perfect use of a private plane

you know it's the holiday season when you start to see inspiring stories focused on helping the less fortunate...in particular those precious canines who can't help themselves...everywhere.

today, usa today has highlighted pilots n paws and one of the best uses of private planes yet seen. pilots are rescuing dogs from crowded shelters to give them a chance for life at other shelters located throughout the u.s.

take a look at their site and see if this doesn't inspire you to keep thinking about getting involved in something bigger and better than yourself...i only wish i knew how to fly!


Pilots fly doomed dogs to better life
By Sharon L. Peters, Special for USA TODAY

Puppy love is reaching new heights.
Pilots are donating their time, planes and fuel to transport dozens of dogs a month from overcrowded shelters where they face almost certain death to rescue groups and shelters several states away that are committed to finding them homes.

The mission-of-mercy relocations are flown by general aviation pilots who have signed on with the recently formed Pilots N Paws, a Web-based message board where pilots can access information about animals in need.

Once the electronic connection is made, dogs plucked by rescuers from death row — mostly in the South where sterilization rates are low and pet overpopulation is rampant — are loaded onto small planes and flown one, two or six at a time to rescue groups and shelters that have available space.

"These are wonderful dogs that simply had the bad luck of winding up in a place where there are too many pets in shelters," says Pilots N Paws co-founder Jon Wehrenberg of Knoxville, Tenn. The retired manufacturing executive and weekend pilot has flown scores of dogs from high-kill shelters this year. Earlier this month, his mission involved six small mixed-breed dogs from Knoxville's Young-Williams Animal Center.

The happy half-dozen enjoyed a smooth-sailing, 90-minute flight to Greensboro, N.C., where they were met by radio station executive Jennifer Hart, head of Animal Rescue & Foster Program, who had arranged foster care. One dog has been adopted; the others are receiving additional attention, socialization and training and should be ready for new homes soon after Thanksgiving.

Beginning of the journey
"Pilots N Paws has given about 20 of our animals a second chance," says Tim Adams, executive director of the Young-Williams shelter, which euthanizes 70% of the animals that land there.

"We take in 17,000 animals a year, and Knoxville simply isn't big enough… to get new homes for them here. Twenty animals saved may not sound like much, but every one of them matters."

Pilots N Paws started operating in February soon after Wehrenberg offered to fly a Doberman in Florida to his pal Debi Boies of Landrum, S.C., who is a retired nurse, horse breeder and long-time rescuer. He began asking questions about the rescue world and learned about the passionate underground railroad of animal lovers who orchestrate days-long road journeys to save some of the 4 million to 6 million animals destined for euthanasia in U.S. shelters annually.

"I'd had no idea of the number of animals being euthanized, and the ordeal people and animals were going through in transports," Wehrenberg says. "Pilots love to fly. I believed that if we created a means for them to discover situations where they could fly and also save animals, many would do it."

He and Boies joined forces to spread the word, and within months, 85 pilots had signed on. Nearly 200 dogs have now been flown from several shelters and rescue groups to welcoming arms hundreds of miles away.

"For most of these dogs, the next walk they would have taken would have been to death's door," says administrative assistant Dawn Thompson of Falconer, N.Y., who for 18 years has taken in, nursed, socialized and re-homed more than 100 dogs a year from various high-kill areas. In recent months 30 have arrived via Pilots N Paws, and she's learned the ones that arrive by plane rather than ground transport "don't have the stress that two days on the road creates, and that makes them almost instantly adoptable."

'Doggy kisses' are worth gas
Each flight costs the pilot hundreds of dollars in fuel alone, not including routine maintenance and other operating expenses. Boies and Wehrenberg are working to gain non-profit status for the group so pilots could declare the fuel costs a charitable contribution. But the pilots aren't exactly agitating for that.

"Doggy kisses are worth the $6 a gallon," says Westminster, Md., businesswoman and small-plane pilot Michele McGuire. She was recently part of a two-leg rely that flew a 110-pound skin-and-bones Great Dane from Arab, Ala., where a rescue group saved it from euthanasia, to a new family in Baldwin, Mass.

"I don't know what (the animals') opinion of flying is, but it sure makes their trip a lot shorter," says Nick O'Connell, a Williamsburg, Va., contractor who did his first such flight earlier this month. The two-leg hand-off involved two pilots, several hundred miles and two chow-mix puppies rescued from a dump near Atlanta and delivered to their new family in Chesterfield, Va.

The animals are almost always remarkably calm about the adventure, O'Connell and other pilots report.

"It's almost as if they understand that this is their chance for life," Boies says.
Sometimes pilots scroll through the "Transport needed" section of Pilots N Paws and find a plea to fly an animal to a town or city they already were planning to visit.

Most times, however, they study the requests, see a need that touches them and offer their services.

Broomfield, Colo., software engineer/pilot Mike Boyd was involved in a multi-state, multi-person transport of a German shepherd in October, and he's aiming to do more missions. "To take my hobby and apply it to help this situation, well, it's just a great feeling," he says.

Adds O'Connell: "It is rewarding beyond my wildest imagination."

another great find

today, i was introduced to several new time wasters thanks to janet kornblum and her article in usa today.

in it, she mentions everything from speak like a pirate sites to i can has cheeseburger...all sites that give people relief from (as one person says) everything happening in the world that is so overwhelming.

but one that stood out was ustream.tv in which people (4 million in fact) can watch six little shiba inu puppies playing in and around their pen. it peaked my interest and i couldn't help but check it out...and being the dog lover that i am, i did giggle just a bit when watching. but in the end, i already have my time waster. it starts with an f and ends with a k.

nonetheless, i'm amazed at what people are willing to do and watch for entertainment and what usa today is willing to cover...

holiday greetings from yours truly

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beaujolais nouveau

it's that time again. yesterday was the day beaujolais nouveau landed on the shelves for another year of delicious drinking.

for those looking to learn more about this young, red wine, look no further:

Beaujolais Nouveau is a purple-pink wine that is particularly lightweight, even by the standards of Beaujolais. The method of production means that there is very little tannin, and the wine can be dominated by fruity, ester flavours of bananas and pear drops. These are enhanced by the frequent recommendation to serve the wine lightly chilled, at approximately 13°C (55°F).

Beaujolais Nouveau is intended for immediate drinking, and in general should not be kept for more than a year. On the other hand, it usually benefits from being left a few weeks to recover from the effects of bottle-shock - and in the Northern Hemisphere the weather is more suited to Beaujolais drinking in Spring than in the chill of November. However, this rather misses the point of Beaujolais Nouveau's "immediacy", and patient drinkers can buy standard Beaujolais AOC wines released the following year at lower prices without the Nouveau hype. The wines show definite variation between vintages, at worst the wines start to decline after Christmas, wines from a very good year might still be drinking well 12 months later.

Beaujolais Nouveau is made from the Gamay Noir à Jus Blanc grape, better known simply as Gamay. The grapes must come from the Beaujolais AOC, but grapes from the ten "cru" appellations are excluded. By law, all grapes in the region must be harvested by hand. This is because Beaujolais is made using carbonic maceration, whole berry fermentation which emphasizes fruit flavors without extracting bitter tannins from the skins of the grapes. The wine is then pasteurized to preserve the 'fresh' taste of the wine by preventing malolactic fermentation. The wine is ready to be drunk just 6-8 weeks after the harvest.

Around 49 million liters of Beaujolais Nouveau is produced each year, making up nearly half of the region's total wine production. About half of this is exported, with Germany and Japan the biggest markets, followed by the USA.

sante!

laugh out loud

When you need a little laughter to get the inspiration going...check this out! never take yourself too seriously!

yes we can

today is historic. today is the beginning of something new. today the nation -- led by one man -- proved that spirit, hope, intelligence moves mountains and creates change. let the fireworks fly. let the yelps ring through the air. today the nation proved: yes we can!