May 2014 - Birds

I love my cats but if there's other animals I love and care for it's my birds.  Ok, they're not mine but I attract them to our yard.  

I wanted to attract the beautiful Baltimore Oriole to our yard.  I bought an oriole feeder and put it up on a Sunday.  This was within the last days of May.  Typically that's too late in the season already. You should have your oriole feeder up in April when they come back from migrating.  If you can't attract them early in the season, you may not see them at all or even if you don't see them, keep trying for a couple of years and you might get them to come to your yard.

It was within 2 days that I saw an oriole.  I couldn't believe it.  I had never seen one before in real life and didn't even think we had them in Minnesota.  They are such a gorgeous bird but are very shy so they are somewhat elusive.

I started out the bird season very successfully.

{Via}

 Baltimore Orioles via Google Images

May 2014 - Walk for Animals

As I've done every year since 2004, I participated in the Animal Humane Society's Walk for Animals on May 3, 2014.  It was AHS's 40th annual walk!  I can't remember how much I raised but I know it was over $500 since I was able to check in in the special area but I know I did not break my 2013 record of $865.  I wish AHS allowed you to keep a personal history of what each year's donations raised were.

They changed the walk this year where instead of 5 miles, it was half the distance.  They wanted to encourage people to take their time and focus on the interaction with people and animals and other events rather than the actual walking time.  I walked with Michael, Tanya, Chris, Asher and their dog Cosmo as I've done for multiple years and the walk was completed very fast this year, obviously.  I'm not sure if we really interacted more than we normally do so I'm unsure if the reduction of the distance of the walk was successful.  I hear they're mixing things up again for 2015 so we'll see how that turns out.

Thank you all that donated to the cause in 2014.  I appreciated your support each year.

  

 

I think I really want a bunny.  M always tells me that I do not.  I think I do.

Quack

Our neighbors had pet ducks. There used to be two but another animal got one and left only its wings.  No more talk about that.  RIP, Loco.  He was pretty cute though with the big tuft of feathers on his head.

The duck that still remains is named Perch.  He has really become my buddy in the last couple of weeks. Whenever he sees me leave the house or pull up in the car, he comes "running" over quacking.  He really seems excited to see me and seems to have a personality but probably is really just looking to get fed, which I can't do anymore as he needs to get used to people not feeding him. This little guy has given me joy in the last couple of weeks!

Successful Walk

This time of year in Minnesota, you never know what type of weather you are going to get, especially this year.  The day before the Walk for Animals, May 3rd, this is what it looked like outside:

As I write this post, this is what it looks like today, just 11 days later.  It actually got to 98 degrees today. 

Weather was a slight concern for the walk on Saturday, May 4th.  Ultimately it didn't really matter though what the weather was like because I was going to be walking my five miles regardless.  We woke up to chilly temps and a windy morning.  The temperature was just above freezing but with the wind chill, it felt like 27 degrees.  Oh, and it was raining too.  It didn't matter though as I put on my long johns and bundled up for the cold.  

We took a shuttle bus over to the Animal Humane Society in Golden Valley. We got to the starting area around 8:40 am and the walk doesn't start officially until 10 am.  We never start on time though.  We also start early as it gets too crowded and busy and there are many people that start earlier so you don't miss seeing all the animals.

Before we started walking, I checked into the fancy area where people who raise over $500 can check in.  I turned in the money, picked up my prizes and headed into the adjoining room.  In there, they had all sorts of refreshments for us including water, coffee, bagels, apples, chips, donuts, etc.  We ate some energy and was on our way.

So what kind of animals did we see this year?  Obviously lots of dogs, a handful of cats, some bunnies, hamsters, ferrets, a duck (of the AFLAC variety), a small horse and a dog that looked like a teddy bear.  The weather kept away a lot of the pets and owners but still thousands turned out. 

The softest rabbit ever

I want to thank all of you who kindly donated to the animals.  Last year I raised $540 and that blew my prior record out of the water.  This year, for my 10th year, I raised $865!!!!!  My goal was $750 and I thought that was quite lofty.  I'm so proud of all of you who have supported me this year or every year.  Thank you, thank you, thank you.  

Fuzzer and Powder told me to thank you as well. 

Big brother with his arm around little brother

Charity Challenge- April

This month's charity challenge is a no-brainer.  April's charity is the Animal Humane Society.  Why?  Because I'm doing the Walk for Animals in a week!  Oh, I might just happen to love animals too.  

Because I appreciate all of you that read my blog, I've made a donation in your name, Dana's Readers.  Thank you, readers.  ♥

If you are interested in helping me reach my goal of $750 (I'm 78% of the way there!), please consider donating.  If you have already made a donation, thank you!!!

