So, how did Sabo's big 3-day weekend go?

Sabo couldn't wait to see his Padres, and the forecast for Saturday's day game was 'hot'... so Sabo & me decided to catch Friday night's spring training game instead.

We got there early, so we could walk the USD campus. Parking was free for the game. But as we walked out of the parking structure... just like at Sabo'hood College last week, Sabo had contact with several police.

What's up with Sabo & the cops ???/?

University of California Police

Well... perhaps first I should explain what happened at Sabo'hood College. I actually went to Sabo'hood College for a semester near the end of the Flower era. Back then SDPD patrolled the campus. Now the college district has it's own sworn police force, and the campus has it's own new police station.

Sabo & me walked that campus on a Sunday. I hadn't been on campus in ages, and let me tell you... the campus has really grown up, as had the college. Sabo & me are definitely going back when classes are in session, and everything isn't closed. But that Sunday, we pretty much had the campus to ourselves.

That is, except for a college cop walking her beat. We ran into her twice... the first time she gave us a big friendly wave from across the street, and called out "what a cute dog!". The second time we passed her on a walkway, and she stopped to give Sabo a pat on the head.

USD doesn't have it's own sworn police, as some private colleges in Cali do (like USC, Stanford). This is still SDPD's jurisdiction. I assume it's some kinda cop-mutual-aid thingee, but I thought it was a little strange that UC Police and Mira Costa College Police were working the Padres games instead.

And the only reason I noticed, was that several of these cops also said "what a cute dog" y/o gave him a pat on the head. I that cops seem to Sabo !!!1!

So how did Sabo like USD?

The University of Spoiled Delinquents

The USD campus, known as Alcala Park, is arguably the most beautiful of San Diego colleges. It is located on a bluff at the end of Mission Valley, with views of the city, bay, harbor, and out over the ocean. All the buildings are matching, using the same Mission Revival motif, similar to Balboa Park and the Santa Fe Depot.

Unlike Sabo'hood College, I had actually been on this campus somewhat recently. IIRC twice in the pre-Sabo era... once working for a caterer setting up a banquet. The other time was on 2012-2-20, for a history symposium on my union's San Diego Free Speech Fight (see below).

Sabo loved walking the campus. AFAIK Flower never went to college. Cinnamon used to walk Valley College up in LA, but never with me. I never thought about it before... but college campuses are some of the coolest places to walk with your dog. The USD kids seemed to love Sabo too... in fact a group of them offered to watch Sabo, if they wouldn't let him into the Padres game.

So did Sabo enjoy watching his Padres?

Cunningham Field @ Fowler Stadium

For people who knew The Missile IRL, it would be a serious question if she got into the game, or not. Her nickname was "exception to the rules", after all. But Sabo's just a dog, so he spent the game in the dorms with some USD kids.

The new baseball stadium at USD is absolutely stunning. Maybe it was because we had Sabo with us when we bought the tickets (more likely they were returns), but they sold us the literal best seats in the house... exactly where the batter's bat is pointing above. If there wasn't a screen I could have touched Bud Black with one hand, and the on-deck batter with the other.

The Indians batted around in the first, and batted around again in the second, slaughtering Sabo's Padres. But that's OK, as the game doesn't count, and Spring Training is always a blast... especially when you don't have to go to AZ.

Did Sabo also enjoy visiting the parks of Linda Vista?

Linda Vista Recreation Center

Of course.

Friday night, after the game, Sabo & me walked across the street from USD to check out the not yet open Cramer Community Park. It's almost ready to go, with all the landscaping and lawns installed. However it was surrounded by temporary fencing.

Saturday was hot, so we got an early start to beat the heat. We went to Linda Vista Park, Mission Heights Park, Kelly St Park, Kelly Pl Park, Morley St Park, Linda Vista Natural Park, and Ostler St Natural Park. Then we retreated back to the Sabo'hood, and the A/C of our local dive bar, to watch Sabo's Padres beat the Indians in their last spring training game.

I admit, I was pulling Sabo's tail.

Amtrak's Pacific Surfliner

I was just kidding when I said I'd take Sabo to the Park at the Park, and into opening day, on Sunday. Also, I only let him pick the players in a mock fantasy baseball draft. In fact, I took the train to a union meeting in LA that day.

You can see the lights of Dodger Stadium from LAUPT, and lights of Petco Park from the Santa Fe Depot. I enjoyed watching this game on my laptop, in the bar car, travelling between the two at 90 mph. Once again, I left the Dodgers broadcast on the radio, so Sabo could listen to Vin Scully calling the game. Sabo's Padres won 3-1, and moved into first place !!!1! Standing through 3-30:


How did Sabo's historical hikes go?

