Saturday, November 03, 2007

November 3

Today I did the dog transport. The originating SPCA was overwhelmed with dogs--receiving more than 47 intakes this week. There was a scrounging of volunteers. We were able to get 3 vehicles for each site. Three of us drove from Richmond down to Emporia and then drove up to Fredericksburg. It was a 263 mile trip for me. We rescued 26 dogs and 4 kittens.

The driving is easy, but the handoffs are hectic. Walking, watering, changing paper in cages for the puppies. I had 1 grown dog, 2 7 mos old pups and 7 puppies. The puppies were in crates. The other dogs were on the seats. They slept the entire 130 mile trip to Fredericksburg. When some of the puppies would whimper, I sang to them. Thankfully rather than howling they slept.

I missed my book club. I've been fighting a cold and feeling under the weather this week. I had committed to this trip, so I had to give up my book club. I didn't have enough 'oomph' to do both in one day. I think it is only the 2nd or 3rd one that I've missed in more than 10 years. But I'm feeling so much better than just a couple of days ago, so the worst is over.

Russell made an excellent point on my simplistic model. ON Financial Sense Online. You can listen to this week's broadcast here. Puru Saxena speaks to Russell's point of inflating one's way out of debt. Also, the currency devaluation is a way to help the trade deficit. Doesn't really help the average person who sees food and energy as well many other necessities increase in double digits. Milk is 50% higher than it was a year ago. Many other foodstuffs have seen 20-30% increases.

I always listen to the first hour of FSO each Saturday. They rotate guests, so I feel like I several points of view over the course of time.




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5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank God for people like you doing all that driving for those little rescue creatures. Not only is it tiring, I know that it's expensive!

I know people who adopted rescued animals whom they love dearly. People like you made it possible for them to have these wonderful animals in their lives.

Leisa♠ said...

Gemmastar: I can honestly say that this is some of the most fulfilling volunteer work that I've done. I've worked actively for years on boards of our HHS agencies in our area. With my background, I could contribute in a meaningful way--and in fact, I made some very wonderful friends in that area.

This effort is so direct. If I drive they live. If I don't, they die. Few opportunities provide so clear an "if then" causality===>outcome.

russell1200 said...

What was the book that you were reading?

We "rescued" one kitty. That is enough for me. TA Kitty managed to get herself trapped in the coat closet while we were out at a picnic all this afternoon. Presumably a good sign for the market (the well known release kitten from closet pattern).

Leisa♠ said...

Russell--your comment gave me a horrible flashback from 40 years ago! First the book: Deep Economy. Second, the flashback. My sister and I shared a room. I had a double door, louvered closet. Two nice wood louvered doors that met in the middle and "clicked" into place.

I woke up one night--my bed was about 3 ft from the closet. The doors of the closet were pulsatin outwards rhythmically. Some horrible thing was in that closet and wanted out--every child's worst nightmare. I was courageous, though. I opened the door--against all judgment--and my cat, Tippy, raced out. Apparently, he had fallen asleep in the closet, and the doors closed on him. He was merely trying to get out.

Another horrible thing from childhood was some terrible "thing" that was lose in our area. It had literally slaughtered in their stall some horses belonging to my bus driver. I awoke one night to a horrific shrieking noise. My German Shepherd/collie, Duchess, no wuss, was silent. It made my pulse freeze. I've never been more terrified in my life. The Sheriff's department did not know what it was, but they thought it was a bear, but no bear would make that noise. Most likely it was some big cat. We were very near the Chickahominy swamp--and only a big cat could make a heart-stopping noise like that!

When you are awakened with your heart racing and you don't know why, it is frightening. The most recent time--about 3 years ago--I woke up in such a state. I lay there with my pulse pounding, but I did not know why. It's a terrible state to be in--every fiber of your being is at attention--rousted from being in oblivion.

I then heard my son pulling in his breathes--One long intake and two stuttering exhales Huh! huh-huh. Huh! huh-huh. It's the type of breath intake you make when you are in unspeakable pain. I called out his name, and he could not answer. I ran into his room and he was curled in a ball.

The muscles on one side of his neck had become turgid. They were so drawn up he could not move. He could not speak. Yet I from a deep sleep, I heard his agonized breathing.

It was 2 a.m. I took my children to a General Practitioner--my best friend's husband's practice--while many of my friends used a popular pediatric practice. I never once waited more than 5 minutes for a call back. I received a call back in about 2 minutes. "They" sometimes never got one. The on-call Dr. advised me to take him immediately to the emergency room. He could not move on his own, and I took this curled up ball of pain and put him in the car (thank goodness I could pick him up--he's 6' + and 170 lbs now!--my baby boy!)

Reade's blood pressure was through the roof. They gave him Valium. No identifiable cause--merely a muscle that spasmed that could not unspasm. It did require physical therapy for a few weeks.

But the "phenomena" of waking on alert without *knowing* why was something that I've not thought about recently. It's not pleasant!

But TA Kitty pattern--known also known as letting the cat out of the bag (closet)--is a positive, and we'll expect good results in the market this week.

Anonymous said...

Those fundies who make fun of TA shouldn't try to use it to predict ST market direction. Dow futes off 100.