Fluffy Throws Up

We were out on the trail today, on our way to Bel Air Market and all of a sudden Fluffy started throwing up. I am going to guess she must have snacked on some weed or plant she wasn't supposed to touch and that was a big mistake. Google map shows exact place where it happened.

Fluffy dumping on the trail

Fluffy's Muscle Spasms

Today I took a walk with Fluffy to Bel Air via the American River Parkway back end trail behind Gold River. There is a secret path I go through which helps me to avoid traffic. It actually goes through a junkyard.  Previously, going through that path meant battling with Spanish thistle and prickly bushes. That was clearly unacceptable for both me and Fluffy. I resolved to fix the problem and one Sunday a few weeks ago, I brought my heavy duty clippers. In the space of about 20 minutes, I had cleared the entire path of all problem branches and thorns, making it a pleasant route to travel.

I noticed that since I cleared the path, there appears to be much more traffic through that area.  The grass looks more flattened than before. But I am digressing. The real reason for my post was what happened after Fluffy and I exited the path and continued on cool, wet grass. All of  a sudden, Fluffy dropped to the ground and rolled around. This is something she loves to do in cool grass which looks like some type of celebratory squirm. I watched in delight as she wiggled back and forth in the grass. After a couple of minutes, I lightly pulled on the leash to get her back up but when she started walking, she began dragging  her right hind leg. Then she tried to hold the leg up. Then her left leg started dragging. I had her lie down on her back so I could check her out. Was it a thorn? I checked both her legs and paws. There was no thorn or prickly thistle in her fur. I held her leg up and it started to spasm. Then her other leg started to spasm. This was strange! What was  happening. I had her get up and we continued on. I watched carefully and after about 2 minutes, the limping disappeared.

Speak Up and You Shall Be Heard

I am a frequent customer at the Bel-Air Market in the Gold River Town Centre. There is an eating area in front of the market with tables and chairs. Almost every time I walk by, at least one person is smoking. I have gotten into the habit of hyperventilating on approach and then holding my breath until I get to the entrance near the ATM machines. For some reason, today I thought about whether there might be an alternative to hyperventilating. Suddenly an idea popped into my head! The Starbucks at the far end of the shopping center recently remodeled their store and along with the remodel was new signage outside that prohibited smoking within 20 feet of the store which effectively ended all the outdoor smokestacks that regularly visit for a coffee. Why not suggest the same for Bel Air? The possibility that they might accept this argument by precedence made sense and I had reason to be optimistic. The Town Centre shopping center is an older strip mall built in the 1980’s when the word pedestrian was still considered a foreign term. Like others built at the time, the parking lot and driveways were designed exclusively to accommodate the automobile. There is even a driveway that circles the perimeter of the mall that people use as a sort of mini-freeway. The main driveway that passes in front of the stores is narrow and there were no speed bumps installed to slow traffic down. People exiting the store had to look carefully to make sure no car was speeding through. My own close call took place about 2 years ago when I was crossing from the Jamba Juice side back over to Bel Air. A driver nearly clipped me as I was crossing the road. I yelled at him to stop and he looked up from whatever he was doing and did stop but then tried to defend his actions with some sheepish denial. That incident prompted me to suggest to the manager at Bel Air to install speed bumps. The manager at the time commiserated with me, noting that she was very aware of the problem and promised to work with the mall owner to see if something could be done. Well, sure enough, last year, new speed bumps were installed. So perhaps they did take me seriously.Anyways, that was a little bit of a tangent. Back to the main story. I decided to speak up once again. I wasn’t sure what to expect. Were they going to argue that they didn’t have jurisdiction over the outside area or have to consult with corporate headquarters? Nope, as soon as I mentioned it to the manager, he said he would get signs installed right away. I don’t know how long this will take, but I go over there pretty frequently.Moral of the story. If you think something needs attention, better to speak up. If you just assume someone else will speak up for you, you might be waiting a long time. In this case, Bel Air has been there over 10 years.

