After years of not wanting to be bothered, I decided why not blog. My motives are simple. I want to sound off.
After staying up late last night watching Gregory Peck in The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit, I was so tired I just climbed in bed and immediately fell asleep. So immediately I left the light on in the bathroom, where I’d been planning on brushing my teeth. At 8 am, I awoke, went and turned off the bathroom light and brushed my teeth, etc.
Here near the ocean in southern California, it was a cool morning with a lot of cloud cover and I thought, PERFECT, I’ll just climb back in that warm bed and go back to sleep for another hour or so. I got in bed and snuggled into the nice warm sheets and just began to drift off — when all of a sudden I heard such a ruckus, I jumped from my bed to see just what the… Well, no, I didn’t jump from bed. I snuggled in more, hoping it would stop. The barking, and howling, and yapping, and shrieking. The neighbor with the mini cement ‘Hollywood Bowl’ formation yard directly across the alley from my apartment had put her dog out. The dog is a small white companion dog which clearly does not like being put out and left alone. I figured this out long ago. Other neighbors figured it out long ago. Why is it the dog owner that never gets it?
After an hour, I got up. I started to make coffee, figuring she’d take the dog in any minute, but she didn’t. As much as I wasn’t ready, I got dressed and went out, over to her house. The front steps had a rope strung across because the bottom concrete step was damaged. The side has a high wooden door. She actually keeps this poor dog between two high wooden doors on the side, on concrete. She never walks him.
I called out a few times, and then someone across the street yelled that she was across the street. There were several houses having sidewalk sales, and she was at one down the block.
I crossed the street and walked over, where she and two other neighborhood women were in an odd configuration. They were in a little circle, each with one arm outstretched. The dog owner had a handfull of quarters, and the other two had their hands atop hers, and she was praying outloud.
Although I was so angry I all but had steam pouring out of my ears, I stood and waiting while she went on for what seemed five minutes. (One of her favorite things to do is corner neighbors and coerce them into prayers. However, she apparently knows better than to try it with me, because she has never approached me about it.)
When they had finished, I told her that her dog was clearly unhappy and had been barking for an hour and a half. I pointed out that I and other neighbors have mentioned to her on a number of occasions that her dog’s barking/howling/yelping/squealing is disturbing and asked her to please take the dog in when it goes bezerk. I also pointed out there is a city ordinance stating when a dog barks for more than ten minutes, the owner can be subject to a $250 fine. I explained I had been hoping to sleep in, and was very tired, but was unable to sleep in because of her dog carrying on.
When I finished, she just stared at me. I turned around and went home, to breakfast, to coffee, to calm.
Fortunately, someone had taken the dog in.
This woman has been told at least a hundred times by neighbors that the dog carrying on is a problem. The dog has a bark like chalk on a blackboard, and can make a variety of noises with the same effect. Truly, I feel badly for the poor dog, who never gets to go for a walk, whom I’ve never seen any affection displayed towards.
However, I’ve certainly lived long enough to know people don’t behave the way you want them to, and many people are very clueless about how their actions affect others. It does seem odd to me that when someone has been told about something numerous times by various people, that person still perpetuates the offending behavior. However, I now wonder if it isn’t a means of getting attention.
The dog wants attention, and she wants attention. The several houses having sidewalk sales today are people in need of money and attention.
In the age of cell phones and social networking, more people living on the planet than have died through all of human history, and more people in need. In need of homes, in need of food, in need of jobs, in need of money….in need of attention.
So I decide to finally begin the blog I’ve been thinking about doing for ages.
Do I have any one’s attention?
lovinandlivinit 