Of Brie and God and Kindness….

Today at the grocery store, as I passed the cheese isle, I heard a muffled little voice call my name. I looked over my shoulder to see who it could it be – but to no avail. Then the voice called again. As I moved closer to the cheese case, I heard, “Hey! Psssst!!  Collie! Down here!” As I looked down, to my amazement, what did I see? It was a happy little triangle of Brie, staring up at me! It happened to be the last one left that was on sale…an awesome sale actually, but then again, that’s the kind of thing you find at Trader Joe’s – awesomeness as if it were infused into the air like aromatherapy.

I’m not sure that I have ever had a cheese I didn’t like, but aside from sharp cheddar and wine cheese, Brie is my favorite. And because I’m doing a low carb diet….or rather, trying…it’s nice to have various cheeses on hand. Normally, when I eat Brie, a slice or two of fresh baked French Baguette or Carr’s Water Crackers accompanies it…today however, in keeping with the diet, it will be spread on slices of radishes and jicama. No, it really isn’t as bad as it sounds!  I did worry though that I may need to put the Brie back because, for lack of a calculator and a lifelong allergy to mathematics, I was iffy about whether I’d have enough cash to cover it. Normally I’d put it on my debit card but I had left that at home by accident.

We’ve talked about the Brie, which now may have some of you thinking that perhaps I’m not as mentally stable as you once thought….I mean, who has Brie call out their name? Come to think of it – I bet I’m not alone there. So here comes the kindness part… sweeping you up off your feet like a tidal wave of cotton candy, unicorns and Guinness Beer! I get up to the checkout and sure enough I am 67 cents short on my groceries. Sixty seven measley cents! That’s nothing! Why don’t I have that trolling around the bottom of my purse? That’s enough to help that Burl Ives looking dude with The Christian Children’s Fund help at least, I dunno….five kids from Zimbabwe get through Dartmouth and buy some high-yield bonds! Or ME, some Brie! But here it is…this big gaping penniless hole, standing in the way of me and my Brie cheese. I’m standing there, knowing that everything else in the basket I really need, aside from the radishes and jicama that I had anticipated slathering with creamy goodness. So now, I need to put those back too because they’ll most likely rot in my veggie bin.

Putting back one thing is bad enough…but three? Why don’t I just jump up on the counter and scream “I’m a trailer park Queen!!” I’m waiting for the cashier to ask me if I have any food stamps tucked away in my wallet, when another voice chimes in on my scene, one that has a very heavy accent…. “please lady here, please to let me to help you“. I turn to my side and see a very black man with the most beautiful, perfect teeth I have ever seen, reach toward me with a handful of random change. I was shocked. Embarrassed I said, “Oh no, thank you, I’ll just come back later. That’s so nice of you though!”, to which he replies, “Why to come back to later? Please, please you make happy if you take” and extended his hand even closer to me. How could I not accept? Especially if not accepting help from others was a grave insult where he comes from. I opened my hand and happily accepted. I then heard my Brie singing a happy song from inside the bag.

I thanked him profusely and asked him where he was from. “Zimbabwe” he said. He came here three months ago…..made possible only by his American sponsors through The Christian Children’s Fund.

Tags: Brie, Christian Children's Fund, kindness, Trader Joe's

I Am A Tree

I am sewn to the earth
And held by the sky
When I am lonely
The wind asks me to dance
The sun warms me
And my cold and withered bark
Glows like the light of a million stars
And when the rain pours down
My tears are hidden from sight
Until the sun shines again
On my soft and longing leaves.

Life is Not Priceless in the Desert

PHOENIX — Animal lovers threatened to pull donations to an animal rescue group and the public flooded the agency with scathing comments and calls after a man’s cat was euthanized when he couldn’t afford its medical care, prompting the Arizona Humane Society to go into damage-control mode Wednesday.

The group has hired a publicist, removed dozens of comments on its Facebook page and directed a team of five volunteers to respond to the overwhelming calls and emails it has received since The Arizona Republic published a weekend story about Daniel Dockery and his 9-month-old cat, Scruffy.

Dockery, a 49-year-old recovering heroin addict, told the Phoenix newspaper that he took Scruffy to a Humane Society center on Dec. 8 because she had a cut from a barbed-wire fence, an injury that he described as non-life-threatening. The agency said it would cost $400 to treat Scruffy, money he didn’t have.

The Humane Society cited policy when it declined to accept a credit card over the phone from Dockery’s mother in Michigan or to wait for her to wire the money. The staff said if he signed papers surrendering the cat, Scruffy would be treated and put in foster care, he said.

