Category Archives: Uncategorized

The Fundamentalist Invasion

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Those damn Pro-lifers fundamentalists.  

I have maintained for years, whether you are a Christian, Jew, whatever, that the Religious Right (MOST of whom, alas, call themselves Christians) are the most dangerous political group out there and they have made severe inroads into our government on ALL levels. 

Do you still not believe me?  Look at these blasted anti-abortion laws.  Look at how these so-called “men” have done to women’s rights.  I tell you what: when every single one of those pro-lifers has adopted a crack, disabled, bi-racial baby and one need homes, maybe then I’ll be impressed that your so-called “faith” is genuine. 

This nonsense will trickle to affect men as well.  

Women’s rights and suffrage in Ohio has just gone back a century.  

What’s next, women are property?

I know the Spousal Unit has disagreed with me when I have said this, but damn, I’m right and this latest Ohio bill debacle proves it. 

These (mostly) white males sure as heck have given true Christians and Good People of Faith a really bad taste in the mouth. 

And ya’all wonder why I don’t go to church.

I think Jesus would be/is severely pissed off.

Today I Am Ashamed To Be An Ohioan

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At a time when Ohio’s animal advocates are rejoicing as Nitro’s Law has passed, making animal abuse a felony comes disaster!

 

Read this and weep….

Governor Kasich Signs Law

 

This is such horse sh*t I can’t even stand it.  When we should be celebrating our Independence as Americans and Ohioans; on the 210th anniversary of our Statehood, this has happened.

 

I am ashamed to be an Ohioan. I am ashamed and frightened to be an Ohio woman.

 

My family has been in this state since 1795 and I am ashamed that 10+ generations of my family (men and women) have worked its land, preached from its pulpits, taught its children, wrote for its newspapers, served in its courts, worked untold hours for its arts, its homeless, its animals, its communities.  The women in my family have been tireless volunteers, mothers, grandmothers, college graduates, teachers, preachers, missionaries, musicians, actresses, financiers, merchants, booksellers, writers, farmers, suffragettes…..

 

Generations of Johnson Girls, past and present, are quivering in indignation and anger.

 

I am ashamed to be an Ohioan.

 

I always thought that when I died, my ashes would lie in the cemetery where my family for generations has been laid to rest. Now I almost feel as though the land I have lived in all my life, loved and defended is somehow soiled. That my spirit will not rest in the place I thought was home. It will cry for Ohio’s women.

 

My home has been defiled. Ohio’s green fields, her woods blazing with autumn glory, Lake Erie’s waves crashing against her shores, her annoying winter slush, bright bluebirds and spring peepers, her July fire-flies, her dreary skies, her lake-effect weather, her parks, her orange-coned highways, her crowds, her museums, her history, her music, her foibles, glories, follies, triumphs have been diminished somehow.

 

My heart breaks and fears for the women of Ohio (and the other archaic states who have allowed this to happen). My heart aches and fears for men of reason, of education, of logic, of compassion.

 

I could make a smart-ass comment about “What’s next for Ohio women: burkahs?” But that would be bitter fruit.

 

I am grateful that my mother is dead.  This surely would have killed her.  I think it would have killed my Aunt Nancy and my grandmother too. I can only pray that this can be overturned somehow.

It’s Not Just a “Pit Bull” Thing. Cattledogs Get It Too.

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OK, OK, I know. A lot of my friends have or work with or volunteer for Pitbull type dogs.  Two of Artie’s bestest friends are pit-type dogs.

The Spousal Unit with Kinners: two guys hangin’ out.

 

Oreo: he’s down with that!  Artie loves him!

 

The boys check out Co
usin Artie

So yes, we have contact with many “big heads.”  And we love our pit-type friends.  We hear the stories, the misconceptions, the comments about them.

 

I’ve been a lot of places where there are dogs and now because of my exposure to pit-types, I don’t have any pre-conceived notions.  It’s a dog with a (usually) square head, period. I ask if I can pet etc. just as I would with any dog.  And I’ve done events with a pit-type on my arm, so to speak, and have educated and advocated for them for years now.

 

I think I’ve heard darn near every comments a person can make about pit-type dogs and I’m here to tell you, it runs the gamut from “Awesome” to “Satanic.”

