Privacy? What Privacy?

I just learned about an online phone book where individuals can learn (snoop) into your private information. It's called spokeo.com, and it gives me the creeps. For less than $3.00 a month, nosy "people" can see a picture of your house, learn your age, how many people live in your house, discover your credit score, etc. It even keeps track of your activities on Blogger. I found pictures of clients' pets I have stored on Photo Bucket. Maybe it's only me, but I find this obnoxious. You can remove your name by clicking on "privacy" at the bottom of the page and following the instructions. I know personal searches can be done online, but this is just too much.

Abandoned Dogs

It seems Japan has a massive abandoned dog problem. The dogs are first adopted as a fashionable acquisition, but the realities of pet ownership cause some owners to relinquish their pets to shelters, or even dump them on the streets. Over seventy percent of all dogs in shelters are enthanized because the Japanese reject anything "secondhand." Dogs living in the streets wander in packs causing numerous kinds of trouble for residents. Fortunately, there is an organization called Angels with Fur Japan that publishes pictures of adoptable dogs (and cats) online. They're doing what they can to educate people to accept previously owned pets into their lives. To visit the Angels with Fur Japan website click HERE. The pictures are really cute. To adopt an abandoned pet in the States, visit Petfinder. Pets are thrown away alike rejected playthings everywhere.  

A little Dachshund from Japan named Yu. How could you say no to eyes like that?

Renoir's Cats

This rather intense looking person is Pierre Auguste Renoir. Renoir was a French Impressionist painter who sometimes included cats in his pictures. Apparently, he was a great fan of cats, and this affection can be seen in the following works.

    Woman with Cat

The eyes are really drawn to the cat. It reminds me of my aunt's old cat named Holly. Holly was a stray, who'd become so nervous she'd drool. It wasn't her teeth. Poor Holly. One day, she went out to play and never returned. Cats who go outside can have a sad way of disappearing.

      

Sleeping Girl with Cat

 Her stockings are very fashionable in a striped sort of way.

Julie Manet with Cat

Julie was the only daughter of the artist Berthe Morisot and Eugene Manet. Eugene was the younger brother of artist Edouard Manet. Julie died in the year 1966 at the advanced age of 87.

 

Here she is grown up.

Girl and Cat

I like the way the cat is standing on its back legs to reach the flowers. Though the Impressionist painters are favorites of mine, I never cared much for Renoir. There's something about the sameness of the people, and the sticky sweet colors, that bother me. He was a great hit with my mother though. When I was young, we had a big Renoir print hanging over the piano. The little Renoir girl would look at me with horror as I tortured the keyboard. I do like Renoir's cats though.

Sleeping Cat

Wait! That's not a cat! For the dog lovers of the world, here's a Renoir puppy. It's called, sensibly enough, Head of a Dog. 

This is the head of Renoir. It's a self-portrait looking older and much less intense.

Dog Cartoons

 

Since I posted cat cartoons in an earlier entry, I wanted to give dogs an equal billing.

Most of the cartoons came from Reader's Digest.

Artie and Company

This is Artie. As you can see, she's a very beautiful gray cat with lovely eyes. She lives in an apartment with her two sisters, one brother and a tank of goldfish. They'll soon be moving to their own house less than a mile away, where they'll have much more room to play and sleep. At the moment it's a bit cramped. Artie's mom is excited, since she'll be able to squeeze in MORE cats with the added space. I hope she gets more litter boxes to go with the cats! 

  

Here is Artie's brother Sam. All of these cats are very friendly. There's not a shy one in the bunch.

Sabe is a short haired orange tabby, who coordinates with Sam, the long haired orange tabby. 

  

This picture is a bit overexposed and doesn't do Snow justice. She's a Siamese mix with big blue eyes. 

  

Let's not forget the fish. They don't seem to have any names. They love to eat though, and have a talent for making a big mess.

One more picture of the fish. I like the little fish sticker I found on the photo editing site named Picnik.

Awesome Dog Fancy Puppy

My photographer client/friend Joy Brown is very excited because Dog Fancy Magazine has published one of her pictures. The photo, of a St. Bernard pup, is in the April 2010 Puppy Issue, and can be found anywhere really GOOD magazines are sold. It's a full page photo! Joy would love it if you checked it out.  

Nadia and Her Siblings

This is my friend Nadia. I've posted about Nadia and her siblings in an earlier blog entry. This particular kitty is the one with the look of impending doom. I sit this little cat crowd frequently, and I'm always happy to see them.

Elvis is the only boy in the group of four. He follows me around like a puppy, and sometimes considers climbing up my jeans. With his cheerful congeniality, he'd be a wonderful social events coordinator of a cruise ship. 

Sophie is as round as a little meatball with legs. If meatballs had legs. Though she's on diet food, she doesn't like it, and eats up whatever tastier food is available. Actually, none of the cats like the diet food. When I arrive for my daily visit, I find the tasty (still very healthy) food gone, and the unfortunate diet crunchies almost totally ignored. I provide both kinds since only Sophie is on a diet, and if she refuses one, at least she'll eat the other. 

  

This is an older picture of Calie, since all my newer pictures turned out blurry for some reason. She only has one ear, as the removed one turned down like a Scottish Fold, and often caused ear infections. 

  

My clients rent the top floor apartment of a two story home. The landlords live downstairs. This is the landlord's mail, and other items, filling the entryway. They're very bad at collecting their mail, a state of affairs that occasionally creates a problem for my clients. Once, the electricity was turned off because the bill got lost under a mound of "stuff." I wonder what the fire department would say if they ever saw the mess?

Here's one more picture of Sophie waddling down the hall.