I wanted to share this video from the Moore Oklahoma tornado. Barbara Garcia, a survivor of the massive tornado that struck an Oklahoma City suburb, found her dog buried alive under the rubble during her interview with CBS News Anna Werner. Luckily, the news reporter spotted the dog in the rubble. This is some good news that is needed in the tornado zone. Enjoy!
Many people probably do not know this story. But in a small town in East Alabama, a dog named Fred who was homeless brought many people together. Back in 1993, a dirty and disheveled dog wandered into the town of Rockford Alabama. The people took the dog in and nursed him back to health. The people named the dog “Fred” – the town dog.
The story takes place in the small town of Rockford Alabama in the rural Coosa County. The town only has around 400 residents and it’s the county seat for Coosa County. This town is in a very rural area where everyone knows everyone.. With a county newspaper that is only published once a week, a local law enforcement of only 2 officers, and a downtown area that consists of only one block, Rockford is in many ways a time capsule. This quintessential southern town has suffered in recent years; many of the town’s shops have been forced to close, and meanwhile many of the town’s inhabitants have moved away in search of job opportunities.
The film which is produced and directed by Ava Lowrey, will gain insight into the individuals who cared for him while exploring the town’s narrative, specifically the narrative of an increasingly deserted area on the verge of becoming another southern ghost town. A large theme of the film will be the desire for companionship, which Fred met, and the fear of abandonment and loneliness. The film will explore exactly what Fred meant to the individuals who cared for him and why they were so willing to care for a dog that showed up as nothing more than a dirty mutt.
The film is being produced and directed by Ava Lowrey who is a current senior at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts studying documentary production. She has had her work featured in the New York Times, CNN, Rolling Stone Magazine, and more. Ava is a native of Alexander City Alabama which is only 30 minutes from Rockford Alabama. This project is very personal to Ava and she is excited to share part of her southern roots with audiences. Other people working on this film includes Justin Levine, Tori Gene McCarthy, and Hamp Haynes who is also from Alexander City.
FRED: The Town Dog is currently in post-production. The filmmakers are raising funds to help them complete the film. They still have to edit, color correct, and score the film, after which they will begin to submit the film to various festivals. Fred has received fiscal sponsorship from From The Heart Productions and all donations are tax deductible.
The filmmakers aim to use this film to bring awareness to the economic struggles Rockford, and other towns like it, are currently facing. Since community is an important part of their film, they plan to take Fred back to the Rockford, AL community and screen it there along with other small towns throughout the Southeast. Through these screenings they hope to open a dialogue among the towns about small town culture and the current state of these communities. Additionally, they hope that these screenings will draw audiences from nearby larger towns and bring awareness to the struggle that small towns face along with revenue for the towns.
Fred was a beloved member of the community for many years before passing away on December 23, 2002. The group needs to raise at least $4,000 to complete the film.
I would call this post a feel good story! Ragland Alabama is sadly a dumping ground for many pets. Some people have no care for animals in this world and when they don’t want a pet anymore, they drive somewhere remote, release the animal, and drive away. For the past few weeks someone abandoned a black dog near the Neely Henry Dam along AL-144. Some people have left food so the dog would not go hungry. And someone even put out a shelter for the dog! But this dog was a danger to the driving public.
This black dog would at times go out and chase a car in the middle of the road! So you know if this continued it would not be long before this dog was struck and killed. So on Sunday I decided to attempt a rescue of this dog. I used my mom’s dog Georgina so this dog would feel comfortable with me. And it worked! Enjoy the video of the rescue below!
It took some time for the dog to get comfortable with me and Georgina. But after a little while the dog climbed into the back seat of my car and I was able to shut the door. This black dog is a boy and it sure looked liked he wanted a play mate! The dog was barking and raising his paw because he wanted Georgina to play with him. The dog never got aggressive or tried to bite me and I was able to pet him many times.
Yes, my mom was a little surprised that I was able to rescue this dog from the side of the road. The car ride from my mom’s house to the Animal Shelter of Pell City was good. The dog was a little nervous but he handled the car ride very well! I was petting him here and there to make him feel comfortable.
When we got to the animal shelter we put on a leash and took him to the cage. It was a struggle as the dog was not used to a leash so we had to stop at times to let the dog catch his breath. While we were at the shelter there was another puppy who was just left there. The facility is surrounded by a fence and you have to enter through a side gate and take your pet to a cage and fill out some paperwork if you want to abandon an animal. This person just put the puppy inside the fence and left. Thankfully the animal shelter has cameras so they can find out who just leaves animals without properly putting them in a cage.
After putting both dogs in cages which had plenty of water it started to rain and get cold. So I thought I did an awesome thing by getting this dog to safety before the rain and cold set in. I am hoping someone was maybe looking for this lost dog but I do think someone just abandoned it! And this is a huge problem in the state of Alabama. Hopefully someone will adopt this dog if it’s not claimed. He would make a great dog for a family and he has lots of energy because he wanted to play with my mom’s dog Georgina.
After some time off for the holidays, The Evening Post is back! And tonight I wanted to share this video featuring Lucy the Dog. Lucy was a rescue from a shelter and her owner decided to start playing the hand slap game. She did this to help Lucy come out of her shell. And as you see in the video below, she is very good at this game. Enjoy!
The last time I went up to my mom’s house for Thanksgiving. Georgina the dog was there waiting for me! When I backed up my car up and opened the door. There she was wanting some love!
After I got out of my car Georgina followed me around wanting more love! I went to the front porch which was covered with leaves. Georgina’s tail could be used as a broom!
After I sat down to love Georgina. King Tut the cat came for love as well. Georgina does not like seeing the cat around when I am loving her. It’s kind of hard loving both the dog and cat at the same time!
