I don't know what the heck is in the water in Georgia, but I am impressed!!
Brothers’ winnings benefit animal rescue group
By SANDY ECKSTEIN The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
When we last checked with Zack and Thomas Eller in December, the two Milton boys had raised more than $1,200 for a rescue group.
This month they increased that amount substantially with a $5,000 donation, thanks to their mom and parenting magazine Wondertime, which held a Littlest Volunteers Contest.
“I saw the contest and filled out the application without even telling them,” said Tracy Eller, who has helped sons Zack, 13, and Thomas, 9, with their burgeoning dog biscuit business over the past two years.
The boys started making them in 2006, and soon were selling the peanut butter, applesauce and wheat doggie goodies at local stores and adoptions for Aiding and A-Petting, a group that fosters dogs and cats until they can be adopted. All the proceeds, about $1,700 so far, have gone to the rescue group. Founder Karen Brinker said they were blown away by the $5,000 award, which came from the magazine and the Walt Disney Co.
The boys’ only reward was a photo shoot and being featured in the magazine this fall as one of three grand prize winners. But that was enough for them.
“This helped us raise more money to give to the pets, so we were really happy,” Zack said.
Of course, the Eller boys aren’t the only animal-loving youngsters in the North Georgia area. In fact, there are so many we can’t write about them all. But here are a few more who are working hard to help homeless pets:
Her own book. Ansley Burnette, 8, of Blairsville volunteers with a group called Castaway Critters Pet Rescue. That’s why she knows so much about homeless pets. And also why she wants to help them.
Ansley wrote a book called “Frisco Finds a Forever Family,” about a homeless dog finding his forever home. Of course it helps that her family owns a publishing company that printed the book. But Ansley, a home-schooled fourth-grader, wrote the story and found another student, Deborah Mullen of Ellijay, to draw the illustrations, which Ansley then colored. Her mom, Dawn Burnette, is understandably proud.
“She loves to write, so she decided to write a book to raise money for the shelter and help raise awareness at the same time,” she said.
The hardback was published in April and has raised more than $1,100 for Castaway Critters. Other groups also can buy the book wholesale and sell it and keep the profits.
Ansley has held book signings, and is working on a program to take into schools on responsible pet ownership and the importance of spaying and neutering.
A rock solid fund-raiser. Claudia Crawford, 10, of Cumming came up with a different way to raise money to help homeless pets — she sold rocks at her school, Settles Bridge Elementary in Forsyth County.
A teacher supplied the rocks, which included semi-precious stones, and for the past two school years Claudia has sold them to fellow students for 50 cents to $20. The most recent sale netted about $200 for SmallDog Rescue and Humane Society, where Claudia has been volunteering since she was 8, cleaning cages, walking dogs and helping with fund-raisers.
“I really love animals, and I don’t like to see dogs in humane societies, so I raised money for the dogs,” said Claudia, who has four dogs of her own.
Anne Stockton, president of the rescue group, said it has a number of young volunteers, including ones that regularly work at adoption events or the shelter.
“We are one of the few rescue groups that works with youth volunteers,” Stockton said. “We feel it is vital to the rescue effort to have the youth of today learn about responsible pet care. They are our future.”
Dough from doughnuts. Another school project that’s helping Georgia’s animals is the doughnut sale by the eighth-grade Beta Club at Creekland Middle School in Lawrenceville. With the blessing of Principal William Kruskamp, about two dozen students, led by teacher Suzanne Cross, hold regular sales. At the end of the school year the club donates the money to SpayGeorgia, which funds low-cost spay/neuters for pets whose owners otherwise couldn’t afford them.
This year the class donated $2,100.
“That will spay or neuter a lot of animals,” said Cindy Lindsey, founder of SpayGeorgia. “We are so impressed with these kids and their teacher and the school for allowing these kids to fund-raise for us.”
While most people knew Skip Caray as the Braves announcer, those in the animal community also knew of his love for animals. He and his wife, Paula, adopted several rescue dogs, including one from SmallDog Rescue and Humane Society. And SmallDog was one of three groups listed by Caray’s family for where donations could be made in his memory. Anyone who wants to donate can go to www.smalldoghumane.org.
1. This is one of my fave photos from when we used to shoot the atv and dirt bike races, and we're going to make a poster of it for this year's media kit.
