March 24, 2012

Some Other People Who, by Geraldo's Standards, Are Asking to Be Shot

March 13, 2012

Mass Dolphin Rescue Off Rio Coast

A dramatic video showing 30 beached dolphins being rescued by beachgoers in Brazil.

Another longer video:

March 12, 2012

This afternoon pretty much sucked and ended badly

It's already been a trying week so my knees hurt like hell last night. I ended up taking doses of both medicines for my knees - something I haven't done in over a year. As usual when I take Vicodin, I woke up with a really bad headache, plus the anti-inflammatory no longer does much good, so my knees still hurt like hell.

I dragged through the morning then decided to go look for some things in our storage shed. On the over, I saw the kid who has horses out here trying to catch a horse he has on commission and went to give him a hand. The horse was caught, loaded and the kid took off. I found the stuff I was looking for and headed back to the house.

As I passed the broodmare pasture, I realized their gate was down and both mares and the foal born last month were just standing in the opening. Then I got closer and realized there was a second foal on the ground, not moving much. I propped the gate up, noticing it was covered in blood, and rushed to the house to get my husband. Then I called the kid which turned out to be a good thing. I also called my vet to give her a heads up but she was one of the vets on duty at an international horse event and couldn't leave - she did have a vet on call for her and told me to call back if I needed help.

The foal's condition was concerning - he was thin, breathing was labored and he just was not moving very much. When he did try to move, he was floppy and uncoordinated. While I was evaluating him, the kid's parents and sister arrived. We got the gate rehung, moved the other mare and foal to a different pasture, and checked over the foal. While he was big enough to be full term, he just didn't look or act right.

The biggest worry was that he was a "dummy" foal, usually caused by something at birth that cuts the oxygen to the brain and causes enough damage that they don't have a strong suckling reflex or the coordination to stand. But he was a beautifully formed foal and we hoped it wasn't true. We all watched him for hours. Every time I was ready to say he was definitely not going to make it, he'd try again to stand. We got a nipple and bottle and some artificial colostrum (first milk) and tried to bottle feed him. His suckle reflex was weak to non-existent.

My vet called back after two hours to check and we decided to give the colt a little longer. Finally, I called back and she had a break so could come see what she could do. She tried putting a tube into the colt's stomach and pumping colostrum directly into him. Any stress at all, he could not get enough oxygen and would go a little blue.

He got no boost from the milk we did get into him and I had to make the call. That beautiful colt is now buried in our bottom field near the grave of his great-great-great-grandmother. This was the last foal of the stallion - he died of old age last fall. This may be the last foal for this mare - we had trouble getting her settled so I guess this foal was not meant to be.

This sucked. This is only the third time in over thirty years of breeding we've had to bury a new born.

March 9, 2012

Seamus the dog derails another Republican

Today at lunch I was meeting with some needlework groups of the needlework group I'm in. As we were leaving one of the ladies asked about the colt we had a month ago and wanted to know what we finally decided to name him.

I said, "Seamus" and started laughing. One, an avowed right winger, asked, "Seamus?" and I answered, "Yes, I named him for Mitt Romney's dog."

This completely confused her since she knows that I am a flaming liberal so another member and I were explaining why Mitt's dog is sort of famous to our side of the political spectrum. The right winger had not heard the story of Seamus and the Romney clan trip to Canada.

At first she thought we were joking, because we were laughing about it but then she realized that we were serious about the incident with the car carrier on the roof of the car - and she was OUTRAGED! The right winger is an animal lover and could not believe any sane human being would be so callous as to travel with a dog in a carrier strapped to the roof of their car. She got REALLY pissed when I told her about Mitt stopping to hose down the car, carrier, and dog only to continue on the trip.

We all agreed that someone who would do that to a dog is just not right in the head. I can't wait to see how she deals with it in the future, though she could easily be one of the Tea Party types that doesn't like Mitt anyway.

March 6, 2012

Six-Legged Giant Finds Secret Hideaway, Hides For 80 Years

It's almost heartwarming.

March 6, 2012

The article on Daily Kos yesterday about the 16 year old is linked by the Obama Campaign

I've spent the past 2 days trying to convince my 16 yo she is not a slut

I don't have a link to where the campaign connected to it - it may be on FaceBook or Twitter - my husband is on one or the other of those (I'm not) and got a message tonight from the Obama campaign with a link to this article and came downstairs absolutely livid about what has happened to this child.

My husband's take on it, "Any man with a wife or daughter who heard Limbaugh make those comments and not get upset deserves to have his head cut off."

This is my sweet, mild mannered husband who normally has to calm me down when I get worked up about things. We were both young adults when Roe v Wade was decided. Before I met him, he helped two friends get abortions . They weren't his girlfriends, just friends who needed help. He's helped friends buy birth control, given lots of good advice to a lot of our young women friends, helped a lot of friends and acquaintances out of abusive relationships.

He's more of a Women's Libber than I am. And he's almost never violent in speech and never violent in action.

