Disclaimer:

Disclaimer: If you are easily offended by sheer honesty, or you think me having my own opinions is "being negative", then this is not the place for you, and I suggest you leave and head elsewhere. I call a spade a spade, and I don't sugarcoat anything.

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Free Pet Scandal

This is pretty sad. There have been warnings posted on Craigslist that say something to the effect of someone has been answering ads for free pets and taking the animals out into the woods to be used for target practice. Most of their victims have been cats. Of all the "free cat" ads they've answered, only 2 got away. The first time I heard about this was on Facebook, and Craigslist did have the warnings up about this. Who knows how many people actually do this when they pick up a "free pet" and offer to give it a good home. This is just so sad! If it were actually true. But in my research, I found that it has proven to be a hoax. Take a look at this article and video: http://www.katu.com/news/local/Is-someone-using-Craigslist-to-get-pets-for-target-practice-161727915.html?tab=video&c=y
Someone in the comments section mentioned that this is probably more propaganda by PETA to discourage people from giving pets away for free. PETA has a natural knack for going about things in this kind of creepy way! Almost every commercial PETA has ever made has been banned because of the way they talk about these kind of things. I won't even watch a PETA commercial! They had like one out a couple years ago. It was probably the most "normal" commercial they've ever had, which is why there is only one, and it hasn't been played in 2 years. But I don't think there is a way you can put "normal" and "PETA" in the same sentence. Unless you're saying "PETA is normally insane". I would not be surprised if this is all just a rumor started by PETArds. The warning said that a witness saw these people doing this from quite a ways away. Well, if this witness was standing so far away, how could she hear the perpetrators say they got the animals from Craigslist? And it also said that 2 cats got away, how would this witness know this? Unless the cats ran to her. There is just too much information there for someone who was watching this from afar. And why didn't the witness call the police in the beginning?

It just smells fishy. Something is wrong there. There is a right way and a wrong way to do these kind of things. PETA just doesn't know the right way. They use scare-tactics that make them look totally inane. And if history is any indication, scare-tactics never work! It only makes people rebel against the one using those techniques. That's how people are. That's why I get trolls and bullies online, but I never threaten them. Last night though, I called a couple of trolls names on my videos, and I normally don't do that. I usually like to let them do all the name-calling, make themselves look like immature jerks, not me. But last night I was in a bad mood. I had so much on my mind yesterday it wasn't funny. Now that I am moving back to the coast, I'm stressing myself out trying to make all the preparations. I'm going to go out tomorrow and try to find myself some moving boxes, so I can begin the packing process. AGAIN! I also have to give this landlord 30 days notice before I leave. I know how she's going to react! Karen warned me about that.

I have my eyes on an apartment complex (yes I know! I said I would never move into another complex! But this is just temporary) and they have 2 and 3 bedroom apartments. No one bedroom though. But the 2 bedroom apartments are in my price range! I could use the extra bedroom for an office/writing area. I told my sis I'm going to get a futon to put in there, that way it can double as a bed when she comes to visit, and I don't have to put a real bed in there. Which is great news! I can use the extra space to put my computer in there. I'll still need to save for a car. My sis has agreed to still help me out in that. I figure if she puts in $100 and I put in $100, by the end of next year, I should have plenty of money to get a nice car. One that I can be happy with. In the meantime, I'll have to probably get myself one of those push carts and walk to the nearest grocery store and carry my groceries in that. Apparently this place is close to a grocery store, and at least I will be saving some money by not having to buy gas. That money I can put towards getting my car. We'll see what happens.

Saturday, July 28, 2012

Bear, Dog or Horse?

Last night my sis and I met at the dog park to put our dogs out one more time. We were out there for quite a while mostly all we did was talk. Just as we do every night. Well, the chatter started to die down and I happened to be looking at the gate. We don't normally close the gate because our dogs are usually good about staying with us. They're used to staying close to home from when we used to live in Ocean Shores. Even when the dogs are after something, they've never left the fenced area, even with the gate open. Well, as usual, I didn't close the gate last night. I happened to be looking in that direction, and all of a sudden this big, black head poked in the gate. My initial thought was "Oh my GOD it's a bear! We're all gonna get mauled!" Sure looked like a bear's head! Then this thing came into the dog park and I thought "That's not a bear! That's a horse!" Sure looked like a horse! Actually it was a big, black great dane. It started to play with our dogs, and our dogs did not want to play with it! They just went ballistic and started barking. I was still scared to death! That dog was so big, it stunned the shit out of me! The biggest dog I'm used to seeing is an australian shepherd, and even they don't get that big!

I kept looking at the gate, thinking that dog's owner was nearby and would come and get it. So I started shouting "Hello? Did somebody out there lose a horse?!" No answer. Meanwhile the dog was getting a bit too rough with Odessa, and poor 'dessa was trying to get away from it. I urged my sis to go get Odessa, so she shooed the big dog off her and grabbed Odessa and put her in her buggy. I grabbed my babies as well and put them in their cart and we took off. I told my sis to just leave the gate open and that dog would find it's own way home. Or the owner would come and get it. The dog followed us out of the dog park and we kept shooing it away. I hope it did find it's way home. I knew it didn't belong to anyone in this complex. I don't recall seeing any dog like that here. He was twice as big as the biggest dog in this building, which I guess would be Mike Murphy's big mutt.

Well, this morning I told Karen about our visitor last night. When I told her it was a horse, she thought I meant a real horse. I told her it was actually a big great dane dog, but it was big enough to be a horse! Karen knew that dog, and the owner. She told me she's actually helped the owner catch that dog once before when it got away. Well, at least someone here knows that dog! It stunned me though. I'm used to little dogs, not big ones that look like horses! I was relieved though it was not a bear!

Well, we had some unpleasant excitement last night too. Someone broke into one of our neighbor's cars. We walked past the car in the parking lot, belonging to this woman named Peggy, and the driver's side window was smashed in. Karen noticed it first and we stopped to talk to her. Apparently Sharon was the one who called the police. The robber got away with her pill box, and an old cell phone. He was probably thinking the pill box contained drugs, but it didn't. Peggy uses it as a mini sewing kit. And the cell phone is such an old model, you cannot get service for it anymore. Thankfully nothing valuable was taken. But I felt bad this happened to Peggy's car! She's such a nice person. She was still as cheerful as always. She has full coverage, so since it was a robbery, they should take care of the window that is busted out. But it's still scary. No other car was touched, just her's. Why I have no idea. She said she had a bag of books sitting on the passenger seat and the robber probably thought there was money in there. This is also very sad! I'm glad the police caught the guy in the field, where that great dane came in from, but I still feel bad this happened to Peggy, of all people here! Makes me even more determined to get back home. This kind of thing never happened in Ocean Shores! But it's a sad testament to today's broken economy.

Neither Anna nor I saw anything on our way back in. So, the robber must have come along some time after we were gone. Thank GOD Sharon was awake at that moment, and saw enough to phone the cops. I kinda wonder if the robber met up with our "horse"? LOL!

Saturday, July 21, 2012

Being Unreasonable

I am kinda pissed off at my landlord. She is being an unreasonable bitch. Of course I heard she is always like this to everyone that moves away. Well, I am trying to sell as much of my fish as I possibly can because once I leave here, I will need to put my aquarium in storage. I hate to let my fish go, but I have no choice. I've decided to move in with Ma and John, it's either that or move into my father's home with him and Kathy. And the last time I spent a weekend with my father, we clashed horns. Actually he did the clashing, I tried to get along. My father's problem is he likes to be in control, and I hate being controlled. I cannot live like that. So I cannot move in with him. So it's either with ma, or the street. I have friends, but they all have kids. I'd rather move into a pen of messy oinkers than live with kids. But this is my one chance for a while to get back to the coast. Everyone knows I want to go back there, I've been mentioning it since I moved here. I was reminiscing today, you know the one thing that was heartbreaking as we were moving up here, Ocean Shores was cloudy that day, and it was nice and cool there. Then we got past Moses Lake, and it was HOT and sunny and I was sweating! I was thinking "so this is a preview of months to come?" I knew at that instant that I was not going to enjoy living in Montana. Ever since we got here, I've been thinking of ways to get back to the coast. Everyone here, that has spoken to me for any length of time, knows I want to go back. Even Lois, my landlord.