2. I'm ready to be rid of the nasally quality of this sinus infection.
3. I hate sounding whiney all the time.
4. Cold front today! It's overcast and only supposed to get up to 85º! Wahoo!
5. Have I mentioned I'm soooooo ready for summer to be over?
6. Jeremy and I have a California Coast kayaking trip planned for next month and I am sooooo excited for it!
7. One of the #Darkroom folks is coming to the area this weekend, and I'm really looking forward to meeting him and his wife. (pixelsaurus, for those from the old days of the #Darkroom)
8. I'm on cipro now. This sinus infection doesn't stand a chance.
9. Our "Conversational Spanish" class starts a week from tomorrow. I'm excited and nervous.
I found a bug at work today. It was pretty cool. :) I thought it was dead, actually. It was laying upside-down, not moving. So I flipped it over and it still didn't move. Then I went to slide a piece of paper underneath it, cuz I wanted to photograph it, and to my surprise it started moving! Unfortunately my ring flash batteries were dead, so the shots are shallow and not very good, but I thought I'd share my stink bug photos (also called a shield bug, per Wikipedia). I guess I didn't hurt it, because it didn't stink at all. :)
Today when I got home, there was a package waiting for me, from Michigan. I opened the package and PANICKED! Well, partly because it was a PANICK button! Then, I couldn't get it to work and I thought the batteries were dead and I PANICKED again! But then I realized it was currently switched "off". *whew* Then I PANICKED because I read the note and I didn't get it. It said, "Because sometimes there's just never a need for that stupid Staples Easy button!!" Thankfully, Jeremy explained it to me. See, we have TiVo, so we never see commercials! Ha. So, once I got over the PANIC and hit the PANIC BUTTON, we sat there hitting it over and over and cracking up. hahaha. Thank you, Michigan friend. I'll be taking it to work tomorrow, where I'm sure it'll get lots of use. Sadly. ;)
Yep, that's just where today went .. to the dogs. It was once again 100º and the dogs were moping around the house like kids who hadn't gotten to go to the playground in a while. So we took the dogs to the Sparks Marina (puppy playground) where they got to play with other dogs, swim, get treats and lots of love from friendly strangers, and just generally cool off and wear themselves out.
Not really much other news here. We went to see Mirrors yesterday ... awesome contemporary horror movie. Had all the good stuff ... good music, good story, twisty ending, heart-clenching scariness, including a little demon wall-walking. Gooood stuff. I would highly recommend it to any horror buff. By the time it was over, my energy was gone. We didn't do much yesterday afternoon but we did make a new Indian dish for dinner .. it was aaaaawesome. Sorry, didn't have the energy to shoot it (those of you who know me well know that's when I'm really down and out .. when I can't pick up a camera) - next time. We ended the night with a lot of geeky fun ... by sitting snuggled up on the couch, solving some of the puzzles in the brainteaser book Jeremy bought me last weekend. I'm being fitted with a pocket protector this week.
Today was pretty quiet. Breakfast, the dog park, some beer and bratwursts, laundry, vacuuming ... all fun stuff. Tomorrow I call the doc for another round of antibiotics. I'm also going back to the gym, though. Two weeks of inactivity is bad for the soul, and I think getting more active will help me fight my own battles (infections).
Hope you all had good weekends. Not much to mention here, but it always does us good to see happy puppies. :)
1. I have not watched even one minute of the Olympics (nope, not even the opening ceremony), and I really don't care if I don't see any at all. I also don't care who thinks I'm absolutely crazy because of this.
2. I have spent all day listening to my Christmas playlist on my iPod because I'm feeling crappy again and I know it'll make me feel comfortable and happy. And I don't much care who thinks this is weird.
3. I am very uncomfortable around people who start up bizarre conversations with me out of the blue and I really want to work on being able to handle that better. Example: A couple days ago I was waiting for my prescription at the pharmacy. I brought a book in with me so I could just sit and wait for it. I was feeling like crap so I sat in the furthest, most private char and just wanted to read, get my meds, go home, pass out. This woman sits down a few seats away from me and starts looking through a sales flyer. All of a sudden she announces (seemingly to no one, but, as it became soon apparent, to ME), "There's a good price on strawberries this week." When I didn't respond she said, "Raley's has really good produce." I glanced over slightly and realized she WAS talking to me. I smiled and said, "They sure do," and went back to my book. That was apparently all it took. She closed the paper, leaned one elbow on her knee and looked at me and said, "Do you know they rotisserie their chickens here for TWO hours?!" It continued on from there to her giving me the run-down on how commercial operations need to make sure they overcook things and she never bothers, she just poaches her chickens (poaching a chicken?) - sure, stick it in hot water, bring it to boiling, then just turn the heat off. Uh, ok. Oh, and did she overhear me tell someone I just cut my hair recently? Well she hopes I don't go get my hair darkened and have the aesthetician turn it green by accident ...
You get the picture. It went on and on like that. And much as I tried to be nice and yet make it clear that all I wanted to do was read my book, she continued. I need to learn how to handle situations like that better. Somehow to politely tell people I'm really not interested in a conversation. And I don't much care who thinks me a bitch for it.
By CHRISTOPHER QUINN The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Published on: 08/06/08 Photo by Frank Niemeir
Marcello Torres states matter-of-factly that "football can relate to life and stuff."
That discovery by the 12-year-old quarterback in a flag football league is exactly the point.
Work mates Joseph Greiner and Jeremy Weil of JPMorgan Private Bank started the league this summer for underprivileged kids and brought in inspirational speakers. Professional football players and coaches such as former Falcon Ronnie Bradford and Georgia Tech starting tackle Darryl Richard and educators talked to the children during the six weeks of the league.
