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MEWSLETTER 39 August 01 2005
Hi there, and a very warm welcome to all the new subscribers who have joined us since the last MEWSLETTER was sent out. Please feel free to send this MEWSLETTER to family members and feline-loving friends. There have been great carryings-on in the Daily Mews’ garden just recently, causing consternation among the Daily Mewsers. Due to a diagnosis of angina made in June I’ve been forced to rethink my garden plans and in order to help myself, I’ve had a large deck area made, and the lawn part of my garden taken up and hard landscaping put in instead to make it a low-maintenance garden. (Pictures will be on site soon so you get the idea.) The poor cats didn’t know what was going on and each day looked out the back door trying to work out what was happening in THEIR garden. Their territory has completely changed shape, size and smell and it was quite unsettling for all of them as they renegotiated their way around these new obstacles and got used to them. Fortunately, they accepted the new landscape after a nervous pause and they now love the deck area, which gets the full sun for several hours, from midday until it goes down. They are to be found sprawled full length in various poses taking the rays and when it gets too much, there is a queue for the cat kennel, or they head for coolness of the shrubs. I’m now waiting to have an angiogram, which will probably be sometime this month – and I’ll probably have to have angioplasty as well, but I’ll keep you posted, as I know more. Thank you to those who contacted me in the wake of the London bombings. I live in South East England, about 16 miles from London and mercifully I no longer work in London because I have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome – but I still have a lot of friends who do work in London and each day I keep them in my prayers for safety. Today is August 1st and it’s Ollie’s 3rd birthday. He celebrated by having a new snazzy jazzy rainbow effect reflective flea collar from PetShopMan and is now proudly parading his special present. Billy and Timmy will be 9 on August 5th and my birthday is in just over 2 weeks’ time. If you add up Billy and Timmy’s ages, and times it by Ollie’s birthday, and add 1, you’ll get my age!!!! (Write to me and tell me what you made it in case your maths was a bit off!!!) In your new look MEWSLETTER *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Book Quiz Cat Chat: Chuckie and Tripod Do Kitties Have Angels? Seeing Eye Cat Charity profile: Alley Cat Allies Cudell Street Cats by Laura Dumm Ed Kostro: The Critters in the Crawl Mewsletter Archives Napping on a Sunbeam: Another Day At Rainbow Bridge Do Not Stand At My Grave And Weep When A Cat Calls Purrfect Poetry: Kitten Woes Orlando’s Adventures: Christmas in New York *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* A hilarious and addictive game for you to play!!!! http://upchucky.com/games/hairball-bowling.html *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* BOOK QUIZ 1. Incredible Cats by David Greene 2. The Cat’s Mind by Bruce Fogle 3. The Church Cat: Clerical Cat in Stories and Verse by Mark Bryant
And the winners are: Bridget Haggerty (Cleveland, Ohio) www.irishcultureandcustoms.com Val Weigle (Florida) Jared Kline (Belgium) who likes this site: www.moggies.co.uk Helen Dowd (Canada) http://www.occupytillicome.com Hart Dowd (Canada) www.irishcultureandcustoms.com Sabrina Ralston (North Carolina) A modest prize is on its way to Bridget and by the time this MEWSLETTER has been distributed, she should have received it. Now for this month’s quiz: I want the author to the book titles below and if you have a website you can nominate it, or you can nominate a favourite site (apart from the Daily Mews!) A modest prize will be given for the first respondent so hurry up and don’t miss out! Who wrote the following: 1. The Times: Book of Church Cats 2. The Cat’s Whiskers 3. Mischief and Delight Send your answers to p.dewberry@ntlworld.com *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* CAT CHAT Hazel from Arkansas sent me the story of her two ‘babies’, Chuckie, the polydactyl, who is a longhaired grey female, and Tripod – so named because he lost a leg. You can read it here: http://www.thedailymews.com/catchat/chuckieandtripod.htm Helen Dowd has written in diary form, the progress of two little orphaned and abandoned kittens that she found under her mobile home. http://www.thedailymews.com/articles/kittieshaveangels.htm Anne Jordan’s story ‘SEEING EYE CAT’ first appeared in Petwarmers and I was so moved when I read it that I asked if I could publish it on the website. You can’t fail to be moved at the story of Mancat and his devoted friend, Mary, the Pug. I’ve left Anne’s email address with her story because I know that a number of my lovely subscribers hail from Australia and I thought you might like to contact her. To read about Mancat, click here: http://www.thedailymews.com/catchat/seeingeyecat.htm CUDELL STREET CATS Laura Dumm’s fantastic (as always!) Cudell Street cartoon can be found here: http://www.thedailymews.com/Cudellstreetcats/tv.htm and in the Some Cats Are … series, you can find the next brilliant cartoon here: http://www.thedailymews.com/Cudellstreetcats/somecatsareadventurous.htm ED KOSTRO Ed Kostro has written a