Heath Ledger

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He must have been a pretty astute and determined character, to not sell out to his good looks and stay true to the arts. Not to mention that it takes a person secure in himself to portray some of the roles he did.

I found his role in Brokeback Mountain very moving. I saw that film two or three times, and every time that scene came up where he breaks down on the shore of the mountain lake, I broke down too. His pain was utterly convincing, and totally heart wrenching.

This is a tremendous loss of great talent.

 

Nancing Around

My alma mater, Lake Superior State University hosts an international “word ban” every year.  This year they picked a few that I agreed with, including, “It is what it is,” and, “Sweet!”  I won’t be sorry to see either of these go.  I am sure “awesome” is long gone, but I’d love to see that one disappear in real life.

 A couple of others I would personally banish are, “side profile” and, “totally”.

And then, of course, there’s, “Nancy”.

Here’s the thing.  I am not at all happy about the current trend of calling men, “Nancy”.  I’m hearing it more and more, and it’s not a complimentary thing.  I was watching a (very lame) movie the other night and it came up again.

Actually my favorite movie, “As Good As It Gets” has a reference to the label too.  Jack Nicholson says to Greg Kinnear, “When you are nancing around in your little apartment.”

 Any guy who is called by my handle should take it as a compliment.  I am way tougher than I look.  I’m pretty smart. And I have good hair.

I think we need a new trend here.  Let’s start calling wimpy men Dubya.  Or Brittany.  Or how about Paris?

Come on, “Shirley” there must be a gazillion other expressions or names we could pick.  Let’s get creative!

 

Stem Cell Breakthroughs Help Arthritic Pets

ABC News today hosts an article about Hunter the Golden Retriever. Hunter, who is 9 years old and suffering from hip dysplasia, has had great success with stem cell treatment.

I know the first reaction of many will be thoughts of embryo transplants, cloning, and other hot topics in the juicy world of modern medicine. But read on. There are a few pluses for those who may have moral issues with stem cell treatments:

1) The cells are not embryonic — they came from body fat.

2) There is no legal red tape with stem cell treatment in the veterinary field.

3) There are no donors involved. The cells are taken from Hunter himself.

A fourth advantage is that stem cell treatment is about 80% less costly than a hip replacement, which was Hunter’s alternative.

So far, veterinarians boast about a 70% success rate using this method. Two weeks after Hunter’s treatment, he is already moving better and seems happier.

Most exciting for me was the story of Be a Bono, a race horse with bone chips in his knee and a damaged fluid sac.

This is the same problem Clifford has. As I described in Return to Manitou, he whacked his knee during a trailering incident several years ago and broke off a bone chip. (He hates that trailer.) Since that time, the knee has swelled up, and the cartilage has disappeared. Clifford has about half the flexion he used to. He is only 16 years old — a young age for a Morgan — and is now only able to go on short rides.

Be a Bono’s career was over. In fact, quite possibly, so was his life. In an experimental effort, he was injected with stem cells in November 2005. The quarter horse has since returned to racing and gone on to win over a million dollars in prize money.

Wow!

You can look for stem cell treatment information in your area.

I’ll be calling my vet on Monday.

 

Today’s Watercolor – Nuthatch

A nuthatch, commissioned by some folks who live on Nuthatch Lane. Kind of unfortunately for me, they picked the white-breasted variety which makes sense, because my favorite, the red-breasted, is not prevalent in this area.

But I was thrilled to get to paint a bird. 9 x 12″ on watercolor paper.

 

Cliffyana Jones

So I was watching, “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” last night. There’s a scene where young Indiana Jones (played by River Phoenix) whistles and a horse comes running. The kid is preparing to jump off a ledge into the saddle, but just before he lands, the horse steps forward.

I had a flashback to that scene today, because Clifford was roaming around the yard while I cleaned stalls. I would look out the barn door periodically to make sure he was still in sight, and that the dogs weren’t harassing him.

Basically, since his knee was diagnosed as arthritic, I have treated him like an invalid. But today he shot twelve feet straight in the air, snorted and launched a pseudo battle with the dogs. He eyed them wickedly, swerving his hindquarters toward them and shooting heels in the air.

Cajun and Rip know it’s all a big joke, but they are careful of the heels. Clifford is clearly none the worse for wear. It doesn’t hurt that it’s sixty degrees here in Southeast Michigan.

I finished with the stalls, glanced out the barn door and didn’t see him.

“Clifford,” I said, in what amounted to a half-hearted yell. I knew he wasn’t far. I turned around to fill the water bucket, and I could hear his hoofs pounding over the soggy ground. Ta da DUMP, ta da DUMP, ta da DUMP, just like Indiana Jones’ horse.

He came clattering up the barn aisle, walked into his stall and stood rolling his eyes, nodding his head vigorously.

