Toy Joy

Austin, TX. I like the weirdness.

Austin Pets Alive! Brings You Rent-A-Puppy at Town Lake

This is a fantastic idea: Austin Pets Alive! regularly sets up adoption events along the Town Lake trail. You can stop and say hi to the puppies in the middle of your run. You can even stop by and volunteer to take on for a walk around Town Lake--how fun is that? I bet they adopt out so many puppies this way. I would have taken one home were home not a four-hour car ride away.
Austin Pets Alive! seems like a pretty good group. Their very noble mission is to turn Austin into a no-kill city--a big goal, but the strategies that they talk about on their website seems well researched and give me a lot of hope. Events the these bring the animals to the public and increase their likelihood of adoption.
It's the same theory that's behind those cat adoption centers at PetSmart. This is anecdotal, but one of my friends felt so sorry for the kitties living in those little booths, she asked the volunteer working their how long each cat's typical stay was. The volunteer told her that with in a week of going on display, they vast majority of these cats found adopted homes and very few were returned to their shelters.
No-kill agencies theorize that there are actually enough homes for all of the homeless animals in our country. The problem getting the animals to these homes. The solution, among other things, is methods to make the adoption process more palatable to the public.
Although I'm not an Austinite anymore, I'm considering making Austin Pets Alive! next's month's charitable donation. Hopefully success here will have ramifications for pets all over the country.

Old Haunts

Still working on Austin pics from last month. I Heart Video's looking good as ever. I still think they have stuff here that I can't manage to find even on GreenCine.
Wheatsville construction. I didn't get to stop in this time. I ate me a lot of Wheatsville food when I was living in Austin, especially during my House of Commons days.
Ganesh at Ken's Donuts. My old neighborhood!
HoC had a little hot glue gun accident. I am so glad they are rebuilding. Probably will look really nice! I hope they don't change too much though and take away that old dirty house charm. I wonder if the new HoC will have central AC? What about the pool?
I miss you!

Mas Zinnias

Just one more!

Kitty Pictures: Who the Hell Doesn't Want to Look at More of Them?

No one, that's who.
Also, Nazis.

Zinnias

Here are some zinnias I grew. I don't have much to say about them besides I like their spiral and stars things, and I have been meaning to post them for a long time. This orange one just sprang up out of nowhere from seeds that fell last year.

Downtown Austin

Last month's Austin trip was the first time I paid attention to some of the cool old buildings downtown, and how they contrast with the modern condos going up all over the place. Here are some in picture form.
Old building, new condos.Club facade in the morning light.
I am the only one who thinks this building is a scourge?
And more new condos.
The Elephant Room, where no one trusted me to go after I took them to Lovejoy's, which I still contend is a great bar. The beer is great, and after 1.5 pints you don't notice the smell and the bartenders yelling at you is just funny.
Old and new: Mexicarte and Frost Bank Building.

Town Lake

Here are pictures of Town Lake from last month's Austin trip. I love Town Lake! In fact, if Town Lake was in Dallas, I might actually like Dallas!
A four-mile running trail (sans muggings) with a Run-Tex at both ends, a Whole Foods in the middle, and a Stevie Ray Vaughn Statue.
My favorite part of the whole trip. I love Town Lake.