Friends


flickriver.com

I've been out of town for a week, and the rest of this week will be taken up with our 24th annual Mendocino Coast Writers conference. www.mcwc.org  

P.S. For writers suffering in the heat, the fog is in on the coast.

In the meantime, enjoy this little film.

http://bbemaildelivery.com/bbext/?p=video_land&id=698ef524-730d-4afa-9e78-aea9d16ecf9f


A reminder to Suzanne's friends, her
 memorial will be Friday the 26th, 4 p.m. at
the College.

Amelia Island Osprey by Sandra Baker-Hinton


travel-usnews.com

An artist friend in Florida, Sandra Baker-Hinton, sent this to me after I sent her the link to the Maine Osprey nest Live Cam. Sandra is also involved with sea turtle nest monitoring. This is her blog

We have a little drama going on with our (Osprey) nest here on Amelia Island. I snapped these photos this morning as I left the park after turtle patrol. (The nest) was mounted high on a pole just beside the original nest after the old nest kept falling piecemeal onto the power lines below. Nice to have them care enough to do that for the birds rather than just tear their nest apart. The ospreys took to the nest right away and built yearly right on schedule, except for the year the owls beat them to it, but the minute the owls left with their youngsters, the Ospreys moved right back in.  We have a rather informal group which communicates by email and tries to monitor and report to each other any news from "the pole".  We call ourselves the "pole watchers", and have taken the names for the Ospreys from another fellow who works down the street and watches them also. He calls them, Alpha (the male) and Little Girl (the female of course). Last year we were very sad when the storm, Beryl, drowned the new chicks in the nest.  Alpha and Little Girl went through the motions of rebuilding their nest but when the nesting hormones subsided they finally abandoned their efforts and did not get to raise any in the 2012 nest.  This year things were off to a good start, with no damage from any of the early storms, and two hatchlings in the nest it was determined by "the pole watchers."  Then we began to suspect something had happened when we could only spot one of the parents feeding and caring for the young. Usually the male hunts while the female stays at or nearby watching the nest. Now there was never anyone there except at feeding time. Then a report came to one of us that an Osprey had been found very nearby in the middle of the road with a badly broken wing. Our worst fears were confirmed, tempered by the glimmer of hope that the other osprey was at least alive. The bird was taken to B.E.A.K.S, a wild bird sanctuary, where we found out it did indeed have a very badly broken wing, and although it will live, the bird will never fly again in the wild. The next chore is to identify which bird was hurt, as none of our photos of the remaining parent have been good enough to see if it has the distinguishing "necklace" of the female but we feel pretty sure that Little Girl is the one now feeding and nurturing the chick. We will know for sure when I go to B.E.A.K.S. to get some photos of the Osprey, there and do a story about them.  We have one chick remaining in the nest and are hoping the other one just fledged early and did not get eaten by an owl or eagle. The photos today are of the remaining osprey chick which is almost ready to leave the nest.  Poor Little Girl is such a trooper to work so hard as a single mom to hunt, feed and raise the chicks alone.  

thefreshwaterfly.com

This is the live cam on the Maine Osprey nest. The babies are growing like weeds.
Learn more about ospreys
http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/birds/osprey/


Responsible or irresponsible?

During a recent classroom interview, the teacher asked me to tell her students what I'd like them to remember. They'd read Hurt Go Happy. You would think, after 30 years of writing, I'd know what I wanted my take-home message to be, but I had to stop and think. What was my sound bite? What could I say that they would remember?

When I was growing up my mother took me to the Sanford (Florida) Zoo. I was only 6 or 7, but I remember feeling sorry for the animals. Sixty years ago, it was a horrible place. All the animals were is small cages, and people would throw peanuts or popcorn or the butt end of a hot dog bun at them, trying to get a reaction--some display of emotion. I've never been to another zoo, or a circus, or to a Sea World-like aquarium except to do research. Decades have passed and we still keep animals in cages, and whales and dolphins in concrete tanks, then starve them so they will do tricks for food. We lock monkeys and chimpanzees, dogs and cats in cages and test chemicals on them.

So what do I want from you? I hope, if you go to a zoo, a circus, or an aquarium, or see a commercial or a movie with an animal in it, that you will ask yourself where did that animal come from, and what was done to it to make it do what it is doing to amuse me? Then I want the life it's living to break your heart.



Justin Bieber's monkey
http://gawker.com/5993391/postcards-from-prison-8-adorable-images-of-justin-biebers-monkey-under-german-quarantine




farmingshow.com
and then there's
 The Gentle Barn
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/the-upbeat/rescued-animals-difference-lives-kids-150628186.html?vp=1

Once in 26 years was enough by Ronnie James



Long-tailed weasel
500px.com


Pop Goes the Weasel

At Point Cabrillo Light Station a few years ago, I, and a steady stream of tourists, watched one Long-tailed weasel consume an entire family of gophers. Gopher holes are connected underground and our lighthouse weasel spent over an hour--undisturbed by the audience--popping out of first one hole then another. I can also personally attest that nothing scares a weasel. I had one in my yard some years back, and watched him/her keep five cats at bay, circling, snapping, and charging them until they threw up their paws and withdrew.

