HELPING COCKER SPANIEL EYES; SAVING FERDINAND, COPING THANKS TO CAMI

EDITION OF WEDNESDAY, MARCH 24, 2021] Welcome to a Wednesday edition — midweek as March begins to wane. "Wane." That’s as poetical as I can gettical; I’m drowsy as a baby; might nod off, maybe; need cookies without calories, and I can’t think of a thing that rhymes with calories unless the cookies I ate were a gift of Mallory’s. The preceding would-be poetic sentence is why my heart goes out to teachers who have to grade the written word -- what a clanker. My dog Porche, in her English Lit lecture glasses, feels the same way. I once dangled a participle and she snapped at me. The day I split an infinitive, she quit speaking to me. English, such a challenge when you’d rather have a nap. But I have to write in English because nobody reads Latin these days and mi espanol es muy malo.
THE CHALLENGE OF HELPING
COCKER SPANIELS THRIVE
We’re going to get to the work of DFW Cocker Spaniel Rescue in a moment. They're helping Cocker Spaniels see!
We have personal testimony regarding the wondrously happy experience of having lived with a Cocker Spaniel named Inky. That's him and his ears on the right. In his long life, there really was no challenge to helping him thrive — he wanted to thrive. Our philosophy for making a member of this wondrous breed of regal dogs happy is this: “You love ‘em, feed ‘em and get ‘em groomed." Inky ranked food, love and grooming as “equal joys in my life of elegance and glee.” He told me that once. Ah, yes, he could communicate

What that preceding paragraph does is move us to the challenges currently facing the big human hearts at DFW Cocker Spaniel Rescue. DFW CSR needs dona- tions to help three Cocker Spaniels with their vision problems. These eye surgeries, according to the Rescue, “can improve or restore sight, relieve chronic pain and make life considerably better for a dog suffering with cataracts, glaucoma or eye injury. We currently have 3 Cocker spaniels in foster homes who are in urgent need of cataract surgery.
 Those are the current dogs. (1) Brandy, rescued in September in the big middle of the human pandemic, is about 6 and ‘has been diagnosed with double cataracts.” King is the 7-year-old Cocker who arrived as a stray and has “mature cataracts in both eyes.”
And Lincoln is a 3-year-old Cocker “with a hyper mature cataract in one eye and a growing cataract in the other which leaves him with a very limited vision.” The donation link is HERE.
Helping the dogs’ vision will enhance the dogs’ chances of being adopted, the Rescue says. [LARRY FYI: In the appeal, the organization says that “so far this year we have incurred costs totaling $8,580 for eye surgeries. Future estimated cost for scheduled surgeries is $5,000.”]
And, just in case you wondered, you can go to dfwcockerrescue.org and arrange donations and also apply to adopt Cocker Spaniels, including this 10-year-old girl Faith Hill who has vision problems and quirks but is totally adorable.
ANOTHER WEDNESDAY DEADLINE
FOR A HANDSOME ARLINGTON DOG
This is Ferdinand and, according to the Friends of Arlington Animal Services, he has until 5 p.m. Wednesday to leave the city’s shelter. Or else. 
The problem is he’s “rescue only” because he has a fear problem. He’s a 50-pound, intact “Retriever mix” — #46641568.
An Arlington assessment read, “Still fearful. Won't let staff to pet him and he won't take treats. He’s been in the shelter more than 30 days. He must be tagged and out by 5 p.m. on Wednesday (03/24/2021).”
He’s “RESCUE ONLY. Stays on bed; stiff, low growl, trembling.” The Friends’ note says he has pledges. And if you’d like to foster Ferdinand to help save his life, contact the friends at info@faastexas.org. Email the shelter at NSanimalrescue@arlingtontx.gov or call 817-459-5898.

CONTEMPLATIONS
BOULDER; CUTE CAMI; THE OXFORD COMMA….
This whole Boulder thing gets to me. Like many of you, I suspect, it brought back memories of emotions we felt when other shootings occurred. I’m one of those guys who keeps praying for all of humanity to wise up and be loving — no matter where, no matter who. One of my first big newspaper experiences was the Texas Tower Shooting Aug. 1, 1966 — I’d been a reporter for a little over a year. I thought something like “this is probably a once-in-a-career story.” How wrong was I. Bless us all and keep us safe. From viruses and each other. … We find refuge in the gentle portions of our existence. For example, on Tuesday morning, we spotted Dr. Glen Campbell’s online veterinary highlight: this is Cami, his “Cutie of the Day.” Today, the good doctor’s posting was a sweet alternative to thoughts of the behavior of some elements of our species. And I’m always happy to see dogs reading the newspaper — gives me faith in the Freedom of the Press. …
Let’s declare that we’ve played English to a tie and we’ll move along with our mission of writin' gooder English for animals and the people who love them. And stop swapping “like” for “such as” and eliminate the Oxford Comma unless you’re from Oxford (not the one in Mississippi) or, perhaps, can display lab tests that have determined that you are clinically pretentious. Geezalou, I hope I haven’t written any grammatical errors into today’s report. My glass house will go to shard city, won’t itI? (I ended that sentence with an interrobang — thought it was appropriate.)
— Offer info or advice by clicking on ‘comment’ below or by emailing dallrp@aol.com. —-