Conspicuous Consumption

I attended a neighborhood meeting last night where a police officer told the audience that they should have their house alarms turned on even when they are home. He mentioned a case where a whole family and their two dogs were all home and yet were unaware of a burglar.

My first thought was, what the &%^$ could be wrong with those dogs?

My second thought was to realize what neighborhood he was talking about. The lesson here is really this: If you have a house where even the dogs can't hear what's going on at the other end of it, your house is TOO DAMN BIG.

Meaning no disrespect, but...

"True terror is to wake up one morning and discover that your high school class is running the country."
-Kurt Vonnegut



That's Elena Kagan, new Supreme Court nominee, in the center, in a picture from our high school yearbook.

Happy Pugs (Lilly & Rose) 2010.05.03

Happy Pugs (Lilly & Rose) 2010.05.03
Originally uploaded by Julia Kay

The pugs as Art by Julia Kay.

More from New Jersey

I fear that despite all the emphasis on recycling, the younger generation is not getting the point: all the crayons I could see in that bottle looked completely unused.

Cultural activities in New Jersey

At my nephew's school, the sixth graders did a project based on Munch's painting The Scream where they painted their own version, including their own fears. I took these pictures of some of my favorites that were exhibited on the school walls.

This student has a common fear, of spiders:

A fear of hang gliders seems reasonable to me:

So does a fear of other people screaming. I guess this kid thinks that the thing to fear is fear itself:



And as far as I can tell, this student is afraid of chandeliers:

Pugs in the news

This news story from Canada should NOT be used by pugs as an excuse for getting fat.

Residents of a Prince Rupert, B.C., cul-de-sac banded together to save a neighbour's dog, Bob, from the jaws of a wolf.

But it may have been Bob the pug's pudgy waistline that thwarted the attack.

Norm Hebert had heard rumours of brazen wolves prowling around Prince Rupert, but it took him a moment to realize what was going on when one showed up on Alpine Drive, the street where he lives, last Thursday.

At first, Herbert thought another neighbour's larger dog was playing with Bob.

"On second look I realized it was a wolf," he told CBC News.

Aiming to end the attack, Herbert rushed out and whacked the wolf with the first weapon at hand — a Sherwood Featherlight hockey stick.

Despite manufacturer's claims that the stick's carbon fibre shaft allowed for accelerated recoil and energy transfer, the Sherwood failed to have the desired effect on the seasoned predator. The animal merely trotted off with the pug in its jaws.

"He just glared at me … and he picked it up like a mother would pick up her kitten," Herbert recalled.

Neighbors joined in a pursuit to rescue the pudgy pug.

And eventually, the neighbourhood posse had the wolf cornered against a chain-link fence, with Bob the pug dangling from its jaws.

"Black, brown chest, he was probably a couple of hundred pounds," Deschamps said of the wolf. "We hit him with sticks and rocks and he decided to drop Bob at that time."

Bob had been punctured, but his pride was intact. Mostly.

"Apparently, he was too fat for the wolf to get a good bite into him," Deschamps said.

Perhaps sensing his continued survival on the mean streets of Prince Rupert might be a matter of size rather than strength, Bob has since refused to eat his dry food. Only black forest ham and cheese will do, Deschamps said.

More behind the scenes

Pugs looking adoringly at me holding liver.

It's winter again now, cold and gray and damp. Good thing we seized the chance to party with pugs last weekend.