I journal occasionally as do some of you. I was looking over my past
week which hadn't been the greatest, but in comparison to Wall
Street's woes and yours --if your investments crashed, mine was a piece
of cake. For me not having money to invest has been a blessing, but I
do hope that the market by week's end rebounded enough for those of you
who have investments.
I know next to nothing about investing, but I was impressed by Bob Scheiffer's
parting comments on Face the Nation today. Basically, he said that what
happened on Wall Street was all within the law - (though obviously, the
Republican mantra- the less intrusion of government into business affairs
the better) proves that there was not nearly enough regulatory measures in
place. He mentioned that James Madison noted so wisely that we would not
need laws or even government if we were angels. Clearly, we are not.
Well, thank God, we learned a hard lesson and the Republicans hopefully
have too. Regulations are necessary! The idea that the less regulations
and governing is good is hopefully passe. Maybe if during the Reagon
Administration there had been in place regulations re our farm animals,
they never would have been corraled into the farms from hell (CAFOs). I
pray every day that one day they will "implode" --(of course with the animals
safely out in the fresh air and green meadows where they belong.)
Well, I'm not used to "hyper-ventilating," but this past week gave me an opportunity
to practice deep breathing to keep it in check. Of course, I was spared the loss of
investments on Wall Street, but here are some reflections on my week that was:
THE REMNANTS OF IKE IN OHIO
I'm grateful Ike didn't do more damage to us in NE Ohio then it did though
the 60 miles an hour winds brought down a lot of power lines. Some didn't
have electricity for a week. I lost a large branch off my tree. I should consider
myself lucky, because a few years ago this tree in the front had structural
damage done to it by an irresponsible young driver of a truck. He sped off, and
even though we were able to find him, the police let him go without anything
by way of lesson-teaching. I think he should have been fined for damaging
the tree.
ANOTHER GIANT EAGLE BITES THE BULLET.
Today I took a few things to Goodwill which has moved into the
neighborhood next to Marcs on Lorain and W.140th. I was reminded and
saddened that Giant Eagles near by closed down their store on W.110th.
It had been a TOPS before and when I asked the baker why - he said the
building was old. It was built in 1970. That's not old! My house was built
in 1905 -that's old. He said I'll like the new GE which is not too far away
and next to the new Target store and that it is shiny and new. I told him
I don't like "shiny." I like old!
While I was at Goodwill I stopped in at Marc's and bought the carrots
on sale. Again, I was reminded that they are good for us by an article I
read on the homepage of MSNBC. So I'm changing the apple mantra to-
a carrot a day keeps the doctor away. Don't I wish, but it provides the beta
carotene or whatever else that I need to keep me going. It will also help
me to stop nibbling on those new delicious little "pillow" pretzels which
are filled with peanut butter. And, oh yes, don't stop eating the apples
either.
IRRESPONSIBLE YOUTH.
I really tried to help C. - a young man with his dog Lola. I gave him
all the tips a 7-dog owner over the years could give. I told him 2 months
ago that she needed spaying and I would contribute $50 toward this. I
printed the Friends of Animals Low Cost Spaying page with names of
places locally. Then, because she was tearing up his house, I loaned him
my large cage which today costs at least $100. It worked so well for my
Patti.
That was then and this is now. This irresponsible youth took off to New
York and left Lola to her own devices and she is now pregnant. He had
been fired from his job because he was a drunk. Lola has landed in a
shelter and the woman who gave Lola to C. wants to reclaim her. The
shelter wanted to abort Lola and I agreed. She called me hard-hearted.
That she could find "good" homes for the puppies. Like the good home
with C.? I could never possibly reach this ignorant woman despite telling
her that millions of unwanted cats and dogs are euthanized each year
because of irresponsible people like her.
As for my cage, some greedy people descended on the abandoned
apartment and took it as well as anything else of value.
MORE IRRESPONSIBILITY
There are two or three young cats finding shelter underneath my
neighbor's porch. She won't feed them so I have to and I realized that I
would either have to use the TNR (Trap, neuter, return) offer made by the
APL or somehow corral them in myself. I had hoped at my age, that I
wouldn't have to take in any more cats, but sadly the City of Lakewood
who also recently banned pit bulls) has no humane alternatives for them.
If they can't find homes, they will be euthanized.
Since I wasn't sure where the APL is, I asked Monica a friend to take me
down to pick up 2 cages they offered for use in TNR. She promised to pick
me up at 3. She finally called at 3:30, but by then I had cancelled because
Marta of the TNR project would be gone by 4. I guess I'll just have to try to
coax them in myself and look for low-cost neutering closer by. Their deal
was great though - $40 plus shots and exam for feline leukemia. The
trapping sounded a little daunting to me though and if you had a Thursday
appointment for neutering- you needed to set the trap on Wednesday because
they didn't want the cats in a cage longer than necessary. Well, at least
I learned a lot about TNR. If I had the help needed, I surely would have tried it.
A STATE WANTS TO BAN PIT BULLS
I was watching the Mike and Juliet show that comes on at 9 in the
morning. Their show is interesting if you've never watched it. Today, they
had a segment re a state seeking to ban pit bulls. Naturally, the horribly
misguided state is Ohio-my state. I already knew about this and had
e-mailed my representative as well as the leadership in Ohio asking them
not to pass it. It's bad enough that Lakewood passed it, despite some very
good reasons why they shouldn't have.
Some wonderful people on the show with their pit bulls said what is a
very, compelling reason --the pit bulls are as good or bad as their owners.
Why punish the dogs for cruel ownership?
JANE AND THE DRAGON
Speaking of TV - if you've never watched Jane and the Dragon - I heartily
recommend it. The Canadian writers are superb. They have created a
wonderfully moral young lady in Jane who lives in the middle ages and
befriends a dragon. Sounds too childish for you? ''Children" of all ages could
learn from Jane. I don't usually like children's programs - but this one I
love. It use to be on Sat. at 12:30 but they moved it to Sunday morning at 7.
I'm up then and so I watch it. Try it -you'll like it. The human characters
are stick-thin but that even makes them more engaging!
MY CONCRETE GOOSE.
A street over, someone was ditching their concrete goose which had
damage to her neck. They let me take her, and with my dolly-type of
contraption, I managed to lift her to the shelf at the bottom and the two of
us - an old lady and a damaged goose wended our way to my house close by.
What a sight we must have been!
She clearly needed "medical" attention to her neck and received it
from the handyman who had some mixed concrete leftover from the hole
he patched on my foundation. Not an artist by any means, he still did not
welcome my intrusive fingers trying to mold the wet concrete to her neck.
So, now I'm going to get some sandpaper and smooth her out. Soon she'll
be good as new and on the job protecting my yard from intruders.
She is also a sad reminder of the terrible way some of her fellow geese are
treated in the making of foie gras. I'm sure most of you have seen how a pipe
is inserted into their bills leading to their gullets. Copious amounts of grain
is poured in through this pipe to fatten their livers. What a terrible way for
meal-taking. I would like to ask them if they would like to be fed this way.
One compassionate legislator in Chicago prevailed on other members to
outlaw the serving of foie gras in Chicago restaurants. It passed! But
unbelievably, within a short time Mayor Daley made sure that the law was
overturned. I have no respect for a "Catholic" mayor who is so unconcerned
about animal suffering. I wrote him via e-mail that even Pope Benedict the
XVI said that our stewardship over the animals IS NOT ABSOLUTE.
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