THE CURSE OF INERTIA; WEATHER TIPS; THE GREATEST GOAL FOR UNWANTED ANIMALS: 'LOVED AND ADOPTED'

EDITION OF THURSDAY, FEB. 11, 2021 [PetPowellPress] On Wednesday, I encountered a spell of inertia. Oh, I was able to roll the trash out to the curb, but, holy smoke, I couldn't type two sentences in a row. I sought help, referring my blurry self to Sir Runhon Dash-Poynt Lucidity's Handbook of Clear Expression For the Translucent Writer. He's best known as having invented the staple of commonly confusing spoken American English, the Indefinite Pronoun. 
If English had more vowels than a,e,i,o,u and sometimes w and y, I'd have been in a passel, passle, passul, of grammatarical malapropic conflustery. Know what I mean?
I'd blame the weather, but I think I used that excuse up in about the 5th grade when fractions chilled me into numeric terror -- I still dream of my initial failure to grasp the concept of a 5th of an orange. I'd never seen an orange with just 5 slices. That is my office cat, William Powell, Ph.D., Mewstastic Expressions and Cross-Species Grammar from the University of Swiftmade Clearpoint, Online. That's his staff portrait the year he taught the course Comma Blunders In the Time of Sequences.
[LARRY ASIDE: Dr. William suggested that I try nonsensical writing to find my way out of my Inertia Maze. The preceding might do the trick. Might not.]
WEATHER WARNING?
NOT JUST FOR HUMANS
Of course these warnings of ice and snow and other lousy life-threatening conditions are not just aimed at humans watching the evening and late-night news for the next day's rush hour conditions!
 They're also aimed at humans who have animals, the humans who leave their animals outside with the criminal attitude of "oh, animals can live through cold weather." Yeah, well. It is a criminal attitude in Texas, isn't it!
OK, I got this note from Moira Collins of PETA's New York office. Turns out it's pertinent in many, many areas of the nation right now.
This is the PETA "Bring Them Inside" campaign. Here's the link to the 30-second Public Service Announcement. The doghouse photo goes with the PSA.
 Moira's notice, in relation to the PSA, read, "Companion animals should always live indoors. 'Backyard dogs' and “outdoor cats”—like those featured in Breaking the Chain, the new documentary produced by Oscar winner Anjelica Huston—often go without adequate food, water, shelter, and veterinary care. They are no better equipped to survive freezing temperatures or extreme weather conditions than humans are, they suffer terribly from frostbite, and they can die of exposure." (The photo of the dogs with the impossibly tangled chains is from the trailer for the film HERE. It's not just weather working against tethered dogs, it's the ice cube brains and chilled hearts of the don't care/so what people.)

And there are suggestions to "Gear Up." The note reads, "Coats will keep dogs comfortable in cold weather, secure harnesses can help prevent them from getting loose on walks, and booties will protect their sensitive paw pads from the frozen ground. Keep walks short in cold weather, especially for shorthaired dogs."
PETA also suggests, "Don’t Forget Birds. During extreme winter weather, provide birds and other wild animals with access to an emergency water supply by filling a heavy nonmetal water bowl (tongues can freeze to metal) and breaking the surface ice at least twice a day."
And there's this note that many of you Dear Reader Animal Advocates in the Greater Dallas/Fort Worth Reallyhot/reallycoldtroplex are involved with year-round. PETA says, "Good Samaritans who see companion animals kept chained or penned outside 24/7 or without adequate shelter from the elements should note the animals’ exact location and alert local law-enforcement authorities immediately. Anyone who leaves animals outside to suffer in severe weather may be prosecuted."
[LARRY ASIDE: Prosecuted? I hope so! Write to your county's District Attorney to politely remind that powerful official that Texas has anti-cruelty laws 24-hours a day, year-round. Keep residents, keep voters, keep office-holders aware that we have Texas laws to protect animals from nitwits.]
CONTEMPLATIONS
TWO DOG STORIES
Where do you see animals at peril in the Greater Metrosprawl? Well, there are those on the clock in shelters. There are those running free on streets and in neighborhoods. If you don't see these at-peril animals, you just ain't lookin', pal. Contemplate getting better at spotting the free-roamers, the dumped animals, the escaped-the-yard, fled-the-house dogs and cats.
THE KYLO STORY: So, back in mid-January this dog showed up in the Lancaster Animal Shelter. He was listed as Kylo. This is the first photo we posted of Kylo -- you see the big Husky boy carefully placing his paw right into the hand of someone who was paying attention to him. 4-Legged Helpers, the non-profit promoting him as worthy of adoption, described him as a "very, very good boy who just so much wants someone to love him." Well, of course, there are hundreds of "very, very good" dogs in shelters all over North Texas, thousands all over the state's 254 counties. On Wednesday we got a simple note about Kylo from 4-Legged Helpers' Laura Macias. It had three happy words with a photo of Kylo: "Loved and adopted."
There are other animals waiting in small shelters to be "Loved and adopted," so ask about them by calling or texting 214-94902726 or email cat_girl_71@yahoo.com.
"Loved and adopted!" Yep, instructions for "Save 'em all."
HOW TO SAVE A DOG YOU SPOT. It takes personal devotion to the mission. This story came from a NextDoor post I saw Wednesday. The poster was Michael Phipps and we're mentioning him because of the heroic nature of this story. 
You see the topic there with the wagging tail. The post began, "Small white and tan dog 5400 Brentwood Stair. About 2 p.m. we were traveling westbound on Brentwood Stair in the 5400 block at Weiler Boulevard. The traffic signals were flashing red due to TP&W replacing signals. While passing by the workers' trucks parked on the edge of the road, we caught sight of a small dog up underneath the trucks. We circled back around to confirm, thinking maybe it was leashed and belonged to one of the workers who had their dog with them but none of them even knew the dog was even there underneath the truck.

"Surprisingly -- and thank God -- he didn't run and allowed us reach under the truck to pull him out. He was soaking wet and shivering like crazy. We have him with us, got him bathed, fed and is now warm. Has collar, not sure why because it has NO TAGS and he is NOT CHIPPED!!!
At readlarrypowell.com we're waiting to hear how this turns out. But so far we can announce that the dog managed to not get run down in a busy traffic area, nobody shot him for roaming into their yard and he's gotten some loving care and concern before he had an opportunity to freeze off his one undescended and one descended testes in the brutal cold. Yes. It was a thorough vet exam he was given. And it was in a warm, dry office. So, this dog is one rescue closer to the Kylo result: Adopted and Loved."
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