Heaving Washing Machines out of Pit

Today I took Fluffy for her usual morning walk. The air was cool and crisp and the sky was overcast. I usually like to head west towards the Sunrise Bridge but today I decided to head over to the equestrian trail that runs along the river heading east towards the Nimbus Hatchery. This turned out to be much more scenic than just simply following on the side of the bike trail. As soon as Fluffy saw the river, she got excited at the ducks and gulls flying around and tried to pull me towards the water. No way were we getting near that water, not when the temperature is probably something like 50 degrees Fahrenheit. The trail was narrow and somewhat muddy but no horse crap anywhere which had the effect of lifting my spirits.

We got to the end of the line which was where the trail dropped off sharply towards the water and from there it looked nearly impossible to go further even though I saw a brave woman making her way towards us from the other side. We followed an exit trail which ended up at the bike trail, crossed over and then up the other side. This led us to the Gold River trail that linked the western paved spur to the end of the Sunrise recreation area paved road. From there, we crossed over the spur and then over to the road which led to the Nimbus Hatchery. Near the Dept of Fish and Game employee entrance, we left the road and headed back towards another trail that runs through the tailing hills that had been left there over 70 years ago. The history of Gold River is tied to the dredging of the American River. In fact, Gold River is built on a giant pile of rocks. The tailings are the rocks piled up from the dredging. The numerous rock piles have created small valleys that look like small mining pits. There is a pit that is next to the trail we were on that is somewhat close to the adjacent neighborhood of houses. Scattered in this pit are the remains of some old appliances that look like they had been dumped there illegally a long time ago. I pass by this area frequently because it is so nice and peaceful. But every time I pass by this pit, I have to see the rusted remains of washing machines. I have thought about hauling them out of the pit but I always forget to bring my gloves.

Today was different. I decided I had had enough. I quickly took Fluffy home because this was not something she needed to witness and I didn’t want her in the way. My plan was to get some rope and tie it around these rotted metal carcasses, then tie the other end of the rope around my waist and pull them out one by one. The excitement began to build as I grabbed my gloves and some heavy duty rope that I knew would come in handy one day, stuffed them in my backpack, jumped on my bike and pedaled furiously back to the pit. Once there, I checked to see if anyone was around. Not that I really cared. But sometimes people can get confused and think that a good deed is actually something more malevolent if they don’t see the whole picture.

I ran down the hill to the bottom of the pit to size up my challenge. There were 4 machines down there plus something farther away which was also metal but I couldn’t tell what it was. I walked over to machine #1 and looped the rope through a couple of holes at the bottom. Then I pulled but it wouldn’t budge. I pulled harder and it made some creaking noises but it was obvious that this machine was in no mood to go anywhere. Okay, so much for plan a. The only remaining option was to lift the machine up and then push it end over end up the hill. It was a good thing I brought my working gloves because I could see that bare handed I would get cut up pretty badly from all the sharp rusted metal edges.

I don’t where the energy came from to do this. Maybe it was the cup of instant coffee I had just before I took Fluffy for a walk but that was over an hour ago. Anyways, these motherfing sons of bitches were exiting the pit if it took all night. To tell the truth, I really had no idea how long each one would take because frankly, I don’t recall doing this kind of project before. So here I was pushing the machine end over end. As the heavy end hit the ground, it made a calamitous noise. The hardest part was getting the machine over the steep rocks near the top. But I had a rhythm going - not a Latin dance rhythm because you can’t exactly dance with an old washing machine. But I had a rhythm nonetheless that helped me heave this thing up the hill. Finally, I pushed it over the crest of the hill and let it crash down the other side. By this time, I was drenched in sweat. The machine probably weighed well over 150 pounds and there were three more machines down there yet to be moved. Machine #2 turned out to be an old dryer which weighed about half of what the first one weighed. I pushed that up in less than 5 minutes. The last two were heavier but I was determined to get the job done. By now my clothes were dirty and the sweat had soaked through my shirt and even through my sweatshirt. The last item was the object that was 30 yards away all by itself. I went over to it and was surprised to discover that it was not another washing machine but an old metal Sacramento Bee newspaper stand. I am sure it was vandalized and then dumped there after it was emptied of its loot. Quite a bit smaller than the other objects but still heavy, I heaved it over the top.

