From “HeadLikeAnOrange” <http://headlikeanorange.tumblr.com/tagged/x&gt;

Last night,  Jan 21, 2022, I had to put my closest companion to sleep.

Little Dude adopting a new owner (again)

He’d started out as the family dog when the kids were in elementary school.

We picked him up at the rescue after narrowing it down to him and a mature female Aussie.

The worker at the rescue noticed how my daughters liked how much he acted like a puppy. He was probably 10 lbs soaking wet.

We brought him home on trial basis and he immediately peed on the carpet at the top of the stair landing. After doing so, he looked at me, no remorse, just attitude. I grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and rubbed his nose in his own urine until he wimpered, and at that point we had an understanding.

Through the years, via constant challenge and reinforcement we negotiated who would be alpha dog. He’d work the cuddly angle on all the girls, but when it came to dude stuff, like walking outdoors, and peeing on trees, it was me and him. Once the kids moved out we were pretty much inseparable.That meant routine walks, M/W/F was Terramar Beach Trails. One day a week we would sneak down to the sand for a romp w/ his buddy LC. He’d run like a little puppy even at age 17.  The other days would be longer walks on the trails in the Eucalyptus groves near our house. These were our normal scheduled outings.

There were also unscheduled outings. One would be a bike trip down to the lagoon. When he was younger he would sit in a pannier on the bike with his head poking over the top of the bag, and we’d ride down there for a walk. On one occasion, an unseen pothole caused the pannier and dog to come loose from the bike. This sent the bag and dog rolling across the street. When it came to a stop, he jumped out and looked at me like “what was that about?”. Then he’d get back in and we’d continue our adventure.Other trips to the lagoon involved the SUPs. He’d frequently stand on the nose of the board of either Kat or me. Sometimes we would swim between the boards. He never really liked going on the SUPs just did it to be with us.

The memories could go on but my heart can’t bear to dig them out.

Last weekend I had tested positive for COVID. In order to avoid spreading the virus to my wife I’ve sleeping in my home office. That’s where my dog would sleep too. He got the couch, I got the floor. Unknowingly, we got to spend his last few nights together. I had to carry him in from last night’s walk. He couldn’t make it to the door. We got in the car and had to figure things out at the vet’s office. He couldn’t raise his head to look at me. He just drooled, gasped, and gagged. I cried a lot and will miss him.

During excursions out of lockdown, while walking the dog, I’ve been listening to a bunch of Bema podcasts lately from Marty Solomon (Episode 57). Yesterday he referenced one of Rob Bell’s Robcasts. Scrolling through those this morning I stumbled on Rob hosting Gabriela and Rodrigo in his back house. (Episode 265). Then Tiny Desk (Home) just today posted a concert with Rodrigo and Gabriela. (YouTube).

After dinner at the local strip mall I decided to walk home with the dog. We were both pretty happy not having to be in a car. We crossed with the stoplights. Cars stopped and cars drove by. Beautiful cars, Chevys, Fords, Hondas, Mazdas, Maseratis, Mostacciolis. Then the guy in the nicest Mostaccioli looked at us with eyes saying “those lucky beetards”. Yeah we are pretty lucky, a dangerous animal pack, carousing on the edge of a suburb, smelling at and peeing on stuff. Cars stopped and cars drove by.

Dog owners, and in particular owners of old dogs, are super fortunate to be able to have a companion who knows what you want to do. Sometimes we go together on it, sometimes not. That’s friendship.

Here’s how our home life has been (married nearly 30 years, it’s not a honeymoon any more). She sets up the sewing tables in the ‘family room’ and I work from home more often.

During frequent runs out to the kitchen I get a sampling of what she’s watching on  TV while doing her projects. Her latest binge is “The Flash” but today they had “The Musical Episode”. What?

So we both stop work for a minute to wonder how many episodes it takes before television producers do this – Bernie turns to Sid, “hey it’s the umpteenth episode, it’s time for the musical”. “Ok, ok Bernie, let’s do it, but where’s Morty, we’re doing a musical we need Morty!?!?”

Using google and other resources, here’s what I could dig up for the incidence of “The Musical Episode” for some well-known TV series (alphabetical order).

 

Series	Episode Name	Season	Episode	Reference
30 Rock	Episode 210	3	10	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Episode_210
Buffy the Vampire SlayerOnce	Once More With Feeling	6	7	http://www.indiewire.com/2017/03/best-musical-tv-episodes-buffy-flash-30-rock-community-1201797198/
Community	Regionaly Holiday Music	3	10	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regional_Holiday_Music
Fringe	Brown Betty	2	20	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_Betty_(Fringe)
Grey’s Anatomy	Song Beneath The Song	7	18	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Song_Beneath_the_S
How I Met Your Mother	Girls vs. Suits	5	12	http://how-i-met-your-mother.wikia.com/wiki/Girls_Versus_Suits
Pushing Daisies	Dummy	1	2	http://pushing-daisies.wikia.com/wiki/Episode_102:_Dummy
Scrubs	My Musical	6	6	http://www.indiewire.com/2017/03/best-musical-tv-episodes-buffy-flash-30-rock-community-1201797198/
The Flash	Dynamic Duet	3	17	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duet_(The_Flash)
The Magicians	The Magicians	3	9	https://www.eonline.com/news/915346/the-magicians-is-doing-a-musical-episode-and-it-s-all-because-of-josh
The Office	Andy’s Play	7	3	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nepotism_(The_Office)
The X-Files	Improbable	9	13	https://tv.avclub.com/the-x-files-improbable-scary-monsters-1798179820
Average		4.6	10.6

So an average “The Musical Episode” comes up about season 4.6 and episode 10.6. And there’s no clear drop-dead where they’d pull the trigger on what could be serial killing. In the aftermath, we’ve got some interesting viewing.

