: That's the "topper" off our 2019 Christmas tree. Martha took it down Monday. The "topper" is sitting next to a toy that a friend sent to our dogs. If you walk on cute little paws and happen to step on that outstretched arm, the "doll" squeaks loudly and makes a cat jump about 2 feet into the air. The jumping cat was our youngest fellow, Stevie Ray. He's learning about the world and one of the things he's learning is "Watch where you step, kitty cat!" ...
An Episode of "What The Neighbors Said" from the holiday weekend.
A thoughtful neighbor posted "Robins and Cedar Waxwings. The birds are migrating through the area; they're really thirsty. Please clean and keep your bird baths full."

Then a neighbor, including a photo of a bird on its back, wrote, "I had one laying on the ground in my backyard with no visible injuries and the windows have screens on them so I wouldn't think he hit the window but am puzzled as to what caused it to die.
A third poster wrote, "You sure it's dead? Sometimes they pass out from eating the fermented berries of privet and other berry plants. It does look a bit stiff."
And that concludes this episode of "What The Neighbors Said."
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QUOTES FOR THOUGHTS ABOUT AMERICA

EDITION OF MONDAY, JANUARY 18, 2021 [PetPowellPress] For our Monday edition, we're going to look briefly at the human condition. 

It's Martin Luther King Jr. Day in the United States and a good day to take some time to think about things. 
There are entire books dedicated to the comments and the wisdom of Dr. King. Based on current events, we could use some wisdom from calming voice.
We're going to cite just a few quotes. Maybe they'll inspire you to think about what the nation needs in the current era. And all of you may not agree -- that's part of what makes the U.S. great. The peaceful right to disagree.
Here goes:
 One of my favorites: "We may have all come on different ships, but we're in the same boat now." [LARRY ASIDE: A quote from the 20th Century sure seems to fit today!]
--"Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend." The ability to love one another might just be what we need right now.
--"I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear." [LARRY ASIDE: Might be one of those comments that becomes a goal and works best when you say it as you look int the mirror each morning. We darned sure need fewer people hating each other. That's an AP file photo of Dr. King speaking at a church in Atlanta.]
Then there's this quote that suggests there's a good reason for all of us to monitor events and tendencies and to write to our Congressional reps and senators and anybody else we've elected to office.
-- Dr. King said, "Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal.” And if you don't know what that means, let me suggest that you "read up on it." 
And consider this quote from Dr. King: "In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends." Isn't that an awful and scary thought! History books site the instances.
-- Dr. King also said, “People fail to get along because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don’t know each other; they don’t know each other because they have not communicated with each other.” This is an effort of peace that we all ought to make for the sake of our beloved nation.

And this quote is a favorite. I have kids and grandkids and the dream continues for their sake. Dr. King said, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”
Amen to that.
[LARRY ASIDE: Click here for a history of the creation of MLK Day posted a year ago on the website Constitution Daily. The lead on the story reads, "The fight to make the Martin Luther King Jr. birthday a holiday took 32 years, a lot of campaigning, and guest appearances including Stevie Wonder, Ted Kennedy, and the National Football League."
Makes you think maybe 2020's assorted involvements in fiery issues were not all that pioneering, doesn't it?]
From the same boat we're all in, God bless America.
-- Offer opinions by clicking on 'comments' below or by emailing dallrp@aol.com. ---