Welcome to AvantaLand

Tired of your dog? More importantly, is your dog tired of you? Is he bored and restless from being cooped up in a yard or apartment when all he really wants to do is roam free? Grant your poor dog's unspoken wish, and send him to Dog Island! Where he is free from the tyranny of humans! Where he can roam with a pack and live off the land!

"We have conditioned our lovely canine friends to live under our rules. They are used to it, yes. They have learned to love us anyway, yes. But it is not right, no. Dogs should live free, should live lives unfettered by humiliation due to forced public defecation and having to walk on a leash.

"It is with this in mind that Dog Island was created. Is it the ultimate answer? No, but it's a step in the right direction - dogs living on their own, controlling their own destinies in ways that they absolutely cannot while under human rule.

"Here at Dog Island, we look to give back to dogs what we have taken from them: their freedom."

(Be sure to read the section on rates. And don't miss the directions!)

While at Target today, I noticed a man leaving the store at the same time I was. He was probably in his early to mid-30s, ordinary in appearance, casually dressed. He was slightly ahead of me and to the left. He stopped in front of the non-automatic doors when he realized they weren't opening, but instead of pushing the doors open and going out, he stepped around the barrier to his right, jumped in front of me and exited through the automatic doors. Then turned left on the sidewalk and continued on his merry way; in other words, retracing steps he needn't have taken, all to avoid manually opening a door.

I find this very curious.

Mom called me yesterday. She and Daddy had gone out to the house to check on some things. Daddy went around to the side of the house to turn the master electric switch on (we keep the electricity off most of the time) and discovered....

....the meter assembly had been stolen as well.

Can you believe it? The thieves took the blinking electric meter!!

I called my insurance agent, but I doubt the electric meter is covered under either of the policies.

When I told spouse, his jaw about hit the floor. "I'm amazed" was all he could say. Ditto. I'm knocked-in-the-head stunned. An electric meter. Reddy Kilowatt is no more.

Multiple journal entries today for a variety of different topics. This entry concerns my walk with Phoebe late yesterday afternoon.

Phoebe and I have a number of different routes we take on our afternoon jaunts when I come home from work. Yesterday we decided to visit the vacant lot around the corner. It's kind of trashy, so it's a good spot for her to do her business -- very little chance of someone casually stepping in a mess, knowhutimean? As we started across the lot, I saw something unusual out of the corner of my eye.

It was a small satin pillow, about 4 inches square, sitting at the base of a dead tree. I picked it up, thinking "maybe I can clean this up and use it somehow." (Yes, and I've gone dumpster-diving, too, so sue me.) It was a cute little pillow, all frilly and lacy. It had a design on one side that said "No Boys." Just the sort of thing that would appeal to a pre-adolescent girl. I glanced down again and that's when I saw the naked Barbie dolls and a pair of crumpled little girl's panties.

Oh dear God, I thought. I put the pillow back the way I found it, and immediately returned home to call the police. As I told the dispatcher what I found, I got upset and teary, just imagining all sorts of scenarios that could have led to those particular objects being left under that tree. She questioned me, took my name, address and phone number, and said they'd send a car out.

I waited until I couldn't wait any longer; we were singing for Ash Wednesday service and I had to be at the church at 5:30. No officer ever came to my door, and I had no messages when I returned home after the service.

I thought perhaps I was overreacting, but when I told spouse about it last night, he said we had a convicted sex offender living on the next block (where the vacant lot is).

Phoebe and I didn't go back to that vacant lot this evening.

I watch too much Law And Order: SVU, I guess.