A Dog's Life (2014)

     

Tucson Weather Today

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Ambition is the path to success. Persistence is the vehicle you arrive in.
--Bill Bradley

A few days ago, Eva was surprised in her daily struggle of chasing away those pesky water-skimming wasps and the myriad birds of many colors flapping just a few tens of feet above the surface of the swimming pool. She takes her guard duties seriously.

What surprised her was the loud bass drum-like whup-whup-whup approach of a low-flying military helicopter that grabbed her attention, Eva first jumped straight up toward it, barking deep-throated snarls, all four feet leaving the ground in a mighty leap. This effort proved ineffectual, so she reluctantly resorted to chasing the big bird, all the way from The East wall to the West gate.

After a few more minutes of sporadic barking, Eva slowly ambled back from the gate to drop down and lie loose-limbed in front of the door.

She gad done her job well. The flying threat had been duly chased away.


Yesterday morning Eva suddenly took off barking in a raucous frenzy of speed and blind rage, and before I could respond she was jumping up toward the top of the pool deck's East wall. By the time I reached her leaping upward struggles and grasped the loose skin around her neck, she had almost made it to the top, one foreleg making it over and the rest of her body slamming against, then sliding down, the stucco wall.

A small pack of coyotes loping languidly over the sparse scrubland between the deck wall and the neighbors house had been the stimulus for Eva's sudden bout of madness.

Needless to say, Eva is today confined, collared and leashed to a large cement block whenever she resides outside by herself, and will until further notice, even when I am out there with her.

Once before, I have been told, she escaped the confines of the fence and attacked a neighbor's dog.

Eva is not human. She's a dog. She thinks like a dog. I am sure she does not remember that dangerous dogfight incident, nor the current coyote one, and that she does not know why she is being constrained.

But I know. I know that if she did escape she would immediately engage those unsuspecting coyotes in a bloody battle.

Yes, I know.

And I must do what has to be done.

NOTE: definition of raucous: loud, rough-sounding, and harsh.

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Did You Know . . .?

J.R. Smith of the New York Knicks was fined $50,000 for untying opponents' shoelaces during games.

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HISTORICAL EVENT

On this day in 1935 a new land-speed record was set by Britain's famed speed demon, Sir Malcolm Campbell. On the Bonneville Salt Flats of Utah, Campbell and his 2,500-hp motor car Bluebird made two runs over a one-mile course at speeds averaging 301.129 mph. In breaking the 300-mph barrier, he surpassed the world record of 276.82 mph that he had set earlier in the year. Today, the land-speed record stands at 763.035 mph, set by Britain's Andy Green in 1997. Green's record was the first official land-speed time to exceed the speed of sound.

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WORD FOR TODAY

hyperpolysyllabicsesquipedalianist
Noun
1. a person who loves to use extremely long words
2. One who is prone to using big words.
3. Anyone who has a fascination for or who enjoys using excessively long words.

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CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS

Carlos Irwin Estevez

(born September 3, 1965)

Charlie Sheen is an American actor. Sheen rose to fame after a series of successful films such as Platoon, Lucas, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Wall Street, Young Guns, Eight Men Out, Major League, Hot Shots!, The Three Musketeers, The Arrival, Money Talks, and Being John Malkovich.

In the 2000s, Sheen became best known for his television roles. He replaced Michael J. Fox in Spin City and then starred in Two and a Half Men. He's currently starring in the FX comedy series Anger Management. In 2010, Sheen was the highest paid actor on television and earned $1.8 million per episode of Two and a Half Men.

Valerie Ritchie Perrine

(born September 3, 1943)

Valerie Perrine is an American actress. She played soft-core porn actress Montana Wildhack in the film of Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five and as comedian Lenny Bruce's wife, stripper Honey Bruce, in Bob Fosse's Lenny. One of her best remembered movie roles came as Miss Eve Teschmacher, moll of criminal mastermind Lex Luthor, in Superman. She reprised her role as Miss Teschmacher in Superman II.

Steven Ralph "Steve" Schirripa

(born September 3, 1957)

Steve Schirripa is an American actor, producer, author, and voice artist. He is best known for portraying Bobby Baccalieri on The Sopranos.

Nichole Marie Hiltz

(born September 3, 1978)

Nichole Hiltz is an American actress. Her most recent long-running television credit is for USA Network's In Plain Sight. Hiltz has made guest appearances on several television shows including NYPD Blue, The O.C., Strong Medicine, Cold Case, The Shield, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, V.I.P., CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Bones, and Smallville. She also appeared in three episodes of Desperate Housewives.

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Energy and persistence conquer all things.
--Benjamin Franklin

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