My Rescue Day! Reminiscence and Celebration

Hi All,

Opie here.

We’re
Celebrating

My One Year

Adoption
Anniversary!

This month last year I was adopted by my current family.

It’s only fitting to reminisce a bit about those early days so that we can all really appreciate the present!

I don’t remember my old family at all. That’s fitting since they didn’t think too hard about me when they dumped me at the Riverside County Shelter. The folks there try very hard to get cats and dogs adopted out, but Riverside Shelter is not a no-kill shelter. Last year they euthanized over 350 “adoptable” dogs. If the folks at Lhasa Happy Home Rescue had not picked me up last June, I might have been one of those unlucky pooches. Believe me it was quite lucky. Please note that I am NOT a Lhasa Apso. Luckily, Lhasa’s mission includes other small breeds. ( Snorkie’s must be included!) Randee said she fell in love with my ears!

Here is a picture of me in from those early times.

This was taken near the end of August 2010.

I’ve always loved belly rubs. And my ears are quite cute.

Randee, the head of the Lhasa rescue, immediately sent me to live with my Foster Mom. She had two kids and they were great to me. I don’t remember them very well now. I think I was a little traumatized by all the shifting from place to place. Consider this — I was with my first family as a puppy(home number 1) , then when I was about 6 months old they brought me to the pound ( home number 2) , then about a month later, Randee came and got me and I stayed with her ( home number 3) and then with Barbara ( home number 4) and finally…. Finally with my mama. That’s five
different places before I was 10 months old. Let’s face it. I was a nervous wreck. I didn’t really settle down until a couple of months after Mama and Daddy had me. Mama has the vet bills to prove it!

How My Mama Found Me

Mama’s allergic to most dogs so they looked on Petfinder.com for a hypoallergenic dog. (By the way, we think that the study that said that hypoallergenic dogs don’t exist is deeply flawed.) Mama knew that if she went to the local pound, she was bound to fall in love with a dog that would make her eyes red and nose itchy. Finding a forever fur friend is a lifelong commitment. People need to use their heads along with their hearts to match themselves with an appropriate fur friend. Mama saw me online and I fit the bill. I was the right size for our house and the right breed or combination of breeds for her nose! She filled out the adoption forms, cleaned up the house for a home visit from the Lhasa volunteers, and then finally met me!

The rest, as they say, is history.

This is me that first day on Randee’s couch.

The picture is not good. Mama took it with her phone.

The whole family fell in love with me on the spot. Within about 3 hours I was on my way with Mama and the boys to buy me a bed, water and food bowl and dog food. With the exception of vet and grooming appointments, it’s been paradise here!

As he was giving me a belly rub, Daddy told me that I was spoiled rotten!

He’s right!

I am.

How Are We Celebrating My Anniversary?

Mama started the celebration by making my every day food especially savory.

I’ve had a little wet canned food mixed into my kibble every day. OMD! It’s heavenly! I’ve also shared family cook out grub! I’ll just say one word – Hamburger!

To complement my new hair cut, mama got me a t-shirt. I think I look tough.

Daddy thinks I look tough too! Here I am greeting him at the door!

I love Daddy! And I kind of like my t-shirt too. I don’t try and bite it off like my Christmas sweater.

It suits me perfectly.

SECURITY! That’s what I am, that’s my job!

I’m the SECURITY DOG!

It fits my new MUSCLE DOG look!

Mama has also taken me to the dog park a few times this month!

Of course, I don’t wear my t-shirt to the park.

I don’t want to make anyone jealous!

At the park Mama took some pictures of me before I got down to the serious business of playing!

Then it was play time!

Here I am with my new buddy! I never got his name. His Mama was way at the other end of the park!

And here’s my other buddy!

I’ve had a great time at the park! I’ve even renewed some old acquaintances.

I love riding in the car with Mama.

Here we are coming back from the park on one of our many trips this month!

This is just a taste of the type of things that we’ve been doing this month to celebrate my anniversary. Mama says there’s more fun on the way. She mentioned something about a play date with Mo-mo – the poodle down the street. And I think there’s more time at the dog park on the calendar!

But the truth is…

I don’t really need all this stuff.

I’m happy sitting on the couch with my hu-brothers while they play video games or practice the guitar.

