Greyhound Adoption

Just in case someone doesn't know, there's a dog race track in Kenosha that's closing down that needs adoptive homes for about TWO HUNDRED greyhounds. Any greyhounds that aren't adopted by New Years will be put down. I'm posting this becuase I think it's terrible that there's 200 dogs that will die if they can't find homes before 2010. My family is thinking about adopting a greyhound and giving him a good home. I also have some good tips for adopting dogs.
Just because a dog seems aggresive, doesn't mean he is. My family adopted a dog four years ago. There was one dog that everyone, including the peopole at the humane society, thought was a menace because he was always barking and he was big and black. When my dad asked about him when we came in the door, the man he was talking to said "You don't want that one. Nobody does. He's a demon." The black dog was the one we adopted. His name is Chopper and he's the best dog our family ever had.
When you adopt a dog, you have to make sure you have the right resources for the paticular breed your getting. Like greyhounds and border collies. For greyhounds, you have to make sure that you have a place for them to run around since they're racing dogs. Greyhounds would be a good dog for just about any family becuase they're very loving and don't need as much space as you would think and like to sleep the day away. They just want a nice family and a warm bed. Plenty of greyhounds can live in familys with other dogs without trouble. Border collies are much different. They need attention. If the border collie in question likes to be the one in charge, they tend to not like other dogs. They need a lot of space to run and can be possesive. They're really smart dogs and can hold a grudge for years and it probably isn't a good idea to have them around small children. So Border collies need a very different environmet than Greyhounds. It's something you need to keep in mind when adopting a dog.
Dogs aren't born mean and nasty. If a dog is aggresive, it's becuase it's been treated in a way that made it like that. Dogs act acording to how they were rasied. If a dog is social and friendly, it was rasied in a family that treated it nicely. If the dog is scared of its own shadow, it was probably raised by people who treated it poorly. If you get a dog, make sure it's treated right.
If you adopt a dog, it's a good idea to ask about the dog's habits so that you don't end up in the middle of a dog fight or getting calls from neighbors complaining about your barking dog becuase once a dog's learned a habit, it's hard to get it to UN-learn it.
If you have a small pet like a hamster or a gerbil and you like to take it out of its cage, I don't suggest adopting a Greyhound. Greyhounds tend to hunt down and EAT small animals so if little Mr.Hamster gets out of his cage, I don't think he'll ever be coming back.
So that's it. There are 200 greyhound that need homes by new years. If you like dogs and want to get one, you're a good person. If you're one of those people that hate dogs and hope that those Greyhounds suffer, you're dead to me.(Okay, so I don't know what 'you're dead to me' MEANS but I think that it fits here nicely) But really, those Greyhounds need homes. They're easy to care for and loving and their flaws are easy to overlook(mostly), so if you want to be a good person, try adopting one of those Greyhounds that need a nice person right now. If you don't, you're evil.(Mostly)

Title yet to be determined

Ah, the big city. Ya gotta love it. The sights, the sounds, the smells, and 'n awesome lake view ta top it off. 'Course, the lakes no place to be at night, 'specially for an alley cat like me. Clock strikes seven. Seven a'clock. Time fer the dinner rush. And I just happen ta be the first, 'nd only one here.
Here comes the garbage boy, right on time. An' there goes the boss, just like always, yellin' at 'im and scarin' 'im half ta death. Come on, go back inside already. There 'e goes. Just 'n time to. An' now it's my turn to have some dinner.
UFF. Now that wasn't as bad as I thought. The trash cushioned m' landing. Probably shoulda looked before I jumped off the top a that buildin'. Now let's see what we have fer tonight. Score! Chicken wings 'n' some salmon. It's amazin' what some people throw out. Well one persons trash, is my dinner, and a good one, too.
What was that? It soun's like the trash cans 'r' havin' a riot! Who's out there?! A big ol' tom, that's who. Well, whadda ya want?
"My dinner." he says. Well, go ahead then. There's enough trash ta go 'round. There's...
"That's not my dinner." he says. Well then where is it?
"YOU'RE EATING IT!" YOW! OI! There's no need fer that! We can share, can't we? Clawed my nose ya did.
"RAAA!" IRK! Get offa me! Fine then, if that's how ya wan it!...Boy, that guy ran off fast. All I did was bite 'is ear. Huh, what a wimp. More salmon fer me, I guess.
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Tanight's shapin' up ta be a really good night. Had a good dinner, actually won a fight. This's probably the best night a my life, 'nd...Whoa! That is a lota trucks. 'R' those MILITARY trucks?! I think I'll...

