For the Love of Lizards

This afternoon, I drove the three blocks to the neighborhood liqour store for a bottle of wine, and halfway back, I realized there was a green Anole clinging to the hood of the car.  Sort of hiding in the area of the windshield wipers.  Dang!  That’s the second time that ever happened to me. The first time I was in the drive-through of the bank and both me and and the teller noticed him/her.  After leaving the bank, I drove very slowly to the nearest vacant lot and tried to capture him/her and release it in an area which had some grass.  The lizard was not cooperative, and ran underneath my right rear tire.  Then I resorted to fear tactics, and scared it into running away. 

So when I saw today’s lizard, I said to it, “Don’t Jump!  You’re almost home!”  I drove like 1 mile an hour so that I could get it back to its home.  I wish you could have seen it–it lifted its little face and was very brave and defiant. 

So now let’s move on to Cat Language Part 2.  Shortly after I returned, the cat made a noise that I instantly recognized as meaning, “I caught something”.  Oh No!  Don’t tell me that after all I went through to save this lizard, that you caught it.  No.  Stormy the girl cat, who has very limited outside priviileges, caught a Five-Lined Skink.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five-lined_skink

By the time I was paying attention, the skink had tried to save itself by dumping its tail. It was no match for the cat.  It was still alive, but there was really nothing I could to to save it.  I hate that.  I like lizards, and I like cats too.  Everybody has to eat.

The Great Tallahassee Gas Shortage of 2008

On Friday, September 12th, a widespread panic occurred in advance of Hurricane Ike hitting the Texas coast.  The concern was somewhat warranted, in that Texas refineries were shutting down in preparation, and the destruction of some oil rigs in the Gulf seemed likely (not really a big deal–the refinery issue is much more important).  In the end, 10 rigs were destroyed in the Gulf out of hundreds and hundreds of them, but it takes some time for the refineries to ramp back up and resume the production of gas from oil. 

But on Friday the 12th, somebody sent an email to somebody, who text messaged someone else, who called somebody else on their cell phone, who…well, you get the picture.  It was enough that the Governor, the Attorney General, and the Commissioner of Agriculture all came out in force and said, “Please, People!  There is no gas shortage in Florida!  Stop!  This panic buying is going to create a gas shortage where there is none!” They pointed out that pipelines don’t supply Florida with the majority of its gas.  It comes in by ship, and many ships are already on the way.  Ultimately, the newspaper tracked down an administrative assistant for the State, who sent an email warning a friend about the potential gas shortage, as if she was Typhoid Mary. 

I guess that with the level of trust we have in our government, Repubican or Democrat, you can probably guess how that turned out.  We’d rather listen to a voicemail from Mom’s next-door neighbor than to the people who have some real clue about reality.  That day, people in Florida purchased 100 million gallons of gasoline instead of its usual 26 million gallons.

Driving home from work that Friday, I was secure in the knowledge that I had 3/4 of a tank.  I would wait until the following Monday to get gas, when the hysteria had subsided.  Every station I passed–and there are many, I live off one of the main streets in Tallahassee– had long lines of vehicles.  Sheep, I said to myself.  Lemmings.  Idiots.  I’m very fearless and pull no punches when talking to myself in the car. 

Fast forward.  It’s Wednesday.  I’m down to less than half a tank.  All the stations I pass on my way home have no gas.  The newspaper says it’s because station owners don’t want to purchase gas at a high price from their wholesalers, and are waiting for the price to come down.  They don’t want to sell gas at the meager markup they get, for fear of being accused of price gouging, which is a crime, so they would rather just not sell it at all.  That turned out not to be true.  Gas lures people, so station owners would rather you come and pay whatever price for gas and buy a bag of potato chips in their convenience store, for which they will charge you a 2000% markup. 

Back to Wednesday.  I’m thinking I’ll have to use my less-than-half a tank, riding around looking for gas. How much sense does that make?  Stupid lemmings.  Internet-generated panic.  And then came the news.  We lemmings are dumber than we thought.  Tallahassee doesn’t get its gasoline from those vaunted ships.  It gets it from a pipeline in Georgia, which was in fact affected by the hurricane.   In  other words, there really was a shortage of gasoline in North Florida.  The gas/convenience store lobby people say they are routing everything they have to Tallahassee, and soon we will be back to normal.

I’m mad that We the People were blamed for creating a crisis we didn’t create.

The Cost of a Dog

While trying to figure out how old my 7 1/2 year old dog Abigail is in human years, I came across the following website:  http://www.dogyears.com/  In addition to a chart comparing dog to human years (the old saw about each dog year being seven human years is inaccurate), the site also has a chart called Approximate Annual Dog Care Costs.  They wisely include a disclaimer that “costs vary depending on charges by individual veterinarians”.  After the first year (when the dog has to have all its puppy shots, and get spayed or neutered–that is, if you’re a responsible dog owner), they estimate the annual cost is $818.

My first reaction, when I looked just at the total, was “No way!”  I figure it’s close to twice that much.  Either their calculations are in 1958 dollars, or they’re living in an alternate universe.  (How do I get a ticket to that universe?)  So I went back and looked at each line item to try to figure out where they went wrong.

Now granted, my vet is overwhelmingly acknowledged as the most expensive in Tallahassee, which is okay with me, I think they’re also the best.  No one disputes that.  But let’s take just one item on the list, “emergency care”, $250 a year.  My vet charges $250 just to say hello.  Okay, I’m kidding, but see my post “Cat Language”, in which I describe the cost of surgery when my cat was injured.  Surgery alone–not counting the medications, followup visits, etc.  If your dog or cat has a true emergency, especially one that requires surgery, just go ahead and plan on a home equity loan. 

Second:  Rabies shot, $5.  Is there anyone out there in Internet-land who can tell me they paid $5 for a rabies vaccination anytime since 1958? Abigail’s was $29.75 last Thursday.  Distemper/Parvo, $15–Abigail’s was $29.76.  Heartworm prevention–$50 a year?  I think not. 

And there’s some things they left out.  For example, flea and tick prevention.  In colder climates, you can actually get by with heartworm and and flea prevention only during the summer months.  But here in Florida world, heartworm and flea prevention must be year-round.  I recently bought flea prevention meds for my cat, and it was $80 and change for a six-month supply.  Dogs have to be vaccinated for leptospirosis here ($20.98) and get Bordetella vaccinations every six months. 

The estimate seems to assume that your dog will be healthy for it’s entire life.  It will never get sick or have an infection or get arthritis when it’s older.  It’s quite amazing how much trouble dogs can get themselves into when left to their own devices, even when in the presumed safety of their own homes and back yards.  My little Basenji mix once ate an entire bag of Hershey’s Kisses, foil and all.  My Doberman has a thyroid deficiency–$25 a month for that medication.   

And, will you never go on vacation or travel for business?  Unless you have a friend or family member who is willing to keep your dog, you have to kennel him or her or pay a pet sitter.  Neither of those options is cheap. 

So in closing, I repeat:  sign me up for that alternate universe, where it will cost me $818 a year to have a dog.  Much less three, and a cat to boot.