Instead, Scruffy was euthanized several hours later.

Dockery told the Republic that he was devastated.

“Now I’ve got to think about how I failed that beautiful animal,” Dockery said. “I failed her. … That’s so wrong. There was no reason for her not to be treated.”

He described the cat as helping him stay off drugs for more than a year, the longest he had ever been clean. He hand-fed the feline before she opened her eyes at 4 days old, giving her fresh tuna and letting her sleep on his pillow.

Stacy Pearson, who was hired by the agency specifically to deal with media questions about the cat, said Dockery’s case has led to two changes. The Arizona Humane Society has set up an account, funded through donations, that would cover the costs of emergency treatment of animals whose owners need a day or two to come up with money for payments. And the group is now accepting credit card payments by phone, Pearson said.

Dozens of scathing comments have since inundated the group’s Facebook page, with animal lovers demanding to know why the cat was put down. Pearson said angry comments were removed because of their content: One called for the staff to be euthanized, while another said what happened to Scruffy was murder.

Pearson said Scruffy was put down over a number of reasons, including Dockery’s lack of immediate funds, a lack of veterinarians to treat her and what Pearson described as a very serious cut on Scruffy from her abdomen to her knee that went to the muscle.

She said the Arizona Humane Society at the time didn’t accept credit card payments over the phone because of possible fraud and can’t treat pets with only a promise from owners that they can pay the next day. She said staff had every intention of getting Scruffy the help she needed but the number of animals requiring help at the group’s second-chance clinic was too much for the resources available.

If Dockery had been able to pay, Scruffy would have been treated at the facility where he brought her, Pearson said.

“There was no malicious intent to take Scruffy away from her father,” Pearson said. “Pulling funding is only going to make a problem like this worse.”

On Facebook, where only the agency’s executive director is allowed to post comments now, Guy Collison wrote that “Scruffy’s story is heartbreaking, and underscores the worst-case-scenario of need eclipsing resources available.” He said that his agency has always done what’s best for animals.

In less than an hour after his statement was posted, more than 100 people responded, with most slamming the agency and some defending it as doing the best it can with available resources.

Pearson said the group told Dockery on Tuesday that when he’s ready for another pet, he could come in and pick one out, but he declined, telling them: “No thanks.”

This is so tragic. What I don’t understand is WHY would they coax him to signing over the kitten and then euthanize it? Why not leave it with him to find another resource that actually cares and is capable of helping? Why did they not call him and tell him that he needs to pick up his kitten…that they misjudged their abilities and were unable to provide proper treatment? Maybe help him find another resource? This is an absolute disgrace, especially being the Arizona Humane Society…my GOD….it’s not like their in the back woods!!!

If this were my pet… I’d find a HUNGRY, animal loving attorney asap, to look at why they have funds to hire a professional PR rep but not enough funds to sew up a little kitten. Something’s VERY fishy in Denmark…..uh….I mean…Arizona.

Sources : Huffington Post/Animal Miracle Foundation
Photo – Associated Press

Golden Arches Lead to Cruelty

Hollywood stars are crying foul over McDonald’s inhumane treatment of egg-laying hens after an undercover investigation exposed rampant cruelty to animals at factory farms supplying eggs for Egg McMuffins. In a letter fired off today to McDonald’s CEO Jim Skinner, at the behest of the animal protection organization, Mercy For Animals, Ryan Gosling, Zooey Deschanel, Emily Deschanel, Alicia Silverstone, Maria Menounos, Kristin Bauer, Ed Begley, Jr., Wendie Malick, Bryan Adams and Steve-O wrote: “On behalf of compassionate people everywhere, we implore you to help end the needless suffering of these animals by adopting strict and meaningful animal welfare policies worldwide, including the commitment to prohibit the purchase of eggs produced by hens who spend their miserable lives crammed into tiny wire cages.”

The appeal comes after hidden-camera video, shot at Sparboe Farms facilities in Iowa, Minnesota, and Colorado by an investigator with Mercy For Animals, revealed unconscionable cruelty. The footage shows hens crammed in tiny wire cages, dead hens left to rot in cages with birds still laying eggs for human consumption, and workers burning off the beaks of birds without painkillers, throwing them, breaking their necks, and swinging them by their legs. The investigation — which broke on ABC’s Good Morning America and 20/20 — prompted McDonald’s to cut ties with the factory farm. However, the company has failed to implement any meaningful animal welfare policies to actually address the main issue of concern: the inherently cruel practice of confining hens in tiny wire cages for their entire lives.

