Saturday, May 02, 2009

i'm still here! just very behind...

april showers bring may flowers -- hooray! but april showers also bring arthritis and fibro flares -- boo! my right shoulder was wonky for most of april and still is off and on. march was a flare-up of abdominal pain, which thankfully is in remission now; i have a test for that at the end of may.

in april i really had to keep a close count of my spoons. no, i haven't developed an obsession with cutlery! the spoon theory is a great read for anyone with chronic illness or knows someone with one (or more), especially if you don't "look sick." i haven't talked about it much on this blog -- it's a catch22: if you talk about it, you come off as a complainer, but if you don't talk about it, you must feel fine. (i'd rather talk about animals and design anyway!) blogging is one of the many things that fell by the wayside; i have a hard time catching up and keeping up with computer/online projects when it's hard to type much. especially when you are a slow writer like me! and keep going off on tangents...it might only make sense to me :) if so, oh well -- you'll still get to see some cute pictures!

march and april were slow months for my etsy and dawanda shops and thus for my fundraising for animal charities: $1.50 raised in march and .30 in april. yes, that decimal point is in the right place, unfortunately! i've been raising money for Bowling Green-Warren County Humane Society. i will be posting receipts on my blog and adding old ones; it may take a while (see catching up and keeping up with computer/online projects above!), but i assure you the money gets to the charity!

this spring i have had lots of ideas for new designs. if i could choose a superpower, i would choose self-healing so that my fibro and arthritic physical self could keep up with my imagination! it's hard to have what feels sometimes like an old lady body with the mind of a five-year-old fascinated with everything! :) but i'm grateful for my imagination; it keeps life from getting boring! squirrel-stalking keeps life from getting boring too (i had to throw that in somewhere for a picture break; these guys are too cute and funny!):







the squirrels have overtaken this blog post, so catch the next one for new designs!

Friday, March 06, 2009

february charity totals and update on adair county kentucky animal cruelty case

Over $25 raised for animal charities in February!

$15.48 for Bowling Green Warren County Humane Society ($10 from ACEO with 100% of proceeds to BGWCHS; $4.63 other etsy sales including higher percentage on Etsy for Animals spay day promotion; .85 from dawanda shop sales)
$10 for United Rescues of Kentucky ($10 from ACEO with 100% of proceeds to URKY)

$25.48 total to animal charities in February! I do not deduct my Etsy fees, PayPal fees or supplies costs from the items before percentages are taken; percentages are from item proceeds, not of item profits.



I'll continue to help Bowling Green Warren County Humane Society in March. 10% of proceeds from cards, digital collage sheets and printables & 20% from prints and original art will be donated. Buy handmade in Kentucky and help animals! I have St. Patrick's Day cards in stock now (images in this post) and will soon have some supercute owl prints and more goodies!




An update on the Adair County animal cruelty case:
The HSUS arrived [Monday] and started intake of the dogs left at Green River. There is great need to rescue/adopt dogs and cats from the Bowling Green WC HS, where the facility is overcrowded with hoarder animals. Animals still in need as of 3/3 can be viewed here: RePets

Tuesday, March 03, 2009

Adair County Animal Cruelty Case Garners National Attention

The latest on the case: Adair County Animal Cruelty Case Garners National Attention via WBKO ABC tv affiliate in Bowling Green, Kentucky:
Humane Society of the United States has stepped in, set up an emergency shelter in Bowling Green and is a step closer to getting these dogs healthy again.

Thank you to Bowling Green Warren County Humane Society and the Humane Society of the United States for giving these animals the help they need!

happy tortie tuesday!


rawr!, originally uploaded by kittyanydots.

rawr!

please send chouli some prayers/good vibes/thoughts/[insert your good thing here] -- she is limping today after trying to jump on the chair last night and missing her target :(

Friday, February 27, 2009

friday, february 27th: update on the raid of 100s of hoarded/rescue-gone-wrong animals in Adair County Kentucky

Seized dogs and cats in Adair to be farmed out, not killed
excerpt:
There were 88 dogs seized from Howery at the Green River shelter Thursday afternoon, said Tracy Moser, who is with a Bowling Green rescue organization called RePets and has been helping this week in Adair County.