My Donation Page

And for those that donated between April 15-18, an extra special thank you to you.  I was notified by the Animal Humane Society that I raised the most amount of money during that time frame. (I didn't even know there was a challenge going on.)  Because of that, AHS is sending me 3 t-shirts as a thank you gift.  I could choose between cat or dog shirts or a mix of both. What do you think I chose?  Meow!

I was featured in the weekly newsletter!

Help animals just like us!

Charity Challenge - February

For my monthly charity contribution for February, I donated to Fractured Atlas, which is a non-profit arts service organization for a sponsored project called Midway.

After watching the trailer for the upcoming documentary Midway, I had to donate to this cause.  I was extremely sad and upset when I watched the video and you will be too.  It's terribly sad and it angers you at the same time.  We as humans are destroying this planet and even in the most remote areas our negative impact is being felt.  This tiny glimpse shows just how much our every day decisions makes a difference, for better or for worse.

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE watch this video.  I would embed it right here into my post however I can't find this same version to do so and I think it's important to watch this almost 4 minute video.

Please click here to watch the trailer to Midway

If you have time, please tell me your thoughts after you've watched the trailer.

Dog or Cat?

Do you think this video pretty much sums up the personalities of dogs and cats as acted out by humans?  I think so!  Which do you prefer in your life?

Happy Monday!

So Proud!

This is truly one of the highlights of my year.  After giving a donation to the Animal Humane Society, they sent me a thank you email and a link to this!

This was on their Facebook page too!  Theodora had been at the Animal Humane Society in Woodbury for one month.  She was given a bath on December 14th and because of me, she was adopted that day!  

If you get a chance and are feeling generous this holiday season, please consider giving to the Animal Humane Society so they can make their year end goal.  If you can't give right now, consider donating to me for the Walk for Animals next Spring!

Walk for Animals Review

Last Saturday I participated in the Humane Society's Walk for Animals for the 9th time.  There were 8,000 participants and 4,000 animals there. Michael and our friends Tanya, Chris, their son Asher and their dog Cosmo also joined us again this year.  The weather was cool and rainy/misty in the morning before the walk but by the time we actually started walking the rain held off for the entire five miles.

Thanks to wonderful people like yourself, I raised more money that I ever had in all my years doing this walk.  I raised a total of $540!  THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!  For my fundraising efforts, I received a bandanna, a t-shirt, a water bottle and a sweatshirt. 

Thank you, my peeps!

1. Grandpa
2. Ed
3. Heidi
4. Justin
5. Scott and Julie
6. Pat
7. Van
8. Steffanie, Tuanis and Bentley
9. Heather
10. Deanna
11. Adam
12. Seaberg Family, Smoky & Bandit
13. Urtel Family
14. Jill
15. Carrie
16. Julie
17. Tara
18. Brenna
19. Jared
20. Andrea
21. Amelia
22. Sara
23. Ang and Boomer
24. Kristi (In loving memory of Pharaoh and Dusty)
25. Jenni, Sassy, Buddy, Honey and Nika
26. Michael, Fuzzer, Powder

The Humane Society is still short $60,000 of their $1 million goal (as of May 10)  What does $60,000 provide?

To put that in perspective, $60,000 provides nine days of housing and love for the animals in our care.

Here are some facts as provided by the Humane Society about the walk:

Fun Facts

• Donations came in from all 50 states and 10 different countries.


• The average fundraiser raised $20.68 more than they did last year.


• 329 volunteers came to the Walk and contributed 1,400 hours in a single day!


• Hundreds of people signed the Law of the Paw and received free ID tags to ensure their pets could be found if ever lost.


• The Walk caught the attention of pop singer Ke$ha who sent a link of photos from the day to her over 3,000,000 followers on Twitter.


• It took 156 gallons of water to keep the pets well hydrated along the Walk route.

We didn't see any out of the ordinary animals that we normally have seen in the past.  We did see a tons of dogs, several cats, some rabbits, a hamster and several ferrets. 

At the half-way, turn-around point, they had chips, granola bars and water for people as well as they had a short demonstration with some frisbee dogs. 

After the walk, M and I were exhausted and came home and took showers right away.  We feel the dirtiest after this walk as there is so much dog poop smell in the air, which lingers in your nose and makes you feel it's you that smells!  

Cosmo's tired but she made it the whole five miles

I like this kind of dog

At the half-way point

Trying to show Asher's shirt but he was all squirmy. It has a bulldog on it.

Asher enjoying Michael's goofy face and sounds

To see some of the other Walk for Animals I've participated in since I've had this blog, click the links below.

2011

2010

2009