Coon Dog Crazy

My Raccoon (or some raccoon) is back.
First time I've seen one in the middle of the afternoon.  I was walking the dogs, all three of them.  We have Jackson visiting, he used to be Pebbles boy friend, but this trip she has been willing to share.  Everyone is happy he is here except Pasha.  Even the cat LOVES him, sleeps with him, rubs up against him, preens around him.  The baby bird Blu-Bel even gave him kisses, and BB is scared of everything.  Jackson is HUGE, and very calm, except that he insists on being walked twice a day and thinks that little dogs are best served as snacks.  This is not true - he is good with dogs, except yappy in-your-face little dogs.  He has zero tolerance for yappy.  And cats.  And squirrels.  And random dogs that have not bothered him in anyway.

So Walking all 3 dogs is a challenge.  Pasha wants all people and dogs he sees to love him more than they love Jackson, he is insanely jealous and WHINY right now, constantly pulling on the leash.  Jackson is good, but used to going everywhere his extension leash allows, which tangle him up with the other dogs, and ends with my shoulder leaving the socket when he sees a squirrel, cat, or little dog.  Pebbles is the good dog.  She gets her stick, and just walks.  Except Jackson has inspired her to  pick up REALLY big sticks, something she has not done in about a year.  So she walks at a steady pace, whacking the other two, or me, when we slow down, or pause for disentanglement.

So, unfortunately for me, the dogs saw the raccoon first.  He was already well up into the tree by our house by the time I recovered.  We had just crossed the busy street at the end of our little block, and I was waving at the neighbor girl in her little play set when all three dogs took off.  That's about 210# of dog muscle galloping off.  Thank god all of the leashes are different lengths, I managed to remain standing, and did not lose any limbs.  And the raccoon is adorable, and safe, to the chagrin of the puppies.
 

Ho Ho Home for the Holidays

Sort of.
My family has never been big on Holiday gatherings. When my mom and dad got married they chose to avoid in-law issues by having the holiday meals at our house, and since no one else wanted to travel, either, I do not remember a single Holiday dinner with cousins or grandparents.  We always had a full house.  My mom could not stand to have people alone on the Holidays, we had standards that came every year, adopted family that loved us like grandparents, but we also always had strays that mom would pick up from a chance meeting and a "gee, if you are going to be alone, why don't you come by our house?"  As we grew up and went away, got married, rebelled against all things home, Mom got all proactive about seeing her kids and again, not fighting with in-laws, and started scheduling a not-Christmas meal.  When I was in Oregon, it would often be on a weekend before, sometimes a "Solstice Celebration" or just whatever random day we could all get there.  I have not been home in the winter in years.  I think the only time I made it when there was snow was for my father's funeral in February back in '88.  Wow - and I'm the family snow baby.  I need a winter field trip.


Anyway - last Wednesday, Christmas eve eve, the family gathered.  And I got to join them.  It was a little anti-climatic, I did not have the darling girl, and face it, my family wants to see me because I am direct access to the adorable granddaughter/niece, but it was fun.  We skyped.  My brother and sister and families were at my Mom's, and we all got to see each other on the little computer screen.  They got to meet my dogs, see my husband, whom no one has seen since our honeymoon 6 years ago. They opened all of the Wild Child Pics presents we sent - I love my family, they get my quirky, dark sense of humor and they genuinely seemed to like their gifts.


I'm still a little uncomfortable with the skype thing.  Sometimes video is not in sync with audio and it looks like a really bad japanese monster movie, I don't like looking at myself on screen - or maybe it more of a morbid fascination and I am constantly watching myself to determine if I look too much like an idiot.  Very reminiscent of the 2001 Space Odyssey, when the lead calls home from outer space and talks to his family on the large video screen.  Wow - we are living the future.  With our video conferencing and com-devices.  Where is my hover car?

Of Mice and Men

The best laid plans . . .
Sort of regretting my mom-follies this morning.
All the west-coast fam has been begging for new videos of gym girl.  There were no meets scheduled until Jan, so I've been putting them off.  Last night we had an in-house optional meet.  First judged meet, with critiques by the judges.  I had the camera all ready - gym girl was 2nd on bar, I was ready to amaze the grandma!  