The Humane Society of the United States will send a team to Adair County to pick up those remaining dogs Monday, said spokeswoman Jordan Crump.

HSUS will dispatch a tractor-trailer with medical supplies and cages that serve as mobile shelters to treat animals seized from Howery. They will also send materials to build a temporary outdoor shelter, Crump said.


Full story by Bill Estep of kentucky.com

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

tuesday, feb 24th: updates on the raid on the 100s of hoarded/rescue-gone-wrong animals in Adair County Kentucky

Copied below is the previous blog post on this subject, so if you haven't read about it until now, you can read it all in this one post.

UPDATE: Tuesday, February 24th:
More charges filed in Adair case (quotes from story by Bill Estep from kentucky.com)
David F. Howery, 50, now faces a total of 295 misdemeanor charges of second-degree cruelty to animals, one of the largest such cases within memory in the area. He pleaded not guilty at his arraignment Monday.

Ironically, Spay Day is today, and many people are trying to get the word out on why to spay or neuter animals. Howery's word on this issue is disturbing to say the least, and as a friend who is a psychotherapist says, there's "no DSM diagnosis yet for hoarding, but there should be. He is very very sick":
In a short interview, Howery declined to comment on the charges against him or to say much about the operation of his facility, though he did want to talk about the problem of too many unwanted pets in Kentucky.

There is a need for more recognition of the overpopulation of dogs and cats, as well as more education on spaying and neutering pets, Howery said.

"If this is what it takes to get the message out, then so be it."

Read the rest of the story at the link above.

Columbia Magazine is also posting updates on the Howery case.

Holly’s Place Animal Rescue, a member of United Rescues of Kentucky, has pictures of some of the animals seized.

PREVIOUS POST:
Clean Slate Animal Rescue was raided on Friday after a call to Adair County Sheriff Ralph Curry regarding conditions at the facility. A Hazmat crew was called in; several animals on the premises were dead. David Floyd Howery, Clean Slate owner, has been charged with 195 counts second-degree animal cruelty. This story first made news among members of United Rescues of Kentucky and first made the Kentucky media on Lexington's kentucky.com.

240 dogs and 31 cats are now at Green River Animal Shelter being cared for by GRAS staff, volunteers, and Dr. Rexroat of Adair County Animal Hospital. Jeff Thomas, director of the Green River Animal Shelter, noted that many of these animals "have respiratory problems, skin conditions and are underweight." Bowling Green Warren County Animal Shelter took in the animals that were housed at GRAS to make room for those seized. Farm animals seized were taken in by a local farm.

Columbia Magazine reports that along with the 240 dogs and 31 cats seized were
* 53 Chickens
* 13 Goats
* 3 sheep
* 3 Chinchillas
All of the above were transferred by Adair County Animal Control Officer Jimmy Harmon and volunteers
* One parrot or other "talking bird," Harmon wasn't for sure it was a parrot
* 3 Potbellied pigs
* Two donkeys
* One horse

Clean Slate Animal Rescue originated in Oregon prior to relocating to Kentucky and purchasing the old Sparksville Elementary School building where many of these animals were housed. Clean Slate was raided Friday after conditions at the rescue agency were reported to the Adair County sheriff.

If you would like to help these animals, you may donate at the site of Green River Animal Shelter or United Rescues of Kentucky. Some members of UR_KY are volunteering at the shelter. Green River Animal Shelter's website has not been updated with the news; I imagine they are too busy right now to do so. UR_KY has updated and I donated through their site. I have a watercolor/drawing in my Etsy shop with 100% going to GRAS/UR_KY and another with 100% going to Bowling Green Warren County Animal Shelter; please see pics at end of post.

More news on this story:
Story with report from Adair County Animal Control Officer Jimmy Harmon
Lexington 18 NBC TV affiliate brief story which includes a video
Associated Press: Authorities find dead, sick animals at shelter (on site of WZTV Fox 17 in Nashville
Google News list of stories on this issue

Bloggers who've covered this story:
Marjorie of The Fantail (New Zealand)
UPDATES:
Monday, 12 PM: I just spoke with a woman at Judge Melton's office. Some animals have been released to go to rescues and some to Green River Animal Shelter where they will be available for adoption. I asked if any had been ruled to be put down; she did not say they had, but added that "the shelter only has room for so many."

