Cultural Musings

It has been an awfully disturbing week for animal lovers.

Early this week headlines were flashing the horror of cats and dogs being struck down by a mysterious toxin believed to be in cans of tainted pet food. I rushed to discover which of the over ninety brands of pet food known to be the culprits. My heart pounded as I scanned the roster, shuddering at the names I knew....brands I have fed my dog in the past. Relief flooded me when I didn't see his current favorite among these.....but for the grace of God.
I gulped and cried for the sad-eyed, suffering little pets shown on local TV news; dogs and cats undergoing intensive care in local veterinary clinics... their tearful guilt-ridden owners telling the sad diagnoses of acute kidney failure and discouraging prognoses regarding survival of their little beloveds.

Last night I learned of the stupid and senseless cattle shootings taking place in rural Marin County. Some as yet unidentified teenagers with a handgun drove down a quiet lane to shoot a dairy cow and her two calves. There have been other mysterious cattle shootings there in recent weeks. Those ranchers are pissed and fixin' to shoot back....who can blame them?

The icing of the cake of animal horrors came to my attention today on Court TV.
Last month the 4 year old Australian Shepherd belonging to a 17 year old girl had gone missing without a trace. Around Valentines Day she found a package addressed to her on her doorstep..... inside she found valentine candies and a plastic bag containing the head of her missing pet. Police arrested the creepy 24 year old neighbor who beheaded her dog and sent it to her spitefully because she had rejected his romantic advances. Sick Fuck.

So now I pray to the angels.... for healing energy to help the poisoned pets. I pray people will thoroughly destroy any cans of the tainted food lest unknowing folks scavenge them from garbage dumpsters and feed them to other pets. Tell your friends about the toxic food....even today I heard a story of a pet owner with two sick cats who didn't believe his cats could be among the poisoned because he feeds them high-end Iams. Sadly, Iams is on the list.


I discovered a wonderful website where we can help feed shelter animals by simply clicking on the site everyday.... http://www.animalrescuesite.com/ is sponsored by advertisers who will donate .6 bowls of food to rescued and shelter animals every time a visitor to the site clicks on the food fund bar. They publish a daily tally of bowls generated by site visitors.

It is free....it is easy if you bookmark it.... and it is something concrete we can do everyday to help make a difference in the lives of abandoned and unloved animals.

Are new televisions piece of crap or do I just have bad luck with electronics?

I bought a nice 19'' Color TV back in 1984. It kept going for years and years.....about 4 years ago the color started to look a little faded so I bought a new model to replace it and gave the old fadey one to my friend's son. Replacement TV #1 kicked the bucket when it was about 18 months into warranty. My warranty as per Circuit City promised repair or replacement. So....a repairmen is sent to my house and he tells me the circuit board has been destroyed by "water damage".....I say "Huh?' because i never had anything wet anywhere near this TV. Bad news I am told is that my warranty does not cover 'water damage' so I am screwed and don't bother us for further evaluation or argument.

I went shopping for replacement TV #2 and made sure to purchase an extended in home repair warranty. This piece of electronic wizardry took a huge dump last april.....no warning , just a hiss and buzz then no picture or sound.

While covered by a warranty, I would be required to wait more than 2 weeks for the soonest repair appointment at home. ( like watching my evening television programs and I wasn't thrilled to wait weeks to watch them so I ventured out to purchase replacement #3 which would be an upgrade and I would just have an additional TV for another room.

TV #3 is a big ass 32" monstrosity that enlarges people's faces to frightening dimensions and weighs enough to kill you if it fell over .

Last night replacement TV #3 made a snap and went dark during Anderson Cooper's 360. Yeah, it is still under warranty and I can get it fixed, but I have to get a friend to help me wrestle the beast out of the way so that deposed replacement TV#2 can hold reign in my personal TV Land.

So whats the deal? Is it simply a new ideology of built in obsolescence or do I just have bad TV karma?

I had almost forgotten this blog.

I started it because friends were all doing them and they seemed like so much fun at the time. Pretty soon it I realized it gave me the same performance anxiety that I used to get when I was in school and had a paper due and no idea what I wanted to write about. I couldn't decide how much of my personal life to reveal either. If people who actually know me happen to read this will I offend them or say more than I want them to know?

I thought I could just keep this completely anonymous ....like a one-night stand. Interesting thought but then who even cares enough to bother finding or reading the blog?

I just found a nice comment left by someone named Juicy Fruit with an invitation to look at his blog. I checked it out and wanted to post a comment only it appears that there isn't anyway to leave a comment there. So I will put my comment here and maybe someday Mr Juicy Fruit will see it.

I like the name JUICYFRUIT because it reminds me of my Grandmother. She always had a pack of Juicyfruit gum in her purse. When I was small she would always offer me gum....she would pull out a stick and break it in half so we shared. She had a funny little cackle and southern accented "Half a stick is really all a person needs."

She never was far from her tube of Ben-Gay either, but for reasons known to any who have ever smelled the stuff, I don't get excited over Ben-Gay. When she died my sister and I stood over her open casket and simultaneously concluded we had failed her by neglecting to place a tube of Ben-Gay in her casket to keep her happy in the Everafter. But I digress.....

I bought one of those huge bonus packs of Wrigley Juicyfruit in its iconic bright yellow foil wrapper about a month ago. I don't know why I did....I am not a big gum chewer anymore. When I opened the pack the sweet aroma ushered me back to visions of her. Sweet memories of the most hilarious and confident woman I have ever known. Ah... the taste....nothing else in this world tastes like Juicyfruit gum. I can't even describe it. It makes me feel like a small child, but in the good way.

That bonus pack of Juicyfruit is still here at my desk with a few sticks remaining. I haven't wanted to finish them because I like to smell them and finishing the pack will end my pleasure or compel me to but another package for the sake of indulging my obsessive nostalgia.

Thanks Mr. Juicyfruit blog guy.....I enjoyed my trip down Grandma memory lane....I hope you are having a great time in your newlywed life.