Paws Awhile

MAMA AT THE CASINO

Last Thursday was my Mom’s birthday.  She turned 73.  I have been trying to get her to visit the casino for some time, but she never seemed interested.  I told her about the lights and the excitement.  I told her about the food.  It tried everything I could think of.  She still had no desire to go.  That was until about a month ago.  Out of the blue one day she said she wanted to go on her birthday.  The big surprise came when she told my brother, “All I want for my birthday is to go to the casino.”  Turns out they were giving away $100,000 on her birthday.

We all agreed if that was all she wanted that was what she would get.  We all made arrangements to be free that day.  A plan that fell through for me.  Every time I make plans to be off work one co-worker always throws a monkey wrench into the mix.  Whether it’s my vacation, a day off for the first time in months or a special occasion, she causes a problem.  My mom’s birthday would not be an exception.  So at 5:30PM we headed out.  My brother Mike, my sister-in-law Debi, nephew Jacob, Jacob’s girlfriend Sarah, Jacob’s roommate Randall and I took Mama to her first adventure at a casino.

She was amazed.  It’s not like she’s never been anywhere.  She has been all over the country and has always been up to trying anything that came about.  She had just never seen a casino.  We got signed up for a card.  You had to have one to be in the drawing.  And we had driven over an hour to that particular casino to be in that drawing.  We started out on the penny machines.  After dinner we moved up to nickels.  Mama done well for her first outing, winning $39.  She caught on to the slots really fast.  I know it’s not a big deal, but it was her first time.  The funny thing was when she asked “What are all these old people doing here?”  Remember it was her 73^rd birthday.  My gift was her gambling stake.  Mike and Debi drove us down and sprang for dinner.

It turned out to be a great evening.  We all had a lot of fun and some laughs.  Even more so because we were all there together teaching Mama to gamble.

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.

And The Animals Cried

The following is a reprint from Cynthia Jardon’s blog, Cynla, on TheTownTalk.com

 And The Animals Cried

He wasn’t Dr. Dolittle, but for the animals at the Alexandria Zoo, Les Whitt, zoo director there for 35 years, was probably a combination of Dr. Dolittle, surrogate father, sometimes mom, protector and benevolent uncle all rolled into one. Les died Aug. 16. Many of us have lost a cherished friend. The city has lost one of its compass points.

I send out my prayers and deepest sympathy for his wife, LeeAnn, and daughters in this time of grief.

And I ache for the animals. They will look for Les in the days to come.

Kumar, the white tiger Les practically raised from a young cub, will watch at the gate. He will walk to and fro snuffling. He, along with the other animals, will be confused, anxious and a little angry when Les never again shows up to take them for a walk or ruffle their fur or just say hello.

Nothing will comfort them. But the continued presence of other zookeepers they recognize will ease their grief and fear some.

Eventually Kumar and the others will stop watching for him – eventually.

Time moves us on whether we like it or not. The absence will still be felt, but it will no longer be unexpected.

Had Les been able to make it so, he would never have left them. It was his time, however, to move on. Animals understand that whole circle of life thing better than most humans.

They will accept his absence and not rail at the fates that took him away. For we humans, that’s not such an easy lesson to learn.

Bon voyage, Les.

Cup Drivers and Nationwide

There has been a lot of debate about Cup drivers racing in the Nationwide series.  So far I have been able to see both sides of the argument.

I agree that Cup drivers draw larger crowds and are needed to bring in the money.  They also provide a little more excitement.  At the same time they often take away the chance for younger, less experienced drivers to win races and the championship.  Sometimes they make it painfully clear which young drivers don’t have what it takes to race with the big boys.  Sometimes there is no doubt we are watching a champion at the beginning of his career.

NASCAR does insure Cup drivers have a handicap.  They drive different cars with a different number, different sponsor, different crew and more often than not a different owner.  Some may drive for several owners.  Most of the Cup drivers spend time with the younger guys.  They offer advice, pointers and encouragement.  Clint Bowyer and Carl Edwards have their sights set on the Championship.  Kyle Busch, David Ragan, David Reutimann and several more drive in most if not all the races.  In other words, they have made a commitment to the Nationwide Series.  I don’t know about other drivers, but Kyle Busch will drive for owners and teams who are new and trying to get started in the series.  Kyle also drives in the truck series and does not get paid.  He drives strictly to help the owner and because he loves to race.

