Mediate This

 Well, today's my hump day, my Wednesday, your Friday.  My Friday happens on Sunday.  I cannot wait.

Yesterday was... interesting at work.  I'd like to say that the Droogs came out, but that would be me talking like every other gear in the Clockwork.  We did have an asswipe couple let their dog pee on a display in the Flooring Department.  Oh, and they walked away without cleaning it up.  Another customer told me after the fact, "looks like someone's dog leaked on your pipe," he said, the pipe being part of the display for a bench you can make.  I was the one who grabbed the paper towels and put on the rubber gloves.

Oh, and the price changed on some of our carpets and they changes were not posted in a timely manner.  Translation, The mark-up was a big one.  Everything's going up in price.   The stimulus checks are nice, thank you Joe, but corporate America is waiting with their greedy fingers.  Their not going to give this guy the lower price.  Besides, he can afford it.  His quote is delayed because the carpet is going into a Media Room and he's having a custom built platform built (16 inches high) for the seating in front of the screen.  Maybe he thinks this will let him see over the heads of everyone down front.  Something like this:

Evidently Margie Taylor Greene is in trouble for comments she made about people with Downs Syndrome, say they were stupid, and retards.  When confronted she explained that she was just using slang words.  She also provided 15 pieces of legislation she claims to have sponsored, included a bill to impeach Joe Biden, as proof she's really working for the people of Georgia.  Can we be honest here?  Every time this woman opens her mouth she hurts her party.  Every turd that falls from her lips makes her, and those who voted for her,  look more and more like irredeemable  assholes.  She truly does represent the Republican mindset.

Elizabethan collars? meh

Big Seig had his big surgery yesterday... well, it wasn't that big, just a couple of snips to cut away his masculinity.  It was something that needed to be done because of Lilly.  Even though she is spayed, I didn't want to have him trying to hump her every times his little hormones kicked in, if you know what I mean.  The Vet wanted to put him in an Elizabethan collar.  "He might try and lick his wounds," she'd said.  I said "nope."  "But saliva is a digestive juice," she countered, "and it will slow down the healing process.  "Nope," I said again.  And it's not because I always feel bad when ever I see a dog in one of those collars, which I always do.  Don't you?

Bad collar

The real reason is Lilly, and not that she'd feel jealous.  She's 22 months old, and she and Big Seig love to play.  One of the things they do while playing is grab each other's collar in their mouths and pull.  I knew if I walked him through the front door an Elizabethan Collar the first thing that would cross her mind, several times, would be "toy, toy, toy, toy."  So I nixed the collar.  This was a very good thing,  The minute they saw each other it was bouncy, bouncy, play joy until he realized he was still medicated and need to take a nap.  Believe me, that collar would have been shredded in seconds flat.

Dog License Day

Here in Pennsylvania, as in many other states, dog owners are required to license their dogs.  There are various rates available depending upon certain circumstances.  For example, if I were over 65 or handicapped I could get a discounted rate.  Since I'm under that age and have no disabilities neither of those two options apply.   However, I can take advantage of the spay / neuter discount.  I have no interest in dealing with puppies so both of my dogs have been fixed, Gertie 4 years ago and Lilly just this past Monday.  Knowing I would need documentation I held off on Lilly's license until today.  Now I could have just zipped up to the township office, a 5 minute walk for the standard license, but there is one more option for dog owners.  You can purchase a 'lifetime' license if you don't mind driving to the County Treasurer's office.  For me, this is a 25 minute drive to Carlisle.  The cost for this license is $31.45 - gee.. no brainer, right?  At 9:30 this A.M. I clambered into my CR-V and headed down Interstate 81 to the County Seat.  I could have saved myself the trip.

To get the $31.45 rate for a lifetime dog license you not only need to provide documentation that your dog has been surgically sterilized, your beloved pet also needs to have been either tattooed with a serial number or had a microchip implant.  Lilly has had neither.  This means she is not qualified to get the lifetime license at all, unless, of course, I decide to spend the money to have her either tattooed or chipped.  Suddenly that lifetime license is such a deal.  How do I know?  I talked the implant thing over with my Vet - they charge $50.  Add that to the lifetime license fee and you got $81.45.  The standard fee for a spayed female is $6.45 per year.  If she lives 12 years that's only $77.40.  Does she really need that lifetime license?  Will I actually buy her a new license every year?  Was that drive to Carlisle a waste of time?  Did I answer 'yes' to anyone of these questions?

Now I can understand the license thing to a point.  If your dog gets loose and ends up in the pound it's a way for them to contact you.   However you don't see a lot of stray dogs running around my neighborhood.  Most people here take care of the pets.  My yard is fenced in and the gate is locked.  If I am going through that gate the dogs are in the house.  Outside of my house and my yard, my dogs are vulnerable.  They would be like children in a world they do not understand, so I keep them safe.  As of today, they do both have licenses.  I suspect the license fee is just another way for the state to put money in its coffers.  This is, I believe, the reason most states have dog license laws on their books.

The Bozo on CNBC

That's what I heard last PM on CNBC.  Some unremarkable man said the number of pet owners in the United States was down 20%.  I stunned! My first thought went sort of like this "it's the economy, stupid."  I know Vet costs can be expensive, I take my full sized Boxer for a yearly check-up and, if I let them give her all of the shots they want to, my bill runs about $190.  Of course my Vet likes to practice elective vaccination, they want you to chose to vaccinate for every thing they say.  I say no to things like the one they feel she should have just in case she gets exposed Kennel Cough.  I don't plan to ever put her in a kennel.

Gertie resting on a Home Depot drop cloth, at 9.99 cheap and washable

Anyway, I started checking to see if this unremarkable man was in the least be correct.  To my surprise he was remarkably wrong.  I don't know why this Bozo thought he could pull numbers out of his ass like that, doesn't he know people 'fact check?'  The number of pet owners in the United States is growing, and when queried about whether the economy effected their decision to get a dog or cat, their answer was 'no."  Thanks to my bit of timely investigation I also know that dog owners outnumber cat owners by about 10 million and that about 28% of dog owners have two.  I own a Boxer and a 19 year old cat named Max.  I did not see a statistic on the number of Americans who own one of each.  What else did I find out?  The average Vet cost per year for a dog as $212 so I'm getting away kind of cheap.  A side note on my dog and cat:  I told the Boxer that when the 19 year old cat dies we'll get another puppy.  As a result, a day doesn't pass without her whispering to the cat "die, cat, die."