"When Joe and I started up the camp, we wanted each of the six weeks to have a theme — academic achievement, goal setting, teamwork," Weil said.
Weil knew Joseph Baker, one of the founders of the nonprofit PlaySmart, when Weil was living in New Orleans several years ago and Baker was a Saints coach. PlaySmart teaches and encourages children to reach their potential through play.
"When I moved to Atlanta a little over two years ago, I started talking to [Baker] about working with his organization," Weil said.
He and Greiner started an Atlanta chapter of PlaySmart.
They recruited about 20 friends and co-workers as coaches, referees and mentors. They talked to Pace Academy, who gave them permission to use its athletic fields and which encouraged its students to help.
The Saturday football for boys and girls 9 to 13 years old from Boys & Girls Clubs began in June and ended last week.
Darryll Starks, a coordinator from the Clayton County Boys & Girls Club, said, "I've met some great volunteers in my time, but [Weil and Greiner] are two of the best. They are thorough, they understand the kids, and they have a great program."
Weil, who is 24, said, "Joe and I had been talking about wanting to take a leadership role in something outside of the office, and we knew it had to be something we were really passionate about."
Greiner, also 24, said, "You can get very wrapped up in your job ... so wrapped up you feel like you don't have time for anything else. It was important for me to actively get started in doing something for the community."
Weil said, "Once we started putting things on paper, it really took off."
The two raised $5,000 for the program.
Boys & Girls Clubs bused in about 60 players. The teams practiced and played two games each Saturday morning, followed by lunch.
It gave the kids and the coaches something to look forward to.
Marcello said if he were not in the league, "On Saturday, I would probably be home all day, doing nothing probably."
I think my favorite part of today's "feel-good" post was how these guys didn't just blindly go into this saying "We want to help these kids play football" ... they went into it planning a LIFE lesson each week! How cool is that?
I loooooove books. I love bookstores like Borders and libraries and used bookstores and ... I just love books. I love the smell, the feel, they make me happy. I remember back in oh, I think it must have been 1997 or 1998 when TIME announced that they would be doing away with their printed magazine by the year 2000 and that everything would be digital.
Ha! Never happen, said I. People love books! Yes, I think there are some who do a lot of online reading. Yes, I know Amazon's Kindle is reportedly selling like hotcakes. But you know what? Nothing beats feeling the paper in your hand, the feel of your favorite worn, dog-eared, creased, slightly-beaten-up favorite book in your bag when you're traveling or at the beach or curled up in a chair, watching the rain or snow fall outside your window. Nothing beats that. And I don't care what any marketing guru tries to tell me, reading the text on a screen, holding a laptop in front of me ... none of that will replace the feel of a good book in my hand.
I wonder if that will change, as the new generation of kids becomes more and more used to and comfortable with technology? Wouldn't that be sad, if kids forgot what it was like to have the security of a good book in their hands?
Today's I Remember Whens-Day is all about my long relationship with books.
• I remember my mom teaching me how to read, before kindergarten, from her Ellery Queen and Alfred Hitchcock anthologies. Those were where I learned the hard words.
• We played Scrabble before I went to kindergarten, too. I learned hard words there, too, but more importantly I learned the proper way to spell them and what they meant.
• I remember hot, sticky northern Michigan summers, laying in my parents' bedroom (that's where the a/c was), with my mom, both of us surrounded by books. She with her anthologies and Stephen King novels, I with my Peanuts and Walt Disney big, flat, hardcover books with the ultra-glossy pages and bright graphics.
• I remember going to the library and checking out the maximum amount of books possible. If I close my eyes I can still picture the card catalog, still feel the really worn cards inside as I worked my fingers into them, looking for the books I wanted. Do kids today even know what the Dewey Decimal System is?
• In 2nd grade, we were all broken into reading groups, based on skill. I didn't have a group, and would just sit with the teacher and read. As if that didn't ostracize me from my classmates enough, one day when I went to sit down in the back of the room with her to read, I sat on a chair that had splintered and got a big splinter in my buttcheek. She put her hand down my pants to rub it (y'know, c'mon, this was the '70s - it was completely harmless) and I just remember being SO embarrassed. She was a super nice teacher, I just felt stupid.
• I was teased a lot as a kid, and there were other issues, and books were one of my favorite escapes. The Lord Of The Rings series, Chronicles of Narnia, Watership Down, Moominland Midwinter, Judy Blume books, Nancy Drew, Choose Your Own Adventure books and of course my beloved Archie comics. And Richie Rich, Casper, etc.
• I had a treehouse - it was pretty bare bones. Funny, now that I think of it .. it should have scared the hell out of me, given its height (it was probably about 10-15' off the ground) and how afraid I am of any heights. But for some reason, that was a safe haven to me. Anyway, it was just a flat surface, with boards across one side that I could lean on. I would spend hours up there with a pillow, a bag of comic books, and a little radio on which I could listen to Casey Kasem and the weekly top 40.