The letter points out:

While McDonald’s has already established a 100% cage-free purchasing policy in Europe, your U.S. restaurants continue to support egg factory farms that confine hens for most of their lives in cages so small they can’t even spread their wings. These poor birds never get to walk, run, perch, roost, dustbathe, build nests, see the sun, breathe fresh air, or do nearly anything that comes naturally to them. Common sense tells us that animals with legs and wings should be given the basic freedom to move.

Sadly, there is not a single federal law to protect hens from cruelty from the time they hatch to the time they are killed. While McDonald’s brags about the “billions and billions served,” millions of hens exploited for your restaurants are being grossly underserved. In fact, these animals are being abused in ways that could land your egg suppliers in jail, if dogs or cats were the victims.

The letter concludes:

It’s a good time for some great changes at McDonald’s. As the largest egg buyer in the entire country, McDonald’s has the power — and the moral responsibility — to ensure that the eggs in its Egg McMuffins don’t come from rotten egg suppliers.

To view the undercover video, visit McDonaldsCruelty.com.

To read the complete letter, signed by the celebrities, visit McDonaldsCruelty.com/Letter.

Photo for sale on Etsy!

Celebrities Who Make A Difference

I’m so proud of and excited for one of the loveliest girls I know, actress Charlotte Ross, who is also mommy to Tyler, the Mascot of National Mutt Day and cover model on the 2010 Winter issue of my magazine, Pet Home.

The following is an article by LookToTheStars.org :

Two-time Emmy-nominated actress and star of Fox’s mega-hit TV series Glee, Charlotte Ross has been recognized by The Humane Society of the United States with its Animal Advocate Award for service to the animal protection cause.

A dedicated and long-standing animal advocate, Charlotte recently bolstered HSUS efforts on Capitol Hill, joining in lobbying for the Great Ape Protection and Cost Savings Act, which would phase out invasive research on chimpanzees in laboratories.

“Charlotte is a true advocate, always ready to step up and take action on behalf of the issues she believes in,” says Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of The Humane Society of the United States. “She was there for us during the successful Prop 2 campaign in California, lending her voice to a measure that will improve the lives of farm animals, and now she is helping us in our bid to end the pain and isolation endured by lab chimps.”

Upon receiving The HSUS’ Animal Advocate Award at a recent reception in Los Angeles, Charlotte joked that, “Capitol Hill was an eye opener – it makes Hollywood look like a cake walk!” She added, “The Great Ape Protection Act and Cost Savings Act is way overdue. We are the only industrialized nation that still tests on chimps. This bill is going to pass; it’s just a matter of time.”

The Great Ape Protection and Cost Savings Act would retire the more than 500 government-owned chimpanzees to sanctuaries and end breeding of chimpanzees for invasive research, while saving taxpayers approximately $30 million per year.

Charlotte is the official celebrity spokesperson for Operation Blankets of Love, an organization that collects, transports and distributes pet-related items to comfort animals in shelters. She shares her home with two rescue dogs, Taco, whom she found limping and homeless in Puerto Rico, and Tyler whom she adopted from a shelter and who is now the official mascot of National Mutt Day, created by the Animal Miracle Network.

Best known for her role as Detective Connie McDowell on the long-running hit TV series NYPD Blue, Charlotte has since starred in many feature films, including The Umpire and Drive Angry, both with Nicolas Cage, and Street Kings: Motor City with Ray Liotta. *

Cover photo of Charlotte above by Celebrity photographer extraordinaire
(also one of my favorite peeps, Christopher Ameruoso – below)

Which of These Things Does Not Belong?

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Please check under your hood this winter! Especially if you park your car outside and drive regularly. Even if you don’t look under the hood every day, tap it with your hand before getting in. If there’s a cat or other animal in there, it will startle them and if not stuck – they will generally flee. Give it a minute before you start the engine because the fan blades and belts can easily kill a small animal.

Normally, it’s good news when a car’s engine is purring – except when a cat is trapped inside.

Last year, a plucky and downright lucky feline used up at least one of its nine lives in the Bronx Monday when it miraculously survived a 2-mile drive while stuck inside the engine of a hybrid SUV, police said.

The cute tan-and-white tabby was freed from its trap by a pair of NYPD detectives – and appeared to emerge from the harrowing ordeal in good condition, though covered in engine grease.

Cops did not know when the cat, which is believed to be a stray, got stuck inside the engine of a silver 2005 Nissan Murano driven by Wilfredo Rodriguez, 44, the super of a building at Marcy Place and the Grand Concourse.

The cat was wedged inside the engine compartment when Rodriguez pulled away from Marcy Place yesterday and drove to a Buildings Department office on Arthur Ave. in East Tremont – a distance of roughly 2 miles, police said.