Well, now Lois is being an unreasonable bitch. She used to say how uncivil she could be sometimes, but she's never shown me that side until now. She saw the sign I put out trying to sell all my fish, and when Karen dropped Brandie off at her place, Lois said in a sarcastic tone, "I see Dee is selling all her fish because she is moving." Karen replied that yes, I am finally moving back to Ocean Shores. Actually the coast, I'm not sure if I am moving back to Ocean Shores, but that's not important now. Lois's response was "That's good. She'd better remember to give me 30 days notice and that apartment had better be sparkling clean when she leaves!" While they were talking, Karen happened to mention that I am going to have to leave Minnie and Vegas with my sis for a couple months while I look for another place, and raise some money to move in. Lois looked Karen straight in the eyes and said "No! She's NOT!" Karen tried to reason with Lois saying that I'll have to stay with my ma, and her place does not allow pets. But Lois continued "No! She's NOT!" I cannot leave my dogs with friends, again because they either all have kids, or bigger dogs. Ma likes Vegas, but it's John I'm worried about. He may not like the idea of having me stay there with them. I don't even know for sure if ma's place will allow me to have pets. But John does not take too kindly to pets in the house. So I am worried. What can I do with my dogs?

I think the best thing to do is put this in GOD's hands. I do need time to look for a place and raise some money for a security deposit. I'll have to wait until I can have my meeting with Lois to see what I can do about this. Maybe I can reason with her myself. Maybe? Perhaps it'll sound better coming straight from me as opposed to coming from Karen. Lois is not usually a bad person, she's usually very reasonable. Today, she just found out that I am serious about leaving and I guess she's in a bad mood because of it. But she knew it had to happen sooner or later. I'm a prisoner here. The coast is where I belong. I thought Lois understood that. But I guess all she can think about is she's going to have to pay for another empty apartment. All I can think of is being happy again. But I don't know what is going to happen now if I cannot leave my dogs with my sis. Like I said, I'll just have to put it in GOD's hands. I'll have to do some tall praying for a solution.

Kim Has The Fattest Ass

This is the woman in this building I was telling you all about that talked shit about me and my sis behind our backs. We used to be friends, and meet up every morning in the dog park. Now, we hate her guts completely! I refer to her as "the cockroach", I often say it loud enough when I pass by her that she can hear it! I'm no pussy! I'm not going to say something behind her back that I wouldn't say to her face!! Well, as you all may have heard me say, she is in a wheelchair because back in 2000, she had a stroke, and she refuses to train herself to walk again. She can do it, but she does not want to. She likes other people feeling sorry for her, and basically being her "slaves". Karen won't help her anymore at all. I sure as Hell won't help her! Kim is just going to have to learn to help herself. Well, she's conned Yvette into becoming her "slave". If Yvette is smart, she'll stop being Kim's new "slave" and avoid her at all costs! There is little doubt in my mind Kim has talked shit about Yvette behind her back too, and hasn't told her. Kim takes pains to avoid me, Anna and Karen now, even going so far as to talk to people who already hated her guts too. Like this one guy named Sal.

Karen was going to the dumpster to toss some trash, and Kim was out by the front doors with Monica who is Kim's caregiver and a nice person, and Alice, who is another resident. After Karen had dumped her trash, and came back around the three of them were still out there, and Karen said hello to Monica and Alice, but not a word to Kim. LOL! Kim tried very hard to avoid looking at Karen too. Well Sal drove up in front of them to drop off some groceries while he went to park his car. Kim shouted "Hiiiiiii Sal!!" Well Sal always HATED Kim!! With a passion. He did not say hi back, but just looked at her like she was crazy, and she is! LOL! He drove off without a single word to her. Kim was desperate though to have someone talk to her, knowing damn well it wouldn't be Karen. LOL! Kim is so dumb!

Well, Karen told me something yesterday I thought was hysterical! Karen said that Kim used to go to these therapy sessions where they were rehabilitating people who lost the ability to walk by riding horses. Kim loved that, but she started to put on weight, and got up over 250 pounds. So those people told Kim that she could not come back until she lost weight. Well, Karen said that Kim did not lose weight, that was when she started gaining weight. When Kim weighed 250 pounds, she was a lot smaller in the hips than she is now. So Karen estimated that Kim weighs more than 300 pounds now. I was like WOA!! That's almost hysterical! And she was calling me and my sis "cows" and "fat". Well, if Kim does weigh more than 300 pounds now, then she weighs more than me or my sis!! That's enough to laugh the rest of the way home! I used to weigh 300 pounds, but a couple weeks ago I was at the doctor's and got weighed, and I am almost 50 pounds lighter now. I've been at 250 now since I moved here. I look bigger than that because I am short. But I guess I'm skinnier than Kim is! That makes me laugh! Well, anyone who knows Kim can see she has a much bigger ass than I have, or Anna has! Karen describes her as looking like an overstuffed pear with the head of a rat (because of her crooked front teeth). Actually, I think rats are cute, so I call Kim a cockroach. There is nothing at all cute about a cockroach! Kim is a fat cockroach. To me, she looks like a cockroach that has been living "high off the hog", LOL! Pun intended. I hate that woman now! More than anyone else here. The reason I hate her so much is because she led me and my sis on for a whole year, making us believe she was our friend, when really she wasn't. I don't like people that play on others that way. I take friendship very seriously! Especially after a year! I'd rather Kim had shown me and my sis hatred all that time, than be nice to us, and lead us on like she did!

If I don't like someone, they're gonna know it right away! I don't believe in leading people on, and making them believe I like them when I really don't. I may not always speak to someone when I first meet them, because I am looking to see if they are friendly people or not. But I don't lead anyone on and make them believe I like them when I really don't. And if someone is nice, and has good manners, I generally like them. But once I find out someone I liked has betrayed me behind my back, that person is dead as far as I'm concerned. I can hate someone with every ounce of my blackened heart!! And that is how I feel about Kim now. There isn't a person I hate more than her now in this whole building! She even made me look at Sharon in a different light. I was mad at Sharon for a long time because of that time last year that she threw me and my dogs out of the dog park because she didn't want to hear Vegas barking. But after hearing what Kim was saying behind my back, anyone in this building looks better than her now.

There are still some people here I wouldn't give the time of day to, like my neighbor Marie. But I always say she's better than Kim! She mostly just tunes me and my sis out when she is at the dog park. She even tunes out our dogs. I tell my sis that I wish she would be as good at tuning us out in the apartment as she is at tuning us out in the dog park. Marie bitches about every little thing I do in my apartment. She even told the people in the office that I slam doors and my cupboards. I could not figure that one out until one day I was cooking, and I heard Marie pounding on the wall when I was tapping my cooking spoon on the side of a pot. Then I figured out what she was hearing. What she thought was me slamming my cupboards was actually just me trying to get eccess off my cooking spoon. Well, Marie is one of those types that is not happy at all unless she is bitching about something. I mean, she does some crazy shit in her apartment too, and I never complain about her. I figure that's just living and I move on. I don't bitch to anyone, about anyone, or anything. I wish she would ignore me in the apartment like she does in the dog park! That would make living here so much more comfortable! LOL! But no, I had to live next door to the bitch of the bitches! But, she's still better than Kim!

