More distortion

I just read a book about Chagall. I think it warped my brain.

They said it couldn't be done...

The handy-man of my building said I'd never get the stove clean. But he was wrong. I can't decide if he told me that to goad me into trying or because he really believed it. In any case, that stove is CLEAN!

Ok, new place...

We've moved upstairs to a smaller apartment in the building. I don't want to be the manager anymore. It's making me crazy(er). So, a couple of snaps from the new place - day two.

Mustang Fever

The Heat

Pardon Me, Your Brain Door's Open

The Carnival's In Town

A new show has opened at Refined by Fire, our local gallery here in Point Richmond. It's a pretty good show, and a great photo-op. Check it out! 103 W.Richmond Ave. Point Richmond, CA.

Where Is My Hat?

My hat, my hat,
where is it at?
I asked the dog.
I asked the cat.
The one thing that I know is that,
I don't know where my hat is at.

On nights that are chilly I wear a nightcap. In the morning it is sometimes lost in the bedclothes. This morning I awoke with my Border Collie on my right and my cat on my left. My hat was hiding, and as I looked for it I discovered I was mumbling this. Early onset senility anyone?

Think, think, think

One of my neighbors who owns a restaurant bred her pit bull recently and is "selling" the pups for $700.00. There were 10 in the litter - she still has nine - they are now 5 mos. old and she's starting to panic. One she gave as a present. Man!, just what Richmond California needs! 10 more pit bulls. The shelters are full to bursting with pits and pit mixes. I like pits, They are mostly swell dogs. But we are swimming in them here!

Does she have a right to breed her bitch? Certainly. Is it morally defensible? Well.... not so clear. I told her she might just as well have taken a 9mm into a shelter and blown away 10 dogs. Are the eventual buyers (if they materialize) of her puppies evil because they plunk down $700.00 instead of adopting a shelter dog? Certainly they have the right to do so. But having the right doesn't make it right.

But you could take these arguments anywhere. Maybe I should be sending my "disposable income" to someone who is working on a renewable energy source and needs funding instead of feeding 3 animals that I "don't need." But those animals needed someone, and they have more than repaid me for the money I spent on them.

I think it would be great if people did a 10 year moratorium on eating fish so that wild stocks could have some time to recover and salmon and shrimp farms could be redesigned to be much less polluting. But these things will probably not happen voluntarily, and I don't want to be the one to take away a fisherman's livelihood - even though just doing what he has to to feed his family will probably do just that.

I think buying a purebred dog just as a pet is a selfish act. I'd love to have a Scottish Deerhound. But I don't live on venison, and the Deerhounds I know wouldn't have a clue about how to bring a deer to bay, or bring it down even if I did. So instead I fell in love with a Border Collie of uncertain pedigree. Lucky me! I've discover the joy of living with one of the cleverest dogs on earth. And she is no longer marinating in her own feces in a concrete pen, or contributing to canine overpopulation. Does this make me a better person than someone who goes out and buys a German Shepherd Dog because they think it makes them look cool?

Honestly, I do.

I think people need to realize that all the decisions we make have consequences. They need to think hard about what these consequences mean, and then act in a responsible way. But we all know that asking people to think at all is an iffy proposition. Trying to get them to work out that just because they can do something doesn't mean they should is going to be a tall order.

The Extreme Cuteness of the Itty Bitty Pittie

Eclipse

In keeping with the "distortion" motif... The dark shape of my Border Collie's head eclipses her reflection, (and thankfully, most of mine) in a Volkswagen Beetle's hubcap.