Paws Awhile

Shelby’s Help!!!

I received an update from Laurinda yesterday and want to share it with all of you.

Dear Debbie,

I wanted to give you some great news! Shelby is having her amputation tomorrow, 1/13/10, thanks to the San Luis Obispo Golden Retriever Club’s donations. I had contacted a friend to ask for a referral of a doctor that I inquired about after hearing about another Golden Retriever who had some problems with her legs and had one amputated. This request led to the President of the Golden Retriever Club offering services of asking local vets for help and then for donations after the vet was selected!

I am pleased to let you know that your post also helped on Paws Awhile! The surgery is being performed for future vets at Cal Poly University, San Luis Obispo tomorrow and I am so pleased that the students will be learning about helping animals in this way, and that the vet has over 20 years of experience with various surgeries and animal treatments, including many amputations.

I will be happy to send a picture of her after the surgery is completed and she has healed. I wanted to send you this gorgeous picture that was taken by the President of the Golden Retriever Club here, to obtain the help she so desperately needs to have her leg amputated.

Isn’t this fantastic? Thanks again!

Sincerely,

Laurinda & Shelby!!!

And Then Came The Rain

Central Louisiana was awaken in the wee hours of the morning to storms.  There was thunder, lightening and rain, lots of rain.  We got 10 inches in just a few hours.  Over 90% of the parish has been without electricity since Monday, now their houses and streets are full of water.  The pumps were damaged during the hurricane, so there is also a shortage of usable water.  The mayor has ordered that all non essential businesses close until further notice.  We have been under tornado warnings all day.

The news is on now showing video.  It is unbelievable.  The entire parish and several surrounding parishes are flooded.  The are showing livestock that have drowned trying to swim to land.  People are wading through the water trying to get out.  The shelters are full with evacuees from the southern part of the state.  Now all the churches are full.  The interstate is also full with people trying to return home, even though they were told not too.  There is a chance that they will get there and have to turn around and come back because of Ike.  To add insult to injury, Louisiana is also the mosquito capitol of the world.

They also just reported that there is nothing about it on the national news.  CNN just requested video from the local station.

On a personal note, we never lost electricity.  We lost cable for a few hours, but we got it back quickly.  Water did not get in our house.  It came close to my brother’s but did not come in.  He still does not have electricity.  My nephew has been without electricity also.  His girlfriend and her roommate stayed at his apartment because they were afraid to be alone during the hurricane.  He was able to move his and his girlfriends car to higher ground, but was unable to move her friends car. 

And it’s not over yet.  The sky is black and it’s starting to rain again.

HERE COMES THE HURRICANE

This is Louisiana and Gustav is coming to visit.  A very unwelcome guest I might add.  There is no gasoline to be found and the price has been raised at the out of the way places that do have a little left.  We are stocking up on bread, water, canned goods and things like that.  You can live a long time on peanut butter and crackers if you have to.  Everything is being secured and water stored.  Sand bags are being distributed.  Traffic is awful.

New Orleans and all the towns around them have been evacuated.  All those people are coming this way, but the hotels, motels and shelters are full.  They are being sent further north.  Chances are we won’t have to leave, but thankfully we do have family left in north Louisiana.  And in Dallas if we should have to go that far.  That would be highly unlikely.

At least this time we have a new Governor.  Governor Jindal went to work early last week getting things lined up.  He not asking people to evacuate, he is telling them to.  And he is not waiting for the federal government to take care of everything.  He is working with them but he is taking action on his own.  The Governor called out the National Guard early on.  He made plans and arrangements for transportation.  School bus drivers weren’t sent south.  They were told to drive their buses to the National Guard and the people who know what they are doing drove the buses.  Buses and trains have transported thousands of people and their pets out of south Louisiana.  Hundreds of large animals have been moved to safer places.  There was a plan for the pets and animals, which was important to me and a lot of other people.  During Katrina a lot of people would not evacuate because they would have to leave their pets behind.  Those that left with their pets found they could not get into a shelter.  We had people living in their cars on parking lots with their pets.  Not this time.  Governor Jindal did not let that happen this time.

The weather service is forecasting that Gustav will make landfall sometime tomorrow, Labor Day.  We should get high winds, 15 to 20 inches of rain, and flooding.  I will get an extra day off from work on Tuesday, but not one I will enjoy.

Hopefully all will go well, everyone will be safe and the levees will hold.  Please keep everyone in Louisiana, Mississippi and southeast Texas in your prayers.

Prayer List

Please pray for all the people in the Midwest who are affected by the tornadoes and floods. 

And please remember to include their pets and livestock, all the homeless animals and the wildlife.

Please pray that Sarah finds a good job.

Remember all the shelter animals in your prayers.

St. Francis of Assisi