A cure for their disease suggests itself: have them go live in some hellhole like North Korea or Libya for a year or so, with a typical native family. My bet is that they'd value their country and their culture a bit more after that experience...
Saturday, February 26, 2011
The Offensive Side of Liberalism in Action...
Ann Althouse and her husband Meade are offended by this liberal group's willful and untroubled disrespect of a war memorial in the Wisconsin capitol building. So am I. They are also very surprised. I am not; it seems all of a piece with mainstream liberalism's general dismissal of history and distaste for forthright patriotism.
A cure for their disease suggests itself: have them go live in some hellhole like North Korea or Libya for a year or so, with a typical native family. My bet is that they'd value their country and their culture a bit more after that experience...
A cure for their disease suggests itself: have them go live in some hellhole like North Korea or Libya for a year or so, with a typical native family. My bet is that they'd value their country and their culture a bit more after that experience...
Labels:
Liberal,
Politics,
Progressive
Mark Steyn on the Wisconsin kerfuffle:
You don’t have to go to Athens to find "public servants" happy to take it out on the public. In Madison, politicized doctors provide fake sick notes for politicized teachers to skip class. In New York's Christmas snowstorm, Sanitation Department plough drivers are unable to clear the streets, with fatal consequences for some residents. On the other hand, they did manage to clear the snow from outside the Staten Island home of Sanitation Dept head honcho John Doherty, while leaving all surrounding streets pristinely clogged. Three hundred Sanitation Department workers have salaries of over $100,000 per year. In retirement, you get a pension of 66 grand per annum plus excellent health benefits, all inflation proofed.Mr. Steyn is now frequently on Ricochet's podcasts, fills in often for Rush Limbaugh, and has started back up his non-stop commentary and writing. As always, he's a keen and knowledgable observer, and his trademark wit and humor makes learning from him a pleasure. Sure is nice to see him back on the job...
That's what "collective bargaining" is about: It enables unions rather than citizens to set the price of government. It is, thus, a direct assault on republican democracy, and it needs to be destroyed. Unlovely as they are, the Greek rioters and the snarling thugs of Madison are the logical end point of the advanced social democratic state: not an oppressed underclass, but a spoiled overclass, rioting in defense of its privileges and insisting on more subsidy, more benefits, more featherbedding, more government.
Big Unions fund Big Government. The union slices off two per cent of the workers’ pay and sluices it to the Democratic Party, which uses it to grow government, which also grows unions, which thereby grows the number of two-per-cent contributions, which thereby grows the Democratic Party, which thereby grows government… Repeat until bankruptcy. Or bailout.
The World Needs a Cop!
An article on Bloomberg this morning caught my eye and started the ponder. The beginning of it:
My first thought: the atrocity unfolding in Libya is blindingly obvious and indefensible, and Libya's ordinary people are so clearly in need of substantive help – and yet the organization charged with identifying and leading the response to such abuses is paralyzed by internal dissent. They can't even agree to condemn the atrocity, much less actually do anything about it. It's hard to imagine a clearer demonstration of the utter futility of both the Human Rights Council in particular and the United Nations in general.
Related thought: this is the inevitable result of cultural relativism. Together with its closely related disease (multi-culturalism), cultural relativism has made it impossible for the world to deal effectively with Libya, the Somali pirates, and the innumerable other plagues upon our modern world. Our collective refusal to stand up and say “Yes, our culture is better than theirs!” (for this is the essence of cultural relativism) has left us unable to police the world. And the world dearly needs policing. We need a cop, and these days that cop needs to carry a big, big stick.
Just to pick on one example, how else could we deal with the Somali pirates? Back in the early days of our republic, our founding fathers knew what to do: they sent the Marines to Tripoli to kick some pirate ass (which, of course, they did!). To Thomas Jefferson, their was no doubt whatsoever of the moral superiority of the American culture over that of the pirates. Tripoli needed a cop, and the Americans provided it. Why is this same decision so apparently difficult today? Surely no one actually believes there's a serious military risk for us in kicking some Somali pirate ass? They're armed with AK-47s and RPGs, not M1A1s and nukes.