“Yeah, you’re cute.” I dumped his grain into his feed bin, rolled his door shut and snapped off the light.

I had no doubt that yes, he would move a step when I jumped.

 

Police Dogs – Friends and Heroes

How about that Stryker? The six-and-a-half year old police dog, a Belgian Malinois in San Diego, made the ultimate sacrifice.

News reports yesterday said the dog’s handler chased down a suspect who was driving erratically. The driver had hit another vehicle, run a red light, and sped out onto the San Diego-Coronado Bridge. For whatever reason, the guy stopped and got out of his truck on the bridge, and the police officer sent Stryker.

The dog bit the man and took the suspect down, but then the man got up and jumped off the bridge — and took Stryker with him. The two fell into the cold ocean water 200 feet below.

Stryker did not survive the fall.

Earlier this year I received the sad news the passing of K9 Officer Cavar von der Zalens, who died in October due to an onset of cancer.

Cavar was Cajun’s littermate and lived with us until he was a year old. He learned basic tracking and obedience while he was here. He was donated to Detroit PD and was Officer Rob Huckestein’s first dog. The story of Cavar’s graduation and initiation into service is told in my book, CLIFFORD OF DRUMMOND ISLAND.

Despite being rookies together, the pair was unstoppable. Cavar won the Medal of Valor during his first year with the force. He was the department’s first dog to win this honor. He was Rob’s buddy and a constant companion to him and his eleven year old son.

For the next seven years, Cavar went on to earn a plethora of awards and accolades. He found countless amounts of narcotics and saved an untold number of lives.

Cavar was still working full time right up until the day before he died. On his last day of duty, he tracked down a murder suspect. He gave no indication that anything was wrong up until the next morning, when he was abnormally fatigued. Rob took him to the vet, and he was diagnosed with cancer throughout his body. He would not have even made it through the night, and was euthanized.

Cavar was a dog of great heart and courage and I am honored to have played a part in his life. He was greatly loved and will be dearly missed by all who knew him.

Right now Detroit PD has only two tracking dogs left on the team. And when it came to tracking, Cavar was always the dog requested. He was their best. I was told that Detroit PD has no budget to purchase blue-blooded dogs like Cavar. They take what they can get. Few police officers have time or knowledge to raise a puppy. They start with a dog who’s over ten months old. The dog then has to pass a rigorous health and fitness test, and must also have a strong work/retrieving drive. The police are less stringent on temperament, as most of the police K9s do not interact with the public.

After his fatal plummet to the icy water, Stryker’s body was retrieved. The suspect he was chasing was hospitalized. The man will be charged with a felony for causing the dog’s death and could be sentenced to up to four years in prison.

Four years? That’s it?

Isn’t it ironic that, in a court of law, the dog’s life would be valued less than the suspect’s? I wonder how much money it will cost the Oceanside Police Department to replace Stryker.

There is no way to put a value on these dogs. Who can say how much of a difference they have made? I suspect only their handlers have the vaguest of ideas.

 

New Year’s Dog Treats

With the current scares about processed pet foods, a lot of folks are turning over a new leaf and feeding all natural food and treats. In the spirit of the holidays, Todd Muchmore of Rover’s Recipes offers this delicious recipe sure to make your dog drool:

Apple Cinnamon Doggie Biscuits

·1 package apple, dried

·1 teaspoon Cinnamon –(I usually just shake some in)

·1 Tablespoon parsley, freeze-dried

·1 Tablespoon Garlic Powder

·1 cup ice water

·1/2 cup Corn Oil

·5 cups flour

·1/2 cup powdered milk

·2 large eggs

·1 tablespoon corn oil

Put the apples in a food processor so that pieces are small. Combine in a bowl all of the ingredients–can add oil or water if dough is too dry. Using a rolling pin roll out dough to about 3/16″ thick (can make thinner or thicker). Using a cookie cutter–cut into shapes -place on cookie sheets.

Bake at 350 degrees for approx 20 -25 minutes (until golden). NOTE: if you substitute corn meal just subtract about 3/4 cup from flour and add Corn meal .

Todd offers special treats for dogs with allergies and a host of other options. Check out his site at http://www.roversrecipes.com/

Also, if you are shopping for a new dog food, consider Life’s Abundance.

I have a personal testament to this food. My last foster puppy, Perry, was a parvo survivor. Perry was a half Australian shepherd whose mother had been abandoned while pregnant. She had the litter in a foster home. I had actually adopted Perry’s littermate before him, who broke with the terrible virus and I had to take him in to be euthanized.

The original foster mother, who lost most of the litter, was devastated. She offered me Perry to replace the other pup. Perry had been sick too, but he’d recovered. He was a very good-natured puppy, blue merle, mostly black, with a blue spot in one eye. I named him Perry, short for “Periwink.” I brought him home when he was about ten weeks old.

