I Saved Someone's Life Yesterday

Yesterday June 20th was a very traumatic day for me.

I saved someone’s life.

That someone is named Toby.

Toby is my neighbor’s cow dog that is forced to live in the backyard on a cable all the time.

I feel sorry for Toby and give him a dog biscuit when I walk by him on my way down the alley when I take out the trash. Toby likes me.

Yesterday at 3:20 PM while I was in my living room just across the alley from Toby, I heard a hellacious dog fight, at least I figured that must be what was going on outside.

I grabbed the closest thing by me that looked like a weapon, my trusty remote pincer claw, manual ‘robot arm’, and ran out the front door.

What I saw was a Gang of Four dogs, at least two of them large male pit bulls, fighting Toby THROUGH a hole in the fence. 

I immediately started running and yelling at the dogs but they didn’t seem to notice me until I was right on top of them swinging the robot arm. In the less than two seconds it took for me to get to them they had yanked Toby by the neck  completely through the hole in the fence but the cable prevented them from pulling him any farther. 

I inherited my father’s ability to get really loud, really ferocious, really fast when the situation dictates. The Gang of Four didn’t hang around any time at all but headed west running down the alley.

I called the police and they contacted animal control. Toby sat up shaking and quivering while barking at me lightly in a confused manner. I started yelling for the owner to come outside, not wanting to leave Toby alone. No one seemed to hear me. The owner’s wife finally appeared inside the backyard in a couple minutes and Toby shot back through the hole in the fence momentarily tangling himself up with the cable. She took him inside and then on to the vet.

I put my dogs into our backyard and decided to try to stay up with the Gang of Four in order to guide animal control to them. I caught up with them in my car about a block away and when they left that front lawn and headed back to the alley I headed on west to see if they were going on that way. 

Sure enough, they all came towards the west end of the alley and suddenly a couple Husky dogs inside their fence started barking at them. One of the mean ass pit bull males was surveying the situation quietly and one of the Huskies appeared to be fixing to come over the fence! I yelled at the dogs and the gang decided to head back east. 

About 15 seconds later the owner of the huskies appeared in just a pair of black shorts. I told him briefly what had happened and he asked me, “Do you want me to shoot ‘em?” I told him no, that animal control and the police were coming. He repeated, “I’d be glad to shoot ‘em for ya’.”

About a minute later animal control pulled right up behind me and stopped, as I had let the police know where the dogs had moved to.

I told the animal control officer where they had headed and he took off after them.

I never saw any police.

I checked on Toby about an hour later and the vet found and cleaned up wounds on his face and neck. She thanked me for helping her dog.

I had called my wife to let her know about the situation. When she came home about three hours later she thought she saw two of the dogs about 3 blocks west of our house near the hair salon on Union Street. 

So I spent about another hour driving around asking several people, who were out and about, if they had seen these dogs, but no one had seen them.

Today I called animal control and discovered that they had captured NONE of the dogs. They told me the dogs had headed down into the canyons, which are outside the city limits.

I thought to myself, if they had attacked a child, they would have been shot, ... right?

I am a Door Able

I am in bed, almost asleep, when I get a text message from my wife in the living room at 9:30 PM.

Text message: "The front door is open. I'm scarred"

Of course I instantly know she means 'scared' but I pretend I don't understand.

I respond in a smart alec manner:

"You have scars?"

So I get out of bed and go into the living room. She says the front door is open. I am groggily thinking, does she mean the outside glass or inside wooden door(?). Then I turn around to see that it is most likely both, that the wind blew the wooden door open an inch or so.

Then I am fully awake, and say, "Hold it, you were the last person who came through the door and you are sitting right here a few feet from the doors and you had me come all the way from the bedroom (in my pajamas) to close doors you didn't make sure were closed (an hour ago)?!?!?"

I think by this point she realized the ridiculousness of her request and she put this fake scared little kid face & voice on and said, "I was scared." Yes, it was fake, there was a suppressed smile, too.

I am inappropriately dressed but I still, without fear or revealing myself, close both doors.

I realize several hours later that the dogs didn't say anything.

