a99kitten's Musings

Took the buds to the beach this AM for their weekend off-leash fun time at Mavericks.  When I go to Mavericks, I never park in the Maverick’s parking lot because the cars park SO close together and people always have surfboards, fishing gear, kayaks, etc and I have seen enough people smack their stuff into the cars next to them that I stay far away from that lot. Even when I had my old Jeep.

So I always park in a different lot that most people never used. It’s a small side street with a small dirt lot. But then someone put in a poo bag station and trash cans so more people started parking there. Then the kayakers started parking there when the Kayak Club down the street gets too crowded. But I go early enough that is never, ever too full and everyone that parks there always leaves plenty of room in between each other. Safe from door dings and other stuff. Yeah…

Huskies and I were walking back to the car after a fun beach adventure and I hear this loud CRASH. I instantly had this thought “Someone just crashed into my car.” But then I thought that’s silly, why would I think that. And the buds met 2 more dogs to play with for a few minutes and then Angelus went into the water to cool off and then we started back to the parking lot. I see a kayaker setting up his kayak RIGHT behind my car. Sigh. You need to move pal, need to get the huskies in the back. He looks up as I am walking towards him/my car and asks “Oh, is this your car?” Yep I reply. He then says “I’m so sorry.” Umm…that can’t be good. He then says he left all of his insurance info on my window and then points to my passenger side rear panel. I go around and see the huge dent and cracked paint now in my wonderfully pretty car. “DUDE” I say. (Yes…I did say that.) He instantly starts apologizing profusely.

Grrr

I went to get the info he left on my window and make sure I have everything. I take a picture of his drivers license and plate number. And the giant gash. My first, instant internal reaction was of highly annoyed pissed-off-ness. If you aren’t strong enough to control your giant kayak, don’t park next to other cars. Come on. He was a little tiny asian guy. Pretty sure the kayak outweighed him significantly. Grrr.

But it was obviously an accident. And he obviously felt bad. Yelling at him wasn’t going to undent my car. So I took his info and said “It was an accident.” He said your car looks really nice and new. Yeah…it did. Double-grrr. But at the same time, I am grateful he was an honest person. He could have easily taken off after it happened since I wasn’t around. There was no one else in the parking lot. So there is that.

I called my insurance when I got home and have an appointment with the adjuster on Tuesday. They said Geico (his insurer) might not cover it since it wasn’t part of his car that did the damage. In which case, they have to go through his homeowners insurance. And if he doesn’t have that, they go after him. Yeesh. Hopefully it all gets sorted out and fixed quickly before I have a chance to get annoyed about it again.  Although, since he has Geico insurance, and I own Berkshire Hathaway stock, isn’t that like I am taking the money away from me a shareholder and giving it back to me as a claimant? Hmm….

Fun, if cold and wet, SUMMER August morning. Sigh….coastal summers kinda blow. But the huskies aren’t hot and then we get a gorgeous September – November so oh well. But I usually start getting really annoyed by the weather around now until it’s over (usually mid-late August.)

When we first got to Mavericks we didn’t see any other dogs. Uh-oh – too early? But then 2 ladies came with their dog but he was a ball dog – dang. The huskies do not understand ball or stick dogs. They say CHASE ME!!! Why chase a stupid ball or stick?? Angelus chases the dog as they chase their object but then if the dog doesn’t engage after a couple tries, he is done trying.  Storm doesn’t even try. He used to chase balls a few times and then would sit down and shred it. So I didn’t want him to steal other dog’s toys! But he was *usually* pretty good about that.

I tried getting them to walk down the beach but neither really had any interest. I think they wanted to stay by the beach entrance so they wouldn’t miss any new dogs coming in. Then we saw a group of people and dogs that we knew from past visits to Mavericks come around the cliff from the other side/beach. And then they decided it was OK to go down there and check it out. It was the Scottish Deerhound, a couple other spazzy dogs and then Grommet the boxer.

Ohmygosh – Stormy and Grommet were playing and playing and playing. They were having such a good time. And me without my iPhone today to video it :( Stoopid Mom. Grommet’s Mom was telling me how Grommet had a tussle with a really large husky awhile back so he is usually pretty skittish around huskies but he was doing great with my guys, especially Stormy (Angelus was mostly mixing it up with the other dogs.)

Storm and Grommet were tearing around, chasing each other and then other dogs would start in the chase too. I get a little stressed because I don’t want Stormy to get take out accidentally since the other dogs all outweigh him by a lot.  But everyone did a great job of not taking each other (or us 2-legged creatures) out.

When it was time for Grommet to leave and his Mom leashed him up, Stormy wanted to follow them out.  It was so sad – Stormy got so bummed his friend had to leave. After that, Stormy wasn’t so interested in staying. What a goober. He was probably kind of tired too after all that running and playing. So after a few attempts at walking further down the beach and only a couple small dogs coming in, that the huskies had no interest in playing with, I said who wants to go? Storm turned around like “Let’s Go!” and he led the march back to the car. And when I say march – I mean it.  The kid could out-march a battalion :) Angelus likes to dawdle on the way back. Sniff, pee, sniff, pee. Storm – he marches. Focus. Stay on target!  He would have made a great X-Wing pilot :)

I love watching them have fun. They are the best boys.

