Reptiles

Reptiles
Silly Grins

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Sid was not vi[s]cious...

 
Their once was a Rottweiler named ‘Sid’
A pure-hearted dog
With the heart of a kid

When he’d make his rounds
He’d put on that sad and lonely frown of his


You could hear his plea
As if to say
‘What about meeee?Aawwwe’


As he sat by the back door
And begged for just a little more

But not too much

He’d get a few pieces meant for the table
A scratch behind the ears
And pat on his fat back
Then he’d be off again

Places to go

To the next place
Wherever that was

He was the neighborhood bum
And we all sure enjoyed enabling that one

Man, that dog sure could eat.


Living in a kind of more rural area where your neighbor might be an acre or so away, most people had the habit of leaving their doors open. Doesn’t really make sense to lock anything when you spend most of your time outside anyway.

In the evenings, before the bugs came out, the top part of the door was usually open when dinner was being made. Last minute salads were picked from the garden throughout most of the year. Miss those Such a nice place.

Anyway.

Well, usually near dinner time, this big thug of a dog who could’ve probably afforded to loose a bit of that extra weight… Sid, he’d kind of slowly find his way up onto the back porch and stand there for a few minutes.

If no one was giving him any attention or at least pretending not to notice, he’d start to whine a little, kind of lettin’ folks know that he was stopping by and would sure appreciate one of them special dog biscuits we’d somehow not forgotten to picked up just for him.

Nobody really remembers when he first started showing up. We never really knew where he lived. And it’s not like he wasn’t well fed. He was kind of known for making the rounds in a way that made you smile when he came by. He’d hang out for just a little while, long enough to charm his way into your heart for those few scraps of whatever you might not really need.

No, never did figure out where he lived.

But we know where he died.

There was a school not too far away where people really should have been minding the speed limit when they drove by. No matter how big those yellow signs were, people just couldn’t slow down.

Funny thing about Sid, he wasn’t shy about holding up traffic even after he’d left a dent or two.

Word was, someone heard another screech from the wheels of a pickup truck that really should have been going a hell of a lot slower.  Instead of the usual follow up of profanity, that final day, the skid marks were punctuated with a pretty solid thud.

Yeah, Sid was a good dog.

Remembering him still brings back a smile.

10 comments:

  1. Shit, I never even met him and I miss Sid...

    Would have like to have lived, for at least awhile, in that rural town...

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    1. In some ways, it's a lot like Portland in terms of the 'vibe'. A lot of people pass through and a few even stay for a while. A good place for kids to come back to when they are older. They brew some really good beer there at a number of places... a lot like Portland.

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  2. This story could have taken place out in Sisquoc. Patsy must have been hit at least 11 times on the less busy part of Foxen Canyon Road, she sure loved to chase cars. We knew where she lived but she belonged to everyone, especially kids going out to the riverbed for summertime fun.

    On the busier side of Foxen Canyon Road, across the street from the school, was the stretch of road people drove far faster than they should have. The Mejia's lummox of a beast met his maker there. It was not a pretty sight and NOT a quick thud ending... part A was crawling toward part B. I don't recall if someone helped him go easy but your post brings back a flood of memories. Good memories, simpler times when your only care was making it back home covered in dirt in time for dinner. When all the companion you really needed was a dog.

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  3. Sisquoc...wow, looks like quite a place for a childhood.

    If treated right, dogs sure can be good companions. That's what made seeing that video of Max getting shot hard to watch.

    Small towns allow for a sense of community in a way that I think can really help kids by giving them a stable foundation. Covered in dirt in time for dinner, that's got to be the best.

    Summer fun.

    Thank you.


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  4. Rottweilers have big ole asses...flat like a table and they love to be patted on the table/ass till they shake that fat butt and head and look silly for dogs that are supposed to be scary. Best breed for safety concerns and young kids. Huskies have been known to not take kindly to small rivals and I've seen a German shep almost rip a kids face off. Never met a Rott that didn't lay near the small ones. (I haven't met em' all of course) I miss my Foots.

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    1. Sid was unbelievably friendly as well as a bit stubborn in a likable way. He hadn't been clipped to look menacing and did tend to wiggle a funny way when he got the attention and treats he was after.

