Dogs are good. This I know to be true.

I just saw a special on PBS which reported dogs lower stress levels in humans. Dog owners are less likely to have heart attacks. Simply petting a D-O-G raises the levels of Serotonin in humans. That would be the “happiness hormone”… a well known contributor for feelings of well-being in the likes of you and me. How about them whiskers?

Yep. Petting a dog is a grand thing indeed. So is walking them. The increase in physical activity has been proven beneficial to humans as well.

We walk our dogs everyday… a couple of times. Now while we understand the benefits… we do it more for the adventure. You just never know what might transpire during a Puppy Promenade.

Why… just yesterday, we skipped on over to the East Bay Park. Lots of dogs hang out there. Some, even go with their owners.

But looky who we saw while we were there.

We found Ollie’s genetic match. His name is London. He is a Charleston, SC shelter dog. It seems he is about the same age as Ollie. I couldn’t believe how similar they were, really.

London & Ollie liked each other.  They sniffed eachother’s butts. And then…. they got to talking.

They sniffed butts again. Apparently, Ollie and London think they are long lost litter mates. They shared stories about their Mom, and about the early days of sharing milk at the Dairy Bar. Then they talked about he separation… when different humans came along, and took them from their Mom… who’s name was Sadie. They haven’t seen her since.

Niether Ollie’s or London’s particular human kept them. Both ended up in Puppy Prison… one in Camden, OH, and the other in Charleston, SC.

So this was a great reunion indeed. We ate Snausages, and Pupperonis, to celebrate.  We told runt jokes.  Everyone one of us chased our tails in delight.

What a day it was… and what a dog….What a Dog Day Afternoon.

One of the wonderful things about this world, and all the people in it… is that everyone has a unique perspective.

Each and every one of us. While some of our opinions may line up politically, socially, economically, or spiritually… each one of us has our very own, one-of-a-kind, exclusive and remarkable opinion. It is true.  And although our differing methods of thinking, may not feel so grand all the time,  it makes our existence interesting.  Engaging.

For instance…. A particular song or musical artist may appeal to one person. But to another, it it like nails on a chalkboard… Justin Beeber-Head. Rrrrrrrreeeeeeeeeeeeeee…….. right down the old chalkboard.

Yep. That’s one example.

Or one woman’s Hot Fudge Double Brownie Sundae, is another woman’s Bowl of Southern Grits….

Chess vs. Checkers

Coke vs. Pepsi

Bengals vs. Browns

You get the notion, yes?

I’m crazy about things like Sock Monkeys, Dr. Seuss, Dogs, Despicable Me, and Steamed Dumplings with Hot Mustard Sauce…. to name just a few.

Others are gaga for the Opera, Lime Jello, The Tree of Life (the recent Brad Pitt Movie), and TV’s Funniest Home Videos.

To each his own.

So what sparked all of this? I was just reading, that on this date in the year 1860…..Eleven-year-old Grace Bedell of Westfield, N.Y., wrote a letter to presidential candidate Abraham Lincoln, suggesting he could improve his appearance by growing a beard.

He must have thought it was a pretty good idea. Old Abe used to say… “If I were two-faced, would I be wearing this one?”  Little Grace from NY thought either way…. it would look better with a beard.

Just remember, as you navigate your day today…  Wear one face… and one face only.    And…..one man’s gallant steed is another man’s dumb old horse.  You can lead a horse of a different color to water but you can’t make him drink if you put the cart before him… but if you happen to look him in the mouth, you’d better close the barn door after him.

So what I am really saying is…..I still don’t get the Justin Beeber thing.

This is Part Two of tonight’s installment.

There is a NEW restaurant in town…. Eli’s Table (formally Joseph’s) at 129 Meeting Street.  It is “off the charts” good…

Now, we frequent a kaboodle of superb eateries in this town.  The “food experience” is one of the reasons that Conde’ Nast has rated Charleston the #1 City in the USA.   We like this little city just fine  It has panache.

But here is a thing of interest that we found at….Eli’s Table today.

We ate there, for the first time,  and rated it a BIG 10.  Ten plus.  (Yep.  And that was on a scale of 5)  Most excellent, yes indeed.  Standing ovation.

But have a little look at the Breakfast Menu (below).   What a CRAZY coincidence.    Uncanny.

This is Part One of tonight’s installment.

While our “adventure” down here doesn’t seem quite as bad this evening…. as it felt yesterday at the height of exhaustion…. I will recap it…. by popular demand.

I think I shall call it…. Rhapsody in Blue.

We normally start out early…. before 5 a.m… when we have a big road journey. But waking up at 3:30 in the morning always feels a little subhuman somehow. So this time, we decided to shove off at a more modest time….before 7 a.m.  That may have been our first mistake.

We slipped a Kitty-Downer on Winnie…. packed up the pack of dogs, and off. All’s good in travel land. Or so we thought.

Holy Smackerels.

Morning rush hour traffic through Dayton, and Xenia… Rain…. Thick Fog. Creeping at the Speed of Snail. That’s okay. At least we have go-coffee.

