Hard to Believe it is Winter

Here it is, January 18th, and the weather is like a spring day. It was a little cool when we first went out (arrived at 7:30) but nothing like it should be for a winter day. By the time we left, it was sunny and 61 degrees. It felt like a spring day. I love this weather but can't help but worry about why it is this nice. We desperately need rain and are way behind our normal rainfall totals for this time of the year. January and February are supposed to be our rainy months. I don't think we have had more than half an inch during this time. This is the second year in a row. If we don't get some soon, it will be water rationing time. Oh well, in the short term, I will just have to enjoy it.

Another Industry's Hand is Out for the Bail Out

I was reading through the CNN website and saw the headline, Porn industry seeks federal bailout. The first thing I did was check to see that I was not diverted to another website such as "the Onion.com". Nope, I was at CNN alright. So the next thing I did was read the article. No way this could be serious. I wanted to see what the joke was. Well, the joke was on me (or us taxpayers). Larry Flint (Hustler) and Joe Francis (Girls Gone Wild videos) were trying to make the case of how important the porn industry actually is to the US and of course they should be bailed out. That made me doubt the article that much more. How could they actually go to Congress with a straight face and ask for the money. Then it occurred to me...they have to have pictures on many of the members. How else could they possibly bring this up? Further commentary by Campbell Brown said it best, Leave it to Joe Francis and Larry Flynt to show the absurdity of the bailout. Let me just say this, if they get it, I am going next. I would require far less to get me through this tough time and once I am through it, I will be a strong contributor to the economy again.

Did My Civic Duty-Jury Summons Has Been Completed

So today I fulfilled my civic duty by standing by for jury duty all day. This is only the second time I have been summoned since living in California (1991). Was not selected to even sit in the box to be questioned but did get to sit in the courtroom watching the jury selection process. Quite interesting really. Not only the questions asked of each potential juror but also the variety of folks who are summoned. The group was definitely a microcosm of society as a whole. Some of the folks really impressed me with there thoughtfulness and their desire to do the right thing. These folks seemed to truly want to do the right thing and give the individual a fair trial. Then, of course, there was the folks on the other end of the spectrum. I would hate to have any of these folks sitting on any jury that would be judging me. Fortunately, the folks that probably didn't represent the best and the brightest were excused by the attorneys. It really was an interesting process. Wow....

7:30am...37 degrees..Yea, Let's Go to the Beach!

Everyone else was busy today so it was the dogs and me off for a walk. I am an early bird. I was up and out of the house by 6:20am. It was cold here in Antioch. The thermometer read 33 degrees. Brrr! I could not find my gloves anywhere. No worries, my mind said. It will be much warmer at the beach. Well you can see from the title of the post, not by much. But I am stubborn. We went on the walk anyway (I got no resistance from the dogs by the way.). The tide was going out so plenty of shore to walk on. I couldn't imagine getting caught in the tide today. It actually was a beautiful day. The sky was clear, the sun did not hit the water directly so the lighting was soft. I had the chuckit and tennis ball knowing Dixy would pester me the whole way if I hadn't brought it so there was plenty of ball throwing and Dixy running. Unusual, I know. Dixy does have the occasional dilemna. She asks herself, am I a tennis ball chaser or a bird dog. The above picture shows her trying to sort this question out. She is focused on the birds but hasn't quite committed to the task and still has the ball in her home.

Finally, instinct takes over. She drops the ball and it is off to chase the birds. I do believe she chased these birds for a good half mile before she returned. But not before she picked of the tennis ball from where she left it.I took this picture of the seagull because I really like how the bird was perched on the rock and the rock was surrounded by water. The bird was able to soak up the sun yet was set away from the dogs.
Here you can see Grady was not as deterred by the water as the bird my have thought. He is doing his best at sneaking up on the bird.

In addition to all this, I was able to find a bunch of really cool sea glass. Not only did I find great shapes but I also found some really cool, unusual colors. Again, it was another of those days where I am just so grateful to be in the bay area.

Grady STINKS!

