Category Archives: Civic Involvement

This category includes posts about fixing potholes, going to CAPS meetings, etc.

Spiritual fun making Kiva Loans

October 15, 2012 11:12 am ⋅ Leave a Comment ⋅

Hi guys!  I have blogged before about various times I’ve made loans on the website kiva.org.  Basically you make a small loan of $25 and people all over the world do the same and then the person who asked for the loan gets it, gets to invest in their small business, then pays it back over time.  You get to see the photo, name, and story of the people asking for loans, and you can search by gender and other factors.  I search for women asking for the loan on their own rather than in a group, and pick people I feel will pay it back, and who seem to have a positive effect on others.  But that’s not all.  There’s an extra idea I have in mind….

I loaned money to Hedaya in Palestine through Kiva.org

I also pick people I’d like to have tea with once or twice, or people with whom I feel I’d like to have a brief conversation.  People I respect and admire and would like to encourage.  I do this because I want to reward positive people, and also I believe that the spirit of those I pick actually know about me and the other lenders on a subconscious level.  I believe that we actually can meet briefly, in our dreams (on the “astral”), with our angels, and actually have tea.  So today I picked Hedaya a Palestinian woman who is 38, married, with two children in school.  She is making improvements to her women’s clothing shop.

Batbold has a wife and 3 kids in Mongolia. His daughter is a university student!

I also picked Batbold who is 53, married with three kids in Mongolia.  Both he and his wife are chefs and he is opening a cafe.  I had a positive sense of him right away, but when I read that his daughter is going to a university that reinforced my sense that he has a good heart.  So here’s to having tea with kind, sincere people, both while awake and in the body, and in our dreams with our angels!

Posted in: Civic Involvement, Fun Modern Stuff: cool websites, internet deals, tech toys, etc., Giving: Volunteering, Philanthropy ⋅ Tagged: , , ,

The Juicy Tell-All of Harry Potter the Adoptable Cat – Part 1

October 8, 2012 8:57 am ⋅ 1 Comment ⋅
adoptable cat Harry Potter

But mom, it wasn’t me!

OK here is the biggest deep dark secret of Harry Potter, our foster cat.  The kind of secret that you would only ever learn from a cat that’s being fostered in someone’s home, with an honest foster mom.  Harry Potter will eat bread, still in the bag, like he’s starving and he hasn’t eaten in years.  Seriously.

He will scarf down big pieces of many slices so that by the time you find him having his pig out binge-fest you need to throw away a few slices.  He’s had a bread binge fest twice in the month or so we’ve had him.  The first time we were so shocked because we’ve never seen a cat do that.  The second time we just forgot to put the bread away, so then we decided to keep the loaf we’re using in a tupperware and that’s been a good solution.

So there you go.  Now you know the worst.  Stay tuned for more juicy tell all about this amazing, loving, mellow, get-along cat who needs to find his forever home.  Oh and here’s Harry Potter’s writeup and video on petfinder.com.

Posted in: Cats: Our Cats at Play, Civic Involvement, Giving: Volunteering, Philanthropy

My First and Last Political Post

September 22, 2012 11:29 am ⋅ 1 Comment ⋅

Last night our softball game was rained out. After having a few beverages and mediocre overpriced food items at our sponsor bar we headed home. On the way to the car the conversation turned to politics. The team’s organizer, let’s call him “B” mentioned that he does not like Barack Obama and planned to vote for Mitt Romney because of his disdain for our president. B also believes that the media is heavily biased and liberal and that Fox “news” just balances things out with CNN and MSNBC with their Rachel Maddow & Keith Olbermann spewing their liberal views. Now B says he’s not a republican but a libertarian, like Ron Swanson on Parks and Recreation.