Whoopsie. Doggie Puke. Nice. That makes the car smell nice for the next 15 hours…..

Now what the heck? Missed turn. Road construction. More rain and fog. More construction.

Please travel gods… deliver us to breakfast. Bob Evans. The wait staff were all experiencing issues with depression and repressed anger. Back on the road.

More slow traffic. Yet, another missed exit. And then a big yikes. Major wreck on 1-77. Multiple vehicle accident. (Not involving us….thank goodness.) However…. Highway CLOSED. Not just a little closed. All the way shut… and for hours.

OK again. We are trees… we can bend. So we take a “jaunt” through the hills of West Virginia in search of another route. Forty five minutes through the hollers of WV and little coal mining towns… we discover there is no way to get there. We had a coal mine worker tell us so.

Apparently, Nemo’s Dad was wrong. All drains DON’T lead to the ocean. Turn around. Go back from whence you came young ladies. All the way back.

On a very personal level… I had to pee on the way back down that mountain. So…. I peed in someone’s holler. I feel very blessed that I didn’t get my derrière shot off.

More construction. Orange barrels galore. For miles and miles.

A long search for Starbucks. But at this point, a late-night coffee seemed like a “must-have” item.

Gangstas at the Gas Station. Once again, I am very fortunate not to get my butt shot off again. (Sidebar… I was pumping the gas. Mary told me later she was “keeping an eye” on the robbery suspects… and she was ready to lock the car doors at any moment. Great. Locked on the outside of my own vehicle in the middle of  South Side Los Angeles.)

Guardian Angels are a good thing.

There are many more mishaps along the way. Too many to list.   But we came through it.   Albeit, what normally takes around 11 or 12 hours… translated into 15 hours in the car yesterday.

One big question I had though, while on our way… it involves Runaway Trucks.
Who knew? We saw all sorts of Runaway Truck Ramps in the hills of West Virginia, and Virginia. Runaway Trucks must be a problem in those states, I’ll tell. I’ve never seen one in Ohio. These trucks must have unhappy home lives… or mean truck-parents. I stopped and got some milk… and sure enough… right on the side of the carton was a picture of a runaway truck.    Pretty sad.  It looked so young in the photo.  There was a reward and everything.

And there you have it.

Road Trip. (n.) The act of stumbling over a street, highway, or thoroughfare.

We came. We saw. And boy, oh boy… did we EVER stumble.

Ohhhhhhh. Emmmmmmmmm. Geeeeeeeeee.

(For those of you texting… that is OMG with infliction.)

Yes. Today we took a road trip. If I were to write about our little jaunt… it would make Tolstoy’s War and Peace look like a novelette.

And 15 hours later…. I am just glad to be sitting in my southernmost kitchen, tapping away at this keyboard.

Long day.

Piece of advice before I sign off tonight….

Don’t do what we did today.

This evening I did one of my favorite things.

I went to the Cow Races.

It is riveting, really. For those of you who don’t know much about it, here are some great tips. First off… every now and again… you can catch a race for free. Like when the cows are just practicing in a field somewhere… on their own. Those are pretty much fun, I’ll tell you.

But most of the time you have to go to an organized event, and buy a ticket from the farmer. I think the Holstein Races are the best. There is just so much estrogen out there on the field. Things can get really dicey. I always go early and get a good seat in the bleachers. Sometimes, I’ll buy my tickets in advance… at www.cowraces.com

Let’s see. What are some other tips? Oh. I don’t like to go to Bull Races. Most of them are retired Bull Fight-ees, from Spain. They are cocky. Beef Jerks! And if anyone is wearing red at the race…. well… all bets are off.

And one more thing.. if you don’t like milk, cheese, or ice-cream… you’d better pack your own snack. Those are the only things they sell at the Concession Stand.

Tonight was great though. At the start of the second race… Cow # 83 bumped into Cow # 231 on the first turn. Holy smokes. Talk about a girl fight. There was an all-out Bovine Brawl right there at the dell. The farmer had to go down into the dell. The wife stood alone. The wife stood alone. Hi. Ho. There were hooves and udders all over the place. What a rumpus. I swear… those girls must have been drinking at the Dairy Bar beforehand.

But back to it. I bet on Cow #917 in the final race tonight. Yeah, baby…. I made a killing. (Uh. Maybe that’s not the best phraseology around cows.) Yep. 917 crossed the finish line first… she was all out moseying… I raked in $3.27 on that ticket. Spine-tingling action.

A winning race.
Cold Milk and Swiss Cheese.
The smell of manure on the cusp of the breeze.
It just doesn’t get any better than this.

Yoo Hoo.

Everyone is afraid of something. I certainly am.

Are you familiar with those t-shirts that say “No Fear”? Those people are spoofing us, I think.

No, I don’t believe them for a minute. No brains, maybe. No fear? Not likely.

People are fearful of all sorts of different things. What may be a silly fear to one person… can be quite terrifying to another. Sometimes we “get over” our fears. Other times, they lock us up tight. Stop us in our tracks. Hold us at bay. You get the idea.

It seems that here lately, there are a lot of social and political fears.