As an aside, here on the Mendocino Coast gophers are the ban of every gardener, but we might well be speaking Russian if it weren't for them. They made farming so miserable for early Russian settlers that they gave up and left, but not before they wiped out the sea otters as far south as Big Sur. Sea otter recovery, from the small population discovered there a few decades ago, has been slow and to date only reaches as far north as the Farallons.

brdpics.blogspot.com
LTW in their northern range turn white
in the winter.



Weasel Rescue by Ronnie James

Someone found a small ball of fur curled into a tight ball sleeping on the sand in the middle of a vast beach south of Mendocino. It slept peacefully when they picked it up, so they took it to a State Park ranger who called us. This was Woodlands Wildlife's first long tailed weasel in 26 years, so I spoke with a friend at a large facility that was experienced with weasels. Interestingly I learned that most weasels that come into rehab are found this way--curled in a ball asleep in an exposed place. Some can be handled and don't wake up. If they do, they just look around and go back to sleep. However, within a few minutes, of being fed and watered, they turn into killing machines. In spite of their diminutive size they possess large strong jaws and rows of shark-like teeth which they use to bite and viciously attack anything in range.

I gave it some water and food, then watched in amazement as the docile creature lunged at and tried to attack anything near its cage--my hand and the forceps I use to push the food into it's cage, and it grabbed and tore apart the paper cup I tipped through the bars to pour water into its dish. It even spread the fairly heavy wire bars on it's cage, but fortunately not enough to get out. Then it chewed a clothespin to smithereens and went back to sleep.


I am finally understanding the story in my book about the woman who raised one as a pet and when it was a few months old, it was sleeping in her lap and suddenly leaped up and tore a big gash in her hand requiring a trip to the emergency room and stitches. It probably went through puberty while it was asleep on her lap and woke up a normal adult weasel. I was able to keep weasel in the cage for 2 days during which time this 8-inch-body-plus-5-inch-tail ate 4 adult mice (already purchased dead and frozen from a wildlife food provider) each day. He also used a litter pan (pie plate) and the room began to smell a lot like dead skunk. Weasels are members of the skunk family. I wasn't going to get into the cage to clean him, and he certainly had enough energy to be out killing his own food, so I released him near a meadow and stream with lots of mice and gophers to hunt. There's one animal I won't mind not seeing for another 26 years. --Ronnie James



Ronnie James
Woodlands Wildlife
Woodlandswildlife@mcn.org
www.TouchingWings.org

To learn more about our local Long-tailed Weasel and for great pictures of them, follow this link.

Victory for Chimpanzees!

  
This week, the National Institutes of Health made their final determination regarding the future of using chimpanzees in research.  After going through the 13,000 individual comments that were submitted during the public comment period this spring, the NIH has decided to significantly reduce the number of chimpanzees in research.  A little over 300 NIH-owned chimpanzees will be released and up for retirement in the coming years.  The Center for Great Apes applauds this decision that is definitely a step in the right direction.  We look forward to continue to work with the sanctuary community to get ALL chimpanzees out of research.  
However, the NIH plans to keep 50 chimpanzees behind for future research needs.  They are not allowed to breed these individuals, and must meet the newly accepted recommendations set out by the Council of Councils Working Group such as space requirements, “ethologically appropriate” enclosures (i.e. those that would occur in natural surroundings), etc.  You can read more about the NIH’s decision here: http://www.nih.gov/news/health/jun2013/od-26.htm
Pant hoots to the beginning of the end of chimpanzees in research!

Toddy with her Wubba toy
Address postal inquiries to:
Center for Great Apes
PO Box 488
Wauchula, FL 33873-0488
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eTapestry

Hopeful News, Bad News

By
Published: June 11, 2013
The United States Fish and Wildlife Service proposed Tuesday to bring captive chimpanzees under the protection of the Endangered Species Act, a move that would create one more major barrier to conducting invasive medical research on the animals for human diseases.

 

If the proposal is enacted, permits will be required for any experiment that harms chimps, and both public and privately financed researchers will have to show that the experiment contributes to the survival of chimps that remain in the wild. The recommendation is now open to public comment for 60 days.


The demand for chimps in medical research has dwindled, and the National Institutes of Health is expected to respond to recommendations from its own committee to retire most of the about 450 chimps it owns or supports. The committee recommended keeping a colony of chimps for possible future research on human disease if needed, but that need is not one of the criteria that the Fish and Wildlife Service would consider.

Daniel M. Ashe, the director of the Fish and Wildlife Service, said the proposal would end the so-called split list, with wild chimps declared endangered since 1990 and captive chimps unprotected under the law.

