Cleghorn Ridge Trail – The entire trail is a fire road with a more challenging trail winding back and forth across the fire road.  It starts at the Cajon Pass, 15 fwy and Cleghorn Rd and runs to highway 138 by Silverwood Lake.  This dirt trail is about 14 miles long each way. The trail starts at about 3,000 feet and peaks out about 5,200 feet and has lots of side trails that criss-cross the main easy road.  The roughly graded route in this trail is suitable for medium clearance 2WD in dry weather. The trail is considered extreme when very wet.  The US Forest Service has designated this trail as 2N47.

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During our drive out there, the rain got worse and worse.  Cleghorn is at the base of the foothills and traverses up the mountains.  It happened to be in the path of the storm.  Before we even got there, we had strong winds, rain and hail.  We got there with a little time to spare so we hit McDonald’s for breakfast before we met up with the club down on Cleghorn Road.

We pulled in under the freeway overpass to air down the tires.  We were the first ones there.  It was pretty cool to see other Hummer owners pull up and to the side to air-down to get ready to go wheeling.  We finally got to meet a few from the club and exchanged names.  Our good friends Laura and Sheldon H. with their kids Jewel and Ethan showed up in their Jeep.  Seth, our group leader, gave a short meeting on rules and what to expect, before long everyone was ready to hit the trail.

We took the trail headed east towards Silverlake.  The trail snaked its way up the side of the mountain crossing pools of water as he kept heading up.  Off our left shoulder was a valley with a small rainbow sitting in it.  Our first optional play area was  Powerline Hill.  Basically it’s just a hill climb to the top where sits a power line tower.  This was the first time stepping out of the vehicle since ascending.  As I placed my foot down, the ground beneath felt like melted chocolate.  I didn’t realize how much mud we were driving through.

ChasH3

It became more apparent as some of the guys were trying to go up the steep incline only to loose traction and slide back down.  After a while of playing there we continued on.

This is where it got interesting.

We headed up a rather steep incline as the rain begin to intensify.  The lead H3, Seth, got to a point where he couldn’t keep his momentum going and began to loose traction.  Before too long Seth could go no further.  We got out and stacked some rocks to help keep the rear passenger tire from dropping into a deep rut and bottoming out.  He was able to reverse out, turn a round, and head back to the main fire-road, upon which we all followed behind.

Later on down the road I took a wrong line and kept getting sucked in to a rut.  The mud made for a huge amount of grief.  I eventually tried to turn the rig around and got high-centered on a berm.  After a quick strap yank we were headed back up the mountain.  The rain and hail made even the easiest parts of the trail challenging.  Going up and around corners in the mud and driving rain was almost like slow speed drifting, with the exception of the mountain cliffs on the side.

Sheldon's Jeep

"BeHummer2" Ben, "Family Jeepster" Sheldon, "Slogger" Adrian.

H3Play on Articulation Hill

We had a great day out on the trails, a new trip is being planned to explore this trail once again in dry weather.  This way we will be able to get a better view from up on top instead of driving through the clouds.  Although the views that were presented to us were quite spectacular, I’m sure on a clear day it will be much more grand, especially when there is not the worry of getting stuck, cold wind and driving rain.

AlanM

JeffH3

H3Ing

Slogger

Until next time.

Feel free to leave comments!

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I’ve put together a short bio for future reference, and you can read about the show Skye and I went to in early January here.

Excerpt from iTunes’ posted Biography on Brazzaville.

“Led by Beck saxophonist David Brown, Brazzaville’s exotic, globally minded indie pop was as much a product of Brown’s extensive travels as it was the Los Angeles coffeehouse scene from whence most of its members came.  Born in L.A., Brown had been a teenage runaway and heroin addict before cleaning up and finding a new lease on life from his love of traveling the world on the cheap.  He criss-crossed Europe, South America, and Asia, picking up musical influences from the Far East, Brazil (bossa nova), Africa, and France (cabaret pop), among others.  Eventually, he returned to California, where he studied the saxophone at L.A. City College.  There he first met Beck, and was introduce to a community of artists and musicians centered around the Los Feliz/Silverlake area of L.A.  When Beck hit the big time, he tapped Brown as the saxophonist in his touring band, and invited him to play on the Odelay album.

