Cat Ladies

Last Friday, I watched 20/20 on television. One of the stories it reported was about women who obsessed with cats. Among the many so called "crazy" cat ladies featured, two of them were caring 100 plus tail wagging felines each. What a feat! The maker of this documentary said the devastating events trigger many to seek refuge in animals. These cat lovers all happen to be females. Their maternal instinct to nurture led them into cat rescuing business.

Certainly being a pet owner myself, I can appreciate what a daunting task these women got themselves into. I know rescuing and caring stray animals can be addictive. But there are definite benefits in pet ownership, whether it is a mongrel dog you adopted from the pound, a little guppy you got for a birthday, or even an injured bird you rescued from the wild. And it is encouraging to see these "crazy" cat ladies transformed the unresolved frustration in life into loving and caring acts onto other beings.

One dog owner told others that dogs are angels. God sends them to us. I think all animals, tamed or not, are angels that God sends to us to make life better and more livable.

Now let’s find a constructive way to put these kind ladies out of business. Perhaps, opening our heart and our door to a wayward furry animal will be a very good start. - Ayee

Confusing Signals

Over the past several months, I got addicted to a reality house buying show. It was aired on a garden and home channel. To me, the program is entertaining as well as informative. It showcased many spacious and opulent houses across America. It also spotlighted faraway residential subdivisions in many American cities. In the show I saw buyers of many bank-owned three or four-bedroom homes in great locations at the asking prices for not more than a couple of hundred thousand dollars. There was a couple of families acquiring vacation homes in Florida Keys and Arizona area at the tune of $1.2 million and $500,000 respectively.

From this television show, it seems to me there was no shortage of home buyers.

But this robust activity in the resale market is a stark contrast to the dismal real estate market many months ago. At that time over-priced houses lost its value drastically and so many people lost their homes to foreclosures. Furthermore, the current unemployment rates will certain not strengthen consumer confidence either. Last week, they rose to a historical high of 10.2% in the States and 8.6% in Canada.

Based on the hot housing market I saw on television and the extraordinary high unemployment rates, I am totally lost on the direction that our fragile economy is heading to. - Ayee