Rodriguez said that after he parked the car he continued to hear a rattling sound he had noticed during the trip. He investigated and quickly spotted the tabby’s bushy tail and front right paw sticking out of the SUV’s front end.

Rodriguez, who is allergic to cats, said he feared the worst for the feline. “I said, ‘Oh my God! I killed a cat,’” he recalled, adding that he was very happy to see the cat’s paw move.

Detectives Jeffrey King and Kris Cataldo of the NYPD’s Emergency Service Unit responded to a 911 call shortly after 2 p.m.

As a small group of rapt onlookers watched, King and Cataldo freed the feline by removing the car’s battery and several other parts, the police source said.

The cat was handed over to New York City Animal Care & Control. An AC&C official who evaluated the cat at the scene reported that it “appeared to be in good shape,” said agency spokesman Richard Gentles.

OK so I lied!

So after waking up to a sea of emails from frustrated followers who can’t follow my blog on Tumblr unless they sign up for one…I have decided to stay with WordPress. Were I a man, I’d be a bit embarrassed – but being a woman, you know that changing my mind is my prerogative anyway…riiiiiiiight? So…I’m back in your arms WordPress and I promise I’ll be faithful from here on out!

 

Switching to Tumblr

Sorry folks but I’m going back to Tumblr. I hope you’ll follow me here: http://colleenpaige.tumblr.com

Happy Holidays!!!

National Mutt Day – What A Wonderful Success!

Yesterday was National Mutt Day, a special day to celebrate all those mixed breeds who bring so much joy to our lives. The day was sponsored and presented by Mommy Bus, the most adorable and chic pet carrier on the planet!  Thank you so much Mommy Bus for supporting my mission!! I WOOF You!
Yesterday was also my father’s birthday and I created National Mutt Day to fall on his birthday specifically because when I was 13, he got me my very first dog from the shelter – a mutt, aptly named Sheltie, a shadow that would not leave my side.

Sheltie was my first real best friend (not meaning to detract of course, from the adoration I have for my two human best friends! ) and he taught me that perfect LOVE does not have to be purchased for hundreds of dollars (No, not THAT kind of purchase! lol)…it was sitting in a cold and lonely kennel, on death row – covered in fur. (click photo to enlarge)

My current fur baby Sailor is a Lab/Border Collie mix. She had been horribly beaten and starved prior to ending up at the shelter. She weighed 23 pounds and was covered in lumps, cuts and bruises. I camped out in front of her kennel for five days until they released her. It took me three months to get her to eat out of a bowl without shaking and urinating. But she came through it when she learned to trust me and now is the BEST dog ever!  She also now weighs 50 lbs!

Many shelters and businesses participated and numbers are already coming in to show that thousands of mutts were adopted today!! Hopefully we’ll reach our goal of 10,000 mutts saved. Our Facebook page was busy with fans posting photos of their beloved fur babies and even CNN wished everyone a happy National Mutt Day!

And Mommy Bus doesn’t just have the hottest little mutt carriers, they’re puuurrfect for cats too! Here is my gorgeous friend, Elizabeth Ten Houten who is a model, beauty expert and author of  “Cooking Well: Beautiful Skin, Antioxidant-Rich Recipes for Glowing Skin” with her divine felines, Rocky & Romi, out and about in NYC. (pictured at right)

And just so you know, Mommy Bus has more than just carriers to choose from!  The Official National Mutt Day WOOF Pin with crystal and sterling silver is only $21.95 and makes a great Christmas gift for that dog loving woman. It’s a chic and festive holiday addition to any outfit! Also, my friend Diane, owner of Mommy Bus, recently sent me a pink MEOW hoodie like this one below. It is the softest, most comfortable hoodie I have ever worn with it’s Eco-fleece/cotton/polyester baby soft lining. What girl wouldn’t want one of these?

Please adopt a Mutt if you can, as so many sit on death row awaiting a FURever home. And visit Mommy Bus for many more awesome accessories and gifts for the holidays!! Merry MUTTmas!!

Birthday Wishes From Clyde

Happy birthday Daddy. The days have fled like geese in the sky since you’ve been gone. I miss you as if I awaken every day to find my limbs removed…like a bird that has lost it’s wings….like a beautiful tree that reaches toward the sky and hugs the clouds, struck down before it’s time by hurricane winds. You are all that is a piece of me, my heart, my soul. Thank you for being the best father a girl could have. I hope you’re having a grand party with all the angels. I LOVE YOU♥♥♥