The move was a long time in the works, a response to a petition filed in 2010 by the Humane Society of the United States, the Jane Goodall Institute and other groups with concerns about biomedical research on chimpanzees and the use of the animals in advertisements and entertainment.

TO READ THE ENTIRE STORY 

The article goes on to say that if this passes, it might not protect chimps in the entertainment industry. We have to do that by withdrawing support for any film or commercial that uses a chimp or orangutan.

While the argument for medical research has been that there is a compelling human need, he said there was no such argument for using young chimps in television advertisements, for example, which he described as “entirely frivolous.”

But under the Endangered Species Act, only uses that are considered harmful or harassing require permits. And use in entertainment has not traditionally been considered to be in the same class as taking blood or other invasive procedures.

In separate interviews, Mr. Pacelle and Dr. Goodall said chimps who are trained for entertainment are taken away from their social group when they are young, which is very harmful to them. And, Mr. Pacelle said, once the animals reach the age of about 7, they become too strong or unruly, and the owners “typically dump them into the animal welfare movement for us to care for for the next 50 years,” at a cost of about $1 million over the lifetime of each animal kept in a sanctuary.

What should be, could be.


Last summer I wrote about the cats our local humane society  released into the woods surrounding their facility. Supposedly, they have changed their policy. Mike and Mary Beth Arago sent this story to me--a fine example of what can be done with the right mindset. 

  

 

 

Don't miss the music video at the end of this series of pictures. http://www.sfgate.com/hawaii/alohafriday/article/Lanai-s-kitty-Shangri-La-delights-visitors-4240362.php#item-14733

Lanai’s 'kitty Shangri-La' delights visitors

Jeanne Cooper, Special to SFGate
Updated 4:11 pm, Thursday, January 31, 2013
Never underestimate the power of a cute furry face — or several hundred of them.
That's one reason to explain the Lāna‘i Animal Rescue Center's status as the No. 1 attraction on the former Pineapple Island, per Tripadvisor.

Of course, it doesn't hurt that only 11 attractions are listed, but those who've been lucky enough to enter the "kitty Shangri-la," as one Tripadvisor reviewer calls it, are also struck by the creativity, commitment and compassion of the largely volunteer staff.

With just deer netting, a few discarded pallets and corrugated sheeting, co-founder Kathy Carroll and crew created an open-air sanctuary on 3.5 acres of land donated by then-owner David Murdock (now Larry Ellison) in fall 2009. Dozens of feral and abandoned cats — the largest number of homeless animals on the island — had already found a comfy, no-kill shelter there when I visited a month after it opened.

Returning last week, I found some 370 felines — a number of whom have been "adopted in place" — now make their home there, with plenty of places to lounge, socialize, play or hide, including an attractive bunkhouse with ladder, loft, benches and Adirondack chairs. "An Alabama woman came out after it had been a little rainy and told me, 'Ah'm gonna have mah architect build you a cathouse,' " Carroll said, with a delighted laugh.

The landscaping of a few trees and scrubby brush in red dirt now looks lush and lightly manicured. "We want it to look like a garden," explained Carroll, who has a part-time staff of three to help with animal care and shelter maintenance (and no, it does not smell like cats — fresh breezes help, too.) Since the center opened, a veterinarian who comes twice a week has spayed or neutered about 1,200 cats, Carroll said. The island's animal control officer also now brings them cats, instead of trapping and killing them to reduce the population.

Rescue dogs, such as the 90-pound black lab and a Jack Russell terrier currently with LARC, are placed in foster homes. In the coming months, the center will host its first dog obedience classes for island residents and an "animal camp" for children, who particularly enjoy visiting the site.

Local elementary school students recently recorded a music video at the shelter, "A Kitty Community," to help raise awareness, while the weekly Sunday "pet 'n' purr" open house which attracts five to 25 people weekly. "Kids can come down and play with the cats, who love it," Carroll said. "We just tell the children, 'Use inside voices and no pulling tails!'"

The two Four Seasons resorts on the island also encourage visitors to volunteer at the center, which coordinates group efforts as well as simple tasks for individuals. While some guests decided to leave with a new feline companion, others "virtually adopt" by donating a minimum of $20 a month toward the animal's care and feeding.

Pointing to a black and white cat, Carroll said, "Cupid came here two years ago, shot with an arrow. Now she's my inspiration. Some folks from Vancouver adopted her in place, and when they went back to get married, they made her the 'mews' of their wedding shower. In lieu of gifts, they asked everyone to make a donation in Cupid's name."

The wedding shower raised $1,500 for the center, which has now set up a fund for animals requiring urgent care called the Cupid Fund. Fund-raising T-shirts with designs by Mike Carroll, Kathy's husband and the island's premier landscape artist, and other gift items benefiting the center can be found at the Mike Carroll Gallery in Lāna‘i City.