 

I’ve heard, “You can’t trust ’em, not one of ’em,” to “Best damn dog my family ever had!”

 

What is fascinating to ME, personally, is for as many bad or  fearful stories that people tell, I’ve heard an almost equal amount of curious, respectful questions to misty-eyed memoirs to powerful stories of love and loyalty.

 

I can honestly say (if the locale is pretty neutral) that the nice comments or questions run about anywhere from 40-75% of what I’ve heard if the dog I’m with is a nice, mellow dog or goofy, happy dog.

 

The negatives just seem louder than the neutrals and positives.

 

Now folks who have pit types wail and gnash (rightly so) about how misunderstood their dogs are.  They are.  I’m not saying they’re NOT!  BSL, extreme prejudice, unnecessary killings and incarcerations. Pit type owners have every right to feel, nay, be paranoid, vigilant and on guard. If you’re on a Pit Group on Facebook or you know folks who have them or work with them, this is nothing new. It’s an exhausting round of educating John Q. Stupid-Public.

 

However, you’re not the only ones.

 

We have (for those of you who don’t know us) a lovely female mix and an Australian Cattledog (ACD). He will be 2 in Sept. 2013 and his name is Artie or “Blooby” as he is most often known.  (Blame the S.U. on that.)

 

Artie is my 7th (including fosters) ACD. This is my 20th year with cattledogs.

 

Brief synopsis for the uninitiated: An ACD (sometimes known as a Blue Heeler, Queensland Heeler or Heeler) is a medium sized herding dog breed, originating in (who’d a-thunk?) Australia!  They come in blue or red (plus blue or red speckle).  They were bred to herd and guard feral cattle in the outback.  They are also used on sheep and other stock, including reindeer! They are very smart, pretty biddable (I think) and tough. They have teeth (scissor bite) which they use to herd stock with, often nipping at the heels of recalcitrant cows. Thus the name “heelers.” They are often called “velcro” dogs because they want to know what you’re up to at any given moment.

They are athletic and sturdy with a weather-resistant coat. They should have upright ears and tight “cat feet.”

They are loyal to their humans but often diffident to down-right suspicious of strangers. They often are not tolerant of other dogs.  They need a ton of positive socialization. They have a lot of energy, although I have had a few that were pretty laid back. (That’s not the norm.) They are a “busy” dog but I think there are many dogs that are far busier.  They love brain and/or body work and excel in a wide variety of dog sports.  At 17-20 inches, it’s an easy size to live and travel with.

 

Artie has some of the best qualities of his breed and of a companion dog in general.  We’re very, very blessed.

 

ACDs are also an extremely unusual LOOKING dog. Once you know what a cattledog looks like (or SHOULD look like) you can honestly say, “Yep, that’s a cattledog!”   They are pretty unforgettable!

 

(I have to preface this by telling you I live in the Midwest.)

 

Here are some of the “usual” comments who someone has met Artie (or any of my other cattledogs.)

 

“Wow, what kind of mix is THAT?”

“Man, how old IS your dog?” (This only seems to happen with blues; must be the grey hairs in the coat.)

“Does that dog have WOLF in him?”

“Is that a little German Shepherd?” (I never know where people get that from.)

And startlingly close to the truth) “Is that a (part) Dingo?”

 

Once in a while (and it’s getting to be more commonplace than it was 20 years ago) you hear:

 

“Is that one of them blue heelers?”  This is often said in the same semi-suspicious tone as many a pit type owner has heard.  “Is that one of them pit bulls?”

 

Now, OK, all right, call me grammatically biased but the minute someone (no matter what city or state I’m in) says “them heelers” or “them there heelers” or even ‘them cattledogs,” (yes Virginia, some people DO get it right), my intellectual-snobbery-hackles start rising up.  Even when someone say “those cattledogs” with the emphasis on “those,” I inwardly cringe.  I’m sure pit type folks do too.

 

“Oh, God, here we go. And it’s not going to good.”

 

Here’s where the pit type folks and the cattledog folks diverge. With a pit type on the other end of your leash, you COULD ostensibly B.S. your way through that query especially if your dog is black, brindle or fawn colored.  I’ve heard lab-boxer mix, hound-boxer mix, poodle-terrier mix (yes, we had one of those of the Humane Society) etc. etc.  John Q. Stupid couldn’t pick out a pure-bred American Pit Bull Terrier out of a line-up!  Many experts can’t either!

