Get to a puppy party and back to nature this weekend

One year after a beagle/dachshund mix with a "tail" on his forehead was rescued from the side of a road, Narwhal, the magical unicorn dog, is turning 1-year-old, and Mac's Mission, a special-needs animal rescue based in Cape Girardeau, is throwing a party to celebrate.

Rochelle Steffen, Mac's Mission founder and "dog mom" to Narwhal, said that the past year has been a whirlwind. After the initial publicity around the "unicorn puppy," when she was fielding a flood of offers to adopt him and keeping up with interviews and reporters from all over the world, Steffen decided to keep him so she knew he wouldn't be sold or mistreated.

Then, they settled into a routine, including Steffen's other dogs, one of which is Mac's Mission's namesake pit bull.

As for the dog rescue, roughly 60 dogs are available for adoption right now. "For us, that's an outrageous number of dogs," Steffen said. Some are fostered out, some are on the property, but there are a lot of puppies, and every case is special.

One reason they have so many dogs right now is, volunteers with the group and with other animal rescues have been called to assist with hoarding situations. Most recently, about a week ago, Mac's Mission volunteers helped by bringing in eight dogs. Dogs from another rescue in late July "are already like completely different dogs," Steffen said.

"Our main focus is always special needs, and that can range from cleft palates to hydrocephalus to hospice to traumatized dogs," Steffen said.

That all takes a lot of time and resources -- and money.

"You take eight dogs to the vet, have them spayed or neutered, treated for this and that, it adds up," Steffen said.

Aside from hoarding situations, there are rehoming cases, such as an elderly man who died, leaving behind a pair of bonded chihuahuas with medical problems.

"They're sweet little dogs, ready for adoption, but they're old," Steffen said. "We like to deal with the dogs who don't really have that shot at adoption."

And then there was Narwhal.

"He is taking things to another level," Steffen said. "He's the type of dog we take care of, the strange cases, the unusual ones."

Like every other dog who enters their care, Narwhal's picture went up on the rescue's social media pages, and it just blew up, Steffen said.

"If my fat unicorn is anywhere in public, he gets 100 percent of the attention," Steffen said, pride and affection evident in her tone.

Did the tail grow with Narwhal?

"It stayed proportionate to his face," Steffen said. "It doesn't get in his way. It's just part of him."

Usually, she said, neither she nor Narwhal even notice it's there.

But others do, and that attention has been great for the rescue and the special dogs they work to rehabilitate and place in loving homes.

"He is a big deal," Steffen said. "He's made a big difference."

Steffen said when she sees a dog rescued from a hoarding situation, and that dog is able to sleep in an air-conditioned space for the first time, after a bath and treatment to remove fleas and ticks, when the dog has fought his entire life just to stay alive -- "for a little unicorn dog to raise awareness and help pay for that, for Narwhal to have the best life ever, he was given to me for a reason."

The party is a couple of weeks ahead of Narwhal's actual Sept. 3 birthday, and is from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday at the 4-H Building in Arena Park in Cape Girardeau. Gifts, raffles and a silent auction will be there, as will birthday boy Narwhal himself.

More info: www.facebook.com/macthepitbull

A downed tree in Cape Girardeau's Fairmount Cemetery is shown in this undated photo, and is the subject of an exhibit at Cape Girardeau Conservation Nature Center in August.Submitted

Nature Center is open

If you missed Missouri Department of Conservation Nature Center director Sara Turner's comments at First Friday Coffee, I have good news for you: The Nature Center at 2289 County Park Drive in Cape Girardeau (Cape County Park) is open again after closing down in March, and programs are being offered both in-person and virtually.

Assistant director Jamie Koehler told me that registration is open now at www.mdc.mo.gov/events-s3 for virtual or in-person events.

Koehler held a native plants and pollinators workshop Tuesday morning, and said she had more than 60 participants from all over Missouri.

"It's great to share our gardens, pictures, videos with people who can't get to us," Koehler said of the virtual programs.

In-person events will follow social distancing guidelines, and masks are required for visitors age 9 and up, Koehler said.

"We have missed everybody," she said. "We're learning how we can do things and let people still experience and learn about nature, while still dealing with restrictions."

There is plenty of room on the center's hiking areas, Koehler said. "There is a lot of nature so we can spread out and enjoy it."

Registration for events is required.

Upcoming events include:

• Virtual: Feeding Frenzy at 1 p.m. today
• Virtual: Hotel for Bees at 2 p.m. Friday
• Night Hike at 8 p.m. Friday
• Paddling Lake Girardeau; sessions are from 9 to 11 a.m. and 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday
• Virtual: Hummingbird's Journey South at 10 a.m. Saturday
• Virtual: Geocaching at 9 a.m. Tuesday

Also at the Nature Center through Aug. 29 is the "One Tree" photography and acrylic exhibit. Dwight Eisenhower gave a green ash tree to honor veterans, which was planted in Fairmount Cemetery in Cape Girardeau. A storm brought the tree down, and Jan Chamberlain spent four months photographing the fallen tree. Now, 40 pieces of art from those photos form the exhibit in the Nature Center lobby.

VA to host virtual writing workshop

Alicia Harris

The John J. Pershing VA Medical Center in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, will partner with the Marion (Illinois) VA Medical Center in offering "A Caregiver Writing Circle -- A Virtual Biblio/Poetry Therapy Workshop," from 10 a.m. to noon on August 20. Facilitator Alicia Harris, MPSA and Certified Applied Biblio/Poetry Therapy Facilitator, will lead the program via Zoom.

"Learn how to use writing for well-being in this fun, insightful session," Vicki Burns, Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Caregiver Support Coordinator with the Poplar Bluff VA, said in a statement. "We will read poetry that addresses the experience of caregiving and write in response. This time is dedicated to caregivers of veterans and learning how to write as an act of self-care and healing. No writing experience is necessary, and sharing is optional!"

Registration is limited to 100 participants.

More info: (573) 778-4476