"Save Bill and Buck" Manatee County wants them dead (Thursday 3-27-14)

I found this posted this morning on facebook:

"Status Update

By Save Buck & Bill from being killed

Due to the untimely filing by attorney Thomas Ostrander, of the petition to the second district court of appeals, Manatee County is upholding it's decision to murder Buck and Bill.

They are siting that because it wasn't filed on time, thus not abiding by the law, this is a good reason to kill the dogs.

Anyone in the area, please go to the shelter as Karen need all the support she can get."

http://www.examiner.com/article/buck-and-bill-two-dogs-sentenced-to-die-manatee-county

For an entire year I have followed this case. The owner's entire last year has been spent driving 200 miles each way as often as possible to visit her pups in jail. She is limited to 1/2 hour visits. Karen's last memories of her dogs will be like the above pictures, living in a cramped cold dirty concrete prison.

You see, I own Aussies. I own Aussies just like her. They are my heart children. I don't know that I would be able to pick myself up off the floor if this happened to me.

Kona and Torvald

Professor Jones, Indiana!

I think Bill and Buck may die today. And I can't get there. I wish I could. I've tried to help, sent money and prayers. I never pray. I don't believe God works that way. But in this one case I broke my usual mode of operation and asked the universe for help. I really did. I have poured a huge amount of positive energy into this, someone else's struggle against injustice and inequality. I've sent her my lunch money over and over to help in some small way defray the attorneys' fees. And all for naught? Really?

I am just heart broken for Karen. She could be me. I could be her. If they are to die, I fear I can't help her anymore. She's going into territory I've only had nightmares about. It is hard enough to lose your companion to age, disease, accident. But to lose your buddies through human incompetence? Through unequal application of poorly written standards and laws?

The death warrants are typed up and signed for yesterday (3/26) but they had hand written over them today's date. Today they die, "before 11:59 pm." She will be allowed "no more than 1/2 hour" with them before they are euthanized. She is not allowed to take any photographs or make any recordings, or even conference call with any of her friends and supports as this goes down. 

I know they are "just dogs" and really nothing but property in the eyes of the law. They have no more value than a flat screen tv. A friend's dad just died tonight. And another friend has had both parents in the hospital doing poorly. When I weigh these things in my mind I understand that the unjust death of a pair of dogs does not hold the same weight as these human examples.

 And yet I know that to have a dog (or cat), to be privileged to experience their love, is so special and has such a high emotional value, that really only having and loving a child compares. Human lives are so long and our companion animals so short. Baring an accident, my son and I will enjoy another 1/2 century (!) with each other. My dogs will be gone in a decade or less. It is this fleeting joy that raises the emotional stakes of risking love. You know they will be gone so soon.

To love is to lose, this is what I've learned.

Shame on Manatee County, Florida. Shame on the officials and county employees who have lied, and told wild tales that have no factual basis. The death of these dogs suits their own private agendas. They just want to make sure their own incompetence is not revealed, and the potential profit achieved. After all, now these dead dogs can be labelled "vicious and euthanized." Maybe the suing family will choke on their profit.

Shame on you, Manatee County. Shame on you. Oh, and by the way, my husband and I won't be moving to your lovely state after all. Too backwards. Not that you care, not that your state cares one wit about anything but money. You've really out done yourselves. Good job, guys.

Birds in Florida, 1st Keys trip and Calusa Blueway

This post will mainly be photos. I will try to avoid posting photos that appeared in other blogs but frankly, one or two are just too cute to pass up another showing. If a picture speaks a thousand words then I'll just let them do their jobs.

The above five photos were shot during my first trip to the Keys. I was not focused on the wildlife so I really didn't take that many shots of birds. So that's the best of them. The Nikon wasn't so healthy, I'm pretty grateful for what I got.

The group above was from the Calusa Blueway circuit. As you can tell from the last few photos, my companions were doing the same thing I was, watching birds and snapping shots. Of course the camera wasn't cooperating, so again, grateful to whatever forces grant a bird watcher a few good shots.