For crying out loud, Lighten up

ataxophile.blogspot.com
I'll try.
So what do you know about Aye Ayes?

  
Years ago, actually decades ago, my ornithology professor (and dear, dear friend), Dr. Oscar "Bud" Owre, recommended a book by Gerald Durrell. As I recall the title was My Family and Other Animals, but since I read everything he wrote, I'm not sure it was the first.

Durrell started one of the first captive breeding programs for endangered animals nearly a half century before the rest of the world caught on to the idea--or even the need. His sanctuary is on the Isle of Jersey. His books were about capturing the animals he was trying to save from extinction. The animals are anthropomorphized in his books, but he had a Dave Barry kind of eye for the details of their behavior, and his own. I've never laughed so hard in my life. One of his book, The Aye Aye and I, was about capturing the endangered Aye Aye.

I also loved A Zoo in my Luggage and Two in the Bush, if you can still find them. Since I was still flying for Pan Am back then, I bought many of his books in England and New Zealand--ones I couldn't find here.

THIS IS AN ASIDE.
I get lots of wonderful emails from kids who've read my books. We usually write back and forth for a few weeks, then they get bored and move on. However, a few keep in touch, and Jessica is one of them. We've been writing for a number of years now. Jessica maintains a blog about books she's read, where she writes truly insightful comments on books. I think this one is the link to Steve Job's bio.
and another for everything else  http://adhocfornow.wordpress.com

You can imagine how proud of her I am already, and then I find out she's been chosen to be included in NPR's Radio Diaries, which are personal stories written by kids.
Jessica's is the second one from the top. Click on the picture of HOPE. It's entitled Firsts and Fives.
 

Guest Blog by Debra Rosenman


The photo's of Etaito and Gari are courtesy of John Debenham. The photo's were taken at a half way house in Goma, DRC. All the babies were taken away from their mothers, and five of them were at this halfway house for a few months.


I met Debra at a symposium on Chimpanzees in Wichita, KS, some years ago. She told me about the book she was working on. Hurt Go Happy had been out a couple years by then, so we had interests in common. Her dedication to revealing the crimes humans have committed against our nearest relatives in the animal world deserves to be seen. Perhaps you will join me in supporting her effort. GR



I have been working on a book called The Chimpanzee Chronicles: Spellbinding Stories from Behind the Bars, since 2007 and it is ready to be birthed into the world! 

The Chimpanzee Chronicles takes you behind the bars for a glimpse into the hidden worlds and real lives of captive chimpanzees. This unique anthology of twenty-six stories from around the globe exposes the veiled worlds of biomedical lab research, the entertainment industry, and exotic pet trade. While the narratives bear witness to the injustice, exploitation and heartless treatment of captive chimpanzees, the book isn’t only about suffering; it’s also about strength, hope, and compassion. All is revealed through the eyes, ears, and hearts of the chimpanzees and their human caregivers.

Some stories will shock you, some will amuse you, but all will open your heart to reconsider our relationship with these highly intelligent and sensitive beings.
  
We are beginning to recognize the exploitation of chimpanzees in our country, and the suffering they have endured. It’s time for us, as individuals and a nation, to stand together and say, “No more. What can we do for them?”

I have put my heart and soul into this book, and I am proud to be one of many voices speaking out for captive chimpanzees! The stories in The Chimpanzee Chronicles are about chimpanzees, but monkeys and orangutans are part of some of the narratives as well.

Here's a sneak peak-a few paragraphs from three different stories!

From Jen Feuerstein/ Sanctuary Director at Save the Chimps
Hand in Hand: Remembering Rhett


Another practice at Yerkes that really bothered me was the baby monkeys taken away from their  moms on the day they were born, for research. They would stick them in a light-tight black box because they were going to the Main Center where all the  hard-core biomedical research was happening. The babies would then be fitted with prism, contact lenses or goggles, to manipulate their sight and the input of light into their eyes, in order to see how that affected eye development.

The lead investigator for this study did a presentation on the project and they said part of the reason this work was so important was because there was a high incidence of nearsightedness in children in Thailand. The logic of this escaped me. I am nearsighted and I have treatment for it. It seemed to me that perhaps the money they were spending on doing this to baby monkeys would be better spent on providing eyeglasses for children in Thailand.

From Gloria Grow/ Founder/Director of Fauna Foundation in Canada
Knowing Jeannie

In 1981, Merck, Sharpe & Dohme pharmaceuticals sent Ch-562—Jeannie—to the Buckshire Corporation research facility. She was six years old. Seven years later, Buckshire sent her to the Laboratory for Experimental Medicine and Surgery in Primates (LEMSIP).There, Jean was subjected to years of research including being inoculated with HIV, continual vaginal washes, and cervical biopsies. She was often treated for self-inflicted wounds—a sign of severe stress. Following a 1995 experiment, Jean had what everyone described as a “nervous breakdown.” She was no longer of use to research. For the next two years she was left alone, heavily medicated, in her slightly less than 5’x5’x7’ cage. The drugs did little to prevent her from screaming continually, ripping her fingernails off, thrashing out of control or huddling against the floor in the back of her cage. That is where I met her, sitting in that dark corner, looking more terrified than anyone I had ever seen, lost in another world. Jean looked up at me with beautiful almond shaped eyes that seemed to be pleading, “Will you help?”