 

But if they’ve identified your ACD as a heeler or cattledog, yeah, you’re pretty much sunk.  Here it comes, I think.  The Bad Cattledog Story. And it almost always begins with “My cousin” or “My friend had one of them.”

 

It’s usually a cousin. If it’s a cousin, you know (9 out of 10 times) it’s going to be bad.

 

Let’s say, on a good week, you and your friendly, social dog meet 20 pretty neutral-to-nice people, all men.  In a good week, the pit type folks  might get 40% – 60%  neutral to positive reactions.  The rest, admittedly, are going to suck.

 

In that same week, the cattledog owner, meets 20 people (men) who guess (correctly) what he is. 17-19 of those people will say the following:

 

“Cool looking dog. You know….my cousin (insert other friend or relation) had one of them (there) dogs.  Meanest damn dog you ever saw. Bit everybody.  Loyal as hell but damn, was he ever mean!”  

 

Your heart does a little downward spiral because you know that yet another jerk owns an out-of-control, untrained (or badly trained) cattledog and is doing a huge disservice to the breed. Your brain goes slightly postal and you think with in inward sigh:

 

Educate. Again. It’s a training exercise for my dog, meeting new people. Again.  I bet Lab/Pug/Fluffy Dog people don’t go through this sh*t.

 

So, Pit type dog owners and lovers, you are not the only ones.  If you’re out in public, cattledog people get this all the time.  All. The. Tine.

 

So do Rottweiler people.  And Doberman people. And German Shepherd people.

 

Perhaps it might comfort you folks with pit type dogs to know you’re not alone.

 

 

First Bike Ride For A Cause

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Image

Well, now that’s done!! First Ride For a Cause done!

Huge thanks to Megan for my artwork. I got so many compliments and comments on it!
I have to thank everyone who generous donated monies to my ride and those people who sent me prayers and energies. I felt Mom, Aunt Nan and Gammie kicking me in the butt. On angel’s wings. (More like an angel’s foot, LOL)!
I was worried about getting lost in one part that I was very unfamiliar with but instead, I went past the Finish line. (I have a weird tendency to do this….I don’t know why!)
The course was VERY well marked, even for Directionally Challenged people like me. If you have some legs for little (or big) hills, I’d recommend this ride if you want to ride for a cause (in this case, diabetes). It’s very well run, lots of volunteers etc. There were a LOT of Red Riders (folks with diabetes) riding.
The first 2 miles was interesting. Careening down streets with 200 of your closest friends. Having to make a sharp left hand turn and immediately go up a small hill with about 150 of them makes for very hairy moments.
Met two really nice ladies, Damita (I believe is how she spelled it) who did her longest distance EVER and Gretchen, both younger than me.
I’m really grateful to Marty Hess for having taken me on most of the course over the last year. Just riding it with him has been invaluable. I know the B&H parts pretty well and could advise people as to what to expect in places.
I almost bought gravel coming off the uphill behind Stow High School; there is a pretty sharp turn and I wasn’t as well prepared for it as I might have been.
I also have to thank Marty for giving me Sheree (Scheherazade) The Bike and for the nice folks at Falls Wheel and Wrench (Bob Peyak and the gang) who maintain all of our bikes and put up with my endless, often stupid questions.
I have to say going up that hill in Silver Lake before you get to Graham Rd. (about mile 20) was a total B*TCH! I thought I was going to pass out!
I’m home safe and very proud of myself actually.
Distance: 26.39 miles. Time: 2:21:40. Average speed 11.1 MPH.

Ohio Republicans VS My Personal Parts?

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Read this first: Abortion Restrictions in Ohio.

 

I don’t care if you’re OK with abortion or against.  This is an extremely dangerous precedent. 

 

 Here’s the deal. 

 

I love men. I really do.  I think men rock.  You all have fought war for millennium, you lift heavy things, you open stubborn jars, you seem to understand plumbing, you change tires, you hold our hands, etc. etc. etc.. 

