I stopped eating red meat and pork in 1988. I initially did it on a trial basis, just to see if I could. Surprisingly, I never missed it and never had any desire to go back.

Cutting out chicken and turkey, which I did around 1995-96, was harder. Blair and I ate a lot of chicken-based meals together, finding food at a Wendy's or McDonald's became more of a challenge and frankly, Thanksgiving without turkey meat sucks. (I tried Tofurkey which is similar in taste and texture to regurgitated stomach snot. Don't do it.)

I always planned to either cut out or ease back on seafood, which I haven't yet. I love me some crabcakes and lobster! But I watched an episode of Hell's Kitchen...

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Someone asked me the other day how my volunteer work was going at the Rockingham County Animal Shelter and I realized I'd never updated my blog about what happened.

I'm embarrassed to admit it, but I've stopped going. It was a combination of  circumstances and just... weak will. I think the last time I blogged about the shelter, I mentioned that parvo had hit and the shelter manager had to put down almost 60 dogs, many of them puppies.

I'd been volunteering on Friday's. I was out of town...

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I recently started writing for a UK-based web site called "Dogtwist.com."  They've done a nice job putting the site together and the employer is one of the friendliest I've worked for, so I thought I'd give them (and me) a plug. I've written two articles for them so far: one on pets and divorce and one on dogs in other cultures.

The dogs in other cultures article is one I just finished and was harder to write then I expected. While researching, I came across a lot of horrible things done to dogs in other cultures that I won't go into here. (Not that horrible things don't happen to dogs in our culture. I live in an area where people seem to think it's acceptable to chain a dog in a backyard and leave him there for the next seven years.) But I ended the article with what has been a favorite quote of mine for some time:

 "The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated."  - Gandhi

I think the greatness of a person and their moral progress may also be judged by the way the individual treats their animals.

Let's all go out and be great today.

There was a parvo epidemic at the shelter this weekend and 61 dogs had to be put down. Sixty-one. One person who adopted two puppies over the weekend brought them both back when one puppy showed signs of the disease. They were both put down. I can't imagine how the shelter coordinator is feeling. Poor woman. What a horrible, horrible day.

Three thoughts:

1. If people would vaccinate their animals, this wouldn't happen.
2. If the shelter received money to vaccinate animals upon arrival--as most shelters do--this wouldn't happen.
3. If people would have their animals spayed or neutered and stop using backyard breeders there wouldn't be as many animals in shelters, and there would be a less likelihood of this happening.

The shelter closed on Monday/Tuesday for a mass cleaning. I wonder how many dogs will be there on Friday.

There are good people in this world. I have met them.

Last week, the Rockingham County Animal Shelter put out a plea to area residents. The Shelter was overflowing with dogs and many healthy animals were going to have to be put down. The overcrowding resulted in part from an elderly man who died and the 10 dogs at his home were brought in, plus there are 2 mother dogs there, one with a litter of 7 and one with a litter of 8. Two different TV stations covered the overcrowding s did the Greensboro News & Record. And God bless them, people responded.

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