Hiney the Mule

Grandpa and the boy set out to take Hiney the mule to town.

Along the way they were criticized constantly.

First, someone complained that the man was making the boy walk all that way, so the boy climbed on Hiney's back.

Then, someone complained because the boy was being lazy and making the old man walk, so the man climbed up, too.

Finally, someone commented about how hard the mule's lot was, having to carry two people, and that they should carry the mule and see how they liked it.

So they hefted the mule to their shoulders, and when they got to the old footbridge over the river, worn slick by years and years of people crossing, their attempt to please everyone ended when they slipped and lost their Hiney.

The foster committee meeting yesterday felt that way.

We cannot please everyone, because we cannot say yes to everyone.

The fact is, the public shelter here had to euthanize almost 5,000 cats last year. Even if only half of those were healthy and adoptable, our best adoption year ever was 800 cats placed.

People get upset when we are full. Some people complain we don't save enough from the public shelter. Our shelter building can only hold so many, and we only have so many foster homes.

So our current exercise in futility is trying to come up with a written policy on intake that offends as few people as possible.

The only reason to put it in writing is so people answering the phones and saying no will have something "official" to back them up.

Exceptions can be made, but will be few and far between.

We can only take from the public shelter if the animals are healthy, non aggressive, people friendly, and we have room. For kittens, they must be tame and we can't have too many in the same age range already in the program.

Bottle-feeds, of course, we will bend over backward to accommodate no matter what. If mama is ill, missing, known to be dead, or just refusing the kittens, we will not let them starve.

It's the best we can do, and it will never please everybody.

Our best hope is to spay/neuter up and down and every way to doomsday, so as to cut down the problem at its root.



Today is:

As Young As You Feel Day

Banned in Boston Day

Festival of Immortality

Independence Day, Jordan

International Day of the Seal

Mekiyis a/k/a Melis (Great Purification ceremony) - in Bali, Indonesia; very early in the morning thousands of temple adherents go to the beaches, especially Kuta and Sanur, carrying temple effigies and welcome in Nyepi Holiday, the Icaka new year

National Bavarian Crepes Day

National Goof Off Day

National Sing-Out Day

St. Catherine of Sweden's Day

St. Nicholas von Flue's Day (patron of Switzerland)

World Day for Water


Birthdays Today:

Reese Witherspoon, 1976
Elvis Stojko, 1972
Matthew Modine, 1959
Stephanie Mills, 1957
Lena Olin, 1955
Bob Costas, 1952
Andrew Lloyd Webber, 1948
James Patterson, 1947
George Benson, 1943
Marvin Yagoda, 1938
J.P. McCarthy, 1933
William Shatner, 1931
Stephen Sondheim, 1930
Marcel Marceau, 1923
Karl Malden, 1912
Louis L'Amour, 1908
Chico Marx, 1887


Today in History:

Hugo de Groot escapes imprisonment in Loevenstein Castle in a book case, 1621
The Pilgrims of Plymouth Colony sign a peace treaty with Massasoit of the Wampanoags, 1621
Algonquian Indians kill 347 English settlers around Jamestown, Virginia, a third of the colony's population, 1622
Massachusetts Bay Colony outlaws the possession of cards, dice, and gaming tables, 1630
Joseph Priestly invents carbonated water (seltzer), 1733
The Parliament of Great Britain passes the Stamp Act, which introduced a tax to be levied directly on its American colonies, 1765
The Emerald Buddha is moved with great ceremony to its current place in Wat Phra Kaew, Thailand, 1784
The three protecting powers (Britain, France and Russia) establish the borders of Greece, 1829
Cornstarch is patented by Orlando Jones, 1841
Slavery is abolished in Puerto Rico, 1873
The Edmunds Act adopted by US to suppress polygamy in the territories (especially aimed at the Mormons), 1882
World's first airline, St Petersburg Tampa Airboat Line, begins service, 1914
The Arab League is founded when a charter is adopted in Cairo, Egypt, 1945
The Comet Hale-Bopp has its closest approach to earth, 1997
Mount Redoubt, a volcano in Alaska, began erupting after a prolonged period of unrest, 2009