Beau’s Plight

Posted on January 7, 2015January 7, 2015 by Dusty Roads

I’m usually a cat person. Those are the posts you see here. My little cat family takes center stage but I like dogs too. I just don’t have the lifestyle to accommodate a dog. But I really love any animal and sometimes my Facebook feed is overflowing with animal stories. Some are heartwarming while some hare heartbreaking. Usually I try not to linger too long on the sad stories because there is nothing I can do. But Beau’s story is different.

Beau is a 2 and 1/2 year old Golden Retriever/White German Shepard mix with no history of aggression or biting. But after Beau allegedly killed a duck that wandered on to his own property, he was seized by animal control and the city of Dyersburg, TN plans to euthanize him as a “vicious animal.”

https://www.change.org/p/save-beau-the-dog-s-life

Beau was supposed to be euthanized on November 20 but thanks to the power of social media he is still alive as of this writing. The city continues to hold him on doggy death row and is charging his owner for his upkeep.

I am stumbling over my thoughts here. So much is just WRONG with this picture. The city has removed the dog, refuses to return it and is charging the owner for his care!? And this is all because he killed a duck? That trespassed into his yard? Unless I am missing something this is really a case of “officials gone bad.”

Please support Beau. There’s a link to his story above.

A petition to save him was started but the link doesn’t seem to work. I only seem to be able to reach the petition from the Facebook feed. It does not copy and paste over so the only way to help Beau is by sharing the post.

Please help Beau by spreading awareness. It’s all that is saving him right now.

Thank you!

Even my Horoscope Gives Me a hard Time

Posted on January 6, 2015January 6, 2015 by Dusty Roads

I feel bad enough that I can’t manage to post more often any more but today’s horoscope even chimed in with a guilt trip!

Aquarius

Your Daily Horoscope

You may not have the time to write the next great epic novel, but you could have a few minutes each day to write a blog post, or to share some ideas in social media. You may find that people are drawn to what you have to say right now.

The Mystery of Cats

Posted on January 4, 2015January 4, 2015 by Dusty Roads

Or maybe I should say the mystery of one cat, Buddy.

I’ve lived with a long line of cats from childhood to my current advanced age. I really don’t recall being catless for any length of time.

My friends think of me as something of a cat whisperer, I may not be in the same league as Jackson Galaxy, but I come close. I watch his show all the time. I love trying to figure out how he is going to solve the behavior problems.

Little Joe, my rescued Persian cat gave me my biggest challenge. He had the number one reason cats get surrendered, litter box issues. One day I’ll have to write about the trials and travails of that cat adventure. But when I tell you I tried all of Jackson’s solutions and even some he hasn’t suggested it would be an understatement. It finally ended well but it took years of trial and error.

But Buddy is something else. Sometime I think he is schizophrenic. Sometimes I think he has a physical problem. You can be petting him, he’ll be purring and relaxed and then suddenly he’ll let out a yowl like he is in pain and go into vicious kitty mode.

He doesn’t like to jump. Rocky will jump anywhere,

the higher the better but Buddy will search and test until he finds a way to climb to where he wants to go. Minimal jumping required.

When he sharpens his claws he lies down to do it. Yup, I have never seen such a thing. Same with playing. He might do a little running around but mostly he flops down on the floor and only plays with what he can reach from his central position.

The vet said he’s just fat so he may be developing some arthritis.

I am feeding him about 1/2 the recommended amount of cat food and feeding Rocky on the counter so Buddy can’t steal food but it doesn’t seem to be working. ( I fully sympathize)

He can go from mellow sweet kitty to crazy, fixated kitty in 0 – 60 in a blink. I have many scratches and bites to prove it but I have noticed that his pupils get wide and he seems to become fixated when that happens. I’m not sure he’s even still in there!

I used to get out of Dodge until he calmed down but I recently took a fuzzy glove (made for cats to kick and bite) and to my surprise instead of attacking he calms down immediately! He lets me sit and pet him with that silly glove and all the wildness goes right out of him.

I don’t know his history and other than his weight problem I feel we are making progress. He bites less often than when I first got him . And he’s started giving affection more often. I love it when he comes for a cuddle at night when I go to bed or climbs up on my computer when I’m working and gives me kitty kisses.

There is clearly a sweet kitty trapped in that warped little kitty brain and somehow, someway I am going to find the key.

