October 31st

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

I'm somewhat ashamed to admit that I've given up on treating little ghosts and goblins. In the neighborhood I used to live in I was totally blindsided the first Halloween by the sheer numbers of kids seeking goodies. I bought six bags of little candy bars and had to lock the door, turn out the lights and hide in the bedroom at 6:30 because we ran out. (The one little brat that helped himself to a whole handful of candy didn't help the situation.) I soon figured out that 99% of those children didn't live in the neighborhood. Well, I figured it out after I saw vans pull up to the corner and 15 kids pile out. So, for the rest of the time I lived there I bought huge bags of cheap candy, and a few bags of candy bars that I gave to the kids that I knew lived there. I couldn't afford candy bars for 300 kids. Especially not for beggar carpetbaggers.

When I moved here the first year I bought a bunch of candy, carved a pumpkin, locked up the dog and ended up taking most of the candy to work. The next year there were fewer kids, even fewer the next. It's not worth dealing with the dogs going berserk every time someone knocks at the door for five kids, so I just don't bother. I have a feeling that most of the kids here are going somewhere else-in vans.

So, I will keep the lights out on the front side of the house, and watch Pushing Daisies and Private Practice in the bedroom. The dogs will be out in the garage barking their fool heads off.

DANCING WITH THE STARS-WTF?

SABRINA? How in the world did Sabrina not get more votes than Jane or Marie? She's a much better dancer (although at this point they're all good, the bad dancers got booted off early this time, for a change.) I think that people felt that Sabrina was a shoo-in, so they voted for their favorite not-so-good dancer. Well if that's the case, it backfired big time! And half of this is a popularity contest, and maybe her fan base isn't the type to watch DWTS. I honestly thought that the final two would be Sabrina and Helio. I'm glad I didn't put money on that.

I SPOKE TOO SOON

About Channel 10 getting their grammar act together. From a story about a teacher who died in the fire: “fellow colleagues”

That's like saying "fellow fellow teachers". Moron.

And, JQ is still being stupid: "Looking at a little bit of windfall.” Unfortunately, he wasn't talking about a windfall, which I would like to look at, but the weather. It would be interesting to see wind fall, is that what happens after it gets wind whipped?

PAST LIFE?

Check out your past life here: http://thebigview.com/pastlife/

Here's my past life diagnosis:

I don't know how you feel about it, but you were male in your last earthly incarnation. You were born somewhere in the territory of modern Ireland around the year 925. Your profession was that of a seaman, cook or carpenter.

Your brief psychological profile in your past life: Bohemian personality, mysterious, highly gifted, capable to understand ancient books. With a magician's abilities, you could have been a servant of dark forces.

The lesson that your last past life brought to your present incarnation: Your task is to learn, to love and to trust the universe. You are bound to think, study, reflect, and to develop inner wisdom.

Do you remember now? No.

October 29th

BIRDS

Those big black birds that are found all over the county. I'm not sure what they are-ravens I think. Maybe they're crows. Whatever. Big, black birds that make really loud squawking noises. Every evening just before the sun goes down they all fly somewhere to the southwest. Where are they going, and what do they do when they get there? Have a big raven slumber party? Play poker and drink beer until the sun comes up and then fly back to their regular hanging out spots?

We don't have Blue Jays here, we have Scrub Jays. Don't ask me what the difference is. They're blue and they're jays, I guess they live in scrub. They love peanuts. I swear they can smell them. I put some out now and then and they come take them all. I think they hide them to eat later because they don't rest until they've gotten all the peanuts. They are quite fearless when peanuts are involved. My brother has some jays at his house that will come take peanuts from his hand.

IMPROVING?

Channel 10 I mean. I don't know if I haven't been paying attention or if they are actually being mindful of the proper use of the English language, but I have no new boo-boos from them.

Here's one from Wikipedia though:

Centuries of breeding the dogs to be gentile with lambs but fiercely protective of their flock has created a breed that will bond to families and show a calm, intelligent disposition. Do livestock guardian dogs really care if the flock is Jewish? How can they tell? Circumcised rams?

DANGER WILL ROBINSON!

Fair warning: do not go and check out the "Best of Craig's List" unless you have a lot of time to spend. Some of the posts are vile, but most of them are funny. Like this one:
The Cat Vs. the Sports Car

October 27th

I TOLD YOU SO!

From http://www.10news.com/investigationblog/index.html:

The governor and an army of politicans are the headliners for “Disaster Tour 2007.” They’ve found something in our devastated community that has value for them. San Diego is a successful disaster—if there is such a thing. Politicians of all stripes are acting like this is a victory tour and not the loss of a lifetime of labor and love for many San Diegans. And then there's the appearance of the great Decider, who will be part of the parade arriving in San Diego for his photo op.