Friday, July 20, 2012

30-Days Notice

This morning on my way back from the dog park, Deb cornered me with a grin on her face. She said that Lois said that the next time I let my dogs walk from my apartment to the elevator I was going to be put on 30 days notice and Lois is going to throw me out of here. I just said "oh. OK." Inside I was thinking "Big deal?! So I let my dogs walk 20 feet from my apartment door to the elevator!?" I do that all the time. The only time there was a problem was on Monday, when Minnie accidentally took a dump in the hallway. Well, Lois must have seen that on camera and got angry. That was on Monday! This is Friday. Well, Lois had recently gotten the carpets cleaned, and I guess when Minnie had that accident, it set Lois off. But she acts as though my dogs are the only ones that have broken the pet rules in this building! Lois's own dog, Brandie, picks fights with other dogs, and that is against the rules in this apartment building. Deb lets Ziggy, her own dog, run around loose. The leash is attached to his collar, but that does not always mean someone is controlling Ziggy. And Ziggy gets away from Deb far more than either Vegas or Minnie gets away from me. Compared to their dogs, my dogs are angels. And all I do is just let them walk the 20 feet from my door to the elevator. They do no harm, nothing, and they never get away from me. There is something else, deep rooted, into this dilemma. I wonder if it's personal. Maybe Lois decided she just does not like me anymore. I don't understand why. I'm quiet, mostly I keep to myself, I've never given Lois any back-talk; although now I might. I think she needs to learn that my dogs are no worse than anyone else's.

You know the funny thing about all this? Frankly I don't really even care if I get thrown out! I want to go back to the coast, and I'll go through Hell to get back there! I don't like it here (Bozeman) anymore. But I didn't want to leave on this note! The one and only thing I am worried about is that this bullshit that Lois gripes about may prevent me from being able to get another rental place. I need that! At least for now. Until I can save enough to get myself an RV so I can travel around. Unless I can get someone to let me buy an RV from them and pay in installments. Even then, I might run into some turbulence. But I can go around and give it a try. Anything is better than this arrangement. If my dogs running 20 feet across a hallway bugs my landlord SOOOOOOO much, and her dog getting into fights does NOT bother her at all, there is something wrong here. Lois had the chance to get Brandie rehabilitated, and she did not take it. Why? Seems there is more here than what is meeting the eyes. Now, I kinda hope Brandie gets taken away from Lois. I didn't want to see that before, but it seems Lois just does not care. But it bothers her so damn much when 2 tiny dogs, that harms no one, walks 20 feet across the hallway. Sounds like there's a clique here and neither me nor Anna are members of. This is why I fucking HATE cliques!!!!

I want out of here NOW! I'm ready!! I'll live out in the street if I have to, or on the road! But I want out of here!! Maybe GOD has another plan for me. I think HE is testing me. I want out, but I also want to be able to have a place to go to when I do leave. We'll see!

Saturday, July 14, 2012

Bullying To Death

This is a sad movie. I feel everything for this young man, I felt what he felt, and believe me, I know the feeling of being bullied. I was bullied from the time I was in 3rd grade on. All the way up to high school. My last year in high school though was different. But as a child I had all kinds of people bullying me. Most of the time for no reason at all. I was smaller than other kids my age, and a lot skinnier (believe it or not) so fighting back for me was not an option. But in the third grade, I had to change schools, and I went from a school I loved to a school I hated. The school I went to previously, I only had problems with one person, a girl named Deanna, and after I kicked her butt, she pretty much left me alone. But I had TONS of friends in that school, I also had my Brownie and Girl Scout troop meetings and I so enjoyed those! So I socialized a lot in that school. And then when I moved to another school, that all changed. The kids at this other school were different. Most of the kids at my previous school had rural backgrounds. The kids in this new school were city kids, and much harder for a small town, country girl to learn to get along with. So I had an unusual amount of trouble learning to get along with them. I could not make friends there to save my life.

I particularly remember one girl named Melody, who always enforced that fear of being hated and bullied on me. Fortunately she didn't live there for very long, but the time she was there was the LONGEST few months I've ever experienced in my life!! She moved there after I started 4th grade, and she moved out long before my 4th grade year was over. I praised GOD she was gone, and hoped I would never see her again. If Melody had stayed there any longer, I might be a racist today (she was African-American). She used to beat me up, because I was younger than her, shorter and skinnier, but she was scared nearly to death of my sis, who was older, and bigger than her. I remember for a long time after my incidents with her, I was scared of black people. I never said anything against them, but deep inside me I always used to have this fear of black people. Except for the ones I knew and were friends with. Those were the kids who used to bully me the most.

My younger years were not the only time I had problems with bullies. I remember having problems in 6th grade too, but only with a group of boys who, for the most part, I ignored until they got in my face. One of the boys was named Paul R. I think he thought I was gay! And I think he used to go around telling everyone I was. Funny thing, the kids in my class (there were 2 6th grade classrooms) always told Paul to shut up, and leave me alone. But the kids in the other 6th grade class would go along with him. But Paul R. was not the biggest bully in that school. Another boy named Monte T. held that title. He always bullied EVERYONE. I don't think there was a kid in that school that did not ever feel his wrath. Monte though was mostly all talk. I'd never seen him strike anyone. He held his fists up, but that was it. In that school, it seemed most of the kids were all talk and name-calling. Even Paul R. nor his little "gang" ever laid a hand on me. The attacks were always verbal and visual. I had more friends in this school than I ever had in my 3rd and 4th grade school, but there were still kids who just hated me for no reason that I could think of. So the only deduction I could contemplate was that Paul R. went around and told everyone I was gay. And I wasn't! I had a crush on a guy! How can a girl who is gay have that??

One boy I also remember he was also in the 6th grade, but he was in the other 6th grade classroom that I was not in. His name was Brian. I only saw him once a day, for an hour a day in band class. He sat behind me and played the saxophone. He was also the 6th grade class president. And he absolutely, without a hint of doubt in my mind, HATED my guts!!! He never struck me, again, his attacks were always verbal, but I could sense a very strong, negative energy come from him. He hated me that much! LOL! I remember one day I was late for band class because my bus driver was late picking me up from home. I was so late that I left my music book in the classroom because I had to run to band class as fast as I could, so I wouldn't be too late. It wasn't until I got there that I remembered my music book was still in my desk in the classroom, so I asked the music teacher if I could go get my book. Basically just minding my own business. Well, Brian shouted from behind me "How could she remember her book yesterday, and not remember it today??" Another kid in the back of the room shouted "That's because she's stupid!" Brian scoffed "I know it!" I just pretended like I didn't hear them and went to pick up my book. The band teacher was clearly disturbed by these kids' behavior, I could tell. Far as I know though he didn't actually say anything. When I came back and asked the teacher to tell me again "what page are we on?" Brian mimicked me in falsetto "What page are we on?!" Like kids always do! Thankfully the teacher ignored him and answered my question so I could catch up.

I'd never even given Brian a hint of thought until that incident, then I hated him as much as he hated me, if not MORE so! Because I never did anything to him to deserve that treatment from him. I never thought to put 2 and 2 together, or I might have figured out he had probably been talking to Paul R, and believed him that I was conceivably gay. Some of my friends, who did know Brian, said that he was usually nice to everybody. Well, I didn't know what his problem was with me. Maybe he was angry that I never spoke to him before, and this was his way of getting my attention. Or maybe he did think I was gay because he didn't know any better. I'd never told him different, or anyone else for that matter. But if he had actually gotten the chance to know me, instead of listening to the assumptions of another begrudging student, he would have known I was as straight as any girl can get. Funny thing, just before I left that town and moved to Olympia, I think I saw Brian again. I was with my ma and grandma at a restaurant called the OCB. I was up getting my dinner and someone called me from behind and said "Hey! How's it goin?" I looked at him and he looked at me, and it didn't register at first. He thought I was someone else. He said "sorry, you looked familiar. I thought I knew you." I said to him "No problem. Don't worry about it." He said "thank you. How are you anyway?" I said to him "I'm good. How are you?" He answered "I'm just good thank you!" He was so congenial then. It wasn't until I got my food and sat down with my family that it hit me "I think I know that guy!" I figured out it had to have been Brian! The one who hated me so much in 6th grade. I remembered his eyes. They were kinda mean-looking, like a cat's eyes. And his eyebrows were thick and well-arched. I didn't approach him again because I hated him! After I graduated I was grateful that I never had to look at him or any other bully again. It was a shock to see he still lived in town! He seemed nice that day, but that can be deceiving! Behind my back, he was probably telling whomever he was with that I was a stupid, gay kid. Or whatever it was he always thought of me. LOL! But he was one of those people I'd just as soon try to forget about.