The world needs a cop. Moreover, the world needs a cop that is unafraid of a declaration of moral superiority.
Now here's a scary thought for you. There are people out there trying very hard to become exactly what I'm asking for: the world's cop, with a clear sense of moral superiority. It's radical Islam.
I don't know about you, but personally, I'd much rather have our cop than their's...
The U.N.'s top human rights body on Friday began an emergency session on Libya to decide whether to condemn and ostracize the North African country for its crackdown on anti-government protesters.Where to start with this?
It is the first time that the 47-nation U.N. Human Rights Council has held a special session to scrutinize one of its members.
European nations were leading the effort to condemn the crackdown ordered by Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's regime, order a U.N.-led investigation into possible crimes against humanity and propose suspending Libya from the council.
Observers say African and Asian nations are wary of setting too strong a precedent that could be used against other human rights abusing regimes in future.
Suspending Libya's "rights of membership" under the rules for the council would require two-thirds approval of all the 192 countries in the U.N. General Assembly in New York.
Human rights activists said they expect a strongly worded resolution to pass, though it might be watered down by efforts to achieve the broadest possible consensus.
While efforts to ostracize Libya from the council are being driven by Europe, the United States and some Latin American countries, Asian and African nations will be wary of setting a precedent that can be used against them or their allies in future, said Peter Splinter of Amnesty International.
"This is a test of the council and the willingness of some of its more active members, such as Pakistan, South Africa, Cuba, Saudi Arabia, to take a principled stand on human rights," he said.
In Brussels, NATO also planned to hold an emergency meeting Friday to consider the deteriorating situation in Libya. It had received no requests to intervene said it would only do so if it were given a United Nations mandate.
My first thought: the atrocity unfolding in Libya is blindingly obvious and indefensible, and Libya's ordinary people are so clearly in need of substantive help – and yet the organization charged with identifying and leading the response to such abuses is paralyzed by internal dissent. They can't even agree to condemn the atrocity, much less actually do anything about it. It's hard to imagine a clearer demonstration of the utter futility of both the Human Rights Council in particular and the United Nations in general.
Related thought: this is the inevitable result of cultural relativism. Together with its closely related disease (multi-culturalism), cultural relativism has made it impossible for the world to deal effectively with Libya, the Somali pirates, and the innumerable other plagues upon our modern world. Our collective refusal to stand up and say “Yes, our culture is better than theirs!” (for this is the essence of cultural relativism) has left us unable to police the world. And the world dearly needs policing. We need a cop, and these days that cop needs to carry a big, big stick.
Just to pick on one example, how else could we deal with the Somali pirates? Back in the early days of our republic, our founding fathers knew what to do: they sent the Marines to Tripoli to kick some pirate ass (which, of course, they did!). To Thomas Jefferson, their was no doubt whatsoever of the moral superiority of the American culture over that of the pirates. Tripoli needed a cop, and the Americans provided it. Why is this same decision so apparently difficult today? Surely no one actually believes there's a serious military risk for us in kicking some Somali pirate ass? They're armed with AK-47s and RPGs, not M1A1s and nukes.
The world needs a cop. Moreover, the world needs a cop that is unafraid of a declaration of moral superiority.
Now here's a scary thought for you. There are people out there trying very hard to become exactly what I'm asking for: the world's cop, with a clear sense of moral superiority. It's radical Islam.
I don't know about you, but personally, I'd much rather have our cop than their's...
Labels:
Politics,
United Nations
Pouring Rain...
The dogs and I had our morning walk in the pouring rain today. There is lots of standing water all over the place, which means the rate of rainfall is higher than the rate of absorption – and our soils here are incredibly porous. We don't often see standing water like this...
While the four dogs and I were outside getting soaked, Debbie stood in our covered patio and laughed at us. When we all got back in the patio, she and I toweled down the four dogs (who were all frisky and excited) and got them back indoors. Now we've got the heater cranked up and we're drying off ourselves.