• In my early teens I read Dante's Divine Comedy. I'm pretty sure at that age I didn't really get as much out of it as I was supposed to. My father also made me read Thorstein Veblen's "Theory of the Leisure Class" and Erskine Caldwell's "Tobacco Road". I think those actually sunk in deeper than he wanted. Or maybe just in a different way. Tint's blog from yesterday about "why do we always want more" kind of ties in with this. (Tint, I'm still trying to figure out my response to that blog .. really thought-provoking.)
• Before I went to India, we were made to read "The Ugly American". That was an eye-opener as to how the rest of the world views some of us, and some reasons why.
• In college I didn't read so much for pleasure ... there was so much reading required, it was tough to get the time to do so. I did fall in love with one book, during my Renaissance Art History class, and was thrilled to find a gorgeous antique version in an old book store on the east coast one year. It's one of my prized possessions .. a beautiful hardcover copy of an illumintated manuscript called "King Rene's Book of Love". But now I'm really happy that I have rediscovered my love affair with books. I currently have 3 going, and, once our library gets set up, there will be a lot more I can delve into (y'know, those books you buy that you're "going to read someday" that get lost in some shuffle?) - I am so excited for that!
The thing about books .. they really are a great way for people to find a common ground and relate to one another, aren't they? I only know one person (my boss) who hates reading for pleasure. I don't get it. Can't wrap my mind around the idea - how could someone .. not .. love reading about things they enjoy? Not allow themselves to get lost in another world or another time or another life?
Ah well. No need to waste time trying to figure it out. All I know is, I think I will love books 'til the day I die. Of course, this will make moving increasingly difficult, but eh, there are worse things to be addicted to. :)
I'm well on my way to recovery, thanks to both. :) A 5-day antibiotic + an entire full night's sleep, uninterrupted by coughing fits have done wonders. Thanks to all those who've asked and sent good thoughts/wishes. I slept laying down (what a novel idea) last night, AND didn't wake up once with a coughing fit. Amazing.
So anyway, I'm not back up to 100% yet, and I'm still really exhausted today, but I am definitely feeling better!
My friend Renée "tagged" me in her blog (not on Multiply) and, while I don't normally follow in line with the tagging games, this one actually got me thinking about some things so I thought eh, why not put 'em out there. Sometimes doing that helps me actually follow through with things, anyway.
So, here y'go Renée. Eight things I want to accomplish before I die:
1. I want to hear the Tibetan monks from the Drepung Loseling monastery chant/sing. In person.
2. I want to visit (and photograph) Plitvice Nat'l Park in Croatia, home of Falling Lakes (pictured at left, taken from Wikipedia).
3. I want to see my photography published in an international magazine (other than the ones I put together).
4. I want to make enough money that I'm able to do something fairly big and philanthropic as regards animal rights. And I don't mean that I would give it all to PETA. :) I mean something like the ALDF, where they work to prosecute people who think it's ok to abuse animals.
5. I want to make sure every single person who makes a difference in my life KNOWS they make a difference in my life. I work pretty hard at this one ... I hope it's achievable. I never want anyone left wondering if they mattered to me.
6. I want to see Jeremy reach his goal of having a cruising sailboat that we can take out and live on for periods of time. I know how happy it would make him, and he and that goal are the whole reason I revised my entire company logo earlier this year. I figure if the goal is always in front of our faces, we'll be more likely to achieve it.
7. I want to own a place in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (preferably the Eastern side of the Keweenaw) - a haven, a getaway. A place with some property - that is surrounded completely by nature, and takes a fair amount of effort to get to. Somewhere our friends can come and relax and recharge their batteries. And where we can get great bear photos. ;)
8. I want to rescue a great dane (or, y'know, preferably more than just one). I think Jeremy would really love their personalities, and if I can just get past their short life span, I think it would be awesome.
I'm not going to tag anyone, but if this got you thinking about your own life and things you'd like to accomplish, I urge you to share them. This made me pretty happy today. :)
Today's 'feel good' story made me a little teary-eyed, If you can watch the video, it is even more amazing than the written story itself. I tried to embed it here, but it just won't go. So I linked to it instead. Dog lovers, grab a tissue!
The dog left on the doorstep of the Granada Hills pet clinic was sick. The letter left with him was heartbreaking.
"Dear Drs., please forgive me for this horrible transgression. I have no where else to turn so I ask you to mercifully, gently and lovingly please help him sleep. His name is Kaiser and he's 16-and-a half years old. He's been my friend, my teacher, my pupil, my lifelong loving and loyal companion," the letter said.
On the envelope, the author of the letter said that he thought Kaiser had two strokes the night before.
"Be good to him as you would your own child, for he's been mine for a loving lifetime," the envelope read.
Inside, the writer continued to pour his heart out.