Where better to see a disaster than in San Diego, with a football stadium full of clean, well-scrubbed evacuees to show how well things went. Community leaders are lining up to crow about how the system “worked”. It's a place for the politicos to point to with pride. I wouldn’t be surprised if the tourism industry doesn’t cook up some ad campaign.

Excuse my cynicsm but these characters are BLOWING SMOKE. Where do some politicans and the national media get off in making us some sort of poster child for disasters anyway? Let me clue you in, not everything went right. Homes burned down. Lives were ruined. Our citizens, our firefighters and
our police and sheriffs personnel were the heroes, not the polticians taking this opportunity to lay claim to MISSION ACCOMPLISHED. No way. The government agencies in our community FAILED. What better proof then that dry brush that fueled the fires that ripped through our communities?This is not the first major fire but one in a series to hit our region. Who is kidding who here?

This was a failure of our leaders to provide the basic protection
we pay for as citizens. To make us safe. And when a serious question is asked, it’s ignored. That’s why I am angry when the governor ducks a question from ABC reporter Claire Shipman asking him about the lack of firefighting aircraft to help battle the Southern California fires early on. “Everything is good," he
told her. She was just trying to stir things up, he said. Everything is good.”Everything is not good, Mr. Governor. As we all will find as this story unwinds over the next few months. It will be a chance for all of us to demand that our leaders finally do what we pay them to do. What we elected them to do.

What’s also upsetting is how the national media are now comparing us to Katrina victims. Hello, our shopping centers are still open, our water still works, we can still watch the World Series. Before the media and the polticians get too smug about this “successful disaster” they need to stop and think about how things would be different if it had been a wide-scale
earthquake. I guarantee you one thing, if it had been an earthquake, the politicans wouldn’t be in such a hurry to catch a flight to San Diego.

I'm not surprised that this grammatically challenged rant is posted on the Channel 10 web page. Can someone please hire an editor for this guy? (His title unfortunately appears to be "Managing Editor". No wonder the on-air staff has a problem with basic grammar.) This was an exercise in how many different ways you can misspell politician. And, what the heck does he mean by “the great Decider”? Decider? That's a new one on me. I will assume that he's referring to GWB, but I have no idea why he gives him that nickname. Is being a "decider" a bad thing? I would think that someone unable to make a decision would be less desirable as a President. "The Great Waffler" as a nickname wouldn't inspire confidence. Neither would "The Great Flip-Flop", although that might make a good public art sculpture at the beach.

And, he hasn't done much research into the history of disasters. Presidents come flocking to earthquakes too. Flood, hurricane, earthquake, tornado-disasters happen and Presidents flock. The precedent has been set. Go tour the site, or we will call you uncaring and callous. Tour the site, and we will call you an opportunist.

October 26th

I DON'T TRUST THE AMERICAN RED CROSS!

This is a long standing distrust, dating back to when a friend of mine who had been wounded in the Vietnam War told me about the Red Cross selling candy bars to hospitalized service men, and on the wrappers it said that the candy had been donated. Did the donors know that the RC was going to sell those candy bars to the wounded? I doubt it.

Near San Diego there was a fire in Alpine about seven years ago. The Red Cross actively solicited donations for the victims, collected over $400,000, and spent $50,000 on actual relief.
Story about Alpine fire and the RC
Another Story

There were problems with donations collected after 9/11 also.
RC and 9/11
Google “American Red Cross & scandal” and you will get over 100,000 hits.

Now, another disaster, and here comes the RC again. This time Channel 10 spent a whole day pleading for donations. I was concerned that what the RC actually does and doesn't do wasn't being disclosed, so I sent this email to the reporter who was doing the on-air soliciting:

I'm a bit concerned about your Wildfire Relief campaign and donations to the Red Cross. You said on the air that the donations would be used to help the "uninsured and the under insured", implying that they would help people rebuild. From what I know about the Red Cross (and have heard from their leadership) this is NOT what the Red Cross does. I would really like to have this issue addressed, and perhaps have a spokesperson from the Red Cross actually say that these donations will be used to assist in rebuilding. Otherwise I fear that we will have a repeat of the situation that occurred after the fire in Alpine years ago when $400,000 was donated but less than $100,000 was actually given to victims of that fire.

I got this reply:

Thanks for your e-mail. I did interview the Red Cross CEO. He told me the monies go to helping people rebuild their lives but not their homes. They do help with housing while the rebuilding goes on. No money goes to the running of the Red
Cross. From what I understand, once Jerry Sanders and Ronnie Froeman took over the local office they really turned things, including the accounting practices, around.