This morning the huskies and I had another excellent beach adventure! We wandered through the neighborhoods and then made our over to the beach. Storm’s friend Charlie was there and he seemed pretty happy to see her :)

I don’t let Storm play with just any dogs off-leash. I have to know them or watch them play for awhile. Storm needs the perfect mixture of just out-going enough to be fun and crazy but not aggressive or too alpha as that gets Storm going on his “need to prove I’m boss” (well…under boss really since everyone knows Angelus is the boss dog!) Plus we want to be nowhere near the bitey, agro dogs either. He definitely does better with girl dogs too. No need to be dominant at all.

Charlie is great! She loves to run and play but is super sweet and fairly submissive. So I let him play off-leash with her. This video is the first couple minutes of what was about 40 minutes of them playing today, along with Angelus and their other friend Pearl. Vry happy to see him wanting to play more and more with other dogs and being back to his happy self. :)

Home after a 2.5 hour Angelus beachfest. He had a pretty darn good time! Played and played with lots of dogs we’d come across and it was super low tide so good tide pools to cool off in. Then went over to the harbor beach and ran and played chase off-leash with a 2 year old black lab. He seems like he *might* be a little tired. At least for now.

He got cheesed on his walk yesterday as post-op Storm couldn’t go very far and I had to keep an eye on him. Like a good big brother, he was patient…for a day :) This morning he said RUFF! We took Storm out too but he only wanted to go a couple blocks so we brought him back. I could tell Angelus seemed bummed thinking that was going to be the extent of his walk like yesterday.

But as soon as I just let Storm inside and kept him out, he knew we were going for fun! He got his spring back in his step :)

Took him to Surfer’s beach. It is gloriously sunny and warm and super low-tide. So he had lots of tide pools to cool off in and it was early enough that the beach wasn’t crowded with tourists yet.

We walked to the point where dogs are no longer allowed (they are not allowed on State beaches because CA is a stupid reactionary state) and met another doggie who LOVED playing with Angelus. Angelus was  on leash and the other doggie was off but they were having a good time!

I have let him off leash there before (technically it is leash-only but the harbor patrol don’t care if you have good control) but there are a lot of ways off the beach and up to the bluffs and Highway 1 and that freaks me out too much so I don’t do that anymore.

Plenty of people do let their dogs run off leash and I’m all for your dogs having a fun time and think the no dogs allowed rule on the other beaches is stupid. BUT – if your dog is agro with other dogs or doesn’t listen to you, then he should be on leash. Not a big deal. But I’ve had a few instances where aggressive dogs run up to Angelus and start crap with him. Angelus never starts a fight. But he doesn’t back down from any dog. Not ever. So if a dog comes up to barking and teeth bared, he will respond.

Generally, I will put myself in the way. And have stuck my arm into a few scuffles. But no one is hurting my dog. Anyway, today I saw this brown pointer running willy nilly all over the beach and you couldn’t see who was with him. No person was around in the general area. Then Angelus started playing with his dog friend and I was talking to his owner as we walked down the beach. Then I saw up ahead the brown pointer again and he was chasing and barking at a little dog who was on leash as his people tried to get away.

Then he came charging at Angelus. Angelus just stopped and waited. At first the other doggie just stopped and sniffed. But then as we started to walk away, he growled, bared his teeth and tried to bite Angelus! And then Angelus turned and growled and that started the scuffle that I grabbed the other dog and pushed him back.

Then I see the dog’s owner come up (who had been calling the dog for a good 10 minutes, with NO response, as he bothered the little dog and then Angelus – clearly the dog saw him as pack leader and listened well…)

He then has the nerve to say to me after his dog attacked my dog “well, if your dog wasn’t on leash, my dog wouldn’t have done that.” Ummm…what did you just say? Yes – you are correct in that the leash creates anxiety. However, it’s usually the dog ON leash that has the anxiety and not the attacker!

And if this were a dog park where all dogs were off leash, or an off-leash dog beach, I could understand the annoyance of dealing with leashed dogs (I have it too).

BUT, to actually say out loud to someone whose dog was just attacked by your dog that it was basically their fault. When in fact the beach is technically leash mandatory anyway…wtf?

In my head I imagined a swift and hard kick to his man-parts. And then Angelus peeing on him as he writhed in pain on the ground. But luckily for him, I used my Jedi control and did not lead down the path to anger…(although really..sometimes it is justified.)

I tried to be calm. I said simply “well, this is technically a leash-only beach and my dog might take off up the beach.”

He says in response “well it’s not like he could go anywhere.” That was it.

I said “No, pal. This is a leash-only beach and I don’t care if your dog runs around having a good time but dogs shouldn’t be allowed off-leash if they don’t respect their owner/parent enough to listen when called. Or charge up to other dogs and bite them. Plus they can run up to the bluffs or Highway 1 at a number of spots. And considering your dog doesn’t listen to you AT ALL and was clear down at the other end of the beach with you nowhere in sight – you have nothing to say here except “I’m sorry”. It’s people like YOU that give dogs and dog owners a bad name and cause stupid laws to be enacted so we all can’t take our dogs places. Jackass.”