Balboa Park Koi Pond

It didn't go.

Chavez Park is temporarily closed for renovation. Nothing was programmed at Chicano Park for Chavez. And... a look at the historical satellite imagery shows that it is indeed impossible for Sabo today to hike the same route the Flower did back then.

Sabo, being a 'go' dog like Cinnamon, was already happy with visiting USD and all the Linda Vista parks this weekend. But he was understandably disappointed about not getting into a stadium, or riding a train, or sniffing the Tony Gwynn Sr statue.

So... in a change of plans, we took Sabo to Balboa Park, and Petco Park.

Balboa Park is San Diego's version of Central Park. It has three separate leash-free area's... and Sabo was the fastest dog in all three. To our amazement, dogs are welcome on the train ride in front of the zoo. When asked, they said "WTF, we let people take babies".

But the best part was when Sabo leaned over too far and fell into the Koi pond in front of the Botanical Gardens. Well, at least we know he can swim now. Actually, he was the darling of the part of the park, as he crazily rolled around on the lawns drying himself off.

Sabo goes to Petco Park !!!1!

The Park at the Park @ Petco Park

And then finally, what Sabo's really been waiting for... a visit to Petco Park. We checked out the Park at the Park, which is used as SRO during the games, but open to the public on non-game days. Unfortunately, dogs can't go down into the 'sand box' and up to the RF fence. But Sabo did get to stand high on the pedestal, between the giant metallic legs of Tony Gwynn Sr (pics incoming).

Luckily for me, we got there just minutes after the Padre Store in the Western Metals building closed. Luckily for Sabo, the big staircase up to the main stadium concourse there was inexplicable open. So Sabo & me proceeded to stroll the main stadium concourse. We went from down the LF line to behind 1B, seeing no one at all... until some food vendor wandered by and politely told us to GTFO.

i'm completely loving hearing about your dogs & your activity-planning & your wonderfully distinct way of sharing it all.

it's great

TYVM !!!1!

I couldn't ask for nicer words. I that someone, anyone, is actually reading this scruffy dog saga.


This weekend... Sabo goes to the mall !!!1!

And to the other stores in the Sabo'hood. We're going to make a systematic survey of what stores are dog friendly.

We're starting with the big two categories... Petco, and other pet stores, as well as hardware stores. The reason being is that now that I've gotten my SDG&E locks, and the whole pole climber issue has blown over... well now I can decide what fence & gate work needs to be done... which means I can then decide where and how many doggy doors to put in, etc, etc.

FYI: I was born without the shopping gene, I really hate shopping. So, I'm going to let Sabo force myself into basically going to every single store in the Sabo'hood, and then I'll have to buy all those things I've been putting off getting because I hate shopping so damn much... once again, this 'free' dog is going to end up costing me a fortune.

So, how did Sabo's big weekend, last weekend, go ??

{My reader (singular), sorry for not blogging for so damn long. But my dog ate my homework, I swear !!!1!}

I feel I've written this blog post about a dozen times... because I pretty much have. Three times it was erased, twice by Sabo wandering across my keyboard (he knows how to turn on Chrome's full-screen mode, but I don't know how to turn it off ), and once by Bill Gates himself ( ). My other excuses are... Sabo's big shopping weekend metamorphosed into Sabo's big shopping week, and I had four epiffs, which kept me changing my mind on what & how I wanted to blog it.

I had seven things on my shopping list: Padres doggy shirt, doggy door, backpack pet carrier, security screen door, and a gate latch for Sabo. Padres brown warm-up and some shorts for me. This took me eight days to accomplish. Here is a day-by-day chronicle of this shopping saga:

Home Depot is dog friendly

Friday (April 4th)

1. That evening, Sabo's watched his Padres lose in Miami.
2. I bike to a bus stop, Sabo guards the Sabotat.
3. Ride bus w/bike across town to the minivan.
4. Drive w/bike back to the Sabo'hood. Park in front of the Home Depot.
5. Bike back to the Sabotat, about three miles.

To get that screen door home, I needed to re-position the minivan from in front of a garage (where I tryed to have some work done on it last week), to in front of the Home Depot. While forlornly riding the Luser Cruiser (bus), missing my doggy, I had my first epiff: A lady got on the bus carrying a Sabo-sized dog. The bus driver didn't bat an eye. But let's get back to the shopping saga...