Well, since he was always so nice to everyone except me, and I could not understand why, I came to the conclusion that you're just never going to please everyone. Some people are going to like you, while others are not. I guess that's just life. I never tried to be liked. I'm not a people-person. I used to be when I was younger. But things changed as experiences happened and I sort of developed a hatred of people onsight. I have to get to know someone, and my senses have to align perfectly with how my heart feels about that person, then I try to make friends with that person. IF they seem good. But sometimes even my senses are deceived, like with Kim Hedges in this building. For a year she led me and my sis on. We thought she was an OK person. I had no idea she has a tendency to shit on people for no reason. Especially new people. If I had been told that about her when we moved here, I could have been a bit more watchful. But I wasn't, and I let my guard down. Probably because we were in a new, strange place we'd never been before, and I was more desperate to make friends right away. But this to me, is the very definition of bullying. And there is really little wonder why people kill themselves over it. Being bullied sucks. It's ruined me as a person. I trust no one and nothing. Though that may sound a little too cliche, it's true.

I am surprised I never committed suicide, or became a racist myself because those incidents in my life were so significant, and deeply entrenched they almost became second nature to me. Perhaps that is why I never killed myself, because I always think things will get better. Though I never thought I would learn to trust African-American people. I wouldn't have if it hadn't been for my first boyfriend, Paul W. He treated me better than any guy (or girl for that matter) that I had ever known in my life up to that point. He changed my mind completely. He taught me in a sense not to judge an entire race of people just by the actions of a few bad apples. But that's what bullying can do to a person's morale. Especially when the majority of those bullies were of that race. Unfortunately I didn't meet Paul until his very last semester in high school. And then after school was over, and he graduated, he had to move. He was in the army. Those who may have relatives in the military know what it's like. He wanted me to move with him, but I couldn't. I was still in school for one thing. Another thing, he wanted me to move to North Carolina, and I didn't know anyone there, besides him. Sometimes I wish I had taken him up on his offer. But it gets so hot there!

Well anyway, here's the movie. It starts off with the kid just having lunch and smiling, giggling, watching the world go round. Then the bullying starts, and it's an almost parallel story to my own days in school. One kid gets bullied, the other kids think it's funny and cute. No one does anything about it, and it leads the bullied kid to depression, and especially recently, to suicide. It brought tears to my eyes when I saw this movie because I know what this boy went through. That was my daily existence for many years. I never committed suicide, or even attempted it. Though I would be lying if I said it never crossed my mind. People should not bully one another. It's wrong! Some young kids may think it's funny, but really! Put yourself in the bullied kid's spot. It can be harmful to them. Imagine how you would feel every day wondering what is going to happen that day. Are you going to be jumped? Or will a day finally go by that you can just do what you need to without being ambushed? And what kind of gossip will the bullies pass along about you today? And who will it be about? And what will that person say I said? I think the only reason I never had rumors of shit-talking by me being passed around school was because I only spoke to a few people, and I rarely said much. But it did happen to another friend of mine, who had lots of friends. Someone went around the school and said she said something bad about everyone, and no one was speaking to her, and she got beat up quite a bit from that day till the end of the school year. I felt bad for her, but that's the price one pays for being popular. Anyway, this is the movie. It doesn't have much talking, but the message is deep.

Friday, July 6, 2012

Is This Who INXS Really Is???

It kinda makes you go "hmmm". One of my Facebook buddies posted an article yesterday of an interview that was done with JD Fortune. He has his own band now, and calls it "Fortune". But in this interview, he makes INXS sound like a bunch of assholes. Well, I always knew people in the music industry are assholes, I've known that for years. But it was concrete truth after I "met" dustingrey on YouTube. But not only was he an asshole, he was an ugly person inside and outside too. I got the feeling he had been badly abused all his life, and perhaps music, and being an asshole, was his way of "escaping" reality. But INXS I don't believe was anything like that. From all I've heard they had very loving parents growing up. They had good friends, and they were always kind to their fans. They do drink a lot, but then so do all Australians. Believe me, I know! I don't know about doing drugs. I do know the Farriss brothers are a religious family. I heard Timmy even used to teach the Bible in school to his peers. But it seems somewhere along the way, INXS lost their touch. I've met these guys and for the most part, they were nice people. Almost hard to believe there is an ounce of truth in anything JD says in this article. But I will quote some of the passages I found most interesting on this subject.

First of all, you can see the article here: http://www.theaquarian.com/2012/07/04/interview-with-jd-fortune-fortunes-phases/

Here are some things he said about his experiences with the band that caught my eyes. When the reporter mentioned INXS, JD's response to that was

"Who’s that? (Laughs)"

Then the interviewer talks about how things didn't work out between JD and INXS, and he wasn't "spinning his wheels". JD's response to that was

"There’s a certain freedom that I feel that I never felt with INXS. There was a certain lack of respect I think, too. [Pauses] Instead of saying anything bad about INXS, let me tell you what the difference is here: In this band (Fortune) I’d come down with bronchitis during a recording session and basically we were a family and everybody was asking me how I was feeling. Prior to that my experience would have been, “Yeah whatever, mate. We all get sick so suck it up.”"


He's basically saying INXS would not care about how he felt, they just wanted to get on with the show. When the interviewer asked JD where he is now with his creativity and personally speaking. JD speaks of Switch like he knew it's his last album:

"There’s a certain freedom that any artist will tell you comes when you get to play what’s inside of you. Although I did write INXS’ last platinum hit, “Pretty Vegas,” I felt in my heart that they weren’t going to give me another opportunity to write, especially because the best they did was to put out four records of previous hits, you know what I mean?
The next four albums they did after the Switch record were releases of four albums of stuff people already had. To me, that’s a bit narrow in vision, near-sighted. I was trying to get my songs together and work them into some of the band’s stuff because they had some world class writers like Andrew Ferris. But I think what had happened was unbeknownst to me Andrew was writing with the current guy that’s in the band (I don’t know his name). So when I was writing stuff he’d just keep putting me off, saying “Yeah, next week, yeah yeah.” And then it just never happened."

So it sounds like Andrew (and perhaps the rest of INXS) did not want to really progress. And I have to confess, I hated Original Sin!! It's not just about the cover design either, though the cover design was a bit of an augury of what the entire album was going to be like. To me, a tiger represents laziness, and that is exactly what INXS was being with that album. And for the most part the songs sucked! Kick used to be one of my life's theme songs, but that Nikka Costa murdered that song!! I hated what she did to it! She took an awesome song that used to have a lot of rhythm and beat to it, and turned it into this modern R&B/rap crap.

The thing that makes this whole thing so ironic is that JD is not the only of INXS's former lead singers to say all this shit. Seems INXS has had more than one lead singer since Michael died, and ALL of them have said pretty much the same thing about the band that JD has. Shoot! I even felt the same kind of energy come from some of Michael's last words! I once read that Michael said in an interview "I don't want to be the captain of a sinking ship!" He was speaking metaphorically about INXS. I wanted to support INXS in their last album, but I just couldn't. In my eyes, they were being lazy and I don't want to support laziness. Not from a band I always considered to be my favorite. But why INXS are always looking for new lead singers is beyond my realm of knowledge. Seems every time they have a chance to progress forward, they always wind up falling on their asses. They're like a toddler that never learns to walk. Just crawls for the rest of it's life. I feel for Ciaran Gribbin, because I have the feeling INXS are going to be the same with him that they have been with the other singers they've hired since Michael passed away. And I always try to give them the benefit of the doubt because I love these guys. And I want so badly to support them in ALL their decisions. But it's becoming perceptively harder as new albums come out, but no progress is being made on their part. I don't even know if they are still a rock band, or if they've become R&B modern or not.