"Whoa, okay, that did NOT happen. If there were that many military trucks in the same city, why haven't I heard about it until now? If they just drove through the street someone would have seen! It would have been all over the news! And I, at least, would have known before that."
"Oh yeah?", I asked opening one eye,"How's that?"
"I happen to work for the government," Martin retorted,"and, let's face it, something like that could never happen."
"I'm amazed that you can say that in a conversation with a 3 foot tall, talking, humanoid alley cat in a turtle shell." I twitched my whiskers at the look he gave me.
"Fine then, Quince. Explain to me how no one, including the government, saw this, heard of this, or was at all unaware of a convoy of military trucks parading through the streets." Martin asked.
"Tell me, Martin, how do you keep cars from going where they shouldn't, without making a big deal about it?" I looked at him expectantly. He though for a moment.
"Okay, I give. How?"
"Traffic lights."
"What?" Martin asked, incredulously,"How?"
"Easy." I replied,"All you do is turn on the traffic lights of all the roads leading onto roads that intersect with the road you want everyone to stay away from. No one questions traffic lights. And if someone does drive through a red light, traffic lights have cameras that would let you know. So if you're, say, driving military trucks through a city and don't want to be seen, you'd know someone was coming your way and have a chance to stop them." I twitched my tail and smirked, daring Martin to question my explanation, which, of course, he did.
"And how exactly do you know that's how it happened?" Martin questioned me, like I was a little kid who was lying to their teacher,"Did you actually see it?" I grinned and told him I hadn't.
"But Gil did." I added. I lean backward in my chair, which wasn't hard, considering I was already leaning halfway back with my feet on the table, and called for Gil. A blond kid wearing a brown cloak immediately lean out from the rail of the second floor.
"You still have those files from June 17th?" I called.
"Yeah, they're still on the computer." Gil called,"Why?"
"Mind showing them to Martin?" I asked.
"Sure." I turned to Martin.
"Those files have all the proof I need." I said leaning back and closing my eyes again.
"What kind of files are they?" asked Martin.
"All kinds. Traffic reports, surveillance videos, audio tracks. In fact, I think there's enough data in those files that I don't even have to finish my story."
"Well, let's see them then." said Martin getting up from his chair. I got out of my seat with more difficulty (my feet were still on the table) and followed him upstairs...

Thanksgiving

The turkey sits amoung the leaves,
With broens and yellows, and as the turkey percieves,
It blends right in.

The hunter croughes behind the tree,
Careful, so the turkey won't see.
He's invisible.

The hunter carefully draws the bow,
The turkey sits still, he doesn't know,
He's the hunted.

The hunter slowly takes a step back,
As he aims, he hears a snap.
Wings flap, voices curse, arrows thwack,
The turkey got away.

Journal Post

This is some random story I remembered.

Once, when I was four or something, I had a stuffed snake I took everywhere. One day my brother kept taking it and threw it over our fence into an alley. This girl that lived on the other side of the alley named Angel got it back for me every time my brother threw it over. After a while, I decided to go over and thank her so I push a chair up against the fence and climbed over.(Don't ask why I didn't do this before. I was only four, remember.) Angel had left her gate open so I went into her yard with my brother, who had followed me. We only went a couple of steps before Angel's dog scared us half to death. She was in her kennel and was barking at anything that moved. The dog scared us so much, my brother and I actually broke into the house to get away. Actually, it technically wasn't breaking in since the door was wide open. Besides, I WAS FOUR! My brother was THREE. We didn't know going into someone else's house to get away from a seemingly-crazed dog was illegal. Well, we hid in a closet for half an hour before Angel and her Grandpa came back and we scared THEM half to death. So Angel and her Grandpa took my brother and I back over to our house where our mom was HYSTERICAL. She'd actually called the police and reported kidnapping. To make a long story short, we were banned from going outside for six months. But the weirdest thing of all was the fact that Angel ended up my best friend a year later. You'd think you want to stay as far away as possible from someone who broke into your house. Then again, I was four. It just goes to show, braking into a person's house can actually get you some good friends, as long as your four. For the people above four, good luck with that.

Cream Soda

Just a funny little anecdote that shows just how some days go when you live at the Olsons' house...I think. This would be an anecdote right?


