Food: A Dark and Dangerous Place

Last week I attempted to do an update with regard to the Pet Food Recall and got side tracked: Pet Food Recall: Trail of Tears, which gives a heart wrenching account of the loss of my Golden Retriever, Annie Oakley. Today, I wanted to get an update on China’s baby milk poisoning and landed on ‘Police arrest underground gang ‘poisoning baby milk for profit’. The contamination has led to China’s worst food safety crisis.

This week, I’m taking a long look into centuries of food industry practices. Practices which began innocently enough, but, in many instances have developed into a dark and dangerous business; bringing disease and death to the planets inhabitants!

The Truth Will Sit You Free!

There are hundreds of reports and stories about the ongoing Pet Food Recall and its continued impact to our pets. What seems most important after reading these reports is to pass on what I’ve learned and to keep linking together with others who have similar concerns; doing so gives more credibility and a more effective means of convincing people to change what they and their furry friends eat!

The sense to be made of the Pet Food Recall and the ongoing tragedy is not something most people want to know. Knowing means you find a truth. What you do with the truth is what counts. My advise is to take a journey. Take time to take a deep look into the Pet Food Recall before you make any decision. For me, the journey has taken some horrific and outrageous trails. Read more

911: Canine Leads Man to Safety

Dorado was lying under his blind master’s desk on the 71st floor of the World Trade Center’s north tower when the plane hit. Glass and flying debre was everywhere. Chaos surrounded them. Omar Eduardo Rivera knew he was doomed. There is know way he could manuver through the chaos. The kindest thing he thought was to free Dorado. He released Dorado from his harness. Minutes later he felt a fuzzy brush on his leg and Dorado nudged him and lead Eduardo to the hall and stairwell.

In the stairwell Eduardo found a co-worker and together the three journeded for over an hour down the stairwell.

Faithful Dog Leads Blind Man 70 Floors Down WTC Just Before Tower Collapses!

Photo Credit:

Mr. Rivera and a little hero.
(Photo: REUTERS / Caracol Tv)

Great Big Love: Sweeping Across the Sky

“I like my life just fine.” I definitely agree. This is a line from Bruce Cockburn’s Great Big Love Sweeping Across the Sky.

I spent the day, about five hours, helping my friends get their garage organized for a ‘moving sale’. While Pieper (my Golden Retriever) couldn’t quite grasp the whole idea and was none to happy as I was not devoting every other minute to throwing a ball for her to fetch. She finally gave up and laid in the car.

After musky hours in the garage we headed to the wilderness for a luxurious hike. Drizzling rain drapes the forest and sounds of trickling creeks and chirping birds are music in my ears; wings flapping heavy, could have been a hawk. The reservoir is like a mirror. Pieper dives in and waves ripple across the glass. I met Dorothy, Bette, Dragor and Brody, new friends on the trail. Tails waged and words were spoken softly. Ions lay heavy and I lap them up.

Homeward bound I tread, too tired to stand long enough to cook: Papa Murphies pizza, chocolate almond coffee ice cream, preheat the oven, wash dishes and hang upside down (I have an inversion table for my compressed Intervertebral discs). Woah! I’m ready for a hot soak and some Bruce Cockburn and Nothing But A Burning Light.

Before my soak, I decide to do a little house cleaning, empty the two litter boxes and vacuum the area. While emptying a paper sack a zeroxed copy of a page falls to the floor: ‘firday, august 1, 2008′ a prayer of the heart- How wonderful! I decide to read it before I hop in for a soak.

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Dealing with Identity and Credit Card Theft

I wrote my first draft for this post on a yellow pad. Sometimes I like to write on a yellow pad with long and broad stokes; much like a painter would enjoy a large canvas.Telling this story needs broad strokes; I need to find room between the lines to identify my emotions.

All my identifying documents, bank card and my wallet were stolen from my car while parked at a wilderness trail head; almost $2000.00 was spent by the villains in less than two hours.

