Going without gloves

I love living out here. Its far enough from the village that the starwatching is great, but close enough to the amenities that I'm not completely cut off from the world.
Starwatching always seems to be at its best on the chilliest nights. So we bundle up and head out, secure in the knowledge that there is always a lovely warm dry house with a cozy fire to come back inside to. If we head back out before the coats have dried off, there are always warm dry spares so that nobody is uncomfortable.
Right now, I don't bother keeping a water dish outside for the dogs. Even if they didn't knock it over when they were in full flight, it would freeze pretty quickly in weather like this. And of course there is always fresh clean water waiting for them when we come back in from outside.
Nor do I keep food out there for them. They have regular indoor feeding times and anything left outside would just entice predators ... some of them big enough to pose a safety hazard even for the big dogs. There are enough occasional 'tourists' from the coyote den up behind the gravel pit without encouraging them to visit on a regular basis.
At this point in time, it is not illegal for anyone to banish their dogs to a life of being chained or penned out back. It might be legal but it is definitely not humane.
A dog isn't a snowmobile that can be kept in the shed until someone wants to take him or her out to play. A dog isn't a set of snowshoes to be stuck in the snow by the doorstep until someone wants to go for a hike. Nor can a chained or penned dog be boosted like a car battery if he or she freezes up in the cold.
Even worse, because dogs are by nature pack animals, they never become their best selves when they are deprived of the company of the pack. Even worse than that is the fact that many dogs are originally banished to life on the end of a chain .... with no parole ... because their owners didn't bother training them in the first place. These frustrated, untrained and unsocialized dogs are like ticking time bombs.... with utterly no experience in how to behave appropriately around children or other animals.
Ah ... but it only takes bringing this subject up anywhere to realize that in many eyes, this is not an inhumane and unsafe practice but is instead the right of everyone who owns a dog. Opposition to chaining and penning dogs is treated as an affront to personal freedom and liberty.
Every law to protect to public safety started out with this type of opposition. Child labour laws were heavily opposed at their onset as an infringement on the rights of factory and farm owners. Legislation to protect the rights of any minority have traditionally been opposed by a strong majority.
Legislation is the ONLY effective way to change attitudes. Employers didn't stop asking women during job interviews if they were planning on having children because they realized how unfair that was ... they stopped because it became illegal for them to do that.
During the last big storm, there was a story on the news that really highlighted the tragic plight of all chained and penned dogs .... where the Fire Chief in Port Elgin and his family lost their labrador. This article is from the Sackville Tribune Post, Jan 7, 2010
State of emergency declared as Port Elgin area gets slammed by storm, tidal surge
JOAN LEBLANC The Sackville Tribune Post
Residents of Port Elgin and the surrounding communities bordering Baie Verte bay sustained extensive damage when a massive winter storm hit the area late Saturday, continuing into the early morning hours of Sunday.
A state of emergency was declared in Port Elgin on Sunday, just as the flood waters from a storm surge which had swamped some areas of the village were receding.
The winter storm dropped some 30 centimetres of snow on southeastern New Brunswick before turning to rain. High winds gusting upwards of 90 kms per hour, combined with moon tides, resulted in a tidal surge several meters high which caused the waters of both the Gaspereau River and Baie Verte to overflow into some areas of Port Elgin.
Massive damage to land and property has also been reported in the surrounding communities along Baie Verte bay where strong tidal currents and ice crashed on shore.
Port Elgin's Emergency Measures Organization coordinator Terry Murphy said Tuesday that a cost value for the damage to the village and its residents is currently being assessed.
"Right now we're still assessing our water and sewage systems. They seem to be working okay but we have to keep assessing the water quality. We didn't lose any fire hydrants but we're looking at our streets to see if there was any damage; so far things are looking alright. We don't see any evidence of undermining of the streets at this point; they look okay," Murphy said.
Damage to residences and businesses in Port Elgin varies from water damage to electrical and structural damage, he added. The fire department is currently contacting village residents and businesses to determine the cost of damage.
"We'll be submitting our report with the cost of damages to the village and its residents to the provincial EMO coordinator who will then present it to John Foran, Minister of Public Safety. The people of this entire area need assistance right now and I hope the government will provide some financial relief," he said.
