The other day a woman stopped into my vet’s office and asked if the vet would take in 3 starving kittens that had eye infections. My vet said “no” but offered to treat their infections. The woman complained that none of the pet shops she’d been to would take the kittens either (obviously because they were sick).

Well, the woman walked outside the vet’s office and dumped the kittens in the bushes in front of the building and then she left. A little while later my husband, who was there helping the vet with some building maintenance, heard the mewing. The vet has been taking care of these kitties since then, she’s treated their eye infections, has successfully fattened them up and has neutered each of them. But now it’s time for them to find homes.

The two black ones are female and the orange tabby is male. If you know of anyone who might need a kitty (or 2 or 3) in their life please contact me asap.

This female was a skinny little thing when I first saw her, now she sports a belly.

This guy needs a bath but will be gorgeous when he’s cleaned up.

This girl is my favorite, she’s got a really sweet personality.

Here are the 3 of them together.

Please help save these kitties. My vet can’t keep them, she’s already got 6 six dogs that she adopted off the street (after nursing them back to health from various injuries).

My daughter’s school is really something. Today the kids flew from Denver, CO to San Diego, CA, then they took a van across the border into Mexico. Her 8th grade class is headed to Tijuana for a week.

They will be volunteering at, and also staying at, an orphanage there. My daughter says that they will, among other things, help build a wall. The concept of a bunch of rich American kids going to Mexico to work illegally as construction workers just cracks me up.

I’m sure the trip will be great, it’s a whole new experience for all of them. I’m glad to see the school pushing the kids this way. And I’m very glad for my daughter to see somewhere in Mexico besides the Yucatan, even though by all reports Tijuana is pretty skanky.

The school told my daughter that she wasn’t allowed to spike her hair with colored gel in case her colors could be mistaken for gang colors. What a thing to worry about.

They also told the kids that this trip was about total immersion, which means they weren’t allowed to bring cell phones. So no contact for a week…I will spend a lot of time this week wondering how things are going.

Remember the other day how I posted about Helping Cancun’s Animals? Well, I went over to the RAP facility last week and took photos of some of the puppies they have up for adoption now.

I couldn’t talk to RAP’s director, Maria Alicia, because at the time of our visit she was out saving the life of a pregnant dog that had just been hit by a car.

The RAP animal shelter door, a more permanent sign is on the wishlist.

When I was there they had about 20 puppies in all sizes and colors. They also had something in the range of 45 to 50 adult dogs (and I didn’t meet a single one that I didn’t like).

These two are part of a litter of 9 pups that were dropped off while I was there helping out one day. They are beyond cute.

The sole purpose of this post is to nag my friends and readers to help find good homes for the puppies and dogs currently at RAP. RAP needs to get their dogs adopted so that they can free up space to rescue more of the starving and injured dogs we all see everyday in Cancun.

Here’s one of their brothers, another cute one.

This little guy almost came home with me, I just love those eyes. But I need more land before I get more dogs.

These guys were really hard to photograph because they wouldn’t stop playing! Most of my photos of them are just a blur of cute puppy fur.

Ok, have I pulled enough heart-strings yet? Please do what you can to help. You know you want a doggie!

This little guy was at the bottom of the pile of puppies, I finally got a photo of him when he managed to get out from under his siblings.

You can contact Maria Alicia to make an appointment to meet all the dogs and puppies she has up for adoption. Her number is (998) 206-0056 and she is fluent in both English and Spanish.

Visit the RAP Web Site
Visit the CANDi Web Site

I want to spread the word a bit about two charities that are working together here in Cancun to rescue animals and help animals find good adoptive homes. The first is Respeta, Ayuda y Protege, which in English means respect, help and protect (it’s called RAP for short). And the second is called CANDi, which stands for Cats and Dogs International.

The two groups have teamed up recently on a campaign called Project Cancun under which they will be starting a spay and neuter clinic among other things. In the mean time the two groups are busy getting their new facility up and running. And they are also caring for more than 60 dogs they have rescued from the streets of Cancun.

Here are their web sites:

• Respeta, Ayuda y Protege
• Cats and Dogs International
• CANDi Blog: Project Cancun

I will be writing more about these groups and this project in the future. In the mean time please send them lots and lots of money and volunteer to help them if you can.

I just finished reading 3 Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace…One School At A Time and now I’m resisting strong urges to give all my money to the Central Asia Institute so they can build more schools. It’s a truly inspiring book and it makes me want to do something effective.

