Wordless Wednesday

8 Wonderful Holly Day Cat-ditions

Do you have favorite holly day traditions you celebrate with your humans? Many of us do. Cats are an important part of the family and many of us are included in holly day plans. In some cases, cats are an integral part of the holly day.

I'd like to share some holly day traditions with you and even learn about some of your favorite traditions so that we can share them with other cats that are developing their own traditions.

1.Hang Cat Stockings. Why not? If your human has a stocking, you should too. Many of the cats I know have stocking each year that are proudly displayed in their homes. Most pet stores sell some adorable designs.

2.Go See Santa. How about a photo of you and your human with Santa? This also makes a great holly day card. This works with cats that do well with going out.

3.Blessing of the Animals. Find out if there is a local event in your area. Check your local paper or pet store bulletin board.

4.Make Some Cat Treats. Help your humans make some cat treats! You get to snoopervise and be master sampler as well. Make extras to share with your cat friends.

5.Quiet Time. Spend a little quiet time with your human. Even an evening when you helping to decorate the tree or just listen to some holly day music is often a welcome time for you to enjoy your human's company.

6.Bandana. Some cats like to be dressed (most don't) but most will tolerate a simple holly day bandana. How about dressing up with a special holly day-themed bandana?

7.Plan Something Special. A very sweet tradition for many Cats is to do something nice for people that have been nice to you. That may be sending a special card or buy a small gift with your mouse money.

8.A Little Eggnog. Maybe while your human is enjoying some wonderful holly day eggnog, you can be treated to some cat-approved creamer. There are different manufactures of products such as "CatSip".

And don't forget to look under the tree on Christmas Day, especially if you have been a good cat as Santa Claws will leave a present for you!

Now it's time for your holly day tradition. Please leave a comment and let me know if you have any holly day traditions you like to share with your humans!

Myth Monday - The Candy Cane

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A candy cane is a hard cane-shaped candy stick. It is traditionally white with red stripes and flavored with peppermint or cinnamon (also known respectively as a peppermint stick or cinnamon stick); however, it is also made in a variety of other flavors and may be decorated with stripes of different colors and thicknesses. The candy cane is a traditional candy surrounding the Christmas holiday, particularly in the Western world, although it is possible to find them throughout the year.

In its early form, the candy cane began as a simple white stick of sugar for children to enjoy - there was no "cane" shape or stripes to speak of. While it is uncertain where the first canes originated, it is clear that by the mid-17th century, if not earlier, its use had already become widespread across Europe. These sticks were made by confectioners who had to pull, cut, twist, and (in later years) bend the sugar sticks by hand, making it a time-intensive process. Candy cane production had to be done locally, since they were easily damaged and vulnerable to moisture. The labor and lack of storage combined to make these candies relatively hard to get, although popular.

The cane shape

The distinctive "hook" shape associated with candy canes is traditionally credited to a choirmaster at Cologne Cathedral in Germany, who, legend has it, in 1670 bent straight candy sticks into canes to represent a shepherd's crook, and gave them to children at church services. The shepherd's staff is often used in Christianity as a metaphor for The Good Shepherd Jesus Christ. It is also possible that, as people decorated their Yule trees with food, the bent candy cane was invented as a functional solution.

(There is a modern allegorical tradition that reinterprets the candy cane's shape as a "J", standing for Jesus Christ. The stripes are said to represent his sacrifice, with the red being blood, and the white being purity. However, there does not seem to be any historical information to support any claim that the cane was originally made with this allegory in mind.)

Christmas usage

In Europe, candy canes were used to decorate Yule trees along with other items of food. In North America, the first documented example of the use of candy canes to celebrate Christmas occurred in 1847, when a German-Swedish immigrant by the name of August Imgard hung the candy canes from the branches of a Christmas tree. Christmas cards from the following decades show Christmas trees decorated with candy canes, first white canes, then striped ones in the 20th century. This then spread to the rest of the continent, where it continues to remain a popular Christmas tradition.

Candy canes are primarily used as a decoration for Christmas trees. This is done by using the "hook" shape of the candy cane to hang them on branches of the Christmas tree. A single tree can have many candy canes.

Red stripes and peppermint flavor

The stripes are made similar in fashion to a barber's pole, with the red stripes twisting around the white stick of sugar. These signature stripes did not become part of the candy cane until the 20th century. It is uncertain who first started using the stripes, but evidence of their use only appears after the turn of the century. At around this time, candy makers began using peppermint as a flavor.[12]

Mass production

Bob's Candies was the first company to successfully mass-produce and distribute candy canes while preserving their freshness. Lt. Bob McCormack began making candy canes as special Christmas treats in the 1920s. That decade also saw the company's use of cellophane as a wrapping to keep moisture from damaging the candies, and by the 1950s, they were using a candy cane machine invented by his brother-in-law Gregory Keller to mass-produce them. These two inventions made it feasible to mass produce, ship, and distribute candy canes. The following years saw further refinements in packaging and design to protect the candies from being broken, making it more practical to store them and ship them for longer periods of time.

