All-in-one, multipurpose, never-ending community thread 4<==

One of the things I really like about returning to my roots is that I don't worry about that stuff any more...around here folks routinely leave stuff in their cars, leave the keys in their cars 24/7...I know people who don't know where their house keys are, haven't seen them in years so they don't bother locking up.

I'm a little more security conscious than most, but it's nice to live in a place where it's not a major concern.

What's a little strange is that out here, in deepest blue, hippified Santa Cruz, people also don't bother locking their cars or houses. Not sure what's up with that, but there it is.

I'm not surprised, really. Although, I'd keep my medicine cabinet locked.

Unless the demographics of Santa Cruz have changed radically since I was last there, I'm sure you'll figure it out...here, messing with someone's stuff is taking a real chance.

Unless the demographics of Santa Cruz have changed radically since I was last there, I'm sure you'll figure it out...here, messing with someone's stuff is taking a real chance.

Here, in Santa Cruz, most people just don't seem to be bothered. Seriously, I know people (admittedly, in the mountains, not in town) who leave their doors open even when no one is home (including me) and who leave the keys to their cars on the dashboards.

The fact that better than 90% of the folks in the mountains are of Irish or Scotch extraction... is that what you're hinting at?

Santa Cruz, I believe, is a city of wealth, mostly owner occupied homes, a highly educated populace, and has a police force that strongly discourages mischief because the citizens demand it...or am I incorrect?

On the heels of my bizarre passion fruit flowers, today I was treated to beautiful Hawaiian plumeria flowers, a surprise that they are white, as the other plant bloomed red. Smells so nice. Not an easy plant to grow, but it can be done in this hot desert if you give it some TLC.

Dr. Lao, very beautiful flowers, thanks for posting.

Santa Cruz: Where even the thieves are too laid-back to do their jobs.

Today I was unloading groceries from my car in the driveway, when I saw a dog run down the middle of the street in front of my house. It was doing that "I don't know where I am, so I'm going to keep motoring until I find something familiar" run of a lost dog; not fast like it was chasing something, not trotting along like a dog that knew its territory and was just patrolling. And for some reason lost dogs like to stick to the street, not the yards.

So I dropped my flat of water, closed the hatch, hopped back in my car, and took off after it.

It was really moving, I had to hit 30mph in the residential area to get in front of it. It moved over into the yards as my car approached, so I pulled into a driveway ahead of it, opened the side door, and tried calling to it. No luck, it just ran around me and kept going. I tried again half a block farther down, with the same results.

It was approaching a major cross street, and I was worried it would run out into the road and get squashed, so I pulled back instead of being the one to scare it out into traffic. Luckily it was properly wary of the cars and turned right at the corner, going down the sidewalk.

I came around the corner and found it had laid down to rest behind a bus stop booth, so I parked a little bit away, poured some water into a cup, and tried to entice it to drink (it was panting heavily and clearly thirsty). But as I approached, it tiredly got up and trotted off again. Sigh.

As it reached the next corner, it turned right away from the busy street, and after I had gotten into the car and followed around the corner, I saw that it had plopped down to rest in a grassy corner where a wooden fence met the wall of a house. I got out again, carrying the water, and saw that it was thinking of getting up and running away again. So to calm it, I did doggy body language and lay down on the grass about 10 yards from it, rolled almost onto my back, and panted at it. Then I started belly-crawling towards it, avoiding direct eye contact, like a submissive dog.

This seemed to work, and the dog allowed me to come up next to it, so I slowly reached out and held its collar with one hand and petted it with the other while talking soothingly. Then I checked the collar and found a tag with a phone number, so while still lying on the ground I pulled out my cell phone and called it. "Did you lose a dog?" "Yes!" "Well, it's here with me now." I gave the location and the owner said she'd be right over.

I didn't want to spook the dog by trying to get up, or lead it to my car, so I kept lying there in the grass hanging onto it, while it started raining.

Not long thereafter the owner showed up, crying. She had been walking the dog, named Jaxx, in the park and was near the adjacent train tracks when a train came by, scaring the dog, who tried to run, and snapped the thin retractable leash (the kind that's on a reel), which whipped back and cut her hand. He took off and she lost sight of him and had been out looking for him ever since with a friend who was still covering another part of the neighborhood.

She told me she had had brain cancer in 2010 and Jaxx had been with her through it all including her remission, and was all she had left after her other dog had passed away.

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Good work! And more than most of us would have done.

We are privileged to have our very own "Speaker to Animals".

You did a Good Thing, Ichey!

You did a Good Thing, Ichey!

Good man.

Great!

Touching.

One hesitates to think if it got near the White House.

Awesome story, Ichneumon! I wish more people were like that.

So to calm it, I did doggy body language and lay down on the grass about 10 yards from it, rolled almost onto my back, and panted at it. Then I started belly-crawling towards it, avoiding direct eye contact, like a submissive dog. ...

Rehearsing the Gibson/Russo "good doggie" scene in Lethal Weapon 3?

I would have posted my own recent, "found a dog wandering in the road and returned it to its owner" story if I'd thought of doing so, but I'm glad I didn't because it pales into insignificance beside Ichny's devotion to doggy duty.

Well done, Ich!

I take it that the photo is of you and the dog (taken by the owner?).

This is messing with my mental image of you as an animated parrot in pirate garb.

But you're a awesome dog person, that's for sure...

I take it that the photo is of you and the dog (taken by the owner?).

This is messing with my mental image of you as an animated parrot in pirate garb.

But you're a awesome dog person, that's for sure...

Actually, that's the female owner (more obvious if you click the image and look at the full sized version)

Rehearsing the Gibson/Russo "good doggie" scene in Lethal Weapon 3?

I had forgotten that scene, but yeah, minus the dog biscuit it was a lot like that.

Well done, Ich!

Absolutely.

A nice title:
"What is the Best Car for a Male Teenager?"
http://www.foxbusiness.com/personal-fin ... turedmedia
I'd say, the question of the wreck affordability, total mass, and being underpowered for that mass.

a serious question: is there any good reason for a human being to retain nasal sinuses?