I’m happy sleeping at the foot of Mama and Daddy’s bed.

I’m happy pressing my face into Mama’s hand for a ear scratch.

I’m happy sitting on Daddy’s lap while he’s watching a movie.

I’m happy because I’m in my house with a family that will NEVER give me up!

We belong together.

If I have a wish for my anniversary (like a birthday wish!),

It is that every dog and cat can have a forever home where people love and care for them.

That’s my anniversary wish!

I may keep Mama and Daddy up all night barking at critters in the back yard.

I may chew on somebody’s glasses if they are left in my reach.

I may threaten the mail carrier every morning.

I may run under the coffee table when the grooming brush comes out.

I may even jump on the dining room table and steal a piece of breakfast bacon!

But I know I am loved!

I am an integral part of the family

I’m home.

Forever!

Smell you later fellow pet bloggers.

Licks and Sniffs,

Your Pal,

Opie

 

 

Where the Wild Snorkies Are – A bed time story for naughty doggies!

By Storese Meatstack as told to Opie’s Mom

Inspired of course by Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are – Our family’s favorite bedtime story!

The night that Opie put on his Human suit and made mischief of one kind

And another

His mother called him “WILD THING!”

And Opie said “I’LL EAT YOU UP! Or GRRRRRRRR!”

So he went to bed without eating anything.

That very night in Opie’s crate a blanket forest grew until his ceiling hung with soft flannel and the wall became the world all around and a freeway tumbled by with a private van for Opie and he drove all through a night and day and in and out of weeks and almost over a year to where the wild things are.

And he when he came to the place where the wild things are they roared their terrible roars and gnashed their terrible teeth and rolled their terrible eyes and showed their terrible claws. They also yipped their terrible yips and barked their terrible barks and howled their terrible howls!

Till Opie said “BE STILL!” And tamed them with the magic trick

of sniffing all of their butts and they were frightened and called him the most wild thing of all

and made him King of all wild things.

And now, cried Opie, “Let the wild rumpus start!”

Play Wild Rumps Video Now Please 🙂

 

“Now Stop!” Opie said and sent the wild things off to drink water.

But Opie – King of the Wild things was lonely and wanted to be where someone loved him best of all.

Then from far away he smelled duck, potato and liver treats and little boy feet.

So he gave up being king of the wild things

But the wild things cried, “Oh please don’t go we’ll eat you up – we love you so!”

And Opie said, “No!”

The Wild things yipped their terrible barks and howled their terrible howls and sniffed each other’s butts, but Opie got his leash and caught the magic van ride home

And drove back over a year and in and out of weeks and through a day and into the night of his very own home

Where he found his supper waiting for him

And it was still…. In the bowl!

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Kind of Wordless Wednesday – Melodrama at the Culver City Boneyard!

Opie: Walkin’ the walk, strutin’ my stuff at the Bone Yard!

Butch: Hey you — Snorkie! You dog enough to play ball with me!?

Opie: Sure, but are you dog enough to jump the fence? It’s straight kibble for me if I do it.

Butch: Sure thing! Meet you by the water fountain… I’ll need to get a running start.

Be there and bring all those new tennis balls under the tree.

Jazz: Psst Snorkie – Over here by the poop can – Saw you talkin’ to Butch. Be warned! He hogs the ball.

Do yourself a favor and stick to the small dog side of the park! Butch is bad news.

Opie: Thanks Bro! You’ve done me a solid. I won’t forget this! No way that lard butt jumps this fence! Heh, heh, heh!

Jazz: Well, forget I said anything.

You never saw me and I never talked to you – Got it. I ain’t no snitch!

Fanny: Opie, you shouldn’t talk to those big doggies.

I don’t like the smell of their hind ends. That Butch has been in the time out pen three times this week.

He never does anything his Daddy tells him, and he has chewed up all the tennis balls on their side of the park.

Opie: Fanny, I’m not sure I like your elitist attitude. We dogs are all equal under the fur.

Fanny: I’m just trying to tell you he’s using you for tennis balls, you dumb mutt! Didn’t you notice they have zero new tennis balls on their side!

Opie: Dumb mutt am I? I wasn’t so dumb while you were trying to play bitey face with me under the bench.

Fanny: Well, I never!

Opie: Well I never either. I’ve was fixed as a puppy!