I hope this helps explain what they do. I'm glad you brought this to my attention so now I also have a much clearer picture of the scope of what the Red Cross does.

Great! YOU have a clearer picture, but since you haven't said anything on the air do the people who are donating all that money have a clue that NONE of these funds will do anything to rebuild lost homes? And, just exactly what do they mean by “rebuild their lives” if it doesn't include assisting in rebuilding homes? Doesn't Channel 10, if they are soliciting donations, have an obligation to inform potential donors exactly what their money will and will not do, especially in light of the fact that they spent a lot of time in the past few days warning people about charity scams? If people are misled about what their donations are actually going to be used for isn't that just another scam?

If I were an investigative reporter I'd be taking a good look at Channel 10 and the soliciting of donations. I'd find people who donated and ask them if they were aware that their donations would not be going to help rebuild homes. I'm pretty sure that I would find a lot of people were misled by the on-air pleas.

THIS AND THAT

My favorite Channel 10 boo-boo from yesterday: The field reporter who kept telling us, over and over, that people were “fustrated” at not being able to return to their homes in Ramona. It was quite frustrating listening to her.

And, a little news bit that made me smile:

Ramona residents can pick up bottled water at the Ramona rodeo grounds between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. Friday through Sunday. The rodeo grounds are located at 421 Aqua Lane. A perfect place to pick up water, Aqua Lane.

October 25th

WE NOW RETURN YOU TO OUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED PROGRAMMING

I always notice when events fade from news reporting. From Sunday until late Tuesday night the local channels were covering the fires all the time. Luckily the ABC affiliate here (yes, that would be Channel 10) had the network programming on an alternate channel because I would have been pissed off if I had missed Dancing With the Stars. Gradually they have been cutting the hours spent covering the fires. Eventually there will be no mention of it, except for maybe a follow up story, and reminders on the anniversary dates.

I have been giving the reporters a break from snarky comments about their use of the language. It's tough to be coherent when reporting by the seat of your pants. That said, if anyone from Channel 10 is paying attention, they need to keep Juliette Vara. She's their most articulate field reporter in my opinion. Maybe they should make her an anchor. The female anchor on the mid-day news yesterday made this brilliant statement about a place where many homes were burned: “One of the areas very hardly hit...” I will hit you very hardly for that. And from the evening anchor: “Look at those wind whipped winds.”

Yesterday one of the moron field reporters was at Qualcomm Stadium and she reported that INS agents had arrested illegal immigrants, and said that now everyone was afraid. She implied that the agents were horrid, cruel and callous for using the disaster to seek out and arrest poor-innocent-undocumented-workers-who-are-here-to-do-work-that-US-citizens-won't-do. She didn't bother to report the actual story. So, since the local news only wants to focus on the sensational side, here's the rest of the story: (from the Wildfire blog.)

Illegal immigrants arrested for stealing relief supplies
Posted @ 4:27 PM
Six illegal immigrants who were stealing relief supplies from Qualcomm Stadium were arrested by Border Patrol agents after San Diego police stopped them Wednesday morning. A woman who had been evacuated to the stadium told officers she saw the group load up two pickup trucks and a car with cots and other supplies, leave and then return, said police Sgt. Jesse Cesena. When officers stopped them, a member of the group said they were being paid to take things of value from the stadium."They were stealing a lot of stuff," Cesena said. "We took the stuff back and we escorted them out. They were stealing from the people in need." Because some members of the group spoke Spanish, officers called Border Patrol agents at the stadium for relief efforts, who then determined the thieves were in the country illegally and arrested them. The Border Patrol agents are among 100 that the federal agency has been providing for relief efforts, said agency spokesman Matthew Johnson. He said the agents are not looking for illegal immigrants among people seeking refuge at the stadium."We're not out there doing immigration stuff in the middle of a disaster," he said. "However, we still enforce the laws."-- Onell R. Soto

DAMNED IF YOU DO

I personally don't like to see the President visiting a disaster site. It sucks resources away from places they could be put to better use. The police, the media, other elected officials are all used to protect and kiss the butt of the visiting dignitary. The problem is if the President doesn't visit, and doesn't do it right away, he/she will be accused of not caring about the poor suffering people. When they do visit they are accused of using the disaster as a photo-op. Who started this ridiculous practice? I think they should send money, and just stay out of the way of people doing the real work.

Want to help?

