Shocking.....but not really

I blogged recently about only buying seeds from company's that honor the "Safe Seed Pledge". Well after doing some more reading and research, it has been discovered that they do indeed sell some products that have come directly from Seminis, a subsidiary of Monsanto! OMG. I'm shocked, well not really. Does this really surprise anyone that a company would hide behind a "pledge" just to have the ability to say "Gee, I didn't know"? In this day and age, it's more about the almighty dollar, not honesty. I will be doing better research next time. For now I will be limiting my purchases to two companies that I am pretty sure are honest.

Seed Saver's Exchange and Baker's Creek. I am sure there are others who are completely honest and truly believe in the 'Pledge", but until I am certain......

Good luck with seed buying and may you have a bountiful crop.

Why are Dogs so hard to adopt?

Keep in mind that this is my opinion and if you don't like it - you don't have to continue to read it.

Now don't misconstrue that question. I understand that the rescues and shelters don't want people adopting hoards of animals only to get them back later. Can someone please tell me though, why do they have to make it so damn hard? I am on the lookout for a good companion dog for my autistic son. I want a larger breed, but not too big. He want s a dog to wrestle with. I also have to keep in mind that we have 2 other small dogs and 2 cats. I know, too, that I will probably be doing most of the caring for this animal. I was on a pet finding website today like many times before looking at pictures and reading descriptions. There were so many stipulations - it made me not want to get a dog from a rescue or shelter. Here's my beef with the whole thing......

Most places do background checks to make sure you can afford to care for the animal.

They want a visible fence in the yard - not invisible fence

They want proof of vet visits - even years later - Hello - ever heard of Holistic Pet care? You don't have to go to the vet for everything.

Some limit the number of people and animals in the home. - Hello? If someone has the money and time and love for animals - who cares?

The applications are very personal. They want to know your utilities, rent/mortgage, ins, grocery expenses - I'm sorry that's none of your freaking business!

Oh and there's the outrageous adoption fees. I understand that caring for animals is expensive, but to charge $250 or more for a dog that no one wanted - then complain about overcrowding? I have no problem with charging a fee to help cover food, overhead and what not, but some of that is just greed. Then to whine and beg for more money because they have too many animals! These places need to make adopting more appealing to the masses. Do the math.

Adoption fee $250

Vet visit $150 or more depending on your location

Food 1st bag $30 also depending on brand could be $15 to $100

Misc toys $50

Treats $30

Heartworm $75 again depending on breed of dog

Flea prev. $40 " "

Your already at $625 and you don't even have the dog home yet! Don't forget the leash, collar, crate and, if you do this, clothing! Your looking at close to a $1000 just to bring a dog home!

Now in my area, we have 2 kinds of vets - ones that charge for every little thing and one, only one, that will only charge what needs to be charged to cover costs and not try empty my wallet. The one vet wanted to charge me an office visit for each animal even though I was bringing them in all at one time. That was $120 just to walk in the door with 4 critter. Then it was $40 for this, $30 for that, $60 for that, $50 for the other. Oh and $180 for neutering an 8lb dog. $480 just for shots, testing and a minor procedure.

The less expensive vet charge $50 for all the testing and $70 for neutering. $120 vs $480 - where do you think I'm going to go? Unfortunately that vet is getting on in years and won't be around a whole lot longer. I am saddened to think that our community will lose a great country vet and be forced fed overpriced vet clinics.

Like I said before I have two dogs. One is a purebred mini dachshund that we paid a huge AKC price for. Then the breed ripped us off by never sending the AKC paperwork. Wanted another HUGE price for that! He's a sweet dog, but not very smart. Our other dog is a Finish Spitz/Chihuahua mix shelter dog that I adopted in 2007 for a whopping $10. He's the sweetest, smartest, most loyal animal I have ever had. As for the 2 cats (we had three but lost one in a house fire), they are barn cats that tugged on our heartstrings so much we had to bring them inside. The cat we lost in the fire was a shelter cat also. I adopted him in 2003. He was about 4 years old then. I'm guessing he was 11 or 12 at the time of the fire. His adoption fee was only $5 from a city shelter. His name was Zeke, but I called him my "Lil' Old Man". He loved to snuggle and if I sat down for more than 5 minutes he was in my lap.

So you see - I don't have a problem with shelter animals. It's the crazy demands and processes it now takes to adopt an animal from them. That being said, the next animal I take into my home will not be from an overpriced shelter, but from a free ad in the paper or on craigslist or something.

I've been away.

Wow, it has really been a long, long time since I posted anything. I guess I kinda got lost in life. Its been a rough couple of years. I am hoping the last major snafu will be the last for a good long time. We lost our house in a fire in October. Undetermined electrical was the cause. What a nighmare. Thankfully we are all ok. We did lose a much loved kitty named Zeke though. He was about 11 I think. An adoptee from the Anderson animal shelter, he was a good kitty. We'd had him since 2004. My husband said as he was running out of the burning house calling "kitty, kitty, kitty" he thought he saw Zeke run back in. Poor critter was confused. Our other 2 kitties were secured after the fire in the garage. They lived in there for 5 weeks while we lived in a hotel room with the 2 dogs. We are all now living in a rental home until ours is rebuilt.

This has been a long process and won't be over for months. I never ever thought in a million years that I would have to actually list every single item in my home. I'm not kidding. Insurance wants to know how many rolls of toilet paper we had to how many magnets were on the fridge. Really? I don't know! My husband and I have spent hours trying to remember. Why is it so hard you may ask. Well you have to understand that I am a collector. (hubbs calls it borderline hoarder) Without looking - can you say how many pairs of socks, undies, bras, purses, jeans, pants, shorts, shoes, belts, bags, makeup brushes, q-tips, bandaids, tea bags, spices, plates, cups, forks, spoons, knives, pens, pencils, buttons, spools of thread, kitchen gadgets, utensils, cleaners, rags, towels, sheets, blankets, pillowcases, movies, cd's, notebooks, stamps, pins, scissors, quilt fabrics, paints, brushes, earrings, necklaces, etc. You get my point. Its not easy.

Did you notice how scattered the list is? Well that is what happens in my head when I am trying to list stuff. I will try to focus on one room - say the kitchen- when all of the sudden something will pop in my head and off my mind goes to that room, then on to the next room. Before I know it, my brain is ready to explode and I have to walk away. Been at this for 3 months.

Insurance also wants to know when we bought/aquired it, how much we paid, and current replacement cost including tax. OMG! Some stuff will never be able to be replaced. I had a lot of discontinued quilt fabrics, antiques and pictures. HELLO!!!!!!!

I had a bunch of vintage trade blankets from the 1930's and 1940's. I've been collecting them for years. I recently checked an online auction site - WOW! I didn't pay anywhere near those prices!

Oh and my pink leather jacket. I found what was left of that in the rubble. I haven't found another one yet.

Why am I not thinking of things right now instead of posting? Well, it's time for one of those breaks. Thankfully I have the kind of job allows me to do this kind of thing. After all, there's not much I can do until a customer actually walks through the door.

Stay tuned.