Summary: Tomorrow is Wednesday, and I would normally be poring through my growing stack of canine and animal reference books in preparation for my weekly radio show, “Talking To Animals.” I’ve loved learning so much about animals and their intelligence and consciousness. I’m sorry to say I won’t be on the radio tomorrow, or in the foreseeable future. For reasons beyond my control, the program is taking a breather, and I can’t say if it will return to the air or not. In the meantime, Maria and I will move ahead with our plans to publish a weekly or even more than weekly, podcast, details to come. We are putting the podcast together now, Simon’s bray, his “Call To Life” will be our opening music. I will be candid, I am sad about my radio show, I came to look forward to Wednesday. I met some great people in the phone, including Cynthia Daniello, who started her own blog, The Never Ending Story, this morning. She was a regular caller, the first one every week. She has lots to say. You can e-mail her with your questions and comments about life or dogs or almost any animal: you can e-mail her at cynthiadaniello@gmail.com or story_teller_34@yahoo.com. Life goes on. And on. I don’t wait for it. Please do message Cynthia. She is a remarkable 84-year-0ld full of life and determination. She has an amazing background as an author, poet and animal lover. On my broadcast, I loved talking to animal lovers about their pets, I loved trying to help them deal with the problems that face all pet and animal lovers. I am glad I helped a few people and their dogs. I was happiest when talking to people who loved animals, that was the draw for me. The broadcast was a long-held dream of mine, and I worked very hard at it. It was just beginning to catch fire with plenty of calls and messages and questions pouring in to me from all over the world. We did this with no money or support from the station, which had no resources to offer. We got pretty far. I have to say I thank WBTNAM for letting me have two hours a week of their air time, and I especially thank the quite remarkable Thomas Toscano, my friend and the station manager, for agreeing to host the broadcast, and for helping me with the technical aspects of the program, and for engaging in a dialogue with me on the air that was stimulating, entertaining and intelligent. I never did get him to turn on the phone switch when we were talking, I think he liked to talk without interruption. He is, after all, a conductor. But it was never easy to get through. Thomas is a fascinating man, a composer and conductor by trade and disposition, cast into a new role as a community radio station director, he works brutally long hours and pretty much runs the station by himself. Too much work for any single human. Wherever he lives, he has Brooklyn and the Bronx written all over him. His dukes are always up. I loved taking photographs of his wild Toscanini eyes. We became friends, I think, or were getting closer, and I should be clear that there was and is no difficulty between us, he supported the program in every way that he could, and we worked seamlessly together. We had some great conversations about animals and life. He was stimulating and fun. If you think I’m a curmudgeon, you ought to spend some time with him. Sometimes, I felt like the Muppet Fozzi The Bear around him. We had a rich and effective chemistry. We complimented one another well, he zigged when I zagged. Our egos worked well together, they didn’t collide. Thomas is a true creative. It was a pleasure to work with him, and I wish him every possible success. I hope we can build on our friendship. I will miss our Wednesday lunches, I usually stopped at an Asian restaurant nearby and brought Bento Boxes before Thomas went on the Miami diet in preparation for some surgery. We always had lots to talk about, Thomas is the biological opposite of boring. I can’t talk about the reason
