LEATHERNECKM31

A little Sparky of life….

Today my oldest and best buddy turned 10, and while a lot has happened since we’ve joined forces, it still seems just a short period of time.

Sparky was Mom’s best buddy before he was mine. They went everywhere together and Mom had a small sort of box seat that he could ride in and look out the window.

He’s paranoid… sorta like a horse; a scrap of paper tossed by the wind will spook him, and he’s so acclimatize to thunderstorms that he’ll start shaking when he hears that pre-storm static on the AM radio.

He actually controls time in our house. He announces when it’s time to go to bed, especially for meals, night time snacks, and to wake up and go outside (usually at about 6:15 a.m. this time of year)

I attribute this to his having the smallest bladder. He does this by putting his front paws on my face and licking any exposed skin.

Hard Impossible to ignore.

Like most dogs, especially small breeds, Sparky cannot leave or enter the house without turning in tight circles like a rodeo horse… any and all excitement is expressed in this way. Chow call, treats, walks, car trip…. any time I put on a jacket or my cap.

All those are cues for Cooper to start “talking” loudly as Aussies do (“Roowar, rawr, rawr” ), and Jack to start madly running around, like terriers do. 

Early mornings here at the Southern Command are not born in quiet dignity.

Mom and Sparky made quite a pair… I marveled at how a four and a half-pound dog could control a grown woman.

I learned the answer—he does it with a sophisticated level of cute; after Mom had to leave and Sparky came to live with me and Tripoli we logged tens of thousands of miles together.

This weapon/skill is not to be underestimated. It works on all save the most hardened (Don), and is particularly effective on young, female, drive-up window clerks given to oooohhh, and awwww.

They invariably think he’s a girl—guys are just not that cute. He always gets a treat and once I got a phone number.

Actually, he’s gotten pretty crotchety as a seasoned citizen, and if really annoyed (usually by me or Cooper) he’ll growl and bite.

We have so much in common.

A few years ago Spark developed a thyroid condition which causes him to blow most of his coat when the condition flares up. Hypothyroidism is well controlled by daily meds; and we both have one of those daily plastic pill boxes, he actually thinks his contains some sort of treat.

When a major flood hit town a few years ago Sparky and I jumped in the truck and began taking pix of the receding waters which caused some $20 million damage in the county. The high-water mark on the historic train depot –the building in the photo below—was about three and a half feet high.

So, through thick and thin we’ve done our best and for the most part met good people and dogs, pardon the redundancy, along the way.

I’ve learned so much from Sparky and Trip and Coop and Jack; I try to emulate their best attributes, and since they have no bad intent about anything, I couldn’t have better role models.

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And… he reminds me when it’s time to stop and smell the roses.

The state of the Union isn’t just a state of mind

From the “Too good not to pass on immediately” Department:

Congressman Hank Johnson (D-umbocrat) Is Concerned That The Island Of Guam Is Becoming So "Overly Populated That It Would Tip-Over And Capsize"...

This is not my parody, not The Onion, not Mad Mag; unfortunately, folks, this is your country—the nation that walked on the moon, the greatest society in the history of the world— your government as brought to us by the democrat party. (Hat tip—Weasel Zipper).

The admiral must have considered resigning right then and there; he’s dedicated his life to preserving …. this?

Johnson, obviously a certifiable idiot, is also the author of this sentiment: ”… if congress doesn't rebuke Joe Wilson for saying, ‘you lie’ to Obama, people will put on white hoods and ride through the countryside.”

I’d say his worries are about the wrong party and about 50 years too late… no?

This is all Johnson’s web site has to say about his bona fides as a leader of our country:

In two terms as U.S. Representative for Georgia's Fourth Congressional District, Congressman Hank Johnson has distinguished himself as a substantive, hard-working legislator who delivers results.A member of the Armed Services...

And, gentle reader, his great skills are not just limited to a small area of Georgia, as “Regional Whip for Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, and Alabama, Hank serves in the House Democratic leadership.”

Well, that answers a lot of questions, now don’t it?

In fairness, I came across some information that a Hep C infection may have caused brain damage… and that’s too bad for anyone to suffer, but either way, this man should not be within a day’s drive of the nation’s capital—even as a visitor.

Johnson’s simply the latest in a long line of incompetent black people since the Civil War who have been used by the democrat party’s race baiting apparatus which is designed to keep blacks and whites at odds.  It is intentional; the dems cannot play their race identity politics trump card without a racial “victim” to champion.

Case in point—from my Nov. 7, 2008 post:

And here's an example from cracker-jack citizen journalist Debbie Schlussel of how blacks will continue to bitch about this country, as long as... well, as long as there are black people.

Actor Will Smith, a millionaire since he was a teenager, and now makes $20 mil a pic, insisted on another black multi-millionaire's TV show, "... we've been rejected for so long.”

"You wanna be a part of America, but we've been rejected for so long that it's hard to take ownership."

"We've" been rejected? You got a slave in your pocket, Will?

Your insufferable left-wing sister-in-law: But GA, how can you say blacks in congress are stupid and incompetent, as if whites can’t be stupid and incompetent.

GA: As usual Sis, you beat the hell outta that straw man. Didn’t say all blacks are anything, and yes, Dennis Kucinich, Joe Biden and Stuart Smalley are or have been members of Congress, but not in such spectacular idiot fashion as some of our African-American brothers and sisters.

Remember how the state-controlled media reported that the TelePrompTer-in-Chief was mobbed by cheering throngs of soldiers in Afghanistan during his surprise visit there a few days ago?

That is now, this was then: another surprise visit to the war zone, another White House photographer trying to create the most positive image of his boss and the troops.

There is only one difference:

Recently, someone sent me this post on the Internet by a retiring soldier that sums up the prevailing insanity: “When I joined the military, it was illegal to be homosexual. Then it became optional. I’m getting out before it becomes mandatory.”

Again… just one difference, then and now.

I’m on a roll… another difference:

Remember when then Obamas had to be prided off of racist, anti-American preacher Jeremiah Wright and his black liberation church that God-damns America and worships St. Saul Alinsky?  

It’s been a very long time and the Obamas’—despite their promise to join another church ASAP once in the White House—haven’t found a church in all of D.C.

But… our communist leader has found…  The Bells of Black Berry. The UK’s Daily Mail reports:  

So when he needs a little inspiration in the mornings, Mr Obama revealed today that all he has to do is read the daily prayer emailed to him from pastors around America.

‘It’s a wonderful thing,’ the president said of his hi-tech devotionals.

He said that White House faith director Joshua DuBois forwards him a morning prayer every day from a selection sent in by some of the churchmen he met during his cross-country travels on the presidential campaign.

What? You didn’t know Josh was in charge of POTUS’ personal walk with Jesus?

Sheesh, talk about delegation of authority.

Here’s Josh: Pentecostal preacher and/or son of an “African Methodist Episcopal pastor”, as he’s often touted.

The young man of God might ask a brother, “Say, why you got time to fill out an NC2A bracket, play hoops alla time and you ain’t got no time to get to church?”

In full disclosure, I don’t find much time myself for church, but then I didn’t promise the nation that finding a church to attend was a great priority, and I wasn’t trying to get votes from anybody.

The difference between God, me and Barry is that God and I don’t think we’re Obama.

Really… let us pray.