Pawprints From Space

The 2011 elections are a mere 19 days away. Local elections have generated a fair amount of silliness - incumbents who are indignant, challengers who are clueless and issues that confuse the populace because, really, who is going to read the massive insert in the paper this week that attempts to explain it all? Those of us inclined to read it already understand the issues. Those not so inclined will not read it, remain confused or ill-informed and vote whichever way the wind is blowing. This is not merely an Ohio affliction.  If you thought it was an Ohio affliction I call your attention to the hoopla over the so-called GOP "debates". Can you call it a debate with no set questions, no real moderator and a bunch of people on a stage who just yell at each other for a couple of hours? That may be an ordinary day in Congress but it isn't a debate of the issues by well-informed candidates. It is instead that aforementioned "every which way wind" blowing across T...

Imagine if you will sitting in a church - a nondenominational congregation with great music and charismatic preacher who goes on for nearly two hours about forgiveness and God's love and it is a really, really great sermon. Now imagine that you're a person struggling in life. You've been through some horrific things as a child. Things that have turned your world upside down. Things that have (perhaps) led you down a certain path. Perhaps it wasn't those things you experienced. Perhaps your DNA is such that you were born with a certain preference for same gender relationships. However you got there. There you are. Someone who is struggling with who they are; someone who has studied the Bible. Someone who has it bookmarked and highlighted and knows it inside out and backwards. Okay so after listening to nearly two hours of how God loves us no matter what, who will forgive us no matter what - who, like our parents wants the best for us and who will never turn His back ...

So I got to thinking about stuff today - it was too nice to be inside at work so the mind tended to wander all over the place. Fortunately when it does that it does find its way back home... eventually. One of the things I was thinking about was the whole Occupy Wall Street brouhaha. Now granted I haven't been paying too much attention I admit it (which is SO not like me) but I have had other things on my mind - work's been busy, the Humane Society event I am trying to put together for next week is in the panic phase, kitties are nuts and two of the five now have ear issues (one has mites, the other an infection). Anyway, lack of attention to the Occupy Wall Street and the 99% thing. From what I gather this appears to be the left side of the fence's version of the Tea Party "uprising" of a couple of years ago. They got all fired up about taxes, etc. and the so-called left pretty much sat back and thought they were nuts. Now of course Congress is nearly be...

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We have a mandatory recycling program here in Lima Ohio, have had for a while now. It took quite a while to get it up and running - to get the City's residents to use the recycling bins the City provides. But now everyone is pretty good about sorting their recyclables from their regular trash. We have nice, large rolling trash bins for our recycling items (having graduated from the small brightly colored curbside boxes a few years ago).  We aren't asked to separate clear glass from colored, paper from the various levels of plastic, fold cardboard a certain way or even thoroughly wash out the jars and cans as I had to do in Connecticut. It IS nice not to have to run the dishwasher just so you can put things out to be recycled. Very simple here, if you can recycle it, put it all in the same bin. We even have separate bins you can buy (for a mere $20) for your yard waste. We get yard waste clear bags from the City as well (just have to show your utility bill), so long as ...