Titan, Public Library and the Homeless

One of our Boulder County K-9 corps, who had received multiple awards and decorations during his years of service, passed away from a brain tumor earlier this week.  I attended his funeral; his name was Titan, and he was deployed on 638 missions.  He was a fantastic dog.  So I found myself disturbed with the newspaper headline "Accomplished Boulder Deputy Dog Dies."  As soon as I read that, my mind immediately flipped to Deputy Dawg, the cartoon, by Ralph Bakshi:

This was Titan:

I know it's a silly thing to get upset over, but I feel this canine officer was a true hero.

We had four inches of snow fall Wednesday.  It fell and melted on the sidewalks and roads, before our temperature dipped to 14 degrees (F) this morning.  Because of the icing, my dog walks have been cancelled by the owners - none of us can stand on the skating rink the smoother areas have become.

   I have to admit that I also smiled (in derision) when I read that the City of Boulder will now (a) have a constant police presence at the Boulder Public Library, and that they will (b) have a much more visible presence on "the city campus" - meaning the park areas and open spaces  between the County Court House and Central Park along Boulder Creek, and along the Pearl Street Mall. The problem is the homeless.  People are constantly pan-handling in these almost conjoined areas. Pearl Street Mall is two blocks north of the parks and Creek Path.  People are bathing in the restroom sinks at the library, shaving and shampooing; they pass out from over imbibing alcohol or using drugs; they are extremely loud - I asked a young couple to "please, hold it down" in the computer room the other day, and had a drink and paper wads thrown at me.   

  I was taught that one was quiet in any library - but today, one hears music and assorted ring tones from cell phones; one hears people talking in normal to loud voices; in the computer area there are frequently many more than one person "using" a monitor, and they are all talking and joking.  What happened to quiet in a library?   Some of the folks who use the library -and, yes, it is free for all - it's an important resource for every person - reek of body odor, marijuana, alcohol, some very strong spices and some very strong perfumes.  Now, if I can smell these things, they are strong odors.  I have lost more than 70% of my smell due to various brain injuries, and I sometimes can't smell anything at all.  Some of these folks -  even the well-dressed, not homeless - pour on the patchouli to the point that I gag....  It's just amazing....

   As long as the City and County of Boulder continue to encourage people to stay in this area without an incentive to work and find housing, we'll have this problem with the homeless.  As I have stated before, I have no problem with the people who have had a downturn in fortune, and are trying to get ahead again, trying to get enough money for housing and transportation.  It's the people, both male and female, that I hear discussing which towns and counties, in different states, give "the best" free hand-outs that upset me.  These folks travel from town to town, depending on the time of year, getting free stuff from all over the country - without contributing to society in the least.  Some of them stay in Boulder year-round, and discuss better times, when they were given more freebies by the town and churches.  It's aggravating.  Especially since my husband and I went through a 6 month period of living out of our car - yes, I was a homeless person, myself.  We scraped and saved and started over again.  We did not just sit still and hold our hands out, asking for aid...

***  And, if you want to laugh over the New England Patriots deflation scandal, please watch the Cialis advertisement parody at:  http://www.benstonium.com/  ***

Bo, the First Dog

The news about the new First Dog has broken. He is a 6-month-old Portuguese Water Spaniel, whose original name was Charlie - but he has been renamed "Bo." The Obama family and he have had at least one meeting, and Bo is now learning his manners with the trainers of the Kennedy family dogs. Bo is a gift of Senator Edward Kennedy to the Obama girls. It will be nice to have youngsters and pets in the White House again! My cousin Sarah has also added a new member to her family - joining Ruby and Sam is a new girl named Ebony. Ebony is about 4 years old, and is part Lab, possibly part Chow and maybe a little Boxer? Ruby is happy to have a playmate, although she is much larger, and Sam, being a feline, is not very happy to have a new dog in the family.

Lovey is trying to catch the robins in the back yard this morning, while Banichi is hiding in hopes of finding a squirrel. It's yet another grey, nasty-looking day. No rain yesterday, and about one hour of sunshine around 1 in the afternoon. The forecasters are, again, saying we have a good chance of showers this afternoon - or possibly snow; they've drawn the rain/snow line at 6,000 feet, which is where Boulder lies - we'll see if we get anything. It's 38 outside and very damp for Colorado - 65% humidity - and we're supposed to hit a high of 44. I head over to Hila's house this afternoon, just for the night; the family originally planned to be gone for 18 days, but it was reduced to one night only. So I'll have the company of Hila, a dozen laying hens and a rooster (Eliphalet Pease), two hives of honey bees and the gardens while I begin to read Sandstorm. I had started reading Amazonia Friday evening; I finished it last night. Woe betide those who try to separate me from the books of James Rollins! He is a fantastic writer!

While reading yesterday afternoon, I was shocked to have a neighbor with an extremely amplified electric guitar start playing some riffs.... I couldn't tell whether the sound was from next door, across the hall, or from the second floor. It was like I was sitting immediately in front of the amp at a rock concert - it drowned out all other sounds. Lovey and Banichi hid under the bed. I called the apartment manager's number, got a recording, and complained. Within 30 minutes, the guitar playing had ceased - whether from my complaint or not, I have no idea - but it was most certainly loud! I felt as if I were sitting at Florida Field watching the Bob Dylan, Joan Baez and Roger McGuinn concert back in the middle 70s. I guess I'm getting crotchety - I want to post a notice by the mail boxes that reads: "Interesting Facts: #1 - One does not have to slam a door to close it. #2 - Youngsters screaming at the tops of their lungs at all hours is not appreciated in a studio apartment complex. #3 - When someone can stand in the entrance hall and hear your television, music, video game, whatever - it is much too loud!"

Sorry for being such a crab on Easter Sunday. I hope you have a good day!