Perry had beaten the disease. However, it had ravaged his intestines. He had a loose stool that no matter what I did, just would not firm up. I tried giving him canned pumpkin and yogurt, and I tried several different foods, including cooking hamburger and rice.

Finally I tried Life’s Abundance. Perry’s recovery was nothing short of miraculous. He immediately started gaining weight, and his coat shone. In just a week’s time he was radiating good health.

Perry has since gone to a good home with a wonderful family. He enjoys playing with Buster, his Boston Bull buddy, and I am told he fetches the paper every day!

Life’s Abundance dog food is holistic, no preservatives, and shelf life is never over six weeks. You order it online and it’s delivered right to your door. They offer cat food too, AND horse treats!http://www.newnaturalpetfood.com/

Here’s wishing you and your pet “Bone Appetit!” and Happy New Year!

 

Bird Toys

Thanks to Etsy.com, I found something for the bird who has everything. Goober the African Grey lives with my friend Debbie Hendrickson in Ohio. I had recently discovered Etsy, the site with things handmade, and took a chance. Sure enough, my search revealed bird toys — and what a great deal I got! There are all kinds of wood and plastic chewies on rope with a bell on the bottom. I purchased this from XnO Bird Toys on Etsy.

It can’t always be easy living with a parrot. I have always liked birds but have never taken on the responsibility of a large one. (I did have a parakeet once; a delightful little guy named Joshua.) I imagine it will happen someday.

I was saddened to hear of the death of Alex, the famous African grey who shattered all science’s ideas about the limitations of the avian mind. Alex died in September of this year at the age of 31. He was emotionally equivalent to a two-year-old child (yikes!) and intellectually a five-year-old. He could identify 50 different objects, 7 colors, 5 shapes, quantities up to 6, and most astonishingly, knew the concept of zero.

Alex did math better than I can!

Dr. Irene Pepperberg spent 30 years working with Alex, and I can only imagine what it was like to lose him. Reportedly his last words to her were something like, “Goodbye. You be good. I’ll see you tomorrow. I love you.”

*gulp.* Sure makes me look at KFC a whole different way….

 

Trans-Siberian Orchestra (or, Deck the Halls with a Laser Light Show)

Disclaimer: I have never been a heavy metal person; my tastes tend to run in the pop direction. But I am a hard hitting Christmas lover.

I went to see TSO last night at the Palace of Auburn Hills, and the sound is still ringing in my head… Or is that my fillings?

Up until this year, I’d never even heard of TSO, which is rather surprising since they have been around since the 1990’s.

Unfortunately, I found the concert to be a hard sell; tradition wrapped up with some original stuff that’s somewhat gutter style — lyrics about bartenders having a change of heart (P.S. How could he afford to give out free drinks all night when he’d emptied the cash drawer?), and a lot of flash. Lasers, glitter, smoke, flames. Woo hoo. Not to mention a gaggle of blondes with big boobs. There was also a 20 minute drum solo. Okay, maybe it only seemed like 20 minutes, but I thought drum solos were relegated to basement parties.

Admittedly, when it comes to Christmas, it probably is difficult to come up with original material. The group obviously exudes musical talent. I loved the “keyboard duel”, especially when one of them launched into “Linus and Lucy”.

But overall, I found that the songs all sounded the same, and the concert was waayyy too long — nearly three hours. I came out feeling like I’d been beaten about the head and shoulders with a glow-in-the-dark fiddle.

However, I am probably not the one to ask. I have found Christmas while out walking in the woods.

 

The Postman Always Rings True

So I was at the P.O. yesterday sending out more Christmas cards. Apparently people are still mailing Christmas cards because they continue to buy them from me.

Anyway, as the postmaster put them on the scale he asked, “Do these packages contain anything liquid, fragile, perishable or potentially hazardous?”

I started to say no, but then hesitated. “What do you mean by potentially hazardous?”

“Why?” he said.

“Well, these are Christmas cards. They might cause a paper cut. Or someone could choke on one.”

“I wouldn’t put them in my mouth,” he said.

“Well, someone might. You might consider striking the word, ‘potentially’ from your spiel there.”

“Look, I know people are going to lie to me anyway.”

“You know people are lying? That’s not very optimistic.”

“I don’t care if they are lying. I just need to ask the question, so I can sleep at night.”

“Knowing people are lying makes you sleep better?”

He paused from totting up numbers on the register, and looked at me. For a moment, he didn’t say anything. Finally, he turned back to his machine and handed me the receipt. “Sometimes when you come in here, I feel like I’m under interrogation.”

“I’m just the customer!”

“I know. But there are so many questions!”

“I’m just asking! When people ask you things, it only means that they are interested.”

“I’ll have to remember that. Can I help who’s next?”

One cannot overlook, in this case, the reputation of postal workers being prone to sudden bursts of violence. I took my receipt and quietly left the building.