Status 3/24/13

Heyyyy readers...Wow. We have been totally inactive on ES Blog, huh? Sorry about that.. We'll get some more articles up soon, we promise.
Silvia has a note for you. Here ya go:
Heyo, just wanted to add some things here: 1. The new Legends of the Flight chapter is going great, it'll be posted soon.
2. I have a few surprises for you people...Hope you like them. Expect something new in a few weeks.
3. The Rescue Dog article is what I'm currently working on. It wouldn't take more than 3 days to write out, but unfortunately, I will be without internet for a while. Sorry, don't worry, I'll be active again soon.
So, that's all, folks!

Thanks for reading! Please stay tuned.

Sincerely, the Administrators,
Shea and Silvia

Snowy wilderness

Dear readers,
As I am typing this, it is snowing outside, in my state, Arizona. I just came back in after having some snowy fun outside. It is perfect packing snow, and about 1 1/2 cm. thick so far. I made a snowball, and just put the snowball in the freezer.
While I was outside, I had time to muse on how global warming was affecting the planet, and how, if we don't act quickly, this unusual phenomenon could never happen again. In the arctic regions, right now, it is snowing there, too. But in there, it's different. The snow there is nessasary for their survival. It's not a pesky nuisance people shovel off the sidewalk, or a wonderful flurry people and animals play in. It's Life.
 As I threw a snowball into the air, I thought about how global warming affects our planet.
I urge you dear reader, please, please contribute to the prevention of further global warming. It's already here, and we need to stop it. 

I took a warm bubble bath halfway through writing this. The soap bubbles reminded me of snow. But the bubbles thrive in warm water, while the snow thrives in the cold.

I have a book with a wonderful poem about the winter. Unfortunately, it would be a copyright violation to post it here.
I hope you find your own poem in the snow, sand, or sky, wherever you are.
Sincerely,
Silvia Phenora

Valentine's Day is over, but the fight for the Earth is not!

Heyo, it's after Valentine's Day, and here are some quick tips on how you can help be more green!

1. You know those flowers you got that person you spent Valentine's Day with? Compost them when they die. If you haven't bought cut flowers, how about potted ones? An avid gardener will love a bulb that can be planted outside later, and regrown year after year!
Houseplants make the home cleaner, unlike fake plants, which collect dust.

2. Those envelopes that the cards come in. Recycle them. If you aren't the type to save cards, recycle those, too. Please don't just throw them away if they are recyclable.
Oh, and recycle the empty box of chocolates, too, please.

3. This one can be applied to any day. Do you need to get something at a nearby store? Go for a walk with your sweetheart, or bike. Don't drive if you can walk or bicycle.

4. Next year, buy recycled paper cards, or make your own cards out of homemade recycled paper!

5. Show your love for the Earth by planting a tree with someone you know. Remember, any day can be Earth Day!

Hope you liked the earth-friendly tips, Go Green as well as red this year!

Water, water, water.....

Water, everywhere. Pools, streams, creeks, ponds, lakes, seas, rain, puddles...water can be found all over, even in the driest deserts. And without it, we couldn't survive.

So why waste it? We all need water. It is totally pointless to waste water, and wasting does harm. That tiny trickle that kept coming out of the faucet because you were too lazy to turn it off completely? Yeah, according to USGS website, that wastes(no joke) an entire gallon of water in one day. And that is assuming the faucet does 20 drips per minute, on a 1/4 millimeter faucet. Yours may drip much more. Shocked yet? How about this quote from the EPA's website:
'Leaks can account for, on average, 10,000 gallons of water wasted in the home every year, which is enough to fill a backyard swimming pool.'

And another quote from the EPA: '10 percent of homes have leaks that waste 90 gallons or more per day.'

So now it's quite apparent that leaks that go unfixed are huge water wasters. Let's now look at the statistics for water wasted for other reasons, like in the shower. If you want to take a long soak, a bath may actually be less wasteful. It may seem worst at first glance, gallons of water in the tub, but believe me, if you know how much water goes down the drain during hour-long showers..Before deciding to take a bath or shower, look realistically at how long you will be in there. Are you washing up to go to work in 20 minutes? OK, then, take a shower. 
Are you going to spend an hour in there because you need to relax? Seriously consider that bath.