In 1997, during the world tour supporting Odelay, Brown conceived the idea for Brazzaville, taking the name from the capital of the Congo, which in a recent study had been branded with the worst quality of life of any major city in the world.  Brown added guitar to his instrumental repertoire (which grew to include piano, trombone, and percussion as well), and when he returned to Los Angeles in 1998, he put together a diverse line up of musicians.

Brazzaville recorded a self-titled debut album and released it on Brown’s own South China Sea imprint in 1999.  It received favorable review of its hybrid of indie pop, lounge jazz, world music, and noir-sh atmosphere.  Later that year the Engine label picked up the record’s distribution rights and reissued it under the title 2002.  The follow-up Somnambulista, released in 2001, their third full-length, Rough on Pockmarked Cheeks, appeared in 2002.  Afterwards, Brown relocated to Barcelona and assembled an alternate European lineup of Brazzaville.”

Since this write up on iTunes Brazzaville has release a few more albums, Hastings Street and East L.A. Breeze both in 2006, 21st Century Girl in 2008, Brazzaville in Istanbul in 2009.  Brown has also released a new album titled Teenage Summer Days in 2009 under his name David Arthur Brown.  For more information visit their website Brazzaville-Band.com.  While you’re there check out their Band Manifesto.  It begins with, “Brazzaville is dedicated to the naïve idea that the world is a beautiful place filled with wonder.”  Enough said.

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I added Lalo Schifrin’s “Enter the Dragon” score to this with some minor editing to the original post.  It’s amazing how this music goes with anything. I used it before for a work video I put together to show how to regrip too. It makes it much more interesting.

Subtitles were also an addition. Click on full screen to be able to see the subtitles better.

I dedicate this video to The Bean and FG.

Enjoy.

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Cabrillo Beach is a historic beach located in San Pedro, California. Cabrillo has two separate beach areas.  It is also home to a few famous landmarks, namely the 1.75 mile Los Angeles Breakwater which ends at the Angel’s Gate Lighthouse, the recently restored Cabrillo Beach Bathhouse, and the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium.

We had just visited the tide pools in Laguna Beach a couple weeks earlier and realized he really liked seeing the wildlife in the water.  Laguna Beach had the anemone police out so we couldn’t touch anything but this time Cabrillo Beach was unpatroled…

We made it to the parking lot and parked in front of the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium.  The tide pools are on the ocean side of the breakwater/jetty.  After a short walk about a quarter mile down we arrived at the tide pools.

There were tons of anemones everywhere.  We showed Skyler how you can gently push down on the anemone it would squirt water.

While looking around and exploring Skye found two large spiral shells.  We took a picture of them since we are not allowed to take anything from the beach.

We had a nice time at the tide pools, the water was beginning to return so we had to pack it out of there.  We’ll have to go back this summer when it’s a little warmer.  More photos at my photography website, CounterPointPhotography.com

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Years earlier I saw a special screening at the Director’s Guide Theater in Los Angeles of the German Expressionist film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920). They were screening that with Blade Runner (1982), one of my favorite movies, where the art director, David Snyder, was there in person to talk about the visual similarities between Dr. Caligari and Blade Runner. One of the main characters in The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari was a somnambulist, a sleepwalker, who was under the mind control of Dr. Caligari.  So when I saw the Brazzaville album, Somnambulista, I thought to myself, “Clever name, let’s check these guys out.”

The music is like nothing I have heard before.  It’s a fusion of rock, lounge jazz, and world music with a familiar attitude.  Growing up in Southern California, I was able to identify with some of the lyrics about Los Angeles. I connected to the music and the lyrics that are so poetically written in the word painting style of one of my favorite writers, Jack Kerouac.  Since then I’ve bought all their albums and have been amazed ever since.

Fast-forward 2009.

Earlier in November, I received an email from Facebook about an event I was invited to.  It was from David Arthur Brown, the lead singer from Brazzaville.  It was for a show in January at The Echo in Echo Park.  I told Skye when I got the email.  “Okay, I know what I would like to do for my birthday.”  We bought tickets and waited for January 6th.