Well… for instance…. there are certain folks who are afraid of having a Mormon president. Others have fears that we have a black President. Different individuals might dread a female president from Alaska.
Some people are frightful of Homosexuals. Still others are terrified of the Tea Party. It goes on and on and on….

But, I’ll tell you… try not to worry about those things. They just don’t compare to the greatest threat of all…

Greg, the Giant Garden Gnome.

Ever had that sneaky feeling someone was watching you? Or hear an unexplainable noise….? Felt a sultry and sudden shift in the wind? Or perhaps you’ve noticed, from time to time, an overpowering aroma of warm Twinkies?

Yep. It’s Greg. You should fear Greg. He’s not like you… and he’s getting bigger every day. Don’t let that crappy grin fool you either. It is a ruse. Greg the Giant Garden Gnome. Scary.

Sort of like… buy WAY, WAY worse… than any of those other fears.

I always try to catch these things on film… but you know…
“Fear is a darkroom where negatives develop.”

OK. I know I say this every dang time I get home from a trip, but here it is… once again… just for the record.

I am a homebody. With a capital H. Big surprise. Second verse, same as the first.

They say courage is the power to let go of the familiar. But they also say… “There’e no place like home. There’s no place like home.” I lean toward the latter.

Don’t get me wrong. I love to travel, and explore, and experience. To every corner of the earth… one cannot help but wonder what this glorious world might have to offer. I know I do. Yes. Utah was a great trip indeed…. probably one of my favorite vacations that we’ve ever taken. Uplifting.

But when this old gal gets back on familiar ground… it feels just like…. coming home.

Well, technically, it IS coming home. Let me try another analogy.

It is probably how peanut butter feels… when it meets jelly.
When eggs find bacon.
Like key meets lock. Moth to a light. Salt with Pepper. Needle and Thread.
Like flies on shi……. well, let’s just stop there. That’s not such a great example.

Coming home. You know how when someone wins the Super Bowl & the reporter asks them… “Hey Joe Quarterback. You just won the Super Bowl. Now what are you going to do?” And the mega-star-athlete says “I’m going to Disney World.” Well… I know what I would say…”I’m going Home!”

It is the love that you feel when you walk through the door.
The people that have missed you and are glad you’ve returned.
The hearts that have kept a place for you… and welcome you in.

Yes. But as many times as the phrase has been used…

Ultimately….
“Home is where the heart is.”

Where ever you go.

Some things I saw today….

Well who the heck knew about Utah?  What a beguiling state.   We are talking… razzle dazzle, dashing and debonair, classic… yet modish.  Beautiful.  If Utah were a movie character, it would be a cross between Indiana Jones… and Glenda the Good Witch.

This is our last night here, so I am wrapping up with a few images of some things we saw today.  We took a hike up into Snow Canyon.  We followed a trail called Three Ponds.  The entire time we walked the path, Mary told me there was a big perk at the turn-around.  Imagine my surprise when we reached that point… and low and behold….  the perkiest of perks….. three ponds.  It seemed more like three puddles actually.  But getting there and back was truly majestic.

We saw much wildlife.  The abundance of creatures…. living and thriving in this sandy, erosive, rocky terrain… is quite amazing.   We did not see a single rattle snake though.  For that…. I am very glad.  Grateful.

Every now and again…. I have a bit of a struggle with heights.  Oh, you should have seen the places I stood today.  I had to climb up rocky-high-steeply places to get there.  I really could have peed my pants a couple of times.  But I made it….

Today was remarkable. Wondrous.  Very good, I’ll tell you. I saw a multitude of things I have never seen before. 

And here I am… at just one tiny little pinpoint on the map.  It made me think about everything that simultaneously exists… right now… at this moment…. all round the world.   Just consider the many things that are happening.. to people you don’t know…. and creatures you have never witnessed…. at this very, very instant.   Oh what a world we live in.

But don’t you know….. it can’t ALL be good.  This morning at our hotel breakfast buffet… the only choice was scrambled egg whites with tofu.  Seriously. Tofu. Anything called Toe-Foo sounds WAY too close to Toe-Jam. And the thought of eating that…. scares me. Terribly. Much worse than my fear of heights.

I am absolutely feeling the need to go home and stir up a huge pot of grits.

“Home is not where you live, but where they understand you”
-Christian Morganstern

These are things I don’t often see in Camden, Ohio. Well…. I don’t see them in Camden….. ever.

But today, I took in many wonderful sights.

In fact, the day was filled with the circular. Everywhere I went, and every thing I did, seemed to be in the round.

There were circles, both of great magnitude and very small stature.

And as a result…. life seemed very spherical to me today. Everything felt connected, like it is all attached…. like we are all somehow connected.

I had quite a touching spiritual experience walking the “Circle of Rocks” near the canyon.

I was pretty emotional as I completed this passage.

(I wonder if this is why people like NASCAR Racing so much…..)

Ahh.  But the circle has no beginning, and no end.  It just goes round, and round.

Watch your thoughts, they become your words.
Watch your words, they become your actions.
Watch your actions, they become your character.
Watch your character, it becomes your destiny.
– Bill P.