Need more? How about..The garden hose? No playing with it while watering. The garden hose is one of the biggest water consumers. A singe hose can waste more than six gallons per minute. Gah. That's more than you need to drink in 24 DAYS. Yikes.
And here's one more EPA quote: 'Each person uses 80 to 100 gallons of water per day, on average.' Note that that is for an American Household. 



So. Seen enough? Good. Now, how can you reduce your waste of water?

1. Take shorter showers.

2. Have leaks fixed professionally. Yes, professionally. Even if you think you can do it, don't. You may think it's fixed, but there's a chance that it's not fixed, and you don't realize it until it's wasted another half gallon.

3. Don't play with that hose too much. It uses up water fast, especially while on a strong setting.

4. Use the public pool. Believe it or not, using your own pool uses more water.

5. Just be overall water-concious while doing "everyday" things. Before doing a load of laundry, stop and think about whether you could wait until there is more laundry. Doing small loads wastes more than large loads. But don't use this as an excuse to slack off.

And when you use the washing machine. Think about how much water your washing machine uses, and wash the dishes by hand if you can do it without using a ton of water.

Remember: Statistics are general facts. Don't lose sight of the amount you hurt our environment, and what you can do to stop it.

We have got to Save this planet now. This is the time for action. You're not alone. If we all work together, we can fix the harm we've done.

Vegetable Oil Cars? By Shea Montgumery

How great is a car that runs on vegetable oil? Well it may seem like a good idea, you know a car that doesn't hurt the planet buy producing harmful exaust.  Think again.  While the car it self may not be harmful to the evironment, but it needs some way of getting the vegetable oil.  See the flaw in this brilliant plan yet? No? Let me enlighten you.  The big vehicles used to collect the ingredients for vegetable oil use a ton fuel! Because most people do not use vegetable oil cars more fuel is wasted by the large farming vehicles than is made up for by the earth friendly cars.

Global Warming

We don't know how fast Global warming will destroy our planet but we do know that its already changing our lives. Huge storms that were rare and uncommon are happening every few years now.  The ice caps are melting and who knows how long it will be before the sea level rises enough to destroy low level areas on the coasts.  Global warming is serious and its happening now.  Do anything you can to put an end to it.  Lives are in danger don't take it lightly.
       


For more information on this topic scroll down to the botom of the page and see our video bar.

                                        
                                                                                
photo by mirjoran

Silvia's first fosters

Here is the true story of Silvia's first foster kittens.
Sorry it's kinda a long story, there was so much I wanted to tell. But I don't think I made it too long, or boring. Frankly, Merlin and Twix had lots of little quirks and great points, and we had a lot of fun with them. Between that, and the fact that I didn't get to tell some true and hilarious stories about them, I feel like I almost didn't write enough. If you're interested in hearing about some of their pranks, just comment asking for a story. I'm full of 'em, and I promise not to bore you too much.
The point of this article is to show how wonderful it is when people foster. How much it does for the animal(s) and the foster(s).
There will be more foster stories to come. After all, we didn't stop at our first fostering.
Enjoy.

We were driving back to our house in Tucson, Arizona. We had just come back to Arizona after a trip.
I have been asking for a pet for years now, and brought up the subject again. That's when my dad had the great idea of fostering. We all really wanted a cat. So maybe we could foster one.
I pointed out that in most cases I knew, you had to foster the animal until it got adopted. And since we travel a lot, that wasn't an option.
Not always, said my mom. She knew someone who fostered kittens for a Humane Society, and she only had to keep them until they were strong enough to go back to the shelter.
I got online and found the Humane Society of Arizona(HSSA). And yes, you could foster for them! It also said that foster homes could refuse to take on a foster at any time, and it would not reflect on their foster status.
Perfect.

Later that week, we printed out the foster form, filled it out, went to the Humane Society, and handed it in.
We later got an E-Mail saying that a foster care class was scheduled, and we had to take the class before fostering.
Since Mom and I were to be the "main caretakers", it was us two who were to take the class. When we went to the class they explained the basics of keeping puppies and kittens, like how to keep very young ones warm. They said that it was best for the animals, kittens especially, to come into fostering with their mother, so they could pick up on the normal attributes of their kind. However, sadly, most animals that ended up in foster homes were orphans that weren't able to survive in a shelter.
We were given a fostering manual during the class, and we were told two additional things before the class ended. One was that we would receive E-Mails notifying us of animals needing fosters. We had to reply by phone call if we wanted to take them in.
The other was that if we were overlooked and didn't get any fosters, tell them. The staff would put our names on a certain board, so that we would be some of the first to get fosters.

