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Where the Deer and the Antelope ... and the Poodles ... Play

Q.t.𝞹, my newish miniature poodle, surprised me with her behavior on this high altitude sagebrush/grass/aspen land near Vernal, UT. Perhaps it shouldn't have been a surprise. She gamboled across the field literally by leaps and bounds. It was delightful to watch. The sagebrush was just the right height, and mixed with green grass so as to fit the stature of a 20 pound miniature poodle. Why was she going crazy? She had spend the first 4+ years of her life living in a hot urban hellhole (Phoenix), including some homeless street life, getting knocked up by a husky, having a litter of 'hoodles,' going to (good) second owners, and then finally to me. And now she was running on soil and green grass instead of hot pavement or rubble.  That must feel great to a dog; after all, they are pawed/padded creatures, not hooved creatures.  She chased white-tailed deer. I had brushed her the night before and had not yet reinstalled her collar, so she ran free and naked, a perfect little c

How Much Will Nato-stan Take?

It is not satisfactory enough to keep saying 'I am astonished!' about events in the world today. Something better is needed. How much suffering will "Nato-stan" go through for such a dubious cause? But this won't be the first time that Rulers have been willing to virtually commit the suicide of their nation. I actually benefit by reading about some of the suicide-attempts of the past, if you are willing to admit that making sense of the world is a benefit. What suffering the average peasant is willing to go through just because they are afraid of their mighty Rulers! It is easy to explain. Rulers are a rather compact, semi-united nucleus of power, whereas the peasants are disunited. In olden times it was the churchmen who were screaming God, God!, GOD! at the masses, thus keeping them in line. And the King was appointed by GOD ALMIGHTY, so you'd better be willing to die for the king. Today it is the Media that brainwashes the peasants. Slogans such as Freedom,

Camping Can Be a Game of Inches

  Interstate highways can mess up the road system that really matters: the dirt roads of the backcountry. So they put tunnels under the interstate highway to let vehicles cross under. I have always avoided these tunnels in the past. I didn't want an unpleasant surprise. But in this case I knew somebody and their rig that made it through the tunnel successfully. Still, I walked the tunnel first. The photo barely shows the top-line of the trailer behind the van. The trailer is about a foot and a half higher than the van. I had to remove its internet antenna. Anyway, for the first trip through a tunnel, it was kinda' fun. And let's not forget that tunnels screen out big rigs, especially toy-haulers! 

Goodbye Old Girl

I don't like maudlin descriptions of somebody's dog's last days, because it might discourage would-be dog owners from adopting a dog. Besides, a melodrama about the human is not the point. I put Coffee Girl 'down' this morning, at age 15.5 years. She did not suffer. And her old age did not cost me much money. In a high meadow in New Mexico a few years ago. . What could a newbie dog owner learn from her marvelous career? 1. Don't be afraid of animal shelters. 2. Don't take 'dog breed' books literally. They will tell you that a herding dog needs 10 hours per day of chasing cows or sheep or it will come back into your house and chew the sofa into a million pieces. They will make you think a herding dog can't be a good household pet. 3. Herding dogs can have exemplary behavior off-lease. This adds a lot to the owner's and the dog's pleasure. 4. When adopting a dog, tune yourself out, especially your eyeballs. Choose a dog for their behavior,

Cancelling an Entire State?

I had to laugh at myself a couple days ago when I went through Cortez, CO. It seemed like a personal defeat. Silly, huh? I had implicitly cancelled the state of Colorado, and today it is time to make it explicit. Cancelling an entire state is something that sounds kind of sad or extreme. The first thing a person should probably do upon cancelling a state is to think of small exceptions to the general rule. I have even done that for California, the first state I cancelled. In fact cancellation occurred the first year of being a full-time RVer. But I have debauched myself by sometimes going into California for 5 miles or so.