Fanny: You cruel dog! You’ve broken my heart! I’ll never sniff your butt again! Go on and play with Butch. Enjoy yourself with your new cool friend! (Sniff!)

Opie: That’s the way the dog biscuit crumbles baby! I’m just not a one pup kind of canine.

So here he sits.

Opie, the lone Snorkie. Willing to walk on the big dog side, risk the loss of

new tennis balls and shun the prettiest pooch in the park.

He’s a bad boy.

And that’s the way he likes it!

Wordless Wednesday – Canine Boarding Photographic Planning

Almost wordless Wednesday

We are going away for a week and Opie must be “kenneled” while we are gone.

In order to accustom him to the boarding facility, he’s been having sleep overs.

For those who are thinking about how to do this here is a pictorial account of what we are doing to get Opie ready for our trip away.

First, off to the Dog Park!

This is so he doesn’t associate riding in the car with going someplace unpleasant —

All the time! ( Trips to the vet, the groomers, the day care — YUCK) Instead, think of trips to the dog park, the pet store and to pick the boys up from school and just to have a really good SNIFF FEST!

Here he is at the dog park!

Good times!

On the way home we stopped at the pet store and bought some new treats and extra food.

Highly recommend – Welcome Home Duck sticks ( really easy to break up into smaller pieces, unlike any of the jerkies which you need to take the kitchen shears to cut reasonably.)

Then we went home for a bit – mostly to gather up his food for the two night sleep over, his snacks and to write his name on his harness (Just like camp – we have to label everything!)

Then…

another Car ride, and soon we were at Doggie Central.

The idea behind going to the park was to make him a little tired before we leave him at the Doggie Central boarding facility. We also wanted to give him some quality play time with some canine pals. Not pictured is all the affection he got at home. Beau coup Tummy Rubs and lots of duck treats for sitting and staying like a champion.

That night we missed him terribly in the night! There was much vocal complaining from his hu-brothers and I’ll admit I didn’t sleep as well without him walking on me at least once during the night. Every time I heard a siren go by I worried that the facility was burning down with my dog in it.  I finally had to get up and play a little IPAD scramble to clear my head.

Yes, I’m a true mom!  Paranoid to the max!
However, Opie seemed to pass a decent night.

Here are today’s Webcam pix.

I love the webcam!

WHEN THE SAVE FUNCTION WORKS AND I DON’T HAVE TO HIT ALT PRINT SCREEN TO GET AN IMAGE OF MY DOG!

Weirdly, the save function for the webcam is not working!

So, sorry for the picture of my screen fellow bloggers.

However, if you choose any facility for your dog make sure they have a webcam. I think it’s stupid for them not to have one. They are not that expensive, easy to install and the peace of mind they give a dog owner is really measurable.

I wonder if they could put webcams in the schools too! At least the pre-schools!  Just a thought.  ( Paranoid Mamas of the world UNITE!)

(And yes, I am doing weight watchers online. I have a blog there that I am not paying much attention to. LOL)

Still, it’s reassuring to see him running around the next morning. He seems calm and the little dominator dogs that were their back in January do not seem to be there today. Excellent!

I fully expect him to be worn completely out when we pick him up tomorrow morning.

Two nights at Doggie Central!

I forsee a special chicken breast dinner for a certain Mr. Furry Pants. 🙂

 

Hopefully, these two nights will be enough to prepare him for the 5 nights coming up. It won’t seem as if we’ve abandoned him.  That coupled with a few extra perks we’ve arranged should make it more bearable.

The real question is whether we’ll be able to stand it.

Once again, Thank God for Webcams!

Don’t board your dog without them!  

 

 

Saturday Blog Hop — What if we had a FETCH A THON?

Hi All,

Opie here! You all must know that it’s sometimes hard being the only doggy in the house. The family goes off to some event and leaves you at home for hours. It is a little annoying to be left out of the fun, especially when it involves

BALLS! LOTS AND LOTS OF BALLS!

My hu-brothers were at their school’s Hoop-a-thon! They raise money for their school by shooting lots of baskets. People pay by the basket! Last year they bought new uniforms for the teams and stuff like that.

 I wish I could have gone. I think I could make a basket. I can fly through the air and DUNK! Like a DUNKIN’ MACHINE!