The forecast for tonight is the sort of forecast we ought to frame and hang on the wall. Here's what “global warming” is doing for us: the forecast calls for 2 to 4 inches (5 to 10 cm) of snow tonight at our elevation. Much more up in the mountains above us. We've had dustings of snow in the past since we moved out here in 1999, but never more than a half inch (1 cm) – and it never lasted more than a couple hours.
If it really does snow tonight, I'm planning to head out into our yard tomorrow morning with my camera. We have daffodils in bloom that should be quite beautiful in the snow, and of course there will be lots of other visual delights. Then Debbie and I are going to try to get up into the mountains before the crowds show up...
While the four dogs and I were outside getting soaked, Debbie stood in our covered patio and laughed at us. When we all got back in the patio, she and I toweled down the four dogs (who were all frisky and excited) and got them back indoors. Now we've got the heater cranked up and we're drying off ourselves.
The forecast for tonight is the sort of forecast we ought to frame and hang on the wall. Here's what “global warming” is doing for us: the forecast calls for 2 to 4 inches (5 to 10 cm) of snow tonight at our elevation. Much more up in the mountains above us. We've had dustings of snow in the past since we moved out here in 1999, but never more than a half inch (1 cm) – and it never lasted more than a couple hours.
If it really does snow tonight, I'm planning to head out into our yard tomorrow morning with my camera. We have daffodils in bloom that should be quite beautiful in the snow, and of course there will be lots of other visual delights. Then Debbie and I are going to try to get up into the mountains before the crowds show up...
Labels:
Lawson Valley,
Local,
Rain,
Snow
Friday, February 25, 2011
African Photography...
Reader Simon M. passes along this gorgeous collection of modern black-and-white photography, all in Africa. The photographer is Nick Brandt, and you can see some of his collection here...
Labels:
Photography
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Morning Walk...
Something was in our yard last night. I don't know what it was, but the dogs do. All four of them. This morning I had all four on leash, and as we walked out of our front door, they nearly pulled me over. For once they were all pulling – very strongly! – in the same direction. The usual morning drill is to meander outside in a snarl of leashes, each dog searching for the perfect place to pee. Not this morning, oh no...
This morning, all four dogs headed straight for the first spot of intense smell, about 40 feet (12 meters) outside our front door. At that special spot (where I could see or smell absolutely nothing), all four dogly noses tried to get to the same tiny little patch of ground. They were arranged in a perfect cross, 90° apart, jostling for the best access to that spot. They seemed neither particularly excited or afraid, just interested. Only after they'd had their fill of inhaling whatever molecules they could, vacuuming up everything useful – only then did they decide to pee. Right there, on that spot, one after the other. There's a message there, but I'm not sure what it is.
The rest of our morning walk was a series of high-speed dashes between other spots that were just as intensely interesting as that first spot. A trail of them led down our driveway toward our gate. As we got near the gate, it dawned on me that the dogs were going to straight out the gate and into the hills unless I did something about it, so I started yanking them back. This was not as successful as it normally is. Finally I tried a slightly subtler tactic: I pulled them sideways, off our driveway and into our yard. This worked. Once I got them going sideways, I yanked them sideways again, and got them headed back toward the house. Two 90° turns was feasible; a single 180° turn was not.
The march back to the house was another series of dashes between delicious spots that needed vacuuming. One other spot became a “pee target”. I've no idea what made those two particular spots targets, while the others weren't. I also have no idea what it was that came into our yard, and to within 40 feet or so of our house!
This morning, all four dogs headed straight for the first spot of intense smell, about 40 feet (12 meters) outside our front door. At that special spot (where I could see or smell absolutely nothing), all four dogly noses tried to get to the same tiny little patch of ground. They were arranged in a perfect cross, 90° apart, jostling for the best access to that spot. They seemed neither particularly excited or afraid, just interested. Only after they'd had their fill of inhaling whatever molecules they could, vacuuming up everything useful – only then did they decide to pee. Right there, on that spot, one after the other. There's a message there, but I'm not sure what it is.