A little while later, we received several E-Mails about kittens in need of foster.
There was a 7 kitten litter that needed Sub-Q fluids and antibiotics. We decided that would be too much for a first time. Another was a single kitten that was very weak. Maybe we could take that one.
We replied to the E-Mail, and were told that, sadly, the kitten had died, having been too weak survive. However, they said, they did have a pair, brothers, that were underage and needed socialization. We jumped on it.
(Note: Most animals that we take in as fosters are the ones needing socialization. We've found that giving a ton of love and care to cats is what we do best.)

The next day, Mom and I went to pick up our future fosters. Dad had to go run errands, and would probably be home the same time as us. When we got to the Humane Society, we were told the whole sad story as we were led over to the building in which our future fosters were kept.
There is a thing around here called Brush and Bulky. Brush and Bulky is basically something where people leave their yard scraps and old furniture out by the curb, and a truck comes by and picks it up.
Just before a certain pile was about to be thrown in the truck, mewling was heard, and inside the pile of twigs and scraps they found two 6 week old kittens, presumably brothers. These were our foster kittens.
They did not have names yet, so we could name them ourselves. They needed to be kept in our home until they were of age(8 Weeks) and weight to go back to the shelter.
When they brought in the carrier, I gasped and melted before the incredible cuteness that is two kittens, looking at you with kitten blue eyes. 
They were huddled in the back, a little scared.
When our escort, Stephanie, stuck her hand in, they hissed.
After all they were through, could you blame them?
"They're a little hissy." she said cheerfully, drawing back her hand.
"Hissy is good." breathed Mom, half talking to the kittens, half talking to Stephanie.

Stephanie and I. Merlin and Twix were in the carrier.

"It means you're aware." 
Our eyes were glued to those kittens, and the most we could say was "Oh my gosh, they're so cute!".
A photographer for the shelter wanted some pictures of us holding the kittens. That picture ended up on HSSA Facebook page later.
We carefully carried our new fosters, who were huddled in the back of the carrier, to the car and drove home. While we drove, Mom and I discussed names. One was fluffy and an Orange Tabby. The other was Black, and had shorter hair. Both had grayish/blue eyes, but the Black One's were more stormy. Since the sky was the same color at the time, we considered naming him something like Storm. Mom wanted to name the tabby Arthur, and maybe the black one Merlin. We agreed to ask Dad his opinions before deciding. 
When we got home, we set up the tub with towels and a litter box, and food and water. We put their carrier in the tub, door open, and let them be.

Twix(right) and Merlin(left) eating together.

For most of the first day, all they did was hiss. The tabby swatted a little at Mom, but we were fairly certain that they would settle in. It soon became obvious that the twosome were very close, sleeping together and sharing food well(although the black one sometimes pushed his brother away).
That night, we took them out on the couch while we were watching TV, putting them carefully in our laps. After a few minutes they settled in, and we had a very enjoyable night sharing the kittens, who would occasionally change laps.

The next few weeks, we established a routine.
The kittens we decided to name Merlin(the black one), and Twix(the tabby).
Every morning, Twix and Merlin got wet food, we played with them in the afternoon, they were free fed dry food all day, and then got a dinner of wet food. At night, we would take them onto our laps and watch a movie. The kittens would climb all over us with little claws, play fighting with each other. After the movie was over, we would play with them ourselves. Eventually, the kittens grew big enough to jump off the couch. We took shower curtain rods, wedged them between the walls in the hallway, draped a curtain over it, and stuck the curtain to the floor with slate. In the kitten's minds, this was another wall, and it prevented them from going out into the hallway(at least, it did until they figured it out).
We noticed two things about our little foster kittens. One was that Merlin was quite the jumper, pretty athletic, while Twix was kind of a pushover sometimes, and found it hard to jump high. Thus, Merlin was the first to manage to get out of the tub. Mom wanted to change his name to Houdini, since he was an escape artist, but Dad and I said it was too late to change their names.

