Tag: Ronald Reagan

Meetings, South Road and Rescue Dogs

by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs
I liked this.
I liked this.

I have to say that I have attended some really good meetings – unfortunately this wasn’t one of them. I didn’t get back home until 8pm last night, so it was a very long day. If the meeting had gone any longer I would have had to try and arrange accommodation again since I wont drive the road home in the dark To drive for 380 klms on country roads in darkness is not my idea of fun. The meeting started at 9am and finished at 2:30pm. My favourite American President was Ronald Reagan  and I always liked his “Government is not the solution to the problem, Government is the problem” I’ve paraphrased that on several occasions.

Life in this little corner of the universe is never really dull – Friday 34c / Saturday 33c / Sunday 42c / Monday (today) been raining since 2am, temperature is 18c and it all started  with a natural fireworks show  that lasted for about half an hour and set Chienne off. I sat up with her until things calmed down, but the rain was pretty heavy for a while so it took a little bit longer than usual for her to calm down. It’s now just after 7am and still raining – and before you ask, no I have not been awake all night, I did get some sleep.

It rained for a good part of the day and there is more rain forecast. I think someone forgot to tell Mother Nature  ” Hello – it’s summer!”  I mean, only a crazy person will look forward to a 44c day but 30-33c is quite acceptable. Having said that,  I see from news reports that the Northern Hemisphere is getting some pretty rough weather at the moment. But here I am wearing a pullover because it’s not all that warm, and because of Adelaide and rain, I have not had the dogs out for walks for a few days.

The South Road is still an on-going building site but I must be getting used to it because I did not get. geographically misplaced despite navigating through it not once, but twice. The drive down was excellent – good weather and quiet roads until about 10k out of the city and the traffic coming out of the northern suburbs. Considering what was on in the city I was surprised to find that the place was not quite as crowded as I expected it to be. I didn’t really stay in the CBD for all that long and moved out to the suburbs so I have no idea what the city center might have looked like when the Cricket match ended and 33,poo people poured out of the Adelaide Oval. When I was out at Tea Tree Plaza I happened to look in a “Pet Shop”.  No I was not contemplating buying a dog and I wouldn’t buy one from a pet shop anyway. I was just curious. I have to say that the puppies looked really well fed and looked after = beautiful little things = but the prices shocked me. A Cavoodle, which is a cross between a Cavalier and a Poodle, was being offered for sale at $1300. Ok, so I know nothing about prices and perhaps this was

Dogs are considerate and helpful like that!
Dogs are considerate and helpful like that!

“average” I don’t know, I just thought that it was excessive. We only have one pet shop here and since I have never been inside of it – or outside of it for that matter – I have no idea what  prices are. The general perception is that pet shop puppies come from Puppy Farms or from back yard breeders, but I still think people will go to a pet shop before they would go to the pound and look at a rescue dog because they  feel that “if it is as good a dog as you say it is, why did the owner throw it away?” Unless you can answer that with some degree of certainty, people will go to pet shops and buy a puppy.

Dogs, adoption and Adelaide

by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

Adelaide;

Why do we transport dogs to Adelaide for adoption?  Why not adopt locally? Ok. Only this week a little Maltese Cross was tied up outside a local supermarket in a shopping area. It was a very warm day and it was only when the little thing started going into distress that people realised something was very wrong. Dog owners frequently take their dog with them when they go to the supermarket, tie the dog up outside, get their milk or whatever, leave,  pick up the dog and go home. It’s common practice – but this character (whoever he may be), tied the dog up and vanished. Because it is a common enough sight, no one really paid much attention for several hours. Once it was discovered that there was a problem and the owner was nowhere in sight, the RSPCA (ASPCA??) were called.  Not so very long ago two puppies were tied up to a tree 10 miles from town and left there. They were spotted by a passing motorist who called the RSPCA and the dogs were taken to the pound.  To paraphrase the words of the late President Reagan ” locally is not the solution to the problem – locally is the problem.”  Backyard breeders are a problem and dogs – and kittens – get dumped on the doorstep of the local vet. The staff have frequently come to open up in the morning and found a box on the doorstep with two, or more puppies in it.  The other problem is that this is a kill pound. Two weeks is all they can stay, then they are euthanised. I cannot foster because of my own dogs but I  do what I can and help out with my frequent trips to Adelaide, but we do have a good number of people who cae enough to TasFirefoster until a new home is found. Oh but we are not uncivilised and  the council no longer uses a gas chamber, but uses a lethal injection. The gas chamber was taken out of service in 2009.

Queensland and Northern New South Wales are recovering from major flooding whilst  parts of Victoria and Tasmania are again having serious fire problems. I have a friend in Tasmania who sent me some photographs  of the fire in the hills above her property. They look quite disturbing and orders are out for evacuations. I said before, in this little corner of the commonwealth we are relatively free from real extremes of weather, fires and floods.

I find it interesting how attitudes change over time – well mine has.  I once looked on my trips to town as a bonus,  because  the early start to the Saturday Conference meant I  had to travel down on the Friday. However as the participants have become, over the years, more and more  metro centric ( if it’s good for Adelaide it MUST be good for the whole of the State) and have this belief that nothing of any importance happens beyond the Adelaide boundaries, I have come to look on the  Conferences as the price I have to pay for my frequent trips to the city. Sad, really. Still,  the dogs that I help to rehome benefit and that can’t be a bad thing.