"We've been together 24-7 365 days a year since he was 8 months old. He's gentle, smart, and I'll miss him more than I could admit. Saturday evening, without warning or any outside influence, he began rolling on his back on the floor, all four legs extended, rigid and thrusting wildly in all directions. I saw fear and panic in his otherwise unrecognizable eyes. His head was pulled down to his right, and he seemed unable to do otherwise. If I had to render a guess I would say it appeared as though he had a stroke. He can stand, but 85 percent unsteady. He's fearfully reacting to attempts to get him to drink water. He refuses food as though he's totally lost knowledge of what to do with food."
"I'm a homeless disabled vet, and I know when it's time to say goodbye to a friend, and it's time now. He's such a part of my being, I'll once again be alone in my life. I love you Kaiser, thank you for caring, sincerely, Kaiser's Soul Mate."
Debbie Herot, a manager at Pet Medical Center Chatoak in Granada Hills, found the letter and the dog on the clinic doorstep as she came in to work last week.
Though she tries to keep an emotional distance from the pets she sees, in this case, she couldn't do it.
"After you're in this business for so long you learn to look the other way, because we have to euthanize animals. This one i couldn't euthanize," Herot said.
Instead, Herot tried to turn another loss into a gain. Last year, 23-year-old clinic employee Eric Flesher died in a car crash. Herot said he used to hate seeing animals come in that couldn't get treatment because their owners couldn't afford the cost of the care. So after his death, his family set up a fund to help animals like Kaiser.
Herot said it turned out that Kaiser hadn't had a stroke, but a much less serious illness from which he is now almost fully recovered.
With Kaiser doing better and the words of the letter still ringing in their heads, clinic employees set out to find Kaiser's owner.
The story of the homeless vet's letter eventually made it into the Daily News. Bob Mikolasko showed up at the clinic. He had seen the story in the newspaper. After correctly answering some questions about Kaiser that only he would know, Herot became convinced they found Kaiser's "soul mate."
Before he left, Mikolasko thanked the stafff and - summing up his feelings - proved to be just as poignant with the spoken word, as he had been with the written.
"When you leave your house in the morning and go to work and you don't see them until you come back, well, that's one lifestyle. You develop a rapport.
"I spent 11 years in a motor home living on the streets here, 24-7 with him. There was no baby sitter. There's no break. There's no summer vacation. There's no going to work. When I go to work, he goes with me," Mikolasko said.
3. It's a combination of coughing so much and uh, "swallowing" so much.
4. Which is happening because my nose is 100% chapped and so painful when I blow it now that it brings tears to my eyes each time.
5. So, y'know, you have to pick which way you want goopy stuff to go, and I choose the least immediately painful, yet still nauseating, way.
6. But hey, the good news about that is that when I go to the doc's today, I will have lost weight.
7. The only thing really concerning me about this cold anymore is that I have one painful lung in conjunction.
8. It could just be a pulled muscle from when I had that really tough ab workout a couple weeks ago.
9. Or I could be dying. WebMD helped me run the gamut in my head.
10. I am sooooo ready for summer to be over and fall to be here.
P.S. - Thanks for all the msgs and kind thoughts about my feeling better. I really appreciate it. It's not like me to be sick for quite this long, so I've been especially annoying about it. Along with your well-wishes to me, you should send condolences to Jeremy. :)
Whenever I was sick, as a kid, my mom would always come home with something fun to read. It was a tradition and, before I got my tonsils out, I was sick a LOT. So that meant a lot of comic books, Mork & Mindy trading cards, and Walt Disney books.
On the rare occasion that Jeremy has gotten sick, I've made sure to carry on the tradition. I don't know why it is that good, fun reading material is such a welcome thing when you're feeling sick, but there's something decadent about paging through magazines you don't normally read, or exploring the latest book from one of your favorite authors. Jeremy just came back from the store. He claimed it was to pick up some snack foods he was in the mood for, but he came back with some vitamin C and the new Jennifer Weinder book, Sunset (a magazine for basically "things to do on the west coast"), a book of puzzles (my mom used to bring those home, too, and we'd take turns finding a word in the word searches or answering one of the crossword clues), and COSMO, of all things! Ha! I haven't read a Cosmo in years and years.
This "whatever it is that I have" has moved up into my sinuses, and I now have the coughing, sneezing, scratchy eyes. Joyous homecoming for the poor guy, and he comes back and surprises me with the "sick day tradition". Gotta love a guy as thoughtful as him. :)
He does wonders for making me feel less miserable. Him and Puffs - did you know they make tissues not only with lotion but with Vicks vaporub stuff in them? Amazing. I hope you're all having a more exciting weekend than we are. ;)
Amazing! Sometimes I have to wonder about our priorities. There recently was a death of a 98 year-old lady named Irena. During WWII, Irena, got permission to work in the Warsaw Ghetto, as a Plumbing/Sewer specialist. She had an 'ulterior motive' ... She KNEW what the Nazi's plans were for the Jews, (being German.) Irena smuggled infants out in the bottom of the tool box she carried and she carried in the back of her truck a burlap sack, (for larger kids.) She also had a dog in the back that she trained to bark when the Nazi soldiers let her in and out of the ghetto. The soldiers of course wanted nothing to do with the dog and the barking covered the kids/infants noises. During her time of doing this, she managed to smuggle out and save 2500 kids/infants. She was caught, and the Nazi's broke both her legs, arms and beat her severely. Irena kept a record of the names of all the kids she smuggled out and kept them in a glass jar, buried under a tree in her back yard. After the war, she tried to locate any parents that may have survived it and reunited the family. Most of course had been gassed. Those kids she helped got placed into foster family homes or adopted.