Libertarians make a lot of sense until you talk to them for a few minutes. They believe that government should stay out of individuals lives. Sounds good on the surface but it runs much deeper than that. You can google the party if you want to know more about them. I asked B what his beef was with Obama and this is the best he could give me: When he met the Japanese Prime Minister he bowed to him and that showed weakness. He blew off Nutanyahu to go on Letterman. There was tape of him not putting his hand over his heart during the national anthem. Really? Really B? You’re willing to vote against your best interests for things that are pretty trivial? I don’t know him very well but I’ll betcha B is not a billionaire or even a millionaire. He used to be a paramedic until he broke his neck in an accident. Thanks to “Obamacare” he can never be discriminated against by any insurance company because of that injury. There are millions of people like B that will vote against the president for similar reasons or just because they don’t like him. They’ll vote for a man that is so out of touch with reality and the common man that he truly believes it is his right and his destiny to be president. A man that has shown his true feelings about half the nation by dismissing them as lazy entitled freeloaders. That is why we have got to make sure that we don’t let anything stop us from casting our votes In November, to save ourselves and even people like B from Mitt Romney even though they don’t even realize they need saving.

 

Posted in: Civic Involvement

Cat #1 becomes Smokey, our new cat “son”

November 9, 2011 6:41 pm ⋅
cat

Smokey catching up on his sleep

This is an update to our Humane Cat Trapping Project.  Yesterday we brought our trapped cat “Cat #1″ to the Tree House spay/neuter clinic.  We had arranged for them to keep him overnight after the surgery, and we picked him up this afternoon.  The best news is that he tested negative for both FIV and FeLV, two cat viruses.  They said overall he seems healthy, and is between 1-2 years old.  He is 10 lbs.  For now, Lorenzo has named him Smokey.

We brought him home and he went from the trap to a big dog cage we have that will be his home for at least the next week.  We have to make sure he does not have intestinal parasites before he is allowed to be out loose in the house.  He hisses less and less now.  Our other cats come by to see him and there is a little hissing our growling on one side or the other, but nothing major.  We have a huge litter box in his cage and he used it almost immediately, which is great.  The first time I opened his cage to scoop litter he gently tried to get out and meowed twice.  That’s the first time we’ve heard him meow.  I didn’t let him get out, but I did pet him for a few moments which he allowed, twice on the head, twice on the neck, once on the cheek.  That was the first time I pet him, so that’s exciting too.  We’re keeping him.  This is the beginning of a beautiful friendship!  :-)

Posted in: Cats: Our Cats at Play, Civic Involvement, Giving: Volunteering, Philanthropy ⋅ Tagged: , , , ,

Got him! We just trapped “Cat #1″

November 7, 2011 5:43 pm ⋅
outdoor cat in humane trap

Cat #1 trapped and in our home!

This is also known as Humane Cat Trapping Project Day #8, and our third blog post on this project so far.  Our clinic appointment is tomorrow bright and early so thank goodness we really did trap Cat #1 tonight!!!!  We trapped him about an hour ago.  He is not a very big guy, and all black with a tiny tuft of white fur at his neck.  I brought his trap into my home office, my floor protected with a large tray and newsprint in the tray.  I used a “trap comb” to partition his trap safely and give him more tuna and water on one end, and a clean towel on the other end, while preventing his escape.  He can’t eat any tuna after midnight in preparation for his neuter surgery, but I’m sure he has already finished it.  He has hissed a few times but other than that does not seem to need to hide from us.  We took the sheet off of one end of the trap and he did not wriggle back under cover.

Tomorrow I will bring him, still in his trap, to the Tree House clinic and we will learn much more about him.  We really don’t even know for sure his gender, but we’ll know all sorts of things by this time tomorrow!  Stay tuned…..

Posted in: Cats: Our Cats at Play, Civic Involvement, Giving: Volunteering, Philanthropy

Humane Cat Trapping Project – Intro & Day 3 Report

November 2, 2011 10:46 am ⋅
baited cat trap for trap rehearsal feeding

Tempting trail of tuna for humanely trapping a cat!