I haven't even seen Rockstar: INXS in a long time! I have all the episodes now, but I just haven't seen it in years. The last time I saw that series was when my sis was working in Yellowstone. I tried to watch the series again, but it's just too painful to watch. That was actually the best summer of my life, because I thought back then that I was witnessing a bit of rock n roll history being made! I thought "This is it! INXS is finally going to be a complete band again!" I was telling people to give INXS and JD a chance, because it just might work out. I put my neck on the chopping block several times for them, and made some narrow escapes. All along thinking that this new relationship would somehow work. Even though JD Fortune was nearly 20 years younger than the oldest INXS band members. I didn't care much for JD Fortune when I first saw him on Rockstar, but he was who INXS chose, and so I supported INXS in their decision and gave JD a chance. I won't say I was disappointed, and I'd be lying if I said I agreed whole-heartedly with the choice INXS made. But I loved these guys and I wanted to see what JD could do with them. But it seems INXS does not want to do anything new or different. They had their chance to move on with JD. Ciaran is a great singer, but INXS will probably do nothing new with him either.

So is this who INXS really is? Are they really assholes like dustingrey? I mean, they were always nice when I met them, but deep inside, are they really nothing but a bunch of jerks and assholes in sensible shoes? Maybe it's a good thing I didn't support them in their new album. Maybe they are just a band going nowhere. Now, I don't know what to think of INXS or the entire music industry. INXS in it's heyday, played for royalty and hob-nobbed with celebrities. That's something a small-time, wannabe rockstar like dustingrey never did!! And most likely, never will do. He doesn't have enough talent for that, and he would be a real jerk to the fans. No one wants a musician like that around. But INXS were always described by fans who met them as being very down-to-earth, kind, gentle, caring, fun-loving people, which really is rare in the music business. It's almost unbelievable what they have become, according to JD's interview.

When the Original Sin album came out, I hated the design! Not only because I thought it looked evil, but I just plain hate tigers! But now that I look back on it, that tiger was the perfect metaphor for that album: lazy, stupid, and fleeting (INXS) toward extinction.

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Friends or Principles?

Well, most of my friends know I love them and will do anything in my powers for them. I've done some things I normally wouldn't do for them. But even I have limits to what I will do, even for someone I like a lot. It's not easy, but I have to hold fast to my principles. Yesterday, I had to make a choice. One of my Facebook friends, a very lovely person, wanted to help PETA recruit more likes for their Facebook page. Now, anyone who has been reading this blog for any length of time knows how much I HATE PETA!! With a capitol H! I am totally unyeilding in that decision. I will NOT support PETA in any way, shape or form. But this friend admitted she is a proud, card-carrying member of PETA. There was just no really nice way to put it, I hate PETA. Anything else in the World I would happily support this friend and help that cause, and any other friend. But not when it comes to PETA. That's where I draw the line. If she was supporting a real good cause for the sake of animals, like the ASPCA, I would be liking that page in her honor in a heartbeat! But I totally refuse to help PETA in any way. I saw one comment on YouTube once that pretty much sums up PETA's real intentions. This person said "PETA's motto should really be 'we don't love animals, we hate people'." And I believe that to be true.

I always hated PETA. I accidentally subscribed to their magazine once back in 1998. Believe me when I say it was an accident! I thought I was getting a magazine that was truly educational about the world and lives of animals. Instead I saw a amplitude of nutty ads for freeing animals, petitioning farms and restaurants that serve meat, news clips that told kids why their moms and dads are evil, plans to bomb schools and buildings. It was creepy to look at. I canceled that subscription and threw away the volumes I had gotten! Since then I hated PETA with a passion! I love animals, and it is because I love animals that I hate PETA so much! PETA has been known to kill many healthy, adoptable pets for their own gain. I'd rather support a cause that really does some good for animals, and does not hurt any people on the way to doing it. PETA supports ALF, and gives them money for weapons, bombs and junk so they can kill people they deem are unethical towards animals. Including owning pets. ALF and PETA are basically terrorist groups, not real charities to help animals. Their ads make them sound cute and flowery, but once you have delved deep inside their organization, like I have, you can see plainly that they are nothing but a bunch of mental-cases.

I told this friend if she wants to support PETA, that's fine. She's a decent person anyway. I know she would not do the unthinkable to other people. I've never even seen her talk about bombing someone else's house or killing their kids, like that one asshole deskset24 did. Now that was an evil person! I don't even think it was a person at all. Just a YouTube entity. LOL! But he displayed the same kind of rage, hatred and evil I've seen in many other PETA supporters, and it's been brainwashed into them by PETA's leader, Ingrid Newkirk. She leads them into believing she is actually doing good for the animals. But she's not. All she is doing is making PETA look sillier and sillier. I believe Newkirk is more than a little bit psychotic, she's bipolar too. I've seen interviews with her, she reminds me so much of Shirley Phelps of the Westboro Baptist Church! She just never shuts up about her cause, she does plenty of shutting out other people though. She mocks other people and scoffs at them when they prove her wrong. The only thing she doesn't do that Shirley does is always say "yikes!" when she is backed into a corner. When that happens, Newkirk just squawks like a chicken.

One person got on that thread, and I am not friends with her and in that case probably should not have been paying any attention to her, and it sounded like she was accusing me of making fun of this friend for supporting PETA. Usually I tend to ignore people who are not on my friends list, but I didn't want my friend to read that and think I was doing that in any way. I sure did not mean to make it sound that way. But this other person was saying how anti-PETA people put up this propoganda against them because they are "intimidated" by PETA. I told her I am not "intimidated" by PETA. Their views are too hypocritical for that! I just don't like PETA. And it's as simple as that. PETA only works to save animals that they think are cute and useful. Until their "sea kittens" campaign, they didn't give a shit about fish. And the reason they want to change the name of fish to "sea kittens" is because they think it sounds cuter, and it would stop people from eating them. So they think fish, the way they are now, are not "cute" enough to care about??!! That's stupid! And what about all the small animals that are killed by farm machinery harvesting vegetables and fruits every year? Do they think those animals are not "cute" enough to care about? And those harvesting machines put just as much CO2 in the air as any meat packing machine does, and that does not seem to bother PETA.

To me, veggies will never be anything more than a side-dish. Not the main course. And a lot of the so-called "research" PETA does is very biased. I would not listen to them if they say anything. But everybody has a right to their own choices, so I said if this friend wants to support PETA, that's fine with me. As long as she is not out there bombing buildings and killing people! LOL! But that's what PETA does and that is what they support. So I will support this friend in her choice, but I will not support PETA in any way, at all. I had hoped this friend would understand, but I think she may be a little bit upset or disappointed in me. I kinda noticed it a bit last night. I may be wrong. But I'm used to once I disagree with someone I begin to look for signs of breaking off, or cutting out the friendship. I've seen it happen over and over. People are just that way! I can agree to disagree, but most people want their friends to agree with everything they say 100%. I just can't. Not when it comes to PETA. Like I said, that's where I draw the line. I'm sorry if this friend is disappointed, or hurt in any way, but I just can't support PETA. I'll still love her as a friend though!

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Yes! These Are Real!

I was on Facebook yesterday and a friend showed me this pic of a monkey with a severely swollen ass! Check this out!


This is basically the same pic, only one of the monkeys had been cut out. I sure would hate to have been one of those monkeys! These are called Sulawesi macaques and they are both females. And yes, their asses do get that big when they are in heat! To me, this is just disgusting to look at! This is probably an example of mother Nature's warped side! I find it rather strange how so many of the old world monkeys and chimps have this happen when they go into heat. No other ape does this, and new world monkeys don't get swollen this bad! Only macaques, baboons and chimps get this bad. I often wondered why.

This is why I like lemurs better. LOL! That's just disgusting!

Well, I thought I would make this into an interesting topic here on this blog. Another oddity, check out this breed of dog:


That's called a Pachon Navarro, or Navarro Pointer. If you think you are looking at a dog with 2 noses, you are correct! Odd as this may sound, this breed is born to have a split nose. It's not attractive to look at but there really is a reason for this feature in this breed. Their original creators believed this accentuated the breed's sense of smell. It's double nose gave it more room to pick up a scent. This breed is rare, but there are 2 even more obscure breeds that also share this feature. Both of them are also classified as gun dogs.

And for another oddity, take a look at this fish:


That's called a barreleye fish. It's a deep sea fish with a transparent head. Kinda looks to me a little like a pilot whale! This fish has a couple of golf-ball-shaped orbs on the front of the head where the eyes should probably be. But they are useless. Their eyes are actually the 2 visible green spheres you can see on the inside of their head. They can basically look up without turning their head. When their food is spotted, they can turn those 2 green spheres forward to focus in on it's prey. This is just an odd-looking fish. Not only because of the transparent membrane over their head, but also because their eyes are not really where they should be.