And Angelus and I walked away to go enjoy more tide pools and beach fun time…

Today I took Angelus for a loooong walk.  We hit one of his favorite spots first – the Pillar Point Harbor beach. He doesn’t like waves too much so he prefers the beach at the harbor over Surfer’s Beach which is right on the other side of the break wall.  This could be because when he was a puppy, he and I were walking on Surfer’s Beach during high tide (and a storm was brewing) and a giant wave came up and got us. I scooped him up and pressed us against the bluff wall but I was pretty wet from the waist down. We weren’t in any real danger or anything but he could probably sense my stress and probably didn’t like getting so wet! So yeah – he likes calm water – the lake is BEST!

Anyway, on today’s walk we came across the “normal” garbage we see in the RV parking lot after a weekend beach day. Tourists = suck. You people come over here and wreck a beautiful environment. Your complete disregard for the environment sickens me. Now, I am not a tree-hugging environmentalist. But who doesn’t want their beaches, oceans, lakes, roads, and parks to STAY CLEAN??? WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU A**HOLES? Don’t you like nice things??? This really isn’t an issue with differing opinions, or viewpoints. You leave trash – you are 100% wrong and suck. Easy.

How hard is it to take your garbage to the numerous trash cans placed along the entrances of the beach or in the parking  lots? I am talking a lot of garbage too. Not a stray piece of garbage that might have flown out of your trash bag. I am talking about you F-WADS that left a PILE of garbage by the breakwall.

And let’s not ignore the jacka** who brought his chair/awning thingy along with one of those cheap white syrofoam coolers and left them there when he was done. He/she is a stellar example of humanity.

It’s already so ridiculously annoying when the “fishermen” (not pros) leave their used line (for seagulls to get caught on or dogs to get tangled in), beer cans, food wrappers, etc.

And I know the teenagers/young people who have their nighttime bonfires with their leftover pizza boxes, fast food containers and beer cans and Mickey’s bottles are likely not tourists and I detest you just as much. Just take it to the garbage cans you losers. Again – how hard is it? If this is too much for you to be responsible for – then please do us all a favor and remove yourself from society now. Because we are likely going to have to pay for your welfare check, WIC food and/or prison stay later…

But any nice or long/holiday weekend is sure to wreck the beaches and parks. I personally am in favor of a HUGE toll to get here (and a huge parking fee for beaches or parks) and a huge fine for violators. The fees/fines would pay for the staff in no time with this amount of losers in the world. Charge by the person so the single person or couple doesn’t have to pay as much as the family of 10. Because guess what – they ARE using more of the natural resources and making more of a mess.

Because let’s face it, if your personal responsibility level is so low that you can’t take your own garbage to the garbage can what hope do you have to ever raise a child who isn’t a loser like you? Or hold any type of job that is a mid-to-high functioning level job? The fact that you take up space on this planet and breathe oxygen is a crime. If you are so irresponsible and unable to see what’s wrong with your actions, then I am personally hoping for your demise because you offer no benefit to society.

So do us all a favor – off yourself now and don’t waste anymore space…

OR take a little a little responsbility for your own actions and clean up behind you. It’s not that hard. If you can’t do that. F off and die.

I was at the beach this morning with Angelus (Storm looked outside, said “sun is shining” and opted for cooler, lazier time at home.)  The tide was coming in but still somewhat low-ish so you could walk out by the break wall fairly far.  This is one of my favorite places to take the buds when it is low-tide as I can let them off-leash if no one is around (usually only early mornings.)  They are huskies so I don’t let them off leash in non-fenced areas.  They really are good at listening to me 98% of the time but that 2% is what I worry about.

But I feel safe here as we are far from any traffic and they run towards the ocean. And since they are not swimmers, there really is only so far they can go :) And then they can chase each other, birds, look for crabs, dig in the sand and play hide-and-seek with the seals!

But this morning it was just me and Angelus. And then 2 older ladies came by. They looked to be in their late 50s – early 60s and were wearing very similar, plain outfits with their hair in buns. At first I thought Amish. But then one took out a digital camera to take a picture of Angelus so that scratched Amish off the list. Mennonite? Conservative Mormon? Orthodox Jew?  No clue. But they were dressed far too similarly in very simple, plain (think Little House on the Prairie) outfits to not be something that didn’t condone dressing like a beach bum or in a Juicy tracksuit:)

The other way I could tell they were not from around here – they were so in awe of the ocean. And the rock wall. And the birds. They were looking at a starfish like it was a freshly-landed alien. They asked me if I was going to grab it. I answered ‘No – he’s fine where he is since the tide was coming up.’ They were in such awe of this thing. And it made me realize – we take so many things for granted in our daily life. I know I do. I live there so I see it every day. And I know it’s awesome. But to feel as excited about it as these 2 ladies obviously were – no, I don’t.  To be as thoroughly over-joyed as they were – no, I’m not usually.

So I need to start taking a little more time to appreciate the beauty of where I live and visit.  Because the sheer happiness and joy it obviously brought these 2 ladies was pretty darn cool :)