 

But until one of you gives birth AND there is not ONE single baby without a loving home (esp. bi-racial or handicapped or crack kids), you keep your bloody mitts out of my vagina!  Stop screwing with my reproductive rights since so many of you just seem to be concerned with getting some, and not covering yourselves. Literally. 

 

Folks, (esp. ladies) if you don’t stomp on these people, the darned right wing, conservatives are going to strip everything away.  

 

Ohio House Republicans, you need to seriously get your hands, you laws and your stupid politics away from my girlie parts.  

 

I notice it is a “RON Hood” introducing this.  I’m sure Ron is not short for Rhonda.  

 

This menopausal hag is going to give you a serious arse-kicking and send you back to your ‘hood, you cretinous, political hoodlum!

 

For this crap, men (and women) have given their lives in combat for decades?  

 

Really?

 

Road trip, anyone???

Today’s Adventure & Five Crazy Words

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I decided to try this “take your bike on the bus” thing today. It’s really the only way I can get to the towpath without a car.  Akron Metro has a video on their website which I watched about 5 times.  I figured if it was really stupid, I wouldn’t do it.

There are a couple of reasons I wanted to go on the towpath.  For starters, it has rained the last few days and if I went on the Bike And Hike through Silver Lake and Munroe Falls, I’d have to bike THROUGH a lake as there are a few areas that flood like hell. I’m not that fabulous of a cyclist to get everything soaking wet including my shoes.

And sometimes I get tired of riding on the Bike and Hike, even though it’s a total blessing that we have it!!  We actually are rather blessed around here; there are tons of places to bike and walk and hike.  We have the Metroparks and the Cuyahoga Valley National Park (thank you, Bob Hunker).  Granted the CVNP can be a total nut house, especially on the weekends.  Parts of it (mostly between Szalay’s and Boston) is like the Oklahoma Land Rush.  It’s crazy town and you have to actually be very careful, especially the Peninsula to Boston leg. If I were truly an extremely brave little toaster, I’d bike on the road for that leg BUT I am not that brave.  I get freaked out riding in a CAR!

I get to the bus stop which is about 3/4 of a mile from my house.  It took a bit of jerry-rigging to get the bike on the bus bike rack but I managed.  I’m carrying my helmet, bike bag and water and trying to get on the bus as fast as I can.  Yikes, sometimes getting stuff out of pockets is a pain!

About a mile into the bus trip, a guy with a white cowboy hat puts his bike on the front of the bus and gets onto the bus announcing, in a loud voice for all the world to hear that our local bike shop sucks!!  Bad service, etc. He’s rambling on about something having to do with a debit card and phone number.  He keeps on yakking and I’m wishing I had headphones on.

I’m thinking, “Ah, the joys of public transport! God, is the rest of the day going to be this weird??  Sh*t! And who in the hell in Northeast Ohio where’s a white cowboy hat while riding a bike?  OK, maybe in TEXAS, but here???”

After several of his victims had disembarked the bus, he says to me, “You’re a cyclist, I can tell.”  (I guess the helmet and bike bag were a give-away, huh?)  I do my best Polite Nod.  The Queenly one.  The “yes I acknowledge you because it would be rude to not do so but really my tea is getting cold and this is my way of politely blowing you off because I wish you’d shut the  f— up about my bike shop” nod.

He rallies on, “Can you imagine such sh*tty customer service?  Has that ever happened to you?  Come on, it’s happened to you! What do you do about sh*t like that, huh?”

I then utter five words I never thought would ever come out of my mouth:


I choose not to comment.


Holy crap, what did I just do?  Did I have an out-of-body experience?  Channel my inner Queen Mum?  Suddenly become my sister or brother who are MUCH more tactful that I am? Decide the diplomatic corps is going to be my next career?

Have I really been watching way too many episodes of THE WEST WING?

Who the hell said that and what did they do with me?  Since I’ve turned 50, I’m rarely reluctant to get into a verbal duke-it-up especially when someone is dissing a friend, a policy I believe in or a place I really like and  have patronized for years.  Truly, I had an out of body experience because I would normally have said nothing and hope that the bus would absorb me.

I will say this for this extraordinarily rare moment of tact. It shut him up.  Damn. He went on to bother some young lady who was on her way to a 12 step thing.