This is a photo of the trap we are using in our humane cat trapping project.  We have the trap on loan from Tree House Humane Society.  Lorenzo and I have been contemplating adding a fourth cat to our animal family for a while now.  Recently we have decided to trap our next pet cat, since there are plenty of abandoned cats roaming around our neighborhood, though some people may not realize it.  I find trapping cats really fun and exciting.  You never know which cat you will get, since in most cases there are many roaming around you haven’t seen.  You have to plan and prepare, all things which I love.  It’s a combination of a good deed and a fun adventure.  I personally trapped our pet cats Zen and Bambi back in late 2006.  There’s more info on those trappings on my site www.MyFeralKitten.com

This photo shows the basics about how we bait our trap, shown with no sheet for illustration purposes.  Right now we are in the “trap rehearsal” phase, where our trap is rigged to stay open no matter what using several zip ties.  It’s a tuna buffet essentially that we bait every evening with fresh smelly canned tuna, packed in oil.  Once we are ready for the real trapping night, we will remove the zip ties so that the cat will get safely trapped when he steps on the “put paws here” part, labeled in the photo.  The first night the tuna remained undisturbed.  For night two, last night, I got rid of the old tuna and replaced with new tuna.  Success!!!  By 12:30am just after midnight I noticed that all the tuna had been eaten.  I can check the trap right from our apartment window with a flashlight, the height of convenience!

We will continue to bait the trap every evening, to train our mystery meat eater (hopefully a cat) to return each night.  I have a call into Tree House Humane Society’s spay/neuter clinic to make a spay/neuter appointment.  We are hoping for an appointment for next Wed 11/9/11 but we’ll see.  We will be trapping our cat the night before the spay/neuter appointment, and will bring him/her to the clinic in the morning still in the trap.  Stay tuned to our blog posts for the next week or two.  I will be updating our readers as things develop!!!  If you want lots more detailed info on trapping, socializing feral kittens, etc. you can check www.MyFeralKitten.com which is very complete, and as I said details some trapping I did in 2006 and 2007.

Posted in: Cats: Our Cats at Play, Civic Involvement, Giving: Volunteering, Philanthropy

What I learned at my CAPS meeting tonight

April 20, 2011 8:42 pm ⋅
McGruff drawing

I am choosing to be more informed

This was my first CAPS meeting I’d been to in at least 10 years if not longer, and the second CAPS meeting ever.  It was more interesting than I remember, actually.  It was pretty short, only 50 minutes long, and throughout the meeting they discussed specific addresses and what disturbances have been noted there, either by police or citizens.  Many people came prepared with specific addresses and info, and the police were very informed and on the ball about it all.  They said our CAPS meeting is generally the most attended in the whole city.  Good for you Beat 17!  Beat 17 is part of Albany Park and Irving Park neighborhoods.

Is it more disturbing to know literally what crime has occurred in your area recently, or not know at all?  Honestly I am more disturbed now that I know, but I think after a good night’s rest the disturbing part will subside entirely.  It was nice to be around so many citizens who care about keeping their streets safe.  I think being more informed will encourage me to be more aware and I believe that those two things together will translate into increased safety.  I love my Albany Park neighborhood, more than any other Chicago neighborhood I’ve lived in.  I think it’s the tree lined streets and the variety of small homes and larger apartment buildings, and all the different front yards and porches each with their own unique character and personality.  So my CAPS meeting was time well spent, and I will go again next month.  Thanks to Martha Hack, our CAPS citizen rep who helped spread the word and let me know about the meeting.  If you want to find out what Chicago police “beat” you live in, and when the CAPS meetings are for your “beat” then you can go to this link. Here’s another link with basic info about CAPS.

Posted in: Civic Involvement

The Crater- mostly vanquished, ditch & protruding metal thingie remain

April 6, 2011 9:26 pm ⋅
photo of a patch in an alley

The crater has mostly been patched

Today as I was driving home, through the alley to my garage, it occurred to me that there was backtop patch in the alley!  It had been fixed!  I actually yelled, laughed, and hollered all at once.  :-)  (See the blog post above this one for more on the crater that was eating the alley).

alley photo

Note the ditch w/puddle in the center of the photo

I went back to examine and take photos, and I saw that there was still a muddy ditch next to their patch.  Why didn’t they finish?  Also that big piece of metal that sticks out menacing my tires is still there too.  I took a good photo of it in the post above this one.  Hmmmm.  So, it’s a victory for civic involvement, for calling in issues to 311 and organizing neighbors and getting them to call.  But is it a total victory?  What do you think?  I will say it is easier to navigate than before, and a ditch with a metal tooth is better than a growing crater with a metal tooth.  Thanks for calling 311, and for “liking” my facebook post.  Yay for Chicagoans who take action!