From Adriana Martin/ primatologist/lawyer/activist
Friends or Captors? My Memories of Moja and Other Chimpanzee Friends
Moja was a beautiful chimp by all accounts. Her face was very black, she had hazel eyes and her lips were naturally pursed. This gave her a pouty look that made her a crowd favorite at the “Chimpsiums,” the weekend open house for community members who paid a fee to spend an hour learning about chimps and chimp behavior. Red was Moja’s favorite color. When it was time to pass out blankets, she would pick the red one from a pile of multicolored blankets. She signed, “RED THAT.” If there were no red blankets at sleep time, she would sign, “RED.” I would answer, “NO RED, RED DIRTY” meaning that the red blanket was in the washer. She would point to the enrichment closet and sign, “RED THERE.” This was to remind me where I could get a red blanket. During the day, she asked for red clothes to either wear or to make nests. She looked good in red and I think she knew it. Moja would stare at herself in the mirror and comb her arm hair with a brush. Her legs were very straight as was her back. Slender and graceful, she looked a lot like a young Washoe, who was also a strikingly beautiful chimp. I remember Moja's eyes well. Primatologists know that chimpanzees do not like to stare at each other because it is a sign of dominance or aggression, but Moja could look into my eyes, and I could look into hers and neither felt threatened by the other.

Please consider making a small donation, or pre-ordering the book on my Indiegogo campaign site: http://igg.me/at/the-chimpanzee-chronicles/x/1317610

 
With love,
Debra Rosenman
www.chimpanzeechronicles.com

Suzanne


Suzanne and Andy


I spent most of last week at Green Gulch, a Zen Center, north of San Francisco. I was with 12 women friends--most of whom are writers. Four of us share a 20-year history that traces its roots back to the writing group Suzanne Byerley and I started.

Suz was the 2nd person I met when I moved to the Mendocino Coast 21 years ago. We were both writers, and once a week would go down to Noyo Harbor's Old Dock Cafe (long gone) to write and talk about writing. In 1996, when it looked as if the Mendocino Coast Writers conference was going to cease to exist after the departure of its founder, she and I took it over. For the next 8 years we worked as co-directors. In 2004, she and her husband, Andy, made the decision to move to Ohio to be closer to her daughters and grandchildren. We took over the conference together and we departed together, though I've remained a board member.

On Tuesday, while at Green Gulch, we got word that Suzanne had been killed in a traffic accident. I wouldn't normally use this blog to share a personal loss, especially since it goes to so many kids, but Suzanne was one of the kindest, most gentle women I've ever known. On her Facebook page is a tribute written by a young woman who was a teenager when Suzanne took her under her wing after Ona's mother died. It's a beautiful reflection of the kind of woman Suz was. All our lives have lost luster because she's gone. I've chosen to share this because she lost her life in a split second. If she had arrived at that stop sign in Pierpont, Ohio, a moment earlier, or a moment later, she would be with us still.

I want this to be about living your life to the fullest, as Suz did, reaching out to the people who love you, and to those who need you, to care deeply about this planet and to live a giving life.

Suz loved shards--pieces she would fine of past lives: a beautiful feather, a butterfly wing, a stone with a unique shape. On Monday, before we lost her, I found a robin's egg. It was in the yard outside where we were staying. It was stone cold, so I took it in to show the others. On Wednesday, we had our own memorial service for Suz, lead by a Zen priest. We hung messages to her in a Tibetan cherry tree, and I left her my egg.

Before Suz and Andy moved to Ohio, she took me out on her deck and showed me the web a spider had built. It was huge and in a place where they had to use another door to enter and exit their house. Last night, on my upstairs deck, there was a spider building a web that stretched from the roof to the railing. I put a chair under it so I will remember it's there, and to duck.

This is a poem that Suz sent to Susan, one of the 4 of us with the long, long history. How perfect this final message is to us all.
Lineage

Last afternoon
up Waverly Lane
The room ricocheted
with my dna
seven humans
with threads of me

What is this about
cells
all buzzing and crackling
made manifest
in lunatic laughter
pounding out
Heart and Soul on the piano
Singing and pounding
out the pain of my mistakes
now their mistakes
their fortunes
and misfortunes
their hearts
their souls
all threaded and shredded
through mine

written at Chagrin Inn in July 2012

Pinkie


 Video of Pinkie


 
Retired lab chimps see daylight
for first time in 30 years
http://www.hlntv.com/article/2013/03/06/chimp-haven-lab-animals-go-free

digitalewe.com




Tadpole follow-up

Apparently, I'm not the only one with an aquarium full of rescued tadpoles. Here's a helpful website for the care and feeding of tadpoles
Range of the Pacific Chorus Frog
commonly called a green tree frog
They can change from green to brown