Went on a 6 mile hike today with Tanya and her dog Malbec. Within the first quarter of a mile, Grady found the most disgusting stuff to roll in. He covered the entire half top and sides of his back. I could smell him from 100 feet away. Anyone who has met Grady knows what a forcefully affection dog he is so after he rolled in whatever it was, he regularly attempted to get hugs and pets from both Tanya and me. It was a chore to keep him off. I had hoped by him running through the tall, wet grass it would take some of the stuff off. Well if it did, it didn't make much of a difference. Halfway through the walk we came to a water trough. So I picked him up and threw him in. It barely made a dent in the smell. Once we finished the walk, I pulled a gallon of water out of the truck, poured it on him, and then attempted to towel dry it off him. Again, helped a little but not enough. Finally got home and washed him with soap and water. Can you believe the scent is STILL lingering on him. Wow...I don't know how he can be in his own body. I guess it smells good to him. :-)

Another Win for the Duna Man

Well here I am again sending a big congratulations to Christine and John Vermes again. Duna won for the third day in a row. He looked fantastic out there with his handler. What a striking picture they make. Duna now stands at 13 points, two shy of his championship. It is a shame there aren't more shows in the very near future. You hate to stop the momentum. Anyways, this little guy will be finished in no time. Then it is time to let do what he does best, be that wonderful companion animal.

Below are a few pictures from the day.

Grady (front) and Duna (back) in the ring competing.
Christine and Duna celebrating the win.
Duna in Mom's lap. Jean (his handler) giving Duna that thumbs up look.

Red Dawn Duna What a Good Boy Am I Wins for the Second Day in a Row

Duna is a gentle little soul who is packaged in an almost Champion body. Today was another great day for him and his owners, Christine and John Vermes. Not only did he win Winner's Dog and Best of Winners but he also took Best Opposite Sex over a finished champion giving him another 2 points towards his championship. Now he is at 11 and counting. Four more to go my little peanut. Woo Hoo!!

A Good Day-Beginning To End

First off, I need to give credit to Ann for taking the vast majority of the pictures in the photoshow. You will see that the photos are mostly a day in the life of our dogs, with a couple of us humans and how we get to be a part of their simple little world. Hopefully, it will give you the sense of just how easy they are to please. Maybe we can learn a little from them. I know that I always feel a little freer and a little more at peace during the times I am out with them.

Okay, now for the tale of the day. It started out great with Red Dawn Duna What a Good Boy Am I winning another point towards his championship. We are all very excited about that and look forward to a celebration when he is done. After the dog show, we all headed for the beach where we could give the little guy the best present we could think of, a romp with all his extended doggy family. The tide was high but we found a nice secluded spot that provided us with enough room to walk without getting overtaken. Of course, the dogs don't worry about those sorts of silly things. We spent a couple of hours there and really got the pups tired out, which was a good things since there was more fun ahead for the humans. After the long day at the show and then the beach, it was off to Kate and Jeff's for a fabulous evening of good food shared with good friends. What more could we want in life?

Tough Times...Living at the Beach (Seriously)

Today I took the pups back to Fort Funston. We arrived at 7 am. It was just us today. The purpose for this post is not to talk about the beach walk (although it was truly lovely) but to remind me how lucky I am to have a home, job and nourishment. When we were on our walk yesterday, we came upon a fir tree that was decorated with obviously hand-made ornaments. About 50 feet away was an encampment with a tent and fire pit. I remember thinking that the sight of this tree and the tent was somewhat bittersweet. I had intended to mention it on my blog entry yesterday but got caught up in my own life's minutia and didn't. So today, while we were on our walk, I was reminded of this again because there was a fire going which I presume was to keep these folks warm. I had heard that the tent was where a family was staying. Well, obviously the parents wanted to give the kids a somewhat normal Christmas by decorating a tree for them. I was touched by that as well as somewhat saddened. I can't imagine how hard it must be to be a parent, have your family be homeless and still try to make Christmas "normal". I sure wish there was a way that everyone could have what they needed. Naive...I know.

Christmas Day-Brrrr (By California Standards)

When I arrived at Ft Funston for the walk, I sky was full of clouds, the wind was gusting at above 50mph and the rain was coming down. Oh, and it felt about 30 degrees. I may have backed out had I not driven an hour and had 5 very active dogs in need of some exercise. I was there a good hour before the others were to arrive so when the rain and wind subsided a bit, I headed out with the dogs for a pre-walk. Well, thankfully, the rain and wind stopped and the sun actually came out. The dogs and I walk about 45 minutes then headed back to meet up with the others. Wouldn't you know it, the wind and rain kicked up again. Man, was it a biting cold wind. And me without any gloves. None-the-less, we were all up for the challenge (or ready to tired out the dogs) and walked anyway. Fortunately, I know the area like the back of my hand and we walked on a trail that sheltered us from the wind. After about 15 minutes, the rain stopped and the sun came back out. We walked for another hour and a half without another storm. It was a great walk with great people and sweet canines. What a life.