Last night, my brothers K2(11) and Kiergun(8) went to piano lessons. I will never know why but every time my grandma takes my brothers to piano lessons, she always buys them soda on the way back. Last night, I was doing my chores when they came in. It was the night when I had to clean the front of the fridge. I saw them come in, waving glass bottles in the air like trophies.
"Look what we got! Look what we got!" Kiergun shouted. It was Sprecher's Cream Soda. It's a kind of soda that comes in glass bottles that are impossible to open.
Kiergun immediately sat down to open it while K2 headed downstairs, to play a game of darts with Careg(9). They used to be banned from that but then my mom and dad got plastic dart tips and a corks board for the wall.
"Wanna come and play, Kiergun?" K2 asked,"I bet I'll beat you!"
"Can't." Said Kiergun. He was too bust trying to open that stupid bottle. So K2 left and I went back to cleaning the fridge while Kiergun wrestled with the stupid bottle cap. It took him six minutes before my mom came over saying that she'd open it. The botle opened and Kiergun finally had a chance to drink his soda. But obviously that wasn't enough.
"Give me the thing." he asked.
"What thing?" Mom asked. I didn't see her because I was still cleaning the fridge, but from the way she sounded, I guessed that she was giving Kiergun a quizical look.
"The thing you put on the bottle of stuff." Mom gave up on trying to get a better description and grabbed a clean wine stopper from the shelf.
"This?" she asked.
"No but give me that, too." Kiergun popped the wine stopper on the cream soda.
"That!" he said pointing at the spout on top of the Captain Morgan Mom was pulling off the shelf.
"You can't use that, Kiergun. It's dirty. You..." at that moment three things happened. There was a pop as I saw Kiergun pulled the stopper out of the bottle in the reflection off the fridge. There was a loud, gurgling hiss. My mom screamed like something out of a horror movie. I spun around to see soda foam spilling out of the bottle and on to the counter. My mom was freaking out and Kiergun just sat and stared for a few moments. Then he started sobbing and wailing while my mom rushed the foaming soda to the sink. Once the bottle was in the sink, my mom started mopping up the soda.
By the time she was done, I'd gone back to the fridge to start cleaning the freezer and Kiergun still hadn't stopped crying.
My mom asked him what was wrong, but he was sobbing so much he couldn't answer.
"Was it because the soda exploded?" my mom asked. Kiergun shook his head.
"Are you scared your not going to get your soda back?" Kiergun shook his head.
"Then why are you crying?" Kiergun just wailed and ran out of the room.
"Maybe you scared him." my dad sugggested from the T.V. room.
"Why would I scare him?" my mom asked.
"Well you can be pretty scary when you want to." I said. I was thinking of the time I went to a root beer stand with my friends without asking her. We were about to leave the parking lot when my mom drove up in a huge truck with a look that would have scared a grizzly bear, and scared all my friends away.
"Oh really?" said my mom. She called to my dad.
"Guess what your daughter just said!" When my dad heard, he broke out laughing.My mom started laughing too.
"Guess I'd better tell Terrisa her 'scary look's' got nothing on mine."

Veterans

When is the right time to honor American Veterans? How often do you honor people who risk their lives for their country? Once or twice a year, on Veterans day or Fourth of July? What about all the time, every day of the year? Veterans risk their lives for their country and so should be honored every day.

American Veterans are some of the bravest people ever. They’re people who go into other countries to fight for America. Veterans go to places where they get shot at and sometimes killed because they try to protect their country. Some veterans come back from wars in wheelchairs or on crutches. Other don’t come back at all. But all veterans are ordinary people who some of the most extraordinary things.

Veterans are some of the bravest people ever and are honored for it. People honor veterans on Veterans Day and sometimes on the Fourth of July. On Veterans Day, people all over America honor the veterans fighting in current wars. On Fourth of July, some people honor the veterans of the American Civil War. They honor the brave thing veterans have done and are still doing.

American people honor American Veterans once or twice a year, but is that enough? Veterans give their lives for America. They deserve more than one or two days a year! Veterans deserve to be honored everyday, but not like with a big party. Americans can honor veterans everyday in little things. People who pray at night or before dinner can pray for the veterans fighting in current wars. More people could put American flags out in front of their house or maybe other places around the house. People can do little things like that to honor American Veterans.

Veterans are ordinary people with families, friends, hopes and dreams. They do brave and extraordinary things for their country. People all over America honor veterans once or twice a year and some might honor them even more often than that, but veterans should be honored even more than that. American Veterans should be honored everyday, in little things. People don’t have to throw a big party to honor veterans. They just have to show that they care.

Poems!

Two poems I wrote to sort of describe what I think of when I think of Forests and Rivers. Rivers are like a living being of their own that travels tirelesslt forward, always finding time for fun and games. Rivers are friendly and welcoing, but also have their secrets, hidden where the waters run deep.Forests are less of a thriving being than a place where such beings can find a haven. When people speak of thigs like the life of the forest, I don't think they're talking about the forest so much as the commmunities that live with them and make them into what's truly know as a forest.

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River

Rushing water,
Blues and browns and bright yellow flashes of sunshine.
Greens where trees lean eagerly toward the water,
Black where the sun seems forbidden,
And the deep water hides its secrets.
Tall grass mimics the water in sound and movement,
And the water strains to mimic the afternoon sky.
The rocks stand tall and strong,
Ignoring the river's invite to play,
As frogs to tired to swim sit in the sun,
Waiting 'till they can swim with the silver fishes,
As the river winds to the forest.


Forest

Trees,
As far as the eye can see.
Green, brown, black.
Birds and flowers,
Painting the land with their color.
Purple, red, yellow.
Songs fill the air,
Birds fly in formation,
Darting, wheeling, diving, spinning.
Little acrobats.
As the resident of this forest,
In all forms,
Prepare for their next meal.
Dinner and a show.
The sun sinks father and farther,
The songs of birds fade,
To be replace by a different kind of chirp,
Accompanied by buzzes, croaks,and hums.
A twilight orchestra.