I can nose dribble, and in a game I’m good at tripping up the other guy.

My hu-brothers agree that I have SPEED! AGILITY! HEART!

THIS SNORKIE CAN JUMP!

Maybe because I am such an AWESOME BUT
UNDER APPRECIATED PLAYER

My hu- brother let me wear his Hoop-A-Thon Medal.

I think I look quite snazzy. Mama just needs to sew up the ribbon so that it will fit me properly. (I love the fact that I can probably chew the medal a little bit if it dangles down a bit, but don’t tell Michael that!)

Maybe we should have our own DOGGY–THON! I know some of you don’t have my MAD BASKETBALL SKILLS, so maybe we could make it something that every four legged FIDO can participate in. How about a Doggy FETCH-A-THON! We don’t have to limit it to Balls. It could be anything you like to fetch – balls, Frisbees, sock monkeys, stuffed squirrels. We could have it in a big green sunny dog park! Ahhhh! Sounds like heaven doesn’t it?

I’m going to talk to Mama about this. There are so many good causes to raise money for!

BEST OF ALL – we could have neat medals for our participation! And think of the treats!!!

What do you say doggers?

Gotta run! Michael wants to shoot some HOOPS with me! I have to be gentle and not beat him TOO badly. He  is my LITTLE hu-brother!

Grins and Licks Fellow Doggers!

Your Pal,

Opie!
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Friendly Friday – Opie and Friends!

My Buddies – Doggy and Human!

 

Hi All, Opie here. I thought it might be fun to show you some of my buddies!

So here they are – Opie and Friends!     

Poppy and I are really “gettin’ it on” Good times!

Here’s a better shot of Poppy!

This is Woody! We are just reacquainting ourselves.

It was a good day at Oberrieder Dog Park. Don’t know these guys but we had fun!

I didn’t catch this guy’s name either, but he was only interested in a quick sniff. He didn’t stay long.

And here are my best friends in the whole world! My big hu-brother Greg!

And my little hu-brother Michael!

They are my “bestest” friends in the whole

DOGIVERSE!

 

Oh My Dog! An Embarrassment of Riches

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Oh My Dog – I have a lot of blog buddies to thank. This month been full of wonderful surprises for Opie’s Mom’s Blog! We owe so many thanks to some very special bloggers. So we thought we’d say thank you and give a shout out to all of them at once! First of all, many wonderful thanks to Carrie Lea at All Things Dog Blog. We won her contest and received wonderful gifts from the Mankind Dog store. I got a wonderful Mug and Opie’s styling in his new kerchief. Here is our belated, but sincere thank you!

Now if that weren’t enough we’ve won the Stylish Dog Blog Award AGAIN!

Thank you so much Debby and Kirby at Kirby the Dorkie.
We are just as tickled to win it now as we were the first time. Debby and Kirby run a beautiful blog! And you all should check it out. Opie is wiggling with excitement that he’s won this award again.

The way this award works is to tell 7 random things that the bloggers don’t know about you and then nominate 15 other blogs to the award. Thinking of 7 random things is easy, but narrowing our list of great blogs down to 15 other blogs is really, really, hard. There are so many great blogs out there! However, we are quite happy to be able to name 15 more great blogs out there for everyone to visit. Their links will be at the end of this posting.

And there’s more….

We said that we had an embarrassment of riches! We do. We won a wonderful handmade doggy necklace from
Roxie the Traveling Dog. If you get a chance go to her blog and check out the wonderful necklaces and handmade items. Opie’s necklace is custom made to his cute little neck. We got to choose our color and design.

Here is ours on Opie! He’s wanted to show it to full advantage so he’s facing away from the camera.

Here it is straight out of the mailing envelope.

Isn’t it lovely! We just got it TODAY!

Here are some other necklaces that are custom made. Check these out!

I think they are lovely. You can find these necklaces and even more beautiful handmade items at their other website. Desert Raven Art.( http://www.desertravenart.com ). Believe me; I’m making a wish list!

We said we had an embarrassment of riches didn’t we?

So many things to be thankful for!

So many generous pet bloggers on the Internet!

So here is our really big

THANK YOU

for all the wonderful prizes and awards!
We really appreciate all of you so much for taking the trouble to acknowledge our little blog.