A dog and some frogs (to be)

dpughphoto.com

I love the Mendocino coast for a myriad of reasons. First, it's almost never hot. As a Floridian, I'm most grateful for that. Then there are the residents. I was in the car with a friend in Miami last week, and at every traffic light the woman behind us blasted her horn the instant the light turned to green. I think it's the anonymity. In a city, people can get away with being rude and crude, but here the person you give the finger to may know you or someone who does. We keep our frustration with slow drivers in check.
Pacific Chorus Frog
free-pet-wallpapers.com

 How'd I get off on that subject? This morning I heard someone calling--not my name--just calling, yohoo. I'm in my pajamas, as usual, so I'm hesitant to go outside to see what he/she wants. But I do because here on the coast we try to be neighborly and help people if they need help.

The woman, wearing calf-high rubber boots, jeans, and a baseball cap, was carrying two plastic bags. Inside were plastic containers full of tadpoles. We had very little rain this year, and the puddles where she found them were drying up so she was on a rescue mission. I live on a creek, have a pond, and am--you know--nuts about animals.

There are now tadpoles in a smooth stretch of the creek, the pond and an old predator free aquarium. I've promised my only Chorus Frog company by mid-summer.

How to Raise Tadpoles http://allaboutfrogs.org/info/tadpoles/


Speaking of rescues. This is Naki'o

As an abandoned puppy Naki'o developed severe frostbite in his paws and had to have them removed when he was rescued. Now, thanks to this groundbreaking use of prosthetics, he is able to run around again. Here he's still getting used to them, but in time he should be able to do everything a normally-pawed dog can do.


 Read the full story at Incredible Features
http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/306729/scitech/science/meet-naki-o-the-bionic-dog

Video of Naki/o on his prosthetic legs
http://cheezburger.com/50006273#.UYbmM9506Y8.email 

Dear Teachers

TED.com
I met a lot of teachers last week at April is for Authors in Palm Beach Gardens. Teachers who took their Saturday off to bring students to hear authors talk about their books and writing. You know I'm a fan of TED talks so when this week's program arrived this morning I chose to listen to the one by Rita Pierson. It was worth it, and I want to send it on the teachers and media specialists I met. You are Rita Pierson to your students, and it was an honor to meet you. http://www.ted.com/talks/rita_pierson_every_kid_needs_a_champion.html?qsha=1&utm_expid=166907-24&utm_source=newsletter_weekly_2013-05-03&utm_campaign=newsletter_weekly&utm_medium=email&utm_content=talk_of_the_week_button

Mr. Vickers, my Rita Pierson

OMG

donnagephart.blogspot.com

I've just returned from this fabulous event in Palm Beach Gardens, and am honored to have been invited to participate. I met most of these authors,
and schlepped home many of their books. I was lucky enough to be on this panel with Danette Vigilante and the renown Sharon Draper. Here's a news clip of the panel.

dvjpgDANETTE VIGILANTE - Vigilante grew up in the Red Hook Houses in Brooklyn, New York. In fifth grade, her teacher wrote a simple sentence on the back of her report card which changed her life forever: “Danette needs help with her reading.” Soon after, Danette began visiting the library and grew into a reading machine. Writing books became the next step in her journey. The Trouble with Half a Moon is her first middle grade novel.  Vigilante is an SSYRA 2012-2013 nominee.  READERS: Grades 5-8,  Danettevigilante.com



sd2SHARON DRAPER - Draper’s books have received numerous literary awards, including the ALA Coretta Scott King Award, ALA Best Book for Young Adults, Best of the Best, The Parent's Choice Award, the Children's Choice Award, the IRA Young Adult Choice Award, and the Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People. Copper Sun was selected by the US State Department and IRA for the international project called Reading Across Continents. Draper has been honored at the White House six times. Draper travels extensively and has been on television and radio programs throughout the country, discussing literature, reading and education. Out of My Mind was the 2011-2012 Sunshine State Young Reader Award winner in both the 3-5 and 6-8 categories. Readers: All ages sharondraper.com

On the flight home, I read Sharon's book, Copper Sun, about a 15 year old girl, kidnapped from Africa in the 1700s and sold into slavery in America. As exhausted as I was from doing 3 programs at a middle school, driving an hour and a half to the airport in Fort Lauderdale, experiencing a two hour delay, and arriving in San Francisco just before midnight (or 3 a.m. Florida time), I still read it cover to cover on the flight. I don't often say this about a book, but I could not put it down.




Oh & the OMG part: 


LOST IN THE RIVER OF GRASS
WON THE SUNSHINE STATE YOUNG READERS AWARD FOR 2013.

