Dog rescue is always somewhere in the background of my everyday life.

After all, my girls, Velvet and Jane Doe, were troubled dogs who I rescued and have had the pleasure of calling my pets for years now.  They're a constant reminder of the value of taking in stray or unwanted pets.

The other day, another dog in need came my way.  He's blind and angry, and I'm not even sure if he's a he or a she.  Something happened to his eye, perhaps both eyes, and I found him running around in the middle of four-lane, forty-mile-per-hour Swan Road.  Cars were screeching to a halt to avoid hitting him and when they stopped, he would run around and bump into them.  I tried to steer him away from the road but hesitated at first because he growled and got rather nasty with me when I tried to get close to him.  After watching the traffic cycle repeat itself a couple of times, I knew I couldn't in good conscience leave him out there either to get killed or cause a motorist or two to get killed.

I went back to my house, grapped a soft tarp, and went back to the road, where I corralled the dog inside the tarp.  Back at the house, I brought out an old folding door that had been removed from a closet and put it in the front yard, on top of the tarp, folded to make a lean-to for the dog.  An old window screen on the end made for a screen door of sorts and I took a small space heater out to the other end and plugged it into an outdoor outlet.  I've been feeding him and giving him some water to hold him until I take him to the pet emergency room for treatment.

I'd like to share with you a couple of great resources that I found for getting rescued pets the triage they need while they await foster care or adoption.  I haven't yet chosen which one I'll go to, but here's what I've found so far:

Southern Arizona Veterinary
141 E. Fort Lowell Rd. (24-hour emergency room)
Tucson, AZ 85705
(520) 888-3177
www.southernazvets.com

Pima Pet Clinic
4832 E. Speedway Blvd.
Tucson, AZ 85712
(520) 327-5624
www.tucsonveterinaryhospital.com

I'll be deciding on one of these tonight and I'll post another blog entry with the conclusion of this story.

Elect Beryl Baker for Ward 1

My fellow Tucsonans: I've had the pleasure these last few days of helping generate some publicity for City Council Ward 1 candidate Beryl Baker.  She is affiliated with the Green Party and she has some real common-sense ideas for improving our Old Pueblo.  I shot and edited a short interview video that's on YouTube at this address:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAxSJqKR21Q

Read about her background, experience, and ideas at her own website:

http://www.berylbaker.comli.com/

Consider giving Beryl your vote on November 8th.

Exist Kind is now live from behind the scenes!

I now have an account with LiveStream, which you can find at www.livestream.com/existkind.  I won't be online 24/7 and it won't exactly be "all-access", but you can now tune in and either watch previously-recorded material, or if you time it right, catch me either pounding the pavement or at home, doing work behind the scenes.  I have a portable G4 connection that will generate a high-quality live stream from wherever I am, including your event, if you so choose.  So tune in and see where I am at any given time.  I could be broadcasting from the desert, a yoga class, the Peace Fair, or what have you.  Thanks for watching and reading!

Give your testimonial on behalf of Access Tucson on July 9th.

I am collaborating with Dan Harrigan of the show Harrigan After Hours to spearhead a great event in which Access Tucson members can come to Studio A and for a minute and a half on camera, give your testimonial of support for Access Tucson.  Tell viewers why and talk about what contribution your particular program makes to the community.  Emphasize what Access Tucson means to you and how it's helped you make an impact on the community.  When you're finished, the whole reel of clips will be turned over to staff on your behalf and edited for broadcasting between programming throughout the week.

*Note: Please reserve your valued ideas and plans for how to save Access Tucson for later campaigns; this is just a series of testimonials of support.  Also, please DO remind the viewers to help with monetary support because that's what's most needed now.  Without money, Access Tucson is finished.  Thank you!

When: Saturday, July 9th, 2011

2:30 to 6 pm

Where: Studio A

Access Tucson

124 East Broadway Boulevard, Tucson

Damage Control!

The show that I mentioned that was supposed to be a great package about mountaintop removal coal mining turned out to be a debacle when it was time to go live.  Everything that could go wrong with the technology did go wrong and I sincerely apologize to anyone out there who was watching.  We'll redeem ourselves, though, by editing all of the material that we'd originally brought with us into a nice package that we'll upload to YouTube, share on this blog, and send to cable access TV stations around the country.  Thanks so much for bearing with us.

Show Episode Announcement and Short Project Update

Hot Topic on Exist Kind Tonight: Appalachian Treasures and Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining

Saturday, May 7th, at 6 pm MST/PDT

Broadcasting live from Access Tucson on Cox channel 120, Comcast 72; and streaming live at http://www.accesstucson.org/.

From the Appalachian organization ILoveMountains.org:

"One of America's most heartbreaking environmental and human rights tragedies, mountaintop removal coal mining is destroying [Appalachia's] rich culture and heritage, as well as the ancient, beautiful mountains and diverse forests of the Appalachian range."

This isn't just another radical environmentalist movement to preserve scenery and impede progress.  This is a matter of ordinary citizens in coal country dealing with illness, contaminated water and air, and the risk of disastrous and disgusting flooding and avalanches when tailings impoundments break loose.  This process also hurts the local economy because of its efficiency, which costs jobs, and the out-of-town employees that the companies bring in to do the jobs that locals could do.  Not to mention, this process takes a toll on citizens' emotional ties to the cultural and historical values of the mountains.

MTR, as it's abbreviated, is no longer limited to Appalachia, either.  Take a look at this picture from British Columbia that appeared on the National Geographic website at the end of 2009:

Photo by Garth Lenz, ILCP.

And we think we have problems with mining out here in Arizona.  I have to keep it brief today, so tune in if you like and acquaint yourself with this incredible environmental injustice happening to ordinary, down-to-earth citizens who just want to live on the land they've always known and not have it poison them.

I also promised a short project update: The bicycle project is coming along nicely and I've been documenting each step with my video camera.  I apologize for not having more follow-up, but that's just because I want to be sure that there's some substantial footage worth showing.  I expect to get some material online this week.  Thanks for reading!

Bike Project Update at Last

Hello all, I apologize for taking so long between blog posts.  I had a couple of big and exciting TV and video production projects come up at the very end of March up through yesterday, and somewhat continuing this week.  I created a video tutorial about how to reclaim old batteries for an electric bicycle.  Behold: