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Greetings, readers, and thank you for checking in on issue 4 of “Our Place to Paws.”

We'll be debuting our Web site on March 15 at www.ourplacetopaws.com. Be sure to check back often as we build and improve it! And please continue to send your photos, letters and comments. We're planning to have a special section for your photos online.

In this issue:

EVENING TIME WITH A SOUTHERN DRAWL
by Opus, our Night Life Columnist

Night Light

I suppose you’re wonderin’ what I could possibly have to say that would be of any interest to people normally accustomed to chatting about their high bred cats or their low bred dogs or what have you. Consider me the voice of reason. No passion for chew toys, no excessive slobber for treats. No senseless jumping up and down just because you managed to find your way home again after a few minutes absence. No total loss of class or decorum when catnip is anywhere in the vicinity nor any desire to shred your drapes or drop upon you while you’re unsuspecting from a high shelf or the refrigerator. Never once have I coughed up something you would consider “unattractive” on your pillow. Nope. Just reason with a touch of common sense, mixed with the cool head of country and a bit of southern sanity (though I am sure there are those of you who would consider the latter an oxymoron – your opinion of course). For now I’ll ignore the comments regarding me as a “giant rat” or “future roadkill”. This from members of an “advanced species”? Please. Losin’ your fur and having to work your whole life in something referred to as a “rat race” to stay warm because of it, doesn’t seem to put you ahead on the “advanced” curve to me. OK, so I won’t call you “hairless apes” if you refrain from the “giant rat” comments. I’m a marsupial and a rat should be so lucky. And by the way, I have never known any self-respecting rat to get himself involved in a “race” of any kind so you might want to reconsider your terminology on that one as well. If you want an honest opinion, just ask. I might take a minute or two to consider all angles, but when I do get around to an answer it’ll be straightforward – unless of course that sweet smell of grubs under a nearby log happens to distract me.

*Yawn* What the heck? Oh, it’s her again. Makin’ those “kiss-kiss” sounds she loves so. And from a couple of tail lengths away right in my face! Does she really think when two opossums are strollin’ around in the wild we talk to each other that way? Still, I reckon she feels better about talkin’ to an opossum if she fusses a bit. You know you would think it was unexpected to find me here, that I wouldn’t have made the most of the convenient cat door the humans installed in the basement door, (supposedly for the cats of course). Then they put down cat food! Not such a bad life and as long as she’s smitten with me and thinks I’m cute I might just as well sit back and let her. No harm done. Still, I’d suggest eattin’ some compost to freshen her breath if I thought she’d listen. I figure’d openin’ my mouth and showin’ off my awesome teeth would impress her and back her off, but no she just said “oh, yes, yes, I know you. You’re big and tough and I’m impressed.” Hmmm…call me suspicious but I don’t think she meant it. Might be because after mom was hit by a car, and my siblings and I were found, this crazy lady helped raised me. Read the rest of Opus’ column on our blog!

Picture snapped out of a car window in rural Arkansas by Andy R. of San Diego.

Black Browed Albatross ....taken in Antarctica Robert C. of Long Island

Three Climbers and a Dog Are Rescued After a Fall
AP — Three climbers and a dog stranded on Mount Hood after a fall were rescued after spending the night amid ferocious winds and blowing snow.

The two women, a man and a black Labrador spent the night huddled in two sleeping bags and a tarp before searchers using an electronic tracking system rescued them. The climbers were described as cold and roughed up from their fall but generally in good shape. Read on at www.heraldtribune.com:


Dog Walkers Help Fight Crime!
Dog walkers are being signed up in a new police initiative to spot criminals in the act and people behaving suspiciously. And they will be expected to dial 999 or report lesser matters to their local police team. Read on at: http://www.thisislondon.co.uk


Mother Cat Adopts Newborn Rottweiler
Who says cats and dogs don't get along? Workers at the Meriden Humane Society are marveling at a short-haired mother cat that has adopted a 6-day-old Rottweiler puppy that was rejected by its mother. Read on at cbsnews.com

Bowdy and Binky: The sound track makes this one!

Why I like Dogs: It's only a short one, but too funny. One smart pooch knows how to set up a cat.

Usborne's "Beginner's Series" includes a new release called NIGHT ANIMALS (ISBN978079451656-7), by Susan Meredith, for ages five and up. This is a very informative book for both kids and the adults who read with them, as it features not only the better-known animals of the night (such as bats and wolves) but also such lesser-know types as aardvarks and tarsiers. Moreover, the book explains, in straightforward language, why the animals within its pages prefer to be up and about when the rest of us are sound asleep.

Hippos, for instance, come out at night because it is cooler. Given their size, that makes perfect sense. Slugs are minuscule by comparison, but they too prefer night, because the sun would dry them up very quickly. Some animals have specific features that make them not only more comfortable at night but truly able to rule it! The famous flashing light that the firefly uses to send messages, for example, would not even be visible during the day. And the large, bulging eyes of the tarsier, which enable it to see (and hence to hunt) so well in the dark, would only be blinded by the light of the sun. Other animals, this book explains, have eyes that work best at night but can adjust to the daytime sun as well, like geckos and frogs, which can narrow their eyes to thin slits.

NIGHT ANIMALS, which features 30 pages of fun facts and wonderful illustrations and photographs of more than 30 animals, ends with a glossary (explaining relevant terms like "nocturnal" and "burrow"), a list of night animal websites, and an index. Young readers are sure to finish this book feeling confident of their handle on the subject matter and eager to learn more about the natural world through other books in the series (which can be viewed at www.edcpub.com). NIGHT ANIMALS is priced at $4.99.

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NIGHT ANIMALS is reviewed by Joan Schweighardt, the author of GUDRUN'S TAPESTRY and other novels. Over the years Joan has counted among her closest friends Zelma, Cleo, and Speedy-Clark (all felines) and Heidi, Barnaby, Dirty Ben, Auggie Doggie and Smart Sartre (all canines). Currently Joan counts herself lucky to share her life and home with Nikki, a Belgian Shepherd who survived a near-death experience more than a year ago. Having been nursed back to life with drops of water from a turkey-baster and thereafter minuscule pieces of prime rib, Nikki is now the most spoiled 14-year-old dog on the planet.

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"There are stars to light the way and ways to light the stars." - Richard Wexler

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