Seahorse
Monterey Bay Aquarium July

Seahorse
My Friend in Mexico yesterday

Good Buddies

Sunni and Cali are sharing their ration of psyllium and beet pulp just as my buddy, Cheryl, shares her experience of horse ownership with me.

I'm very fortunate to have met her.

More Hurricanes

Our cat, Floyd, turned 10 this weekend. The little feral Plain Jane has lived his extra lives to the fullest and can now live as a senior citizen with his senior citizen hosts.

10 years ago this week Hurricane Floyd wrecked havoc along the eastern seaboard, causing millions of dollars in damage with unrelenting rain and then flooding in Eastern North Carolina, our cat's birthplace. The island where he was born was evacuated when it looked like the approaching hurricane could be a problem.

When residents returned to the island after the worst of the storm passed, our good friend found this little rat in the middle of the road, abandoned by his mother before his eyes were even opened. Ray fed him from an eye-dropper, taught him to use a litter box properly, and turned him over to the other house cats for proper attitude adjustments.

Late in October of that year, my husband and I were back there having a little vacation in our beach house on the same street as Ray. We had lost one of our two rescue cats a few months before to a birth defect, and the surviving cat was still lost without his brother.

Ray was completely smitten with this little Floyd who would ride in the car right on his shoulder. Ray's wife was beside herself with an overabundance of cats they were already living with and gave Ray the ultimatum of culling the herd, or she would.

Lucky for us! We weren't really in the market but it seemed like Floyd might just be the perfect companion for our lonely Chester back in California. Floyd had whatever shots a 6 week old cat can have, and I purchased a soft-sided carrier so I could take him on the plane like a piece of carry-on luggage. The rule was something like the pet had to be 9 weeks old to fly so we lied and took him anyway.

Chester welcomed Floyd with open paws and started right in showing him the territory he would be responsible for in our housing development. Before we knew it, we had two roving bird and rodent and goldfish (or koi) murderers.

There is more to Floyd's story.

Hurrican Hits Home

It was late last week. Nobody up here knew anything about it. It didn't impact Cabo so it wasn't a story anymore. My friends down in my town are still suffering without water but they have electricity, phone, and good attitudes.

Another lovely day in Paradise with so many horses so little time. Cheryl Ann invited me up to visit her herd again right before school started. I felt very honored to be with her on her last day of summer vacation and share in her wonderful horseflesh. Everyone had their time out of the pens and got a little special attention.
Thank you, Cheryl. I hope your school year is wonderful. Those kids are lucky to have you for a teacher. I'm sure you change many little lives.

The Cove

I had the pleasure of a few days over in Santa Monica with my sister this week. When she has free time and I have free time we like to go to the Farmer's Market or a good movie. We got to do both on Wednesday. If there is an opportunity in your world to see The Cove I highly recommend it. Dolphins in Japan. Dolphin slaughter in Japan. From a man who worked on the Flipper TV series. Your heart will ache for his deeply felt guilt over not understanding the dolphin's condition until he lost his best friend, and how he is dedicating the rest of his life to their safety. Please see it and spread the word.

In other news, today my good buddy back in North Carolina sent me a snapshot of a recent Leatherback hatch on the Outer Banks. When we lived back there in the 90's, I was on a Turtle Patrol team. That meant walking the beach very early in the morning to see if there were turtle tracks and possible nests. Once the nests are identified they are cordoned off with police tape and checked daily to be sure no crabs, birds, or humans have disturbed them. After 60-70 days the nest boils (hatches) and out (up) pour dozens and dozens of hatchlings. It is then the Turtle Patrols' responsibility to safely see that the children crawl toward the ocean. That 50 or 100 yard crawl is very important for the babies' lungs. Thereafter they will need those expanded lungs to take deep breaths for their sea lives.

I wonder when the whole world will understand how important our oceans are to our terrestrial lives.

Cactus Blooms