When there is a big disaster lots of people want to help. I would like to ask that you consider donating to our dog rescue. I can say that there will be no people in the immediate future without food, shelter and clothing, but there will be animals in danger of being put to death because shelters will be over crowded. We have already had a request from a shelter to take some dogs because they have 3-4 dogs in runs designed for one. And it will get worse. Besides the many animals who will be picked up running loose because their humans didn't take them when they evacuated, many pets will be dumped at shelters because people who are displaced won't take the extra effort to find a place to live where they can keep their pets. We will help as many animals as we can, but we can't do it without money.
Coastal German Shepherd Rescue-donate here!

Fire Update #2

I think my area is safe. I still see smoke, but it's just a general haze, no concentrated billows like I saw earlier today.

The local paper has a blog that is kept updated for anyone who is looking for more information about the situation in San Diego:
Fire Blog

Some areas are still burning and there have been some new evacuations. I haven't unpacked the grab-it-and-go box or brought the cooler with the dog meat back inside. I'm afraid that if I do I'll need it, with fires like this things can change quickly. Last night for instance. I had been watching the hills and the smoke had died down and I thought there was nothing to worry about. I wandered outside an hour later and saw what you see in the picture I posted earlier. Too soon to relax, but things are looking better at my house.

Fire Update

Still here. They haven't asked us to leave yet, but it was a little scary last night when I could see this from my back yard.

October 22nd

NANCEE E. LEWIS / Union-Tribune
Sunday, Oct. 21: This is the scene near Cotera Via street, near Barrett Junction, just off the 94 as the Harris Fire headed west from its starting point of Potrero.

DEJA VU ALL OVER AGAIN

Wildfires. Again. Feels the same as it did four years ago when 3000 or so homes were lost in the Ceder and Paradise fires. I've been watching news coverage all day and keeping an eye on the smoke from my backyard. The sunlight is a strange color and the wind is howling. My neighbor has one of those whirly thingies on his roof but it needs some WD-40, the squeaking adds to the spookiness.

Fortunately I'm not in the path of either of the large fires, for now at least. I hooked extra dog leashes in the car just in case the canines and I have to get out, and there's some things packed up to make them easier to grab. I've lit some candles because the power went out briefly a while ago and I can never remember where the flashlights are. Maybe I should eat the ice cream. You know, just in case the power goes out. It would be a shame to waste ice cream.

So far I'm okay here. I'll update this if anything changes.

October 20th

TILLY'S TALE

Tilly is my long-term foster dog. She's been here almost a year, ever since we were asked to rescue her by the county shelter. She had been picked up as a stray with six puppies. The pups were taken by a local humane society, but Tilly was left behind to face death in the shelter. (I use the word “humane” lightly here, and only because it's part of their name. They quite loudly tout themselves as a no-kill organization, but don't bother to mention that they don't take any dog that might need some rehabilitation. They jump all over puppies in the shelters because they can get money for them. They're nothing more than a resale pet boutique, in my opinion.) Tilly was deemed not adoptable because she was extremely timid. She moved away from any human contact, and seemed really depressed. Her only chance to avoid being killed in the shelter was for a rescue to take her, so we did.

It's been a long journey of baby steps for this pretty girl. A shelter worker and I had to carry her to my car the day I pulled her, she was too terrified to even walk on a leash. Once here I put her in a big crate, and she wouldn't come out on her own. I had to put a leash on her to get her to go outside to potty. The first few times I took her to adoption events I had to lift her up into the car, she was too scared to get in on her own, and once inside the car she would poop. Finally she would jump in if I got in first. A few more trips and she finally would get in the car on her own, and now she likes to look out the window during the ride. After a few months she moved out of the crate and took up residence under a desk. Then she started going to the door to be let out to potty, but would only go out if I went out first. Now she will go out on her own, and will come back inside when I call her. She will finally take food from my hand, and likes to lay by the side of the couch in the living room if I'm watching TV. She will nuzzle my hand, and even lick it, but still moves away if I try to pet her. Many people have been interested in adopting her, but in the end they weren't prepared to give her the time she still needs to become a good pet. She can have all the time she needs right here. Baby steps for my Tilly-Vanilly.

TODAY'S EPISODE OF WHY YOU SHOULD STAY IN SCHOOL

From ABC News-not just the local yokels: “Two lanes will be opened, and that's a sigh of relief.” No. That's good news, which may cause people to heave a sigh of relief.

The local moron Jimmy Q was not to be outdone: “How long will it last for?”

From my other major source of amusement at Channel 10: “You won't get a glass of water unless you request for one.” (She said this exact thing three times. She obviously thinks that this is the right way to say it.)

And, from one of the moron anchor persons: “Purse sized dogs are popular among pet celebrity owners.” Lassie's owner prefers a purse sized dog? Does Lassie know this?