Last year Irena was up for the Nobel Peace Prize ... She was not selected.
Al Gore won, for a slide show on Global Warming.
To read more about this amazing woman, click here.
If you find the story "suspicious", check it out on snopes.
Remember the Campbell's Soup Kids? We had all kinds of their paraphernalia when I was growing up. I imagine nowadays, with the hyper-awareness of overweight people/children, this stuff would never fly!
Some of you are familiar with Sandy's recent blog about her kids trying to do a good deed and meeting up with some resistance. Not going to rehash it here, but I just wanted to explain where today's blog is coming from. Some of the comments people have made, about children collecting canned and boxed foods for a shelter, calling them "activists" and likening them to hoodlums and troublemakers .. wow. It has had me remembering my own childhood and all the things we used to do as kids. My mom would drive me to peoples' homes, and I would knock on the door to ask for donations for Jump-Rope-For-Heart-athon, the Cancer Society, or to sell oh, what was it called .. Tom something-or-other .. this stuff for school. Anyway, you know the drill. And I don't ever remember anyone being mean to me. Ever. I think some people said no, but no one ever said it in an aggressive or harsh manner. Of course, we also used to trick-or-treat. You know, the REAL trick-or-treating .. where you went to other peoples' homes and they gave you candy and you didn't have to have it X-rayed or tested or inspected by anyone.
Mostly, for some reason, I've been thinking about Christmas caroling. Probably because it was one of my all-time favorite things to do.
• I remember the looks on the faces of the people in the retirement home when we would come in, all of us little kids with are frozen red cheeks and noses, and sing our little hearts out for them. Some of them cried. Many of them never had visitors around holidays.
• I remember going to Kevin Store's grandma and grandpa's house, and them coming out with this huge tray of hot chocolate and cookies. They were always so nice to us.
• I remember all the practicing we had to do, when we got older. Hours and hours. But it was fun. :) Our "choir" was 4 people .. so I guess we were really a quartet. But we had awesome harmony. Dona Nobis Pacem was probably my fave.
• I still have a lot of the sheet music we used back then. And I still play it, even though it is sooooo simple. I try to spice it up a little when I play it, but even if I don't, it doesn't matter when people are singing along. :) Sometimes simple is good.
• I would love to go Christmas caroling SO bad that it almost hurts. I guess it's a longing for times gone by. A hopeless nostalgia, and I should know better than to think it would ever be the same again.
• I wonder what would happen nowadays? I wonder who would yell, who would call the cops, who would get really pissed off? I know I'm a sap, but the loss of that kind of community just about brings tears to my eyes.
I'm sure glad I have those memories. I hope I can keep 'em for a long, long time.
... in a way I've never heard of in my life! This feel-good story/video is .. well .. watch it for yourself! I'm still in a little disbelief.
The wait for a new kidney can take years. One donor began a chain of donations to people desperately in need. Harry Smith talks to 8 donors and recipients who are linked by paying it forward.
Three confessions ... don't get the above reference? Watch the commercial, linked at the bottom of this message. Anyone who grew up in the U.S. and is in their 30s or 40s will likely remember this from when they were a kid. :)
1. I had soft-serve vanilla ice cream for lunch yesterday and my throat felt awesome for like 1/2 hour.
2. People and kids that hang out outside the doors of the grocery store and ask you to support some cause, donate money to this or that, buy cookies or popcorn or .. WHATEVER .. really annoy me. I've been known to skip the grocery store altogether when I see that both doors are being "manned" by people who want something of me when I just want to grocery shop without guilt. But today there was a kid asking for donations to help their football team and I gave him everything I had in my wallet (not too much) because of the effect Sandy's blog (about her kids doing charitable work, and the repercussions of such) had on me.
3. I went back and forth on calling the doctor this morning to get an appointment for some antibiotics (they're closed on Fridays), but when it came right down to it, I have an appointment already on Tuesday for something else and I didn't want to pay the $30 co-pay twice in one week so I'm going to ride it out and hope I kick whatever this is this weekend. Gee, happy homecoming, honey! *cough, hack, sneeze, sniffle*
Boys will be boys. We've all heard it. Many of us have probably even said it a time or two. To some extent, I even believe it. A little. To be fair, I've never had brothers or a son, so my reactions to this phrase, when it comes to cruelty to animals, may be a little extreme.
In the shortest terms: I think it's a bullshit excuse.