When the bus arrived in downtown Akron, I managed to get my bike off the front of the bus and walk over to Lock 3, a public area in Akron where they have festivities etc.  I managed to get lost pretty quickly (no surprise) but with the help of two nice guys and after walking my bike up a huge flight of stairs, I see the bike bridge over the inner-belt. Phew!  OK, I have a pretty good idea of where I’m going!  Down a great big twisting hill!  Wheeee!!!!

I wend my way down the towpath from Mustill Store to Botzum Trail Head.  The only part that got really dicey was (alas) around the sewage plant. The trail became bumpy and slippery.  I’ve been trying to use all my gears on this new bike and I must have heard or read somewhere that being in a low gear (what I’d call low, which is probably wrong) gives you stability and I needed it. Badly!

When I stopped at Botzum (pictured above) I toyed with going a bit further but wisely decided to turn around.  One mile (after 2 slight rest stops) before I got back to Mustill Store, I met up with 2 nice ladies and walked back with them, chatting.  Hermione and Florence.  Ageless women of color. (What is it with black folks?  Those ladies were anywhere from 35 to 70 and you can’t tell!)

Now I figured there might be a bus stop near here. I could have sworn I saw the parking lot for Mustill go by.  I start walking looking for a bus stop sign. I’ve turned off my RunKeeper app and taken the odometer off my bike.

And I’m still walking. Things look familar but….

And I walk up this HUGE hill.  I get to the top.  I don’t know how to get there from here.  I’m not so much lost as disoriented.

“Well, this is stupid.  I’ll just go back and go over to Lock 3.” Yes, after I go around several deceptive corners over lovely streams and water falls only to discover I have to ride up two hills with a 5% grade.  The same ones I went merrily down.  The bike performed well but my legs and arms and hands and a** were screaming!!  I finally get near Lock 3 and take a lovely detour (and it is lovely) ending up going past Akron General Hospital.  I KNOW I’m not in the right place but it was interesting nonetheless.

Finally I struggle up the hill at Lock 3 and finally I find a bus stop on Main Street.  I finally get my bike on the proper bus to head home and finally sit down in the air conditioning, which almost made my tummy go nuts. I get off by the aforementioned bike shop so I can ask them a question or two and rest for a few minutes.

I ride home, decided to clean my bike as it was crusted with dirt, dust, mud, sand.

Before I had flipped it, I looked at my odometer:

2+ hours

20.5 miles

8.8 average MPH

Highest speed 18 MPH

Then I flipped my bike over and erased my odometer.  Well, sh*t.

I am sore but I’m glad I did it.

Today’s Adventure & 5 Crazy Words

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I decided to try this “take your bike on the bus” thing today. It’s really the only way I can get to the towpath without a car.  Akron Metro has a video on their website which I watched about 5 times.  I figured if it was really stupid, I wouldn’t do it.

There are a couple of reasons I wanted to go on the towpath.  For starters, it has rained the last few days and if I went on the Bike And Hike through Silver Lake and Munroe Falls, I’d have to bike THROUGH a lake as there are a few areas that flood like hell. I’m not that fabulous of a cyclist to get everything soaking wet including my shoes.

And sometimes I get tired of riding on the Bike and Hike, even though it’s a total blessing that we have it!!  We actually are rather blessed around here; there are tons of places to bike and walk and hike.  We have the Metroparks and the Cuyahoga Valley National Park (thank you, Bob Hunker).  Granted the CVNP can be a total nut house, especially on the weekends.  Parts of it (mostly between Szalay’s and Boston) is like the Oklahoma Land Rush.  It’s crazy town and you have to actually be very careful, especially the Peninsula to Boston leg. If I were truly an extremely brave little toaster, I’d bike on the road for that leg BUT I am not that brave.  I get freaked out riding in a CAR!

I get to the bus stop which is about 3/4 of a mile from my house.  It took a bit of jerry-rigging to get the bike on the bus bike rack but I managed.  I’m carrying my helmet, bike bag and water and trying to get on the bus as fast as I can.  Yikes, sometimes getting stuff out of pockets is a pain!

About a mile into the bus trip, a guy with a white cowboy hat puts his bike on the front of the bus and gets onto the bus announcing, in a loud voice for all the world to hear that our local bike shop sucks!!  Bad service, etc. He’s rambling on about something having to do with a debit card and phone number.  He keeps on yakking and I’m wishing I had headphones on.