From a commercial: “Scan was the only one that really came out to the house....” The rest of them faked coming?

From a commercial from a company that makes toys that are supposed to teach things to children: “Boys are built different.” I hope that language isn't part of what they teach.

The company I used to work for made the imploded list:

Valley Vista Mortgage goes under-complete with apostrophe abuse!

October 17th

"BLOGS OF NOTE"

Every weekday the powers-that-be at blogger.com pick a blog to recommend. Most of the time I wonder why. They lack content. They lack style. They're too specialized to be of general interest. I like today's though.
"Blog"

And, a link from that blog led me to this one, that I personally recommend to my friend Mela.
Literally, a blog

I'm not alone! There are others who cringe at poor grammar and punctuation. Sticklers, unite!

A JOKE

A panda walks into a diner. He orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun a fires two shots in the air.

"Why?" asks the confused waiter, as the panda walks towards the exit. The panda produces a badly punctuated wildlife manual and tosses it over his shoulder.

"I'm a panda," he says, at the door. "Look it up."

The waiter turns to the relevant entry and, sure enough, finds an explanation.

"Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves."

October 16th

To the group that sang the National Anthem at the NASCAR race on 10/13:

Ouch! You were so far off key that my ears STILL hurt.

I TOLD HER NOT TO MARRY THAT MAN

Many years ago one of my best friends was dating a married man. She, in the starry-eyed way of young women everywhere, was convinced that he loved her, that he would leave his wife and that they would get married. At the time I told her “No matter what happens, don't marry that man, he cheats on his wife.”

Amazingly enough, he did leave his wife and married my friend. They've been married for close to 20 years now. My friend called me a few weeks or so ago and told me about finding another woman's panties in her bed.

Did I stoop to saying “I told you so”?

You betcha!

NOT GOING TO BE MY FIRST CHOICE TO DO BUSINESS WITH

These are just a few examples of bad grammar I found on a business's web site. This isn't even all of them, but I got tired of cutting and pasting.

"We have a staff of knowledgeable and diverse loan professionals who have been formally trained in mortgage lending. The level of experience exceeds a median of 15 years, which allows our ability to create solutions."

"When applicants decide that home-ownership is finally for them, they think about the possible tax benefits and future equity buildup, as well as the security, both personally and financial. Often, rushing into a contract before thinking about it. "

"Understanding the process, from finding a home, to loan approval and then the closing of the escrow, is one of the major difficulties for first time home-buyers to understand."

"The challenge of being a For Sale By Owner,(FSBO), is that you must take over the responsibilities of the Real Estate Listing Agent in addition to the responsibilities of the Seller. FSBOs must advertise and market the property, attend all showings, follow-up with potential Buyers and make sure that all prospects are qualified Buyers. This is a lot of responsibility to add to your present lifestyle. Signature Funding understands that this is a lot to take on. Therefore we are providing this information along with our service to make it easier for you."

COERCION BY FRUIT

From comments posted to the online newspaper:

"when you buy thousands of dollars owrth of electronic gadgets to your son just to keep it in a shoulder bag so he can show up in the school and cousing pear pressure, making other kids feel being worthles pieace of s...., and then they steal it, well, i don't feel sorry for your loss."

This reply says it better than I can:

"My son is actually more prone to apple pressure than pear pressure."

AND, YOU'RE NOT!

so, are you ready to educate yourself and the UT about "spyware"? you know, those softwares it put cookies in your PC. eh? don't "educate" me. imagine, i would be educated like you and i just would curve out a big chink of your wealth because i'm educated like you. why don't you ask the UT what's the name of the software? you are educated.

October 15th

Today is Blog Action Day, and the subject is the environment. I signed up to participate, so I guess I'd better stick to it.

THAT WAS THEN

I participated in the first Earth Day. Earth Day, 1970
A big group of us met and either walked or rode bicycles to school. The next day I was back driving my 1965 Mustang, so I guess I wasn't very committed to radical environmentalism. I did begin to pay attention to creating less waste, reusing and recycling. And I put one of those Ecology Flag decals on the car window, mostly because it pissed off my mother. (Back them she was a Republican and horribly embarrassed by her hippy daughter. Somehow in the intervening years she has become a left wing wacko who thinks we should take money from rich people and give it to her because “women get screwed”.)

THIS IS NOW

I cannot abide “No Impact Man”. I see no reason for us all to revert to the Stone Age, cook over open fires, read by candle light and wipe our butts with leaves. Since his family is joining him in this little publicity stunt, why isn't he calling them “No Impact FAMILY”? Why is he only giving himself the credit, while his family has to go without toilet paper for a year? I saw a bit about them on TV, and it showed his wife enjoying ice cubes at work. I'll bet that she also enjoys a good ass wiping there too.