Oh and Opie says –

“Lick, lick, lick, lick, lick!”

Oh, before we forget – here are 7 random things about us for the Stylish Blogger Award!

1. I think I missed the dog park more than Opie did! It’s a great place to meet people who think like I do. We had a “morning crew going” We drank our coffee and watched our dogs wrestle and had a great time chatting about life. It was the best grown up human “play date” place! You could pick up tips about great vets, bad vets, good food, bad food, great groomers, bad groomers and even dog training tips with live show and tell action!
   
2. Opie sleeps for about ¼ of the night in his basket at the foot of our bed and then at some point manages to work his way onto the bed and get his head on either my pillow or Daddy’s pillow. His breath is horrible.
   
3. Opie leaves at one point during the night because his parents snore very loudly. I won’t say who’s louder, but it isn’t me!
   
4. The exterior of the car is very clean, but the passenger window is filled with nose prints.
   
5. Opie listens to Grandma talk to him over the phone and licks the phone.
   
6. My best day ever is when I am covered in boys – at the bottom of a dog pile with my sons draped over me and my Opie trying to wiggle his way into the pile too!
   
7. I was happy when Opie lunged menacingly at the guy trying to sell me a $30,000 new roof! Opie hates solicitors! I gave Opie a big strip of chicken jerky for cutting the hard sell routine short with his incessant barking. Good barking Opie!
   

 

Here are 15 Fantastic Blogs that you should definitely check out!

They are in no particular order.

• 
  24 Paws of Love
  
• Roxy the Travelling Dog
  
• Another Tequila Sunrise
  
• Bocci’s Beefs
  
• House of Carnivores
  
• Lucy’s Human
  
• Pip Gets Back in the Game
  
• Secret Schnoodle
  
• Tales and Tails The Hilarity of Everday Life
  
• Anna the GSD
  
• Maggy and Mitch the Airdales
  
• It’s Me Buddy’s Blog
  
• The Dogs of Green Hill Farm
  
• Scoop the WonderDog
  
• Two Pitties in the City
  

 

Once again, a big thank you to Kirby the Dorkie, All things Dog and Roxy the Travelling Dog!

 

  

You Guys Rock!

 

Love,

Opie and Opie’s Mom

Great news – Hallelujah Our Dog Park will Reopen March 1st!

Keep your paws crossed for me fellow doggies!

Our beloved Bone Yard — The Culver City Dog Park is reopening on March 1^st.

I’ve been without this wonderful place since September of 2010. Some of you already know the story. Just in case you don’t — essentially some nasty oil company had a leaky oil pipe or something that polluted our park. So they had to fix it. Then they found another rotten pipe and had to fix that!

Here’s what our dog park looked like while they were working on it for ALMOST SIX MONTHS!

It made me so sad to see it closed!

It made me mad to see this big mess!

This is the view right above our dog park!

Mama took this from the car so she apologizes for the glare.

The security guard for the oil company was giving her mean look!

I think it was because Mama was giving the oil machinery a mean look!

I didn’t know that Mamas could growl!

I’ve been to one other dog park … and I didn’t like it! (Too small and not enough nice doggies!) Mostly, I missed my buddies.

I’ve been kind of mad at the oil company for a long time. Now I’m going to reminisce with my photos of all the fun stuff we did there! Expect a great blog in March about how wonderful it will be to be back at the park!

I can’t wait to get back to see my buddies!

This is me and my friend Poppy! He loves to wrestle!

He’s a great wrestler!

This is me checking out the big dog side of the dog park!

They have REALLY big dogs on that side. I can’t wait to see them too!

This is me running at my park. I’m the grey blur running toward that lady! 

 See it’s big for a city park!
You can’t even see the whole thing here.

>

Occasionally, it would get kind of hot at the dog park.

Here’s Daddy washing out a water bowl!

Gee Dad don’t you know there’s a bowl right here near me!

Yeah I know it’s full of sand, so what?

Maybe the best part of the park was chillin’ with my buddies.

This is Chase! We’re checking out the newcomers

before we race down the hill. Heh, heh, heh!

On your mark, get set……!

When I was first adopted, I was a little grumpy.

I didn’t like anyone except my new mama.

Mama brought me here to get “socialized.”

