Saturday, February 20, 2016

Love That Laser Kitten!




Maggie the kitten is obsessed with the red dot of the laser pointer.   A few months back, a friend walked over, knocked on my door.  She wanted to borrow a trap, which I lent her.  Two kittens had appeared on the block behind her and were crying loudly.  She hand grabbed the boy, but the little girl then took off.  She was able to trap her, however.  I went over and pulled her out of the trap in their upstairs bedroom.  What a love.

Of course they meant to find her a home, after rescue, but did they?  Ha.

Her brother was adopted by a friend of theirs, and he brings him over to play with his sister, sometimes for the weekend.  That pair could not have been saved by a nicer couple.

Lucky kittens!  Happy too, as you can see.

On a side note, pristine Oregon isn't pristine, turns out.  Tests of tree moss turned up hot spots, in Portland, of killer chemicals like cadmium, chromium, arsenic, nickel and lead, put out by some major polluters acting, in their transgressions, entirely within the law.  The soil too is contaminated and home gardeners have been warned against eating vegetables grown in the toxic hot spots.

I've decided I won't be vegetable gardening anymore as a result.  Organic?  Probably toxic, given the fact the air often stinks so bad here nights I can't be outside.  This is air drifting over from heavy duty plants within half mile of where I live.

I complained to the state Department of Environmental Quality about it a few years back. I was told I should call the offending smell producers myself.  I said "isn't that your job, to monitor?"  Nope, she said.  They don't test the air to see if an industry is in compliance.

 Turns out, the state agency is a mess, largely useless and do nothing but write permits to dump chemicals into the air.  They then expect the industries to self monitor.

The Portland glass manufacturer, the cause of one toxic hot spot, is being hounded by residents of the area it polluted, and yet he was acting within the law, within the confines of the state DEQ permit and is now at a loss for what to do.  He says he looks to the DEQ for guidance, which is the only place he can look really, realistically.  They failed the public and him.

The shock that Portland, home to the greenest of the green, the organic home grown vegetable crowd, is a toxic wasteland, beneath the pretty houses and people, is mind blowing.

But it ain't just Portland that's polluted.  Knowing the air stinks here sometimes nights, and that air settles with whatever is in it that makes it stink, to the ground, think I'm going to bother growing vegetables here anymore?  Nope.

But there is another question.  Can humans exist without creating toxic waste in their path?  Industries create something from something else.  In the process, waste happens and often that waste is toxic.  What to do with it?  Is everyone else in the area, affected by the industry, supposed to put up with it?  If they don't, where will there be jobs?  

The valley here has some of the worst air in the state from particulate pollution. The valley is called the dirty sock of Oregon for collecting ick in the air.   Lots of that comes from the grass seed industry that sends out clouds of pollen in the spring and then monster dust clouds before they replant.  Along with chemicals dumped in the fields too.   Particulate air pollution is not good.  You can't shut down the grass seed industry.  

Our species shits out toxic waste, in most everything we do, including when we drive.  One day, probably, the entire planet will pay the price for hosting the human species.

But, now I have a viable excuse to forget the vegetable garden.  Those vegees I've grown aren't really organic after all.

10 comments:

  1. Jazz loved the laser dot. And the floor shakes as he attempts to kill it.

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    1. I know the floor shaking very very well, the thunder as I call it.

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  2. Anonymous12:33 PM

    I think Maggie would make a fine hunter, with very quick reflexes. The pollution is just so wrong. In 2016 this should not be happening. Self regulation is rubbish and just an excuse for authorities to avoid responsibility.

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    1. Yes, Oregon used to be known for watching over the environment but lately our state has gone to the dogs, with corruption and agencies so lazy they couldn't care less, as long as they get their pay checks and fat benefits.

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  3. You bring up very good points that people sometimes forget. Everything is interrelated and much more complicated than it first seems on the surface.

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    Replies
    1. That's what my brother said about it, that everything is so interrelated and complicated.

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  4. Our daughter's dog chases the laser beam for as long as you have the patience to shine it. It's hilarious! Wow... I thought the EPA would step right in... not so, huh? Bummer!

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    1. I went up to CATS when I took up Tink, and took Da Bird, a twirling feather, on swivel, on string on rod. And the cats there, waiting for homes, went nuts, even fat cats leaping iike kittens and one wouldn't stop, even though panting and overheated, like a blue heeler dog with a frisbee addiction.

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  5. Here it's the dogs who are fascinated by the red dot, Connelly the cat couldn't care less, lol.



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    Replies
    1. I must confess, if the cats could push the button to make the red dot, I would probably chase it.

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