What is it about nice people that attract total idiots?Nice people are martyrs. Idiots are evangelists.

SOCK IT TO ME BABY!!!

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Disappointment

Scrappy is disappointed.  Ever since the day we went to the buffalo park, either it's been too hot to walk, or raining, or my back has killed me.  My back?  Well, I think standing in one spot in the heat waiting for the buffalo ride started it... then, Monday morning last week, I helped put up a fabric roll and it went bad on me.  How bad?  I took half a vacation day and went home at 9 AM.  It was mostly cleared up (nod, nod, wink, wink) until  the motor cover incident.  You see, we have fabric for motor covers (sold on Amazon.com BTW) on a big lumpy, fuzzy roll too heavy for one person to easily pick up and with too small a core to put a pole through.  So I had someone far mightier than I put it on our "cradle", got it started on the table, cut the pieces- but when I went to roll it back up (remember, not on a pole, the "lift and tug" method trashed it out again.  I went from, "No, I don't mind working Saturday", to, "better get someone else.  I think walking will be challenging enough."

One motor cover, yours for $44.95 on Amazon


So when my back finally felt akin to normal Tuesday, I thought, now Scrappy will be happy.  Then, at the light at Speedway Drive, the first drop hit the windshield.

"Passing bird,"  I told myself.
Second drop hits.
"Perhaps it's just some little bitty raincloud."




This is 4 hours later.  No walk today either.



But you know, a lot of people have disappointment.  Take my Bloggy pal Bobby G.  He lives in the heart of ghetto land, in a house that became his home before urban blight and politicians sweeping gang crime under the rug turned the neighborhood into a "top ten places to avoid" on TripAdvisor.  Boomcars go past at all hours.  Vehicles will mysteriously appear on the street, drivers walk to a nearby house for five or ten minutes, drive away.  Garbage dumped in his yard, kids left to run wild peeking into his mail box.  Grown men urinating in the middle of the street.  And because of the economics of things, for him to relocate would take Ed McMahon rising from his grave with a check from Publishers Clearing House.

If anyone has a right to be disappointed, Bobby and his Mrs. do.

But instead of whining, he and his wife built the property into an oasis.  Carefully tended flowers, well kept lawn.  A feeding place for squirrels and bunnies, butterflies and birds.  With abandoned and rental properties on all sides, he shows the world what it's like to care, to have pride.

His neighbors, driven by little more than sex, drugs, and how best to avoid work, don't care.  Don't see.  But if they opened their almost more animal than human eyes and looked around, they'd see it.

They'd see hope.


Scrappy is disappointed.  But he knows.  Even if it's only a trip to the bark park, like Saturday:


Brinkley (upside down), Hazel (who I think was in heat), and the mighty Adler.

Scrappy just before getting pounded by Laurie.


The whole gang: Georgia, Brinkley, Hazel, Georgia's mom, Adler, our hero, Adler's mom.

He knows that disappointment is a temporary thing, a state of mind.  And like Bob, he'd rather fill that mind space with hope.


15 comments:

  1. Chris:
    That is a very touching post...did not know I had that much in common with Scrappy (well, I did have a lot of beloved dogs growing up...all with FOUR feet, mind you).

    It's a grind here most days, but the alternatives would be more so...(in debt up past our ears OR homeless)
    So when I get lemons...I go one better...I open a lemonade stand (which the government shut down thanks to EPA and CDC concerns...then there was the Depts of Agriculture, DHS, and something called "Interior"?)

    You just HAVE to smile through some of it, and be persistent and confident through MOST of it.

    Faith...it begets Courage, and that begets HOPE...and that's worked pretty well so far.
    (the 12 gauge pump helps too...lol)

    Thank s again, brother...means a lot.
    Hope that back gets better, too.

    Stay safe, keep cool and dry up there.

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    1. I actually had the post in mind earlier... but the pic of you and the squirrel gave it the hook.

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  2. Its been raining the last few days here in Dallas too. My little guy Jax is not a fan of running in the rain. He does his business and heads straight to the door. He has a LOT of pent up energy. Hope your back feels better.

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  3. My dog prefers to walk in the neighborhood. We've had her at the doggy park here one or twice. I don't think she likes it there.
    We have a motel here in town that sounds like Bob's neighborhood! It's the hooker/druggie resort. Every weekend the out of towner's come for the casino's and the goodies at the Relax Inn and leave with hep C and and Lord knows what else. Hope your back is feeling better soon!

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    1. Bob's neighborhood is where they go back to after the motel stay.

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  4. I love when people find the good in a bad situation. We can not afford to move. So we are making this place as nice as possible. The irony is that by the time we CAN afford to move, we most likely won't want to. Thankfully, it's more of a space issue and not a safety issue like the family you mentioned. Hope your back feels better soon... I am slowly on the mend. Fingers crossed. :)

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    1. Your pains have been a LOT worse than mine. Always in my prayers.

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  5. Hope your back stays aligned and the muscles stay strong! You could take Scrappy to the doggie beach. :)

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    1. We took him to Bixler lake, but they kicked him off the beach.

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  6. What a nice, heart warming post, CW. Still, I'm sorry about your back pain. I'm glad you have a compassionate and realistic perspective. Thanks for sharing it.

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  7. Rocky Balboa's (my cat) hopes are much simpler...every time I walk towards the southeast corner of the house (where his food dish is) he takes off like a light in the hopes that a can of food is getting opened...even though I do that at the same two times every day.

    But who am I to dash his hopes?

    LC

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    1. 90% of the time Scrappy knows his feeding time- and will get up at exactly 6 pm to let us know. 7% he's early, and the rest he sleeps through.

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  8. I can sort of, in a small way, relate to Bob G.

    Where I'm currently living, I have no less than 5 dope growers barely a stones through from either the front or back yard. At least one or more of those houses have strange cars (or not so strange anymore, it IS a small town) that show up for a few minutes and leave. Idiots with their sub-woofers and noisy mufflers run up and down the street day and night. Dogs bark incessantly at random times.

    Our house and the one right next door are two nice little lots that just are. Green lawns, roses, flowers . . . someone who cares and takes pride in their lawns.

    Another bright spot is that eventually we will move. This place is only temporary. That helps keep us sane.

    Hope your back is feeling better!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This world would be much nicer without people... sometimes.

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