POPEYE AND MIA NEED A HOME; ASSORTED OPPORTUNITIES & A 1966 WEATHER SONG

EDITION OF THURSDAY/FRIDAY JULY 21/22, 2022 [PetPowellPress] It’s so cloudy over our house today that the romantic-minded heat-seared cannas and blooming plants in the front flower bed are all romantic and singing a weather-inspired hit from 1966 by The Hollies. We’ll Contemplate that later today. First some opportunities to show love for animals.
POPEYE AND MIA: NEEDING
A LOVING HOME ASAP
Any dog story that includes the phrase “Pawpaw passed away” generally means that a dog or two or more is probably in desperate need of help from humans.
That is the case with these dogs — Popeye the Pitbull and Mia the Great Dane. [LARRY ASIDE: Not sure that's a "goodnight kiss" but, judging from the second photo, it could be.]
Pawpaw died in March. We learned of them from Tomi Ortiz, our longtime pal and tipster regarding canine situations. As you can tell from the photos, these two are bonded. 
The circumstances here are that these two dogs — bonded from early puppyhood —  are in temporary care at Pawpaw’s house, living in very “iffy” air-conditioning.
Both dogs are around “4 or 5 years old” and they live well with humans. But Pawpaw’s old home is very, very temporary so the need for a new permanent place with loving people is very, very immediate. Like now. Right now. 
A new home that loves dogs forever is the goal. To ask how you can help or to adopt get in touch with Tomi by emailing [email protected].
Tomi says that Pawpaw, a disabled veteran, got the dogs when a young relative brought them by as puppies, stayed a while, left and didn’t come back for the dogs. Because of financial circumstances, the dogs rarely — if ever — visited a vet.
[LARRY FYI: Tomi’s daughter and her boyfriend have been tending to the dogs and making sure they’re as comfortable as possible, are fed and haven’t lost their happiness with human contact. Again, email [email protected] to help save Popeye and Mia.]
A CHANCE TO CITE 
THE GREAT APOLLO
We’ve been posting photos of Apollo for a while now. What inspires writing about Apollo this time? Ah, a news release from the SPCA of Texas! (Thank you, Maura Davies! She’s the SPCA’s veteran Vice Prez for Marketing & Communications.)
As you may know, after taking a time-out to subdue a distemper outbreak, the SPCA has resumed adoptions at the fabulous shelter in Dallas. The latest news release has to do with reduced adoption fees thanks to a project partnering the SPCA with the Bissell Pet Foundation.
The release says, “As our nation’s shelters face unprecedented overcrowding, BISSELL Pet Foundation is doing its part to taking homeless pets from kennels to couches by sponsoring reduced adoption fees of $50 or less through July 31. The longest-ever Summer National “Empty the Shelters” event will be hosted in more than 250 shelters in 42 states, including SPCA of Texas.
“The SPCA of Texas will be offering $25 adoptions on all adult dogs and cats at its Jan Rees-Jones Animal Care Center in Dallas through July 31, 2022, for the summer Empty the Shelters event.”
More info is at this ADOPT LINK: www.spca.org/adopt. And you can see available dogs, cats and “others” at www.spca.org/ findapet.  And you can read the entire Bissell news release (and others) by clicking on the SPCA news release site HERE.
We’ve used that first photo of upside-down Apollo many times — he’s just so darned adorable. And he’s nearly 5 years old, weighs 52 pounds and currently is enjoying foster care with the SPCA [LARRY ASIDE: When you go to the SPCA adoption pages, you can see video of Apollo and when you adopt him, please let me know. He’d have a home already if we hadn’t acquired our limit of rescued dogs and cats years and years ago. I’d take that cat Finley, too. All I need is the right six numbers in Lotto Texas.]
Finley is just over 3 years, weighs 10 pounds and is a Domestic Shorthair Mix who has, yes, a clipped ear. So, yep, she’s a congenial kitty who likes the company of others and has spent some time getting her ear “notched” to indicate that she’s been “fixed.”
SOMETHING SPOTTED ON
STREET DOG PROJECT PAGE
My goodness, look at the face on this dog! Is she not beautiful — and was she not in awfully rough shape when The Street Dog Project posted her on its Facebook page on the 15th! 
That was the day that, according to the post that day, “#ProjectElla is having surgery today to have a mass removed, please keep her in your thoughts  ”
And there is this: “Can you please donate towards her care?
https://www.thestreetdogproject.org/donate
Venmo @tsdp- “
Plus there’s this passage: “She was sick when we pulled her from the overcrowded shelter so has been in medical boarding so donations towards her care are greatly appreciated! Y’all are the best, thank you so much! #grateful #streetdogrescue #formerstreetdog #formershelterdog #adoptdontshop #rescue."
I saw this dog’s photo and story on The Street Dog Project Facebook page HERE.  I've been checking back and sending notes but as yet, I have no information about how this dog did in the surgery and if she needs help for her situation. She has such a beautiful face that I simply couldn’t forget it once I saw it. 
[LARRY APPEAL: If anyone from The Street Dog Project can tell me about this former Dallas shelter resident’s current condition, please let me know at [email protected]. It would be a privilege to help you help her find a home.]
CONTEMPLATIONS
PIE, JUST WHEN IS THANKSGIVING, A BUS & WEATHER
So, you know how you can be clicking around on the internet and find something totally unexpected? I found a note about Don McLean’s song American Pie being the topic of a new documentary. And I found that story by accident in the online version of the Port Charlotte Sun, the newspaper of Port Charlotte, Fla.  That photo appeared with the story — and here is the LINK. And if technology doesn’t abandon me, you’ll be able to see that Associated Press photograph and read the small print under the AP photo. Here’s what it says: “Don McLean rides a float Feb. 22, 2019, in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York.” Now, as a veteran of decades of watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on American television, I know that Thanksgiving is in November, not in February. Also, the records show that in 2019, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade was on Thursday, Nov. 28. Same day as Thanksgiving, it turns out. Keep reading. ...
In today’s note from the Think & Laugh Daily people I got this quote from American philosopher Daniel Dennett. He said, “You should become a connoisseur of your own mistakes, turning them over in your mind as if they were works of art, which in a way they are.”
...
Once upon a time I dropped a decimal point out of the weight of a dog and, as a result, readers saw a sentence about a 75-pound  Chihuahua in my column in the then- Big Dallas Paper Downtown. Yes, I continue to see that mistake as a work of art. This was years ago and my pal and loyal reader Sydney Busch of Friends of the Animals at Cedar Creek Lake phoned to ask snickeringly if she could get a photo of that 75-pound Chihuahua. Here's the artistic part of the tale: Before it could be printed, my column had to be read by 3 or 4 highly educated, hawk-eyed, really smart, clever editors with the mission of catching my mistakes and bad-for-the-company wisecracks. Yep, as Daniel Dennett suggested, that column was a work of art….
CLICK HERE to enjoy that “rainy day song” from The Hollies. Ignore the opening commercial. That bus photo is not from the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade — it’s from the video of this 1966 hit — that year Thanksgiving was also in November.
— Offer bus advice by clicking on ‘comment’ below or by emailing dal[email protected] and putting TICKET TO RIDE? in the subject line. —-