One resident hit hard by the tidal surge is Port Elgin Fire Chief Steve Alward and his wife Holly who, with their two children, were not at home at the time of the flood.
Alward said Tuesday the family had lost their electricity around 8 p.m. so had gone to visit friends in the area.
"We could see the river had risen but it wasn't extraordinarily high at the time so we left. By the time I got the fire department call that the village was being flooded, at about 10:20 p.m., we were unable to get back to our house because of excessive flooding," he explained.
The Alwards' house basement was flooded, destroying the furnace, water heater, gym equipment and other household items, with the water rising only one centimeter from the first floor. An outbuilding and a new two-storey garage were flooded with more than two feet of water, destroying various machinery and tools including an ATV and ride-on lawnmower.
However, saddest of all for the family was the loss of their purebred Labrador retriever.
"The dog was in a kennel behind the house and we couldn't get to her.
The floodwaters moved the kennel and pushed it over onto its side and she was caught in it. Needless to say we're all very upset about it," Alward said.
Another local resident living just outside of the village limits near Fort Monckton, Stanley Silliker barely escaped his flooded home when he managed to climb a nearby tree and, shining his flashlight, caught the attention of a passerby who helped him to escape to safety.
A family of six, including three young children, who were living in a winterized house within a cluster of cottages at nearby Indian Point had to be rescued by boat when the area was completely flooded with several feet of water and ice. Most of the cottages in that area have been totally destroyed.
Although the basements of several Main Street homes and businesses were fully flooded, the hardest hit was Spence's Woodworking, located along the banks of the Gaspereau River at the foot of the wooden walking bridge, which was itself moved several inches.
Water levels in the two Spence buildings, including a wood-frame workshop and a metal storage building, rose to almost four feet, causing extensive damage to many woodworking machines and tools, works in progress and lumber supplies.
Just three kilometers away, the community of Baie Verte was isolated late Saturday night and early Sunday when flood waters rose at either end of the community. Water and large sheets of ice were pushed up onto Route 970, covered the roadway, all but destroying the local park there.
At the southern end of Baie Verte, several home owners sustained much damage when flood waters rose more than two feet. The exterior steps of St. James United Church was torn off and taken out with the receding tide and the basement totally flooded, destroying two new electric furnaces.
All the Baie Verte shores from Bayside to Cape Spear and Cape Tormentine, many cottages and summer homes sustained extensive damage or were totally destroyed by high flood waters.
Although a Port Elgin resident, Murphy and his family own a cottage at Rayworth Beach, about 10 kilometers outside Port Elgin.
"Like many cottages along the beach, ours was pushed off of its foundation and is now on our neighbour's land. I don't know if we'll be able to salvage it or not. There are several cottages on our beach which have been destroyed," Murphy said.
Although most Cape Tormentine residents managed to escape damage, due to high winds and flooding two 100-foot long rows of bait sheds were completely destroyed on the municipal wharf with many fishermen losing various types of fishing equipment stored in the 24 cubicles.
Local fisherman Tony Trenholm said Monday that damages could total more than $250,000 to both area fishermen as well as Small Crafts and Harbours, the government agency who owned and leased the storage facilities.
"The bait sheds were leveled and pieces of the structures are spread out all over the area, in the water and on the shore. Some guys lost nets and other stuff they had stored in their sheds. There was at least $25,000 worth of Fiberglas (fish) storage tanks, a lot of fish trays and equipment. It's a big loss for everyone," Trenholm said.
I first saw this on the late night news on global, and was saddened to see that the family were already planning to get another lab, when they had 'time to get over this'
On a day like this ... when hands can hurt after a few minutes without mittens or gloves .... there are no good arguments for chaining and penning the animal that was supposed to be the family pet.
What time is it? As sad as this story is, it is always time to recognize that legislation to ban the chaining and penning of dogs is a public safety measure. Its time to remember that voter feedback is the ONLY way to effect change. If you do not let your MLA ( Members - Constituencies) know that this is an issue of importance to you, he or she will simply move on to work for the issues that voters do call him or her about.
Apathy is the glove into which evil slips its hand. - Bodie Thoene