Ben settles in

Not much time to blog this morning, but I wanted to get this photo up of Ben in his new home. It sounds like he's making the place his own!

Beautiful Ben gets a home...again

Ben has found a new home! At age four, after being adopted as a kitten (and returned a year later by the owner--who had failed to neuter him, prompting our current "neutered before adoption" policy) and adopted again (and returned because the family's Jack Russell wanted to eat him despite their conscientious attempts at introduction), he has charmed his way into new hearts, and left here today.

Thank you for everyone who has helped with Ben...Donna and Tim, Alden, and Cary who made his video. It worked, and hopefully he's off to his forever home.

A Bark Heard Around the World, May 17

By AMANDA FOLTS / Finger Lakes Times

PENN YAN - Puppy Mill Rescue Inc. is sponsoring an event called "Bark Heard Around the World" May 17 to educate people about the treatment of dogs raised in puppy mills.

Eileen Franco, a Puppy Mill Rescue Inc. board member and foster mom,defined a "puppy mill" as a large-scale facility that produces more than one breed of dog. She said some dogs are sold right out of the mills, with a majority going to pet stores and a growing number sold over the Internet, which makes the mills harder to track and regulate.

Franco hopes the event at the Yates County Fairgrounds will convince more people to take a stand against mills and pressure state legislators to pass tougher laws against them.

"People need to do more than just be horrified - they need to start speaking out," she said. "We need people to be a voice for the voiceless."

Among the speakers May 17 will be Dr. Franklin McMillan of Best Friends Sanctuary in Utah, who has been working on a 15-year study of the emotional impact of dogs raised in puppy mills.

Dr. Carl Darby, a veterinarian at the Seneca Falls Veterinary Hospital who helps care for rescued dogs, plans to speak about the physical issues they have after leaving puppy mills.

"I'm hoping that people realize that when they buy a puppy from a puppy mill that they're supporting an organization that treats animals in an inhumane way," he said.

This is the first year A Bark Heard Around the World is being held in the area, but Franco said she has attended a similar event in Pennsylvania, where the puppy mill population is booming in Lancaster County. She said the number of mills in the Finger Lakes region - and especially in Yates County - is rising to a similar level.

The full article can be found at the Finger Lakes Times. It will ask you to register.

For more information about A Bark Heard Around the World or Puppy
Mill Rescue Inc., visit puppymillrescue.com

Thanks, Nancy, for sending this!

Rescue Ink will be there!

I do plan to go, if anyone wants to go from Spencer.

Jasper and Zuzu, blogcats of the day

Thanks, Stephanie! How sweet. I'll bet they aren't always that quiet.

Back in black

The place looked great upon my return, once again due to the wonderful care by Donna and Tim. It was 32 degrees when I got back to NY last night, but Donna had turned the heat back on, and I plugged in the heat lamp in the cat room, so everyone was snug and warm.

Today the sun is once again shining full with spring and it looks like it's going to be a gorgeous day.

Perci and KittyCorn were happy to have the window opened again.

The power of video...

At the end of the conference today, I sat down for the closing session, and a young woman from International Animal Rescue U.S. pulled out the chair next to me. She eventually asked if I had been the person who spoke at The Whole Cat workshop--had I mentioned using video to help find homes for homeless cats?

Yes, I say, that had been me. I had asked at that time for people to please let me know if video did indeed help place their cats in homes faster than photos alone.

Well, she took me at her word, and posted a video of her sweet foster cat Sandy. Sandy loves dogs. Her video proves it. And within days she had three inquiries on Sandy, who is now in a great home.

Check this out! A world full dog-and-cat lovers would likely stand in line to adopt Sandy. (When you get to Sandy's pet note, click on the video icon above her photo).

I didn't get a chance to actually view the video until just now, sitting on the floor by the only electrical outlet in this wing of Terminal F, behind the podium for Gate F11. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to be here, but at the moment I don't really care. What a great video!

It worked! Sandy has a home.

Isn't it a pity it will be dark when I land...

...so I won't be able to see how far they've gotten on this.

Still ground bound in Vermont

Burlington in the only airport I've encountered that has specifically put in power strips in the waiting area for internet scavengers like myself. After all, why settle in to read a good book ("Water Witches", which I got so I could send it to Cary once I'm done)when you can blog...or work?

As you all know, there are moments throughout your life when you step back, lift your head to take a hard look at the world, and realize you've lost the glasses you've worn for the past 20 years..or you've had them taken from you. You can walk around without them, and accept the soft, fuzzy, and less distinct view of the world you are now stuck with, or you can go get new glasses, which will make the world's outline perhaps sharper and harsher than before. And your new frames won't be anything like your old frames, no matter how hard to look for your old friendly design. You will look different in the mirror, regardless. You may not really like that stranger in the mirror. But you know that sooner or later, you'll get used to her.

But you do have to decide.

Blogging my way home on the the last of my battery

...in more ways than one.



I am luxuriating in my last "world weary traveler" moment for many months. A glass of wine, a seat by the window, free internet access, and only about ten minutes left on my laptop battery. The conference is over. While my own batteries are worn out, rather than recharged, I was able to meet with so many people who reminded me why I originally became involved in the field of animal welfare. It's been a long time since I've sat and had a long, intense conversation with just one person at a time (rather than fleeting conversations with friends with whom you'd love to spend more time, or presentations to colleagues or strangers). It was heart-mending, in some ways.

