http://hamptonroads.com/node/353322 Local life en-us Copyright 2008 PilotOnline.com / HamptonRoads.com. Mon, 13 Oct 2008 21:35:52 -0400 1) BAD Once in a while I go to petfinder.org and look at homeless Chihuahuas. Both Porque Choppe and T-Bone came to me via petfinder. No, I don’t need more dogs, but… Normally petfinder’s nationwide total of homeless Chihuahuas is in the 3-4,000 range. Today? 7869. Sudden big jump. http://hamptonroads.com/2008/10/worst-times-best-times Mon, 13 Oct 2008 16:03:00 -0400 Among things for which I’m thankful is the fact that I don’t live in the five hundred block of 38th Street. Yesterday as I walked my dogs, we went that way and OY VEY!!! What a racket. http://hamptonroads.com/2008/10/boom-thumpa-boom Mon, 13 Oct 2008 14:37:59 -0400 Lately we’ve heard rhetoric about “The Base,” by which is meant the average Republican. Media types and Democratic apologists give the impression that “The Base” live in trailer parks, spit tobacco, and suck down endless cans of beer. http://hamptonroads.com/2008/10/are-you-%E2%80%9C-base%E2%80%9D Sun, 12 Oct 2008 07:09:39 -0400 There I sat, babysitting Lydia's pets. That is, Porque Choppe, T-Bone, and I were babysitting. Lydia et al went out of town to a karate competition, so somebody had to stay over there, keeping company with the Boston Terrier and the Gisele, the rabbit.   http://hamptonroads.com/2008/10/sitting-it-out Sat, 11 Oct 2008 22:26:53 -0400   In social, political terms, gray is what happens when the real world meets dogma. Essentially, gray is an area of inconsistency. My mother, a hard line death penalty advocate, became passionately upset each hunting season when Dad went out to get a deer. “Bambi killer,” she’d yell. http://hamptonroads.com/2008/10/gray Sat, 11 Oct 2008 19:30:04 -0400 In horrified fascination, I sat here today watching the stock ticker. I was like those monkeys in Jungle Book when Kaa went hunting. http://hamptonroads.com/2008/10/and-down-scream-whee-aaaargh Fri, 10 Oct 2008 16:10:00 -0400   http://hamptonroads.com/2008/10/oh-yeah-hes-down-mouth Fri, 10 Oct 2008 14:46:22 -0400   After the ‘87 bust, my mother, furious, shouted at me, “I lost $7,000 yesterday. Before this gets any worse, I’m cashing out of the market,” and she did. http://hamptonroads.com/2008/10/get-out-your-checkbook Fri, 10 Oct 2008 08:10:47 -0400 As a society we’ve become feeble, delicate. Some of us could actually drop dead from exposure to a peanut. Or so we claim. Allergies. They’re the Hollywood Chihuahua of us commoners. Everyone’s got a few, something to talk about, a way to be important. http://hamptonroads.com/2008/10/lotsa-luck-suffolk-peanut-festival Thu, 09 Oct 2008 05:18:36 -0400 A WVEC news item caught my attention… Teachers at Maury getting clobbered… And the principal suspending those responsible? SUSPENDING? That’s a situation crying out for zero tolerance. One does not fix this stuff with a time-out. One puts the little punks in kiddie jail. And each Maury staff person had better get his/her spine vertical. http://hamptonroads.com/2008/10/thug-high-school Thu, 09 Oct 2008 04:39:35 -0400