      The German Shepherds - I am not fond of them at all. Once they hit a certain age, they get weird. Wiki says something like getting funny "if not socialized correctly". I don't think people realize what happens to animals that get ignored or left to roam. As a kid, I was nearly chased down by a neighborhood pack led by a Shepherd. Ended up pissing my pants and somehow managed to keep moving
      despite having gone over the handlebars... came back later to pick up the bicycle, but not alone.

      "One well recognized feature of dog behavior is that being part of a pack is very stimulating for the dogs that are part of the pack, and many normal behavioral inhibitions of a dog is lost when it is part of a pack...Dog packs are simply not safe to be around." Can't help think that people can be that way too.

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  5. I was in a car that hit a dog once a year and a half ago. It was prolly as good of a dog that you mentioned above. Unfortunately the ass hat that owned the dog couldn't(aka cleary had no want to train the dog) control it and an innocent being lost its life. I wish people would do a bit of research on breeds before taking a dog in. I have trained several dogs of different behavioral types and they were ALL incredible, friendly and extremely loving.

    Now cats on the other hand..... aww what the hell am I talking about. my cat is as loving to me as my last dog was.

    Nice story will and that sucks that a cool neighborhood dog ended its story that way. :-(

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    1. Thanks for stopping by despite the fact that I haven't gotten back to your pages in a while. You'd mentioned something about a conference in Vegas that sounding similar to something the DEFCON folks were putting on. Hacking is something I obviously know little about and am oblivious of - on a certain level. That's one of the reasons I've hesitated, but not the main one, which has more to do with circumstances.

      I like your work and I particularly like the voice you use in your instructional posts - easy to follow as well get along with.

      Your comment...

      I keep thinking how dogs are like children. People seem to forget they need to be looked after and are somehow surprised/angry when misbehavior/accidents happen. Doh!

      The neighborhood where Sid got hit, now flashing lights and speed bumps, yes, speed bumps have been put on the road, 'cause, like, there's a school there. All in the name of getting people to quit that bad habit of driving like they are on crack.

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    2. No problems on you not visiting bro. We're all busy and I have to admit that I need to stop by yours more often as well. Thanks for all of the complements especially on my teaching. I always read it back to myself and it seems convoluted, bloated and boring, so I'm glad to hear that its the exact opposite. I have a somewhat case of ADD so god knows whatever is going on in my head is coming out when I type.

      The con in Vegas you mentioned is the very one I used to attend. I've had much fun at Defcon, but security is starting to bore me these days unless its about Neurolinguistic programming (aka What Chris teaches in addition to English), Lock Picking and anything having to do with analog phones. The last year I went, the people who put the conference on kicked out some North Korean spies and they discovered somebody put a fake ATM machine in the lobby of the conference(the people who did the atm must not have known about the hacker conference was going to be held there).

      I've been seeing more and more speed bumps being installed into residential neighborhoods and its a shame that people can't be bastards long enough to leave the tract. That dog sounds like he woulda been a trip to know, kinda like the stray cats we look after. All 3 of them are a real trip with their own strange personalities. Even the one that drools nonstop.

      I wish there could be cops that would take care of that type of business, but it always seems that they are in the right place at the right time where they give tickets for rediculous issues such as registration or speeding on the bigger streets.

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    3. I definitely enjoy your photos. The most recent ones I've been stuck on are the fireworks. Each photo is different. One is even disturbing because it kind of comes to life.

      The Vegas convention... one day I'd like to go, just to see. This year's theme is/was dealing with the systems that are in our vehicles. Which is timed just after a journalist sort of hit a tree at full speed. Or something like that. A shame, really.

      NLP... a few suggestions (or just the right attitude?) goes a long way in this world.

      Speaking of locks, I've only recently looked at what is available online in terms of 'show and tell'. Wow. I guess if you're going to have a hobby or profession, locks are definitely an interesting focus. For the most part, my approach toward material is the Bart Simpson method... the only time I ever seem to lock anything is if I want to get rid of it.

      (Now if I could only figure out how to get these handcuffs off)

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