After I went inside. I had to keep Georgina from the kitchen. She was thinking of all those yum-yums she could eat! She will lay right in the middle of the kitchen while something is cooking. And yes; they also have a pet rabbit and the dog treats the rabbit like a baby!
I hope you have seen my latest animal video. My mom’s dog Georgina did a very good job in the video titled The Georgina Chronicles. And sadly the video only has around 10 views! I know many more animal themed videos on YouTube has hundreds of thousands of views! So I am hoping more people will view how spoiled Georgina really is when I come over! Please do watch my video!
So since I am doing an animal themed post I want to post this video as well. Here is an awesome video showing dogs fetching a ball in a swimming pool. Plus you get to see the dogs shake the water off their bodies. All of this is done in slow-motion! This is a great video!
Tonight I wanted to show this video that could make you cry. The group Save Our Street Dogs in Singapore picked up a stray dog and they named it Ol’ Boy. Ol’ Boy was a stray dog who a member of the public spotted to be in distress and asked the group to help him. After trying to save him everyone knew he was about to pass away. They decided to take him home for his final hours of life and the moment was touching. The dog was happy and wagging its tail! All he wanted was some love! After he passed away to the rainbow bridge they cremated him and spread his ashes at a beach the dog showed the people.
Pets are always a part of the family and they should not be mistreated. This video shows the compassion of animals to people. And I liked this video! I love what Save Our Street Dogs said about Ol’ Boy.
What started out to be a routine rescue turned out to be a lesson in life and death which we will never forget. All sentient beings, humans and dogs alike, should be allowed to die in dignity. Run free, Ol’ Boy.
Since we are now in summertime I wanted to make something for my mom’s dog Georgina that would cool her off. You know dogs hate this extreme heat with all of that fur that they have. So I made some peanut butter frozen dog treats. Since she liked the peanut butter dog cookies I thought she would enjoy these; and she did! She licked these treats for a while before eating them. They are very simple to make with only three things.
32 oz plain yogurt
1 cup natural peanut butter
1 Tbsp. Honey
1. Mix all of the ingredients thoroughly.
2. Spread mixture evenly into ice cubes and freeze until firm.
Once they are frozen pop these out and give to your pet. Georgina enjoyed these!
This story has not been in the news very much but I want to talk about how a local artist got in trouble for rescuing an abused dog around Piedmont. Artist Joseph Girl was painting a 30 ft. mural on the side of the Hardin Center in Gadsden. The artist stopped at a junkyard to see a car he was interested in but he saw something that needed immediate attention. He saw a dog chained up to a pile of rocks and had little food and dirty water in a bucket. The dog that he named Akita also had little shelter as well. So Joseph contacted animal control to tell them about the dog’s situation. Joseph left food and water for the dog and gave the dog some love. But he could tell something was wrong with the dog.
After nothing happened to help the dog; Joseph took the dog to his home. This was a really big mistake. But what would you do if you saw a dog that was suffering and nothing was being done to help the animal? Around a week later the police came to see Joseph Girl and arrest him and take the dog as well. He went on to describe what happened on his website. And he was bonded out of jail and has an upcoming court date. That should be interesting. So far I have not seen any news coverage about this story anywhere. Granted; Joseph should have not taken the dog off the property. But he knew if the dog continued to stay there it might not have lived much longer.
If you want to read the in-depth story about Joseph and Akita. And if you want to donate money to help Joseph go to http://www.josephgiri.com/akita.cfm
Now Joseph has had a run in with the law. But I had two recent experiences with local police departments but I was not arrested. The first one about a year ago; I was walking along the side of Greenbrier Dear Rd. going up the mountain.
While I was walking along the road a AnnistonPolice officer drove up and was wondering what I was doing. And he wanted me to ride in a back of a police car and drove me back to my apartment complex. Now I was never in trouble but I was just walking along the side of the road. If you read the blog regularly you know I am doing Shape Up! and I am walking around. But do you think this goes a little too far?
And last week I was in my car on the shoulder of the road; which is public property. I was out with my camera filming a traffic light on Leon Smith Parkway because it is broken. And yes I have contacted the City of Oxford and ALDOT and nothing has been done. While I was taking video of the light an off-duty Oxford Police officer walked up to my car and asked what I was doing. I told him I am filming the light for my website. He said that if a Oxford Police officer saw me doing this I can get in trouble. Here is the video of that light.
Leon Smith Parkway Traffic Light
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Now I am on a public roadway filming a light that is broken for which I have reported for a long time now. The last time I checked I am allowed to film public areas including traffic lights and trains. People always take photos and videos of things in public areas. And if a police officer decided to get me in trouble for roadgeeking. I am going to have some fun talking about it on this blog. I think most police officers are nice people and are doing their jobs. But when someone decides to talk with me for doing something that is allowed by law. Then I have a problem. Oh well; that is one of the many reasons why I can not find a job in Calhoun County.
My mom’s dog Georgina is so spoiled they have to take her outside at night with a flashlight. That’s right; they shine a flashlight at the spots Georgina likes to sniff and then she uses the bathroom. The dog will not go outside at night without someone carrying a flashlight. Just watch the video below and see what I mean.
Dog Going Out by Flashlight
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Georgina loves seeing me coming over to mom’s house. I have to love her for hours on end. And when I go over I usually brush her. And she has a lot of hair that comes out.
You have to wonder what Georgina is thinking when I come over. She loves the petting and treats I always give her. So what is going through her head when she sees me.
Love me.
Feed me.
Love me.
Love me.
Give me a treat!
Come on; Love me!
That love feels good!
Yep! My mom has one very spoiled dog! And I think she knows what a camera is. Because I always get great dog pictures!