I don’t really know what that means, but I do know that I made a lot of

doggy and human friends here. I’m not so grumpy now because of the dog park. I can’t wait to get back. I know Mama misses some of her friends too. They were new friends.  She was just getting to know them when the park closed.

Neither one of us can wait!

March 1^st is going to be a HAPPY DAY!!!

What I got for my Birthday and How I scared the Stuffing Out of Mama!

Sunday was my actual birthday! When I woke up mama wished me a happy birthday and then rushed off to take Gregory to some kid’s house. When she came back, I got a lovely piece of turkey sausage in my breakfast and lots of tummy rubs. Turkey Sausage is so, so yummy. I had a smile on my belly all day after that! Mama promised me that my next presents would come on Monday. And they did! But before I tell you about them, I have to tell you about how I scared the stuffing out of Mama.

In the afternoon, Mama took me with her to pick up Gregory from that kids house. We drove a long time, longer than it takes me to go to the far dog park or to pick the kids up from school. It was a great ride. Mama let me ride in the front seat and let the window down a little. I had my head out the whole time! It was great! That was a present in and of itself. We finally got to the kid’s house. Mama turned off the car and my leash to the arm of the car seat and let the window almost all the way up. There was only a little bit of room left. She told me she’d be right back. She was getting Gregory from the kid’s house. I could hear lots of kids and even some dogs barking. I didn’t want her to leave me. I wanted to come too. She took the key out of the ignition and got out of the car. She locked the car with her car keys and made the car beep.

Mama waved at me and walked up the driveway. She said she was sorry, but she’d be right back. Well, I knew she would be but I couldn’t help whining and crying. And I really wanted to go with her into the house. There were more kids and dogs in there. So I jumped around a lot in the car. Guess what? The leash came loose. It just came off the arm of the car seat! Wow! Then I put my paws on the door of the car. I put my paws on the special button, and the window started to go down. Yippee! Usually only Mama can make the windows go up and down! So, being a dog of action I jumped out of the car and went looking for my Mama, my leash dragging behind me.

I found her. She was just walking back to the car with Gregory. She was really surprised to see me — really, really, really, really surprised. Gregory was surprised too. Mama grabbed my leash and asked what I was doing out of the car and how I got out. She told me what a good boy I was for coming straight to her and for not barking at any of the people in the driveway. She rubbed my head, scratched my hears and told me what a good Opie I was for being so smart to come straight to Mama. She wasn’t the least bit mad!

When we got back in the car, though, she was really upset about the window. She couldn’t figure out how I got it down if the car wasn’t on. I think she’s still scratching her head about it. She kept playing with the window and turning the car on and off when we went on my B-day trip to the Dog Park. On the car ride back she told me that I was a good boy, but I scared her really badly. She said I could have gotten really lost and that would be such a tragedy on my birthday to be lost. I could tell she was really scared. I wondered if she’d ever let me ride in the car again. She muttered something about it being a cold day some place (I didn’t catch where. She was muttering) before I got left in the car again. That’s fine by me. I don’t like being left in the car. Maybe from now on Mama will take me everywhere. Wouldn’t that be great?

Oh My Presents!

 

Okay, let me tell you…

I got three happy birthday tennis balls. I got Mr. Greenie to replace Mr. Weenie (I tore up Mr. Weenie a few days ago. He’s in the toy hospital.) Here is Mr. Weenie. I had him a week but then I tore his head off. He has the best little hat to chew on. I guess I got carried away.

 

Here’s my new Mr. Greenie. He’s got a cool head to chew on as well. Mama hopes he’ll last longer than Mr. Weenie.

 

I hope so. Mr. Greenie squeaks. So do my tennis balls. I also got a tennis ball bone. It’s great! It squeaks too. I also got my own personal portable water container for any dog park we got to.

Here I am playing with Mr. Greenie and my tennis ball bone. I can’t decide within one I like better. I love them both. I fetch and play tug of war with both of them. They are so fun!

 

 

 

Mama got me a new seatbelt harness too. I’m not too fond of that. Daddy and Mama put me in it today and adjusted it so I can’t get out of it and I can’t bite it very well. Mom muttered something about seeing if I could escape from this. I don’t’ quite know what she meant by that, but she kept telling dad to make sure it was good and snug. I kept thinking, “Okay, already! It’s snug enough!” I’m not keen on this particular present, but I am still grateful for ALL of my presents.

