funny picture

work related

 Well, once again I was called into "the principals office". I was thinking "what Now?" all the way there. I entered the office, closing the door behind me out of habit. (sigh) Everett, the Manager on duty, told me I didn't need to close the door. I said Ooookaayyy.... and asked if I should sit down.  About this time Laurie, another supervisor, came in to act as witness.  

Everett picked up a piece of paper and announced I was to receive a performance notice.... for GOOD performance! Go figure! I was shocked! He said that not only have fellow associates said good things about me, but other department heads as well have praised my work! I nearly passed out! lol  So I wasn't in trouble, I got a pat on the back which is not much higher than a kick in the butt, however, the pat feels so much better. :-)

Mouse builds nest egg in ATM with $20 bills

LA GRANDE, Ore. – A mouse found inside an automatic teller machine — along with a nest it had built with chewed-up $20 bills — gave an Oregon gas station employee the surprise of her life. The mouse, discovered Thursday, had thoroughly torn up two bills and damaged another 14 to line his nest. Employee Millie Taylor said she screamed and slammed the machine's door shut.
The bank replaced all the money that wasn't extensively damaged, and the ATM has continued to work just fine. The mouse also got a reprieve: He was evicted from his nest but set free outside the station.

WOO HOO!

I cashed in some points on "my points" for a $25.00 gift card so I could buy a new copy of the book Diana gave me for Christmas. It is part of the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon.  I found the book I was missing, "Drums of Autumn" AND pre-ordered  the newest book in the series, "An Echo in the Bone. It will be here in September.  All I had to pay was $8.00 for shipping. 

If I haven't told you about "My Points" let me know and I'll send you an invite. You join for free, and get 5 points for reading emails they send you, and if you shop through their site, you can get up to 5 points per dollar spent. Then cash in your points! Easy way to get free stuff.

This is more like it!!!

Cody Duty 
AMERICAN-STATESMAN

(enlarge photo)

american-statesman After Dawn Shepherd learned that a stray cat she named Noble needed surgery to enable him to keep his eyesight, she contacted a nonprofit that helped her raise money for the procedure.

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PHILANTHROPY

Donors act fast to help cat with no eyelids

Woman raises money through Internet in two days for surgery.

By Claire Osborn
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Monday, July 27, 2009

The first thing Dawn Shepherd noticed was the loud yowling coming from the live trap she had set outside an abandoned house in Taylor one June night.

When she looked inside the cage she saw a brown tabby with a strange expression on its face. "He looked like he had been bitten by a snake because he was squinting and his cheeks were really big," she said.

Shepherd took the cat to the Austin Humane Society to get it neutered and got a far worse diagnosis. The 2-year-old cat was missing big sections of its eyelids. It couldn't blink or produce any natural lubrication to clear its eyes. Without surgery it would eventually go blind.

Shepherd, a bookkeeper for the Central Texas Cat Hospital in Round Rock, said she started crying when she heard the diagnosis and immediately called Sheila Smith, founder of a nonprofit group called Shadow Cats, which provides care for feral and stray cats.

Smith, who co-owns Central Texas Cat Hospital with her husband, Dr. Roy Smith, sent out a plea in the first part of July through her nonprofit group's Web site and through Craigslist for donations to pay for the surgery needed to repair the eyelids of the cat Shepherd named "Noble."

In two days she received the needed $2,000, including $1,400 from an anonymous person who said the donation came from "Nunya," meaning "none of your business," Smith said.

Other donors included David Murphy, a retired cable television accountant. He said he watches his budget carefully but was moved by the cat's plight.

"You just never get a chance to do something like save a cat from going blind," he said. "Most of the appeals you see are after the fact that something terrible has happened."

Donna du Bois, a chaplain for Texas Home Health Care Hospice, said she contributed because she has seen cases in which cats provided comfort for elderly patients who had no other friends in their lives.

"Cats can't go out and take care of themselves, and this cat is in pain," she said.

Noble was probably born without big sections of his eyelids, said Roy Smith. "It's very rare, and I've only seen 10 cases in my 48 years as a veterinarian."

The surgery will take the small pieces of the cat's remnant eyelids in the corners of his eyes and stretch them so that they cover most of the eyes, Smith said. Noble is scheduled for his first consultation today with a San Antonio surgeon.

Noble never would have been a candidate for the unusual surgery except for the fact that he appears to have been someone's pet, said Shepherd. She cuddled him on her lap Friday at the cat hospital as Noble squinted up at the ceiling lights.

She figured he probably survived by hiding in the abandoned house where he was trapped during the day and coming out at night to eat food left out for feral cats.

"He's very sweet, and he likes string cheese," Shepherd said.

cosborn@statesman.com; 445-3871

How dry is it?

This view from Highway 71 northwest of Bee Cave, Texas, shows boat houses and docks grounded along the near-empty Pedernales River in the upper reaches of Lake Travis Friday, July 24, 2009. Lake Travis is about 31-feet below average level for July. The lake was nearly this low in 1984. Cities across Texas are urging residents to cut way back on water usage, especially in areas hit hardest by drought conditions. (AP Photo/Harry Cabluck)

you have GOT to be kidding!!!

A dog demonstrates the use of the DoggieLoverDoll, a new sex doll for dogs presented for the first time in Brazil at the Pet South America fair, in Sao Paulo July 24, 2009. The doll's body, which comes in three sizes, includes a tube of K-9 lubricant. REUTERS/Alex Almeida (BRAZIL ANIMALS SOCIETY)