Sunday, April 29, 2012

L'Amour des Lapins

"Oh, great, she caught us necking again. Humans are such voyeurs!"

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Happy Earth Day

It is raining in my area on this Earth Day but I still look out at my world and wonder how the birds, rabbits, squirrels, deer and foxes, are spending this day. I am lucky enough to live in a community that is very conscientious about maintaining a safe and eco-friendly environment. I am surrounded by trees and every day when I go and come home from work, I am serenaded by sweet bird calls. If only all communities could be so kind to the earth and try to live in harmony with our fellow creatures and treat our earth with respect. We only have one Earth and we need to do a better job to care and for preserve it. As I saw recently on a campaign poster against Monsanto, there IS no planet B.

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Nom Nom Nom Nom Nom


Nothing like a nice tub of baby food squash to wet the ole whistle!

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Vegans Are Running from Dunkins


I recently learned that a Dunkin Donuts is going to open in my neighborhood. There was a time I would have danced a jig at the news, having grown up in New England on Dunkins coffee (you can't spit in Boston without hitting one of their thousands of franchises.) But as a vegan, I am conflicted emotionally about this news. You see, other than coffee, Dunkins offers absolutely NOTHING for vegans. They are too cheap, in fact, to even offer soymilk as Starbucks does. No, all we can take away from DD is a cup of black coffee. Unacceptable.

While I understand DD prefers catering to the millions of overweight Americans who love to stuff their faces with their delicious but highly fatteningdoughnuts, it is clear that in other ways they have recognized certain trends in the culinary market. They offer cappucino and espresso now--when they first offered these items, I thought, these have no PLACE in the Dunkin Donuts I grew up in. I maintain that if I want a frothy drink, I'll go to Starbucks. But they saw how much people liked these drinks so they offered them to challenge the competition. Why can't they bring that same business acumen to the table when it comes to offering something for the millions of us who have gone vegan, for whatever reason, health, ethics, etc.? According to the latest polls taken the Vegetarian Research Group, five percent of the people polled consider themselves vegetarian, and half of them call themselves vegan. Same poll also illustrates that 33 percent people polled "eat mostly veg." Those are big numbers--why does Dunkin Donuts insist on ignoring this demographic?

I am not arguing for vegan products on any moral grounds, though I certainly could when it comes to animal rights, of which I am an ardent supporter. No, I am making a consumer's case, that if you want to increase your profits, if you want to be ahead of the game in the marketplace, you need to address how to win over a segment of the population you could be making more money from. That is the bottom line, isn't it? $$$? I can only buy black coffee from Dunkins. Imagine if DD started selling vegan doughnuts or pastries? Chances are I would buy them--who doesn't want something with their coffee? And to have soy milk available would bring this New Englander great joy. I miss being able to order a "regular" (for those of you unfamiliar with that term, in New England, it means "with milk and sugar".)

At the end of the day, places like Dunkin Donuts are there to serve what the public wants. Shouldn't this company strive to serve the ENTIRE public? Is that too much to ask? Until they see reason and start paying attention, this new Dunkin Donuts won't see much of me. I'll keep ducking into the Safeway where a Starbucks stall stands to get my soy latte.

Sunday, April 8, 2012

Happy Easter!


May you and yours have a lovely Easter or Passover, whatever you celebrate. And if you celebrate none of the religious holidays, rejoice in another spring, the season of new beginnings, fresh starts, starting all over...All very very good things.

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Remembering Polly


Has it really been four years tomorrow that you departed this life? You are still so deeply missed and always, always, always will be loved, my little Sweetpea.

Sunday, April 1, 2012

Remembering a Rabbit Named Dori


I wish I could say this is an April Fool's joke but sadly it isn't. Yesterday I learned from a rabbit rescuer in Friends of Rabbits that an individual who had just adopted a rabbit from this group had to slam on the brakes while transporting this newly adopted rabbit home. The carrier the rabbit was in was not secured properly and the carrier slammed into the back of the front seat and flipped over, resulting in the rabbit breaking her spine. Unfortunately Dori, the rabbit, had to be euthanized. It is hard even to imagine the grief and horror the adopter is feeling. Needless to say, the folks at FOR are heartbroken beyond the power of words.

When such tragic incidents happen, it is human nature to act in a way that makes the deaths of those involved not be in vain. To do nothing or to learn nothing from such a sad incident would make this senseless death even more absurd and incomprehensible. I think we need to take Dori's sudden death as a wake-up call to how we transport ourselves and our animals. Face it, we have all done it--we get into our cars. Just going to the store a mile away, why bother with the seat belt? This despite the fact that statistics have shown that most car accidents happen close to home--why don't we ever seem to get this? We always think we will be just fine; true, in most cases we are. But when that one horrible day comes when we are NOT fine, look at the cost. We must be more vigilant with our own lives and certainly must do the same for the animals entrusted into our care. This is one of those things that you would assume common sense would make plain to all; but I think it is best if we are all more vigilant in rescue to remind anyone adopting an animal of the basic safety measures they should take to protect their animals during transport.

Godspeed, little Dori, to the Rainbow Bridge. May you live in peace among all the rabbits who have gone on before you.