Although family time is very important, our new year’s resolution this year was to have at least one ‘date night’ a month, just Skye and me.  Since the birth of our 2 year old we’ve noticed we hadn’t really gone out as ‘adults’ in a while, occasionally but not regularly.  Don’t get me wrong, I love spending time with Skyler; he is such a joy to be with.  Once a month isn’t that bad, in way it’s really a win-win situation.  Skyler gets to spend the night over at Nana and Papa and eat ice cream and cookies all night long and Skye and I get to go out to diner and show.

I did a quick search on the Internet as to what kind of restaurants were in the area.  The Echo is off of Sunset Blvd. just north of Echo Park.  The restaurant that caught my eye was called, Masa of Echo Park.  It is an Italian bakery and Café, known for great Chicago style pizza.  My review to be posted.

After dinner we headed down to The Echo, it was just a couple of doors down.  We stood in line to wait for them to let us in.  The line wasn’t too long we were probably 7th or 8th in line.

The doors opened at 830pm, the first show was at 9pm.  The Echo is a rather small but clean venue.  I was impressed.  There was a bar one side, house left.  The stage and a ‘dance floor’/ general admission area about the size of a 2 1/2 car garage.  It wasn’t big but it was big enough.  The opening band was just okay.  They called themselves, Salt Petal.  I really can’t comment on the music much.  The lead singer sang and played the accordion, which was cool but other than that it was really quite unmemorable.  I guess the bad thing was that I feel she didn’t make a connection with the audience.  Still, live music is much better than sticking in a CD until the main event.

10pm and the main event.  Brazzaville was on stage.  Before starting David introduced himself and the band and said if we wanted to hear any songs, just shout them out and they would play it.  They started off with a nice number called “Love is the Answer,” a song about a runaway from their Hastings Street CD.

I was really impressed with the musicality of the band and their leader.  The band was having a good time and the audience was having a good time.  What surprised me was how grateful and polite David was up on stage acknowledging the applause.  He seemed very personable and very passionate about his music.

Now for the drama.  So we were standing about one-third back from the stage, a perfect view of the band when I leaned over to Skye to say, “Wow, we can see the stage.”  Normally when we’d go to events the tallest people or people with the biggest hair will stand or sit in front of us.  I had spoke too soon.  I’m all for enjoying yourself and having a great time, however, there was a group of three people that shoved their way in front of us, an older gentleman, an older lady, and what was maybe their twenty-something year old daughter, not sure.  What I am sure of was that the two women were on their way to being drunk and already past obnoxious.  The guy just kept to himself and kept beat to the music, but the women just bounced around, sang along, would knock into me or Skye with their beer in hand spilling here and there; the big kicker, the older lady’s hair smelled like dead flowers.  Seriously, if you’re going to push your way to the front of a crowd and act obnoxious, please don’t put on old lady perfume. Please, for the love of God! It took me two weeks to get rid of that smell…  I digress.

The concert was awesome, it being a small venue made it even better.  I just wished it could have been a little longer.  The best part of the evening was towards the end when David asked the audience what song we wanted to hear.  Skye asked me what Skyler’s favorite song was that we play in the car for him when he is tired.  “Peach Tree!” she shouted.  Another random voice shouted from the crowd “Yeah, Peach Tree.”  David’s response, “Oh, that’s a good one.”  I was able to record the song on video.  It really is not a very good recording, mainly because I was not using a tripod, and the other reason, because the dead flower hair woman in front of me came back from the restroom halfway through the song and knocked me a few times.  All I could do was laugh.

Okay, the back-story to this song for me.  It’s the first song on their East L.A. Breeze CD.  When Skyler was about 3 weeks old we were going to visit my parents for the weekend in San Diego.  It was our first major car trip that was going to be more than 10 minutes.  Being first time parents everything about babies was pretty much new.  We got 5 minutes down the road and Skyler was still crying uncontrollably, I was about to turn the car around when I switched the music over to this CD.  It’s one of those songs that paints a picture, layer upon layer.  It starts off with a shaker,  chh, chh, chh, chh, chh, chh, chh, chh, then on top of that a smooth count in “One… two…one, two, three, four.”  Enter the guitar and standing bass plucking softly, then violin and it haunting theme, then the poetry of song.  Skyler stopped crying instantly; he sat there in the back wide-awake, just listening.  We headed to San Diego with no problems we just had to play this song a few times until he fell asleep.  To this day I have this CD in the first position on the CD changer in the car.  Skyler is almost 3 and their music still captivates him and me.

More videos can be seen on my website at CounterPointPhotography and on my YouTube Channel.

To hear samples or purchase check them out on iTunes .  For more information visit their website Brazzaville-Band.com.  Check out their Band Manifesto.  It begins with, “Brazzaville is dedicated to the naïve idea that the world is a beautiful place filled with wonder.”  Enough said.

This was the last song to close the set, “Single Apartment.” What a great night!

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The Santa Monica Pier is located at the foot of Colorado Avenue in Santa Monica and is a prominent, 100-year-old landmark in Southern California.  The last time I was like 10 years ago.  It was time to head back.

The smell of the ocean and creosote filled the air.  The parking lot on the pier is next to the old Carousel Building.  The Carousel Building was designed and built in 1916 by Charles Looff, one of the original designers of the Santa Monica Pleasure Pier.  It’s been restored a few times and is listed in the National Registry of Historic Places.  With a Byzantine-Moorish style, the building houses one of the few surviving all-wooden Carousels in the world – less than 70 continue to operate today.  Painted ponies and chariots, restored in 1990, brings you back to an earlier, simpler time.

Skyler heard the calliope playing and we knew we’d have to start the day here at the Carousel.   It’s pretty funny, Skyler get so excited to go on carousels but when he is on it, he gets really serious.  We went on a couple of times it only cost $1 for me and Skyler was free (children under five are free).

A surprise to me was once it started up, it hauled butt.  Seriously.  We’ve been on other carousels but nothing prepared me for the speed at which the Santa Monica Carousel goes.  Skyler loved it, with the music blaring, and the speed of going round and round and round.

He still kept his serious face.  ”Come on Dad, I’m riding a horse.”

After we made it off the speeding carousel, we headed down the pier to grab some lunch.  There are a ton of greasy, carnival stand eateries that line the walk.  We jumped into one and ordered the staple, Fish and Chips.

Pacific Park is where all the rides are located.  Each ride requires tickets so we bought a few so we could ride the Pacific Wheel. Completely solar powered, it stands 85 feet tall, carries 20 gondolas and sits on the pier.  Pretty impressive.  We stood in line for a while.   Quite comically the least efficient employees were working this attraction but it worked out alright.

There was a nice view of the ocean and the crashing of waves below us that kept our attention on other things rather than waiting.

Ready to board, it’s like he pulls it out of his pocket, The Serious Face.

Over all it was well worth the wait.  Only in California can you be at the beach in 80 degree temperatures and spy off in the distance the snow covered peaks of the Southern Californian mountains.

Time really does go by fast.  Able to ride the larger kid rides Skyler and I decieded to ride Inkie’s Airlift, A scaled-down Scrambler for children, and then road the ‘off-road’ Pier Patrol – A ‘train’ of cars that run around a beach-themed track, with Skye.

He had a blast, but it was getting late and we were getting into Skyler’s nap time.  We finished up and headed towards the car and remembered we wanted to visit the aquarium.

Quickly we found the signs for it under the pier and paid a $5 donation to the Heal the Bay Foundation to go in the aquarium.  Saw som Jelly Fish, Star Fish and a few small sharks.  Not a huge aquarium or even big for that matter, but it’s nice to see people passionate for a cause.  Time was running before we’d reach the point of no return with Skyler so we packed it up and headed out.  Skyler fell asleep in the car.  It was a fun day.

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Rose Parade 2010

Is there a better way to start off the new year than to go to the Rose Parade?  There might be.  But this year, there was no better way to celebrate the new year than to head down to Pasadena, California, and find a spot on the parade route. One of Skye’s students was able to get us up-close and personal seating on the parade route with excellent parking.  This helped out so much, especially with Skyler.

The night before we set and packed the car so all we would have to do is get up, get Skyler dressed and head out the door.  Skye’s Mom and Step Dad were coming too so they were going to meet us at 5:30am when we were set to head out.  Nicely everything went as planned.  Before long we were already in Pasadena and could see the crowds of people.  The GPS didn’t help much since as you got closer to the parade route the more we found barricades blocking off streets.  We had  a printed out map for where were were to park so I just used that.

We found the parking.  It was a block away from the Pasadena City Hall and about half a block away from the parade route.

