Labor Day Weekend

So the traditional end of summer has come. Here in Eastern NM it's pretty rainy, cloudy, and humid. More than we usually get, much less than Down East.


I watched the DNC last week and will hit the high spots such as they may be of the RNC this week if Hurricane Gustav doesn't force its postponement. Instead of Sarah Palin (who???????) all the talking heads, or I prefer Frank Rich's term "bloviators", are tracking the storm. It looks like the Big Easy is gonna get clobbered again. Hopefully the present administration is performing as well as they are talking about their preparedness. Pray for the Gulf Coast.


Speaking of prayer, "[T]hey believed in America as they believed in God-they could not really ever expect that America might collapse and God yet survive, no, they had even gone so far as to think that America was the savior of the world, food and medicine by one hand, sword in the other, highest of high faith in a nation which would bow the knee before no problem since God's own strength was in the die." Describes the current royalty under Dubya, doesn't it? But this passage is about the Republicans from Miami and the Siege of Chicago by Norman Mailer written in 1968. Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.



Ever note the similarity between Antonin Scalia and Julius Hoffman??? Both think it's ok for defendants to be shackled and gagged in the presence of the jury. Fair trial??? About as fair as a good dunking chair in Salem MA.



I see Rush Limbaugh's pleas for a repeat of Chicago in Denver didn't happen. A few protesters, a couple yahoos with guns investigated for a possible assassination plot. I don't think I understand why there won't be massive protests in St Paul. It's McCain who's come out for the draft. Of course, we don't need a draft. Dubya and "Dead Eye Dick" both learnt the lessons from their Vietnam draft evasion--the National Guard!!! So they send the Guard to do multiple tours in the Middle East. What the hell, they'd just dodge a draft, this way they have to serve!!! Get with the program, McCain. By the way, does John McCain really think so little of women that he believes he will pick up their votes by having a female running mate?? I am certainly no fan of Hillary but her speech Tuesday last was very good, especially when she asked her supporters if it was her or what she stood for that was important. Maybe the Rovians running the McCain "campaign" should have listened in.........

Shelfari

In the right hand column I've added a new feature---a link to Shelfari. Hopefully I'll be more consistent in updating it than the rest of the blog. I hope it's a feature readers will appreciate.

Pirate Dogs Bios #3: The First Mate

We met at the Stratham NHSPCA shelter. The celebrated Tan Dog, Saint Hannah, had been put down because of a recurring cancer and at that time, the Captain wasn't exhibiting the personality she later developed. So we joined the line on an autumnal Tuesday morning for the debut of the latest dogs entering the NH shelters from other states' kill centers. Since people in NH pay attention to and follow spay policies and recommendations, the state has a paucity of animals available for adoption and imports dogs from other states. The animals arrive on Thursday, spend a few days being examined and evaluated, and are made available for adoption on Tuesday of the following week. So we arrived right at the time of the shelter's opening, at the very front of the queue. ( If you are in the market for an animal who'd benefit from your love and attention, check them out http://www.nhspca.org/ )

We passed several dogs we'd seen previously and wished them well. Then at the back of the kennel there was a large cage. A black form ran to the very back of it. Too shy?? We almost passed by but then the creature rushed forward to the door of the cage, grasping a rubber ball in its jowls, talking to us intensely and pleadingly. It was more than we could stand---I spread my arms in front of the cage and sent my wife to get a leash so we could get the dog out of the kennel. The sign on the wall said "Ella."

Ella bounded out of the cage and was so appreciative at the attention. One wise policy the NHSPCA has is having the existing pet(s) meet the prospective adoptee to determine their ability to get along. The Captain and Ella hit it right off. Would that we could foresee how well.......

So we took Ella home. We quickly realized that "Ella" sounded too much like "Emma", the Captain's given name, so we renamed the newest addition after a couple of our favorite New Mexico locales--Ella was christened Magdalena Cochiti. Of course that's far too many syllables for a dog to comprehend, so we call her Leny (pronounced lane-y), a contraction of Magdalena.

Leny is a Sharprador, i.e., a Labrador Retreiver Shar-Pei cross. She's actually more of a Flop-ra-dor in behavior, using the Shar-Pei fighting tactic of suddenly lying down--flopping--- to get under her adversary. A strange mixture---mostly a Lab's black body with a face that has massive jowls and thanks to Shar-Peian wrinkles, Leny frequently sports a worried or concerned expression.

As previously noted, Leny was thought to blame for some destruction in our house and joined the Captain on the CPS Nargle. Leny has the propensity to skin problems that afflicts Shar-Peis. We'd had her less than a week when she barreled around the corner of the house, slipped, and impaled herself on a cut-back rose bush. This required her to be confined in a lampshade for several days

and the wounds flushed with betadine. What a way to bond with your new puppy--lifing it into the bathtub, flushing her wound out, lifting her out of the bathtub, not cuddling her but rather all the while hoping to keep her away from your body so you don't stain your clothes with the solution......Wonder what Leny thought of it all?


She has fully recovered and is as sweet as she was in that cage in Stratham NH. Condemned to an Ohio kill shelter as an "unclaimed stray" she found her way to NH and now lives with her family and the Pirate Dogs in NM. Leny comes immediately when summoned and is never more than an arm's length away, waiting for a belly rub. "Unclaimed Stray"???? Please..........

Random Thoughts

So my brother from Washington state was here for a visit. He brought the western WA weather with him. It's been rainy and sorta cool the last week. Not at all what one would expect in New Mexico in August. So we'll blame my brother. Why not? Just to let you know how cool it was, my niece-in-law, stopping on their trip from Maine to California, commented on the weather. She expected it to be much warmer!!! And she's from Maine!!!! I think there's still snow on the ground there.

The chile harvest is in. I spent the requisite hour or so getting my chiles and having them roasted. I can relax for another year knowing that I have these freezer bags full and ready to go. Most of the fun is standing in the roasting line chatting with other shoppers and exchanging recipes. And when you get home, peel a chile, stuff some cheese in it, wrap it in a tortilla (preferably a fresh one from the local tortilleria) and microwave it.....culinary heaven.

I see politics as usual is firing up as the Olympics wind down. There was a piece tonite on BBC World News America about the Russian freeze of the Czech spring 40 years ago. The Democratic party convention starts Monday in Denver. I wonder what the cable and network news will have to say about the Democratic convention in Chicago in 1968. Remember Crosby and Nash---"Please come to Chicago....We can change the world."

I wonder if we did.............................And if so, for the better??

Pirate Dogs Bios #2: The Crow's Nest

The newest of the Pirate Dogs is the subject of this biography. We think Weetzie-Bat is a chihuazer, a cross betwen a schnauzer and a chihuahua. She is a rescue from the local kill center. Yes, we live in an area where dogs surrendered or captured and brought to the pound have a death sentence imposed on them. Weets had one day left. So my wife took pity and brought her home. I think her pound name was Rosie or something equally saccharine and unbecoming. We know she came from another town and first christened her "Melrose Mousie" but a friend commenting on the picture in her adoption notice made note of the ears that could likely be used for flying. That, and the dog's nasty disposition (small dog syndrome), brought to mind a young adult book with the title and heroine Weetzie-Bat. Thus was she named.

Weets, being the least in stature of the Pirate Dogs, became the look out for the crew. She perches on the back of furniture as if it were a crow's-nest high above the decks of the CPS Nargle.

Her primary raison d'etre seems to be barking and snarling at real or imaginary passers-by. God forbid someone on the tv rings a doorbell. That sets off the loudest cacophony of all! Of course, being the most diminutive canine buccaneer, Weets barks and nips at Leny to get her to threaten the perceived intruders. A true denizen of a crow's-nest!

Lately Weets has begun to channel my late mother-in-law. There was this hair-cut, sort of spiky and silver. And she sort of glowers at me when I playfully pull her tail (tail wedgies). She has been known to lie under the covers on the bed and growl at any contact with her person. So Weetzie-Bat and Weets-Elva are morphing together and who knows how this will affect the chain of command on the Nargle. Time will tell.

Pirate Dogs Bios #1--The Captain

Every crew needs a captain and the CPS (Canine Pirate Ship--what did you expect??) Nargle is no exception. As previously reported, the Captain of the Nargle is Emma Hermione Granger Watson 'Roid. (Obviously this blogger is somewhat influenced by the writings of J K Rowling and the movies based on her works.)

The 'Roid is the one Pirate Dog that is not a rescue from a shelter. She was purchased from a "home breeder" to be a pet and a transition upon the inevitable demise of Hannah, the famous/infamous Tan Dog we had for over a dozen years. Hannah gave Emma the name 'Roid because Hannah considered the new usurping puppy a royal pain in the derriere.

Emma purports to be a well behaved dog, as befits her cockapoo lineage. Only after Leny arrived did the true nature of the Pirate captain manifest itself. 'Roid is a sneak. She uses her compliant behavior to mask the evil doings of her mind, the sinister machinations of her brain. Knowing the larger, newer animal would be blamed for any household destruction, Emma-roid began her reign of terror. She chewed furniture, sheets, even the kitchen wallboard. It took her less than five minutes to destroy two fairly expensive retractable leashes by chewing the nylon lead just above the connecting link to the collar so the lead material simply retracted and could not be recovered or repaired. But this got her what she desired---The CPS Nargle!!!!

It was the acquisition of the crate that became a canine pirate ship that fostered the camraderie and bonding that turned three dogs into feared buccaneers. This gave them their ship and the opportunities for Captain 'Roid to formulate her stratagems and convey them to her crew. The latest escapade has already been chronicled on this blog--the foiled plan to eliminate Skippy-Kee http://piratedogspilgrims.blogspot.com/2008/05/missing.html. And of course it was the Pirate Dogs who inspired the 580 miles for a cheeseburger adventure http://piratedogspilgrims.blogspot.com/2008/05/driving-580-miles-for-burger.html.

And the mastermind of these exploits is the captian, Emma-roid!!!