Best of all, Mama got me a beautiful doggy blanket. It’s just for me. I can sleep on it in my bed or on the couch or have it in the car. It’s soft and it has bones all over it. This will make for good dreams, right?

Oh and I went to Oberrieder Dog park today too. I hadn’t been in a long time. Luckily, there were some dogs there this time. I played with a little grey dog for a while. I tried to race with another dog, but she just wanted to smell everywhere. I did that for a while too but I was itching to play.

I had a great time. I’m going back again soon I think.

I want to thank all of you for my birthday wishes. It feels great to be 1. Michael says that I’m really 7.

I wonder if that means he’ll let me play Legos with him.

 

Purely Adult Tantrum about the Dog Park — and Oil Companies

I’ve sublimated a lot of frustration about our Culver City Dog Park into these blogs, cartoons and potato chips.  I think I’ve been patient. I’ve found alternative places to take Opie. We’ve dealt with the issue of his boredom by letting him terrorize the squirrels, crows and whatever other creatures live in our back yard.  He’s had a liberal amount of time in the back yard.  I am trying as much as I can to break up his boredom.  We’ve waited with baited breath for the cleanup crew funded by the offending oil company to complete their work.  The giant crane, portable buildings and general mess made by this work is just a necessary evil, right?

Yesterday, we were notified that the cleanup crew has found ANOTHER well. This one was capped back in the 1920’s. It’s not leaking, but they decided since they’re already here… What the hell? … Let’s fix this one too.  I can’t really argue with that logic. 

 I guess my frustration lies with the fact that dog park lies on top these oil wells,  and that most of my quiet enjoyment of my environment is marred by the oil industry in some fashion.

I’ll bet you guys in the Midwest and East Coast didn’t know that you can drive down a street in Beverly Hills and see the top of an oil pump working behind a high landscaped fence.  Our family lives at the base of  a hill — the back side and uppermost section of the crest  is owned by PXP Oil Company. They have several active pumps and our neighborhood association is in a constant battle with them.  We tend to object to mysterious noxious odors wafting into our bedrooms at 3 AM! Driving North or South on Pacific Coast Highway you can see lines off shore oil platforms. Just South of L.A., several major companies have refineries. Drive down the I-10 and you’ll see them.  When you fly into Los Angeles the lights on their smoke stacks compete with the lights of the city.

Oil pumps in culver city -- this is on the same hillside as the dog park just higher up the hill.

Bottom line — we live in an oil town.  Cars and Gasoline are King here.  In the 60’s we dismantled a perfectly good mass transit system. We had the largest mass transit trolley system in the country, over 150 miles of track. Residents did not need a car to get anywhere.  In our infinite wisdom, we then built the biggest and busiest freeways in the world.  Gee whiz!  How did that happen?  Add two plus two and you get the biggest nastiest backdoor double dealing in history between big oil and the big four auto makers and their cronies.  It’s a story Michael Moore would love to have broken to the world!

What is my rant about?  I don’t know — it’s a rant, a tantrum! A cry of frustration against the industry that robs my family and my dog of the simplest pleasures!

I can’t see the sunset on the beach without carefully looking between Oil drilling platforms.

I can’t be certain that the hillside is not going to explode due to Methane gas.

See the oil drilling rig in the this lovely ocean view -- Santa Barbara

I can’t be certain that the bank I’m in or the store I am in is not going to blow up for the same reason.

The front page speaks for itself.

I can’t hear the crickets because of the semis driving on the freeway 2 miles from my house make that rumbling whine as they pass

I can’t take my dog to the dog park because they are capping oil wells underneath it.

The madness must stop!  Look at your life and you’ll find there’s a dirty oil thumbprint on it.

Take your pick — Global warming, Middle Eastern Oil grubbing,  BP Oil Spill disasters,  Illness, Explosions !

Or maybe some BLANKITY- BLANK -BLANK Oil company has dirty leaky oil wells under your local dog park.

This just burns me up 

 

Article about 1985 Methane Gas Explosion in Los Angeles , includes images of L.A. Times Headlines http://www.stanford.edu/~meehan/la/fairfax.htm

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• Methane gas closes Culver City dog park (latimesblogs.latimes.com)