Those of us who are dog owners realize just how much joy dogs bring us. They are the epitome of unconditional love and their personalities often provide moments of hilarity, curiosity, tenderness, protection, etc....
When we moved to Butte we were struck at the number of feral dogs roaming the streets and having an extended back yard to sniff, mark, explore. Our yard did not have a fence and subsequently became a target of the packs that would roam the hood. They would often cruise by, take a dip in the little fountain/pond and then proceed to leave us a gift or two. This was ever more prevalent when they figured out that a new dog was in the house/yard. I would do my best to chase them off but unfortunately they did not exactly have a regular schedule when they would swing by and the randomness of their visits meant we did not catch them every time - not to mention poor Moby would be beside himself when he was in the house and saw dogs in his yard.
The fix was relatively easy - we needed to put up a fence. That was one of the very first projects upon moving in so that Moby could have the yard back to himself and we did not have stray dogs roaming and not only marking the yard, but also marking the house! yup - the little goofballs took it upon themselves to actually mark our house...this was about the time I realized the stains on the siding were from dogs marking. Fortunately Moby would always alert me when dogs started to get close to his home. Over the past couple of years the feral visits have declined but the one thing we can't seem to address is the barking of our neighbor dogs.
We have 3 sets of neighbors that have loud yappy, barking dogs that seem to telepathically tell each other when to bark such that there is more or less a constant drone of WOOF WOOF throughout the day. It is not an occasional woof, but incessant barking for long periods of time. They seem to hand off that relay bark baton as they take turns throughout the day. At first glance it is funny but being woken up every day (yes every day) to pups barking at 6 a.m. is not my preferred way to wake up. Worse yet is that the neighbors across the street have 3 dogs in their small yard who never get taken for walks (or taken to the vet for that matter). As a result the poor dogs are bored and subsequently bark at just about anything - like a leaf blowing in the wind, a bird fluttering, etc Why people like this feel the need to have dogs is beyond me since they never get any attention and are stuck in the yard every day of the year - even those days where it is in the negative temps.
I have tried calling the city to complain about the constant barking and we were subsequently treated to our house getting egged and chicken bones dropped in our yard. Fortunately I found the chicken bones before the dogs did or else it really could have been disastrous for dogs - chicken bones splinter and can cause dogs some serious damage. After calling the city again and trying an anonymous complaint, the city pretty much absolved themselves from anything by saying there is nothing they can do (or more precisely, there is nothing they were willing to do).
So after a few attempts at peaceful resolution, it was time to just suck it up and try an approach of acceptance - so here I am writing about the surround sound of the dogs and trying to laugh about the absurdity of it all.
The surround Woof starts across the street in the early a.m. then works over to the neighbors behind us mid morning and then moves over to the other side of the street later in the day and then back over to the first group in the afternoon after they have woken up from their slumber. At about quitting time all the dogs are active again as the neighborhood becomes more active with people returning from work and letting their dogs out to roam the hood. The cycle ends in the evening as the dogs continue their serenades into the dark chasing phantoms of the night and then starts right back up again in the a.m.
I think I hear them now....
side profile of big bertha
comparison of a normal width rear triangle versus the big green machine
nice detail and curves on the top tube - should provide more clearance if having to step into the snow and post-holing without some dire consequences from getting racked on the top tube!
anudder view of the purdyyyy lines and curves
phattie goodliness
wonder how nice and clean she will stay?
not only is she big, burly, and curvy, but she is surprisingly light - will weight it later today
wide load coming through! chooo choooo
dogs are non-plussed....