The Snowy Owls of Duxbury Beach

Posted on January 3, 2015January 3, 2015 by Dusty Roads

I’ve been hearing stories of snowy owls on Duxbury beach for years. I’ve seen photos from my fellow photographers to prove it. I’ve even tried to find them myself.

The Snowy Owls of Duxbury Beach are only seasonal visitors so you need to know where and when to look. Something I have only the vaguest notion of but let me start from the top.

The regal Snowy Owl is one of the few birds that can get even non-birders to come out for a look. This largest (by weight) North American owl shows up irregularly in winter to hunt in windswept fields or dunes, a pale shape with catlike yellow eyes. They spend summers far north of the Arctic Circle hunting lemmings, ptarmigan, and other prey in 24-hour daylight. In years of lemming population booms they can raise double or triple the usual number of young.

According to a Nat Geo program the birds that migrate south are usually the first year youngsters. Fully mature birds stay in the arctic all year long.

Mass Audubon is working to protect snowy owls. Norman Smith, Director of Mass Audubon’s Blue Hills Trailside Museum, has been studying them since 1981. As part of his research, he attaches bands and transmitters to snowy owls at Logan Airport, and then tracks their travels. He releases these trapped and banded owls at Duxbury Beach. So we end up with 2 populations in the winter, the ones that come down to visit on their own and the released owls from the airport.

Why stop at an airport with all it’s noise and activity? As snowy owls migrate north and south, they look for stopping places that resemble their home, the Arctic tundra. To them, the land around Logan Airport fits the bill. It’s low and flat, with short scruffy plants and grasses, and there’s an abundance of small mammals and birds to eat.

Logan airport has the largest known concentration of snowy owls in the Northeast.

The airport owls help by scaring away other birds that might endanger aircraft. Unfortunately, they are large enough to pose a threat themselves. To protect both birds and jets, Smith safely captures and relocates snowy owls each year.

This year I have outfitted myself with uber -warm clothing and a new camera and lenses. Today I booked a day trip with the Audubon Society. Sadly it is a bird watcher’s trip so I was told there won’t be time or spaces for lots of camera gear. I should plan to “Shoot” from the van.

With that in mind I’ll leave the tripod behind this trip and hope I’ll learn the best ways of locating these beautiful birds so I can round up some friends that are photographers and make a return visit with that much more knowledge.

2014 a Year in Review

Posted on January 2, 2015January 2, 2015 by Dusty Roads

I’m not going to talk about missing airplanes, radical insurgents or riots that are a throw-back to the 60’s. Nope this is just going to be a nice easy summary of my year. Simple and mundane.

The theme for my 2014 should have been “Be Careful What you Wish For”. I spent almost half the year being bored and restless. Then around April several co-workers and friends started wooing me to a new position. I admit I was resistant. I had my eye on a non-existent position on the “buy” side. I was being teased and pushed toward the “listing” side of the business, sometimes referred to as the “dark side” by the “buy side” folks.

Taking a shaking breathe and questioning my sanity I accepted the new challenge on May 18.

I’d just come back from my vacation in Tennessee and my mind was clear and relaxed. Good thing too because I found myself thrown in at the deep end of the pool. It was time to Swim like mad or sink. I am happy to say that I did not sink, maybe floundered a few times but eventually I helped my team close over 50 deals between May 18 and December 31! Several were over $1,000,000.00!

I expect to do even more in 2015 because I’ll have the whole year and we have added another team member.

I like the fast pace and the bonuses I can earn. I love feeling like a part of a team rather than being spread over many agents and areas. Here’s to a rocking 2015.

Because of the activity in the job that pays the bills, my blog and my photography definitely took a back seat last year. My “photo a day” goal died a rapid death once I was thrown into my new job and regular blog posts followed closely behind. I don’t like to write about work. It either sounds like complaining or bragging and there’s always a chance of giving away something that I shouldn’t so with long hours during the busy season my topics really were limited. I don’t see that changing this year either but I’ll do the best I can. Better to post less often and be interesting than just to post drivel in order to have a post…at least that’s my feeling.

I am finally feeling better. 2014 was a really rough year for health issues.

I’m not 100% but certainly much , much better than I was for most of 2014. Maybe I’ll be able to make a dent on the 2014 goal of losing some weight. Start small. Lets see if I can lose 25 lbs and then go from there.

And that about sums it up. I hope you reach all of your goals for 2015!