Advertising Perfection

A lot of these commercials with cute dogs aren't effective because I don't remember who the advertiser is. This one is great. Kudos to Travelers for one of the best commercials on the air today.

Homerville

Life is good in Homerville.


Homer was known as Gomer at the shelter. Changing his name was the right thing to do; everybody loves the name and it absolutely suits him. He was actually becoming quite famous up here as the nice dog that wasn't getting adopted. When Dana and I returned from our Charleston trip, we found a sweet little female Beagle mix at North Country SPCA, but then we stopped at Elmore SPCA and met Homer in person.

What a charmer he was. He is about one to one and a half years old and was housebroken within a day or two, which means that he had been previously housebroken. It was my good fortune to find another great dog at a shelter, but it could be your good fortune the next time you are looking for a pet. I have never purchased a dog and I never will. The fees at the shelters, SPCAs and rescues can get high, but there is a high cost to caring for the unwanted pets that people give up. And they are giving up more and more of them in these tough economic times. The amount that I get back in companionship, enjoyment of my dogs' funny and crazy antics, and the unconditional love will make me sacrifice whatever I have to in order to keep dogs in my life.



The thing that you get from a rescued dog is the sense that they know how lucky they are. I know it might not look like it when they are sitting there howling like a Beagle, or barking like the PIT that Bailey is (PIT is our code for Pain in the Tookus... no, Bailey is not a Pit Bull, but more on that in a second). But when Homer plays with so much gusto with his toys, or zooms around the back yard with his brother Fred, or tries to coax Bailey into playing with him (no success there just yet), or walks up to Miller and convinces the 16+ year old dog to play with him - for a short period of time because Mommy decides that Homer is playing too rough for the old boy - it's during these times when you really can see how lucky he knows that he is. Or when he dives ahead of his brothers to get the choice spot on the bed at bedtime.






Dana and I tried to adopt a Pit Bull once. The Animal Welfare Shelter in Voorhees, New Jersey is a place from which I have adopted a number of my guys over the years. What we found was that if the Pit Bull was over a certain age, and that age wasn't much beyond six months or so, that the damage that had already been done to these poor dogs from the bad situations they had been rescued from made them unfit dogs for having in a household with more than one dog. We found some wonderful, sweet animals; the shelter was doing a great job spending time with and acclimating them to being with people. But they all had that aggression thing that just broke my heart. I knew I could not adopt these dogs since I will always have several dogs at any given time. The thought of what these incredibly strong dogs could do to Fred, or Boo back then...

I couldn't do it. These Bull and Staffordshire Terriers are wonderful dogs. If I were to ever buy a dog I could see buying one of these. I have kissed these dogs, and they have returned the affection. It is so sad the image that they have in society because of the training, and sometimes miserably bad breeding, that has gone on.

So, I have Homer now, comfortably ensconced in my canine brood, and comfortably ensconced on what used to be just Fred's bed. But Fred and Homer are sharing nicely these days. It's just one more satisfying accomplishment in my world of dogs.

And don't anyone try to tell me that this dog doesn't look grateful for where he's landed:

Dog Fighting

You see, I feel so passionately that Michael Vick doesn't deserve a second chance in the NFL that I have lost what very teeny tiny feeling I had left that there was anything at all redeeming about the sport of football. I guess some of the reason that Vick's welcome by some Eagles fans has been met by indifference at best, and that he'll probably be good for the team at worst, has to do with the violence of the game. I see violence in the game; I recognize that not everybody does. But it seems a seemless line between football violence and how these men could do what they did with these dogs without blinking. You have to assume that the Eagles care not one iota about being role models when they can want to have someone like this on their roster.

And please, spare me all that drivel about the man having paid his debt. He didn't because his sentence was not enough for the crimes that he committed. And it's obvious from his statements that he really is only remorseful to the extent that he got caught. Have we seen Michael Vick out there speaking fervently about the horrors of dog fighting? Have we heard him passionately explain why he got involved in such a despicable business (remember, he was the major funding in this disgusting venture) and how going to prison has made him a changed man? He should have been all over the news in his run-up to try to get a spot on a team, speaking all over the country every day about how horrible the dog fighting business is, how kids should treat animals properly, how he got into it and about what can be done to stop this horrible practice. He could have been the spokesperson for really seeing the light. He could have proven to us all with his words and actions how amazingly changed he is.

How, indeed, Michael Vick, are you a changed man? You've got far more explaining to do before I'll ever believe that you are rehabilitated.