I’m thinking, “Ah, the joys of public transport! God, is the rest of the day going to be this weird??  Sh*t! And who in the hell in Northeast Ohio where’s a white cowboy hat while riding a bike?  OK, maybe in TEXAS, but here???”

After several of his victims had disembarked the bus, he says to me, “You’re a cyclist, I can tell.”  (I guess the helmet and bike bag were a give-away, huh?)  I do my best Polite Nod.  The Queenly one.  The “yes I acknowledge you because it would be rude to not do so but really my tea is getting cold and this is my way of politely blowing you off because I wish you’d shut the  f— up about my bike shop” nod.

He rallies on, “Can you imagine such sh*tty customer service?  Has that ever happened to you?  Come on, it’s happened to you! What do you do about sh*t like that, huh?”

I then utter five words I never thought would ever come out of my mouth:

 

I choose not to comment.


Holy crap, what did I just do?  Did I have an out-of-body experience?  Channel my inner Queen Mum?  Suddenly become my sister or brother who are MUCH more tactful that I am? Decide the diplomatic corps is going to be my next career?

Have I really been watching way too many episodes of THE WEST WING?

Who the hell said that and what did they do with me?  Since I’ve turned 50, I’m rarely reluctant to get into a verbal duke-it-up especially when someone is dissing a friend, a policy I believe in or a place I really like and  have patronized for years.  Truly, I had an out of body experience because I would normally have said nothing and hope that the bus would absorb me.

I will say this for this extraordinarily rare moment of tact. It shut him up.  Damn. He went on to bother some young lady who was on her way to a 12 step thing.

When the bus arrived in downtown Akron, I managed to get my bike off the front of the bus and walk over to Lock 3, a public area in Akron where they have festivities etc.  I managed to get lost pretty quickly (no surprise) but with the help of two nice guys and after walking my bike up a huge flight of stairs, I see the bike bridge over the inner-belt. Phew!  OK, I have a pretty good idea of where I’m going!  Down a great big twisting hill!  Wheeee!!!!

I wend my way down the towpath from Mustill Store to Botzum Trail Head.  The only part that got really dicey was (alas) around the sewage plant. The trail became bumpy and slippery.  I’ve been trying to use all my gears on this new bike and I must have heard or read somewhere that being in a low gear (what I’d call low, which is probably wrong) gives you stability and I needed it. Badly!

When I stopped at Botzum (pictured above) I toyed with going a bit further but wisely decided to turn around.  One mile (after 2 slight rest stops) before I got back to Mustill Store, I met up with 2 nice ladies and walked back with them, chatting.  Hermione and Florence.  Ageless women of color. (What is it with black folks?  Those ladies were anywhere from 35 to 70 and you can’t tell!)

Now I figured there might be a bus stop near here. I could have sworn I saw the parking lot for Mustill go by.  I start walking looking for a bus stop sign. I’ve turned off my RunKeeper app and taken the odometer off my bike.

And I’m still walking. Things look familar but….

And I walk up this HUGE hill.  I get to the top.  I don’t know how to get there from here.  I’m not so much lost as disoriented.

Well, this is stupid.  I’ll just go back and go over to Lock 3.” Yes, after I go around several deceptive corners over lovely streams and water falls only to discover I have to ride up two hills with a 5% grade.  The same ones I went merrily down.  The bike performed well but my legs and arms and hands and a** were screaming!!  I finally get near Lock 3 and take a lovely detour (and it is lovely) ending up going past Akron General Hospital.  I KNOW I’m not in the right place but it was interesting nonetheless.

Finally I struggle up the hill at Lock 3 and finally I find a bus stop on Main Street.  I finally get my bike on the proper bus to head home and finally sit down in the air conditioning, which almost made my tummy go nuts. I get off by the aforementioned bike shop so I can ask them a question or two and rest for a few minutes.

I ride home, decided to clean my bike as it was crusted with dirt, dust, mud, sand.

Before I had flipped it, I looked at my odometer:

2+ hours

20.5 miles

8.8 average MPH

Highest speed 18 MPH

Then I flipped my bike over and erased my odometer.  Well, sh*t.

I am sore but I’m glad I did it.