Dirty Sheepdog, a photo by BelchSpeak on Flickr.

Turned my back for ten minutes to answer some work emails and the dog started digging in the flower bed out front. This muddy puppy is the result.

London in 1927 from Tim Sparke on Vimeo.

Puppy and Peonies, a photo by BelchSpeak on Flickr.

Our sheepdog pup is growing bigger and bigger. And our peonies have popped in three colors- red, pink and rose. And these peonies attract every carpenter bee in the neighborhood- you know, those fat bumble bees that burrow into wood siding? Yeah, these peonies are bumble bee magnets.

We’ve spent several happy hours standing in front of the peonies with a tennis racket smacking these fat carpenter bees and sending them sailing across the yard with various forehands and backhands. Jess smashed one bee and it sailed across the driveway to smack me in the forehead. I’d call that a winner.

If you want to read a fast paced spy thriller and war novel, get it for yourself.

I replied, “Oh no we don’t. We pay people to pick up trash. We don’t litter, but we don’t pick up trash either. Its not our job.”

“Yes it is! They told us that in school!” he insisted.

So I told him the story of the Earth Day founder Ira Einhorn. I made him repeat the name back to me. He did. I went on to explain to him how he was a very bad man who killed his girlfriend and stuffed her in a box and ran away from Police for thirty years.

He asked me, “Did he kill her with a sword?”

I had to think. I didn’t describe the horrible way Ira Einhorn, the Unicorn killer, kept his girlfriend’s corpse in a box, but told him “Yep, sure. Killed her with a sword. Do you think we should celebrate anything that this evil man told us to celebrate?”

“No Way!” he screamed with enthusiasm. And then he made up his own story about a bad person who stuffed someone in a box, proving to me that the story had sunk in. We don’t celebrate Earth Day or any other secular earth-worshipping event in our home. Teachers can try to indoctrinate my child, and I have to use truth and facts to set him straight.

13 Worst Predictions Made on Earth Day, 1970: freedomworks.org/node/42543 14. “Nobody’s dumb enough to fall for this nonsense, are they?”

— Jim Treacher (@jtLOL) April 22, 2013

From the NYDailyNews here:

A Louisiana town wants to prohibit people from sagging, or wearing pants below the waist and exposing their underwear.

The ban would set a high price on low pants, slapping violators with a series of fines: $50 for the first offense, $100 for the second and $100 and 16 hours of public service for each subsequent offence.

The Terrebonne Parish Town Council voted 8 -1 to pass the ordinance, which the parish’s president is expected to sign into law.

Some think sagging is cool, others think it is foolish. Either way, the fashion statement has incited the ire of several Louisiana lawmakers.

“Appearing in public view while exposing one’s skin or undergarments below the waist is contrary to safety, health, peace and good order of the parish and the general welfare,” the ordinance reads.

Before the vote, Jerome Boykin, president of the local chapter of the NAACP, argued in favor of the sagging ban.
“There is nothing positive about people wearing saggy pants,” he said. “This is not a black issue, this is not a white issue, this is a people issue.”

Note that these people trying to ban stuff is, as always, Democrats. Of course they won’t want to address the root cause of the problem, which is no jobs for inner city kids, no employment for blacks and the high crime rates that spurned the fashion in the first place.

Sneaky Sheepdog, a photo by BelchSpeak on Flickr.

My sneaky sheepdog puppy lying in wait to ambush ankles!

Spring Snow, a photo by BelchSpeak on Flickr.

Today we were hit with Slush-a-geddon, a super-wet storm that dumped 4 inches of heavy snow. Its just about all gone already.

Always one to take advantage of a good snowstorm, the boy dressed hurriedly to join me outside when I was walking the puppy. He swore his legs and sockless feet weren’t cold. Not sure if he was telling the truth…