Camera:  "battery has no charge remaining, powering down" *phhhht* (that is a word - look it up).  And she was amazing.      9.0 on bars, 8.3 beam - with no falls, barely any wobbles.  The last comment has to be taken in context. I was at almost every practice this week, all of the girls acted like the beam was greased, all week long. I don't remember seeing more than one or two routines where anyone actually stayed on the beam.  Yesterday, everyone, the entire squad, pulled off beautiful beam routines - no falls.   

So much fun to see all of the girls, and to watch the higher level optionals - the sneak preview of where our girls are going. The girls are all growing up, they work hard, play well together, it is a truly amazing thing.  I especially love that there seems to be no age gap when it comes to gym friends, the 9-year olds hang with the 14 year olds. They even work as a team when closing out siblings, even when the sibling are closer in age to the group than the gymnast.  OK the parental pride is mis-placed there, but, excluding your annoying sibling from your group of friends is part of having little/big brothers and sisters, it is just very cool that the girls have a team solidarity that they choose to keep close.

And - I really enjoy all of the parents.  After the meet was the annual team party we all ate, mingled, etc.  When the girls went off to break into work out groups for "secret Santa," we all got to hang and dish a little.  Nothing like a sport sponsored by a large city rec department to bring a vastly diverse group of people together.  The only thing we have in common is intense pride of our children and willingness to do whatever it takes to help our girls succeed.  We even define success differently, and for most of us, the definition has very little to do with gymnastics - gymnastics is a means to a goal, not the end game.  Over the years we have come to appreciate each others quirks, oddities, annoying behaviors, and genuinely share our common ground.  We love and support each other's girls, we help each other out however we can, and take pride in all of the team's accomplishments, on and off the floor.

A Truly great start to winter break!
 

Brag Sheet

Maybe I should rename this Blog to "proud Mom endlessly blathers on and on about the amazing wonderful child, that can do no wrong, is perfect in every way."  Or maybe I should just post alerts when I slip into gushing mom mode.  Oh - that would be now.  Actually, to be fair to myself, I feel that I am entitled to the over-bragging, I am fully aware that the darkness is approaching.  She is 12, occasionally I get glimmers of the hell that only a teen-age girl can produce in a household, and I realize that I am not exempt, just delayed.  I can imagine that in a few years or months, the entire tone of this gushy little mom-fest can turn into the crazed angst of a mom in crisis.

So for now, in wonderful mom world:  Gym girl had her first practice meet.  I missed floor and beam, other parents told me she did great, of course, we are all so genuinely proud of our kids, and each other's kids, I'm never gonna get to hear "your kid sucked," or "gee, I was surprised she didn't do that well."  I won't get an honest opinion from the girl.  She always says she did horribly, and will pick apart every tiny little detailed mistake she made.  I'm sorry I missed her beam routine, not just 'cause it is fun to watch, but I would have liked to see the reaction of the people that have not seen her in a while.  My kid is strong.  Freakishly strong.  Her beam routine emphasizes that, and when people see her mount for the first time there is that sort of "wow, she is REALLY strong" moment.  And I would have liked to seen floor, I've only seen her routine once with the tumbling elements added, and it was the first time she did it.  It is a fun routine, cute, strong, fits her well.  I did get to see her bar routine.  She is the only prep-op girl doing giants, and she nailed her routine.  Giant, Giant, Lay-out fly-away.  Whooo-hooo!

From there we rushed over to Cafe Kili, where she donned her photo-girl persona and had her first little art show.  She handled all of the sales and tickets, sold about 10 prints and a couple of calendars (on a side note, if anyone actually reads this, calendars are still available on the Wild Child Pics website for delivery in time for Christmas).  Towards the end of the afternoon, she flipped through her receipt book, and I figured she was adding up the money she was making her head.  She threw me a curve when she hollered across the room, "Mom, we get to donate $22 to Metropolitan Ministries."  Now - that's a Mom moment!  I don't know if I'm more proud of her generous spirit and focus on what she can give, rather than what she can get (I am more proud of that), or if it is her ability to do math functions in her head.

This coming Saturday (December 12th) we will be at the Lutz Shop and Stroll.  First all day sales event for Wild Child Pics.  The bummer is, it is a weekend that she is with her dad.  Photo Girl and Darling Man will help me set up, then he goes camping, and she goes with her dad.  I get left selling artwork, hanging out in Lutz.  It will be fun, but it would be more successful if she were there.  No one wants to buy art from the pushy mom, they want to meet the girl.