great story about the feral kittens and cats that live in the crawl under the hospital. You can read it here: http://www.thedailymews.com/articles/crittersincrawl.htm MEWSLETTER ARCHIVES More MEWSLETTERS have been added to the archives now, and those of you who have just joined us may want to thumb through them at your leisure to see what you’ve been missing! http://www.thedailymews.com/MewsletterArchives/mewsletterarchivesintro.htm NAPPING ON A SUNBEAM Benny Archuleta has written a wonderful story about another day at Rainbow Bridge. To read it, please click here: http://www.thedailymews.com/articles/anotherdayatrainbowbridge.htm Benny has a great website on rescue dachshunds which you can visit by clicking on this link: http://www.dachshund-rescue.org I hope to be able to profile the work that Benny does in a future issue of the MEWSLETTER. Stephanie Young from Texas told me that there is an animal clinic in Texas that always sends a poem to you when one of your pets passes away. The poem is called DO NOT STAND AT MY GRAVE AND WEEP and is often quoted as Author Unknown – but, in fact, the author is Mary Frye and she wrote the poem in 1932. I’ve put this poem into the NAPPING ON A SUNBEAM section because I believe that people will find the words to be comforting. Click here to read the poem: http://www.thedailymews.com/poems/donotstandatgraveandweep.htm Those of us who have been blessed with the companionship of a cat – or if we’re really blessed, more than one cat, know just how honoured we are to have the pleasure of their daily company. I’ve often thought that cats are our spiritual guides in that they teach us so much at times in our lives when we have much to learn. Some people lead very busy lives and they are so busy that they miss out on the simpler things in life. Rainbows, sunsets, the first flowers signalling spring is here, new born lambs tottering unsteadily in a field just hours old. How sad that many of us miss those things and yet, I believe that cats teach us to slow down and look around us to see these things. It’s well documented that owning pets reduces blood pressure and encourages well-being and that the cat’s purr is a healing mechanism (see: http://www.thedailymews.com/articles/catspurr.htm) but whereas God sends his angels at times when we need more spiritual help, I believe that we can perceive cats to be angels in fur coats! A very busy couple recently had the honour and privilege to be semi-adopted by an elderly lady of indeterminate years who chose to spend her precious final months on a part time basis with them. Alternating between them and her own family, she taught them about feline love and awoke in them the desire to slow down and smell the roses. They were devastated when she had a massive stroke and passed away but feel blessed and honoured that she chose to spend time with them. As the writer, Marc Guillaume, has written about Bodie, a very special lady, as a tribute, I’ve put this article both in the CAT CHAT section and the NAPPING ON A SUNBEAM section. You can read about Bodie here: http://www.thedailymews.com/catchat/whenacatcalls.htm PURRFECT POETRY Sandy Harris has four little kittens that are getting into everything and everywhere! Read her funny little poem, Kitten Woes, here: http://www.thedailymews.com/poems/kittenwoes.htm For those of you who are chronically gifted, Sandy has a wonderful quilting website which you MUST take a look at here: www.sundropdesigns.com and while you’re there, check out the charity page and see if you can help one of the charities listed. Orlando’s Adventures are moving on at a cracking pace – he’s now having Christmas in New York with his friend Omar the Rat. You can read Jackie Brooks’ latest poem here: http://www.thedailymews.com/poems/christmasinnewyork.htm Huge thanks go to Laura Dumm for her wonderful illustrations of Orlando’s adventures. The article last month about reading labels carefully regarding flea preparation brought some feed back; Jena in Texas said that she uses ‘about a tablespoon of Apple Cider Vinegar per gallon of water and after a couple days or less... Voila! Even works on the dog.’ She also gave two links that have articles on flea management, which might be useful: http://www.indigosun.com/august99/animal.htm http://www.stretcher.com/stories/980716c.cfm Sheila McIntyre also wrote to tell me about a flea repellent that you plug in called ‘Pet Chaser’ and she’s not seen a flea since using this product five years ago. If you have any comments about any of the articles or issues raised in this MEWSLETTER, please contact me in the usual way. I welcome your feedback, good or bad. Don’t forget to scroll down to the bottom of the Home Page to see a picture of Garfield in his teens in mid-air as he catches a catnip mouse. Till the next MEWSLETTER, which should be towards the end of the month, take care and have a purrfect month. All good wishes
Pauline – editor Garfield – Chief Technical Advisor and Assistant Editor Billy and Timmy – Chief Wildlife Advisors and Care of The Elderly (Timmy) Sam – Ethnic Advisor and proud owner of 5 white hairs on his chest! Ricky – Bereavement Counsellor and Psy-cat-therapist! Ollie – Chief Mischief-Maker and Tom Cruise stunt double! Those of you with AOL will have to copy and paste the links into your browser.
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