Who knew?

So my dog Izzy taught me something new today.  I previously had no idea that dogs could poop their pants!

One of my dogs, Isabelle (Izzy) is pretty strange.  She's afraid of loud noises, new people, going outside, pretty much anything outside of her normal routine (except the going outside part, but that fear comes and goes).  We don't know why she's that way; she's never been abused (we've had her since she was about 8 weeks old, from the SPCA -- whatever those 8 weeks may have been like we do not know, but I can't imagine she'd remember... ?).  It just seems to be in her genetic make-up to be a fraidey cat.
My other dog, Peanut, as a LOT of energy and is very athletic.  She gets to run around in our backyard, but that alone isn't really enough to get all of her energy out.  She recently discovered that among her athletic abilities is the capacity to jump over our SIX FOOT privacy fence.  She doesn't do it very often, however, only when she is really worked up for some reason.  So I decided (after her latest jump) that she needs to go on at least four walks a week.
So today was to be the first walk.  As soon as I got home, I changed clothes,  As I'm putting on her leash I say to myself, why not take Izzy, too?  I mean, she's not as full of energy, but what dog doesn't love a walk?  I guess Izzy doesn't...
So, yeah, while we're out, a lady who is talking on the phone on her porch calls out to me and asks me about Peanut.  She was saying that she saw her running around the other day (the day of her last jump) and wanted to know if she was friendly, etc.  Then the dogs and I get back on our way.  And in front of me I see Izzy's butt.
Izzy has pooped her pants.
No, I don't put pants on my dog, and I know that dogs poop naked every day and don't typically fail at it.  But Izzy's tail was tucked so far between her legs, and then she was so freaked out by me talking to that lady, that she pooped.  Right there, standing up.  On her tail.  And do you know, she walked all the way home that way until I let her in the backyard.  She took care of most of the business then, but I still had to give her a bath.
She's now chilling out on her favorite blue chair like the world is awesome.  Thanks a bunch...

"Men have become tools of their tools." ~Henry David Thoreau

I think that this idea applies to most of us a lot of the time, but not to all of us all of the time.
This reminds me of when people flip out because their internet goes down, or they run out of texts or the cable goes out.  But I still believe that while most of us would flip out about one or more of those from time to time, most of don't ALWAYS flip out of those things happen.  I don't think we're that far gone as a society yet.  I know for me, if the cable were to go out, I would want to play cards.  And I would be pretty excited about it because I love to play cards.  If my phone dies, it only bugs me that I know some people will not like it if they text me and I don't text back soon, and it bothers me if I have to drive a long distance just in case I were to have car trouble or another emergency.  But I don't flip out.  I kind of enjoy not having to pay attention to it, in fact.  And the technology of my books never seems to go out.  And my reading light runs by battery, so I'm pretty much set :).  Now, that's not to say that I wouldn't miss my facebook and email and telephone.  I like keeping up with my family and being able to send something funny to a friend when I think of it.  But I'm capable of entertaining myself without them.  And, if it's intentional, I really enjoy taking a weekend away from the reach of cell service and wifi now and again.

"The Summer I Was Sixteen"

The Summer I Was Sixteen
Geraldine Connelly

The turquoise pool rose up to meet us,
its slide a silver afterthought down which
we plunged, screaming, into a mirage of bubbles.
We did not exist beyond the gaze of a boy.

Shaking water off our limbs, we lifted
up from ladder rungs across the fern-cool
lip of rim. Afternoon. Oiled and sated,
we sunbathed, rose and paraded the concrete,

danced to the low beat of "Duke of Earl".
Past cherry colas, hot-dogs, Dreamsicles,
we came to the counter where bees staggered
into root beer cups and drowned. We gobbled

cotton candy torches, sweet as furtive kisses,
shared on benches beneath summer shadows.
Cherry. Elm. Sycamore. We spread our chenille
blankets across grass, pressed radios to our ears,

mouthing the old words, then loosened
thin bikini straps and rubbed baby oil with iodine
across sunburned shoulders, tossing a glance
through the chain link at an improbable world.

I think this poem is absolutely lovely.  Even though we can tell by the clues in the text that the summer the speaker was 16 was much before any of my students were (or will be) 16, and much before I was 16, I think we can all relate to this nostalgic look at summertime activities.
I absolutely love going to the pool, pretty much anywhere, any time.  I love being in the water.  I have a lot of memories of going to the pool from childhood and my teen years.  I've been to lots of pools when I think about it.  I used to go to the pool at my Grandma's country club when I would spend the week with her in the summertime.  I remember going to the pool in Asheville -- I don't remember exactly where it is or was, but it was a really big pool and you could see cool rides and stuff from it.  I wish I could remember what that place was called.  It was really cool.  I went to pools in Florida when going to Disney World, and to pools at hotels from here to Arizona to Idaho to Maine when we would take family road trips in the summer.  Going to the pool is just great.
I could say more about the wonderful rosey lenses through which you see your teen years when you are past them, and how that altered hind sight is both a reevaluation based on later acquired wisdom and a lie we tell ourselves in which our youth was easier and happier than it really was (adults like to forget that being in high school wasn't really all that easy).  But, I suppose I'll let you guys find all of that out on your own.  After all, it's one of those kinds of things that you can't really tell someone before they experience and have them understand or believe you anyway.

When a man is wrapped up in himself, he makes a pretty small package.

The originator of this thought is John Ruskin.

Not only do I agree with this sentiment, I find that it is true for way too many people.  When a person is self centered, what I believe this means is that the person only sees everything in the world in relation to themselves.  Rather than thinking about the points of view of others, or the effects of anything on other people, the self centered person only looks at and considers how their own point of view and the effects of events on themselves.  When people is in this mode, they indeed are a "small package" because their universe doesn't extend past the end of their own noses. 

The problem with that is that people who are totally wrapped up in themselves inevitably do harm to others.  They might not even mean to be a negative influence on anything, but because they don't think of anything else, they don't even realize that they have been hurtful or bothersome to other people.  A few days ago we wrote about the love of money (and/or power) is the root of all evil.  Well, if you want to really boil it down to one thing, I think self-centeredness is at the root of all evil because if everyone cared about everyone else, then we would all be doing our best to be good to other people.

Only a few things are really important

Marie Dressler is credited with this particular quote, though many have certainly said it.

First of all, I certainly find this to be true.  Most things that most people think are important really aren't at all.  I could say a lot more about this topic, BUT I'm all out of time.  In fact, I ran out of time yesterday.  Now it's tomorrow.  Hopefully I can add to this later.

Where'd my cool background go?

I had a super awesome background that looked like a big bookshelf.  It has disappeared, at least in my view!  Alas, I shall have to find it again...

Life is never easy for those who dream.

This quote comes from Robert James Waller.  I definitely agree with this statement.  If you dream, then you always know that there is something else you can know or achieve or attain.  So, life is never easy then because the dreamer is always working for something.

Now, do not confuse the word "easy" for the word "satisfying."  Even though the dreamer is not gliding along, taking things as they come but instead is working to achieve goals, the dreamer will tend to find life more satisfying because he or she will be feeling the sense of satisfaction that comes from hard work and personal advancement.

I realize that I have responded to those quote with the assumption that the dreamer is also a doer.  If the dreamer only dreams but never does anything to achieve those dreams, then the dreamer will find life even harder.  This person will be the one who thinks of all of the possibilities, and then is always disappointed because none of the possibilities are achieved.  Maybe this dreamer arrogantly believes that achievements are handed out rather than earned.  Or, maybe this dreamer fears failing to succeed and is therefore afraid to take action.

Or, perhaps, there is a dreamer who is content to dream of all of the possibilities but is content with life just as it is.  And really, even if you are a dreamer/doer, if you want to be happy, you have to be like this as well because you will never be able to pursue everything you dream of.  If you can't accept that, and accept things as they happen, you will never be a happy person.

But the last thing I should say is that I think all Mr. Waller was actually trying to say is that if you want to achieve your dreams, you will always be striving for a goal, and will never really get a chance to rest.

The love of money is the root of all evil...

Today's quote to respond to is "The love of money is the root of all evil."  The quote comes originally from the Bible, but is a big part of the set up for "The Pardoner's Tale" from The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, which my AP literature class is reading today. 

When I think about this proverb, my first thought is that it is definitely true.  But, then I realize that before I go saying that a statement that contains an absolute term like "all" in it is true, I better really think carefully about it.  And in the end, I think that the love of money is the root of a lot of evil, but not all of it.  Certainly people who steal, and very often people who kill do so in order to get money.  Other forms of evil are dishonesty and manipulation, and these are often done in order to get money as well.  But the love of other things can cause evil, too.  I think the love of power causes a lot of the evil in the world that affects large numbers of people, like the population of a nation.  Power and money are very closely connected, but they are not exactly the same.  If you have a lot of money, power usually comes with it because other people want some of your money, so they do whatever you want in the hopes of getting it.  If you have a lot of power, you end up with either money or the things you would buy with money anyway because you can take it, or it's given to you freely by people who want to influence how you use your power.  Very few people who have a lot of power manage to stay moral and avoid becoming corrupted.  That is one reason why I have always admired George Washington.  There was a moment where he was offered nearly unlimited power, and he chose to limit his power greatly for the good of The United States.  That decision has made our country the best place in the world to live for a long time.  People may also do evil things because they desire other qualities that they can not obtain with money, like beauty.  But when it comes down to it, even beauty is really only desired because beauty gives power to the beautiful person.  So maybe I would change this statement slightly and say "The love of money and power are the root of all evil in man."  I add "in man" because I think that some evil things do happen that are not caused by man.  I think disease and disasters have an evil component, and they have nothing to do with money or power, because people are not typically involved.

My musings may or my not be amusing

Hello cyberspace...
I'm not sure exactly what this little experiment will come to, but it's worth a little try. 

Everyday the students in my English classes respond to a quote or proverb in their warm up journal at the start of class.  Some days I'm envious and wish I got to sit and write about the quotes and thoughts, too.  So, I'm going to respond to the quotes on this little blog.  If you are interested to read the random thoughts in my brain, then I hope you don't get too bored :)

Mc