That brings us to this weekend at Watkins Glen and Jimmie Johnson.  Jimmie never drives in Nationwide, but decided to enter this race because he needed the practice before the Cup race and it would be “cool” to bring home the trophy since he only has one.  And he did not come alone.  He brought Chad Knaus and his entire Cup crew.  He had the number 48 car, co-owned by Rick Hendrick and Jr. Earnhardt which was sponsored by Lowes.  Jimmie seems like a really nice guy and is no doubt a great driver, but in the interview I saw he came across as arrogant and entitled.  He did not break any rules by racing.  As far as I know, he did everything by the book, but he should not have been in this race.  The whole setup was just wrong.

In my opinion NASCAR should put some restrictions on Cup drivers and crews who want to participate in Nationwide.  Drivers should be required to drive in a certain number of races or none at all.  Ringers should not be allowed in either series.  They should have to drive with a regular Nationwide crew with no members from a Cup crew.  If a Cup crew wants to work in Nationwide, they should be required to be on a team for a young driver with little seat time and for an owner who is just starting out or has limited resources.  If NASCAR is so big on evening the playing field to the point of lowering horsepower on some cars they should be doing the same with the people involved.  NASCAR and everyone else should be outraged at Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus.

If some of you want to come back at me about other drivers who bring their crew with them that is fine.  I don’t know any who do but if there is someone who does, I will stand by my opinion and say the same about them.  Jimmie and other Cup drivers should come to Nationwide alone and for the joy of racing or not come at all.

Marcos Ambrose won today’s race.  He is a full time Nationwide driver and this was his first NASCAR victory.

Kyle Busch finished in second place.  He has raced in almost every Nationwide race.

Jimmie Johnson finished in 29^th after running out of gas in the last laps.

Saturdays Only!

Due to the heat and rising gas prices Jessie has decided to only open the barn on Saturdays. This is very disappointing. We really need to be open and selling. I can understand where she is coming from. She is losing money if she has to pay the utilities and no one comes in buying. I am afraid that we will lose customers and it will be very hard to get them back. Jessie originally wanted to close all together during August and September. I guess I should be grateful we were able to talk her into staying open on Saturdays. Either way it was a blow.

Please pray the Prayer That Never Fails for me, my mom and Paws Awhile.

Paws Awhile Community

I have not been around any this week because of a big project on the website. Paws Awhile now has a community site.

When I decided to do a website, I sat down and figured it out. It took a while to get it up and running, but I had to do it or it wouldn’t get done. There was no extra money hanging around for such things as a website. The site was a means to get money for our pet cemetery. I sat at the computer for days at a time working on it. I read everything I could find. And I learned HTML. It has been an ongoing part of my life since. Every time I work on it I learn a little more.

Then came the blog. My web hosting package is upgraded regularly. It changes as the Internet grows and changes. So, when they offered a blog as part of my website, I was ready to give it a try. I hit a couple of stumbling blocks but was able to maneuver my way through. Before long Paws Awhile had a blog. I even felt confident enough to set up a site and blog for Ebenezer Estate Sales. You see, my sister-in-law is the owner and she has about as little money as I do.

That brings us to the community page. I noticed that TikiWiki was being offered on our web packages. Reading further I discovered that Tiki was exactly what we both needed. Ebenezer Estate Sales more than Paws Awhile. Here we go again. Only this time there was a hitch. The instructions did not make one bit of sense to me. I spent days trying to figure it out. I went to the Tiki website. Again, I could have been reading Chinese. I couldn’t understand it. I didn’t even know where to start. I asked my nephew, Jacob, for help. He had never heard of Tiki. Now, this was just down right upsetting. I have always been good with computers. I have always been able to figure out how to do what I want. I have always been able to read instructions and follow them. Never have I run into something where I didn’t even know where to begin. And now, with Tiki, I didn’t have a clue.

However, my most pronounced character trait is “Stubborn as a Mule!” I was not going to let this get the best of me. It was time for Google. There I found Tiki for Smarties. For my piece of mind this was a God send. They give step by step instructions. Such as, “Click on Save”. It took a total of 20 hours, but Paws Awhile and Ebenezer Estate Sales each now have a community section on their websites. Most importantly, I am still sane.

Surely, now that all of you have read about the struggle I had setting up these sites, you will think you have to check them out. You will want to sign the Guest Book so I will know you did and then make comments so that I will know what you think and what I did wrong.

I do hope you visit us and enjoy the both of the sites.