Monday: Clean Slate Animal Rescue story: Arraignment March 9, 2009: This article by Columbia Magazine also contains the following:
An interesting link on the David Howery, Clean Slate Animal Rescue organization is posted from several months ago on WBKO. The story was entitled "Volunteer Accuses Butler County Animal Shelter of Unnecessary Euthanizations," and it includes a brief paragraph about Mr. Howery adopting kittens from the Morgantown, KY facility and his reasons why.


Sunday 2/22 update from UR_KY:
It is the hope and most likely the outcome that the county will release the dogs and cats tomorrow after a hearing. They will go to fosters, shelters, rescues and more. They are all ill or have mange. Many are pregnant or have delivered in the stress or from ill health. Vets have been onsite daily and are giving freely of their time. The Green River Animal Welfare League has donated to medications, as has the HSUS. UR_KY has thus far, with your donations, purchased hundreds of dollars in food and will pay all remaining medication costs, which is substantial. We will continue to pay vettng, food, medications, supplies, fuel for some transports and more. Wonderful URKY members and others have donated bowls, blankets, and more. URKY's GoodWag Store has sent tons of blankets, bowls, leashes, cat pans, food and more. There were many deceased dogs and cats at Clean Slate, and there are many disturbing stories that will be told. These animals have suffered, and many just couldn't take any more and have perished since being rescued. The farm animals that were at Clean Slate have gone to rescues already, or nearby farms for care. Thank you for your donations, your wonderful good wishes, your prayers and support.


My original watercolor/drawing ACEOs (Art Cards Editions and Originals) miniature art with 100% to the charities mentioned above:

Monday, February 23, 2009

spay day twitter party!

You’re invited to the #spayday twitter parties!
Date: Tuesday, February 24
Times: 1-3 PM Eastern Standard time (12-2 CT, 11AM-1PM MT, 10AM-12PM PT) and 6-8 PM Eastern Standard time (5-7 CT, 4-6 MT, 3-5 PT)
(There are two parties; come to one or both! Use the converter for your time zone other than ones above.)
Place: http://twitter.com
Host: kittyanydots

Everyone is invited; pass the word along to your friends! Please tag your tweets with #spayday -- let's see if #spayday can make trending topics on twitter tomorrow!

Purpose: to raise awareness of Spay Day:
Four million cats and dogs—about one every eight seconds—are put down in U.S. shelters each year. Often these animals are the offspring of cherished family pets, even purebreds. Maybe someone's cat or dog got out just that one time or maybe the litter was intentional, but efforts to find enough good homes failed. Spay/neuter is the only permanent, 100-percent effective method of birth control for dogs and cats and a proven way to reduce the vast numbers of animals who are born only to die prematurely and without a family who loves them. Learn more about why you should spay or neuter your pet. (Information from The Humane Society of the United States)


So, what do you twitter about? Here are some ideas:
--Low-cost spay and neuter programs in your area/state/country
--Benefits of spay/neuter
--Your favorite animal shelter or rescue
--Your efforts to help Spay Day

This last one is where the Etsy for Animals (EFA) and EtsyVeg teams come in! Many members of these teams are having specials in their shop such as free shipping and percentage of proceeds going to animal charities on Spay Day. See the graphic below for some participating shops:



Hope to see you there!

info and updates on the raid on the 100s of hoarded/rescue-gone-wrong animals in Adair County Kentucky

I'm moving this to its own post and will keep this blog post updated as I know more. I first started blogging about this yesterday. I will blog updates at the bottom of this post as I become aware of them.

Clean Slate Animal Rescue was raided on Friday after a call to Adair County Sheriff Ralph Curry regarding conditions at the facility. A Hazmat crew was called in; several animals on the premises were dead. David Floyd Howery, Clean Slate owner, has been charged with 195 counts second-degree animal cruelty. This story first made news among members of United Rescues of Kentucky and first made the Kentucky media on Lexington's kentucky.com.