The reserved seats we had were across the street from the post office and on the street.

This was the view we had of the parade.  We actually were sitting on the street level as the floats passed by.

The floats were impresive, the crowd was respectful and everyone had a great time.  We saw Oscar DeLaHoya hanging over a balcony behind us and Jack Hanna on a float.  Now where else can you say that but at the Rose Parade?

Skyler loved watching the bands, especially the drummers.

It was a cold, early morning but we all had a great time!  What really impressed me was the fact that we could actually smell the flowers on the floats!  Pretty cool.

Here the link to all the pictures from the Rose Parade.

Rose Parade on CounterPoint Photography

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I got home and installed the battery as fast as I could.  My son was with my wife at “My Gym” so I had about 45 minutes to get this battery in.

Installation should take about 15 minutes, it took me about 30 minutes, mainly because I double checked everything and took pictures along the way to make sure I didn’t forget anything.  It was dark.

It’s really quite easy.  The battery I installed was a Bosch PremiumPower.  (about $75 USD)

This summer when I have time, I’ll probably install an Optima Red Top and keep this guy as a backup.

Here is what it says on the top:

• CCA @ 0^F : 630
• CA @ 32^F : 785
• RC Mins @ 25 Amps : 90
• Part Number: 86-630B
• Group Size: 86

Uninstallation of Old Battery:

Click open the battery’s negative (black) cover to access the post and nut.  Loosen the negative battery cable nut.

I used a 10mm socket wrench for this.  Pull it off the post and set aside.  Make sure it doesn’t touch anything.

Click open the battery’s positve (red) cover.  Loosen the positive cable nut.  Work it off the post and set aside.  Again make sure this doesn’t touch anything.  Even though it’s not connected to anything it’s just a good habit to keep when working with electrical stuff.

Remove battery vent hose.  It slides right off.

Remove the battery upper box.  Press the locking tabs inward and lift up.  It might be easier to do one side and angle it up to release the other tab.  The tab closest to the fender is a little tight to get your hand in to push the tab.  Angle it out.

Disengage the battery strap.

I used a 13mm socket wrench for this.

Loosen and take off the nut.  Slide strap end up.  This will create the slack you need to take the strap off the other side of the battery’s lower tray’s restraint.  Also this exposes the cleat that holds the base of the battery down.
The cleat fits over a groove that is in the battery and wedges it down.  Remove the cleat by pulling it straight up along the bolt that it sits on.

Here is a picture of the cleat.

You must remove the cleat before you remove the battery.  The 2 pictures above where shot just to show the cleat.  I had already taken the battery out so you can see how it wedges the battery down. Just imagine the battery sitting in the tray. You’ll see in a couple of photos below with the new battery installed.

Remove the battery.

Installation of New Battery:

Note the groove toward the bottom backside of the battery.

Place new battery into lower half of battery tray.  Notice there is no cleat yet.  Make sure, if you are installing a battery intended for a Hummer H3, the groove on the back of the battery is closest to the firewall of the engine compartment.  This is where the safety cleat will clamp down on.

Place safety cleat over bolt and slide down into position.

Place battery strap on the front side, hook into position.

Place end of battery strap over bolt on top of the safety cleat.

Install the retainer nut.  Use that 13mm socket and tighten down.  If the battery you are installing sits a little shorter, wedge it with some material that can take some heat, it gets hot in there.

Install the battery upper box and make sure the tabs click.

Make sure your Positive and Negative battery cables are free from corrosion.  Use a wire brush to clean.  Install the positive (red) cable.  Use the 10mm socket to tighten nut.  Install the Negative cable, tighten the nut.  Close the plastic covers.

Connect the battery vent hose.

All done.  Start her up!

Hey, Leave a comment.  Let me know if you stopped by!  Thanks!

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It doesn’t help that recently my 2 year old has taken a liking to playing in the H3.  He likes turning on the lights, rolling down the windows, opening and closing the sunroof, turning on and off the fan for a good 10 to 15 minutes almost every time we get home and pull into the driveway.  That’s another story.

I threw a question out to my Hummer Friends at HummerXClub.com for their suggestions on what is the best battery on the market for an H3.

“I have a 2006 Hummer H3. What’s the best battery for the rig without too much fuss of installing?”

