Today Post::Remembering the Good Guys

One of the best parts of our job is meeting people who swim against the current to help nearly forgotten animals in their corners. In so many cases, those people are shelter workers who work to help those ostracized pit bulls without the cushion of a supportive community. (We are so spoiled in the SF bay area!) BR’s sister organization - Partners in Shelter Services - has identified three diehards who went above and beyond to make positive change during tough times in 2009. Because it was the year of the bust dog, It just so happens that all worked to help the victims of cruelty in their shelters.

Congratulations Jennifer Cummings (Claremore OK), Laurie Adams (Indianapolis IN) and Gloria Wheatley (Washington GA).

NEWS: Recognition Awards for Outstanding Shelter Work in 2009

Each award winner will receive $1000 to be used to help the pit bulls in their shelters. We’re proud to know them and look forward to watching the ripple effect that they’ve put into motion through their words and deeds.

A Benefit Show This Sunday, Nov 8 in Sacto

Keith Campos and his bandmates came to our rescue in a big way in the spring of ‘07 when our emergency medical fund for the dogs was running on fumes. They did a benefit show for BR at Gilman Street with four other bands that got us right on our feet again and showed everyone how much heart the punk rock community has for pit bulls.

We were flattened to learn that Keith’s life was cut short in a violent crime recently. His friends are grieving in the way they know best: They’re putting on a big show to honor their buddy. Keith was a fellow pit bull owner and a big supporter, so all proceeds from the show will benefit the BR dogs. We hope they have a huge turn out and that Keith is there in spirit to celebrate a good life lived large. One thing we know for sure, they will play their hearts out at this show. SHOW INFO

Keith Campos Memorial Show This Sunday, November 8 from 2-8pm at the Casa de Chaos in Sacto. Contributing bands: Secretions, Planetary Ruins, Dissident Aggressor, Rat Damage, Psychosomatic, and Magi-Kool Doods. Contact Ken Fury for more info: furykore@hotmail.com

Today Post::Barn-A-Go-Go: A new matching challenge!

In between rescue work and conferences, the barn raising has been moving right along. We’ve been able to get the roof on in preparation for the winter weather that promises to soggy up our work crew. Since our last update, we’ve raised a big fat $9607! towards the goal of making this project a reality. It was truly a pleasure to raise that bar up once again.

And now …We've been blessed once again with a matching grant opportunity, but this one is very special in that it’s a DOUBLE matching grant! Our very generous donors wish to remain anonymous with their donation in the name of their special pit gal Maggie. (Dear Maggie … thank you for inspiring your people to help other pit bulls!)

We have thirty days to meet this challenge of $5,000, meaning that if we raise it, they will in turn donate $10,000 to us, making a total of $15,000. This amount of course puts us amazingly close to our final goal.

So once again, the pressure is on. Can we raise $5000 in 30 days? It’s a lot to ask, but we have faith. Let the challenge begin!

BARNRAISERS. Look at all the people who want a better day for pit bulls. It restores hope, doesn’t it? Holly Schneider, Linda Snyder, James Orvis, Daniel and Diane Alspaugh, Larry and Holly Dungan, Joette Martin, Rebecca Huss, Diane Rhodes, John & Brenda Starr, Roma-Dakini Alexander, Cheryl Banuelos, John and Ann Fornoff, Kimberky Baumback, Diane Andronovich, Luba Muzichenko, Jim and Patty Disiena, Barbara & Clarence Evans, Patty Marquez, Bryan Klavitter, Kathryn Hardy, Sarah Deluna, Rebecca Cowles, B A Laauterbach, Michael Harris, Merritt Tu, Cobalt Blues, Leila Gill, Ernest Lee, Josh Liddy, Lauri! e Metzger, Blue Fields Electric, Jennifer Aleah Nesteby, Carole Worthington, Janet Hurley, Damien Custer, Lisa Moeller, Jamie Cagle, Laurie Holmquist, Robert Stewart, Antone Sousa, Theresa Traylor, Daniel Kamalic, Anne Marie Suciu, Natalie Vietti, Heather Lucas, Melinda Shaw, Bonnie Burton, Gail Santos, Sherise Dobrin, Jason King, Majorie Samples, Leonard Raphael, Stefanie Hundenski, Fred Solis, Cahty Hanlon, Marisa Metala-Clendenen, Mitchell Buellesbach, Bailey Lee, Lisa Soon, Timothy Burns, Robyn Gillette, Stuart Fisk, Esther Shir, Dianne Rhodes, Adriana Aquino, Nicole Burris, Jessica Lamat, Aleksandra Gajdeczka, Beth Wawema, Abbie Ashce, Priscila Ibarra, Romy Nocera, Lyndon Parsons, Kimberly Baumback and Diane Androvich. Thank you all so very very much!

