April Shower!

Oh my! Another shower. There was a required shower on Thanksgiving so I could go to Brian's house. Then, just the next month ( ! ), for Christmas Eve, I had another required shower to go to Tommy's house. I did make it through Easter because I went nowhere but today...I'm going to Brian's again...another shower. Where does it all end? I have to keep washing off the protective coating I spend months to build up. I suppose it's not even relevant that I discovered my tee shirt was inside out for four months or that I also discovered my underpants were backwards all that time. Ah well...maybe I can make it until my birthday in August before subjecting myself to the clean police again.

My dawg, Huck

Huck (Huckleberry Finnegan) showed up Christmas morning, four years ago. As I sat outside, smoking a cigarette and having my coffee, I could hear a faint whimpering somewhere. There...down the street, some animal was crying. It was about 26 degrees at the time, I went inside and grabbed an old collar and leash and walked over there. I tried the leash and collar but the dog was so young, it didn't come along. I picked him up and carried him to the house. He was cold and shivering. I took pictures and posted them all over town. Lost dog. No one ever responded. The vet said he was about 8 weeks old. He was 8 pounds at the time. He would run right under Haley (Jack Russel). Later, Haley ran right under him.

Huck and I were attached from then on. He became my best (and only) friend.

When I took him for walks (he had a choke collar and one of those barbed collars) and when other people and/or dogs approached, I could only kneel down and hold on, Apparently I was not a good trainer but he always obeyed the "sit" command.

Anyway, since I don't go anywhere or do anything, Huck was always at my side. Really. He would never go outside if I was not there. He wouldn't even eat his food if I was not there. He nuzzled himself between my knees and was at home. He always was with me or within sight of me. If I got up from my chair on the deck, Huck was there. He slept under my desk with his head on my feet. If I walked across the yard, he was stuck on my knee.

Through the years I kept repeating, "I never wanted a dog...but if I did, it would be a REAL dog"

Well, I had a real dog and never understood.

Last Wednesday, Huck didn't eat his breakfast. He did finally eat it in the evening. I lay down next to him on the deck and cried, knowing something was very wrong.

Thursday, he ate nothing and I spoke to the vet. "Give him some white rice and chicken. If he doesn't eat that, bring him in to the office." He didn't eat anything. Friday, early morning, I brought Huck in. I had to lift him up to get him in the car.

Yellow...almost green gums. $2,000 for tests. Yellow insides of the ears. "This is an extremely sick dog."

How could this be? He was only 4 1/2. Liver cancer...something like that. The tests would only confirm the disease but not provide a cure.

Huck...approx. 10/25/09 to 4/11/14. I had him put down...so incredibly sad. He was around 95 lbs and was a formidable force to reckon with.

He was my boy and I haven't been able to work through it yet. I miss my boy so much I can't stand it. I would never have dreamed I could love a dog so much. I miss him.

One Percenter Convicted Of Raping Infant Child Dodges Jail Because He 'Will Not Fare Well'

Here's the story I read:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/30/robert-richards-rape_n_5060386.html?icid=maing-grid7%7Cnetscape%7Cdl1%7Csec3_lnk3%26pLid%3D459417

1. Justice is supposed to be blind...blind of bias and persuasion. It doesn't matter who you are, what you look like, what race you are, if you are rich or poor -- justice does not see that.
   
   
   This travesty of justice is one of the most glaring examples of what the United States has become. I suppose it will only degrade further as time passes.
   
   
   Just for starters, Judge Jan Jurden should be dismissed from the court and censured forever. Then an appeal for re-trial should be made based on the mental incompetency of the "judge".
   
   
   Read the article and retch.

Washington Mudslide, Update

Concerning the massive mud slide near OSO Washington…For all those people who have made comments about the dangers (and foolishness) of building homes in slide areas…those people who have been SO critical.

Some of the homes were built more a hundred years ago.

The hillside that gave way was across the river and smashed into the water far beyond, all the way to the State Highway, blocking a mile of road, destroying many houses and killing many people.

It was never conceived that a hillside across the river could threaten anyone.

I have fished that river many times, perhaps right there and never saw any threat from anywhere

When an entire neighborhood is wiped out, it’s not appropriate to make incredibly stupid judgments about others. There was never a hint of danger in the area, aside from occasional high-water flooding from snow melt. Big deal.

