Happy Birthday to Tashi!

Back in May, we held a celebration of Be Kind to Animals Week here in Bucks County. Hosted by our gracious friends at Lackland Self Storage and Office Suites here in Ottsville, the event was an amazing success. We invited the community to watch a half-hour digital slide presentation about disabled pets, then enjoy free refreshments as we had a meet-and-greet with our Word Forge Books authors and several animal-related organizations from our area.

Tashi, a handsome and charming boy

One of those organizations was Tabby's Place, a no-kill cat shelter on the Jersey side of the river. Denise Jeffries, Senior Veterinary Technician there, brought along Tashi, a gray tiger kitty, who's paralyzed in the rear legs. Tashi has become the spokescat/mascot for Tabby's Place, and little wonder: whatever might be missing in sensory function in this little cat is more than made up for in the abundance of sweet, lovable personality! He absolutely captivated his visitors, who flocked around his carrier for a chance to shower him with affection.

Last month, Tashi celebrated his first year on Earth, so I just wanted to wish him a belated Happy Birthday from our little corner of the world. If you'd like to know more about Tashi, here's the YouTube vid of his first year. Or visit his web page to learn how you can sponsor him or other deserving kitties he lives with.

Be Kind to Animals Week is Coming!

That's right! May 3-10 is National Be Kind To Animals Week in America, and we're celebrating with our own little event right here in Bucks County, Pennsylvania!

The birth of humane education as a national effort dates back to 1915. In that year, “Be Kind to Animals Week” was inspired Dr. William O’Stillman, leader of the American Humane Association. AHA’s primary goals were visiting local schools to promote the development of humane education and publicizing the good works of the nation’s humane societies. Today, the annual event is used to bring to the fore the needs of animals as sentient beings, and it piggybacks with National Adopt A Pet Month in the USA.

O hai. U can haz party!

Miss Idgie here is all party animal, dressed up and ready to celebrate at Lackland Self Storage and Office Park at 8133 Easton Road in Ottsville. From 7:30-9:00 pm on Friday, May 8, she may decide to join us for a little neighborhood get-together, celebrating one of our country's best annual observances.

We'll be showing a brief slide show about disabled pets, presented by...me! That will be followed by a short reading from Almost Perfect: Disabled Pets and the People Who Love Them, and another by Pipersville author Betty Kerr Orlemann. She'll be reading a brief passage from Mission: Murder, first in her new Hattie Farwell mystery series. Hattie is an 80-year-old amateur sleuth who solves cases with the aid of her faithful sidekick, Wolf, a giant dog.

Betty and I will then sell and sign copies of our books to anyone who's interested. We'll be joined by Dr. Ellen Prieto, the Wonder Vet who saved Idgie's life, and who's in my essay from the anthology. Also we'll be joined by Denise Jeffries, Senior Veterinary Technician at
Tabby's Place, a cat sanctuary across the river in New Jersey. There will be representatives of several other pet-related organizations, along with some free light refreshments.

The venue is being generously donated by Lackland Self Storage as a community gesture, for which we are sincerely appreciative.

It'll be a family-friendly event, so join us, won't you, for a little animal kindness? Be there and feel the love!