Calusa Blueway Trip Report Part 2

This next day James and I really learned the truest usefulness of the Buff. We both burn like crazy and there really isn't enough sunscreen to stop this process. So the Buff became our secondary defense against our lovely star's visible radiation. There are already a handful of photos floating around social media of my husband channeling his inner bank robber, and so here are a couple more.

I haven't been so freckled since I was a child. It's a look I rather like. And my husband took on a mystery man air. One of my pals said "he looks like an adorable alien, with the blue lenses and tube face!"

We left Cayo Costa State Park and paddled south along its Gulf side. We had lunch. Yeah, they really know how to feed people, no doubts! We then made the crossing through a channel into Pine Island Sound and on to Captiva Island.

Along the way we picked up a begging double crested cormorant. He really was the cutest little guy, darting around and under James and my boats, giving us quizzical looks. He finally took off as we approached the entrance to the landing spot.

We stayed the night in at Captiva Island Inn , in a quiet, quaint, and upscale little village. Easily walk-able, and effortlessly cheerful, it had a Caribbean flair, with colorful houses and and a nautical theme every where one looked.

Our little one bedroom cabin, complete with a secret garden on the shady side and a hammock just calling James's name!

Oh, and it just happened to be Super Bowl night! I suspect, on no factual basis, that Bill was behind this fortuitous turn of lodging. So this night we enjoyed AC, ice cream, hot showers, and the Super Bowl half-time show complete with the RHCP & Bruno Mars to thrill our middle-aged lady hearts! <3 <3 <3

Super Bowl night group dinner, awesome!

Next morning we saddled up bright and early. In the list of items to bring was a couple of grocery-style cloth bags to move stuff when not in one's boat. I chose *very wisely* to bring two blue Ikea bags and another plastic-tarp style bag that had a top with a zipper. They didn't absorb any water and served us very well. Added to my list of essential items for kayak camping. These bags meant that we didn't have to make more than one trip from our lodging to our cleverly secured and hidden boats.

James, cheerful in the morning

Grouped waiting for take off

Pretty boat, looked like a deck ornament rather than an actual seaworthy vessel

Look at that water!

Mary and Bill

We lunched near a bird preserve, getting quite a show from the residents. Then we paddle on to "Picnic Island" which is apparently nameless but as it is in Picnic Flats the Burnhams use this apparently sensible name.

Unfortunately for me, my arrival on Picnic Island coincided with an exhausted feeling, a cough, and fever. I did not get out of my tent to listen to the "mandatory" camp bathroom lesson. I didn't come out to eat either. I *never* let a little illness stop me from eating. But I was really sick and didn't even get up to search out this "camp can" until the next morning. I had caught the flu James had battled for a week before our trip. I couldn't breathe and coughed horribly through the night.

Some how, not entirely clear, I managed to make it through the next two days of paddling. However, I noticed when editing my photos just how few I took the last two days. Too sick to do more than paddle and pull my share of the load, apparently.

We settled in for our last night of the trip at an RV park. Although the "camp ground" isn't quite set up for tents they had a large flushie bathroom, a water hose to wash at and an outdoor bar and fire pit which we happily used. The owners had us set up in the common area next to their own RV and it worked out great. Grateful to be bedding down I went to bed much earlier than everyone else. In the morning I had lost my voice, and was gently teased for being so quiet.

The last morning dawned cool and cloudy, much like our first day. We made the boat ramp at Bokeelia at about noon, just as the clouds started to burn off.

White Pelican roost, apparently a rare sight

Follow the black dots to follow our tracks. I am sure James will come up with a high-tech version of this but for now this simple laminated chart and dots added by Bill will be perfectly adequate. I think Lisa took this photo and I cropped it to remove the ads along the sides.

Total distance was either 73.5 or maybe 75 total if you like to round up, and most of us do. We averaged 12- 15 miles each day. I have a callus on my right thumb where my paddle rests, like never before. Yes, I would do that again, minus the flu next time, please!