Posted in: Civic Involvement ⋅ Tagged: , , ,

Huge crater eating a Chicago alley for years- Resident apathy or City incompetence?

April 4, 2011 11:25 am ⋅
photo of alley pothole turned crater in Chicago

No longer a pothole, this is a crater eating the alley

Here is a crater eating the alley near our home in Albany Park, Chicago.  I had assumed this was a case of Chicago city incompetence, but when I was out photographing it for this blog, I interviewed a few residents and they all said they had never called the city about it.  Two were private home owners whose homes and garages are just feet north of this crater.  One said “We don’t hang out there, so we didn’t call.”  The other said “I don’t drive that direction” in the alley, so she didn’t call either.  Another resident with his garage further up the alley also said he had never called.  He agreed that it was a big issue, and that the crater had been there for “at least two or three years” and that it had been getting “bigger and deeper.”

alley crater in Chicago

another view of the same crater, alley east of 4415 N Drake Ave

Here’s another view of the same crater, this time facing south in the alley.  This view shows buildings that are right on the north side of Montrose Ave, which include a City of Chicago Streets and Sanitation building.  I learned at my recent Town Hall meeting that Streets & San does not handle pot holes, but maybe they handle craters?

It takes a village to fix a crater.  Help me to get this fixed.  I have called 311 to report this on 3/23 and again 4/1.  Please call 311 to report it too.  Here’s what you will need to know for the call:  It’s in the alley just east of 4415 N Drake Ave, between Drake Ave and St. Louis Ave, and the majority of the alley is regular road pavement except for the big, growing crater.

photo of crater in alley

Watch your tires! the metal piece sticking up out of the edge of the crater

Here’s an additional special feature of the crater.  It has a big piece of metal sticking up out of it.  It’s shown in this photo, just above my women’s size 10 sneaker which I included for perspective.  I’d love to know why the heck it’s there, but more than that I’d love it gone so I don’t have to worry about hitting it and risking my tires.

So show me that some Chicagoans care.  Show me you can call 311 and ad your voice, comment on the blog or “like” or share this on facebook.  I will be sending this blog post to my alderman, and to a Channel 2 facebook account.  I will be doing updates on this, and hopefully one day the crater will be gone.  Help me vanquish the crater!

Posted in: Civic Involvement ⋅ Tagged: , ,

What I learned at tonight’s Town Hall Meeting plus a free gift

March 23, 2011 10:22 pm ⋅

Tonight I went to a Town Hall Meeting for the 17th Police District of Chicago, where we live.   I confess I figured I would be bored to tears, but fortunately I was wrong!  We heard about crime statistics, saw PowerPoint slides with writing way too small, and heard from the new Police Commander who seemed capable.  The CAPS guy definitely made an effort at humor, and everything moved along pretty well.

car anti-theft device

Free steering wheel anti-theft device, plus free candy

So we were offered free anti-theft devices for our car steering wheels which I thought was neat.  Who knew you would get a free gift at the meeting?   Mine is in this photo, along with some peppermint candies that were in a Streets & Sanitation handout about rat control.  No really!  ;-)

I think my one take-away was that car theft is up 40% nationwide and locally.  I didn’t realize that.  Also to my surprise, they said the Honda Civic and Accord are the number one stolen cars, years 1994-1998, both nationwide, in Chicago, and in our 17th district.  These cars are stolen for the parts.  They were discussing how people can break into your garage doors too.  Delightful.  I am entertaining the idea that ignorance is not actually bliss.  I will go to some CAPS meetings now, to see what else I learn.  Hopefully I will meet some nice neighbors too.

Posted in: Civic Involvement ⋅ Tagged: , , ,