Behind the Scenes

Bust dogs from the midwest are landing in rescues all over the country as we type. Some lucky ducks like our buddy Ernie here are already home for keeps. Siiigh…Ernie! (news later) In some cases, dogs are joining adoption programs. In others, special darlings are ‘coming home’ for the TLC of Compassion Holds.

We continue to do a little of both, PLUS some exciting news: Plans are underway to bring a special lil’ working dog to CA in prep for a job in law enforcement. Updates later - So much needs to happen before any of the bust dogs’ stories can be told in full.

Want more dish? One of the groups that brought several bust dogs home has been offering wonderful insights as their dogs settle in to all-things-normal. Miss Jo gave all our hearts a big pitter patter when we met her in Des Moines so watching her via cyberspace is a huge hit around here. CHECK IT: A Rotta Love Plus’ Day 10 Case Study

GOT SPARE CHANGE?

MO Bust Victim Gigi Needs It
One of the first dogs that left Missouri this summer (right) is starting her heartworm treatment. Her rescuer, Nicole Rattay of ‘Just A Dog Rescue’ sure could use a little love in the way of donations for vet care. Please check out her page on ‘Gigi’ and consider sending her your latte money this week. It would be heaven sent.
..
VIDEO: Gigi meets her vet. Thank you dog lovers!

Today Post::Happy Halloween!

For some people it’s their favorite holiday. It is one of the few chances during the year when we have an excuse to dress up, down, be a super hero, be provocative, or for men to wear a tutu. I’ve seen a few costumes already this weekend, the most ironic being being a tall homeless man wearing an extra tall Uncle Sam hat. But have you ever seen a gargoyle dressed up as a lion?

So many people still write and ask for updates on our unusual Nelly that I’ll use this opportunity to let you all see for yourselves. She’s as beautiful as ever and is as heavy as ever - which in this case is a good sign - meaning that her babesiosis is in remission. She’s still with one of our trainers (Sara and boyfriend Jared) living the good life with a house full of dogs. We visit her when we meet with Sara and it’s always a highlight of my week - you know how it is when a dog makes ya feel extra special. She can lift spirits with the best of them and her piggy snorts are a such a hoot. Best Halloween to you all!

Tim

Today Post::a little cat mix

Today I have a few cat things from all over, starting with this perfect fall image of a black cat - a kuroki neko - in a tree, painted by Japanese artist Hishida Shunso in 1910. (Thanks, Wikimedia Commons.) Hishida died just shy of his 37th birthday, and had labored under kidney and retinal disease in his last years. So this golden painting, an “Important Cultural Property” in his native Japan, was done by a young man who knew he might well go blind soon. Here’s a bit about his accomplishments.

Speaking of doing what you want despite everything, friend N. McGuire passed on this true story from another friend about an old cat who had her own plans for a good exit:

A co-worker of mine had a nineteen year old black & white cat named “Twisted Sister”. She hadn’t been doing well recently and her owner was about ready to take her to the vet for the inevitable and was pretty distraught even though Twisted Sister had lived a long, happy, rock & roll life. But Twisted had her own ideas on how it was going to end - during the night she attempted her last supper…and was found face down & smiling in her food dish the next morning. She did it her way.

Excellent.

And last but not least, I see this has gone all over the place but I hadn’t seen it till this morning. Since I missed Friday’s BlogBlast for Peace, it can’t hurt to stick in a Sunday morning reminder of love and togetherness:

orange kitten, little fawn, Louis Armstrong, friendship.

Today Post::belling the cat?

Today I have for you a graceful Art Nouveau bell with a compact yet sinuous cat as its handle. You’ll find it at The State Hermitage Museum, and while it hasn’t any info as to its provenance or even what it’s made of, the website has a neat feature that turns it all round for a 360-degree view. Enjoy.

Today Post::Average Cost of Pet Ownership

Pet …………….First year cost ………Annual cost
small dog ………1,050 …………………580
medium dog…. 1,260……………….. 695
large dog ……….1,435………………… 875
Cat……………….. 1,035 …………………670
Rabbit ……………1,055………………… 730
Guinea Pig ……….705………………… 635
Small Mammal… 340……………….. 300
Small Bird …………270 …………………200
Fish…………………… 235………………….. 35

Prices do not include adoption costs, tank set up for the fish, or purchase cost.
Source: American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals

Today Post::more on the rabbit in the moon

In the last post I’d mentioned in passing the Indian tale of Lord Indra rewarding the sacrifice of a rabbit, which I’d never heard before and found touching. Looking for details, I turned up some more rabbit - moon links in an old book review:

The Hindus called the moon casin, or Sasanka, ” Marked with the Hare,” from the story of Sakya-muni (Buddha). This holy man in an early stage of his existence was a hare, and, when in company with an ape and a fox, was applied to by the god Indra, disguised as a beggar, who, wishing to test their hospitality, asked for food. All went in search for it, the hare alone returning unsuccessful; but that he might not fall short in duty to his guest, he had a fire built and cast himself into it for the latter’s supper. In return Indra rewarded him by a place in the moon, where we now see him. Other Sanskrit and Cingalese tales mention the palace of the king of the hares on the face of the moon; the Aztecs saw there the rabbit thrown by one of their gods; and the Japanese, the Jeweled Hare pounding omochi, their rice dough, in a mortar. Even the Khoikhoin, the Hottentots of South Africa, and the Bantus associated the hare and moon in their worship, and ! connected them in story, asserting that the hare, ill treated by the moon, scratched her face, and we still see the scratches. Eskimos think the moon a girl fleeing from her brother, the sun, because he had disfigured her face by ashes thrown at her; but in Greenland the sex of these luminaries is interchanged, and the moon pursues his sister, the sun, who daubs her sooty hands over his face. The Khasias of the Himalayas say that every month the moon falls in love with his mother-in-law, who very properly repulses his affection by throwing ashes at him.

–from Star Names and Their Meanings by Richard Hinckley Allen (New York: G. E. Stechert, 1899), reviewed in The Critic, vol. XXXIV no. 859, January 1899, p. 574.

Today Post::late breaking treat! cute little bunny cakes!

Actually cute little bunny manju, a Japanese treat made of flour wrapped round sweet bean filling. I stumbled upon these just as I was about to head out for the night, but thanks to an excellent blog named The Food Librarian, you get to dream whether to eat these or make squee-ing sounds of joy. Bunny cakes here! Mmmmm.

— Addendum: Rabbits and the moon go back to a legend from India telling of a bunny that hopped into a fire so starving people could eat, and was transported to the moon as a reward; as the story traveled over time and place, the Japanese version had the bunny pounding rice flour, or mochi. You might enjoy this page for a further look. Be sure and find the children’s song over to the right.

Today Post::the dainty dog: from 1902

A DAINTY dog had chanced to note
The breakfast of a greedy goat,—
Half-rotten grass, a shocking pile.
” Fie!” said the dog; ” what wretched style!
Good taste demands, you clownish beast,
A dish to eat from, at the least.
And as for food, that garbage foul
Would even make a camel scowl,
Would make a very buzzard groan,
Would ” Here the goat laid bare a bone,
Which when our dainty dog had spied,
“Your pardon, friend!” the critic cried;
“I’m quite near-sighted, neighbor mine.
I see your meal is fair and fine.
Invite me, pray, with you to dine!”

– from Amos R. Wells (illustrated by L.J. Bridgman), Rollicking Rhymes for Youngsters (New York: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1902) .

There’s one thing wrong with this poem — I haven’t met the dog yet that wouldn’t wholeheartedly roll in garbage instead of standing around criticizing it.

Today Post::pets eternal and otherwise: halloween

National Geographic, in time for Halloween, includes in the latest issue an article on Egypt’s animal mummies. The article is available here, as is an interactive map of many finds; but the lavish photo gallery you’ll find there is the biggest treat. There are cats, of course, and touching and beautiful they are. There are holy baboons, gold-embellished ibises, cattle wrapped up like linen puzzles, and even a shrew gets a cute tiny coffin in pale stone. Don’t miss the perfectly preserved hunting dog that was somebody’s beloved pet.

This short online “tour” at the British Museum (which has an excellent collection of mummies) includes, of all things, an eel.

And now to Skelanimals, which I have only discovered within the past week. As best I can figure these are sweet, cute animals who are no longer living thanks to mishaps, but want to be loved by someone with a warm heart (as the website says, “after all, they’re just bones”). As far as those mishaps go - wow. Quackee the Duck got turned into an entree after irritiating the farmer with her quacking (I could listen to ducks all day). Cecil the Snake got caught hunting for food in the marketplace and was skewered and grilled. Diego the Bat minced himself flying through razor wire. Kit drowned.
Personally, I find this fascinating: the Victorian sentimental take on death in a brand new junior-friendly guise. I keep forgetting death is back in (or is that “undeath”?) And you’d think they would be a terrible downer, but they are adorable.

Last but not least, I bring to you this bonus: the Ghost Chicken of Highgate, sacrificed for Sir Francis Bacon’s 17th-century researches in food cold storage. As it happens the chicken took Sir Francis with it, as he caught a fatal chill stuffing it with snow very early one April. Though Sir Francis was taken to the Earl of Arundel’s house nearby to warm up and rest, the bed he was given hadn’t been aired for a year and was too damp. He died of pneumonia. As for the Ghost Chicken, as recently as the 70’s this plucked and displeased fowl was dropping in unexpectedly. See another page on that here.

Happy Halloween, everyone!