From The East Wing, With Sophia for Senate, A White Angora, The Moon across the Sky, The Mole Dogs of Summer, History of 2girldogs

Greeting to all and welcome new friends to the East Wing,

The news conference had not yet ended as Even Bayh was announcing he wouldn’t seek a third term in the Senate, that she announced she was a candidate for the Senate Seat from Indiana. Yep Sophia jumped in early.

Not many people know this, but Senator Bayh has a Calico Cat. Now just like I told the lady a year or so ago, when, in my email, I was asked how did I know Sophia the Calico Cat was a Republican. My response to the question was “Did ya ever see a Calico Cat that was not a Republican?” And so it is with Senator Bayh’s Calico Cat, Chester, a card carrying member of the NRCCC (National Republican Calico Cat Conference)

I find out from Sophia that Chester, Senator Bayh’s Calico Cat, has been a closet republican all these years the Senator has been in Washington. He’s so happy to come out of the closet. Just as soon as he picked up any hint of the decision not to run for reelection he texted the news to Sophia. Four days before Senator Bayh’s news conference to announce his decision not to seek reelection, Sophia knew. The day after that, Sophia started planning the campaign.

As excited as Sophia is for her senate run, the 2girldogs are just devastated on the news that their friend, Senator Bayh, won’t run for reelection this fall. Evan Bayh is one of the good guys, both in the Senate and in Indiana. It’s a crushing blow to all democrats ‘cross Indiana and his decision to stop being a part of inside the beltway speaks volumes as to the crap that goes on there in Washington. Even though The Gray Lady is a strong supporter of Senator Bayh, she did point out he did not do his party and favors with this timing of the announcement not to run for reelection.

Not only do the 2girldogs like Senator Bayh, they both campaigned for his last election. The Pup Baby sold lemonade on the corner intersection of Range & 800 South to raise money for the Bayh reelection efforts. She raised $1.05, a coon skin cap, two kittens and a large soup bone.

I’m gona have to talk to Pup Baby ‘bout money, and that those coon skin caps, kittens and soup bones are not something ya can take to the bank. I think the kittens stayed and grew up outside, Gray Lady James ended up with the soup bone, and Mustina still wears the coon skin cap from time to time. She plays like she’s Davey Crockett’s dog, a bear hunting dog for sure.

In the middle of all her campaign planning, Sophia got a fax from Newt Gingrich. He wants her to be on his select advisory committee on job creation and how to fix the country in general. The cat was texting to Newt in two minutes, asking for an autographed picture of the Speaker of the House. When the picture arrived, Sophia made a special place on honor for the Newt Gingrich Picture, right next to her Herbert Hoover Picture. (damn republican cat)

I told ya ‘bout all the problems I had with trying to get Sophia adjusted to sharing with the white Angel. That project was never completed. Sophia intimidated the Angel when she was small and the Angel could never get over that intimidation even when she grew up. And so the Angel chose to live with the outside cats rather than learning to put up with Sophia.

Then along came Sarah. Now Sarah is a White Angora with an attitude. That attitude is, “I’m a cat and you’re not”. Well when Sarah first stepped into the East Wing Sophia was right there to greet her with a slap and big hisssssssss. Sarah rolled with slap and came right back toward Sophia. Again the slap and hiss. Again the roll and back in your face. Sophia, confused, ran away. The next day the same story line, with Sophia again running away. On the third day the hiss was not so pronounced, the slap was half hearted and on the next day the battle was called.

The David and Goliath battle of the East Wing had ended with the David Angora not even slinging stones, just dumb little cat curiosity and an in your fact attitude that Sophia could not deal with.

Now Sophia still is on the back of my chair, but Sarah is anywhere and everywhere all at the same time. Pretty cat, a White Angora. She has one blue eye and one green eye. I won’t say Sarah gets along well with the 2girldogs, but she does sleep on top of Pup Baby from time to time.

With the 2girldogs reeling from the news from Senator Bayh, and Sophia getting crazy on her organizing the stuff, they’ve decided to simply oppose whatever Sophia is doing. Unlike Sophia, Gray Lady seldom makes political statements, she said “This is a democrat house, why don’t ya the kick the *&^%&%@(* republican cat out into the yard?” Strong words for the Gray Lady James. I think the Lady will calm down after the Bayh shock wears off.

As I set this evening in the East Wing watching on radar a massive winter storm moving ever closer to me form the southwest, my only question is where is the low pressure center of the storm. This time of the year the location of the storm center makes all the difference in the world to us. When the center of a weather system passes overhead in the winter we will tend to get only rain. When the center of the storm passes over Indianapolis, get out your boots.

A rule of thumb is 1” of rain is equal to 10” of snow. Now that can vary by an inch or so of snow depending on some other factors, but the 1:10 ratio tends to hold close in all kinds of winter storms. In the summer time we can get 2 to 4 inches of rain at any time and not think anything ‘bout it. Get that same amount of moister in the winter, ya got a major problem. Snow too deep to make snow angels, now that’s a bummer.