Oh, the thrill: Bat poop in my sink!

 
Little Brown Bat (from www.mammalwatch.com)

I found bat poop in my bathroom sink this morning, and my heart soared. Johnny, my bathroom bat is back. Year 7! I've been checking the sink every morning and was just beginning to worry. Below is the story about discovering I had a roommate some years ago.

Originally post in December 16, 2011 Included in that post is the story of my bat rescue if you didn't see it the first time. /grorby/2011/12/bat-in-my-bathroom.html

My first clue that I had a bat in my bathroom was bat-poop in the sink. I'd go upstairs at night to find lots of little black, mouse-like droppings in the sink, but no bat. Then one night, sick with a cold, I went to bed early and was just drifting off when a small shadow circled the room, illuminated by the light from the TV, and flew into the bathroom. (I should add that nothing about bats scares me. I adore them.) I waited a few moments before getting up and turning on the light. There he was, hanging on the wall above the sink--preening.

Mystery solved--sort of. If this was his nightly roost, why hadn't I seen him before now? Was he a he? Was he/she the first of a colony? Where did he go to sleep?

The ceiling in my bedroom and bathroom is beamed, and to my astonishment, when he'd finished cleaning up, leaving a litter of insect legs and wings, he wedged himself between the beam and the ceiling planks. It doesn't look like you could slip a sheet of paper between them, but he had no trouble at all.

That was six years ago. And Johnny, my bathroom bat, is still my summer guest. He disappears in late fall, but occasionally shows back up in mid-winter. Three years ago, he over-wintered in my bathroom and a friend of his found refuge behind a painting in my stairwell.

Johnny is a male. Males are, thankfully, more solitary. It's the females that form colonies. I've very fond of Johnny, but not nuts about the idea of an entire colony of bats in my bathroom. (For another story, keep reading.)

 This link is to a wonderful story about a baby bat.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/10/lil-drac-orphaned-bat_n_1141191.html

 I'll be offline for the next ten days.
See you in May.

I just received this video. Don't miss it.
http://www.youtube.com/embed/bu_E2f0mQmI?rel=0

Guest Blog by Frankie Kangas

fanpop.com
Every year one Million Cats are needlessly put to death in American. Why? Outdated information.

Just as HIV was once believed to be a certain death sentence for humans, that old belief is still attached to FIV (the feline equivalent). But with cats, the mere diagnosis TRIGGERS that death sentence … by those who should know better.

Not only are FIV+ cats being punished, so are their non-FIV associates. We received this request for help a few days ago:

“My mother has gone to an assisted living facility and left behind more than 12 cats. I can’t find a local rescue to help me find homes for ANY of them because 2 tested FIV positive.” Stonewall, LA
learningfromdogs.com

FIV Cat Rescue, a nonprofit based in Fort Bragg, California, has a mission: to end the killing of FIV+ cats forever. We work directly with FIV Researchers and Veterinarians to insure all information is correct and up-to-date. Plus we have a 2 step plan to achieve that mission.

Step 1: Create The FIV Book
Since the problem is based on outdated information, the solution is to gather the latest research information and mass produce it in book format. The book is being funded through an Indiegogo campaign “Help Write The Book That Will Save A Million Lives”.
The campaign is so popular that it reached its goal of $1,539 within 2 weeks. And people are still donating because of ...

Step 2: Create The Documentary Video
With a month left in the campaign, all new donations will go toward creating a professional documentary video, for mass distribution through TV and other channels.
Please visit the campaign http://bit.ly/14Qf4Ek. Your $1 donation will save lives.
  
Author Frankie Kangas can be reached at:
More to read on the subject.
http://www.heartforanimals.org/fiv_facts.php3

What if the last thing we considered was killing?

iphonetoolbox.com

 
hungeree.com

TWO examples of realizing
what you believed to be true, isn't.

This TED talk is 23 minutes, but if you want to know more about research in desertification this one will blow everything you thought caused it out of the water (pun intended.)
http://www.ted.com/talks/allan_savory_how_to_green_the_world_s_deserts_and_reverse_climate_change.html?utm_source=newsletter_weekly_2013-03-09&utm_campaign=newsletter_weekly&utm_medium=email&utm_content=bottom_right_button

AND

Last night I watched  Strange Days on Planet Earth: Disc 2 It offers commanding evidence of the impact on an ecosystem when the top predators are removed--including how the reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone has halted the decline of aspens.

Blatant self-promotion--with a little help from some friends




This wonderful video was produced by kids at the Independence Middle School   https://vodcast.palmbeachschools.org/player/IFSYL


 THEN I GOT THIS TERRIFIC LETTER FROM A NEW FRIEND IN TEXAS


Dear Ms. Rorby,
My Name is William H.  I'm 12 years old and in 6th grade in San Antonio, TX. I finished reading your book in class and I really really liked it. For extra credit, we needed to choose to write something about the book we just finished. From several different topics,  I chose to create a sequel for Hurt Go Happy. I'm not sure if you will have time to read this, but it would be an honor for me if you do. Unfortunately, I didn't get the assignment in on time, so nobody will read it except my parents. I really wanted my teacher to read it, but I guess I will not have that opportunity. Anyway, I hope you do write a sequel to the book because I enjoyed the story and would like to know more about Joey's future...
  