And take a look at this animal:



You're probably looking at this and wondering if that is a head on stilts. But this is a real animal. It's a pygmy jerboa, found in the Saharan region of Africa, where most jerboas are found. This animal appears to have nothing more than a very large head, skinny legs and feet and a long, thin tail. There is a popular video of one of these animals on YouTube, and it belongs to someone and is their pet. But many jerboas would not make great pets. They are flighty and more likely to bite than other rodents. But don't tell that USDA breeder I spoke to last night that!! She'll say "Oh I breed those and mine don't bite at all!" LOL!

Now meet the world's smallest reptile:



That is Brookesia, which has no english name. It is basically just a tiny chameleon. Yes, this is an adult Brookesia. They are found in Madagascar. Madagascar has many different kinds of chameleons. Aside from this species, the world's largest chameleon, known commonly as the panther chameleon, lives there too. The largest can grow to 2 feet in length, whereas Brookesia can be less than an inch in length. Unlike other chameleons, these animals live on the ground, among the leaf litter.

Ever imagine what the world's largest rabbit would look like?



Yes this big guy is for real, that's called a Flemish Giant, and it is the largest breed of rabbit in the World. Some can reach as heavy as 40 pounds, which is the same size as a good-sized dog. Most apartments don't even allow dogs that big! But if you were to tell those landlords "I don't have a dog, I have a rabbit." They're more likely to think you mean something little and cute with a twitchy nose and long ears. Not this guy! If you told most people you have a rabbit that weighs 40 pounds, they might look at you like you're nuts! But it's true! This rabbit reaches nearly Metazoic proportions!

Now we met the largest rabbit in the world, how about a very large crab?


Imagine walking along the beach and finding this monster! But this is no ordinary beach crab. This sucker is known as the Coconut crab, and it is the World's largest and heaviest crustacean. Well, really they run neck-to-neck with the Giant spider crab of the northern Pacific near Japan. But what makes this creature unusual is that it is a land-living crab. They cannot swim, except as larvae, and will literally drown in water if they are left in it too long. This crab is mainly a tree-dweller, instead of a sand and water dweller like most other crabs. They inhabit many islands of the Indian and Pacific Oceans, but are more common on the Indonesian islands.

Say Goodnight, Gracie!

Well, I had to kick this backyard breeder out of my channel. Ya know I looked at her channel, and noticed it says she is from the USA? I'd have bet she was from the UK, judging simply by her attitude, and her hours of operation. Well, she got rather personal tonight. I basically just told her the truth. She is a backyard breeder. So she got all personal and talking about the way I am. Well, that's OK. She thinks I'm fat and know nothing about (USDA) breeding, I think she's fat and ugly too, and I still say her dogs are ugly as well. hehehe! I took a glimpse of one of her videos, and she looks like she's fat as well. Nothing is more pathetic than one fat person mocking another, but that's life. Some people hide behind anonymity, she's one of those types. She thought I wasn't going to see her videos, but I did sneak a little peek. I couldn't watch all of it, because the chihuahuas she showed were so homely looking. She said her chihuahuas have nice, apple heads, and I told her that's bullshit. From what I saw, her chihuahuas have flat heads, long noses, and beady eyes. The rat-like dogs. She still does not know what makes a nice-looking chihuahua. Chihuahuas should have more than an apple dome. They should have shorter noses, and larger eyes. Like a baby-doll face. Her dogs totally lack that appearance.

Well, she started getting personal in her comments. This one started picking up from yesterday's conversation from when I told her why show breeders charge what they do for their puppies. She finally responded. She said

"You're paying for a dog that is no healthier than most dogs. Show breeders have their own little dirty secrets of having puppies put down because it was born with a cleft pallet...These type of people experiment with dogs. Bad genetics doesn't only happen in puppy mills, or with backyard breeders. It happens in the show ring also. And believe me, the show breeders are making tons of money from their healthy dogs because their dog breeders."


She is still under the delusion that her dogs are healthier than those of a responsible and ethical breeder's, yet she has admitted to doing no health testing whatsoever. And she said that her vet checks her dogs' eyes and hearts daily (probably using no more than a common stethoscope). She said she does not need any OFA or CERF and BAER testing. But responsible breeders do those tests, even though they know their dogs' lineage. It's a precautionary technique. Well, my response to her was
 
"There are show breeders who do that. That's why I don't simply call responsible breeders "show breeders". I call them what they are, responsible and ethical breeders. Those are the ones who do all the necessary tests on their dogs, and cull those that are not up to standards."


And her response to me was:
 
"Well, I'm up to standard I think. I can pretty much tell when something is sick, or doesn't look right. Like you in the video. You're about 150 lbs. overweight, you're pasty looking. I think you might have Diabetes, and high blood pressure. I'm sure that you're chapped under your breasts and groin area because of the creases. If you were my female dog I would wash you up, throw you in the kennel and put you on a balanced diet. Have you fixed then give you away. Hahaha"


She wanted to get personal, OK. Fine by me. I can get personal as well! So my response to her was
 
I still say your dogs are homely. :) If I were a dog and unfortunate enough to be in your kennel, I think giving me away would be a sheer blessing! :)



Well, time to say goodbye to you. Looking at your videos, I can see you are fat yourself. So goodbye!

After that, I blocked her butt! I promised Katrina (and several other friends) I would not tolerate anyone disrespecting me on my channel. When I am in her channel, I will listen to her rules (although I never commented on any of her videos, and only watched one less than half way through). When she is in my channel, she'll mind me or out she goes! And in another part of the thread, this is where she basically admits she is not a good breeder:
 
"No CERF test. My vet examines each of my puppies eyes. I've never had a puppy with eye problems. No Baers test done either. Never had a problem with any of my puppies being deaf, or hard of hearing. No heart tests done either. But I have had one of two pups with heart murmurs. I've had a few cherry eyes to have to be removed from quite a few of my english bulldog puppies but again, that's all a part of being a bug eyed dog. Had a few hernia repairs done on my pups also."


So my response to her is plain and simply:
 
"See! That alone proves you are not ethical. Sorry dude."


I hate it that I am always so apologetic about being honest. I actually admire people who can do it without any hint of sugar-coating it. LOL! Well, she took it as being insulting, judging by her next comment:
 
"Not ethical. I would be hurt if that came from someone I respected. Sorry, I'm not a dude. I'm a 53 year old female. The photo is of my grandson. See how smart you are?"


Actually, I can tell, it did hurt her feelings. Simply because of the way she brought it up, and I never asked. Well, I guess I never asked if what I said bothered her because I simply didn't care. I was being honest. Well, since she wanted to take this conversation to a childish level, I kept it up here. I said about her grandkid:
 
"Oh? Is he fat too? LOL! :) I guess it runs in the family."


I can tell first of all, she has some old fashioned ways of thinking. She thinks the word "dude" only applies to men. I don't think it does anymore. LOL! I see girls calling each other that all the time. I call my sis that. We think it's cute. I call Katrina that, she laughs. Second of all, it's sad someone her age chooses to take this conversation to a childish level. That poor grandkid of her's! I hope she has very little impact in his life!! She's a great example of a person who should never have had kids, and why I am all for stupid people getting hysterectomies before they can have kids. Did you ever notice how the people who shouldn't have kids are always the ones who do? No wonder this world is going to hell quickly! I'm not saying everyone who has kids should never have had kids. My sis and Katrina are both good moms. But there's just too many unclassy people, like this USDA breeder, who were probably too drunk or drugged up to raise their children. I hate to think of what her children are like, and grandchildren. Judging by how upset and childish she got because she could not get me to see things her way, her kids and grandkids must be miserable people! I'm glad my ma was not like her! Nor my grandma!

