Trees

As we all know, the State of California is in a budget crisis.  Despite having the highest income and sales tax rates in the country, we spend so much that we can only sustain our budget during times of economic boom.  So, when we are in a recession, we go into a budget deficit.  It's like having a two-income household, always spending more than your two incomes can afford and then one of you gets laid off.  It ain't good.  But, Californians always find new ways to spend every new dollar when times are good and never save the surplus for rainy days.  So, today we find ourselves in financial trouble and, despite the Governator's pleadings for new taxes, the voters (the few that showed up to vote) said no and rejected all the new tax propositions.  I was one of those voters.  But, my record is consistent in every election:  I always vote NO on any new spending plan or taxation plan regardless of what it is for.  I love our vets and our children and our elderly and our firefighters and our police, but I am not willing to pay any more taxes than I am currently paying to this State.   If the State wants to fund new stuff, they have to budget for it or they have to skimp on something else, not keep raising more money.  

So, here is the real story:  I came home a couple days ago to find a tree cutting truck parked at my home.  The guys told me that they were sent by the City to cut my trees that were growing too close to the telephone and electric wires.  I was pleased that the City was going to cut my trees without my having to pay for it (I would have willingly paid for it or hired my own gardener to do it since it is a safety issue), but I found it odd that while the Governator is threatening to cut health and education spending, that tree trimming was still being done.  But there is more.  Next, I noticed another critical City service being performed in my neighborhood.  Apparently, the storm drains in the City are allowing trash to flow out to the ocean so a team of men were now installing these specially crafted metal screens in the openings of all the storm drains.  Again, I think this is a wonderful cause but have I mentioned the cuts in education and healthcare?!?  Hello!  Is this thing on?  I mean, shouldn't certain services be stopped completely before we cut essential services like police, fire-fighting, medicine and education?  What special interest group is up in Sacramento lobbying for the tree cutting company or for the storm drain screen installer company?  Maybe the cost of these services is small relative to the cuts required in the budget but still!  Cut the crap and stop asking us to pay more in taxes, you idiots.

Sniffing Tails

I own a mutt, a mixed breed, a half-breed. Well, before you conjure up images of a pound-puppy rescued moments before being put down by lethal injection, let me explain that my mutt cost a bloody fortune and is a member of the now oh-so-chic new breed called Labradoodle. Yes, I know what you're thinking; this is hardly a mutt. It is, in fact, the newest trend in dog breeding; mixing poodles with whatever else they'll be willing or be forced to mate with, adding "-oodle" to the end of the new name and selling it for more than you can get for a purebreed. You have schnoodles, goldendoodles, labradoodles (mine), etc.... The amusing thing is that had a purebred poodle ever lowered himself or herself in the past to mate with a labradore or a golden retreiver etc, the owners would be forced to find homes for a litter of unwanted mutts or they would end up at the animal shelter awaiting certain doom. But now, these mutts are desired and people will pay thousands of dollars for them and even mail-order them, sight-unseen and drive to the airport to pick them up from their flight from their birthstate of Kansas or Montana.  (No, we didn't mail order ours.  In fact, we literally stumbled upon Jake at a pet store as we were "window shopping."  He was there, looking soooooo cute that we made a rash decision and bought him.  I don't regret it for a moment but I am trying to justify how it happened that we paid way too much money for a pet dog when there are plenty of them available to be adopted at the animal shelter.  I know; shame on me.  Fine, get over it.)

The funny thing is that dogs don't have any clue that they are one kind or another. They are just dogs.  Their owners, on the other hand, know exactly how much they paid for their canine friend and exactly how many champions are in their dogs pedigree.  So, it was with amusement that I came across a certain dog on a recent hike in the beautiful Santa Monica mountains. I was hiking with my family and, of course, our labradoodle Jake, when we came upon another man and his dog. When we got close and I leaned over to pet his dog on the head, I said, "He looks like he has some lab in him." Well, he did look like he was at least part lab! And because Jake is part lab, I was proud to notice it in another fellow pooch. But, apparently, I offended the happy looking-like-a-lab dog's owner who suddenly pulled him from my hand, sneared at me and almost shouted, "He is a PUREBRED lab!" Yikes! I must tell you that I was a professional dog-trainer at one point in my life and to me that dog looked like he had lab in him, but not like he was a pure lab. But, I couldn't help but be shocked at the man's response and apparant horror at my lack of discernment. Thinking about it later, I realized that he must have paid a crap-load of money for that dog to be THAT offended.

When I was a kid, my parents adopted a dog named Kutchie (the name is whole other story) who was clearly a mutt and was found scrounging for food at a trash bin. We loved that dog and I remember crying like a baby when I heard that she had died. I was in college and she had turned 15! But, being a true unwanted mutt, she never had a chip on her shoulder and neither did her owners. We knew she was a mutt and no-one could offend us by confusing her breed or by wrongly guessing at her unknown ancestry. But this apparant labradore (I still think someone screwed someone from outside the family) was way too stuck up.  I mean, his owner was way too stuck up.  Whatever.  You know what I mean!