THE CAT'S A DUMB DUMB

State of things

5 Likes, 1 Comments - Cindy Maddera (@elephant_soap) on Instagram: "State of things"

The cat is home and safe, very dirty, but uninjured. Last night, as I was feeding the chickens, I heard a faint 'meow'. I told Michael this and how I thought that maybe the new family in the house behind us to the east might have decided to keep the cat. I could see it. There's two little girls playing in the backyard. They see this cat and coax him inside, not realizing he's an outside cat who likes to come and go as he pleases. Later, we are sitting on the couch watching TV when I say "What if he's trapped inside that garage behind our house and no one knows he's in there?" Michael hopped up off the couch and said "Let's go find our cat!" And we did. He was trapped in the attic space of the detached garage of the house directly behind us. 

I climbed through dirt, junk and insulation to fish Albus out of the corner, while Michael opened a can of sardines. Once I got Albus out of the corner, Michael coaxed him towards the ladder so he could scoop Albus up and carry him down. Then we all cheered and went home to take showers. I can still feel bits of fiberglass from the insulation poking my forearms. Albus is still filthy. He looks like he's been in a fire, but he's been very loving to all of us since his return. It's ridiculous how relieved Michael and I both are about finding Albus. Michael said yesterday that he almost started crying over the cat while he was in class. He said he was surprised he had become so attached to Albus. 

In other news, which also totally fits with the title of this post, Scott Pruitt (Head of the Environmental Protection Agency) is proposing to exclude certain scientific reports from regulatory decisions. He is wanting to only allow the use of scientific reports that make ALL data available to the public. Here's the problem with that. Scientific studies involving impact on human health includes data from real live people like you and me. When you sign on for such a study, you sign a confidentiality agreement stating that the scientists will not reveal your personal information. Personal information like your vital health statistics and your death certificate if you die during the study. Scott Pruitt wants the scientific report to give open access to all of this information or not be used in consideration for policies to protect not just the environment, but your health as well. 

So I am starting a campaign. It's very easy. We are all going to report Scott Pruitt to the EPA for environmental violations. Just go to https://www.epa.gov/home/forms/contact-epa and click on the button that says 'report a violation'. Type in Scott Pruitt for the violator and enter the address for the EPA. That address is 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Washington, DC 20460. In 'Violation Description", I wrote something like "Fact-based scientific reports are fundamental to the development of policies that protect not just our environment, but people. Scott Pruitt is directly violating the environment by excluding fact-based research." You are welcome to copy and paste that directly or come up with your own. I want to flood the EPA with violation reports against Scott Pruitt. Please help me do that.