Yes, this really does happen...

Please excuse the fuzzy pictures, but when you're dodging traffic, it's hard to keep the camera steady.  This picture was taken a couple years ago, on Highway 14, on the west side of Ozark.  I don't remember having my camera with me at the time.  I think I went home to get it because this was just TOO good to NOT get a picture of.  We always hear about dead animals not being moved out of the way when painting the white (or in this case yellow) lines...well, here's proof!!! 

Horse Slaughter

No, not a pretty subject.  But one that needs to be addressed at so many levels.  The only reason I write about this today, is that I regularly read the "Fugly Horse of the Day" blog, and it's discussed there a lot!  Especially when the latest blog concerns some jerk in Montana that has over 800 horses running around, that could have been registered, but probably aren't; could have been handled, but probably weren't; could have had shots, worming, foot trimming, but probably didn't.   He didn't "sell" them because the market was down so now his horses have been seized by the government and/or the people who owned the land the horses were running on, and they'll probably sell for $100 or less, at an upcoming auction, and go for dog food.

I'm not against horse slaughter.  IF it were done humanely!  And it is not!  No, we don't have horse slaughter in the U.S. any more.  The haulers just drive their trucks across the border into Canada and/or Mexico, where they DO have slaughter houses.  But even the hauling is inhumane.  Newborn babies are shoved together with mature horses, getting trampled, or worse.  Stallions are thrown together, fights break out, horses are grievously injured, but no matter,  they're gonna die anyway.  If we did this with all the unwanted cats or dogs in the U.S., there would be such a hue and cry, the Supreme Court would get involved!

Suffice it to say, we overbreed everything that we could possibly call a "pet."   With cats and dogs, and other small animals, when we can't find them homes we just "let them loose in the countryside."  Not so easy with a horse. 

I overheard someone talking recently about the glut of horses and there should be slaughter again.  Hey...how about NOT BREEDING!!!  If there's a glut, buy one of those, rather than try to breed your own "speshul" baby.  Same with dogs and cats.  If you don't need a show-quality dog, because you do not show, go to the pound, or try a rescue.  There are purebreds all over the place, living in shelters, waiting for a new home, or the needle.  But at least they "go to sleep" peacefully!

People in Missouri voted for a better puppy mill law.  How about voting for a better horse breeding law?   How about better pet ownership laws altogether?  I don't have any quick or firm answers.  I just think the "informed public" needs yet more education on the issues!

As for me, my horses will live their final days in my care. 

Safety first!

You know to wear your seatbelt!

You know NOT to text while driving!

You know NOT to drive after you've been drinking alcohol!

So why do you go out on the water, in a boat, without a life preserver on?

Don't give me that excuse that you'll be close to the shore, or you can swim like fish, or you'll put it on while you're moving, but you're gonna take it off when we get to your fishing place.  Unless you're in the water for the specific purpose of swimming and other people are not involved, you need to wear a life preserver of some kind, and leave it on!

When I was in high school a life guard, who was a friend, drown, trying to rescue some people in Lake Michigan.  Maybe it wouldn't have happened if he had a life jacket on.   It can happen to the best of you!

I don't want to dwell on the variety of situations you can get in to while in the water.  Suffice it to say it may be a bit cumbersome, but that life jacket may save your life, and/or those around you!

Music to my ears

Do you have music playing all the time?  Do you download it on your phone, on your computer, on all your other electronic devices?  Is it an everyday, all day important part of your life?  Not mine!

So this afternoon, I decided to do something not so near and dear to my heart...clean house a bit.  I decided that I needed some music as there's nothing on TV that I even want playing in the background, i.e. golf, or basketball, or Ruff Ruffian, on PBS.  So I set out to see if I had any CDs left on the changer before I selected new ones.

Yup!  From Christmas!!!  Obviously I don't do this often enough.  Listen to music enough, that is.

I love my CDs, but I even forget to put them in the car when we're going on a long ttrip.  I tend more to seek out the local public radio station.  Since I do not care to listen to Zorba Pasteur's "On your health" while cleaning, I sought out Miles Davis, Narada Guitar, World Visions, with a little Kenny G and James Galway thrown in.  Nice and diverse, and it'll drive the SO (significant other) nuts if he comes in!  But I can listen and not have to comment back, or analyze what's being said, or even sing along.  Just music...my kind of music...the kind of music probably no one downloads!

Squeezing fish...

Yep, spent the day "squeezing fish" which was the description one of the clerical help at the Nature Center called it. 

To clarify most of this, I volunteer at the Springfield Conservation Nature Center.  Occasionally we get opportunities to work "off premises," for credit hours, and today it was at the Shepherd of the Hills Fish Hatchery.  It meant we were going to collect eggs and sperm from Rainbow Trout.  The hatchery does this at least twice a year, but for whatever reason, they've been collecting, successfully, since last September, with a small break.  They have over a million fish at this hatchery and they supply other hatcheries and encampments over the state.

The process is to first catch the fish and transport them to holding tanks.  This was done the day before.  They are herded into two pools, one for males, one for females.  The fish are "cut out" into small groups, and then netted out a few at a time, and put into an anesthetic bath, which puts them to sleep in about a minute.    They are then caught, rinsed off, dried, and a small sample is taken, and if it looks good (viable in the case of the eggs) the sperm or eggs are then collected, though "squeezing" along their sides.

The fish are then weighed,  returned to a salt water bath to restabillize them, and then sent back to a separate breeding tank down their own personal water slide!  They are quarantined for at least 3 weeks before they go back into the general population, so the anesthesia is out of their systems.  If they do not possess the qualities thought to be necessary for breeding again, they are put into a different tank, to be released into the wild, after their own 3 week quarantine, as potential game fish.    I can say there were some big trout that went into the "fishing tank," but over all not many went. 

The water was very cold, as that's the kind trout do best in, so we had numb hands for a while.  Of course boots, and waders, or at least some sort of waterproof apron/jacket is a necessity.    And take it from me, a partially anesthesized 3 pound trout can be very hard to hold on to!    But this is a job I could learn to love!

My camera ran out of battery power, so I couldn't document the whole process.  And no, that's not me, that's one of the other volunteers. Krystal,  who went with me.  I hope to go back, and then I can show how the eggs are fertilized and managed after the collection.  Fun, fun!

Daylight saving...saving who???

Or is it "saving whom?" 

Suffice it to say, we're a week into this, and we're still trying to get in the swing.  Still haven't changed all the clocks.   Except for my watch, we have all digital clocks.  That alone is reason we should repeal this crazy law, and KEEP Daylight Saving year round.

And what's with Indiana...the state stays the same, regardless of the rest of the country, so for half the year, they're in step.  How'd they get "special treatment?"  Maybe I should move to Indiana!

Nuf sed!

Hmmm...

There was a big, and I mean BIG drug bust this afternoon in the next town over, and one town north.   Pounds and pounds of cocaine, thousands of dollars in real money found, and at least one, if not two people arrested.  So, besides the point that this happens all over the country, there was one little detail that I thought...hmmm...

The guy who was involved was black!  Now, I'm not dissing him because he's black.  Heaven knows there are plenty of white drug dealers out there.  The "hmmm" part comes in when you learn that he  rented two houses, both valued over $500,000.  Now this is a very, VERY white area.  And a young, single, black guy RENTS the houses?  And no one thought that might be suspicious?  At least one of the houses is for sale, so perhaps the fact that the owners would at least get some money out of this bad economy, they didn't think about how strange the whole scenario seemed to be. 

I guess everyone else just wanted to be good neighbors, and not make a fuss, and since there were no wild parties, etc, they were happy.  Wonder what his rental agreement said as far as employment, references, etc. etc.

Hmmmmm...

The Good Tick!

Since I pulled two ticks off the dog I thought it was time for this.  It's a short essay I wrote for a writing class I took at the local Community College.  The instructor thought I sounded a bit like Erma Bombeck.  Hope you readers  enjoy it!


The Good Tick


What?

Are we talking about tick, or tic, as defined by Webster’s as an involuntary movement?

Are we talking about the opposite of tock, as in a clock work?

Are we, gasp, talking about that scourge of bugs (well, really arachnids) that suck peoples’ blood and give them diseases?

Yep, THAT’S the tick we’re talking about. The blood sucker! That little, round, eight-legged creature that seems to find it’s way under our clothing when we wander about the great outdoors. That disgusting animal that attaches to the dog, and blows up as big as a pencil eraser. That little, fat, pinhead that looks like a seed, but moves! So how could I possibly talk about the “good tick”?

Have you ever seen a chigger? They’re also known as “no-seeums”. They are also in the arachnid family, although much smaller than the smallest tick. You can literally not see them, except under a microscope. They are not known for carrying diseases. Chiggers do not have the notoriety that ticks do, but they cause many people much more pain than the average tick.

Chiggers like warm weather, tall grass, and the folds of skin in your ankle area, your waist, groin, any area they can get a toe hold, or rather a mouth hold. Like ticks, they grab hold of your skin and attach themselves so they can suck blood, except they are not sucking your blood. They emit a saliva that attacks your skin cells, and that is what helps them feed . The saliva path hardens into what is called a stylostome which acts as a feeding tube for the chigger. The longer the chigger feeds, the bigger the stylostome becomes. Most chiggers are removed from your body by changing your clothes, taking baths, or just brushing your hands over your clothing. Chiggers can also be avoided by using some insect repellants, or sulfur compounds, which are available at your local pharmacy.

The stylostome remains after the chigger has left your body. This is what causes the infernal itching, not the chigger itself. The stylostome will eventually be absorbed by your body, but this can take from a week to ten days. This can seem an eternity when you are itching and scratching and itching and scratching.

So what’s so good about ticks? Generally, you can see them! This means you can get rid of them before they cause any harm. Yes, they can embed themselves in your skin, but it can take up to 24 hours for the tick to sufficiently attach itself and cause harm. The majority of ticks do not even carry any diseases. Of course it only takes one bad tick to bite you, but your chances of getting ill are much less with due diligence after you come out of a tick-infested area. This is all good.

Those nasty “no-seeums” will be there up to 10 days, causing you discomfort! This is not good.