I Can't Get Enough of the Beach

So my sister is visiting and we decided to meet Christine at the beach. When we left Antioch, it was 38 degrees so we bundle up expecting it to be even colder at the ocean. As you can see from the picture, it was a gorgeous day. I was amazed. By the time we were finished with our walk, it was 63 degrees. Perfect beach walking weather. These are the times I really appreciate living in California.

Flat Pam Visits Meets Her Co-workers Face-to-Face

Well Flat Pam finally had an opportunity to not only be in St Louis Missouri but also mean her co-workers who, until this point, had only been voices on a phone. Whoo Hoo to that. The following are some of the photos taken on the trip.

The above picture is Staci who has been Flat Pam's Hostess for sometime now. She is proudly showing Flat Pam her 5 year anniversary award. Cudos to you Staci!
Looks like Staci has another award, right along side the Dilbert cartoons. Excellent! Apparently, they also have artwork in St Louis. This made my flat self very happy. I love artwork and love Van Gough.

Here, Flat Pam is being framed by the famous Arch. Why is it here...never understood that. None-the-less, very cool. One more famous American tourist sight I can check off my list to see.
Here I am back in the office. Someone's office over looks the Mississippi River. Not a bad view at all.
Flat Pam was exploring and almost got lost in all the vegetation in Staci's office. Thank goodness for survival skills.
It seems that my 2d self just can't stay out of the Christmas trees. What's up with that?

Ah...two of the famed team, Linda and Cheryl. Hmmmm...that stocking Flat Pam is in fits great...AS a sleeping bag. I guess that is a good thing. Looks like it is cold in St Louis.

Back to Staci's office....She has a lot of manuals...Flat Pam better take in as much as she can. She will need to transfer that information to me.

Here my 2d self is with Dave and Cheryl. There is the old Courthouse in the background. Another nice view from the offices.

Jana and Linda are holding me up. Thanks guys...Flat Pam is exhausted after the whirlwind day in the office.
It was a day filled with new adventures and people. I am sure Staci was exhausted too. Thankfully her sister Shelley drove us back to Waterloo.

Thanks a bunch for the great adventure. It is nice to put faces to the voices.

With All the Bad News...Thank Goodness For Pups and Parks

There has been a lot of bad news lately and I just learned that many of my friends from a previous company have been laid off. A horrible time of the year to lose a job normally but particularly hard given what is going on in the economy. I felt a bit bummed out and realized how grateful I am to have good friends, wonderful sisters, loving pups and parks to walk in. Going on a hike always picks up my spirits a bit so I am glad to have the dogs because it forces me to get out there everyday. Even days like this where it is drizzling, foggy and cold. There is a beauty in this weather as well. Below is a picture of the hills covered in clouds. If it was clear you would be able to see the snow that had fallen.

Here is a picture of Dixy waiting patiently (not!) for me to throw the tennis ball. Her joy in the simplest things makes me envy her.More cloud covered hills.

The dogs running up the side of the hill, hoping to catch the birds that were constantly taunting them. No such luck (for the dogs at least. The birds were very lucky)

I hope that I can maintain a positive attitude through this mess of an economy. I hope that I can be a positive support to my friends who need it. I hope I can continue to be grateful for all that I have and not worry about what may be on the horizon.

More Flat Pam Adventures

I have been wondering way I haven't been around the blog for awhile. Now I know. I have been in the St Louis area (in my 2d self). Staci and her family were kind enough to show me some mid-west hospitality and allowed me to participate in their holiday revelry. Apparently I got a little out of hand in the beginning and climbed up their Christmas tree. I wanted them to feel what it was like to have a cat in the house I guess. Actually, I wanted my picture taken next to the Rd Sox ornament. Go Sox!

Staci was able to coax me down from the tree by offering me a nice cup of hot chocolate. As you can see, there were a lot of marshmallows.

It's no wonder that when I went to climb back up the tree, I could only get as far as the nativity scene. I was praying to not be so stuffed and then to be able to breath again.