I don't understand why Al Gore was given the Nobel Peace Prize. I suppose that there might be some tenuous connection between global warming and world peace, but Al Gore doesn't back up his talk with personal action. Al Gore's House (Perhaps the prize was given to him for inventing the internet.)

So, what do I do? I do what I can. I use canvas shopping bags. The plastic bags that I use for produce get reused until they're too beat up or I use them for dog poop clean up. I buy in bulk to reduce packaging. I buy a lot of things at thrift stores. I recycle bottles and cans. I make compost. I only run the dishwasher for a full load. I use those new fangled fluorescent light bulbs wherever possible. I quit using bottled water for everything and bought one of those Brita filters, which makes the tap water here drinkable. There's no way in hell I'm giving up toilet paper, although I do try to only use the amount necessary to complete the job. It's not practical for me to give up my car. The public transportation system in this city sucks the big one. In order to get to my last job, which was 17 miles from my house and a 25 minute drive, public transportation would have required me to leave my house two and a half hours before I had to be at work, and get home two and half hours after getting off. That's five hours a day folks. Add to that the nine hours at work, that's 14 hours away from home. With eight hours of sleep, one hour to get ready for work I would have had one whole hour for personal time a day. Barely enough time to feed the dogs. Like I said, I do what I can. I think that if everyone does just one thing to save resources and/or energy a day it would make a big difference. Global warming may or may not be caused by humans, but there's no reason we can't all do at least one small thing to make the place we live a little bit better. Many small things add up to a large thing.

October 13th

THE SMOKE DETECTOR PROJECT or BUT FIRST I HAD TO.....

I don't know how old my smoke detector was. It was here when I bought the house seven years ago, it could have been here a long time before that. The point is, it died. First I noticed that the batteries were wearing down too quickly. Finally it started going off for no reason. It was probably all dusty inside, this house seems to be a dust magnet. I decided to replace it since I bought a pack of three new smoke detectors a few months ago. First, remove the old one. It was in a really hard to reach place in the middle of the hall ceiling. I finally got it off after beating it with a hammer a few times. Okay, go get a new one.

But first I had to find them. I KNOW I left the package on the dining table. (I don't eat on the dining table, it's a horizontal storage spot.) Not there! No where to be seen. I looked in all the places I might have put a big package of new smoke detectors if I had gotten some sort of wild hair up my butt and decided to put things away. I looked for those things off and on for two days. I finally decided to look behind a picture frame that I had stuck in the corner, since that's usually the extent of putting things away around here. Found them! Now to put one up. I decided on a more accessible spot-one I could reach without a ladder. (Don't worry. I'm 5'11” tall, so it will still be at the recommended height, but I'll be able to change the battery when it needs it without thinking about it for a few weeks because but first I would have to drag the ladder inside.) Okay, I made two marks where I needed to drill holes. I was able to find the drill AND a complete set of drill bits! Unfortunately the battery in the drill was dead. So, I needed to drill holes, but first I had to charge the drill battery.
Okay. Holes got drilled. Now I need the parts. But first I had to find the plastic bag with the plastic screw holder thingies and the screws. Not in the package, not in the corner where I finally found the package. Oh, it's in the battery compartment. Is there a reason this wasn't in the directions? All parts were located, correctly assembled and there is once again a functioning smoke detector.

The next project will be to light the pilot on the heater. But first I have to get all the dust, dirt and cobwebs out. But first I have to figure out what's clogging the vacuum cleaner causing it to not suck so that I can use it to get the dirt out of the heater. That's the reason I don't get things done. Too many but first I have to-s. And those are usually the things that I really don't want to do.

The good part? I can light the heater pilot and test the new smoke detector at the same time.

AND, PEOPLE WHO POST COMENTS ONLINE ARE FAIR GAME TOO!

"It all start with education, family and welfare..I hope we have a better system to support these and everything will be better...it all start with who we vote for and what they'll do ..."

Posted by someone whose user name suggests they are in college. How did this person graduate high school, much less make it into college? Don't they still have that basic English test you have to take before they let you in? Or is that now politically incorrect?

A witness in small claims court testified that her "bathroom over-flooded." Not just a regular flood mind you. An OVER flood. That's much worse!

If you also are appalled by the widespread mangling of English these days, check out SPOGG.

October 11th

RIVER FOUND HIS HOME

I'm going to miss that guy. He really is a special dog. But, a wonderful couple met him and took him home today and that's why we do what we do. I shed a few tears when he went away, but it's a good thing.