On a completely unrelated topic, for the past few days our General Manager has been in the office, she was acting Director of Clinical Services the last time we were in between DCS', and she is covering for the current one in her absence (not sure, nor do I care about the details of the absence).  Anyway, when Michelle is around, the atmosphere is lighter, morale is a little higher, and walking into the office does not feel like a jaunt through the mine-fields.

Life is good.
 

Saving Herons

Ok - once again I am so proud of the little girl I could just spit.  Who spits when they are proud?  Is it just the overflow of gushing?  Honestly, I have no idea where these sayings come from, I just spew them like it is an ancient adage, and chances are good I make them up, or get them wrong and keep perpetuating the colloquialism.

We have a new project.  We have printed posters, and would like to place them in as many public areas (legally of course) as possible.  We have printed 100, the idea to be to donate as many as we can to parks, land management, forest regions, or place that people gather outdoors, and sell a few of  them cheaply, to help cover the cost of printing more.  So - of the 1 or 2 people that read this blog, if you know of an organization that would like some to post, please have them contact us:  Riki@WildChildPics.com

I know - it is so sad.  Photogirl and her dad could not even do anything without causing it great distress.  It could still fly - but how long until the string gets caught on something?  it won't be able to get away from an alligator, or it will break a leg  struggling.  Just make me want to cry.

Spread the word - we are off to Egmont Key today.

Ped X'ing

I'll admit it.  I'm turning into a bit of a curmudgeon. Urban life annoys me: not the interesting architecture, or easy access to just about anything under the sun, or the wide variety of people and sub cultures I run into everyday.  What annoys me about urban life is that there are sooo many people, and not all of them are very bright.  I have pet peeves, as I get older I have more - I swear, I am going to end up being the crazy old lady on the corner ranting at people that walked by that it wasn't how we did it in our day - oh no, when we walked, we put effort into it!

Wait - that is already me.  Tampa is not exactly a pedestrian friendly city.  And the thought of trying to get anywhere on a bike here pretty much terrifies me.  The last City I lived in was Portland, Oregon.  Very bike friendly, lots of public transports, and people walked enough to understand that there are rules.  Rules that support important things, like staying alive, and not messing up the lives of the poor sap that hits you with their car.  Maybe because as a country kid, I learned about urban walking in 3rd grade safety courses. The people here learn it from the neighborhood, parents and peers.  The result is chaos.

Take for example: the cross walk.  You need to cross the street, you go to the nearest cross walk, maybe push a button, wait for the light to change to indicate that it is safe to cross, try not to be freaked out by the flashing orange hand counting the seconds to your demise.  You make it across the street, with mere seconds to spare.  During the whole process you are in front of the cars, in full view, where all the drivers can see you.  If you don't quite make it, chances are the annoyed driver may gesture at you for wasting their time, but they will most likely NOT run over you with their car.  Tampa does not have very strategic cross walks, on some busy streets the cross walks are separated by several very long blocks.  In those cases, you should at least go to an intersection, wait for a natural slow or stop in traffic, and run like hell - please do not do this with toddlers and baby strollers - play "chicken" with your own life, don't drag your kids along.  Buy them the video game - it is WAY cheaper.

I am not a purist, I have been known to J-walk, just not at rush-hour an a main through fare.  So my pedestrian peeve?  People that don't use the freakin' cross walk.  I'm sitting in my car, 2nd car from the light, on a very busy street (3 lanes, each way, double or triple turn lane).  Probably talking on the phone and eating a sandwich - not texting - I'm not quite that stupid.  I am two car lengths from the light, and some idiot, dragging their girlfriend, groceries or very short child, starts weaving in and about between the cars.  When the light changes, people start to move.  They almost get hit, or get stuck between lanes or make a mad dash in front of braking cars.  You are 10 feet from the CrossWalk!  what is wrong with these people?  How lazy can you be?  How illegal is it to hit them?  It really burns me when they then turn and walk towards the cross walk.  If you were going that way anyway, lazy is obviously not the problem.  It is just pure stupid.