Sunday, July 1, 2012

Disreputable Breeder vs. Reputable Breeder

Well, as I described earlier today, I have been in a coversation with someone who is a USDA licensed breeder. I am actually beginning to feel sorry for this person. I don't think she knows what makes a breeder responsible vs. what makes a breeder irresponsible. She constantly calls herself a responsible breeder just because she is USDA licensed. But there is more to breeding than being able to put a male and female together. I've tried over and over to explain to this person what makes a responsible breeder responsible. She has some pretty warped ideas about how to go about breeding responsibly. Already, just from a few sentences, I can tell she is not a responsible breeder. I am trying hard to keep it clean and friendly. But the more she posts, the more irresponsible she sounds. It's really sad! And I'm not even supposed to be talking about this shit with anyone! Not my job anymore! But in my video, I gave my opinion, now I am prepared to stand by it and explain why. Some of the passages this person said gave her away immediately as a puppymiller. They are the same excuses I always heard from puppymillers and backyard breeders. For example, I mentioned why should someone pay high prices for mixed breeds when they can get a good one in a shelter for $200. Her answer was:

"I've never seen a maltipoo, or a morkie in a shelter and I don't think you have either."

She doesn't know what I've seen and what I haven't. I see ads for people giving away these mutts every day. They may or may not end up in shelters, but they do end up going to more than their original home. In fact, just the other day, I saw someone offer a yorkie/dachshund cross on Craigslist. And frankly, I bet this breeder does not even screen potential new homes carefully. Another excuse she's used, when talking about AKC vs. ACA:

"As far as ACK, this org. allows both inbreeding and line breeding. Now isn't that promoting backyard breeding, or puppy milling?"


Some very good breeders do line-breed, or inbreed. That's how to get dogs to breed true to type. with few, or no, throwbacks. That's why so many designer mongrels look different from one another and have totally different temperaments from each other. I don't recommend line breeding or inbreeding unless you really know what you are doing. That is, you have studied the lines in your dogs carefully. It can be done, and has been done with some success. But this person seems to have no idea of what makes a registry reputable. She thinks linebreeding or inbreeding makes a breeder a puppymill or backyard breeder. She couldn't be more wrong. Next, when I asked her if she does any genetic tests on her dogs, her response was:
 
"I don't purchase adult dogs to breed so I don't have to run any genetic tests on them. I only keep pups from my own stock to breed in the future. You talk as if you have the experience and you have very little if no experience with breeding dogs. You've read too many show ring books, or talked to too many show ring people to the point where some of the snob is rubbing off on you. All dog breeders, if they've been breeding dogs long enough will have experience with genetic defects."


I don't think this person is a vet or a canine geneticist, so I doubt she knows whether or not her dogs have any health problems. Right away in the first sentence, that's the same as saying "No, I am not a responsible breeder." Actually, I was not trying to be snobby. I'm actually the nicest person she's ever going to meet that will tell her all this stuff in no uncertain terms. Were she to go into some place like the Pluba forums, or the Craigslist pet forums, she would be bulldozed down, called a troll, called every name in the book, yelled at from all angles, and believe me, none of them would be as nice to her. But frankly, this whole paragraph looks like one of the biggest excuses puppymillers use. My response to her was:
 
"Yes you do have to run genetic tests on your dogs. Whether you buy them as puppies or not. Otherwise you are not a responsible breeder. You can say you are experienced and responsible until the second coming of Christ, it doesn't make it so. I did talk to show breeders when I used to breed, and I learned the right way to do things, and most, if not all of, my pups went to new homes with no problems because I studied the parents, grandparents and all my dogs' relations."


Well, in another scenario, I discussed show breeders spending years researching their breed and producing parents' pedigrees. This is how they gain experience. Well, her response was:
 
"You hit the nail right on the head. They know their business because they've been doing it for so long. The key words are DOING IF FOR SO LONG. You've done a lot of research I guess, but research isn't experience. Anyone can breed dogs, but not everyone is good at it. I know my business because I've been doing it for so long."


But there is much more to it than that. Remember I said earlier that I saw some of her chihuahuas in one of her videos? Remember I said they didn't look like they should? Well, this was my response to her. I admit it may sound a bit harsh, but it was the best way I could describe what she is doing.
 
"If you've been doing it so well for so long, howcome your chihuahuas look like crap? You should try going to shows and seeing how a real chihuahua should look and breed for that, instead of giving in to this puppymill-refugee TV-commercial hype. I did. My Vegas, I was told, was good enough to be shown. The only reason he wasn't shown and finished is because I decided to get out of showing and breeding, due to personal reasons."


So far, she hasn't responded to that. I don't think she will really. I believe I may have seen the last of her. Well, she called mixed breed breeders "ethical", and saying that "If there's genetic problems in the dog's line no matter if it's purebred or hybrid it has a chance of receiving the defective gene. English bulldogs are a genetic train wreck." My response to that was:
 
"Well, the job of the ethical breeder is to breed AWAY from those genetic defects, and produce puppies that are as healthfully sound as possible. Why breed mixed breeds? And then charge astronomical prices for them, and mislead the public into thinking that they are "more healthy" than the well-bred purebreeds? Or that they shed less? Most mongrel breeders do that, when the truth is, you really have no idea if those pups shed, unless you bred 2 different breeds that don't shed. Then, what's the point? Why would I pay $1000 for a mixed maltese and poodle, when I could adopt one at a shelter for no more than $200. Or get a PURE maltese, or poodle, for $1000 from a good breeder, who knows all about the puppy's background?"


Well, her response to me was:
 
"Why buy a maltese if you you want a maltipoo. Why get a yorkie if you want a morkie? Why pay 5,000.00 for a couch when you can get one for 500.00? Why pay 200,000 for a car when you can buy one for 13,000? People want what they want. If it's a hybrid they want then they'll pay what they want to get it. I breed for temperament, pet quality, not for show. And hell yes, I make a profit!!!! I know the background of my dogs. All of my purebred dogs have pedigrees. All of my hybrids are from breeding two registered purebreds together. I know all of my mutt's background."
 
Sadly, there is one passage in her paragraph that is wholly correct. If a person really wants something, they will stop at nothing to get it. I always tell that to reputable breeders that say "never buy from a puppymill, backyard breeder or pet shop" and then turn around and say "I would never sell a puppy to you!" That just does not make any sense to me. It's kinda hypocritical if you ask me. How are responsible breeders going to keep buyers from going to less than ethical sources to purchase a pet, if they're going to refuse to sell to them? That's another thing I don't like about show breeders! Well, my response to her was:
 
"Have you met all the dogs in all your dogs' backgrounds as far back as the past 3 generations? That would be pretty difficult to do if you had more than 4 or 5 breeding pairs, but surely not impossible. Do you have all their OFA and CERF test results? That's the only real way to tell if your dog is healthy, and has no genetic defects it can pass down to the puppies. Just looking at them tells you nothing really."


So far, she has declined to respond. I got the test results for Groucho's parents, somewhere in my sis's trunk! LOL! Groucho and Odessa have some of the same lines. Well, she said ACA will register hybrids, so apparently she uses ACA. I had to ask her:
 
"You think ACA is reputable? More so than AKC? Where is ACA's shows? How many people who show dogs use ACA?"


If I were to look at an ACA registered puppy, I would have to question their background, simply because ACA registers any dog, pure or mixed, with no proof of that dog's lineage. I don't trust any breeders who use ACA as their primary registry. Nor APRI, nor Continental KC. I've seen dogs from an APRI show, and they were laughable! They were ungroomed, filthy-looking, disgusting representatives of their breed. In short, they were a joke! The difference between an APRI show and an AKC show is like the difference between going to an opera or going to a rock concert. At an AKC show, the dogs are well-groomed and presentable, while the dogs at the APRI show, well, it's more like a beer-and-pretzel, t-shirt and jeans type affair. Her response to me was:
 
"Yes, I do think ACA is reputable. I don't know where ACA's show are. I'm not about showing dogs, I'm about breeding them and registering them, and ACA is a reputable registry. I breed and sell dogs. I make a profit. from these dogs just as thousands and thousands of other dog breeders do, just as your show ring dog breeders do. Don't tell me show dog breeders don't charge high sky prices for their dogs either. Breeding rights, fees...a poodle would cost at least 5,000.00. ???"