Beauty

Pieper (my golden retreiver) and I were parked at the trail head of Stratton Open Space, hiking on Cheyenne Mountain. It was Pieper’s birthday (she just turned four) and I promised her a hike and a swim and after a trip to the doggie store for a toy and a bone. I love this girl.

The hike was wonderful. There was cloud cover and it looked like rain. Not at all what the weather person predicted (90 degrees and hot). The forest was lush and green and a light breeze played in the tree tops. Pieper went swimming and we ran into an old friend and continued hiking with her and her three canines. After about two hours we returned to the parking lot.

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11 Things We Can Do To Cut Expenses or How to Beat the ‘Gas Woes’!

Recently, after a minor fender bender, I put my car into a body. I chose not to have a rental; thinking I would spend time at home doing things around the house and save gas.

After spending three and a half days at home: cooking, eating, sleeping, watching Animal Planet, the news, movies, working on my lack of lawn, going through and getting rid of ’stuff’, I called my sister, a few friends, wrote two posts, installed Photoshop CS3 (anyone know a good beginners class?), and visited Steve and Marsha (a hike away) for some icy blended drink and talk about retirement life. Yes, it’s been a relatively easy first week of retirement.

Staying home was not difficult. However, by Thursday I wanted and needed to get out of the house. I called my insurance to arrange for a rental and treated myself and Pieper (my companion and Golden Retriever) to a hike and swim. The trip to where we hike and swim is about a 20 minute drive and a 30 minute hike. The temperature was a whopping 91 degrees. When you are over a mile high…well, we were cooking. Unfortunately, Pieper is the only one allowed to swim in the reservoir; I’m left panting on the shore.

After the hike and swim, my normal routine, in an effort to coordinate trips and conserve gas, is to stop at the market on the way home. I’ll find some shade and park; leave the windows half way down in my Blazer, and Pieper being damp is fine while I pick up a few items at the grocery.

The rental car (a 2007 Ford Focus), had huge windows all around, letting far too much sun into the car. The car would hardly cool down with the airconditionair on maximum! No way was I going to leave Pieper in this car. I passed the market, did not collect groceries and went directly home.

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The Power and Politics Behind What We Eat!

The more I read about pet food; the more I learn about human food and how the two are connected; which in turn brings me to the power and politics behind what we eat! Does this sound a little far fetched?

I so wish I could make this story more apealing…everyone needs to know what goes on with our sustainance. Think of it as ‘life and death’!

Ever wonder where dead animals go? Probably not. If you are brave enough, doubtful that you are; we tend to bury our heads when it comes to the “unpleasant facts of life” .

Help Wanted: person to operate bobcat mini-dozers, loading ‘raw material’ (dead animals) into a 10-foot-deep stainless-steel pit; operate giant auger-grinder.

Are you looking for work? Does this sound like your kind of job? Imagine at the bottom of this pit, a giant auger-grinder begins to turn and you hear popping bones and squeezing flesh; a grusome nightmare! Who does this kind of job? I’ve been trying to find out the job title for the person who does this job, with no success as yet. In one rencent article I read that these jobs are held by: Bandanna-masked men; undocumented workers from Mexico; doing a dirty job that no one else wants to do. Wonder what kind of pay they receive?

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Journeys With My Canine

DEFINING WILDNESS AND HOWLING IN THE WILDERNESS

One evening, I went on a tiny journey with my canine Pieper: We ‘howled’ together and I watched as Pieper transformed. Her eyes got this untamed wildness in them. How exciting to see and hear the wildness in her. I felt pretty wild myself and wonder about this wildness. What does ‘wildness’ mean? Mariam Webster says to be ‘wild’ is: uncontrolled, unruly, stormy, fantastic, senstional and barbaric.

WHAT LURKS IN THE WILD?