Okay, using the logic of the morons…we should never build homes in the central United States due to the threat of tornadoes. There should be no homes in California (earthquakes and lack of water).

People die from hurricanes, so that eliminates most of the East Coast.

There was the dust bowl era…so the central part of the country is out.

Of course, if global warming proceeds as most expect, New York City is out, a lot of Florida is out…well, there are nearly countless locations which will be under water. So…are all these places refusing to allow building? I think not.

We can make one more leap. Our planet has been struck by numerous meteorites, asteroids etc. over the years. Should we just say we can’t live here at all?

The mud slide at Oso, Washington was unexpected and unanticipated. There was record rainfall in March. 
Indeed, there have been issues with clear-cutting in those hills. Not in that area, however. Deer Creek, which flows into the Oso area was decimated by poor logging techniques. Basically, the salmon and steelhead populations were wiped out as a result. That is not the case with the current disaster.
(Indeed, there were warnings back in the fifties about a possible slide across the river and, indeed, there were warnings as late as 99. There was a smaller slide at one point but some of the houses have been there a hundred years and the hillside in question was on the other side of the river.)

 Okay...I've heard from many people and must revise some of my comments. Indeed, in the 1950s there were concerns raised of the potential of a slide from across the river. In 1999, there was an assessment made which determined there was the potential of a a major, catastrophic slide. Considering all this (and much more), no homes should have been built in the area after that. Of course, there were already homes built long before but no more should have been allowed after the "authorities" were made aware of the dangers. However, they were. Even with a slide in 2006, all the residents were permitted to stay.

That said, I don't really alter my position. Southern California has no water with the threat of earthquakes every day...and keeps on growing. Northern California is just waiting for the next great earthquake...and keeps on building. The central part of the US has been running out of water for a long time and has the constant threat of tornadoes...they keep on building. Low lying areas all around the country (Florida, NYC, etc.) are in imminent danger from rising sea levels. They keep on building. If I cared enough, I could summon up countless other examples of lack of "government" oversight. 

In Oso, WA, there was a hillside across the river from a small neighborhood. It was not clear-cut, but, yes, looking at it, one might imagine it could give way some day. One might look the same way at our planet and think...there might be a meteor heading this way...we should never build anything just in case!

Update...It seems I was as wrong as possible in my initial comments about the Oso slide. Here'a an extensive, damning account from the Seattle Times: http://mobile.seattletimes.com/story/today/2023794966/track-ip_news_lite-1.2..2-./

Birth Defects In Rural Washington Stun Experts

So...the experts are stunned?!
You'll have to Google up the original story which I read on Huffington Post. (I'm unable to add any comments to the story.)
However, it seems extremely obvious what the cause of all these, similar birth defects must be...
The Hanford nuclear facility! Duh?!
There are tanks of nuclear waste, known to be leaking into the ground. I think it's a Super Fund cleanup site. There is no solution. It just gets worse!
The Hanford site is sitting almost on top of an active geological fault.
Of course there will be negative results from this horrible, government fiasco. They have contaminated the entire area with radio-active waste-water...pretty much, forever!
The stunned experts are probably all doing the government's bidding. They will certainly not admit responsibility while more and more birth defects occur and the incidence of various cancers spreads throughout the area.
Experts, my ass! The very same experts are probably stunned that the sun comes up each morning.

Seahawks

I was completely wrong about my early analysis of Pete Carroll. I thought he made mistakes in the beginning and wanted him gone. I was wrong. He is a great coach! I really enjoy listening to (most of) the radio announcers...Brock Huard, Warren Moon! Spectacular! I even enjoy listening to Steve Raible when the Seahawks are doing well. (I have to mention that I despise listening to Raible in bad games because he sounds like he's damn-near crying.) Anyway, I never EVER want to listen to Dory Monson. In any case, I'm extremely pleased to be in the Seattle area for all these years and am proud that the fans (12th Man) have conducted themselves so well....500,000 for the parade! It's a wonderful feeling!

KJR radio

I think it's completely disgusting listening to Dory Monson and the other morons prior to the Super Bowl. What happened to the sports information? It's bad enough that so many broadcasters speak with a soprano voice but why would anyone be interested in these asswipes, personal crap concerning their trip to NJ?