The hard part completed, all that was left to do was to line them up. Why? Was it because I wanted them to stand at attention as they waited for their ultimate fate? No, I plan to go back there tomorrow and take some pictures of them because if I am going to spend this much time blogging about this event, I have to get some pictures to document it as well. Now I was officially done. I went back down the hill to retrieve my backpack and rope and saw a man walking his dog out of the corner of my eye. “Hey” he said, “did you haul all those up yourself?” “Yep” I answered. Another couple walking by also stopped. “Bravo”, they all yelled and started clapping their hands.The first man then told me that he remembers those washing machines being there when he was just a little kid. Can you imagine that? It took 30-40 years before someone decided to do something about it. But how good it felt to do it and then to have some people actually applauding was just icing on the cake. Stay tuned for pictures.

Dogs Stuck in Car

This morning I took Fluffy for a walk with a stopover at Bel-Air Market to make a deposit. On the way over, we passed by a parking lot in back of the market and I suddenly heard the sound of two dogs barking coming from a car that was parked outside. My curiosity aroused, we approached the car which was a nice late model BMW. The dogs were large Dalmatians and they barked excitedly at Fluffy as we got closer. To my surprise, all the windows were closed completely, not cracked open even a little. That seemed a little odd to me, though the temperature outside was close to 48 degrees. A couple was walking their dog on the opposite side of the street and so I decided to ask them if it was okay to leave two large dogs in a small car with all the windows closed even when the weather was cold. The woman told me to call 911 right away. Confirming my suspicion that it was not okay to leave animals in a car with no air to breathe, I decided to take it a step further and called 911 from my cell phone. The dispatcher patched me through to the fire department dispatcher and after describing to her my location, I told her the situation. The dispatcher said "It is 48 degrees out sir." "But the dogs have no air.", I replied. Again she repeated "It is 48 degrees out sir and unless the dogs look like they are in distress, it is not an emergency." Okay, so much for that. Feeling a little foolish for making such a big stink, we continued on our way to the market to take care of business. On the way back, I couldn’t help but wonder if the car was still there. This time, we passed by and the dogs didn’t jump up and bark as we passed by. In fact, it was very quiet. You can draw your own conclusions as to what happened but I do not regret getting involved even though I ended up arguing with the fire department dispatcher.

Moving to New Office

It's been a while since I have blogged and it being a Sunday night with pumpkin in bed reading with mommy, I can have a little free time. The economy of course is down the toilet and that has affected Custom Development. So much so that we are now forced to move. Yep, the landlord wants us out as in GTFO. And who can blame them? We haven't paid the rent in months. No, I take that back. We have paid the rent but only 1/2 and that has been pissing off the landlord in a big way. I guess he just snapped. The bad news is that business is so crappy we can only afford a tiny little space in the back of a light industrial park. The good news is that it is just around the corner from where I live. No more long bike commutes through the streets of Rancho Cordova.  I was riding on the bike trail but the truth is that although it has some great views of the American River, I just couldn't stand some of the asshole riders wearing their Italian bike gear who came up quickly behind me and then warned me with their condescending "On your left" notification. Sorry, I don't need that kind of unpleasantness to disturb me while I think. Yes, I like to think while I ride and by the way, I always rode on the far right. I never hogged the trail like some of the others I have seen. So the perfunctory "On your left" warnings started to irritate me very early on as I view them as totally and completely unnecessary. That unpleasantness drove me to look for a new route to follow to work. I was pleasantly surprised and delighted to discover a route with zero other bike riders and practically no cars that was actually faster than going through the bike trail. Reason why is because it was a more direct route. Much nicer, quiet and fast.