Poem: Wild Wind Wiggle Works

The wild wind wiggle works 

the old nails from their old over bored holes 

of the old worn wood boards.

The loose boards must be re-nail bound

Before they are discovered free by a snoopy hound

For they will make their escape fast and for good

And terrier-ize out past into the neighborhood

Poetry Link: The Next Poem in My Blog

Hopper at Day 365

It has been a wonderful year since my little friend Hopper mysteriously found his way into my backyard, and moved on into my heart. He is an almost constant companion. When he is not with me, I am invariably thinking about him.

Poem: Getting Syrious About Syria with DJT

"Very soon, or not so soon at all.", 

said the orange hairy buffoon bumbling baboon who is 6 foot tall

who thinks he thinks he's bright 

like Dr. Seuss in a book would write

but sounds like a freak 

when his brain leaks to speak

Oh, the things which you can get to become,

When you are very rich and yet very dumb.

April's Fool Version 2018

On April Fools Day I take my father-in-law on a short trip across town. Given enough time he will ask me some ridiculous question. The question that day was, "Do they sell any cars at that place (pointing to the GM dealership)? I never see them selling anything."

I think for a half second and reply, "No, they never sell any vehicles there. They are only allowed to display them, and people buy them online." - to which he replied, "Oh"

I waited about three seconds and told him, "Aprils Fools!!! I was just teasing", to which he cracked up laughing, and added, "and I'm not even wearing green!" which totally cracked me up laughing, and I said, "No, Homer, green is for Saint Patrick's Day." and we both laughed for another minute or so.

We get to his house in Stinnett, and right as I pull up to stop there is a darn goat on the other side of the fence staring directly at us. I tell Homer, "Look at that chicken."

"What chicken?!?!?", he says, knowing he has no chickens. I say, "right there!"

He leans forward, and says, "There ain't no chicken there - laughs - that's a goat!"

"No, it's a chicken, look, there's an egg right there on the ground!" - which causes him to lean farther forward in his seat. "There ain't no chicken there!" and he gets out, "What time are you picking me up tomorrow?" and I remind him that I don't remember and that my wife will call him. He gets out of the vehicle, and just as I suspected he doesn't go directly into the house as usual but heads toward the goat-not chicken-no egg zone.

Duckworth Birth

There was an interesting headline announcing that Tammy Duckworth was the first sitting US senator to give birth while in office. My question is: wouldn’t it have been easier giving birth laying down in a hospital?

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I think I have spent at least half my life being around Corelle brand Vitrelle dishes almost everyday and thought they were opaque. So I am scrubbing a small bowl of some dried food in a fairly dark kitchen and I notice something dark not coming off the bowl. And I suddenly wonder, "What was in that tuna fish salad?!?!?". I continue turning the bowl in my left hand with my right between scrubbing, and then I realized the dark area was simply my finger underneath the bowl blocking the faint reflected light from behind me, and the dish is translucent. I am usually more observant than that, at least that is what I tell myself.

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Dumbbell Jumble Tumble

A Poem for Today

Mumble, mumble, mumble...

Rumble, rumble, rumble...

Dumbbell, dumbbell, dumbbell?

Fumble, fumble, fumble!

Crumble, crumble, crumble...

Grumble, grumble, grumble.

Tumble, 

  Tumble, 

   Tumble.

My Lack of Knowing North

I can't imagine why anyone, especially a true Texan, would want to bomb Austin Texas.

I suddenly remembered a few minutes ago that I have only been to Austin once, that I can remember, when I was 17 years old. I remember that it taught me something about myself that I had just taken for granted. I had spent my whole life always knowing what direction I was going, NoEaSoWe, and that I could navigate by the sun and time and shadows and landmarks, and regularly spaced rural county roads. 

BUT metropolitan Austin was radically different. My high school science teacher was driving, the roads and streets were curvy, there were trees everywhere and it was overcast the entire time. I absolutely hated the feeling of constant discombobulation, my lack of knowing north.

There are many wonderful things and people in Austin, and obviously at least one person, no, bombing monster, who doesn't deserve to live there, or anywhere else, in the fine state of Texas.