Sunday, May 31, 2009

The Continuing Saga of CG (SeeGee)


While far from perfect, and with a much less than real "groomer" (ME!), CG the Sheltie, is finally clean, brushed and 80% de-matted. Shall I begin to tell you what a feat that was?
First-off, I don't own a pair of clippers.
Secondly, I am clueless how to use them if I did. The third issue was the real charmer; any scissors that could be found had long given up any intention of cutting anything. After much ado and frustration, I finally found a pair of manicure scissors with curved one-inch blades. It was a lot like picking up a bowling ball with eyebrow tweezers, but WE MANAGED! Here she is doing her down and back and preen for the camera. Not bad for a couple of old girls!
Animal Control gave CG's owner 24 hours to get her to the vet for medical treatment or they would confiscate her. Her owner surrendered her to me instead. I've contacted a Sheltie rescue, but I have not heard the decision of their board as to how they can help her. Stay tuned.

Thursday, May 28, 2009

I Took Your Dog To The Vet Today










Her situation has been hard for an animal rescue person to watch. For almost two years, the little sheltie has been abandoned by her owner at a house they no longer lived in. It's a felony in NC to steal a dog, as it should be; but I have never been more tempted to break the law. Several of us neighbors have been feeding her in her lonely prison. It ripped my heart out on a daily basis. The owner came just enough to keep animal control from taking the dog, maybe once a week. Meanwhile, the real job of seeing to the dog was left to neighbors. The picture of the food bucket on a rope says it all about how much she cared for the dog. Even though there's a gate into her pen to the right, she chose to lower her food from the porch above. That is, when she came by at all. The more neighbors took on the care of the dog, the less she came. It was me who bleached the algae and black mold from her water bucket and made sure she had fresh water. Another neighbor had carried over pine needles to cover the never cleaned feces from her pen. That same neighbor bought her a dog house. Until then, she had no shelter except for a scrappy tree and unkempt vine overgrowth.

I don't know how she survived the winter in the elements. If I'd known she was there during single digit temps, I'd have already broken that dog-napping law. I found out about her just a few months ago.

It has rained here for days. Today when I went up to see about her, she was lying in several inches of mud. She never raised her head even though I was only a couple feet from her pen to take her picture. I thought she was near death. I decided today was the day I did more for her than feed her, pet and talk to her a little, and leave her. I could only hope my actions didn't land me in jail. I put that filthy matted dog in my van and took her to the vet. (Did I mention that I'm laid off from my job and have seven dogs of my own?) Nonetheless...

The good news, she wasn't dying yet...just exceptionally hard of hearing. This dog is sweet and very old. The vet estimated 10 or 12 years. The bad news: She's heartworm positive and needs treatment or she will die a horrific death. I paid for her bill today, but heartworm treatment is beyond my means at the present time. Animal control can't ignore her now. I put her back in her hell hole long enough for them to come confiscate her.

Her story isn't over yet, I'll have to save her from a gas chamber next, but I'm hoping to get Sheltie rescue involved. Please pray for this sweet little sheltie who I hope will know what love is before she dies. She has suffered long enough.
















Saturday, April 18, 2009

The Big Gig to City Hall



They say, "You can't fight city hall." My experience has been that is right about 999 out of a 1000 times. It's almost impossible to get one over on city hall.

There's one fella though who is a legend in our area. He's been at a draw (read "stand-off") with the City of Conover, NC, for more than fifteen years. I don't know his name, but I know he's a painter and his business is right across the street from City Hall. My best friend, the late and sorely missed, Mark Smith was the architect who designed this lovely building for the city.

Spiffy new digs has a way of making people get all uppity, you know, and that disease spread swiftly amongst city administration. While they loved their (then) new building, when they looked out a window they saw the delapidated paint business across the street and decided it was an "eye sore." As the story goes, the powers that be approached the painter and demanded he clean up that place, and since he was a painter...he could PAINT it.


AND...

SO...

HE...

DID...
I noticed today that it looked like the building was about to go through another make-over, and if I was ever going to tell this story, I needed to take a picture. He sure made the view colorful for City Hall folk, didn't he? Pink, yellow, green, blue, purple, and the flag? Priceless. If they're about to make him paint it again, I can't wait to see what's coming next.