The rest of our morning walk was a series of high-speed dashes between other spots that were just as intensely interesting as that first spot. A trail of them led down our driveway toward our gate. As we got near the gate, it dawned on me that the dogs were going to straight out the gate and into the hills unless I did something about it, so I started yanking them back. This was not as successful as it normally is. Finally I tried a slightly subtler tactic: I pulled them sideways, off our driveway and into our yard. This worked. Once I got them going sideways, I yanked them sideways again, and got them headed back toward the house. Two 90° turns was feasible; a single 180° turn was not.
The march back to the house was another series of dashes between delicious spots that needed vacuuming. One other spot became a “pee target”. I've no idea what made those two particular spots targets, while the others weren't. I also have no idea what it was that came into our yard, and to within 40 feet or so of our house!
Labels:
Dogs,
Lawson Valley,
Morning Walk
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
News Overload...
There's so much happening in the world right now...I'm overwhelmed. I have the sense that we're all witnessing something that potentially is of the same historical import as the fall of the Soviet Union. It seems like the world's attention isn't particularly focused on the events in the Middle East. They're in the news, but for a lot of it I have to dig a bit on the inter-tubes. But the news is there, though it's very hard to be sure what to place credence in.
Libya, Yemen, Iran, Bahrain all appear to have active revolts taking place (though with greatly differing prospects of success). Gadaffi is slaughtering hundreds of his subjects. The governments of Syria, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar, and UAE are all taking various actions designed to tamp down any revolutionary efforts – though for most of these it's not clear how much those actions were actually needed to maintain the current regimes' power. Our president says nothing at all about the situation; offers no support, exhibits no leadership either domestically or internationally. This shames me, as this is exactly the sort of situation in which the world looks to the U.S. for leadership. Where will the leadership come from? China? Russia? France?
One thing that keeps running through my mind are the predictions of the “domino effect” in the Middle East by a host of neocons in the early 2000s, and by Natan Sharansky. The scenarios they outlined as likelihoods bear a striking resemblance to what's actually happening...
This morning I read of the earthquake in New Zealand; as I read the death toll stood at 65, with hundreds still unaccounted for. I visited the city of Christchurch back in the '70s, while I was in the U.S. Navy; somehow my having been there makes the devastation seem a little more real than the typical news report. There's little any of us can do to help; all we can do is hope for the best...
Libya, Yemen, Iran, Bahrain all appear to have active revolts taking place (though with greatly differing prospects of success). Gadaffi is slaughtering hundreds of his subjects. The governments of Syria, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar, and UAE are all taking various actions designed to tamp down any revolutionary efforts – though for most of these it's not clear how much those actions were actually needed to maintain the current regimes' power. Our president says nothing at all about the situation; offers no support, exhibits no leadership either domestically or internationally. This shames me, as this is exactly the sort of situation in which the world looks to the U.S. for leadership. Where will the leadership come from? China? Russia? France?
One thing that keeps running through my mind are the predictions of the “domino effect” in the Middle East by a host of neocons in the early 2000s, and by Natan Sharansky. The scenarios they outlined as likelihoods bear a striking resemblance to what's actually happening...
This morning I read of the earthquake in New Zealand; as I read the death toll stood at 65, with hundreds still unaccounted for. I visited the city of Christchurch back in the '70s, while I was in the U.S. Navy; somehow my having been there makes the devastation seem a little more real than the typical news report. There's little any of us can do to help; all we can do is hope for the best...
Labels:
Earthquake,
Middle East,
New Zealand
Monday, February 21, 2011
A New Kind of Internal Combustion Engine...
Reader Dr. Simi L. passes along this video of an OPOC (Opposed Piston, Opposed Cylinder) internal combustion engine. The video makes clear the advantages of such a design, and they are indeed interesting. I'd love to see one of these in action! A word of caution to the viewer: the person narrating the video is the entrepreneur behind its development – so you can fully expect the benefits to be exaggerated and the challenges understated...
Labels:
Technology,
Transportation
Voting With Their Feet...
Americans who are desperate for jobs will move from one state to another to get a job. Studying the relative movements of Americans between the states is a wonderful summary of the relative economic health of the various states. Certain businesses are marvelously sensitive to these relative people flows. One such business is one-way rentals of U-Haul trailers – if more people are traveling from state A to state B than vice versa, U-Haul will charge more for the former in order to cover their cost of returning the trailer.
Reader Doug W. passes along an article that looks at exactly this statistic. A teaser for fellow Californians:
Here's another article that looks at the same metric more broadly. And you can't help but notice that in general, the states that are attracting workers (because they're economically healthy) are the least liberal/progressive...
Reader Doug W. passes along an article that looks at exactly this statistic. A teaser for fellow Californians:
Good indicators of the outward migration are the prices of U-Haul vehicles. To rent a 26-foot truck one-way from San Francisco to Austin costs $3236, and yet the one-way charge for that same truck from Austin to San Francisco is just $399. Even so, U-Haul has to pay its employees to drive the empty trucks back from Texas.“Ouch!” says Doug. Ouch, indeed...
Here's another article that looks at the same metric more broadly. And you can't help but notice that in general, the states that are attracting workers (because they're economically healthy) are the least liberal/progressive...
Labels:
Economics
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Wisconsin Kerfuffle...
I've received several emails over the past few days from people wondering why I'm not commenting on the confrontation between Governor Scott Walker and the public employee unions in Wisconsin. The reason is very simple: I have little to add to the discussion. But I'm watching with great interest, because I think the outcome of this confrontation is going to be a foreshadowing of the politics of the next year or two.
This sort of confrontation was, I think, inevitable after the 2010 elections. I certainly didn't expect the public employee unions to simply roll over – they're going to fight back with every tool at their disposal, as we're seeing in Madison. They have every right to do so. The interesting element here isn't so much what the unions are doing – rather it's how Scott Walker and the (Republican majority) Wisconsin legislature react. If they stick to their principles and pass Governor Walker's reform bill, then the conservatives and the Tea Party will have won an important battle in their war on government spending, and their fellows across the country will take great heart. On the other hand, if they cave in to the public employee unions, the unions across the country will take great heart. I don't believe the overall war on government spending hinges on the results in Wisconsin, but I do believe that a convincing victory by either side will greatly aid that side. So I'm watching with great interest, and cheering for Governor Walker...
This sort of confrontation was, I think, inevitable after the 2010 elections. I certainly didn't expect the public employee unions to simply roll over – they're going to fight back with every tool at their disposal, as we're seeing in Madison. They have every right to do so. The interesting element here isn't so much what the unions are doing – rather it's how Scott Walker and the (Republican majority) Wisconsin legislature react. If they stick to their principles and pass Governor Walker's reform bill, then the conservatives and the Tea Party will have won an important battle in their war on government spending, and their fellows across the country will take great heart. On the other hand, if they cave in to the public employee unions, the unions across the country will take great heart. I don't believe the overall war on government spending hinges on the results in Wisconsin, but I do believe that a convincing victory by either side will greatly aid that side. So I'm watching with great interest, and cheering for Governor Walker...
Labels:
Politics
Epic Fails: Technology Forecasts...
An amusing collection of forecasts by the experts and pundits of the past – every one of them an epic fail. These make very clear something that most people figure out if they live long enough: the experts of today have no particular skill at divining the future.
Just as a sample, here's one from one of my personal heroes: Lee de Forest, one of the pioneers of electronics (he invented the first practical vacuum amplifiers, the triode):
Just as a sample, here's one from one of my personal heroes: Lee de Forest, one of the pioneers of electronics (he invented the first practical vacuum amplifiers, the triode):
While theoretically and technically television may be feasible, commercially and financially I consider it an impossibility, a development of which we need waste little time dreaming.Heh, as the Instapundit would say...
Labels:
Forecasts,
Technology
And Even More Rain!!!
As I write this on Sunday morning, the storm total is just over 4.5 inches (12 cm). It's quite thoroughly wet outside!
