Peta Paper - Truth Stranger Than Fiction

This fun story makes the Seinfeld reference, "No, I can't spare a square" come to life. Read on. 

From NBC10  Philadelphia, March 14, 2012:

Trenton Accepts Anti-Meat Toilet Paper From PETA

by Teresa Masterson 

Alerted to the fact that all Trenton city buildings are almost out of toilet paper because of a fight between the mayor’s administration and the city council, PETA stepped up to the bowl.

The controversial animal-rights group offered Mayor Tony Mack a six-month supply of toilet paper with an anti-meat, anti-slaughterhouse message printed throughout each roll. The mayor accepted.

This means that for the next six months, Trenton police officers, fire fighters, senior center patrons and all other city employees will be reading “Slaughterhouses are so filthy that more than half of all meat is contaminated with fecal bacteria. Wipe cruelty from your diet. Go vegan. PETA,” every time they go to the bathroom, reports the Times of Trenton.

"If Trenton's City Council cannot reach an agreement today, I have a cheeky solution that will help offset your financial troubles and call attention to public health and cruelty to animals at the same time," PETA executive vice president Tracy Reiman wrote to the mayor. "This unique bathroom reading material would help city employees consider a vegan diet, and prevent their health from going down the toilet.

"While the administration is against animal cruelty, we are neither prompting nor encouraging PETA's political message, rather we appreciate their generous gift," the mayor's spokeswoman Laura Ira told NBC10 Philadelphia.

Gotta love PeTA!!

The Other Office Cat - Sherbet

You may remember me writing about Moxie, the black/tabby cat I'm feeding behind my office building. Not long ago an orange kitty, one I've seen before but at least a year ago, started showing up too. The kitty (named Sherbet by my coworkers) is an unaltered male that has been in fights. His ear is torn (healed) and he has had a variety of limps that make me think he's been getting new injuries from time to time. I've contacted the TNR folks who will trap him in order to take him to the vet and for now the trap is just sitting empty to allow the kitty to get used to it. At some put they will put food in the trap and see what happens. I'm worried they'll trap Moxie instead of Sherbet, but what can you do? We'll just have to try.

Here is a picture of Sherbet as I was walking to my car after I fed him.

Once I got in the car he must have thought I was no longer reason for concern, and he settled down for a nice nap in the setting sun.

Peach Blossoms

This weekend we went to the Anne Springs Close Greenway in order to check out the potential bike riding paths (they only have areas for serious mountain bikers) and passed their peach trees. They are in full bloom. (remember you can click on any pic to make it bigger)

What you see from the highway.

It smelled like heaven here, not like fragrant blossoms, but like the ground, vegetation and hay you'd smell at a farm. That may have something to do with the fact that across the driveway lie the horse pastures.

And to think that these pink flowers will become peach-colored fruits. What a crazy artist that Mother Nature is!

Happy Birthday To Me

I know nobody reads my blog except for a couple of family members so I don't think my sister will mind me sharing an excerpt from what she wrote on my birthday card:

Rest assured that I will be remembering the day I danced a jig around Dad because he wanted a boy and I got the sister I had been waiting so long for. And then he bought me a strawberry milkshake. A special day indeed!

So blame her that this vegan-ish person decided to see what a strawberry shake tastes like! Believe it or not I've never had a strawberry shake and as good as it was it's not something I'd need to have again. I promise you that in this day of Supersize Me my 'small' shake was larger than anything my dad could possibly have bought my sister 28 years ago on the date of my birth!


And sis, don't feel guilty if you ended up being happier about the shake than the red squalling baby you were about to share everything with... your bedroom, your make-up, your bubble gum...

Saturday Bike Ride

We don't have the good bike trails here that Martha and Ken have in Illinois, so each time we decide to ride bikes the question is "Where?" Yesterday we checked out Tech Park which lies between York Technical College and the tech businesses in Industrial Park. It's a nice park with a broad walkway and pond for duck lovers, but as a bike path we gave it mixed reviews.

I've realized, and Saeed has said as much, that for him what's important is "getting somewhere." He doesn't like going around in circles no matter how pretty the scenery. For me the issue is my surroundings, so going around in circles (as long as they're big circles) is OK if I'm surrounded by the beauty of nature. So as a bike route Tech Park got a thumbs up from me and I imagine a thumbs down from Saeed.

Mr. Gotta Get Somewhere

This little creek is below the bridge Saeed is on in the above pic. Beautiful.

The Canadian Geese were loud and busy. Must be mating season..

This guy has been watching Big Love.

Some kind of heron.

Turtles were out by the dozens sunning themselves in groups.

Eastern redbud.

I promise, I didn't just take pictures, I rode my bike too. :-)

Big Love

Saeed and I are watching the last season (5) of Big Love, an HBO series that ended in 2010. Just like when we were watching the Sopranos a few years ago we race home from work, scoop litter, fix something to eat, and then run to the living room to pop in the Netflix DVD for the next episode. This may be part of the reason I haven't been blogging, sorry! We made Tita watch the two episodes that begin season 5 when she was here recently. Here's a sample of seasons 1-4:

Great Big Beautiful Owl

I went out my door this morning and disturbed this big beautiful owl. It was down in the leaves, probably about to nab a mouse, when it heard me and flew up to the tree branch. Those big round eyes kept watching me as I spoke to it and eventually walked to my car. I love these brushes with wild animals. After reading Wesley The Owl and watching an owl box of babies for a whole summer I know how unique owls are in their functioning and manner. SO fascinating and SO beautiful.

 BARRED OWL

And The Fast Begins

Just close your eyes and listen... so beautiful, so soothing.

February 29th

It must be odd to be a day
that folks forget is there.
It disappears three out of four
and no one seems to care.

Rossini, Shore, and Dorsey
all felt the timely beat
of birthdays spread like quarter notes
but age they could not cheat.

Feline Meditation

I caught Obi meditating on the steam from my pot of oatmeal this morning. I'm not kidding. He was seriously watching that steam for several minutes.