(Saving, in case the battery dies in mid post....)

My long absence from blogging has been due in part to general busy-ness, and most recently due to changes in priorities.

I will be in touch with the friends of Wildrun soon, as there will be some changes, I believe, in our little cat rescue on Owl Creek. It's time to reassess and recreate.

Ah, there is the low battery warning. Adios, and hug the nearest cat!

More catching up. Nick, the cat who sleeps anywhere.

I was potting a plant, and walked away. I came back, and, well....

Blogging from Vermont.

I am at the New England Federation of Humane Societies conference in Burlington Vermont. The flight on the Gnat...oh, I'm sorry, the Dash-8 (scroll down. Way down. No...WAY down) was quite beautiful, since they fly so low. Coming into LaGuardia--which I had not done before--was rather like skating in on the roofs of row houses.

Coming down from the second leg into Burlington was like landing in, well, Vermont. Which is about the most peaceful and beautiful thing you can say about a flight. I found myself wondering if I could move up here? Quiet, beautiful.

(Just so you know, it ain't happening. Anything under $100,000 up here is a camp or a mobile home).

Last time I came to Burlington in April, Mark and I ended up fleeing in the face of a huge snowstorm in my little S-10.

Luckily, I'll be spirited safely out on Wednesday night on another little Gnat...sorry, "Dash-8."

Catching up

I have been neglecting the blog so long, that when I went back through my photos I discovered I had to go back to the New York ice age. But a beautiful ice age.



From the "birdhouse"...our old unused barn on the farm here.

Hey,

I'm sorry to have been MIA for so long. I haven't even been taking photos. But I've gotten a bunch of email messages and some phone calls saying Hey, what's up! so I will hoist myself out of my dark hole of non-communication. Thanks for letting me know you care, and sorry to worry you all!

Dear Readers

No, I am not dead yet. Thank you for the emails and calls. I will post today. I promise.

Cats and Engineers

Thanks, Donna, for forwarding this laugh. Especially the cat yodeling.

This makes you think.

Elephant painting.

I'm a bit concerned

Because I used to skateboard in the funeral home parking lot. I wonder what sign they might choose to post?

1daybanner.com really is One Day Banner

I love living in small towns.



I ordered the banners above on Tuesday evening, online, at 1daybanner.com

They sent a tracking number. They called the next day to make sure I'd gotten my proofs. I had not. They sent them again while I was on the phone with them. By the day's end, the banners were complete, and had left California. Amazing!

I checked usps.com the next day, and the package was in Elmira (2 hours from me). I called my Spencer post office, and they told me they would be going to Newfield first, and Newfield would deliver them to me. I called the Newfield post office, but there was no answer.

By 3:30 pm I was getting antsy, and called Newfield back. This time someone answered. I said, "Hi, my name is Susan Greene, and I live in Spencer..." and before I can say much more he says "It's leaning against the chair on your front porch."

I ran down with my portable phone, and there it was. A package with my banners.

Magic. In less than 48 hours, banners from my imagination, from CA, to NY, to my house.

Okay, now answer me this. Can you believe they had clip-art of a woman in a purple mumu feeding cats?

I'm not quite at purple mumu level yet, but Mark has winced at what I've walked out the door wearing, a few times.

Thanks, 1daybanner.com! And the US Post Office, especially the staff and postmasters in tiny towns. (Yes, our postmasters answer their own phone when on duty, and even hand-deliver express mail--I've had my postmaster pull up, hand me my express mail and say "So this is where you live!")

Paws for a Cause in Albany NY

Wildrun will be boothing it in Albany Friday and Saturday at the Paws for a Cause pet expo in Albany NY. CSEA donated their booth to a rescue, and we'll be there teaching folks about TNR. Petfinder is sending a "Our Pets are on Petfinder" banner. I'm trying to decide whether I should bring Espie along or not. I think much will depend on what the weather is like Friday morning. I know she'd enjoy the trip, but I also know the walk from the parking lot to the venue is a long one (and I wouldn't dare drop her off and leave her at the unloading zone while I parked, of course).

The schedule of events sounds great. I'll be at the booth, but if you live near Albany, stop on out! My booth will be very purple, and very green. Do not bring pets! I understand there will be lots of treats to bring home to your gang.

I ordered new banners, but it remains to be seen if they will make it in time before I leave. Here's one, from 1daybanner.com:

Ow!

I haven't had to make lots of copies in a long, long while. In my previous job incarnation, I had access to a discount printing center where I could get the low, low, price even for my rescue work.

Well, I naively ran off to make copies for a booth I'll be manning Friday and Saturday in Albany and didn't even bother to check the per copy price. I mean, how much could a measly 300 copies be? (Do the math, Susan. It's far more than "300" when one "copy" was two pages, double-sided).

Over $50, that's how much!

I'll be taking darned good care of these copies, you can be sure. If someone wants the two-page double-sided one, I want to see cat fur stuck on their clothing as proof of serious commitment (joking)!