The dogs and I were a little late this morning for our walk; we didn't get outside until about 5 am. The sky was filled with dark clouds, but there were plenty of places where the starry sky peeked through – including one big hole with a bright moon. The moonlight lit up all the clouds most beautifully. Our walk was uneventful; just happy dogs in a freshly washed environment. Just a few moments after we came back inside, the heavens erupted once more with another brief downpour. Judging from the radar, we're in for a few hours of that sort of thing...
The dogs and I were a little late this morning for our walk; we didn't get outside until about 5 am. The sky was filled with dark clouds, but there were plenty of places where the starry sky peeked through – including one big hole with a bright moon. The moonlight lit up all the clouds most beautifully. Our walk was uneventful; just happy dogs in a freshly washed environment. Just a few moments after we came back inside, the heavens erupted once more with another brief downpour. Judging from the radar, we're in for a few hours of that sort of thing...
Labels:
Dogs,
Local,
Morning Walk,
Rain,
Weather
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Rain!!!
Last night it poured – the proverbial cats and dogs. We got almost 3 inches (7 cm) of rain just last night. For these parts, that's the stuff of legends. As I write, we're still getting intermittent showers, but nothing like the sustained intensity of last night. The pounding on our new (and watertight!) metal roof woke me up a few times, and I was glad it did – I flipped on one of our outdoor floodlights and just stared out at the wondrous downpour.
The dogs and I took our morning walk while the downpour was in full swing. I was all decked out with my waterproof jacket and rain hat; the dogs could hardly have cared less. The three field spaniels, as usual, had noses to the ground – the wet was all good so far as they were concerned. And the border collie just went for the pine cones, also entirely as usual. Outside the door, on the way back in, all three showed their usual incomprehension of why I might want to rub them with a towel. You could almost hear them saying “Aw, come on! Just let me in already! I just know something exciting is happening in there!”
And for three of them, something exciting was happening – but not in the house. Racer, Miki, and Mo'i are all headed to Ramona today (with Debbie, of course) to compete in an agility trial. Mo'i hasn't been to a competition in a long, long time – Debbie's taking him only because she knows he'll enjoy it...
The dogs and I took our morning walk while the downpour was in full swing. I was all decked out with my waterproof jacket and rain hat; the dogs could hardly have cared less. The three field spaniels, as usual, had noses to the ground – the wet was all good so far as they were concerned. And the border collie just went for the pine cones, also entirely as usual. Outside the door, on the way back in, all three showed their usual incomprehension of why I might want to rub them with a towel. You could almost hear them saying “Aw, come on! Just let me in already! I just know something exciting is happening in there!”
And for three of them, something exciting was happening – but not in the house. Racer, Miki, and Mo'i are all headed to Ramona today (with Debbie, of course) to compete in an agility trial. Mo'i hasn't been to a competition in a long, long time – Debbie's taking him only because she knows he'll enjoy it...
Labels:
Dogs,
Morning Walk,
Rain,
Weather
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Wet Doggy Morning...
I've been a little discombobulated the past few days – my company has moved to a new building, and my first week in the new building is on an unusual schedule for me. I'm helping one of my team teach a class on our Runbook Automation product, and the hours aren't what I'm used to. Nobody else seems to think that 5 am is a good time to start, so we're not starting until 8:30 am. I still wake up at around my normal time (it's habitual; can't help it), so these shifted hours feel hard. Oh, well. It's all done on Friday!
We got a half inch of rain yesterday, most of it late in the day and early evening. This morning it had stopped raining, but the ground was sopping and the sky completely overcast. The sounds of the morning were completely dominated by our ecstatic frog community. All four dogs were a little subdued, and very actively sniffing – probably something intimidating visited our yard last night. I couldn't see or smell any sign of it, but the dogs were all over it.