240 dogs and 31 cats are now at Green River Animal Shelter being cared for by GRAS staff, volunteers, and Dr. Rexroat of Adair County Animal Hospital. Jeff Thomas, director of the Green River Animal Shelter, noted that many of these animals "have respiratory problems, skin conditions and are underweight." Bowling Green Warren County Animal Shelter took in the animals that were housed at GRAS to make room for those seized. Farm animals seized were taken in by a local farm.

Columbia Magazine reports that along with the 240 dogs and 31 cats seized were
* 53 Chickens
* 13 Goats
* 3 sheep
* 3 Chinchillas
All of the above were transferred by Adair County Animal Control Officer Jimmy Harmon and volunteers
* One parrot or other "talking bird," Harmon wasn't for sure it was a parrot
* 3 Potbellied pigs
* Two donkeys
* One horse

Clean Slate Animal Rescue originated in Oregon prior to relocating to Kentucky and purchasing the old Sparksville Elementary School building where many of these animals were housed. Clean Slate was raided Friday after conditions at the rescue agency were reported to the Adair County sheriff.

If you would like to help these animals, you may donate at the site of Green River Animal Shelter or United Rescues of Kentucky. Some members of UR_KY are volunteering at the shelter. Green River Animal Shelter's website has not been updated with the news; I imagine they are too busy right now to do so. UR_KY has updated and I donated through their site. I have a watercolor/drawing in my Etsy shop with 100% going to GRAS/UR_KY and another with 100% going to Bowling Green Warren County Animal Shelter; please see pics at end of post.

More news on this story:
Story with report from Adair County Animal Control Officer Jimmy Harmon
Lexington 18 NBC TV affiliate brief story which includes a video
Associated Press: Authorities find dead, sick animals at shelter (on site of WZTV Fox 17 in Nashville
Google News list of stories on this issue

Bloggers who've covered this story:
Marjorie of The Fantail (New Zealand)

UPDATES:
Monday, 12 PM: I just spoke with a woman at Judge Melton's office. Some animals have been released to go to rescues and some to Green River Animal Shelter where they will be available for adoption. I asked if any had been ruled to be put down; she did not say they had, but added that "the shelter only has room for so many."

Monday: Clean Slate Animal Rescue story: Arraignment March 9, 2009: This article by Columbia Magazine also contains the following:
An interesting link on the David Howery, Clean Slate Animal Rescue organization is posted from several months ago on WBKO. The story was entitled "Volunteer Accuses Butler County Animal Shelter of Unnecessary Euthanizations," and it includes a brief paragraph about Mr. Howery adopting kittens from the Morgantown, KY facility and his reasons why.


Sunday 2/22 update from UR_KY:
It is the hope and most likely the outcome that the county will release the dogs and cats tomorrow after a hearing. They will go to fosters, shelters, rescues and more. They are all ill or have mange. Many are pregnant or have delivered in the stress or from ill health. Vets have been onsite daily and are giving freely of their time. The Green River Animal Welfare League has donated to medications, as has the HSUS. UR_KY has thus far, with your donations, purchased hundreds of dollars in food and will pay all remaining medication costs, which is substantial. We will continue to pay vettng, food, medications, supplies, fuel for some transports and more. Wonderful URKY members and others have donated bowls, blankets, and more. URKY's GoodWag Store has sent tons of blankets, bowls, leashes, cat pans, food and more. There were many deceased dogs and cats at Clean Slate, and there are many disturbing stories that will be told. These animals have suffered, and many just couldn't take any more and have perished since being rescued. The farm animals that were at Clean Slate have gone to rescues already, or nearby farms for care. Thank you for your donations, your wonderful good wishes, your prayers and support.


First-hand stories from volunteers will also be blogged today.

My original watercolor/drawing ACEOs (Art Cards Editions and Originals) miniature art with 100% to the charities mentioned above:

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Good news: Spay Day is Tuesday, February 24th! Bad news: 100s of hoarded animals seized in Kentucky

I'll be back tonight or tomorrow to clean up this post and finish including more URLs; just wanted to get the info out now as it's all urgent, especially the raid on the 100s of hoarded animals in KY this weekend.