Talking ‘bout snow angels, one of the things I do is teach CCD Class at Saints Cyril & Methodius Catholic Church in North Judson. I teach a combined 4th & 5th grade class, and one of the field trips we are planning this winter is to go outside and make snow angels. So far this winter there has only been one good Snow Angel Making Sunday this year, and I had to be somewhere else on that Sunday. But we still hope to get the snow just at the right time. Never think you’re too old to make Snow Angels, they’re kinda like birthday cards to God. I’d rather make Snow Angels than Snow Men. But each one has takes its own kinda snow.

I don’t think I shared with ya a most interesting site on my trip to Atlanta three weeks ago. As most of you know I left rather hurriedly on a Sunday Evening, my son John and I. Somewhere north of Lafayette IN, as we were driving south, the moon came up in the east, It was near a full moon in a cloudless sky. My trip took me almost due south the whole night. As the night wore on I could see the moon tracking cross the sky in front of me. The moon went down somewhere around 3 or 4 AM.

I got to thinking that as we watch the Moon move across the sky, how much is the Moon moving, and how much is the Earth's own movement? So the other night using my telescope I calculated out the question and conclude that as we watch the Moon move from east to west, it travels its own diameter across the night sky in about 3 minutes or so. The speed at which we see the Moon move is mostly due to the Earth's movement, not the Moon's. The Earth's movement accounts for about 95 percent of the shifting position of the Moon. The other 5 percent is actually the Moon itself moving in its own orbit.

Thinking ‘bout stuff like that kinda brings a whole new meaning to the phrase “we’re all in it together” Just think ‘bout it, if this Earth eve stops spinning we’re gona be floating out past that Moon in no time. But not to worry ‘bout the height, ya won’t be awake anyhow.

I can’t help but think of the approaching spring time and all the neat stuff that comes with the change of the seasons. One of the most fun things in the springtime is the digging of the dirt. Now I don’t know ‘bout you but I like to dig in the springtime dirt. It smells good. And if ya happen to dig up a worm, well, ya just know God didn’t forget ‘bout your garden. Worms are important to gardens.

I’m not talking ‘bout those big ole ugly white grubs in your yard, that’s not garden worms, that’s worms from hell sent by the Devil himself to make sure your yard is full of moles and that they make little tunnels all over your yard. And if you’re lucky, ya got a dog that goes out there and digs up every little tunnel and converts it into a dry mote that the cat can barely cross.

Gray Lady James is my Mole Dog of Summer. The Gray Lady being a German Shorthair Pointer, has nose for stuff. It seems she can smell the ground moles even without them digging the little tunnels. Many times I’ve seen her go into her Bird Dog Point, wait 5 seconds, take one step and dig straight down just as fast as she can. Most of the time the Lady wins that deadly game of dog and mole.

Now with the Pup Baby, Mustina James, by the time she remembers how to point, the mole is long gone. But she digs anyway. Now the Pup Baby is good for other stuff, we just don’t know what for sure, but we know it’s something. Someone asked a while back how old were my dogs. Not the Pup Baby James, Mustina, was born on January 22nd 2000, so we just had her 10th birthday party. Gray Lady James come to us from down the road.

She did not come with papers. She came pregnant with Pup Baby. She was one of the most starved and afraid of people dogs I had ever seen. She was so starved and skinny, I did not even know she was with child, right up to the day Mustina was born. It is not uncommon for the German Shorthaired Pointer to have 4 to 6 pups. The Gray Lady James had only one, she was that starved. Not only starved for food, but also love. It took me two weeks of feeding her every day before I touched her the first time. But after that we became friends for life, me and Gray Lady James. My daughter, Angela, thought the Gray Lady James was an ugly dog, until our neighbor brought us a dog magazine featuring the German Shorthaired Pointers. It was as if the Lady was on the cover. After that Angela has a different point of view ‘bout the Lady, we all share that point of view.

A stately dog, Gray Lady James. We don’t know her full history, but since November 30, 1999 she’s been a member of the Family of Howard. I think the Gray Lady is somewhere between 11 and 12 years old. Two dogs are better than one dog, else who’d they play with when you’re gone.

As the East Wing slips into the our nighttime mode, with everybody asleep ‘cept me and two cats, Sophia texting for the last two hours, to who I don’t know, and Sarah just being Sarah, I thank you so much for stopping by this rainy Sunday Evening. Your presence in the East Wing has, as usual, made our day.
A visit from a friend is like a breath of springtime. We’re glad you came.

Stay safe in Iraq and Afghanistan.

From the East Wing With Sophia for the Senate, Waiting on the Storm, The Moon across the Sky, The Mole Dogs of Summer, History of 2girldogs

I wish you well,
BobbyRay