Shelter Update

It's been a while since I blogged about the shelter, and tonight I decided that I needed to change that! Incase you haven't noticed, the shelter pictures have taken a serious turn for the better! Check them out! In fact, they are so nice, that I'm not even sure I should be snagging them and putting them on my blog. A group called "Project Pearl" is going in and volunteering their time to take pictures. Nice pictures. Not dogs in shrubbery. Surely they won't mind if I use their pictures if I credit them, right? I'll try it and see what happens.

Take a look at this cat. She is a Himalayan named Nadira. Normally I don't pay too much attention to these fancy breeds because I don't worry too much that they won't get adopted. Everyone wants a fancy cat. But Nadira has been there a little while. When I opened her cage today, I was greeted by a sweet kitty hug. She climbed right out of the cage and on to my shoulder and just snuggled me. She is such a sweetheart. I was so impressed with her, I could hardly put her back in her cage. Can you believe she was a stray found in a field?!?!

{photo credit: project pearl}

This is the dog that is really just pulling at my heartstrings. Chico is amazing. Absolutely amazing. When I open his cage he does the same thing the kitty did. He hops gently in my arms and just wants to be held. He didn't even try to get down - he was content to just be held and talked to. Rumor has it that he plays fetch - how neat! He is so sweet and friendly. He reminds me of my little Leroy (only not elderly - Chico is only about a year old). I think this little guy would make a fantastic pet. He's been there for a while. People just don't realize what they are missing.

{photo credit: project pearl}

This is Lori. I have nothing about her. I'm not even sure if I saw her there tonight. I mostly just wanted to comment on what a silly name "Lori" is for a dog. She is absolutely beautiful though.

{photo credit: project pearl}

Hutch doesn't have a pretty picture yet, but I wanted to tell you about him. I absolutely love when I see a big dog who looks like he could chase you out of a junkyard and then you open his kennel door and he is all friendly tail wags and kisses. This is hutch. He's got a massive square head and a mouth like a boxer that looks like it could unhinge when he opens it and create a flip-top head. But Hutch was just the sweetest thing when we took him out today. He wasn't even hyper happy. Just plain happy-happy. This just goes to show that you can't judge a book by its cover. I hope somebody takes him home.

And don't forget - the shelter has small animals too - like this bunny! Someone dropped off some gerbils tonight, so there may be some gerbils up for adoption soon. Seriously, people. If you can't manage to take care of a gerbil for its tiny little life span and instead take it to an animal shelter that euthanizes... I don't even know what to say about that, other than I don't think I like you.

{houdini the bunny}

Other shelter items to note from the night:

• I found a little girl puppy that looks exactly like my friend Meghan's dog, Elvis! She's super cute!
• I saw the tiniest puppy I have ever seen in my life. It didn't even look real. I hope they don't confuse it with those gerbils that came in.
• There was a dog there that hadn't eaten in a really long time. They are trying to take care of her and nurse her back to health, but it's just so sad to see how some people treat animals.

Tonight's Dinner. A Comedy of Errors.

I've decided to start cooking more. Last week I made fantastic chili (if I do say so myself). Tonight I was making meatloaf, smashed cauliflower and steamed rutabaga, carrots and broccoli. I started off chopping up the vegetables (rutabaga is so damn hard to cut!). Midway through, my sleeve started to slip down my arm. I pushed it back up...with the knife still in my other hand:

(how many of you have sliced near your elbow while chopping vegetables?)

(the culprits)

One cleaned knife later, and after the veggies were chopped, I cut up the cauliflower and put it in a pot with chicken broth. Then I started on the meatloaf...when I realized I didn't have an egg. I walked away from the food to google "egg substitute for meatloaf" (mayonnaise, if you ever need to know). While I was researching this, I heard, "slurp, slurp, slurp, slurp." I didn't really think much about it - after all, there are two pet water bowls in the kitchen. Then I turned around and Buster Cat Nixon was ON THE COUNTER SLURPING THE CHICKEN BROTH OUT OF THE POT OF CAULIFLOWER!!! I had to call Christopher and ask him to pick up some more cauliflower and chicken broth on his way home from work.

(bye, bye, kitty cauliflower)

I was a bit torn. While I didn't want to reward the bad cat, I figured I might as well do something useful with the chicken broth. Buster couldn't get enough of it. I had to push him away so Tuesday and Leroy could get some too.

(darn cat)