Many came back with great pictures of their installs.  The overwhelming response was the Optima brand, more specifically, the Optima Red Top.  Well as time passed by my battery grew weaker and weaker.  I still hadn’t pulled the trigger as to which battery I’d get.  In the long run the Optima Red Top would work the best however there were some immediate drawbacks.

Optima Red Top

CONS:

• I’d have to modify the existing battery enclosure in-order to for the optima to fit.  It’s a little taller than the OEM sized battery.
• Possibility, based on current reviews of the battery, that it potentially could be hit or miss on getting one that was DOA or with non-working cells.
• Price.  The Optimas tend to be a little more pricey than your everyday battery.

PROS:

• Well liked and a good name in the wheeling community.
• Powerful battery used in cold weather.
• Sealed and maintenance free and lasts a long time. (As long as you get a problem-free one…)

My dilemma?  How much time would I have to physically replace the battery given the variable of my two year old son?  In a perfect world, a couple of hours and a beer; in the real world, 3.5 minutes and a red-bull.  I needed to find something in the middle.

Let’s jump to the end of the month, December 28th.  The original battery lost it’s mojo.  Not bad, I guess, it lasted a good 3.5 years 62K miles.  I walked out to the parking lot after work, turned the key and there was silence, a silence similar to what I would give in place of vermouth to my dry vodka martini.

I was the last one out to lock up that evening, but luckily my friend and co-worker, Finlay G., was in the area to come back and help jump start it.  He followed me over to the Sear Auto Center, given the lack of time I thought, “Die Hard, that will work.”  Much to my surprise Die Hard/Sears don’t make a battery for the size the H3 needs.  Bummer.  The guy at Sears pointed me over to PepBoys a few miles away.  Jump start and I was on my way.

PepBoys – for some reason the same smell of tires and stale car fresheners has stayed the same over the years.  It triggered memories of when I was a toddler going up and down the aisles with my dad looking for parts for either the Pinto, the Corvair, or the Volaré.  Classic.  I went to the back counter and asked for a battery for the H3, they had one.  And when I say they had one, I mean they had one. One brand and only one in stock.  ”I’ll take it.”

Bosch Premium Plus

CONS:

• I hadn’t done any research on this battery.

PROS:

• I’ll fit.
• I can install with minimal time and effort.

Read the Installation Here.

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Well my wife, son and dog just got back from our daily evening walk around the neighborhood and my adrenaline is still pumping.  It’s still pumping not because of our meandering walk, but more so for the run-in we had with a neighbor, and I use neighbor in the sense that this person lives in the neighborhood.

Here’s a little back-story to what lead to what occurred this evening.  Recently I decided I needed to loose weight, get more active and live a more healthy lifestyle.  The past few years have been wrought with the stress of a nightmare remodel and the happiness of our son Skyler born.  My lifestyle had changed with the times becoming sedentary and day-in-day-out hum-drum.  It was now time to change that.  I started a diet and increased my activity.  I now get up every morning at 5:30 and go for a 1 mile walk with our dog Luigi, I go for a short 10 minute walk at lunch when I can and another 1 mile walk with my wife, son and dog in the evening.

Mind you, when we moved to this neighborhood one of the best qualities that we loved about living here is the neighborhood.  All the neighbors wave and say hi to you if they are going for walks or playing with their kids in their front yards.  Skyler is part of the Ticatica Kids Club.  Ticatica is the name of our small street.  We know the neighborhood gossip lady, and are luckily on her good side.  We’ve been invited over to our neighbor’s houses for USC football games or the occasional cigar in the backyard.  Ole, one of the few remaining original owners in his late 80′s, lives at the end of the street.  He keeps an eye on the street for everyone walking down the street shirtless in San-a-belt baby blue cut off pants that are pulled up two inches above is belly button.  He speaks of stories of World War II and shoots the trespassing skunk that get too close to his backyard.  All in all it’s really a nice quite and safe place to live.

