Too Cool and Other Weather Weirdness

Hola out there to all of my blog readers! I'm happy to report that I'm finally feeling more like myself. Now, if our nasty weather here would just cooperate. The past couple of weeks have been very unusual in our Tennessee weather pattern. We have broken records for it being so cool for this time of year. Usually, by now, we've melted all over the sidewalks. We just tend to do the sweaty slide everywhere we go. Today our high is supposed to be 74. That's usually, if we're lucky, our low temp this time of year. We are usually around 98 - 100 degrees by now. It's just so bizarre. Even the meteorologists here say this weather is more typical of October than August. I feel like I'm in the twilight zone or something. Maybe, I've been in a boredom induced coma and hibernated through August and it's October now. Weather aside, yesterday was again uneventful on the work front. I got some more reading done in Drums of Autumn. It is turning out to be an excellent read. As I was getting ready to walk Bear last night, the weird weather struck again. A really nasty thunderstorm blew up out of nowhere. Much to Bear's disappointment, I had to unharness him and promise that we would go for an extra long walk this afternoon. Goodness knows, we definitely won't be hindered by high August heat! Bless his heart, he was just crest fallen. Casey made the most fabulous dinner last night. He concocted this new chicken dish. It was chicken breast seared then baked in a lemon-butter cream sauce with rosemary. He had homemade mac and cheese and lima beans for sidedishes. Of course this all came after he'd finished his first attempt to make homemade potstickers. He did an excellent job, and I managed to polish off a whole plate of those BEFORE dinner! I definitely have to walk further today to compensate for all that food! He's off again today, so there's no telling what wonderful dinner suprise I'm in for tonight. Nothing special on the calendar today. Just trudging through another boring day at work.

Here's an ASPCA update that I got this morning concerning the animal control problem in Greece. It has another contact with details of how we can help further...

ASPCA Joins International Animal Welfare Community in Condemning Mass Killing of Stray Dogs In Greece Tuesday August 3, 2004 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (New York, NY) August 2, 2004 -- The ASPCA is joining the international animal welfare community in condemning the deliberate and inhumane killing of thousands of homeless dogs in the city of Athens. It is believed that up to 80% of the estimated 30,000 to 50,000 stray dogs living in the streets of Athens have been poisoned in the past few weeks in an effort to eliminate the population prior to the beginning of the 2004 Olympic Games on August 13. It is reported that dogs are being fed food laced with rat poison, causing a slow and excruciating death over a period of several days. Videotape shot by the organization Welfare for Animals Global recently captured some of the more gruesome and disturbing methods being utilized on the city streets of Athens to kill dogs. "The inhumane and archaic methods of population control reportedly being implemented in the city of Athens are simply not acceptable in the year 2004," said ASPCA President Edwin J. Sayres. "The ASPCA stands with the international humane community in expressing our disappointment with the Greek government for their lack of compassion and desire to eradicate thousands stray dogs from their city in advance of the Olympic Games." The international Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) recently sent a representative to Athens and is helping to train Greek officials to deal with the epidemic stray problem humanely. For more information on how you can help the strays in Greece, please visit www.rspca.org.