bramble

  I wrote to the Ordnungsamt this morning and got an immediate reply that the dog is no longer in possession of the person in question. Due to Datenschutz I can't ask for more information. I hope that it stays that way, that he can't claim the dog back after a few months. 

  My daughter had her AZ jab end of March (she works in a Kita). They and other Kita employees as well as teachers at the local schools were innoculated together as a group here at the AWO building.  All got AstraZeneca. This was before the news broke about the blood clots. The second jab is scheduled for end of June. She and her colleagues were asked a few days ago which vaccine (AZ, Biontech or Moderna) they want for the second jab. My daughter opted for AZ again as she doesn't trust mixing the vaccines. Other colleagues mistrust AZ and opted for Biontech. So it looks as if their chosen vaccines for the second jab are being reserved for them in advance.    So maybe all others who got AZ will also be notified and asked whether they want a choice for the second jab. No idea how that's going to work, though, as judging by the news the Hausärzte are offering AZ to everyone who wants it - young and old - seemingly with success, which looks as if they are trying to use up all the AZ supplies available.    

Seems that the EU will not be ordering any more AstraZeneca vaccines after contract ends: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/eus-breton-eu-did-not-renew-astrazeneca-covid-19-vaccine-order-after-june-2021-05-09/    

I'm happy today that I'm getting the hang of my new trail camera. Here's a photo from this morning of a great tit in mid flight just after leaving the nesting box (on the right of the photo) I provided for them.     I had originally bought the trail camera to document whether there are still any rats on my patio. I had only ever seen one at a time, but where there is one, there are usually more. I had also discovered the hole next to the rainwater pipe against the wall. I reported it to my landlady and a pest controller was here to set up traps with poisened baits. He was here again to check the baits for bite marks and there were. So I was hopeful that any rats that were there were all dead, never to be seen again. Well, at least one is still here. There were two photos only a fraction of a second apart, so it's the same one and one can assume it stayed in its hole after the photo was taken because there were no more. I'm very happy about the camera working so well, though.     

  We know the bloke in question because we see him almost daily several times a day with his dog - a beautiful black German Shepherd dog - in the Park and in the town centre. Most of the locals know him. Most people try to avoid him. He makes a very unpleasant impression. Umkempt and unstable. The dog is mostly unleashed and is addicted to running after sticks his owner throws for him, sometimes narrowly missing hitting people. He doesn't work and has a history of drug abuse. It looks as if for the past year he is on a downward spiral. He's about 30 years old. But this is only part of the issue.   My daughter and I were walking our dogs in the Stadtpark last Wednesday afternoon and the bloke in question was walking in front of us with his dog. He was drinking beer and threw the empty bottle into the grass. He was obviously very much under the influence. We saw him throwing a stick a few times for the dog on the grassy area in front of the war memorial. We were walking on the other side of the grassy area and had a good view of what was happening. It was a sunny day and there were a few adults and kids nearby. He called the dog twice, but the dog was occupied with his stick and didn't obey straight away. So the bloke went up to him and tied the lead tightly around his neck and then lifted the dog up with the lead so that the dog could barely touch the ground with his hind paws. The dog must have been chocking. Then he let him drop abruptly to the ground and repeated it all again. Then he placed his foot firmly on the dog lying on its side on the grass like a big game hunter and spread his arms wide proudly grinning. Then he let the dog stand up and went with him further into the park. What he did was obviously not the first time he had done it. It looked too skilled. A few minutes later we saw him sitting on a bench hitting the bench with a stick. The dog was barking wildly as he wanted the bloke to throw the stick for him.  The bloke was drinking out of a Kräuterschnapps bottle. There were two young women with very small children sitting near, but they left obviously distraught by his behaviour. I had often heard that he abuses the dog and that he had been reported to the Ordnungsamt several times, but this was the first time I had seen him abuse the dog with my very own eyes.   It was so disturbing that the next day I reported him to the local Tierschutzverein and the Ordnungsamt. The Ordnungsamt asked me to follow up my phone call with a report in writing so that they could process the complaint. Seems they acted on it today together with the police, but I will enquire per email on Monday and hope I will get an official confirmation. The dog is probably in the Tierheim now and I hope he will be placed in better capable hands. I'm sure this news will make the rounds here quick as lightning. 

I'm so very happy today and am still quite elated. I reported per Email an incident of animal cruelty (which my daughter and I had witnessed in the local Stadtpark) to the Ordnungsamt last Thursday and today I heard (admittedly through the grapevine) that the dog was removed from its owner this morning. I had been able to name the person in question. For confirmation I will again write to the Ordnungsamt on Monday and enquire quite innocently whether in the meantime they have done anything about it. Maybe I'll get an official reply. 

  Just managed to shoot a better photo (also from the other side of the window pane). My friend has been here twice within 1/2 hour. The upside-down flower pot is to stop any rats from climbing up the pole. Have seen one climbing up there and feeding on the seeds with my very own eyes. The flower pot idea was a Bltzidee (sudden inspiration) and it works. Have seen a rat climbing up the pole and the flower pot stopped it from climbing further.  

  I'm happy that Takis is caring for the puppies, but every time you post these videos I'm disgusted over and over again that nothing concrete is being done against this enormous wild uncontrolled reproduction of dogs in Greece, which is creating such unnecessary and avoidable suffering. 

https://www.t-online.de/nachrichten/panorama/kriminalitaet/id_89954902/angst-vor-corona-post-fuerchtet-strasse-in-duisburg-und-stellt-nicht-mehr-zu.html

  No idea yet whether by autumn the Ausbildung school will want proof that she has been vaccinated against Covid. She wants to if she gets an appointment by then. She's 21. 

  My granddaughter will be starting an Ausbildung as physiotherapist in autumn, but has to prove that she has been vaccinated against hepatitus before she starts, otherwise she won't be accepted.

  It is so sad to see the sorry state this dog is in. So, so cruel. It makes one so angry. At least it is in good hands now. 

  Seriously, when am I in danger of catching hepatitis or tetunus? I don't travel anymore. And when I do gardening I wear gloves and I'm very careful that I don't have an open wound. I'm female so mumps is not my concern. My doctor hardly ever sees me because I'm hardly ever sick. I'm 74. I'm not generally preoccupied with sicknesses / diseases.   

  For what do I need boosters?

  I don't have an Impfpass, either. Wasn't even asked for one. My Impfbescheinigung (vaccination certificate) was stamped and signed beside the sticker by the doctor who actually gave me the jab.