I GOT SCOLDED!

Someone who read my blog recognized where the horrid grammar emails came from and sent me an email suggesting that I just didn't realize where they came from, and I might hurt someones feelings. Well, of course I know where they came from. And frankly I don't think that the culprits would ever read my blog, because they obviously don't spend a lot of time with written English. But, I deleted that part of the post and I left that email list. I decided that I would not be able to refrain from making fun of someone who writes "pasted" for "passed" or "felted" for "felt", doesn't know the difference between "threw" and "through", and is just basically a moron.

But honestly, I believe that there should be some sort of consequence for mangling the language. People who can't formulate a correct sentence shouldn't be able to get a job that pays more than minimum wage. There's really no excuse for a native speaker to not know how to write correctly. If all I can do is publicly ridicule them, well, why should I feel sorry for them if their feelings are hurt? Maybe it would make them attempt to learn something. I know, I'm dreaming. I will never again make fun of an email. Unless when I go back to work I get horrendous emails from business people. Channel 10 is still fair game though.

October 8th

SNAP, CRACKLE, POP

Yesterday I was watching a movie when I heard what sounded like something had been thrown at the window air conditioner. I went out to look. Turns out that I had left some wisteria seed pods on it and one of them had popped open. Then I heard more strange sounds, as if someone was firing off a cap gun. Seed pods on the vine were popping open, one after another. I've never heard them all pop at once like that. Must have had something to do with the weather-hot and dry.

WATER WATER EVERYWHERE

I mentioned previously about the moron neighbor leaving a sprinkler on and the water all over the sidewalk. Well, I guess the other neighbor didn't believe me when I told him it wasn't coming from my yard and called the water department to report me. The water guy apparently didn't believe me either, until he checked my meter which showed no water use, and I walked him around back to show him the sprinkler. I guess they notified the moron neighbor about it, because she finally got it turned off yesterday. Oh well. No more free plant water for me. Until it rains. With the way things have been the past few years here that could be 2015.

MORE FUN WITH CHANNEL 10 NEWS

"A football field stretch of brush..." Wow! I've never seen a football field comprised of brush. They're usually covered with grass. Must make for an interesting game.

"...spent hours putting out an explosion." That must have been some explosion that it went on for hours.

"...water saturate the soil, forcing it to give away." Give away what? What could soil have that someone would want?

And, from a commercial for Breathe Right strips: "I can breathe really quite relaxed." Yeah, whatever.

October 6th

River and Bentley-Chillin'

I get so tired at adoption events. I purposely don't sit down for four hours. I walk dogs, or I stand up holding a leash. (Usually with a dog on the other end.) I figure that's a couple of days worth of exercise. I took River today. I really thought that he might have found his forever home-a really nice older gentleman (who reminded me of my father) met him, he met his dog and got along. He said he was going home to get his wife and never came back. River might be on the Channel 6 morning news on Friday though. No, not Channel 10, I would hate to have to make fun of him. He really is a great dog, he'll find the perfect home soon.

MORE SCAM EMAILS

"My Dear XXXXX I am Mr.Jumo Hasan, Principal Attorney to Late. Engr.Robert XXXXX, who worked with a Multi-National Oil Firm in Nigeria but unfortunately lost his life in car accident along Monka express road, on 13th June 2004. Since then I have made several inquiries/attempts to locate any of my clients real Relatives, this has also proved unsuccessful, I decided to contact you as a foreigner, so I can present you as his relative and the bank will transfer the funds into your account as his next of kin.I have contacted you to assist me, in repartrating the fund valued at $6.080.000.00 USD left behind by my client before it gets confisicated or declared unserviceable by the Finance Institution where this huge amount were deposited."

Of course these always have your last name.
I'm always tempted to respond:

Dear Mr. Hasan;

Thank you so much for your email. Our family has been searching for the whereabouts of my Uncle Robert for six years. He left his family and disappeared in 2001. We of course were hoping to find him alive and well, but at least now we know what became of him.

He left a substantial fortune behind when he disappeared. Somewhere in the neighborhood of a billion dollars I believe. Do you think you could assist me in obtaining his death certificate so that we can begin the process of administering his will? As for the $6 million in your country, I guess your government needs it more than we do.

Thank you for your assistance.

And, now comes a whole new slant on the scam email:

Dear Beneficiary,

MEMO

Reconciliatory CommitteeFederal Secretariat Building7th Floor Suit 38/39Wuse ii Abuja-Nigeria.

SUBJECT: FOREIGN VICTIMS COMPENSATION.

