Thursday Theme Song: Can't hug every cat

I am back in connection via facebook with my Cat Cafe friends I made in Singapore. Judith and Marcella used to trap stray cats, feed them and get them sterilised. Then we either released them, and the cats came to feed at the cat cafe, or they were adopted.

 SPCA's news reminds me of that persona I left behind when I left.


Overcrowding at the Auckland SPCA has forced the organisation to slash adoption costs in half for three weeks.

"We've simply run out of room for any more incoming animals. So it's time to do everything we can to encourage prospective pet owners to adopt," animal services manager Tracey Dunn says.

"If you're looking for a pet, please consider rescuing an animal in need and giving them a home for life."

The SPCA currently has 482 cats, 123 dogs, and 39 rabbits on its books.

Just a small percentage can be offered for rehoming at any one time because there is only so much room in the adoption areas. The rest are fostered out to volunteers or await their turn in the holding areas.

"We're at crisis point because we must be able to continue to rescue animals in need but we've nowhere to put them," Dunn says. "We really need the public to help us out."

The half price rate will apply from April 2 to April 22.

All adopted animals have been vet checked, de-sexed, micro-chipped, wormed, treated for fleas and had initial vaccinations.

"The money [the public] pays us goes directly to saving other animals in need," Dunn says.

The SPCA is also desperate for people to foster cats or kittens.

Animals can be viewed at the SPCA Auckland Animal Village, 50 Westney Rd, Mangere between 8.30am and 4.00pm every day or online.

I was googling a song for this story. The lyrics suit the theme to a T, but I don't like the singer. So perhaps you will read it as a poem.

Source: LYBIO.net

I love cats. I love every kind of cat.
I just wanna hug all of them but I can’t

Can’t hug every cat
Can’t hug every cat
So anyway I am a cat lover.
And I love to run.
I’m sorry I’m thinking about cats again.
I really love cats
I’m thinking about cats again.
And again, and again and again and again
I think about how many don’t have a home
And how I should have them
I think about how cute they are
And how their ears and the whiskers and the nose
I just love them
And I want them

And I want them in a basket
And I want little bow ties
I just love them
And I want them
To be on a rainbow
And in my bed
And I just want us to roll around
(to roll around)
(round)
(round)
Sorry I’m getting emotional
I love cats
I love every kind of cat
I just want to hug all of them
But I can’t
Can’t hug every cat
Can’t hug every cat
So anyway
I am a cat lover and I love to run
I’m sorry I’m thinking about cats again
I really love cats
But I can’t hug every cat
Can’t hug every cat
Can’t hug every cat


http://thursdaythemesong.blogspot.com/
http://hootin--anni.blogspot.com/



http://reducefootprints.blogspot.com/

ABC Wednesday: Letter Q for Queue

When I was growing up in Borneo, many people did not queue, they just pushed their way.

 Here in Singapore, people queue for the bus.

 At the university canteen, people queue for their food.

 In fact, in Singapore, people queue, except sometimes when they are dashing to get into the train. that's not nice.

 At Camp Adair, J went up a high pole climbing on the metal rungs. Then she jumped off the top of an 18 meter pole called the Pamper Pole. She felt very brave having done that and boosted her confidence.

 Another activity at Camp Adair was archery, T enjoyed this most.

Everyone talked about the mud slide at Camp Adair. Some kids don't like getting messy. But S loved it.

One important thing they learn at Camp Adair, they all had to Queue. They queue for their food, they queued for the fun activities, they queued for the bathroom. "If we didn't queue, it won't be so fun."




http://abcwednesday-mrsnesbitt.blogspot.com/

mellow yellow Monday: anti theft scanner

Don't even think of leaving this supermarket without paying for your products. The beeping will draw a lot of attention.

Having said that, once the water engineer bought a winter jacket. The negligent sales person forgot to remove the chip. Every time, he went back to the shop and or it's many branches, it beeped. People look at him.

Eventually, I told him to tell them. They knew it was an old product, as they no longer sold this line. They removed the computer chip, and he was no longer a suspecr.  I don't feel embarrassed when I go out with him .

http://mellowyellowmonday.blogspot.com/

Photount: Zap

http://whistlestopphotohunt.blogspot.co.nz/

Kids here are told, "Be careful, don't play with the Zap box." Always wondered what is inside the Zap box, but I didn't want to get zapped, so I took this photo from the other side of the road.

Weekend Ref: Builder up a cherry picker

This supermarket has expanded. This is good news to me. It is called Pak and Save. It is cheaper and is good for the environment. You pay 10 cents for a plastic bag, or you use the boxes they provide for you. My kind of supermarket and it is near to me. Nothing fancy, though it looks like a warehouse. It doesn't matter, the products are the same, why pay for the frills.
http://weekendreflection.blogspot.com

Thursdays Challenge: Tools: Flexiprobe

My School, Pt Chevalier School is doing a lot of renovations and building. I was walking past and attracted by this yellow tool. Just the right tool for today's meme. It's a flexiprobe. It has a camera  at the end of the tool.

The friendly Rob explained that it was a special camera to go into the ground. In my lay man's term a CCTV. I told him the water engineer is a hydraulics engineer. They could be good friends.


HydroVac's CCTV service offers complete survey, location and inspection options, and if necessary, our registered drain layers can carry out a dig and fix repair.


Our advanced CCTV service allows us to accurately detect and inspect any drain that may need repairs. If you need to locate a junction or get an accurate location and depth reading we can help.

