And now for something different....

I had a bunch of stuff saved, stuff to write about. I was cleaning out the office (a small room to the left of our living room) and I threw it all away because I thought, "When am I ever gonna get around to this?"

In a way I was right. However, I do wish I had saved the Shop Cats newspaper. Our local paper published its front page on Shop Cats, or cats that hang around a small business and the owners who love them. It took up a little more than the top half of the FRONT PAGE and described stories on how the shop owners came to own the cats, the cats behaviors, quirks and plenty of photos of these vile creatures. (Obviously, I'm not a cat lover)

"Isn't there a war going on some where in the world?" I asked a co-worker as I glanced at the front page of our lazy news paper. "Apparently not," she said. "There might be if you go get the Post."


A couple days ago I was filling my water bottle and happened to notice a section of the paper laying on the break table. There was a photo of a large cow with her nose touching the nose of a small calf. The caption read, "She doesn't understand why it won't get it."

A sucker for animal stories, I gave into temptation and read the article very quickly before I was missed. The article went on to describe how local cow raisers are having problems with vultures going after the newborn calves. Vultures? I thought vultures were scavengers. As far as I know, there isn't a shortage of roadkill this summer.

In one instance, a calf was being born while vulture circled overhead. The birds swooped down pecked out the small calves eyes before it could even stand up for the first time in its life.

"In six months, this cow would be worth $500, so it's hits the wallet pretty hard," the farmer was quoted.

Hmm. Yeah and I bet having your eyes pecked out at birth must really suck, too. I mean, I've had bad days and all.... What a jerk.


Just below this horrible article was another horrible, almost-makes-me-cry-story (I was a day away from getting my, um, you know. So I was very emotional. I cry very easily before I began that monthly gift. Oh, that was a bit of sarcasm, by the way) A photo displayed a 3 year girl holding a dog collar. Just an empty dog collar. I had to bite. What's wrong with me?

The girl's father was about to be deployed to Iraq when he decided to get her a puppy just before he left, to make it easier perhaps. The puppy died 4 days later from Parvo (after Dad had left). Of course the whole story was about the shelter the puppy had come from and how several of the dogs had Parvo.

"I'm gonna get that kid a puppy!" a friend of Shawn's said. Upon hearing this, I can imagine how many puppies showed up at this family's door step. 'Ol dad's gonna get back from Iraq and see a puppy mill in the back yard!

And one happy little girl. And one heck of a stinky yard.