Once I was able to move again, I got into more trouble and attempted to knock down the Mark McGuire baseballs. But I was nabbed before I could complete the task.Joshua was good enough to entertain me by reading Flat Stanley to me. As you can see from my face, I enjoyed it very much.

Finally, I met up with someone my size. We passed the time until he melted. It was toasty in the house.

Thanks Staci and family for a wonderful visit during the holidays. I love Christmas decorated houses.

P.S. Love the orange pants. :-)

Oh No I didn't...

Oh yes I did.

Grady is wondering what the heck Dixy has on her head. It's an elf hat and ears my dear boy. Little does he know...It won't be long until he has his own head ornament.

Here he is with with his reindeer ears. Heck, between the two of them, we have the start of the Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer cast. Dixy would play Herbie the elf wanna be dentist and Grady as Rudolph.
As you can see by the above picture, Dixy is none to happy with this situation. Shortly after the photo was taken, she hid under the table. That is until....

Colvin had her turn as a Christmas Carol extra.

Oh, the holidays. :-)

Another East Bay Regional Park Hike-Briones

Briones Regional Park is another in the East Bay Regional Park system. The land in this park is from what use to be a Ranch, a 13,316 acre ranch. I am not sure how many miles of trails there are in this particular park but suffice it to say there are enough for the dogs and me to get our exercise and then some. This ranch has a little different landscape than Black Diamond and Morgan Territory. It is much more full of knotted oak trees. It is much cooler here than the others because of the shade. Beautiful none the less. As usual, the dogs had all kinds of fun. They love going to a new place. They take such pleasure in the simplest things like new smells. I don't know how they do it. Wish I could be a little more like them. Our walk was relatively short as it gets dark so early now. I walked about 3 miles. Of course, because the dogs were excited by the new place, they probably doubled my distance. They have been fed and are now all cozy in their doggy sleeping bags.

What I know...

Facebook can be very time-consuming.

Early Morning Beach Walk

Today has been a very busy day. Went to the beach early in the morning. Started the walk at 7am. The tide levels were just perfect. The tide was going out so we had a lot of beach to walk on. We walk south today. Because there was so much beach, we were able to walk for miles. I love walkingin that direction. At a certain point the beach is almost pristine. No one ever walks there. It is very peaceful. I was not going to put up these pictures because it seems I am always putting tbeach pictures up. However, I think they are different enough because it is in a different area. I hope that you all can see what I mean by pristine. After the beach walk, I went to the Vizsla Club of Northern California's holiday party. It was a lot of fun too. Now I am tired and full.

News That Makes Me Pause...

Then just irked me.

-Okay please need to get over the fact that Barack Obama won the election. There are several suits that have been filed arguing that Obama is not a natural born citizen (he was born in the US) and therefore can't be sworn in as president. Can I just say to all you folks out there trying to argue this point...."He won the election fair and square! Get over it and get on with your lives"!

-Here's a CNN headline for you, "Seductive mom gets son's juror to 'fess up ". Seems this mother went to extraordinary lengths to save her son from prison even though he was convicted of ordering the killing of a 19 year old boy. She gave herself an extreme makeover and hit on one of the jurors for a number of months until she was able to get the desired information from him. Too bad she didn't put that much energy into keeping her son out of gangs.

-And another CNN headline reads "Commentary: Pregnant woman asks for help, gets ticket". Apparently there was a major traffic jam on the road the pregnant woman took to get to the hospital. Her contractions were three minutes apart so they drove on the breakdown lane until they met up with a state trooper who they asked for help. Instead of helping them he humiliated the woman by questioning if she was really pregnant and them made her proved it. On top of that, he gave them a ticket and didn't help them get to the hospital. In order to keep my language clean let me just say this, What an Idiot!

And my last bit of disturbing news for the day...

-"Craigslist baby sitter used tot in porn film". I am not even going to go into the story. The headline is disturbing enough.

Sometimes I have to wonder...what is wrong with us?!

Looking Forward to Seeing "Milk"

Tonight I will be seeing the movie "Milk" with Suzy & Stephan. I have been looking forward to this movie for a long time. Harvey Milk and George Moscone being murdered by Dan White was a tragedy. I saw the documentary "The Life and Times of Harvey Milk" many years ago. I hope the movie does his life justice. I will give my review once I have seen it.