Walking on the RR tracks

Ever walk down Folsom Blvd in Rancho Cordova? Not very pleasant. Now that my bike is gathering dust until I decide to buy a new one, it’s back to huffing it to work from Sunrise station to Mather Mills. Total one-way distance is around 3 miles thru some pretty seedy areas. Walking on the north side of Folsom Blvd. means close contact with the type of characters you don’t want to see in a dark alley or even a bright alley for that matter. In addition I am constantly forced to stay vigilant that some car doesn’t mow me over while pulling out of Walmart or some gas station along the way. Walking on the south side is out of the question since there is no sidewalk at all. Instead, this side of the street is reserved exclusively for the light rail and a third rail rarely used by UP Railroad. I guess the city of Rancho Cordova decided that pedestrians are not a high priority in this area even though this section of RC probably has the highest number of people walking anywhere in the entire city. In my frustration at not being able to take a simple, peaceful walk from one end of RC to another without fearing I will be accosted by gang bangers, booming stereos coming from cars driven by young punks, drunken homeless, etc., I soon discovered that the third rail is the most quiet, pleasant way to travel by foot. In fact, all last summer I frequently walked this route and thoroughly enjoyed it as an alternative to biking.  But, as is commonly the case, all good things must come to an end.  And in this case, an abrupt end. While cruising thru the last leg of the return trip today, I passed by the Cordova Town Center light rail station and didn’t notice a policeman just standing at the station. Who knows why he was there. There certainly wasn’t anything going on. All was quiet but he was standing there, doing nothing but scanning for trouble and as soon as he spotted me, motioned me over. Oh shit! It just so happens that right when he called me over, I was on the phone with pumpkin and she was telling me to buy some milk. I had to cut that conversation short to face my fate. Fortunately, I got off with just a warning that UP fines people up to $3,000 for trespassing on their property and to take his advice and go on a different route. Okay, I got the message but it sure is going to be difficult. I may just give up the walk entirely because of the unpleasant alternative I am left with. We’ll see.

Walking on Gold Country Blvd

A couple of days ago was my Taichi class. This particular day I was late again due to starting dinner late and not leaving the house until after 7 PM. It is at least a 15 minute drive to Folsom Lake College from Gold River and by the time I was on Bidwell heading north, it was already 7:25 PM which was really too late. I decided to just bypass the class and head straight to the gym up the road. I got to the parking lot and realized in my haste that I had forgotten my gym bag. Well, I can’t do any kind of workout without workout clothes so I headed over to Winco to buy some water and while meandering through the aisles at the supermarket, I devised a plan B. The plan was to drink an energy drink and then just do my own workout by walking back and forth along Gold Country Blvd. Yea, that’s a good one. Then I looked at the energy drinks near the cashier at the store and remembered how the last one I had didn’t taste that good and revised my plan. I wheeled the cart out to the car and as I was loading the water bottles into the car, I looked up and saw an old woman, could have been an old Russian woman, holding onto the bar of a cart return while slowly walking back and forth, all the while staring at me. Didn’t really know what to make of it. Jesse said the next day that maybe she was lost and had Alzheimer’s. Oh shit! Maybe I should have called the police. I’m sure that if that was the case, somebody should have noticed.Okay, back to the revised plan. I quickly got into the car, revved up the engine and made a beeline back to the freeway. Exited Sunrise, up to Bel-Air shopping center and into Starbucks for a grande nonfat latte. Is that how I am supposed to say it? I remember seeing a brochure once at Starbucks that instructs the customer on how to place an order. Got my coffee, sat down and tried to chug it down as fast as possible. Pretty hard to chug coffee, though no matter how hard I tried it wasn’t about to let me gulp so I sipped like a civilized person should sip. Not much to see here. Just a couple of college girls doing homework, a man in a green beret tinkering on his laptop and an overweight middle-aged man with his overweight 10 year old kid. Okay done. Now time to get moving.Leaving my car in the parking lot, I just took off down Gold Country Blvd. The walk from Sunrise to Hazel is just about 3 miles so I had quite a hike ahead of me. The park and school are located just around the halfway point so I stopped off to do some pullups and pushups. That felt good, especially with the surge of caffeine in my system, I pumped out 3 sets in record time. Even had time for a Yang 24 form Taichi set.After walking all the way to the entrance to the Nimbus hatchery it was time to turn around. Hmm, 3 miles there and 3 miles back. This was the day that I had parked my car at the Sunrise light rail and did my 3 mile walk to work and back so my legs had already been getting a lot of exercise. By the time I passed the park again, my legs were starting to get sore and tired. By the time I arrived back at the car at around 10 PM, the parking lot was nearly empty. I plopped into my seat. Oh did that feel good to sit down! Caffeine or no caffeine, I was ready to call it a day.