When I was growing up, my parents (especially my mom) drummed "kindness to animals" into me from, well, probably from before I could understand what she was saying. Why is it that boys get some kind of pre-accepted "free pass" to cause pain to living things? Why is it explained away as "boys will be boys"?
I mean, forget about the links between torture of small animals in childhood and serial killers in adulthood. I think there have been enough non-serial-killing males who tortured or abused animals when they were children to have made that a laughable, joke-able, comment. But ... does the cruelty really leave? I have to say, I have had reason to hypothesize, as of late, that cruelty is cruelty, and if it is not nipped in the bud when a boy is young, it simply manifests itself in other areas as the boy gets older.
I seriously believe that.
So, if you're of the camp that boys who hurt animals when they're kids grow up to be fine, upstanding human beings with no lingering cruelty, I would ask you, when, exactly, does the "boys will be boys" excuse stop excusing abhorrent behavior?
When they illustrate an understanding that it is "wrong"?
When it escalates to cruelty against humans?
When they finally "get caught"?
A 5 year old boy and his 7 year old cousin go out to collect eggs from a hen house. Though the 5 year old has never done so before, when his 7 year old cousin starts kicking the chickens, the 5 year old joins in. They're only chickens, and boys will be boys, right?
Two little boys, 10 and 13, are dipping lizards in gasoline and setting them on fire. Boys will be boys, right? One of the lizards lives, runs into the underbrush, and causes a massive wildfire that results in hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of damage. Ah yes, boys will be boys.
A teenager stuffs firecrackers in the shell of either end of a turtle and lets them explode. Boys will be boys.
A boy in college, driving down the road, swerves to hit any animal that gets close to being in the roadway: turtles, frogs, birds ... ah, those silly boys. You know what they say ...
A man buys a puppy for his kids. While playing, the puppy gets overly rambunctious and bites the man. The man, in turn, kicks the puppy away with his foot. Boys ... men ... will be ...
Here's the thing. I believe that children are good, by nature. I believe they are innocent and kind and loving. And I believe that as they grow up, they experience cruelty in life, and they have to figure out how to deal with their own frustrations. If they are led to believe that it's "expected" that boys will be ... uh, "boys", in other words that they will be cruel to animals who may have no reasonable means by which to defend themselves and perhaps no voice a human being can hear by which to alert us to their pain, then I believe we are guilty of creating a very cruel society.
But you know .. maybe I'm wrong, huh? To my knowledge, Jeremy was never ever interested in hurting an animal when he was a child. Himself, yes. That boy blew up more things (including his own thumb) more times than I'm comfortable thinking of. But never another living thing. I know other people who have raised their children to know that cruelty is NOT acceptable, even if it's "just" *insert an animal type here*. When we teach children that animal life, no matter HOW "insignificant" it may seem to us, has no value, I believe it is a very dangerous, slippery slope.
And as I said before, I believe cruelty and aggression does not "disappear". It merely manifests itself in other ways, ESPECIALLY when it is continually explained away as "boys will be boys." Boys are not born with an innate sense of cruelty or a need to "hurt". I believe that wholly. I believe it is a learned behavior, and once it's learned, and continually excused, it stays with them. They become cruel friends, or cruel fathers, or cruel husbands or co-workers or teachers ... often very likely unable to even recognize their own cruelty for what it is. It might come out in the way of teasing that gets a little too mean, or comments made off-the-cuff, in a criticizing manner. It may manifest in overly criticizing or belittling children or maybe in always having to be right or win ... at any cost and by any means. And these would be the subtle ways in which it comes out. As we all know from either personal experience or other stories, cruelty can be much less subtle and much more painful.
I guess what I'm getting at is that I think "boys will be boys" is a really really bad way to explain way cruel behavior and, while I'm not a parent, I wish I could ask all parents to not explain or laugh away cruel and aggressive behavior in such a manner. Teach your kids to respect all life, and to know that just because an animal can't let us know it's in pain doesn't mean that it's not. And that animals do feel fear, just like we do. Ask them if they like it when THEY are scared? Teach your kids compassion and kindness. Their future wives, children, friends, family ... everyone in their future life ... will thank you.
Today's "feel good" story is about what seems to be a rarity these days ... the old-fashioned notion of a "good samaritan". With so many stories lately about people who sit/drive by and do NOTHING while people are in mortal danger, horribly wounded, or even dead or dying, I thought it might be nice to share a story about a guy who's doing just the opposite: going out of his way JUST to help people! Read on ...
'The highwayman': Thomas Weller of San Diego helped a stranded motorist in July during one of his freeway rounds. He's volunteered to rescue people since 1966. Brent Foster/L.A. Times
SAN DIEGO - Christin Ernst was in a fix. An errant screwdriver punctured her tire on a San Diego freeway, leaving her stranded.
That's when Thomas Weller – also known as the San Diego Highwayman – arrived in his monstrous white search-and-rescue vehicle, complete with emergency lights flashing. A surprised Ms. Ernst watched as Mr. Weller slapped on her spare and inflated it.
She was fortunate. Because of wallet-busting fuel prices, Weller has had to cut back his good Samaritan runs to once every three days. Weighing more than 5,600 pounds, Weller's aging rescue rig is a world-class gas-guzzler.
"I sit home on the front porch a lot," he said. "It's killing me."
Weller isn't alone. High gas prices are forcing potential do-gooders of all kinds to stay home.
Meals on Wheels and other services that depend on volunteer drivers have had to scale back. In a June survey of US groups that serve the elderly, more than 70 percent said fuel costs had made it harder to recruit and retain volunteers.
For a while, Weller had a benefactor. An Auto Trader executive saw a television report about his good deeds and paid his fuel bills from April 2002 until budget cutbacks ended the deal.
"The best time of my career of doing this was the 17 months that I didn't have to worry about the expense," Weller said.
He started his volunteer highway rounds in 1966. Now 60, Weller figures he has helped more than 6,000 motorists.
"It's what I do for excitement," said Weller, who was vague about what his avocation costs.
Weller's usual companion is Shela, a black-and-white mix of Labrador retriever and smooth collie. Weller describes her as "a person in a fur suit."
Riding in the back of Weller's vehicle is a no-go. Instead of seats, there's an assortment of things one might need to help a motorist in a jam: an electronic ignition, mechanic's tool kit, hacksaw, crowbar, fire-resistant overalls, and a yellow hard hat emblazoned with "San Diego Highwayman."
Mostly, he helps people whose vehicles are out of gas, or have a flat tire or overheated engine. For those, he carries gas, water, compressed air, and jacks capable of lifting an ambulance or a low-rider.
To make a living, he has been a roofer, car repair manager, tire repairman, and security guard. These days, he fixes cars for a select group of regular customers. He says it provides enough money for his modest lifestyle and, until gas prices went up, also covered his Samaritan drives.
I should add that the original version of this story actually had a negative spin on it. The original headline:
Fuel costs pinch roadside rescue man
The original subtitle:
Thomas Weller, who has volunteered to rescue stranded motorists since 1966, recently cut back on the number of runs he makes due to high gas prices.
But I prefer to focus on the positive of this .. that there is someone who, in this day and age, still takes his own personal time, money and know-how, to help strangers in a bind. I think that's awesome, no matter HOW the media tries to spin it to sell papers.
Warning to arachnaphobics ... graphic spider picture posted. Not my photography, by the way!
Some of you may remember a blog a while ago where I talked about people who have influenced me, and whom I admire. One of them is Cor Bosman (and, by extension, his wife Julie Edwards - well, at least I think they're married .. anyway, if they're not they may as well be. Like Jeremy and I). I've known Cor for almost as long as I've been involved with the Internet - I think we "met" online somewhere around 1990, and then finally met in person when I was in Amsterdam in 1994. Anyway, through the years we've actually kind of kept in touch, and he and Julie are PHENOMENAL award-winning photographers, primarily of underwater subjects. Their work is extremely enviable.
I read a blog of theirs last week, and meant to link it here for people to see, then got involved with my deadline, and forgot. An email from Cor today reminded me!
So, click here to see Julie's (I think) pictures of a molting spider from their garden! I've never seen such a thing and I'd be terrified to get close enough to photograph it but, just now getting into macro photography myself, I think it's soooo cool! :)
Two baby moose discover the wonders of a sprinkler in the summertime. Think seeing KIDS play in a sprinkler is cute? Give this a peek. It's about 4 minutes long but I probably grinned through the entire thing.
1. This is one of my fave photos from when we used to shoot the atv and dirt bike races, and we're going to make a poster of it for this year's media kit.
Yep, that's just where today went .. to the dogs. It was once again 100º and the dogs were moping around the house like kids who hadn't gotten to go to the playground in a while. So we took the dogs to the Sparks Marina (puppy playground) where they got to play with other dogs, swim, get treats and lots of love from friendly strangers, and just generally cool off and wear themselves out.
1. I have not watched even one minute of the Olympics (nope, not even the opening ceremony), and I really don't care if I don't see any at all. I also don't care who thinks I'm absolutely crazy because of this.
Books. 
(and cough syrup with codeine)
1. This poor cat looks about how I feel.
Whenever I was sick, as a kid, my mom would always come home with something fun to read. It was a tradition and, before I got my tonsils out, I was sick a LOT. So that meant a lot of comic books, Mork & Mindy trading cards, and Walt Disney books. 
Remember the Campbell's Soup Kids? We had all kinds of their paraphernalia when I was growing up. I imagine nowadays, with the hyper-awareness of overweight people/children, this stuff would never fly!
Three confessions ... don't get the above reference? Watch the commercial, linked at the bottom of this message. Anyone who grew up in the U.S. and is in their 30s or 40s will likely remember this from when they were a kid. :)
Boys will be boys. We've all heard it. Many of us have probably even said it a time or two. To some extent, I even believe it. A little. To be fair, I've never had brothers or a son, so my reactions to this phrase, when it comes to cruelty to animals, may be a little extreme.