Sometimes I get so pissed at myself that I didn’t join the Peace Corps when I graduated from college. It always seems like someone else is out there making a difference in the world. And me? What do I do? I give some money away here and there. I pick up a few starving cats off the street. It’s not enough. I’ve realized that I’d really like to get involved in something bigger, something that really does make a difference. I’m tired of piddling around.

I just found Free Rice, which is a charity site that donates 10 grains of rice to the United Nation World Food Program for each English word that you can correctly identify the meaning of.

I found it pretty hard, my vocabulary is not as large as it should be. Some of the words I was asked included: casque, duenna, newel, panegyric, oppugn, hidebound and thaumaturge. I got thaumaturge wrong, it means magician. You can use your dictionary because the site doesn’t seem to be timing your responses. But you need a pretty good dictionary since many of the words won’t be in a basic English dictionary. Have fun!

Here are some long-awaited photos of the street cat I rescued a couple of weeks ago. When I found her lying in the street she was so dirty that she could not hope to clean herself and she was listless from undernourishment.

We cleaned her up and have gotten her spayed, and she’s had her first round of shots. She’s had several weeks of eating regularly and of getting lots of attention. And now she’s strong and healthy and thinks everything is a toy!

This cat is tall and “leggy” and has a loooong tail.

We’ve gotten to know this kitty pretty well and she is one of the most loving cats I’ve ever known. She LOVES to be kissed, in fact smooching her is about the best and most sure way to get her to start purring.

This cat stares right at you, and her eyes are so pretty that you want to fall into them.

We’ve also noticed that this cat is STRONG and she’s a great jumper. She slim and a little tall and doesn’t have an imposing presence. She doesn’t look especially strong, but looks can be deceiving.

Purring - You can see she’s missing part of her left ear.

This kitty has been around the block. She’s already had a litter of kitties and can’t be more than a year old yet. She’s missing part of an ear. And her tail has a small and endearing little kink in it from some unknown trauma.

I absolutely hate to part with this cat, but I must find a home for her. So if you know of anyone who wants a loving and wonderful cat please let me know.

I have this lovely friend who is from the U.K. But just give her 5 years, and she will be more Mexican than my husband. She came here because she adores Mexico. And she came here intent on helping people less fortunate than herself.

Yesterday she told me she had found her true calling and that is teaching English to Mexican public school kids. Lots of expat teachers here teach English to wealthy and middle class Mexican kids, in private schools. But for a foreigner to go work in a public school setting is quite unusual, and it represents a true labor of love for my friend.

Needless to say I’m so proud to be her friend! I’m so proud to see her giving her best to these kids who’ve barely ever seen foreigners and have barely spent time with any native English speakers. She will make a big difference to those underprivileged kids, and Mexico is lucky to have her.

[You go girl!]

Even though Hurricane Dean didn’t hit us it did cause some extra drama which has been a challenge to get over. If I intend to stay in this area long-term I’m going to have to get better at handling the pre-hurricane it-could-hit-us-but-probably-won’t stress thing. As it is now I pretty much become a babbling idiota by the time it’s actually known if the hurricane in question will hit us.

And now, one week after Hurricane Dean didn’t hit us, I’ve got insomnia and am irritable and am constantly fighting headaches. Some of this is just due to it being the first week of school, and I’m not yet used to getting up early. And some of it is due to the fact that I’m behind on all my work due to all those hours of hurricane preparation. But I am recovering one day at a time.

Today some friends and I took some money and goods for donation to a Mexican charity called Caritas that is working in the areas that Hurricane Dean destroyed. Many of those affected by Dean are rural poor practicing something pretty close to subsistence farming. And the hurricane took their homes, and the contents of their homes, and their livestock. And in many cases the hurricane destroyed their crops.

So if I think that I’ve got anything to complain about then I’m full of it!

Here’s the Caritas Web Site - it’s in Spanish.

People have been asking me how best to support the many people and communities that were devastated by Hurricane Dean. My recommendation is to make donations directly to either the Cruz Roja Mexicana (Mexican Red Cross) or to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Cresent Societies (aka the International Red Cross).

The Cruz Roja Mexicana web site provides information on how to make a donation via a wire transfer (which many people may find too cumbersome to deal with).

The International Red Cross web site allows you to make a donation via credit card, and you can specify that the money be used specifically for Hurricane Dean relief efforts.

• Donate To Cruz Roja Mexicana
• Donate To International Red Cross

For more information on the International Red Cross response to Hurricane Dean please click here.

For more information about the International Red Cross and it’s many national Red Cross chapters click here.