Dogs and loyalty

I love dogs.  They ask so little of us, yet give us everything they have without hesitation.  This fact was brought back to me this morning when I read this in USA Today online:

At the funeral for one of the 30 Navy SEAL's recently killed in Afghanistan, the dog of a fallen SEAL refused to leave the body of his owner/friend.  During the service he walked up to the casket and lay down beside it.  Such loyalty is virtually impossible to find in the human world.

I remember a few years ago I was in bed recovering from having my tonsils out.  What misery!  My little dog Tara Belle (at the time about 13 years old and slowing down considerably) could sense I was hurting and somehow jumped-climbed-clawed her way up onto my bed and lay down beside me.  In normal times she couldn't jump that high if her life depended on it, but when she thought she could provide me some comfort, she was there for me.

Dogs don't ask or care what color you are, what zip code you live in, what labels are on your clothes, what kind of car you drive, or how influential your friends are.  All they want from you is a pat on the head, a tummy rub, someone to throw them a ball, some food...any brand will do, thank you...and of course your love.  Pretense doesn't exist in a dog's world.  In a dog owners world it does, but not in a dog's world.  

You know the old joke about "dog" really being GOD, just  spelled backwards?  Maybe it's not a joke.

S

Magical salad

Trying to eat better in order to begin enjoying a more active outdoor lifestyle (whenever it cools some), last night we went to Jason's Deli for dinner.  We both had the salad bar.  We sometimes have a small salad with dinner, but rarely do we have a salad as dinner.  We're carnivores and darn proud of it!

Since then strange things have been happening.  First, I took Emma Belle out for her last dootie call of the day and found it to be cool.  Again...I said COOL.  It's a relative term, I know, but compared to the 107 of late afternoon, 80 felt cool.  Strange.

Then I woke up at 3 am with an idea of how to build a balance board (improves balance and coordination) using inexpensive building materials instead of  paying $50 for a store-bought one.  But how big?  I got up and went to the internet and did several minutes of highly intense academic research and decided what I really wanted was a "wobble board".

 At 3 am.  Very strange. 

Finally at 6 am this morning, as I was throwing on some old clothes to take the dog out for her first dootie call of the new day, I heard it....thunder.  Then I heard....could it be?....rain!  Radar showed one tiny little shower right over my side of my town, right over me.  Beyond strange.  

I'm thinking it was the salad.  What else could it be?  It must have had some mighty powerful juju.  I promise I'll never make fun of salad again.

S

Where's FEMA??

So there's an earthquake in Washington, DC, and Wall Street responds by going UP 322 points.  Maybe I'm reading too much into this, but it almost looks like....  :)


S

Another day in Paradise...with photo

My beloved 'lil Audi is getting spruced up today.  "Detailed", that is.  It's pushing 5 years old with 83,000 miles on the clock, and in great mechanical shape, but in need of a shave and a haircut.  I get those Living Social emails daily (similar to Groupon) and not long ago they had an offer for auto detailing at 1/2 price. DEAL!


Another nice benefit of me cleaning up my car is the rain.  It's common knowledge if I wash my car it will rain.  A simple wash, a little rain.  With a full-fledged detailing, I'm expecting a LOT of rain.  Maybe not as much as my friends in Virginia and the Carolina's will be getting in a few days (and hopefully they'll all come through unscathed but just wet), but rain none-the-less.  If I don't see rain here within 48 hours I'm going back and asking for a refund.  Breach of implied promise, or something.


My birthday was a good one.  I heard from all my loved ones, even the little ones who can only slobber and mumble.  A new season of Top Gear was aired last night in my honor.  Thank you BBC.  :)  K and I had a nice dinner at home as we're going out with All My Children on Wednesday to celebrate.


Other than that, the days drone on.


Adios mi amigos,


S

Looks pretty good all cleaned up, huh?

Ants in my pants

Thank God for cars, and planes, and trains.  They enable us to hop on one and go far, far away from where we don't want to be.  Right now I want to be far, far away from Texas.  Somewhere cooler, and with a better view, or at least a different view.


I've read that a century ago most people grew up and later died all within 25 miles of where they were born.  "Travel" was going into town on Saturday for some supplies.  Only the super-wealthy had cars, and air travel was downright exotic.  We can thank Mr. Ford for opening up the world to us masses.


I guess if you didn't know any better it wasn't so bad, but today we do know better.  It's the old 'the grass is always greener' thing, and I have a bad case of it.  I don't know if its just a matter of miserable summer weather, the constant pressure of the rat race, or me just reading too many books and magazines for my own good, but today I'm restless beyond belief.  Having "roots" can sometimes work against you. 


I'm going to get me one of those "countdown" calendars, the kind where you X off each day until ________.  In my case, ________ means moving to Colorado or somewhere equally cool (both literally and figuratively).  


S

Creative advertising

Hey....it got my attention!

Looks like another "inside" weekend.  The temp is expected to set another record today....107.  I can't remember ever looking forward to autumn more.  It's so hot, even pool water is uncomfortably warm.  Most people have pool heaters to stretch the usable swimming season.  Here we need pool chillers to stretch the usable swimming season.

I went to the gym this morning, which I needed to do, but OMG is it boring!  Later we'll stop by Paradise Bakery for lunch (they make a great club sandwich) then....?  I'm sure by mid-afternoon I'll be listening to K whine about "we never go out and do anything".  "DO" something, as in "expend energy"?  Heck, I'm one small step ahead of spontaneous combustion as it is.  Maybe something fun will pop up on our radar.  I hope so.

S

What a GREAT birthday gift!! :)

My wife knows me well.  She surprised me last night with my birthday (Monday) gift:  two VIP tickets to the Foat Wuth Music Festival on September 30.  One of my favorite artists, Marcia Ball, will be one of the main attractions. From what I've read the venue is heavily weighted with Blues and Jazz.   How cool is that?  


K and I decided a while back that we really didn't want any more "thing" presents, but preferred "experience" gifts, something that creates memories you can enjoy long after "things" have outlived their usefulness.  Nobody ever said, "Hey, remember that cool blue striped shirt I got back in '97?"  But a nice vacation, a favorite artist in concert....memories of those will be with you forever.  And being over a month away will give me something to look forward to, plus this summer's miserable weather should be much better (cooler) by then.


Yesterday I stepped off a curb right on to a small (unseen) piece of broken concrete, rolled my foot, and took a tumble.  I caught myself with one hand and my left knee, did a fairly graceful roll off my left side and popped back up.  I did the obligatory 360 to see if anyone saw me (read: was laughing hysterically), then ducked into my car before the pain set in.  OUCH!  Today I feel like I imagine an NFL running back feels on Monday morning, except without the million dollar paycheck in my pocket.


I suppose I should hobble off to work now.  Hope you have a fun Friday and a great weekend, too.


Ciao,


S