Candy Canes are a seasonal treat for human children. They should not be given to Cats or Dogs or other companion animals as they can splinter easily and stick in a windpipe, causing aphexiation and death. They only sort of Candy Cane you should get for the Holly Days is the ones that have cat nips in them!

Wordless Wednesday - Decorating for the Holly Daze

Myth Monday - The Northern Lights

Auroras, sometimes called the northern and southern (polar) lights or aurorae (singular: aurora), are natural light displays in the sky, usually observed at night, particularly in the polar regions. They typically occur in the ionosphere. They are also referred to as polar auroras. In northern latitudes, the effect is known as the aurora borealis, named after the Roman goddess of dawn, Aurora, and the Greek name for north wind, Boreas, by Pierre Gassendi in 1621.

The aurora borealis is also called the northern polar lights, as it is only visible in the sky from the Northern Hemisphere, the chance of visibility increasing with proximity to the North Magnetic Pole, which is currently in the arctic islands of northern Canada. Auroras seen near the magnetic pole may be high overhead, but from further away, they illuminate the northern horizon as a greenish glow or sometimes a faint red, as if the sun were rising from an unusual direction. The aurora borealis most often occurs near the equinoxes; from September to October and from March to April.

The northern lights have had a number of names throughout history. The Cree people call this phenomenon the "Dance of the Spirits." In the middle age the auroras has been called by sign of God (see Wilfried Schröder, Das Phänomen des Polarlichts, Darmstadt 1984). Auroras can be spotted throughout the world. It is most visible closer to the poles due to the longer periods of darkness and the magnetic field.

Auroras are the result of the emissions of photons in the Earth's upper atmosphere, above 80 km (50 miles), from ionized nitrogen atoms regaining an electron, and oxygen and nitrogen atoms returning from an excited state to ground state. They are ionized or excited by the collision of solar wind particles being funneled down, and accelerated along, the Earth's magnetic field lines; excitation energy is lost by the emission of a photon of light, or by collision with another atom or molecule:

oxygen emissions
Green or brownish-red, depending on the amount of energy absorbed.

nitrogen emissions
Blue or red. Blue if the atom regains an electron after it has been ionized. Red if returning to ground state from an excited state.

Oxygen is a little unusual in terms of its return to ground state, it can take three quarters of a second to emit green light, and up to two minutes to emit red. Collisions with other atoms or molecules will absorb the excitation energy and prevent emission. The very top of the atmosphere is both a higher percentage of oxygen, and so thin that such collisions are rare enough to allow time for oxygen to emit red. Collisions become more frequent progressing down into the atmosphere, so that red emissions do not have time to happen, and eventually even green light emissions are prevented.

This is why there is a colour differential with altitude; at high altitude oxygen red dominates, then oxygen green and nitrogen blue/red, then finally nitrogen blue/red when collisions prevent oxygen from emitting anything.

Auroras are associated with the solar wind, a flow of ions continuously flowing outward from the sun. The Earth's magnetic field traps these particles, many of which travel toward the poles where they are accelerated toward earth. Collisions between these ions and atmospheric atoms and molecules causes energy releases in the form of auroras appearing in large circles around the poles. Auroras are more frequent and brighter during the intense phase of the solar cycle when coronal mass ejections increase the intensity of the solar wind.

Seen from space, these fiery curtains form a thin ring in the shape of a monks tonsure.

(I wonder why you only see them by North Pole. Now I know.)

More people list dogs and cats on Christmas lists

Associated Press A Petside.com poll shows 52 percent of pet owners plan to buy their animals a holiday gift — up from 43 percent last year.

Gus and Molly, a pair of German shepherds, Rosie the bulldog and Zoe the cat will get treats and playtoys, "the good sturdy stuff," said owner Norm Authier, 50, of Long Beach.

"We have always done this. We don't have any kids so we spoil our dogs," Authier said.

The bounce in pet gifts is expected despite the fact that fully 93 percent of Americans say they'll spend less overall or about the same as last year, according to a separate Associated Press-GfK poll.

The AP-Petside.com poll found that six in 10 of those who own only dogs planned on shopping for their pet for the holidays. Forty percent of those with only cats planned to pet shop.

Sawyer, a 9-year-old Labrador-border collie mix, will get something special because he was born on Christmas Day, said owner Pat Brown, 74, of Beloit, Wis. He can also look forward to his two favorite homemade snacks—popcorn and ice cubes.

