Happy Mardi Gras

by Bear

Happy Mardi Gras everyone, it's me Bear. Do you like my beads? Don't ask me what I had to do to get them, heehee.

Mardi Gras is a nice easy day on the Northshore of New Orleans. Daddy is going to BBQ hamburgers and we are going to have a nice relaxing day. It is a different story in New Orleans. They have lots of parades down there and lots more people.

Speaking of parades, I wanted to tell you about a parade for dogs. The name of such a parade is Barkus. Barkus is kind of a take off on the famous Bacchus parade that rolls the Sunday before Mardi Gras.

Take your paw and click this link to see Barkus photos. There are some fine pups in this parade. Have a look see. Here are some of the pups in the parade.

I better get back to the party. Come back tomorrow to see photos of my fun day at the lakefront last Sunday.

Bye for now.

Bear

According to Bear

by Bear

Daddy and I working to drain the yard in a hard rain

Even though Daddy was working, he still played with me a lot

Hi everyone, it's me Bear. I have a lot to write about. So much, that I am going to post two more days in a row. Today I am going to bark talk about the big rain over the weekend and how me and Daddy fixed the yard. Tomorrow, I am going to tell you about Mardi Gras and the special parade for dogs. Then on Wednesday, I am going to show you some nice pictures from my big day at the lakefront on Sunday.

OK, Saturday morning it was raining real hard. Daddy usually takes me for my walk early in the morning so I can pee and poop, but he just kept looking out the door. He said it was too cold and raining too hard to walk. I had my legs crossed.

On one of Daddy's trips to the window, I could tell something bothered him. He said something to Mama, then things started happening. Daddy said the yard was flooding and he had to go outside to see if he could make the water flow away.

He put on a big yellow plastic thing he got at one of his races. I watched him, it was in a little package, but unfolded into a big rain coat Daddy called a pancho.

It was strange being outside in the rain. The water was about 4 inches right outside the door and the yard looked like a lake. Daddy couldn't take a lot of good pictures because he was working, but Mama took some after the water started draining.

Daddy threw the ball for me and I ran and water flew. I was drenched in about 2 seconds. Then Daddy got a hoe out of the shed and started cutting little ditches close to the big ditch in front of our yard.

Daddy realized the ditch was full and water was running over the top of our driveway instead in the big pipe under the driveway. I heard him talking to the neighbor about it. He said the city came out to fix a water leak. The hole they made, they filled in with sand. The sand washed into the big pipe under the driveway and clogged it up. Daddy was trying to unclog it.

The water was real deep. I couldn't touch bottom and had to swim. That was real fun swimming in my own yard. Daddy yelled to a car that stopped with one of his friends in it, "I am getting the BBQ grill out later and we are having a pool party."

After he used the hoe to make drains from the yard to the ditch, Daddy got some big long white pipes and he stuck them through the big pipe under the driveway. He kept ramming them in and pushing through the clog. He finally just left them in there and the water flowed through them.

Since the hurricane, the drainage has been all messed up. There are still trees and brush piles in major drainage areas. Daddy isn't happy about it. He said it has been 6 months and this should have been done by now.

I think he should write a letter to the city or something.

I wish you could have seen how deep the water was in the ditch. It was almost waste deep for Daddy and I had to swim. It was lots of fun.

We were out there a long time. Daddy got the dog shampoo and gave me a bath while I was so wet. After that, I came in and dried off and took a nice nap in the warm house.

So that was my fun Saturday.

Bye for now
Bear

Go ahead, read something funny today

I have just the thing. Fresh from my archives a post entitled:

Blankety, blank, blank

This is a little piece I wrote about cursing or cussing. It was inspired by fellow blogger Brenda over at What's Up Down South. She wrote a hilarious post on the subject too.

Here is the link to Brenda's post:

The art of profanity

Have a great weekend

Until the next time
John Strain

Liars

Do you remember the old westerns? One of the worst insults one cowpoke could utter (excuse the pun) to another cowpoke were the words, "You're a liar." I always thought it was a nice touch if the accuser emphasized his words by throwing a drink in the liar's face.

Of course, after that, it was on. A man had to defend his honor. Fists were not usually enough for this task and the escalation went straight to gunplay.

There are some exceptions when the hero was the one being accused and could have out drawn and or beat up the accuser, but didn't, because he had promised his dying mother he would never fight again.

The point is: Our society used to shun liars and hold truth up as a standard. That is not to say liars have not existed throughout history, but in my experience, telling the truth was the honorable thing.

Even if you did something dishonorable, telling the truth showed character. When someone admits to a mistake or a breach of their own values and is able to say it to others, then they are taking the first step to repairing the damage.