Hum, I do understand Webster’s perspective; however, what lurks in the ‘wild’ sometimes defies definition. I read about a cat named Oscar in a Providence, R.I. nursing home that has a sixth sense: Oscar can predict when a resident is about to pass away. Pets have extraordinary healing power. Our canines have the ability to know when someone is sick or dying, they sense our emotions. These areas of the ‘wild’ are more difficult to measure and define. I believe we have only scratched the surface of the secrets animals and nature hold.

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Environmental Dreams and the Tax Man

Finding Our Space in Time

I’m watching ‘The Bridges of Madison County’ for the second or third time. The timelessness of the film brings thoughts of my mother and our life together.

As I watch the film, I’m hoping my mother and dad had laughter…strong and loud; just as Robert and Francisca did during the kitchen dinner scene, that first day. I hope they had the kind of passion Francisca and Robert experienced: The kind that takes your breath away!

Every Minute of Every Day

What is the Passion that takes my breath away? How will I meet and fulfill my passion? As my ‘day job’ comes to an end…Isn’t it amazing how we just skip over the words ‘day job’. Surely, you’ve thought about how much time your ‘day job’ takes away from fulfilling your dreams? Did you know there are eighty seven hundred and thirty (8,736) six hours in a year? I spend 2,580 waking hours a year going to and from and at my ‘day job’. I spend approximately 2,912 hours sleeping; which has left me with 3,874 waking hours to do with what I want. Precious hours to fulfill my dreams! How exciting to think soon I can do what I want with every minute of every day!

Defining Who We Are

How I spend every hour of each day defines who I am and is relevant. Do we ever disconnect from our dreams? No. If you think that you do; you are incorrect. Our dreams are as much apart of us as an arm or a leg. Disconnection is futile. It can not be done. Do you think trying to disconnect from your dreams has anything to do with disease and dying; for yourself or the planet? What do you think? Trying to disconnect from what we really want to do and be is like trying to swim up stream…you will wear yourself out; become weak and drown.

Living the Dream

My dream is that our development stops creeping in on wildlife. My dream is that we continually expand spaces that acknowledge our inter-connectedness with nature and wildlife. My dream is for spaces that celebrate this connectedness; exciting and joyful places; places were bird songs, babbling brooks and the winds through the trees supply much of the entertainment we crave.

My dream is that the Office of Economic Development and Public Finance offer environmental incentives that have an extremely high tax break for people and business that want to move here and NOT drain our resources; wildlife and natural habitats. Wildlife does not understand the ‘concrete jungle’ that keeps crumbling the land.

Happy Environmental Trails

Animals: Second Class Victims of Foreclosures

Animals Left Behind

In April 2007, there were 147,708 U.S. foreclosure filings–default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions, according to RealtyTrac, an online foreclosure marketplace based in Irvine, California.

Today nearly 2.2 million Americans may lose their homes. As these families struggle to survive and find rentals and housing they are faced with options that are heart wrenching…they can not always keep their fury family members. As a result, these animals are left behind. The suffering these animals endure is heart breaking. The foreclosure crisis makes these animals a ’second class of victims n the national economy’.

Heart Wrenching Struggle

I had never thought or made a connection between Real Estate Foreclosures and animals until saw the television news recently. The conditions and situations revealed are heat breaking and impossible to imagine.

As people struggle to keep their homes; animals sometimes go to the bottom of their list. Then, these foreclosure homes house starvation, disease and death for many animals. The trauma that people and animals go though during this stressful time is horrendous.

There are not enough homes for all the lost, homeless and abandoned animals–and when homes can not be found they are euthanized to make room for other lost, homeless and abandoned animals.

Resources

There are resources for pet owners facing foreclosures: If you are someone you know is unable to care for their animals; call a shelter such as the Best friends Animal Society. Doing so can elimante the unnecessary suffering for an animal.

Spaying or neutering may be the kindest thing you can do for your animal friend. Spay/USA is a nationwide network and referral service for affordable spay and neuter services with a hot line (1-800-248-SPAY). Surgery at one of the clinics in the network averages $50, about half of the average cost in a vet’s office.

May all your trails be happy!