On a similar note, some guy on a bike needed to cross the street, and head East yesterday (I was going West).  He gets 1/2 way across the street, turns into oncoming traffic, and starts slaloming between cars, against the flow of traffic, making his way across the street.  Then he flips off the car that almost hit him when the light changed.  The rules for bicyclist in Tampa is different than other parts of the country.  If you are on the street, you follow the laws of a moving vehicle, if you are on the sidewalk, you are treated as a pedestrian.  This is true, and it might be statewide.  Anyone coming from a city where people ride bikes regularly are very confused by this random behavior. Bicycles will come at your from any direction, at any speed.  It is your job to not hit them, even if they come sailing at top speed down the side walk, against the flow of traffic, shielded by a very large hedge.     

Hmmmm - maybe I need to chill, I should go take a walk or something.

 

Duty and Dalliance

This is a two part rant.  
1st - Jury duty.

We are a government "for the people, by the people."  Jury duty is the one chance we get to be part of our judiciary.  It is our most direct line of governance.  I consider it a duty, a privilege, and an obligation.  I get pretty irritated when people give me advice on how to "get out of it."

My first experience of Jury duty was in my early 20's in a small county with a pool of maybe a 100 jurors.  My "peers" are not a whole bunch of people with nothing else going on in their lives, or surly people that think everything going on in their life is more important than whatever is happening in the lives of the people in court.  I realized at that point that to have the opportunity to have "jury of my peers" in the unlikely event that I should ever need one, I should step up and do my duty.  

Then I opened my own business.  The hardship of Jury duty was more of a "there is no one to cover my patients" than a "gee, I can't take the time off."  So for several years, I have gotten out of it.  Little pains of guilt, but really felt like I had no option.  Now, I work for a company that is obligated to let me go, and find coverage for my patients.  We do not get paid for Jury duty.  We either take vacation time, or take unpaid leave.  I'm Ok with that.  I could not be on a long trial, without undo hardship, but I feel it is important enough that I can tighten the 'ol belt for a couple of days off.  

Another subject that came up was the paltry "stipend" that jurors get.  It has been suggested to me that the government pay us more.  I do not believe that we should be paid at all.  It is our duty.  It is part of the price we pay for having a judicial system that allows us to be judged by our peers, not government officials.  It is as fundamental to our democracy as the right to vote.  I would actually be OK with making voting mandatory (I know, dictatorial democracy, kind of an oxymoron, but if I were supreme ruler, I would be gentle about forcing you to live up to your obligations).  I also think that public service, whether military or civil, should be mandatory for all for two years post high school or college.  Seriously - vote for me "Supreme Czar of all Civil Service."

Rant #2
Citizenry waste of government resources.

This Jury pool was over 1700.  We were randomly broken into small groups for each trial where "jury selection" began.  My group had 26 people, we listened to a public defender that thought he was channeling Alan Shore for 4 hours before 7 of us were chosen.  The next day we listened to 3+ hours of testimony.  That is 7 hours of 2 public defenders, 2 state's attorneys, 1 judge, 2 bailiffs, our time (but we were not costing much), and at least a few hours of the 3 officer's that testified time.  Wow - that is tons of people power.  Why?

Because some kid stole 2 packs of cigarettes.  

Which the officers were able to confiscate, and the convenience store had back in approximately 20 minutes.  Everyone deserves a jury trial, and this kid was right to ask for it.  As soon as he was caught, he fessed up, apologized, and gave the cigarettes back.  So why the huge ordeal?  Because the shop-keeper felt "threatened."  That is the difference between petit theft and robbery.  Oh - and robbery is a felony.  

We deliberated for all of 10 minutes.  The shop keeper did not feel "threatened"  when he jumped around the counter chasing the kid, dialing 911 on his cell phone, he didn't even feel threatened when he got outside.  He said that the kid threatened him verbally at that point, but he also said that he relayed the information to 911, and they advised him to "back down, and wait for assistance."  None of the witness accounts could confirm a "threat."  His whole testimony sounded more angry than fearful to me.  Hopefully this kid (and who sells cigarettes to a minor, anyway?) will take the warning and straighten up.  I know where this store is, I work in this neighborhood - If I was a shop-keeper, I might keep a gun under the counter, but I would never consider running after someone that stole something.  This was probably the only 17 year old boy in the whole freaking neighborhood that isn't packin'.