She doesn't want to show? Fine! But at least go with good-quality parents so the pups look like they are supposed to! Like I said before, I saw her chihuahuas, and they looked crappy! My response to her was:
 
"When you pay for a show dog, you are basically paying for years of generation research, accurate and up-to-date health testing, careful breeding. Show breeders do not just breed to whatever they think looks cute. Their goal is to improve the breed, physically and genetically. I'm not trying to sound snobby, but that's the way the game goes. Sure they charge high prices for their pups, but you can be sure you are getting a good quality, sound puppy from them because they will provide proof."
 
As of yet, she hasn't responded. Personally, I have never made anything in breeding. My dogs were never bred that much. I broke even and that was it. If you ask me there is one thing AKC should do and that is encourage reputable breeders to share their knowledge. Do you know how hard it really is to get a good mentor?! That was where I got stuck. So I had to kindof teach myself. I know the CFA (cat registry) has a directory where you can find a good mentor. I don't see why AKC doesn't do the same. It would cut down on a lot of unethical breeders!

I Never Thought I'd Be Having This Conversation Again

LOL! I never thought I would have to take the sides of show breeders again! I don't breed anymore, but I do understand what makes a breeder a good breeder. Well, this mongrel breeder got a little bit pissy because I said in one of my videos that mutts should never be purposefully bred. I still stand by that. I see no reason any mongrels should be bred. That's because there is none. Well, this person said she is a USDA licenced breeder, which I don't think really means anything. Except maybe in cattle breeding, or pig breeding. Animals that are regularly bred for slaughter, of which dogs are not in this country. I still say anyone who would pay anywhere over $200 for any mixed breed dog or cat is being duped, and I can only hope this person is telling her customers so. If not, she's not responsible. $200 is a fair enough price for a mixed breed dog, to ensure that dog has a good home. $300 would really be stretching it for a mixed breed. I would not even recommend paying that much, no matter what the breeder is licensed with, for a mongrel dog. Just not worth it. I can still remember a time when mixed breeds were free. Though you really cannot do that these days because so many people will take those free pups and sell them for medical research.

Well, this person asked me if I am USDA licensed and I said no, I never was. I've only ever seen puppymillers use USDA licenses. So that's not for me. I didn't even breed enough to get an AKC license. I only had 2 breeding females, and 1 breeding male. But I went to dog shows quite frequently, although Rio Bellon would probably tell you different. The thing is, most of the shows that I went to, I never saw her there. In fact, I think she only attended the specialty shows. But she also makes up a lot of bullshit too. I can promise you, she's a liar. She sure as Hell is one if she's said I never attended any dog shows! I can put my finger on about half a dozen dog shows that I went to that Rio Bellon was not at! And yes, they were AKC shows. I never attended Continental KC or APRI shows. A lot of things Rio Bellon said was nothing but a bunch of bullshit, and the sad thing is, most other show breeders will believe her. That's why I don't like show breeders. But on the other hand, they do know their dogs, so I always listened to them when they spoke. Puppymillers, or USDA breeders, don't listen to any good advice from experienced and responsible breeders. They just breed what ever they think looks cute in their eyes.

I saw this woman's chihuahuas in one of her videos, and they were ugly! They looked more like chi-dachshund mixes, and probably were! But she has them labeled "Chihs". If I saw an ad in the newspaper, by her, and took time off from my day to go look at her chihuahuas, I would have been angry when I got to her place and saw those puppies! As chihuahuas go, they were homely! Kinda like this one time I answered an ad back in Lakewood for chihuahuas. I made an appointment, the breeder told me I could come at 11:00 that morning. I had to work that night, but I wanted to go and see these pups, so I took that time off from my sleep to go see them, thinking I would see some adorable chihuahua puppies and possibly bring one home to love. I arrived at 11:00 exactly, and knocked on the door. Well, she made me wait outside for about 10 or 15 minutes, I almost turned around and went home! When she finally did open the door, the first thing I noticed was the house was a mess! I saw a cocker spaniel in the house that followed us into a back room, and in there I saw what I first thought were basset hound pups. They had huge ears that flopped over, short, stubby legs, long, pointed noses, wrinkles on their faces, and droopy mouths! They looked just like basset hounds. I said to the woman "Cute basset puppies!" She told me "Those are the chihuahuas." I looked again, flabbergasted! I said "Oh my GOD! Those are chihuahuas??!!" I was upset!! She showed me the parents and they were both Taco Bell dog lookalikes. I thought maybe she had taken one of her crappy chihuahuas and crossed them with that cocker spaniel I saw when I walked in! I was so upset and disappointed! It would have been worth it if they were decent-looking chihuahuas, but they were not. I told her "I'm not interested!" and I walked out. I was more angry because I had just wasted that half hour out of my day! When I went to work, I was tired.

As basset hounds, they would have been adorable! But as chihuahuas, they were ugly! I don't like the Taco Bell dog lookalikes. I can't see what others see in a dog like that! If all chihuahuas looked like the Taco Bell dog, I would never have any interest in that breed. Thankfully there are good-looking chihuahuas, but the unfortunate thing is you have to deal with show breeder bullshit just to get one! I'd rather do without and go with another breed. One that I wouldn't be so picky about. Like those mini aussies. LOL! Yes, I admit I am picky! That breeder was charging $600 for those basset-like chihuahua puppies. That's a rip-off! I wouldn't have given her $100 for one of those pups! If I'm going to pay good money for a puppy, I'd rather it looked like the breed it's supposed to look like. And I'm not a big fan of mongrels. My ma liked mongrels so that's usually all we had when I was growing up, and they always had a bad attitude! I was lucky when we got Andy, and the breeder just gave him to us. He was a pure papillon, and those were the days before the breed ever became very popular. But she could not register them because she didn't know who the father was, and she just wanted to see those pups go to good homes. Same with Sir Knight, a skye terrier. Ma got him from a friend, who bred those dogs. I still remember the night ma brought Sir Knight home. She and a close family friend both got puppies that night. Ma got the pure skye terrier, while the friend got the skye/poodle cross. I felt sorry for the friend! LOL! I always used to kid this friend because my dog was a pure and her's wasn't. LOL! It was all in good fun.

Other than those two cases, most of the time all we ever got were mixed breeds, and I hated their behavior. Ma always said mixed breeds have better temperaments than pure breeds. But she was wrong! Of all the dogs we had, I only noticed bad temperaments in 2 of them, one was a collie/st. bernard cross and the other was a german shepherd cross. Ma's little mutt, a schnauzer/poodle cross, was good natured though. But he was one in a million as temperament goes. He still barked a lot like a schnauzer, and was a butt-sniffer like a poodle. But that is why I am against mixed breed breedings. Those breeders tell you what they want you to hear, make the mutt sound all flowery and rosy, that they are more perfect than even well-bred purebreed dogs. And that simply is not so. USDA licensing means nothing as dog breeding goes. When you encounter someone like this breeder, I might suggest you ask her what she knows about her dogs' backgrounds? What kind of health-testing has she done on her dogs, and what is she doing to prevent those problems in her puppies? She's already admitted in one of the comments she made, that her dogs have liver-shunt. That's not something that should be bred. It can be a potential killer. I know of one pup that died from it, and it was a chihuahua. Not one of mine, but it belonged to someone I did get a dog from a long time ago. Those were the days when I didn't know what I was doing. She had a lot of chihuahuas, some looked pretty good, some bad. She was mostly breeding for color.

Well, one thing about my experiences, I learned from my mistakes. When Groucho died, I lost all interest in breeding. I thought at first it may have been a phase, and when a friend offered me some of her breeding dogs I almost accepted. But I am glad I didn't. Breeding just isn't for me. So now, I am just a proud owner. Vegas is my crowning glory, a great way to end my short breeding career. He's one of the best-looking chihuahuas I ever bred. I couldn't live with breeding anymore. I was scared every night that I would wake up the next morning and some of the puppies would be dead. It was Hell! I think it takes a certain kind of person to face that possibility every day, and I just wasn't that person. I am glad that Vegas made it, with no problems, and he looks great!! No Taco Bell lookalikes here!