For introduction purposes, I am Barrister Alfred C. Jones, secretary to the above mentioned Committee.In the recent past a lot of complaints have been going on around the Globe concerning some Foreigners who lost their hard-earned Monies either in the form of uncompleted Contracts or victims of swindlers.considering the fact that a higher proportion of their complaints points to Africa, and Nigeria is mostly affected. The Government deemed it necessary to verify these reports with the view to make adequate reconciliation by paying compensations (Amount lost)to the affected victim like you respectively.We have forwarded this memo to you because your name falls among the shortlisted presented to us for urgent and necessary attention.This initiative was borne out of Government desire to boost its campaign against corruption in the Country and for Nigeria to have her rightful place in the comity of Nations.Now when you respond to this email, you will be directed to the paying bank where your payment will come from. Ours is to make a re-commendation.Do not delay to contact us as soon as you receive this letter to enable us expedite action for the payment of your lost amount immediately.Above all, a processing fee of $150 Dollars only is needed for computing of your info. which will eventually be forwarded to the paying bank where your payment shall come from.

Yours Sincerely,

Barr.Alfred C. Jones

Secretary to the Committee.

Let me get this straight. If I pay you $150 you will give me back all the money I lost to those Nigerian scammers? Let me quick give you my bank account information so you can get your $150. Really, I trust you!

October 5th

Today I decided to take a short drive to a local park. I had read that at the top there were some great views. I got there, and perhaps it's true. But, only if you hike up this big hill. I wasn't in the mood for a hike. So, I went to another part of the park called Morrison Pond. This is along the Sweetwater River, which isn't exactly full of water at this time of year, so I kind of expected a dried up puddle. I was surprised-it's a real pond. almost a lake by Southern California standards.

Since this is so close I'm going to go at different times of the year to see how it changes. Apparently it's also a horse park, so maybe I'll go on weekends and see if I can get some good horse pictures too.

October 4th

GO HERE, GO THERE.....

Spent the last few days schlepping a sick puppy for the rescue. Poor little Tristen never got over his kennel cough, and it turned into pneumonia. Tuesday-pick up pup from his foster home, take him to vet. Back to foster home. Wednesday, the rescue-person-in-charge decided that puppy should be hospitalized, where he could get nebulized (very fine aerosol that gets deep into the lungs) antibiotics. Problem? The hospital she picked was 45 miles away from where the puppy was. Pick up pup, drive to hospital, leave pup. Today-puppy is better, and RPIC wants to send pup BACK to the foster home with a portable nebulizer. Fortunately for me she decided that the foster home wasn't the best place for the pup-they weren't really equipped to keep the puppy immobilized for five days-so puppy went to a vet's office near the hospital for a few days. I did go to the medical supply place to buy the nebulizer. Tomorrow I'm not answering my phone.

TMZ

You should catch the TV show if it's on in your local market. The head honcho guy is just too cute for words. Not handsome, but really cute. Mostly it's attitude here. The show is funny too. I like it because they make fun of morons. They just happen to pick on the famous ones.

SPEAKING OF MORONS....

On Channel 10 news last night:

Anchor person-"We now join Moronic Field Reporter who is at La Jolla High School where the Red Cross has set up a shelter."

Moronic Field Reporter-"We are at La Jolla High School where the Red Cross has set up a shelter."

I'm sorry, it's not really clear where you are. And, do you know if the Red Cross has set up a shelter?

October 1st

NEW HOUSE GUEST

His name is River. He wasn't really supposed to come here, I have enough dogs. But, I talked someone else into fostering him and it didn't work out at her house. Her two dogs (a mother and daughter set, who are very bonded to each other) didn't take well to the new guy, so he had to go. Poor River has had kennel cough and wasn't eating well in boarding, so I took pity on him and brought him here. He should find a home pretty soon. He's a big lug of a dog, wouldn't make a good running partner, but will be great for someone who wants a sweet, mellow companion. And, he loves the raw meat/bones/organ diet he gets to eat here. I sometimes feel badly for my fosters when they get adopted by people who feed crap-in-a-bag, but I can't keep them all. If I won the lottery I'd buy a big old piece of property and have lots and lots of dogs.

HEARD ON 10 NEWS

"October first starts tomorrow." Won't it end tomorrow too? Just checking.

I HOPE THEY MEANT IT AS A JOKE

A commercial, for Swiffer somethings. A courtroom scene. "Can you point to the defendant?" Of course I can. The defendant is the one on trial. You didn't ask if I can point to the person who DID it, did you?

SEEN AROUND TOWN

A car with a big windshield decal that says "So Not a Princess." That's good. It's REALLY good, because a man was driving.