Friday, January 29, 2010

You Can Quote Me

"To ask how little, not how much, can I get along with.  To say -- is it necessary?  -- when I am tempted to add one more accumulation to my life."

                                             ~~~ Anne Morrow Lindbergh ~~~

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Coming Up for Air

The office area is a shambles.  I'm sure it's going to stay that way much longer than I'd like.  Of course, it's my own fault.  I'm re-arranging, throwing out, filing, scratching my head and sneezing every few minutes.  Dust, you know.  And LOTS of it.

I dreaded doing this.  Talked about it all last year and never touched a thing.  Finally, I just couldn't stand it anymore.  Plus, I think the idea of getting my own computer galvanized me to consider just where in the hell I was going to actually put one.  I have a paper sickness:  just can't throw information-laden pieces of it away.  It's nuts.  Today, I feel just like one of those hoarders Oprah helps periodically.  Little slips of paper EVERYWHERE along with stacks of files and magazines.  My mother says it's genetic; I got it from my father who was notorious for jotting down "notes" and tearing things out of magazines.  Me, too.  And it's crazy-making.

This Friday's quote should be tattooed on my forehead.  Or, at the very least painted on the wall in big, big letters.

Monday, January 25, 2010

Monday Musing - Mad Men Mania

Yes, it's true.  I'm just a born-again Mad Men Minx.  I didn't discover this TV show till just a couple of months ago.  Why didn't somebody tell me sooner that it's SO GOOD???  Don Draper:  bad boy you can't help but be crazy for.

I sure hope they show the 3rd season before the new season starts this summer.  It's not out on DVD yet and I'm dying to know what happened.  They have some little recaps at the AMC-TV site, but I want it ALL.  Every once in a while I fall in love with a TV show.  This is it for now.  I speculate it's not only because it's fabulously written and acted that I am enamored.  Having been a teenager in the Fab 60s, I can remember the decade in spades.  All the adults always having or going to cocktail parties, smoking, the fashions, etc. etc.  The weekly hairdresser appointment.  It's like revisiting a little teensy part of my past.  I was too young to indulge in most of the goings-on, but I was a VERY OBSERVANT student.  Teehee........

Friday, January 22, 2010

You Can Quote Me

Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigues of supporting it.

                                                 ~~~ Thomas Paine


This has been a busy week.  I've spent quite a couple of days at the state's seat of power with all the legislators.  What an eye-opening experience!  Because of some pieces of dog legislation on the upcoming calendar, I'll probably be going back.  I think it would help everyone to have to follow a bill one time through the process.  It would make the political process more real and understandable.

Monday, January 18, 2010

Monday Musing: The Organizing Month

Organizing: I'm such a sucker for "getting organized".  And truth to tell, I hardly ever am no matter how many Rubbermaid bins I buy.  Junk sticks to me like stink on a skunk.  But I keep trying.  It doesn't help that EVERY magazine in the month of January ballyhoos organization.

But I've run across an organizer -- AND full-time RV'er -- with attitude to spare.  Visit her over at http://www.ramonacreel.com/ and dive in to spunkier straightening up.  If you get tired of contemplating how to clean out your junk drawer, you can read about her RV travels.

This week I have an office area to tackle.....again.  I'm always tackling it and it's always throwing me for a loss.

Friday, January 15, 2010

You Can Quote Me

The most powerful weapon on earth is the human soul on fire.

                           ~~~ Ferdinand Foch, Commander-in-Chief
                                   Alllied Armies, WWI

Thursday, January 14, 2010

To Sterilize or Not

In yesterday's edition of the USA Today, there was an article written by Sharon L. Peters entitled "Sterilizing pets isn't a priority for new owners" (http://www.usatoday.com/life/lifestyle/pets/2010-01-13-petsurvey13_ST_N.htm).  As I was reading it this morning, I couldn't help but be conflicted.

On the one hand, I understand the need for voluntary spay/neuter programs, especially in certain areas of the country.  As Ms. Peters stated "Southerners and the under-35 set are the least likely to sterilize their pets."  As much as I hate to admit it -- dyed-in-the-wool Southerner that I am -- this is true.  Responsibility for one's animals here hasn't always been a very high priority.  Slowly but surely that is changing though.  More and more often I see and hear of pet owners buying a ticket on the Spay Train for their dogs and cats.  This is a good thing because it shows a certain level of caring and commitment to responsible ownership of pets.  People are becoming more educated about the role of responsibility and exactly what that entails  in having animals in their lives.  All I can say to that is "HURRAY!"  More responsibility is directly related to less restrictive animal ordinances and laws for everyone.  More responsibility is also directly related to lower shelter figures.

But embedded in this article are some things that just grate on my nerves and make the fillings in my teeth sing.  For example, there is a pie chart showing where owners get their pets.  According to it, 68% of owners acquire animals from family members, adoption organizations & shelters and pickup of strays.  12% are acquired by purebred breeders.  TWELVE PERCENT.  Yet, purebred breeders are always the ones fingered and catching hell for swelling the numbers of the homeless/abandoned/callously bred THOUSANDS of animals entering the shelter system.  I'm sorry.  Something just doesn't add up here.  Purebred breeders are the ones used as the scapegoat to push mandatory spay/neuter laws on to an animal-loving population (that is already well on its way to "doing the right thing" without the big stick) when proportionately they contribute hardly a thimbleful to the gallon bucket called "overpopulation".

