Category: Smelling the roses

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We read your beads without ever talking to you…

 

NewImageWe know you don’t belong here.

We don’t have to ask, all we have to see or hear is the way you race your little wanna be drifter car with it’s flatulent exhaust into our neighborhood.

We know you’re out of your element precisely because of your dark windows.

We smile seeing you lock up your brakes when the pavement runs out.

We know you’re lost, led astray by your GPS.

We see your confusion at being lost because you don’t understand the failure of your technology.

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I’ll give you a little hint… Mountainous terrain and the mineral composition of the mountains can, and often does introduce errors in the GPS signal.

If you’re depending on your phone to give you guidance you better hope that you’ve got a cell signal too.

Not that I care… I personally wait for the day when one of your morons goes flying up my street, and straight into the wash.

I don’t necessarily hope that you die but I’m a big believer in Darwin awards.

Not that any of you would understand what the above sentences mean, you’re dumbfucks and you deserve what you get.

To you, technology is magic, never wrong, and using your mind, or eyes, or the barest shred of common sense is a totally foreign concept.

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You’re lemmings, sheep, Prey… People like you are why Americans in most parts of the world are thought of as morons and easy marks.

Thanks for that by the way…

When you drive off the road into the wash and your little POS car is broken, there is no doubt in my mind that you’ll try to sue the GPS maker or the county or the local residents for your stupidity. Because after all you’re not responsible for your actions are you?

Believe me, you hit one of the local kids because you were going too fast, on single lane residential roads & your bleached bones might be found in the mountains… eventually… if your family is really, really lucky.

Word of advice…

Slow down, remember that in your haste to get somewhere you often miss the beauty of where you are…

BTW, your phones navigation system will most likely work better too.

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As if anyone was wondering.

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We made it official on Tuesday.

We adopted the R dog. He seems to like the place and the toys.

On thing that is very nice is that while the S dog tends to leave toys all over the place, the R dog tends to collect them into one place.

Does anyone notice an agreeable symmetry?

Training continues. Walks are less of an ordeal for all of us. The R dog is stronger, his paw pads are toughening up and he’s less mindful of some of the new scents.

He’s trying very hard to please. He still doesn’t like to go out in the back yard without the whole pack being in attendance. This will present a challenge in the wintertime when I’m not going to feel like hiking in the backyard at -20F

In general he seems happy. His elbows are healing too. He had rough skin patches that dogs get from spending too much time on concrete and not enough time on grass, dirt, or other softer more natural surfaces.

As part of the adoption we found out a lot of other stuff we didn’t know about him and that knowledge is playing into who he is and how we train him.

The other half is happy again and enjoys being greeted with a happy woof.

While I’ve been essentially the soccer mom, handling the day to day issues of walks, feeding, poo patrol, and training. The other half is getting to be “The Fun One”.

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Which isn’t to say that the R dog and I don’t have a connection it’s just that I’m not always FUN!

It is nice to come out of the shower and have both dogs guarding me. Even if that means that I have to step over them to get out of the bathroom.

10 Seconds of preaching.

I know that puppies & kittens are cute and cuddly and that you don’t have to undo someone else’s mistakes. But please, before you decide on buying that puppy or kitten in the window, check out your local animal shelter. Contact a rescue organization for the breed of dog or cat that you’re interested in.

There are a lot of sweet, well behaved, and honestly deserving dogs & cats who need good homes.

End of preaching

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The last 2 dogs came from the animal shelter. The R dog came from a retriever rescue. We’re members of that rescue and as soon as the R dog is fully integrated and settled in our household,  we’ll be opening our doors to another homeless dog.

That one we will be fostering, training, and loving, and then we’ll pass him or her on to another loving home.

At least that’s the plan…

But I’m a big ‘ol softie when it comes to animals.

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Here’s a rare sight.

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This is a nice Tarantula. He just walked across my drive way like nobodies business. I ran in and grabbed the camera then caught up with him in front of the neighbors driveway

They’re indigenous to the area but we don’t see them very often. In fact this is only the second tarantula I’ve seen in the wild since I moved here in 1991.

I didn’t want to scare it or cause it to feel threatened.

He froze when I started taking pictures and while he didn’t seem to be threatened he was justifiably cautious. I snapped only a few pictures, then let him be on his way.

This critter had someplace to be, it was moving pretty darn fast, but it wasn’t running.

After looking up tarantulas native to southern California on the web it turns out that there are only 2 species in this area.

This is an example of the Black Tarantula (Aphonopelma reversum) and this one is probably a male. He’s also a big boy the specs say his body is usually about 1 inch or so, this dude is double that.

I’ll have to keep my eyes open for the other species which I’ve never seen. It’s and I can’t help but chuckle since this is California… The Blond Tarantula (Aphonopelma chalcodes) They usually show up a couple months after the Black Tarantulas. But as I said, I’ve never seen one.

This guy has probably become sexually mature and is doing what males do… Looking for a mate.

Unfortunately for him, if he finds a mate she’s likely to kill him then eat him. after sex of course…

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Wow talk about a harsh punishment for not pleasing your partner!

This is one of the reasons I like living here. You never know what you’re likely to encounter, and more often than not the encounters can be very cool and no-one gets hurt.

There are of course exceptions to every rule but thus far my encounters have been of the peaceful variety I hope that continues to be the trend.

My pride was hurt once when a California King Snake treed me on top of my motorcycle.

Being raised in the South, we were taught to fear the Coral Snake. The California King mimics the color pattern of the Coral Snake and to a Southern boy like myself seeing a certain combination of colors moving out of the corner of my eye will cause a dramatic leap to the top of anything nearby.

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My so called friends had a big laugh, and honestly I laughed too once I processed the following; I’m above 6000 ft, In California, and that snake is WAY too big to be a Coral snake.

In fact, that Kingsnake lived in my yard for many years, and I saw it often while gardening.

I think it was seeing if it could make me jump again, probably had a mean streak or a great sense of humor.

The 1st picture is of a Coral Snake. (Venomous)

The 2nd picture is of a California Mountain Kingsnake (Non Venomous)

Yes they’re very different, but when assessing the danger factor if you assume the snake is poisonous odds are you’re going to live!

The California Kingsnake comes in a bewildering variety of colors.

After doing some research, I found out that the California Mountain Kingsnake appears to mimic the Arizona Coral Snake.

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The last photo shows an Arizona Coral snake. Like it’s Southern cousin, it’s very poisonous They are related to cobras and their venom is a neurotoxin.

Which is why, when it comes to snakes, it’s always a good idea to leave them be.