No. I'm not there on the bring Vick to Philly bandwagon. I will happily be on the sidelines, rooting for all my heart that the Eagles opponents are victorious for every week they play that Michael Vick is on their roster. For me, this is what I will always see when I think of the Eagles:

If I Can Dream

This is one of the best performances ever captured on tape, in my opinion, and definitely my favorite song that Elvis ever recorded. I liked Elvis Presley so much as a singer. I think a lot of singers today just don't get the emotions of a song. Elvis really felt the music.



Here are the lyrics, not that you need them with this performance. But they are wonderful in their own right. The song was written by Walter Earl Brown. It was purported that after Elvis Presley heard the song for the first time he said, "I'm never going to sing another song I don't believe in. I'm never going to make another picture I don't believe in."

IF I CAN DREAM

There must be lights burning brighter somewhere
Got to be birds flying higher in a sky more blue
If I can dream of a better land
Where all my brothers walk hand in hand
Tell me why, oh why, oh why can't my dream come true

There must be peace and understanding sometime
Strong winds of promise that will blow away
All the doubt and fear
If I can dream of a warmer sun
Where hope keeps shining on everyone
Tell me why, oh why, oh why won't that sun appear

We're lost in a cloud
With too much rain
We're trapped in a world
That's troubled with pain
But as long as a man
Has the strength to dream
He can redeem his soul and fly

Deep in my heart there's a trembling question
Still I am sure that the answer's gonna come somehow
Out there in the dark, there's a beckoning candle
And while I can think, while I can talk
While I can stand, while I can walk
While I can dream, please let my dream
Come true, right now
Let it come true right now
Oh yeah

Oh, Sounds Like Birther Talk To Me

"This is a scary time in Washington," he said. "It's a very frightening time. I see Barack Obama is creating an enemies list of people who oppose this miserable health care plan. I think that's frightening. That's from a guy that can't even show a long-form birth certificate. I think we all ought to be prepared to fight that."

This is from Congressman John Sullivan, R-Oklahoma. Now, maybe this report says more about the idiots in Oklahoma than anything else, except for that pesky poll a while back that showed that 53% of Republicans either do not believe or are not sure that Barack Obama was born in the United States of America. 28% answered a firm no, that they did not believe that Obama was born here. Of course, considering how stupid the right looks over this and so many other issues these days, it wouldn't be surprising if they didn't realize that Hawaii was a state.

And what exactly is so "scary" about having a difference of opinion? Jerks.

My Kenyan Birth Certificate

These "Birthers" are all assholes.

Yay Melissa

Melissa D'Arabian won The Next Food Network Star. I loved her from the beginning, even if she wasn't the most polished and didn't have the chef credentials. Her cooking was smart and always sounded flavorful and I believed that she knew what she was doing. She thought on her feet, and especially in the challenge when she had to prepare the three course meal for all of those culinary stars, she absolutely showed her metal, switching out the orzo for the potato, fixing the orzo when one batch was too salty. Making two pastries when one of the great and reknowned bakers of french pastry was right there in the room. She is definitely no wallflower. Going down to the wire she finally overcame her nerves and never freaked out when she found herself in a dilemma. And despite what the judges said, I think her story was the most compelling. I think she's very smart, and I do like smart.

Congratulations Melissa

Lazy, Rainy Day

I've spent much of today in "my" chair. I mowed the lawn this morning, just before the rains came. It's been raining ever since. I've watched a little golf: The Women's British Open, where the first person ever from Scotland, Catriona Matthew, won, just ten weeks after giving birth to her second child. That's very impressive, don't you think? And now I'm watching the U.S. Senior Open. I've also been surfing the net. And I've also been watching the dogs play and sleep, time I really do enjoy. It's getting later in the afternoon, and Miller, the 16+ year old, is staring at me because he knows it's time for me to get up off my butt and take him and his brothers out so that he doesn't end up eating dinner late. He is pretty funny, and has an amazing appetite for an old guy.

I made dinner last night for four: my sister Dana, my sister Deb, her boyfriend Darryl and me. I made thyme roasted chicken, skin on, bone in, and I'll probably never do chicken in the oven any other way again, except for changing out the herbs. Maybe. I made sage mashed potatoes and mixed vegetables sauteed in garlic and olive oil: broccoli, a red and yellow bell pepper and a zucchini from the garden. The thyme and sage were also both from the garden. We enjoyed a delicious New York State wine with dinner. We also had a lemon/coconut cake for Dana's birthday and a sort of cheese course: a lovely cranberry-walnut bread, toasted, with mascarpone cheese. Yum.

Tonight I'm cooking a pork roast with green beans from the garden and jasmine rice.

Okay. I've got to go. Miller is still...hovering.

Dave Chapelle/Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

I saw this on The Daily Dish. This is pretty funny, even in light of how funny it must not have been for Professor Gates the night of his arrest: