Well, today is April 16th and it is in the 30's and snowing. In fact, big fluffy wet sticking flakes of snow, and I have over an inch right now (1:30 AM--I am going to bed in a few min). Whatever happened to SPRING?? Of course, the dogs love it--they love to roll around in it--but how I wish and pray and dream that I could be in someplace like southern California where the sun shines and the sky is blue and the ground is NOT MUD. I am sooooooooo sick of MUD. How I LONG to get out of here. My dogs are mud. My kitchen is Mud. I have mud everywhere. My brain is even getting muddy. maybe I should go to bed. ;-( What is up with our weather?? What has to happen to convince the governments of the world that we are experiencing GLOBAL WARMING??? We ALL know the weather has been getting crazier for the past couple years. check out this site- _Top News- Far North Is 'Ground Zero' for Global Warming - AOL News_ (http://news.aol.com/topnews/articles/_a/far-north-is-ground-zero-for-global/200704151 45709990002) "What about the problems in the Artic with the ice melting and the polar bears dying?? The Inuit hunters are falling through thinning ice and dying. Dolphins are being spotted for the first time. There's not enough snow to build igloos for shelter during hunts. "This is really ground zero for global warming," said Will Steger, a 62-year-old Minnesotan who has been traveling the region for 43 years and has witnessed the impact of warming on the 155,000 indigenous people of the Arctic. When he was interviewed in early March, he and his American and Inuit colleagues were heading for the Clyde River, through the highest polar bear population in the world. It was still the height of winter in the Arctic, but the temperature, 11 degrees Fahrenheit, was more typical of spring. He said hunters he meets on Baffin Island are describing to him creatures they have no words for in their language, Inuktitut - robins, finches and dolphins. He said they all tell him the same thing: Hunting on the thinning sea ice has become too dangerous. "All of these villages have lost people on the ice," Steger said. "When you have a small village of 300 or 400 people, losing three or four of their senior hunters, it's a big loss." ........ "A lot of the elders will no longer go out on the sea ice because their knowledge will not work anymore. What they've learned and passed on for 5,000 years is no longer functional," Steger said. "They can't build igloos anymore; everything is just upside down up here." ************************************************* I thank God my dogs can handle just about all the different kinds of weather this planet can dish out--(well--most all) but some breeds are not so blessed. Then we have the problem with the honey bees who are disappearing--now it is all over the world. Called "Colony Collapse Disorder"--(CCD) it occurs when a hive's inhabitants suddenly disappear, leaving only queens, eggs, and a few immature workers.......the vanished bees are never found.....and the parasites, wildlife and other bees that normally raid the honey and pollen left behind when a colony dies, REFUSE TO GO ANYWHERE NEAR THE ABANDONED HIVES !!! The west coast of the USA has lost 60 % of its commercial bee populations with 70% missing on the east coast. Noone knows what is happening or why--and you may not care about the bees--but if you consider that they are vitally necessary for pollinating nearly ALL THE VEGETATION on this planet--this COULD present a SERIOUS problem with the food supply and more. We soon may not have to worry about handler fees and show expenses, panda shepherds and Hunte, dog foods and Futurities--(and all that IS VERY important to us) but about survival of not only our German Shepherd Dogs but ourselves and our planet! Gives me cause to wonder just what is happening here on this precious little blue planet called EARTH. Hmmmmmm Cheri Hunt----Cheradon Shepherds Home of Ch. Cheradon AchtungErynbrook Molokai, TC, OFA H&E, PA,TH,CA, Eyes Cert. and Certificate of Health Merit Excellent from the GSDCA (aka Ch. Mikey) _Ch. Mikey_ (http://hometown.aol.com/cheradongsd/MS_PI/111603/page1.htm) and his sister, Cameo --see her here: _Cameo's site_ (http://members.aol.com/_ht_a/CheradonGSD/MS_PI/091502/page1.htm) ************************************** See what's free at http://www.aol.com. ============================================================================ POST is Copyrighted 2007. All material remains the property of the original author and of GSD Communication, Inc. NO REPRODUCTIONS or FORWARDS of any kind are permitted without prior permission of the original author AND of the Showgsd-l Management. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. ALL PERSONS ARE ON NOTICE THAT THE FORWARDING, REPRODUCTION OR USE IN ANY MANNER OF ANY MATERIAL WHICH APPEARS ON SHOWGSD-L WITHOUT THE EXPRESS PERMISSION OF ALL PARTIES TO THE POST AND THE LIST MANAGEMENT IS EXPRESSLY FORBIDDEN, AND IS A VIOLATION OF LAW. VIOLATORS OF THIS PROHIBITION WILL BE PROSECUTED. 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