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November,
2005 |
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Dear Friends:
I don’t know if “etiquette”
allows me to do this, but I really don’t care: this newsletter is written in
memory of our “big baby”, Oliver the bull (above picture). On October 26, our
friend Olli had to leave us to join the “Great Majority”. Here is his story:
Oliver was on the way to the slaughterhouse sometime in the beginning of the
1990s, but on the way there, the driver stopped by Charley’s. And Charley,
good soul as he was, bought him from the guy and put him out in a pasture.
Shortly thereafter, supporters of Charley, Josephine and Duane Ford, built a
barn for Oliver. A cow that was going to have the same fate as Olli, a pig,
goats and various other critters, joined him. By last year he was the sole
survivor of all those farm animals. He was in bad pain recently with
arthritis, and even though he got a mixture of aspirin/molasses and other
weird stuff each day, his pain got worse. So on Oct 26th, Jim, who
was a big fan of Olli and who had been dreading this day all summer, called
some people who took Oliver away. Olli was not very happy about being loaded
into a trailer, and took his revenge on one of the 6’ guys by lifting him up
in the air, and on his friend Jim by pushing him up against the fence and
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bruising Jim pretty badly. But as soon as he noticed that he had
his one ton bulk standing on Jim’s foot, he backed off. He really was a
very gentle giant who actually thought that he was a dog. In his better
days he would lift his hind leg to pee, and he would lap the water out
of the bucket instead of sucking it, the way “normal” bovines do. Well,
he was around dogs all of his life, so picking up their habits was no
wonder. He was also a “celebrity” of sorts; he was on TV as “The
Planet’s Funniest Animals”: One day a reporter showed up at Charley’s to
do a story of him and the Shelter. Here is what you see on TV: The lady
reporter is standing next to the wooden fence, Oliver behind the fence.
All of a sudden, while the reporter is talking into her mike, you see
this huge blue tongue coming into the picture, Olli licking the reporter
right across the face. So if you ever see this on TV, you know this was
the guy you helped to keep alive for 15 years…and a good life he had!
Oliver was a “lucky dog”; he had a great long life. I wonder how many
bulls are missed by their people? Well, he is! |
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The first part of
November was very discouraging and frustrating for me, trying to find
homes for our Katrina dogs. Cindy Houston and husband Steve had taken
“Louis”, the one-year old pup, home with them after the fundraiser,
trying to find a home for him. No luck. Then one of our supporters,
Karen Rapallo, got involved: She knew a very nice couple, Rick and Mary
Ann Glover, who had been fostering dogs for quite a while. They were
willing to foster Louis until a permanent home was found. Mary Ann
recently sent me a e-mail, saying that friends of hers had adopted
Louis, and telling me that she is missing Louis already. A huge “Thank
you” to Cindy and Steve for keeping Louis until the foster home was
found, and a huge “Thank you” to Karen for doing that. Last, but not
least: Thank you so much to the Glovers!
Then we still had to
find a home for Georgia. Even though we have plenty of other dogs in our
care, it was very important to find Georgia a family of her own as quick
as possible because of the lack of space at our Shelter. A couple who
lives right here in Clinton, came, saw, and fell in love with her. The last we heard: Georgia is doing fine.
The people love her, take her
along whenever they drive somewhere; so all seems to be working out.
The third dog, a
one-year-old smallish guy named “Chief”, who was surrendered by his
owners in New Orleans after Katrina hit, is our problem child. Chief is
very lovable, is all over you with licks and kisses, but attacked Jim
when he got to close to a bone hidden underneath his blanket. Any
suggestions from you guys how to break him the easy way from defending
his food?
I know there are dog
psychiatrists and obedience schools, but we have neither the money nor
the manpower to take him there. Until he stops doing that, we will not
be able to place Chief. Which is very sad, the little guy has sooo much
love to give, and needs attention very badly. Jim and I are willing to
try him out with our own dogs eventually, but right now we have this old
guy Buddy from Charley's Strays, and we don’t want to traumatize him
with a little devil. Buddy has been with us now for two years. You may
remember, he’s the dog who really didn’t want to live anymore, had gotten
skinny and listless after being 12 years at the Shelter. We had figured
on having him maybe a couple months or even a half year, but he perked up
as soon as he came to live with us. He is now somewhere around 14, |
and has a hard time getting up, wobbles on his legs pretty bad, but
still chases the mailman down the road whenever he happens to see him. A
couple of nights ago I had let him and our other two dogs out in the
yard. We live on a dead end road, surrounded by woods. My two others
came back, without Buddy. I waited a couple of minutes, and then went
outside to look for Buddy. I heard this horrible screaming and howling
from out back. Screaming at Jim “Buddy is hurt”, getting my shoes on,
snatching the flashlight and running out towards the woods was a matter
of seconds. No Buddy in sight. We have a small pond on the woods edge,
overgrown with cattails, and when I was shining the flashlight there, I
saw some ripples in the water. So I looked, and sure enough, Buddy was
stuck in there between the cattails, trying to get out. Jim managed to
pull him out, soaking wet, with this disgusting skunk-smell all over
him. Yep, a fight with a skunk, landing in the water. As I said, poor
Buddy is in awful wobbly shape, but give him something to chase, and he
outruns everybody.
Jim spent a couple of
weeks at the Shelter this month, installing the heating ducts for the
new furnace. Lots of work, but it was well worth it. As I had mentioned
previously, the old furnace was in bad shape, the inspectors would not
let us use it another year. Thanks to your generous donations, buying
tickets and items at the fundraiser, we did cover the cost of over $2400
for the furnace. But all these past years, the furnace, which is located
at the entrance of the building, heated up the first few runs well, the
middle runs poorly, the last runs stayed fairly cold. Now Jim put
ducting all the way down to the end of the building, with air ducts on
each side facing each run, and now even the very last runs in the
building are warm. Hopefully this new furnace will also be cheaper on
heating oil. So far this fall we were pretty lucky with the weather. I
hope the “weather Oracles” are wrong with their prediction of a horrible
cold winter ahead of us. We will see. So a very important
project is done, and Jim, who likes to think ahead to the future, is
already planning the next project for the coming summer. But more about
that next month. I don’t want to overwhelm you. ☺
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Believe in Yourself!