Bringing the dogs back in after a wet morning walk is always a challenge. Imagine having four very vigorous dogs on short leashes – bad enough already. Then when you approach the house's front door, of course they all want to go in – so they're madly jockeying for position as I try to unhook them from the leashes. After that madness is completed, I've got a writhing ball of dogs at the door, but every few seconds one of them gets distracted and darts away – so I've got to call it back, which isn't always easy (depends on the attractiveness, in dogly terms, of the distraction). On a wet morning like this morning, I've an additional step: I have to dry off the worst of the water with an old towel we keep by the door. The dogs, naturally, have zero interest in being dried off; in fact, they have no idea what I'm doing, and find the whole process puzzling and distasteful. So they wriggle all the more! Eventually I get them somewhat drier and all positioned by the door – and when I slide it open, the four-dog herd goes thundering into the house.
That home entry always follows the same pattern. Miki, our youngest field spaniel, always is in the lead. He's driving as hard and fast as he can, heading straight for the bedroom where Debbie is still in the process of waking up. Miki's arrival on the bed will speed that process up, and make the final result more certain (you cannot remain asleep with Miki bouncing on you). After Miki, Racer (the border collie) follows slightly behind. I think it's mostly reflex with him; he sees Miki running, has no idea why, but can't stand to be left behind. After Racer, it's Mo'i, our oldest male field spaniel, lumbers along. He's not running, and he's not headed for the bedroom – he heads for the food bowls in the kitchen (just in case they magically filled up with food while he was outside), and then, always disappointed, heads to the water bowl for a prolonged drink. That could take five minutes. Finally, at the back of the herd, is Lea – our oldest dog, a female field spaniel. I think she's actually running flat out, but she's old and creaky, so that isn't very fast. She usually gets tuckered out before crossing the living room, so she changes course for one of the doggie beds that our house is littered with, and curls up for a nice nap before doing anything more energetic. It's the same pattern every morning...
We got a half inch of rain yesterday, most of it late in the day and early evening. This morning it had stopped raining, but the ground was sopping and the sky completely overcast. The sounds of the morning were completely dominated by our ecstatic frog community. All four dogs were a little subdued, and very actively sniffing – probably something intimidating visited our yard last night. I couldn't see or smell any sign of it, but the dogs were all over it.
Bringing the dogs back in after a wet morning walk is always a challenge. Imagine having four very vigorous dogs on short leashes – bad enough already. Then when you approach the house's front door, of course they all want to go in – so they're madly jockeying for position as I try to unhook them from the leashes. After that madness is completed, I've got a writhing ball of dogs at the door, but every few seconds one of them gets distracted and darts away – so I've got to call it back, which isn't always easy (depends on the attractiveness, in dogly terms, of the distraction). On a wet morning like this morning, I've an additional step: I have to dry off the worst of the water with an old towel we keep by the door. The dogs, naturally, have zero interest in being dried off; in fact, they have no idea what I'm doing, and find the whole process puzzling and distasteful. So they wriggle all the more! Eventually I get them somewhat drier and all positioned by the door – and when I slide it open, the four-dog herd goes thundering into the house.
That home entry always follows the same pattern. Miki, our youngest field spaniel, always is in the lead. He's driving as hard and fast as he can, heading straight for the bedroom where Debbie is still in the process of waking up. Miki's arrival on the bed will speed that process up, and make the final result more certain (you cannot remain asleep with Miki bouncing on you). After Miki, Racer (the border collie) follows slightly behind. I think it's mostly reflex with him; he sees Miki running, has no idea why, but can't stand to be left behind. After Racer, it's Mo'i, our oldest male field spaniel, lumbers along. He's not running, and he's not headed for the bedroom – he heads for the food bowls in the kitchen (just in case they magically filled up with food while he was outside), and then, always disappointed, heads to the water bowl for a prolonged drink. That could take five minutes. Finally, at the back of the herd, is Lea – our oldest dog, a female field spaniel. I think she's actually running flat out, but she's old and creaky, so that isn't very fast. She usually gets tuckered out before crossing the living room, so she changes course for one of the doggie beds that our house is littered with, and curls up for a nice nap before doing anything more energetic. It's the same pattern every morning...
Labels:
Dogs,
Morning Walk
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