Plush holiday-themed toys are very popular with pet owners, as are candy cane-shaped rawhide chews, said Jessica Douglas, a spokeswoman for the PetSmart pet supply store chain based in Phoenix, Ariz.

Popular clothes at this time of year include a Santa suit, a Mrs. Claus dress and reindeer costumes. A lot of boots are sold to dog owners in cold weather states. Bling-wise, collars and leads are popular.

"Some ID tags are decorated with sparkly embellishments and they can be personalized so it's not just for looks," she said.

According to the poll, 62 percent of female owners said they would probably buy their pet a gift, while just 40 percent of the men said they would.

Janet Rowlands, 53, in Tulsa, Okla., is planning a Christmas celebration for 29 people and pets, including her four dogs. Jack Russell and rat terrier Boodroe, 7, is the only one who steals gifts from under the tree.

"He sees it as part of the fun," Rowlands said.

According to the poll, 59 percent of owners say pets are only a minor consideration when picking out holiday decorations, even though 14 percent reported that their pets have gotten into the decorations before.

There are no cranberries, popcorn or gingerbread men on the tree at Erica Peterson's home in Vass, N.C., because of Logan and the starfish, an ornament she and her husband got on their honeymoon.

On his first Christmas with the family, Logan, a male Labrador-chow, knocked the tree over and everything went flying so he could get to the starfish—apparently because it smelled fishy to him. All edible or scented ornaments were banned.

This year Logan will get a big butcher's bone, while Peterson's female Maltese named Bubbles, 13, will get rawhide sticks made like candy canes. Both will be wrapped and put under the tree.

Last year, Debra Jensen's Labrador named Nightmare and a German shepherd-Siberian Husky named Ticia got stockings with dog treats in them. This year, because her husband recently lost his job, there may not be a stocking, but there will still be treats—they can count on leftover ham.

"The dogs are our only children. I love my babies," said Jensen, 55, of Tulsa, Okla.

Pat McCauley figures his 4-year-old Shih Tzu named Crystal can survive the holidays without a present.

"I'm not going to buy the pet anything," said McCauley, 54, of Princeton, Ill., "I have a daughter who is 17 and she will buy the pets something but I surely wouldn't in any way, shape or form buy my pet a Christmas toy."

McCauley may sound like a Grinch, but he concedes buying pet gifts is not the most ridiculous idea he's heard.

"If I just had a pet by myself and my daughter wasn't around, I'd buy it one or two things a year, like a ball or a tug," he said.

The AP-Petside.com poll was conducted Oct. 1-5, 2009, by GfK Roper Public Affairs & Media. It involved telephone interviews on landline and cell phones with 1,166 pet owners nationwide, and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 2.9 percentage points for all pet owners.

24 Yorkie, Maltese dogs seized from Lehigh Acres puppy mill adopted

Fort Myers News Press

All 24 of the Yorkie and Maltese dogs who were seized from a Lehigh Acres puppy mill have been adopted from Lee County Domestic Animal Services.

People started lining up for hours before the shelter opened at 11:30 a.m., said animal services spokeswoman Ria Brown, and within 40 minutes they had all found homes.

Most of nearly 30 animals seized from a puppy mill in Lehigh Acres this week are available for adoption now from Lee County Domestic Animal Services.

The animals – 25 dogs and four cats – were found living in squalor in a shed at 1606 Monroe Ave., according to spokeswoman Ria Brown. The discovery was made after the division received an anonymous call on Tuesday, Nov. 17.

The property is owned by Jess and Kathleen Holden, who were not charged, according to Brown.

They agreed to surrender the animals due to their inability to provided proper care and housing as required by county and state laws. Rather than petition the courts for custody and file charges Animal Services determined that it was in the animals’ best interest to accept their surrender so they could be properly vaccinated, de-wormed and treated for any other problems immediately and placed into appropriate permanent homes without delay. LCDAS will conduct regular checks to ensure that the owners never attempt to house animals in these conditions again. Charges will be filed for any future violations.

The Holdens told authorities they have been breeding and selling dogs for 25 years and moved to Lehigh in April of 2009.

The animals were found in cages inside a 200-square-foot shed. Conditions included poor ventilation, feces and urine on the floor and in the cages, flies and maggots on some of the food and feces.

The animals included 24 Yorkies and Maltese, one German Shepherd, and four cats. They have been examined, received veterinary care and were bathed.

Animal Services’ kennels open are open from 11:30 am to 3:30 pm Monday through Saturday for adoptions. The shelter is at 5600 Banner Drive, Fort Myers, next to the Lee County Sheriff’s Office off of Six Mile Cypress Parkway. View all animals available for adoption at www.LeeLostPets.com or call 239-533-7387 (LEE-PETS) for further information.