To raise awareness of Spay Day, 24% of proceeds go to charity and FREE SHIPPING for you on Spay Day, Tuesday February 24th, on all items in my etsy shop! The flyer below shows some members of EFA (Etsy for Animals) and EtsyVeg who are teaming up to offer great specials on Spay Day!



My Spay Day (and month of February) charity is the Bowling Green Warren County Animal Shelter in Kentucky. They have taken in kitties from other shelters affected by the ice storm in Kentucky in January; Kentucky was declared a disaster zone by President Obama from this storm.

BGWCAS also took in some animals from Green River Animal Shelter in Kentucky this weekend after 100s of animals were seized from an accused hoarder/dubious rescue group in Adair County Kentucky; GRAS needed the room to take in and care for 240 dogs and cats who were seized, so BG took in the animals that were at GRAS (the hoarding story just broke to the media this Sunday morning at the link above, so it's not on the GRAS site yet). If you would like to help these animals, you may donate at the site of United Rescues of Kentucky; some members of UROK are volunteering locally at the shelter to help care for these animals.

Jeff Thomas, director of the Green River Animal Shelter, also noted that many of these animals "have respiratory problems, skin conditions and are underweight." The accused hoarder/rescue-gone-wrong is Clean Slate Animal Rescue, a group that originated in Oregon prior to relocating to Kentucky and purchasing the old Sparksville Elementary School building where many of these animals were housed. Clean Slate was raided Friday after conditions at the rescue agency were reported to the Adair County sheriff. David Floyd Howery, Clean Slate owner, has been charged with 195 counts second-degree animal cruelty.

UPDATE: Another news story with Adair County Animal Control Officer Jimmy Harmon.

I also have two items in my etsy shop with 100% to charity: one for BGWCAS and one for the rescuing of the animals hoarded. They are ACEOs, minature art watercolor/drawings in my featured items :)



Also, I am going to host a Spay Day twitter party. I'll posting more details tonight or tomorrow. Everyone is invited! :) If you twitter, http://twitter.com/kittyanydots :) Let's get Spay Day on trending topics on twitter Tuesday!

6,000 Separate Paintings=20 Paintings Per Second=5 Minute Video=2 Year Production

Wow.

Created by art student Reza Dolatabadi:

Khoda from Reza Dolatabadi on Vimeo.

top ten updates: cuteable, catgirl, charity, animal issues, ice storm, and more

Ever get so far behind with a project you don't know where to begin to catch up? That's the condition of my blog.

So, top ten brief updates:
1. raised $1.50 for It's Meow Or Never in January through my Etsy shop. it was a slow sales month; i didn't sell anything until the end of the month. foo on computer crashes that take 3 weeks to repair! there's still an ACEO left in my shop to benefit IMON!

2. donated to boywithoutarms.org in honor of the etsy createability team. see jeff power's blog for updates on Aschelew and his soon-to-be store!

3. my Lucy retro bird ACEO was featured on cuteable. squee!


4. donated Catgirl and Bluebirds ACEO to OzBushfireAppeal.etsy.com. it sold in less than 24 hours! two more ACEOs in my shop are 100% to animal charity!


5. twittered, twittered, and twittered more. it so much easier for me than blogging! i can pop in throughout the day to post and reply. twitter automatically hyperlinks urls, which blogger was crashing on me when i tried to do so in december.

6. made new st. patrick's day card designs to be available in my etsy shop this week! owl prints coming soon too!

7. survived the ice storm of january 2009 in kentucky! and very grateful i did not lose power as many folks did. some went without power for days or weeks.

kentucky ice storm winter 2009

robin in ice


8. teamed up with The Pet Podcast Channel, the #1 Video Pet Podcast Show in the World, to promote efa (etsy for animals). check out TPPC for great stories and shows on animals, related charities and issues!

9. joined efa's spay day promotion; this will be a blog post of its own later today or tomorrow.

10. picked february charities to raise money for in my etsy and dawanda shops; this will be a blog post of its own later today or tomorrow also.