But he is PISSED at Rush Limbaugh. Not just for what Rush has said about Sandra Fluke or what he's said about every woman in this country that uses hormones for whatever reason.

My husband is pissed that a gentle 16 year old girl is being harassed because of the hate Rush Limbaugh has injected into this country.

March 5, 2012

Meet Molly

She's a gray speckled pony who was abandoned by her owners when Hurricane Katrina hit southern Louisiana . She spent weeks on her own before finally being rescued and taken to a farm where abandoned animals were stockpiled.

While there, she was attacked by a dog and almost died. Her gnawed right front leg became infected, and her vet went to LSU for help, but LSU was overwhelmed, and this pony was a welfare case. You know how that goes.

But after surgeon Rustin Moore met Molly, he changed his mind. He saw how the pony was careful to lie down on different sides so she didn't seem to get sores, and how she allowed people to handle her. She protected her injured leg. She constantly shifted her weight and didn't overload her good leg. She was a smart pony with a serious survival ethic.

Moore agreed to remove her leg below the knee, and a temporary artificial limb was built.
Molly walked out of the clinic and her story really begins there.



'This was the right horse and the right owner,' Moore insists. Molly happened to be a one-in-a-million patient. She's tough as nails, but sweet, and she was willing to cope with pain. She made it obvious she understood that she was in trouble. The other important factor, according to Moore, is having a truly committed and compliant owner who is dedicated to providing the daily care required over the lifetime of the horse.

Molly's story turns into a parable for life in Post-Katrina Louisiana ......... The little pony gained weight, and her mane finally felt a comb. A human prosthesis designer built her a leg.

The prosthetic has given Molly a whole new life, Allison Barca, DVM, Molly's regular vet, reports.

And she asks for it. She will put her little limb out, and come to you and let you know that she wants you to put it on. Sometimes she wants you to take it off too. And sometimes, Molly gets away from Barca.

'It can be pretty bad when you can't catch a three-legged horse,' she laughs.

Most important of all, Molly has a job now. Kay, the rescue farm owner, started taking Molly to shelters, hospitals, nursing homes, and rehabilitation centers. Anywhere she thought that people needed hope. Wherever Molly went, she showed people her pluck. She inspired people, and she had a good time doing it.

'It's obvious to me that Molly had a bigger role to play in life, Moore said. She survived the hurricane, she survived a horrible injury, and now she is giving hope to others.' Barca concluded, 'She's not back to normal, but she's going to be better. To me, she could be a
Symbol for New Orleans itself.'



This is Molly's most recent prosthesis. The bottom
photo shows the ground surface that she stands on,
which has a smiley face embossed in it. Wherever
Molly goes, she leaves a smiley hoof print behind.


Molly's story starts about 2 minutes in:

http://www.snopes.com/photos/animals/molly.asp

Molly also has a book out: http://www.amazon.com/Molly-Pony-Story-Pam-Kaster/dp/0807133205

Disaster Preparedness info from LSU School of Veterinary Medicine: http://www.vetmed.lsu.edu/disaster_preparedness.htm

March 4, 2012

Petitions are fine but WRITE you Congress people to get Rush off AFN!

Earlier I posted the information about the petition at WhiteHouse.gov to ask Defense Secretary Leon Panetta to take Rush Limbaugh off AFN.

Here is an article I found about whether AFN is a sponsor of Limbaugh's radio show here in the US. At the bottom is some very important information if we really want to get him off AFN and off the air.

Emphasis added.

March 4, 2012

Whitehouse.gov petition to take Limbaugh OFF Armed Forced Radio! LINK FIXED

March 4, 2012

Low end tablets - any recommendations

I'm thinking of buying my first tablet - never had one, never even looked at any until recently. Since I'm not sure how much it will get used past the new gadget phase, I don't want to spend much money.

Mostly what I am thinking of using it for is as a more portable web device than our aging laptop - email, a little web surfing, maybe watch some YouTube (or at the high end Netflix or Hulu videos, though I've never bothered with those before and I'm not sure I would). I'll be going in for knee replacement soon (I hope) and a tablet would be easier to deal with than the laptop, so now's a good time to think about getting one.

My SIL got a Lepan tablet for herself for Christmas and it looked pretty cool for a $200 device. It is now an outmoded model, but for an entry level, I'm wondering if it would do enough to keep me and my husband happy for a while. Here is that model at NewEgg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834322001
There is a newer version for $80 more:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834322002

For $200, NewEgg also has a Vizio tablet that has a smaller screen but is otherwise equivalent:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16858262003

If I'm willing to spend $100 more, there are a lot more models to consider and that is where I bog down. I don't know what is important.

So what would anyone here recommend for a ***NON Apple brand*** tablet?
Android OS? Which version?
Screen size? (I'd like as big as possible without getting too heavy.)
Memory, storage, etc?
Connection type - WiFi, 3G?

What else do I need to consider?

Thanks!