A Shi**y Blog

This is MY neighborhood. This is OUR neighborhood.
Yes, these are photos of dog poop!
I walk my dog two or three times a day, every day! I live in an upscale neighborhood with houses that cost a fair amount of money. I don't say this to brag, I say it to let you know how appalled I am that people do not pick up their dog's poop when they are walking them. I simply cannot understand what kind of person does this ~ thoughtless? dirty? selfish? Maybe they are perfectly lovely people in every other aspect of their life except this. Hmmm, I somehow doubt this! When my grandkids go along on the walks, I always point out the poop. I tell them that the definition of being a good citizen is doing the right thing...even when no one is looking!
This is MY neighborhood. This is OUR neighborhood.
I have a small dog which means her poops are small. I still pick them up on every walk! I buy these great bags at the dollar store (see photo). They are actually in the baby section and are scented with powder! All this for $1 and you get 75 of them!! What a deal! You don't even have to purchase poop bags. You can recycle the plastic bags you get from the grocery store and use them. For a while, someone was actually bagging up their dog's poop and then leaving it on the sidewalk, IN THE BAG!! This means they bent down, scooped it up but didn't take it with them. I know it was the same person because it was always the same blue bags. Again I ask, who does this??
This is MY neighborhood. This is OUR neighborhood.
One house I walk by just redid their landscape down the side. I am sure he spent a lot of money to have it done. It is now, riddled with dog poop throughout the bark!! I will keep asking, who does this??
Yes, there are bigger problems in the world today than dog poop riddled streets and yet maybe this speaks to an ever growing attitude of, "It's not my problem." "Let somebody else take care of things." "If I don't get caught, it doesn't count." "Who cares?" The definition of conscience is:
 "an inner feeling or voice viewed as acting as a guide to the rightness or wrongness of one's behavior"
Have we stopped listening to that inner feeling or voice? Right and wrong still exist and they make the world a more livable, civilized place. I don't always do right, none of us do, but I'd like to believe that I do what's right way more often than what's wrong. If you do right more often than wrong, it becomes your "go to", default behavior. That's how it's supposed to be. That is a good citizen.
I will keep picking up my dog's poop. I hope you will do the same.
This is MY neighborhood. This is OUR neighborhood.
Respect it!
Biggsuzi
 

What a Week!

 Looking back at last week, all I have to say is "Whew!" I think we are jamming the last few days before school starts with as many adventures as we can. Monday, I took the trio to San Juan Capistrano via the Amtrak. It only takes 30 minutes, but what a fun ride.

 After lunch at Ruby's, we went to the petting zoo and I could barely get them out of there after almost 2 hours! They were calm and relaxed. There were no electronics in sight. They were full of smiles and sweetness. It made my heart happy.

 Love, love, love this photo of all four of us by the train tracks before we departed for home. A good time had by all.

 Thursday, after Jack had a birthday party (no photos available ~ I guess keeping up with 15 ten year old boys kept us too busy!), the girls and I went to see Broadway in the Park's production of Beauty and the Beast. What amazing talent and singing voices the actors had. They were enthralled throughout the entire play. They are growing up and can appreciate things like this.

 Friday, Maddy had girlfriends over for an end of summer pool party. As you can see, they were a lively bunch of cuties. These girls will probably remain friends throughout middle and high school. Hosting them and seeing them all laughing together was as much fun for me as it was for them.

Jack has been asking and asking  to run a 5K race with me. We finished out the weekend with the Tiki Beach 5K in Huntington Beach. He shot out right from the start and left me in the dust! I kept plodding along and, eventually, at about the 2.5 mile mark, I caught up to him. We finished the race side by side and I felt nothing but pride for him. Yes, he is an athlete, but running, any distance, is a challenge. He admitted to me later that it was harder than he thought it was going to be. Then he asked me when we can do another one!!
Looking back over the week, it may seem pretty bland to some. I didn't get on an airplane. I didn't go on a cruise. In fact, I never left Orange County. The common thread in all the adventures is that I spent each and every one of them with my grandchildren. We laughed a lot together. We made a lot of memories together. I won't forget these adventures and I hope they won't either.
They make my life so very full and my heart so very happy.

What a Ride!

Our wedding photos are fading, but our love is not. OK, that was so corny, I think I threw up a little in my mouth! Look, I have very realistic thoughts about marriage, especially after being married for 41 years! Some years are great and some years are not. Sometimes you are soul mates and sometimes it feels like cell mates. We make each other smile and we make each other growl. Being married is hard work and I think people forget that fact. "I don't want to do this any more." "It's not fun any more." You hear this all the time. Heck, we've said this from time to time in the past 41 years! And, yet, here we are, still riding side by side in the car together, sometimes in stony silence and sometimes laughing the whole way. That I talked him into recreating this wedding photo just shows what a good man he is.
Mark, on our anniversary, I want you to know how much I have enjoyed annoying you all this time and how excited I am to keep doing it in the future!
Yea, that's love!!!