The second thing we realized was that they clung to whoever was holding them like burrs. Cling they did, with those little but sharp claws that got through nearly every shirt. And it really hurt when they climbed up onto ours necks. We learned the hard way that many kittens do this. Luckily, Merlin and Twix stopped clinging quite so much when they began to trust us more. Until then, however, we had to hold them with their claws facing out.

Merlin and Twix were our Yin and Yang kittens. Merlin hardly ever groomed himself. Twix was fastidious. Merlin was more adventurous. Twix often wanted to nap.
They also complimented each other. Twix would be roused by Merlin sometimes. Twix would groom Merlin.

Finally, one day we brought our kittens to the shelter to get their shots, and received surprising news.

On the prowl.

Sleepy.

Stephanie, weighing them, them told us that Twix and Merlin were "of weight".
This stunned us, for while we had been tracking their weight, we hadn't realized that at four pounds and eight weeks they were ready to go back.
Stephanie told us that we could keep them for another few days, if we wanted.



"Well, would we be lessening their chances of getting adopted? I mean, would they be up for adoption those few days?" asked Mom.
No. They were scheduled to be fixed in a few days, and then they would be up for adoption at the Furbaby Feista, an event HSSA was doing for three days, in which mixed breeds would be free, no adoption fee, and purebreds would be half-off.
In that case, said Mom, we would keep them. Better they were in our home for those few days instead of a cage.

Blue feather toy..oohh..

Their eyes began to lose that kitten blue, and turned green.

A few days later, a somewhat sad farewell was said, and Mom and I took our little kitties back to the shelter. They had really grown, and the shelter staff oohed and ahhed over their glossy pelts. We talked for a bit, and found out that they would most likely be at the main shelter for the Furbaby Feista, which was going on at different locations. Since Mom and I were volunteering at said Feista, we signed up to be at the shelter on Friday, the first day of the event.

After Merlin and Twix were gone, I found myself instinctively doing things I had to do while the kittens were in our home, like closing the bathroom door before inquisitive kittens followed me out.

When Friday came, we left around 3:00, being on the second shift.
We found out from Gina, the Volunteer Coordinator, what we were to do, which was hang out in the cat room and help people who wanted to know about the cats. If we didn't know something, direct them to someone who does.
I looked, but couldn't find our kittens.
We found someone we recognized, and asked about Merlin and Twix.
It turned out that a dry patch on Merlin's leg had to be inspected before they could be put on the adoption line. We had noticed the dry patch before, and figured it was from a scrape he may have gotten in the Brush and Bulky pile. The shelter's Veterinarians thought it might be something more serious, and had to check.

MEOW!

Finally, we were told with a big smile that the dry patch on Merlin's leg wasn't anything to worry about, and they were cleared and ready to go.
I soon found Merlin and Twix in their spot in the cat room, and felt like crying. Twix was eating and looking tired, while Merlin was occasionally showing off for the people that came over. It seemed that no one was interested in adopting both, and everyone seemed to lose interest with them after having a kitten cling to them and shiver(well, they were in a scary, loud place) for a while.
I wandered around a bit, telling people about Twix and Merlin's good points, checking out the ferrets(both of the ferrets got adopted by a man who had one, and wanted company for it), and checking on the dogs. Almost every dog's kennel card said "Adopted" or "I'm being considered for adoption". That was good. But no one seemed to want our kittens.
I came back to the cat room and got the best surprise ever.
Mom and one of the foster staff were talking to a girl, a little younger than me, and her mother. They have decided to adopt Merlin and Twix!
It was explained that when the mother and daughter came in looking for a pair of kittens, it was an instant match. The foster volunteer quickly said that it would be best if Merlin and Twix were adopted together, and that was that.
I sat outside the cat room with the adoptive family, telling them all about Merlin and Twix, and answering questions that they had, like Twix and Merlin's diet.
The daughter even has the same name as me. Her mother insisted that could not be a coincidence, and I agreed.
The girl could hardly sit still for all her excitement, and I was having trouble too. I'm still so glad that our little kittens got adopted.
"Well, it seems like you've done a great job fostering them." the mother said.
I think we did.