A couple of months ago our neighbor, Al, from across the street, warned us about a little chihuahua that chased him and his 3 year old grandson up the hill.  A few weeks ago we found that dog.  On my route there is a street called Kiska Drive.  On this street there live two dogs with short man syndrome.  The worse of the two is a stupid chihuahua.  We have been chased a few times by mindless dog, when one time, about a month ago, the dog chased Luigi and me with Skyler in the hiking backpack up the street when the owners saw this, piled into their car and raced up the hill to get him, all the while you could hear the father yell at his daughter and his daughter yelling at her father about the dog.  She jumped out of the car, swooped up the dog and returned to the car yelling, “It’s because he hates you too.  That’s why he runs away!”  No apologies to us, but it didn’t matter, I  just turned and kept going up the hill thinking to myself I don’t need to be a part of this.

This brings this story to about two weeks ago.  Evening walk, Skye, Skyler in the stroller, Luigi and me, we were walking up Kiska Drive.  The dogs were out.  I’ve had enough of this.  If the dog were to even get near kicking range of Skye, Skyler or Luigi, he was going to know it.  Normally I am a peaceful, animal loving person, but when an animal threatens my family it’s a different story.  I walked over to the front door the whole time with this ‘Rat’ dog snapping at me.  I rang the doorbell and the 9 year old daughter answered the already wide open door.  I firmly said how this was not the first time this has happened with their dogs barking and trying to attack my dog while we were walking on the street, the next time this happens I would call animal control.  She picked up the dogs and put them inside and closed the door.  Problem solved, so we thought.

This evening’s walk.  We turn the corner on Kiska Drive and low and behold the little rat dog was out and going after Luigi.  The rat dog’s mother was out and noticed this going on, she came over to grab the dog but the dog kept barking and charging Luigi.  I was pushing Skyler in the stroller, Skyler was watching from the safety of his stroller, Skye had Luigi on the leash and Luigi was trying to back away from being attacked by the psychopathic rat dog.  The owner finally grabed the dog, no apology, and headed back to take the dog in, as she did she stopped and turned around to say, “Are you the ones who yelled at my daughter and threatened to call animal control?!”

Mind you, we hadn’t even said anything to this lady so for her to assume this was a pretty big leap.  I told her, “I warned your daughter that this dog is always out and tries to attack us when she is out.”  Obvious enough since the rat dog just did it again.

At this point she through out a few swear words, told us to call animal control, cussed us out again and headed back inside.  This is where it got worse.  Her husband walks out of their backyard and starts yelling at me.

Snapshot picture at this momment: I’m pushing our two year old son up the hill in the middle of the street trying to cross it, Skye is walking Luigi on the sidewalk across the street and this gang banger husband in a wife-beater tanktop and tattoos is coming after me.

“Hey F**ker, you want to start something?!”  I think he repeated that a few times as I ignored him and kept walking up the hill.

“Hey little Sh**, I’m talking to you!” was another thing he said, (hey at least my diet’s working huh?)

I took a mental note: cell phone is in my left pocket, we are in public, if anything happens I can’t drop the leash to Skyler’s runner/stroller because we are on a hill.  I stopped and squared up.

I really don’t remember much that he said, I was trying to stay calm as he went off on being mister macho, ape man.  He was basically pissed off at me for telling his 9 year old daughter to keep their dogs inside.  Apparently his 9 year old daughter embellished the story of what happened saying that I yelled at her and threatened her and scared her.  I refreshed his memory of the time they drove up the hill to pick up their dog from chasing us and he began to calm down, realizing he was in the wrong.  Skye stepped to help ease the pressure of the conflict.  I apologized if I scared his daughter and also stated that his dogs scare my 2 year old son so I am just protecting my family.

He finally backed down, hopefully realizing the whole story.  I offered my hand and he shook it, turned around and he walked home.

It is surprising to me how people can get so angry at something so small that the first thing they want to do is go beat someone up.  This was the closest I’ve been to getting my ass kicked since I was bullied in 7th grade by a red-neck 8th grader.

When we got home, there was a part of me that wished I pulled a Bruce Lee meets Chuck Noris on this looser but what good would that have done.  Skye tells me we did the right thing, and I know we did.  It makes me think how lucky I am.  I have a family who loves me and a family I’d do anything for.  This poor looser guy yells at his daughter, probably beats up his wife and his dogs don’t even like him.  I feel sorry for that a-hole.

Note to self: Kiska Drive is now off the route.  I need to expand my loop to 1.5 miles anyway.  Kiska Drive Rat Dog Man is a still an A-hole.

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