CAT
REPORT – November 2005
Our cats are mostly in
good health and enjoying this mild weather. The leaves are still blowing
in the breeze, keeping the ones who go out on the porch amused for hours
at a time; and there have been days of warm sun for window-sill basking
for others (between stretches of rain – I’m relieved that we don’t have
to worry about a drought, but people living along lakes are wondering
where their beaches went).
As I told you in the
previous newsletter, Dr. Balboni suspected Tess had a thyroid
problem. She had the blood test and he was right, so she’s on medication
twice a day. It’s a beef-flavored liquid that I drop on her food, and
while waiting for the prescription to be called in and filled I taught
her to eat in a cage apart from roommates Evita and Purina/Meg, so they
can’t swap dishes. I now have separate dining cages in four rooms –
Kennebec’s and Randall’s downstairs, Tess’s and Agnes’s upstairs -- and
have to remember to let each cat back into his or her living space after
every meal. |
In last month’s report
I also mentioned the new cat beds from the Smiths. They have detached
cushions, and Robin started napping under the cushion on the bed
upstairs. I’d come up to find him cozily asleep with only his head
visible, often with two or three other cats curled on top of him and the
cushion. He’s not done it recently – maybe he got tired of being the
next-to-bottom layer in the sandwich.
My thanks, as always,
to people who help specifically with the cats – Cathy Bolduc for a
generous donation of money, the Charles for cat food, the Parents for
coupons and extra hands – and to all of you who help Charley’s Strays,
cats and dogs. I hope you realize what a difference you make for our
animals, providing them with food, shelter, medical care and TLC. Other
rescuers I work with are constantly searching for homes for cats and
dogs about to be turned into the streets or put down because they’re at
an overfull shelter.
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Now, for the last time
this year, you will have to read a little more about the October
fundraiser: I received quite a few
notes from people telling me they thought October would be perfect for
it. So from now on we will have our annual fundraisers two months before
Christmas, with the promise of many nice things for sale, and the hope
that you will do some of your Christmas shopping with us in October.
Charley had his annual fundraiser every year in June, but after 15 years
I think it is time for a change anyway. I saved the best for last: Roger
Ellis, who won the 1st prize of $300 returned it right back to our
Shelter. Likewise did Dorothy Archer, who won the second price in the
amount of $50! Other than these there were no “money” prizes, only items
I had mailed to different winners. So thank you very, very much to Roger
and Dorothy! This will take care of some of our heating oil expenses for
the Shelter. |
A huge Thank You goes
to Dr. Bachrach: He treated the dog of Judy and Al Smith, supporters of
Charley’s He refused payment for his services and told the Smith’s to
donate his fee to us. Hard to believe, but true -- What a nice world
this would be if there where more Bachrachs, McQuades and Slacks. Sadly
many veterinarians are out for one thing only; to fill their pockets.
Vet-expenses are our biggest money-gobbler at the Shelter. However, the
following supporters of our animals made sure that another month has
gone by with all the 4-leggers well taken care of with food, treats,
clean warm blankets, veterinary care and a warm building for them to
feel -almost- at home:
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Alice Winston, Swampscott
Betty Sawyer, Jonesport
Carole Parker, Stoughton
Charlotte Travis, Saugus
Cristine
Cardello, Melrose
Dale Critchley, S. Weymouth
Dog Axel
J
Doris Lary, Hartland
Dorothy Biron, Waterville
Dorothy D’Alessandro, C.
Ossipee
Dorothy Eckstein, Medford
Dorothy Watkins, Amesbury
Elizabeth Johnson, Sanford
Francis
Archer, Canton |
Harriet Snyder, Brockton
Inge Maiellano, Marblehead
Irma Simon, S. China
Jackie Lowny, New Bedford
Jim Lavita, Dennis
Joe D’Alessandro, Tuftonboro
Jon & Barb Anderson, Augusta
Joseph Arouca, Ormond Beach
Judy & Al Smith, Belmont
Judy Rohweder, Northport
Kathleen Hillman, Chelmsford
Linda Merriam, Dresden
Lisa Montmarquet, Raymond
Lorena & Harry Clark, Beverly |
Marcia Smith, Bucksport
Marian Delarue, Woburn
Mary Klayda, Winchester
Michael Kane, Greenwood
Mildred Walker, Presque Isle
Nancy Capone, Wakefield
R.D.Bournival, Palm Beach
Rust Pappathanasi, Swampscott
Sandra Nicholson, Beverly
Sylvia Cohen-Bell, Newton
Viola McDonald, Woburn
Cindy Houston, Woburn
Enid Hayes,
Halifax
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Thank you very much!!!
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One of our long-time
supporters, Ruth Willis, is mourning the death of her husband, Jim. We
are so sorry for your loss, Ruth! And we received a donation in memory
of Daniel Webster III from Judy Rohweder. Judy lost her friend due to an
accident. We wish we could be there for you, with a shoulder to cry on,
Ruth and Judy. |
On a lighter note; we
need you to commit a crime again – hold up your local post office! We
are in dire need of stamps. Other than that, the usual needful things
are money to pay the bills, and homes for our 4-leggers. But you already
know all of that. ☺ |
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This
brings me to the end of this month's report.
Gabriele, Mary, Karen, Ruthann, Mike, Ted
and Jim
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