If you know of other episodes that would help the stats, please send them in. It’s pretty easy to update the spreadsheet, and it’s interesting viewing too…

2017 was my first time to this event. I wouldn’t have gone but my neighbor goes every year and he had a family memorial service he had to attend so he gave me his pass. Then we bought another pass for Ms. Kat, loaded up the tandem in  VW van, and toured our way up to the Central California Coast.

Neither of us have ever been to Paso Robles so we didn’t have much expectation. We left early and then got off the LA freeways in Santa Monica to drive up the coast. Honestly, we didn’t have a clue about what we were getting into.

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I’m so proud to be a San Diego resident today!

This is the first day I’ve been able to drive home from work and not want to kill myself upon arrival at Residence Man Chu.

I’m not sure how many days of rain we’ve had here in San Diego, but I propose that we San Diegans have actually learned how to drive in the rain. Tonight’s drive home from work (yes, it’s 20 miles on I-5) was actually tolerable. People have learned not to cut in front of other motorists when the ground is wet. Turn signals were used. No apparent use of internet messaging was noticed. And all this was during rush hour.

God bless the daily motorists in San Diego. They can’t say we don’t know how to drive in the rain any more. And they surely need blessings whenever they can get it.

Ms.Kat found some shade at the Afton Feed zone. I had to come to her this time…

Lotoja was 206 miles this year. Amazing how much planning goes into an event like this.

We got to Logan on Thursday for the Saturday Race. We always love coming out here. A great little college town with lots of outdoor and Mormon influences. This year we build in some time to explore a little more. As we age, we found how we enjoy simple pleasures. We shopped around town, spotted ducks in roadside streams, enjoyed grinds at a “Mo Bettah” Hawaiian Kitchen.

During the race most wives provide support waiting on the side of the road at feed zones passing food up to the racing husbands. On this, our 8th instance at this race we handled things a bit differently. At the Afton feed, Ms.Kat was reading a book under a tree while “waiting” for me (it only put a few more minute on the clock to loop around and find her). My simple pleasure? The peaches the race organizers had halved and handed out at KOM feed zone (Salt River?). The race organizers’ attention to detail and just the beauty of this race has caused it’s popularity to expand out of the local areal. It’s drawn participants from far and wide. We met a guy named Dana at our hotel who flew in from New York to do the race. Other folks I met out on the road came in from Wyoming and Michigan.

I’d like to say we planned this, but we happened on the “Jackson Hole Fall Arts Festival” during our extra day on the back-end of this trip. Lots of great food, wine, and live music. As if we needed icing on the cake.

Will I come again next year? Moms go through this tremendous pain when they have babies. But time gives them a chance to forget about the pain before starting up the next one. Ask today if I’ll come back, or ask in a few weeks, you’ll get different answers.

Through the finish line – just BARELY before dark.

Ms.Kat at Hoover Dam Tunnels

This is a good hike for pretty much anybody any age. Driving from Las Vegas, get on the 15S then 215E and make like you’re going to the Lake Mead public boat launch on SR93. Just less than a mile down Lakeshore drive you’ll see the Alan Bible Visitor Center. You can visit that if you want but plentiful parking is just 100yards down the road. You’ll see hikers and cyclists and dogs and kids. Bring water. We wished we brought hats. Details at this site: http://www.birdandhike.com/Hike/LAME/Railroad/_Railroad.htm

We stopped by Boulder Dam Brewery on the way back. They have a very good Black “I” Stout and a pretty good burger. Be prepared to relax because the service is very friendly, but not very quick. Which is a good thing because this town has lots of ambiance to soak up. I plan to visit again.

This topic came up yesterday during party conversation at our local school’s principal’s house. Made me think of my childhood and “A Christmas Story” where Ralphie managed not to shoot his eye out.

Kane Facts

Today we hear of Generation X, Generation Y, the Entitled Generation and recently the generation of Millenials with the “Hovering  Helicopter Parents” that may choose to wrap their youngsters eternally in lifetime security blankets, hand them    I Pods,I Pads, monitor their every move, rather then allow them to wander out their front doors into their own back yards! Alone, Unimpeded, Free for a Couple of Minutes.

But what were the experiences of the Baby Boomers that recently have been referred to as the “Raised by Wolves Generation? The ones witnessing the parenting style of some hovering helicopter parents and wondering how and why and what if?

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Those of you that can remember those old days know who you are…

You may have shared a room with a sibling or two, or three….and somehow you weren”t traumatized by it.                    Your…

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I put this bike shop on par with the best shops in San Diego and even Solana Beach. Seems that a lot of people here have two jobs (our breakfast waitress at Kanemitsu’s recited the dinner menu for the Hotel Molokai where we’re going on Friday). Philip, Molokai Bicycle’s owner, works at a school during the day. For the other gig, he has the corner of a warehouse, a small shipping container, a piece of yard behind the warehouse, and a strong following. Glen, a local guy volunteers there as the air compressor (man handles the bike pump). Plenty of people hang around, talk story, and Philip fixes their bikes. Pick up a flyer at the airport, the one I got says it’s only open on Wed (3-6) and Sat (10-2) but he works up appointments too.

Phillip Kikukawa, Proprietor
Mailing: PO BOX 379
Shop Location: 80 Mohala St Kaunakakai, Hawaii 96748
(808) 553-3931
Fax (808) 553-5740
Website: http://bikehawaii.com/molokaibicycle/