The second thing that makes my eyebrows get that quizzical look is this statement:  "PetSmart Charities commissioned the survey by Ipsos Marketing, released today, in an effort to understand factors contributing to continued pet overpopulation, which results in an estimated 4 millon to 6 million shelter animals being euthanized each year."  Ms. Peters needs to get her facts straight.  According to the latest statistics, there are 74.8 million owned dogs in the United States (the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association).  In 2009, shelter statistics were widely quoted as 6-8 million dogs and cats entering the shelter system, with 3-4 million being euthanized and the same number being adopted.  Roughly, half are dogs and half are cats, although in some areas there are many more cats than dogs entering the shelter system.  This is still way too high a figure, but remember that these are national figures.  Nationally, of the estimated total number of dogs (owned and sheltered added together,the figure would be estimated at 78.8 million), only .05 percent are in shelter environments at any point in time.  Not only that, but experts tell us that shelter numbers have been dropping for the last several years.  All of this just doesn't seem to add up to a true "overpopulation crisis" scenario to me.  Although I can understand that when you're the one doing the hands-on rescuing (as I did at one time), it can certainly seem like billions.

Other tidbits of information in the article, such as "17% said they have no idea of the proper age to spay/neuter" and "42% of people who recently got a pet did no prior research, formal or informal" tell me that the crux of the matter is still education.  Teaching people how to responsibly acquire and own their animals is the answer to today's animal issues.  I say if we're going to throw money and resources at the problem, let's throw it there where it will have the most longlasting positive impact for both animals and people.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Do You Smell That?

I love things that smell good.  I'm a sucker for food cooking, roses growing, clean dogs (sometimes not-so-clean ones, too)....all kinds of stuff.  I can't live without perfume.  I'm probably one of a handful that wears it 360 days a year.  Unfortunately, I'm not too partial to the cheaper scents.  So, I have to hoard my stash and make it last as long as possible.  I figure I'm pretty much a pro at what smells good.

I think I have discovered a new source of good smells.  Check out http://www.cactusandivy.com/.  South Carolina girl is putting together all kinds of interesting products to sniff.  She's got a whole line of bodycare products, but I'm actually more interested in her reed diffusers.  With scent names like "Lemon Razz" and "Cranberry Fig", how could you go wrong?  And ESPECIALLY notable is something she calls "Natural Buzz Off Horse Care" to keep the little critters away, particularly in the warmer months.  I'm figuring it might also be pretty good for dogs.  And, all her stuff is natural -- no synthetics.

No, I haven't tried anything......yet.  So I can't really rate anything or give you the skinny.  But I'll definitely be buying a couple of things.  With the house being all closed up against this unnatural cold we're having right now, I could use some uplifting smells wafting through the house.  Will report back.........

Friday, January 8, 2010

You Can Quote Me

To begin living like you've never lived before, begin living like you've never lived before.

Today is good..............

                                         ~~~Author Unknown

Monday, January 4, 2010

The 2010 Bucket List

Once more into the fray of a brand new year.  I spent the first weekend of this year considering the question of "resolutions" among other things.  I reviewed the ones I set out for 2009.  It was the same background music of my life that continues to play all the time, regardless of what year it is or what else is going on:  more training time with the dogs, more exercising, less eating, more being "happy" and less being "angry", getting organized, cutting the clutter, etc. etc.  All things that serve to make me feel more guilty and less productive when I don't hit them with all cylinders firing.  So this year I'm trying something a little different -- a bucket list of things I want to do whether they are "good" for me or not.

First up is MORE ADVENTURES.  Alone, with others, with the dogs.  Just getting out and about, seeing and experiencing, getting involved in the living part of life rather than the thinking part.  I'm making a list to put on the refrigerator of "See Alabama First" things to do over the next months.  If I run out of those things, I might sneak in some other Southeastern destinations and experiences.

Second would be NO MORE RECIPES CUT OUT OF MAGAZINES.  I swear, I have enough cookbooks for a whole neighborhood and hundreds more clipped out ones in 3 ring binders.  From the looks of things, you'd think all I did was cook.  I don't even like to cook.  So, I'm limiting myself to TWO new recipes per month.  Simple Southern recipes.  If I want exotic and/or foreign, I'll go out.

Third, and related to #2, is not stockpiling food.  It's shameful what gets thrown out in this house.  There's only two of us here, not Cox's army.  (No, I don't know who Cox was.....it's just something I've heard all my life from my grandmother, mother and any other female relative when discussing amounts of food.  As in "we've got enough here to feed Cox's army!")  While cooking for Christmas, I threw away several cans of food from the back of the pantry  that were older than a kindergartener.  Ridiculous!

Fourth is BECOMING MORE TECHNOLOGICALLY EDUCATED.  For example, stuff to spiff up this blog.  I want to be able to know stuff that 10-year olds take for granted:  how to burn a CD, download music.  Just things that I've never taken the time to do because basically, I didn't have to.  I don't want to be a clueless little old bluehaired lady.  Not yet anyway.

Fifth, is to VISIT ONE NATIONAL PARK I'VE NEVER BEEN TO.  After watching Ken Burns' PBS special on our national park system a few months ago, I can see that I've been missing out on some spectacular places.  Why go to Europe when what we've got right here is so amazing?

Sixth, CONTINUE TO HELP RESPONSIBLE DOG OWNERS AND BREEDERS IN MY STATE AND NATIONALLY PROTECT THEIR RIGHTS TO OWN AND BREED DOGS.  However I can and as often as I can.

And then pretty much all that other stuff held over from last year.  2010 could prove to be a very full, but lighter, year.  After all, I've still got to lose 15 pounds!

Friday, January 1, 2010

You Can Quote Me

365 fresh new days; 365 fresh new opportunities...........

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

~~Donna