What a contrast to today. Let me just mention the word "politics," the very word is synonymous with "liar." Then there is another synonym, "media." Somehow, somewhere, objectivity was replaced with arbitrary. Truth is what you think it is. Intellectual dishonesty / lying has become mainstream.

The lying epidemic, as I see it, is socially accepted, condoned, and not punished or shunned anymore.

In a western today, to get a reaction like the one I described above, one would have to criticize another cowboy's fashion or jewelry, maybe even tell him that he is fat.

In my job as a social worker, I get lied to all the time. Nursing homes give patient reports that soft pedal an individual's physical condition, because they are trying to get rid of them and are afraid if they were honest, we would not admit their patient.

Patients lie to me all the time from their drug and alcohol use to everything conceivable.

I was talking to a lady at a bank the other day as she was trying to track down a vehicle for repossession. She commented to me, "I get lied to all day long." Interesting side note, she said they had over 1 million dollars of vehicle loans in default since the hurricane.

Many people just left the New Orleans area and disappeared. They didn't think to contact the bank to provide a new billing address. In her efforts to locate these vehicles and others, most of what she hears is lies.

Cheating has increased in school and on college campuses. Everyone can rationalize their lying and cheating. "Everyone is doing it," seems to be enough of a justification to lie, cheat, and steal.

I am not good at lying and I blame my mother. I tried to lie as a child, but she seemed to know when I did and made my life miserable because of it. It was difficult to practice the craft with such interference and I never really perfected it – honest.

Eventually, my lying trickled off. Now when I try to lie, I feel nervous, my face turns red, and my voice gets tight. It is a little easier on the phone though, "Yeah, that's right, I mailed that check this morning."

I am not a prude, a puritan, or a Pollyanna. I don't expect everyone to get along, tell the truth, keep their hands to themselves, and obey the speed limit, but for crying out loud.

"The truth shall set you free" and "Honesty is the best policy," are truths many will never know or understand. Do you lack order and peace in your life? If you lie routinely, that may have something to do with it.

A liar has stormy relationships. A liar is like someone living on credit cards; they get what they want now, but sooner or later, the bill comes in. A liar needs a better memory than man has attained. It is hard to keep up with all of the lies.

I hate to be lied to. It is a major disrespect. It is like telling me, "I don't care about you or what you want - what I want is more important than you." We get angry when we are lied to or manipulated for a good reason. It goes against decent values.

Lying is a cancer in society. Things can appear fine on the surface, but underneath, in the engine room, trouble is brewing.

This is what I really think about this topic and I'm not lying.

Until the next time
John Strain

Boing boing boing . . .

Do you hear that? Listen, there it goes again. Boing, boing, boing. Yes folks, that sound you hear is the unmistakable sound of spring. I know you yankees may not hear it yet, but down hear in the bayou, it has been loud and clear.

I hope I am not getting cocky. Yesterday was in the 80's and it is nearly 70 degrees at 6:00 am as I write this. It has snowed here in Covington as late as March, but even the "cold snaps" are punctuated with mild and warm weather.

Beyond that, the smell of sweet olive is in the air; can jasmine and magnolia be far behind. The azaleas are beginning to bloom and their purple, pink, red, and white color bursts will be a welcome sight amongst all of the downed trees and debris piles, which linger from last August.

When I take Bear out for his morning walks there is a noticeable difference in the bird songs. There are more varieties and greater numbers of them in the morning chorus.

More green is popping out even if some of it is in the form of annual weeds. Soon we will be planting flowers and tomato plants. I have a lot of yard work to do. Several months of leaves await my toil to remove them to make way for the grass to grow. Then I will be walking behind the buzzing lawn mower, but don't you love the smell of freshly cut grass?

For me, spring is another way of saying "infusion of energy." I love this time of year and how it makes me feel. Possibilities, fresh starts, and energy are descriptive words for what it does to me.

Just when one season begins to drag, the next one comes along to ruffle our feathers, to make us think and feel different things. Thank the Lord for the variety He created. I sure enjoy it.

Time to pour that first cup of the day, walk the dog, and get back to running after the marathon. It is time to prepare for the next challenge.

For some reason I am thinking about Robert Herrick's sentiments in his poem To the virgins, to make much of time, especially the first line:

To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time
Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,
Old Time is still a-flying:
And this same flower that smiles to-day
To-morrow will be dying.

The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun,
The higher he's a-getting,
The sooner will his race be run,
And nearer he's to setting.

That age is best which is the first,
When youth and blood are warmer;
But being spent, the worse, and worst
Times still succeed the former.

Then be not coy, but use your time,
And while ye may, go marry:
For having lost but once your prime,
You may for ever tarry.

Robert Herrick, written in the 1600's

Until the next time
John Strain