Thank you for your time,
William H.
SEQUEL TO HURT GO HAPPY
By William.
The title of the sequel to Hurt Go Happy will be called I See You.  I chose the title from the sign phrase that Sukari used to greet Joey. Next is a brief summary of the book.


     Joey Willis, a nineteen-year-old deaf girl, has just suffered through the hardest struggle of her life.  Sukari, a 10 year old chimpanzee entrusted to her after Charlie’s death, finally died after a long illness.  Now a student at a college for the deaf in Washington DC, Joey continues her studies in biology with the hope of becoming a veterinarian.  Her family still lives in Ft. Bragg, California and Luke, her younger brother, and Ray, her stepfather, are doing great.  The biggest influence on her life, her mother Ruth, is losing her health.  She was recently diagnosed with lung cancer, most likely from her lifelong habit of smoking.  At every opportunity, Joey visits her family.

     At her college in Washington DC, Joey has three good friends:  Madi, Jennie and Michael.  Madi, who is in her fourth year, is 40% deaf, very independent and quite sassy.  She is good at singing, playing the guitar and standing up for others.  Madi, a beautiful blonde from Chicago, is one of the smartest students in the whole school.  Jennie, a second year, is completely deaf, very quiet and shy.  She’s very good at math, playing the piano and distracting people.  Although Jennie is short and nerdy, she can beat anyone in a general knowledge contest.  Last, but not least, there’s Michael, another second year student like Joey and Jennie.  He is over 50% deaf and his parents are diplomats from South Africa, stationed at the South African Embassy.  Michael’s parents have a rainforest house in Tanzania, close to the home of the largest chimpanzee reserve in Africa.  When Joey finishes college this summer, she wants to go there to visit chimpanzees to try to capture the magic of Sukari.

     Whenever Joey drives past Charlie’s old house, she thinks about Sukari, Charlie and the first time that they met.  It’s funny how she felt awkward around a “talking” chimp who knew more sign language that she did.  She recalls Sukari signing I SEE YOU and RAISIN, but remembers what Sukari signed to Luke that day after he hit his head.:  HURT GO HAPPY.  That phrase really gave her inspiration to carry on when life got tough.  When Joey goes to pick up mushrooms for her mother, she realizes that walking off the path changed her life forever. 

     Back at college, Joey finds out about a university trip to Africa, but seats are limited.  Joey is thrilled, but she’s not sure if she can go because of her mother.  The only way to get selected for the trip is to have very good grades.  Joey works hard to study for tests and makes great strides, but sadly, she’s not chosen.  Michael feels sad for Joey and wants her to go to Africa.  With help from Madi and Jennie, Michael convinces his parents to take Joey to their house in Tanzania.  Happier than ever, Joey goes to Africa with Michael, Madi and Jennie.  They stay there for two months, helping at the chimpanzee reserve. 
     Joey meets and becomes friends with one baby chimp named Chloe that reminds her of Sukari.  Joey tries to teach Chloe sign language, but is failing miserably after two weeks.  One day, Chloe walks up to Joey and signs I SEE YOU J-Y.  Joey bursts out crying because of the memories of Sukari and Charlie.  She gets a great feeling now that she’s taught sign language to a chimpanzee.  Before long, Joey teaches Chloe all Sukari’s signs and now the two communicate through sign language. 

     Shortly thereafter, Joey gets a letter from Ray telling her that Ruth has gone from bad to worse.  Sadly, Joey leaves Michael’s house early and must say goodbye to Chloe.  After arriving in California, she hurries to be with her mom.  At the hospital, she gets a frantic call from Michael.  There’s been a devastating fire at the Reserve and they need Joey to return as soon as possible to help recapture the chimpanzees.  Joey is torn - her mom is dying, but Chloe is lost and suffering. 

   Will Joey Willis stay in California with her mom, Ray and Luke or will she go back to the Reserve to help Michael, Madi and Jennie to capture the chimpanzees and locate Chloe? Will Joey find Chloe and take her back to the States or will Joey find her home among the chimpanzees of Tanzania?  Is Michael the one to help Joey finally forget the nightmare of her youth?  Will Joey succeed in school and make it to become a veterinarian?

   This and much more await the reader of this exciting sequel to Hurt Go Happy the ever suspenseful I See You.  Make sure to get in on your reader today!          

AND I HAVE A STORY IN THIS ANTHOLOGY, 
which is full of stories by many of the best writers on the Mendocino Coast


Available from
Gallery Bookshop in Mendocino
Amazon