Our CCTV service is also effective when it comes to drain inspections and surveys. We undertake surveys on council lines and provide log inspection reports for lines of 225mm diameter or less.


http://www.hydrovac.co.nz/


We have the specialist equipment, technology and team you need to take care of any emergency or maintenance situation - 24 HOURS A DAY, 7 DAYS A WEEK.
HydroVac leads the way in drainage maintenance with:
over 30 years industry experience
super-quick response times
effective, economical service deliver
range of vehicle sizes and specialist equipment
fully trained operators, certified in height work and confined space entry
safety equipment including full harnesses, tripod and gas detectors
Regardless of the size or scope of the job (commercial, industrial or domestic) you'll always receive the same outstanding level of service from our friendly, efficient team.

http://www.spunwithtears.com/thursday.html

 "TOOLS" (Cooking, Construction, Cleaning, Gardening, Repair,...)

ABC: P for Photographer

Denise Debrah and her work.

http://www.denisedphotography.co.uk/

My biggest passion after landscapes is people. I find people fascinating, stimulating and above all challenging. Human beings are a kaleidoscope of emotion that just adds drama and mystery to any photograph.
From capturing a newborn's first smile to the chaos of a family gathering, be it a portrait session or a wedding, my style of photography is about freezing the excitement of the moment and the personality of the subject, in short the emotion.

Denise portriat

Denise and her sister Lorraine in my house.

My girls in the now defunct Tourist area Tang Dynasty in Singapore.

• • In 1990, after 13 years in New Zealand, the water engineer got a job lecturing at the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. We came to this wonderful campus accommodation where I would live with people who came from all over the world. I was enriched by living with them.
    
    One day, a man came to the door and introduced himself that he was our new neighbour from downstairs. He was Yaw Debrah from Ghana, and he had come from England. He studied in Canada. I whooped with joy, here was some one who like me, had studied and lived in Canada. I whooped more, his oldest daughter Denise, was my daughter D's age. His second  L was a little younger than my number 2, G.
    
    Soon, the girls came over, Denise came directly from Ghana and Lorraine from England. The girls hit on really well, and they were in my house a lot. Then Dorothy, the mum came over from England. I saw how mums and daughters from a different culture bond. I saw how Dorothy straightened Denise hair, and used cocoa butter. I ate some of their food, the FuFu.
    
    When Dorothy had her son Derick, I drove her to hospital. Later, Dorothy went to England to train as a dietician. Her mum came to take care of the children. The two younger children were in my house everyday to give some respite to the grandma. Denise went to a whole day school, and came to play when she came home.
• • 
    The family moved to Cardiff shortly after my son was born. I missed them very much.
    
    Today, Denise is a photographer. I am glad she is pursuing her dreams, and has parents who encourage her.
    
    I am posting her story written by herself. I was thinking, I was going to condense it, but decided against it. Her story is so interesting that it would be a disservice if I tried to condense it. It also answered my question, why do you need to do a university degree to be a photographer. I wish her all the best.  Perhaps, one day, she will be so famous that I tell people that Denise used to play in my house. And they will think ," Huh!!!!!"
    
    

    • Denise Debrah

      I have been a photographer, it seems forever. I never left home after we moved to the UK from Singapore, without a camera in my bag. I needed more images of the places we lived, just in case we had to move again and new friends had to be made.
      
      I would love to say that it was my dad that finally gave in and bought me my first SLR, but being an academic from a family of academics, having a daughter who was more artistically inclined was the last thing he expected. As always with moms help, he came round to the idea, and I became the proud owner of an Olympus OM10 (which still works, and I still use)
      
      I was then allowed to study Photography in high school when we moved to a small village outside of Cardiff, Wales. Being in a dark room exposing your negative on paper then watching it emerge in the developer, was the most emotional moment of my life. That was the moment I knew this is what I wanted to do.
      
      From then on I lived and breathed photography, reading as much as possible on the subject from our local library, all the way through to the University of Portsmouth where I did a BA (HONS) on the subject. I worked in camera shops as I studied so that every aspect of the camera was known to me, as well as every genre of photography.
      
       After University I worked for a few studios around Cardiff, as I tried to find my creative eye. I didn't find that until I was working as a photographer for a cruise liner. Three years of my life sailing around the world experiencing the wonder that is gods creation was the most eye opening time of my life. I loved travel photography, I loved landscape photography, I loved portrait photography. Every photography I loved. However portraits was the one for me especially black and white portraits. I was given the honour of being mentored by an amazing American photographer called Joe Craig, after he had seen some of my work. I spend a week in Dexter Missouri with him and his family upon where he taught me everything he knew, loved and detested about photography.
      
      Missing Cardiff and my family, I decided to come back to land (in more ways than one) and open my own business. After a year of hard work, tears and epiphanies upon epiphanies, Denise D Photography was born. Its still young at the moment and trying to find its footing in this digital age where it seems and world and his uncle all have a DSLR, and think that this makes professional photographers redundant.
      
      ok my first Liner was the MS Maasdam of the Holland America line. we sailed around the east cost of America and Canada, then made our way south to the Caribbean. Sailing around Barbados, Bahamas etc then back round the the west cost of America and Alaska. I came of that ship late 2008 and did my first overseas solo wedding in Cyprus. then it was off again but this time to the Braemar , a Fred Olsen cruise liner, and that was where I stayed until I came off in Christmas of 2010.
      
      The Braemar, is a Norwegian liner so we sailed around Europe in the autumn , spring season then summer and winter was spent in the Caribbean and south America. Fred Olsen is one of a handful of liners allowed in Cuba so it was overnight stays there. Great place, but full of so much sadness
    • 
      

      
      

      Denise Debrah my favourite places I have to say was Canada, and some of the Caribbean island. The people are all so different in some ways, but when you get down the core of them, very alike. Everyone is so warm and welcoming where ever we went. they couldn't do enough for us be it a small impoverish island like Trinidad, or a big metropolis like Montreal

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