Marlins Stadium, Miami, Florida

Saturday

1. Post my previous blog post (just after midnight)
2. Sabo watched his Padres lose to the Marlins... again.

I awoke to my second epiff: I hate shopping so damn much, that trying to do a impromptu mass mall marathon migration, similiar to how we did the parks, well it just wasn't going to happen. While Sabo might have the patience for it, I'd rather sandpaper my eyeballs. And besides, Sabo would miss his Padres games if we were out driving around all day long.

So I called an audible, and I spent the rest of the day cuddled up with Google Maps, chopping the shopping up into more manageable days and themes.

In Outback's worldview, Western Australia doesn't exist

Sunday

1. Sabo watched his Padres finally beat the Fighting Fish, a morning game !!!1!
2. We walked to the Sabo'hood Mall, about two blocks.
3. Lunch w/beers on the food court.
4. Shop till we drop, w/ cocktail breaks.
5. Dinner w/cocktails @ Outback.
6. Sabo (briefly) gets a doggy door @ Petco.
7. Walk back to the Sabotat.

Sunday's theme was 'Mall Rats'. Which some people inexplicably do as entertainment (Like sister "J", ZOMG !!!1!). We just went ahead and wasted the whole afternoon at the mall. Except for going to the movies (LOL no, I ain't taking my dog on a movie date). Two of the bars didn't have patios, but I could safely lasso Sabo just outside, when I needed a quick shopping 'time out'. For dinner, Sabo and me went to the Outback, where there are "NO RULES" against cocktails -o- dogs on the patio, and I enjoyed a "JUST RIGHT" steak. Later, Sabo enjoyed his doggy bag.

Kohl's is dog friendly

Monday

1. We hiked part of Owl canyon, about two miles.
2. Continue to the Home Depot's/Kohl's strip malls.
3. Lunch @ El Polo Loco, Sabo doesn't like beans.
4. Shop till we drop.
5. Buy shorts @ Kohl's.
6. I fail miserably at Home Depot.
7. Drive back to the Sabotat.
8. (Sabo's Padres rained out in Cleveland)

Monday's theme was 'Hike the Canyon'. This was Sabo's first real hike through the canyons. The urban canyon natural parks are really the jewels... and yes I'm not forgetting the beaches, bay, and Balboa Park. But let's get back to the shopping saga...

These big-box strip malls are the other shopping nexus of the Sabo'hood. Basically a defacto mall... except there isn't any entertainment or restaurants, and a state highway runs through the middle of it. It was in this wasteland, that I had my third epiff: 'dog friendly' is the rule in retail, not the exception... as I had always mistakenly imagined.

Take Kohl's... I carried Sabo in, and the greeter welcomed him to the store with a pat on the head. He said dogs are welcome if carried or walking, but no dogs in carts (FYI: at some stores it was carry -o- cart, but not on the floor. Most didn't care).

Sabo picked out some shorts for me. When I went to pay, the cute young ringer was swooning over the cute young dog. I told her the story about just getting him from the pound, and how he had ate my shorts. I then realized I forgot my credit card. Luckily (I thought), I had enough cash to buy the shorts.

However, she asked: "Why don't you apply for a Kohl's card?". She explained that the sign-up bonus would cover one of the shorts I was buying... she mused that Sabo would be paying me back. So sure... OK. She asked me the usual questions, typed some into her register, and said I got the discount. I said: "sweet!, So how much do I owe you?". She said nothing. They approve this shiz instantly now, and they'll bill me next month. Amazing... and I owe it all to Sabo.

However, I didn't have enough cash to get Sabo's hardware... thus wasting the whole pre-staging move on Friday .

George W. Bush visits San Diego

Tuesday

1. Load minivan with old clothes, blankets.
2. We drive to the Sabo'hood dog park.
3. Sabo missilates (extended super-fast/super-crazy running).
4. Drive to Goodwill, donate old clothes. Store not dog friendly.
5. Shop the adjacent supermarket.
6. Drive to dive bar #4, had a token beer.
7. Shop the adjacent drug store and supermarket.
8. Drive to dive bar #3, had a token beer.
9. Drive to dive bar #2, had a token beer.
10. Inquire at the adjacent Smart & Final. Not dog friendly.
11. Drive to dive bar #1, cocktails.
12. Sabo watches his Padres get thumped by the Indians.
13. Stagger back to the Sabotat.

The theme for Tuesday was 'Dive Bar Hopping'.

But I had a couple of stops to make first. One of the many reasons I hate shopping trips, is they directly cause later un-shopping trips. So... I loaded up the minivan with a mountain of old clothes (from which Sabo's Ole'#8 nest had been saved). Our other stop was the local dog park. Now that I've figured out the arcane leash-free schedule, I've been taking Sabo a couple of times a week. This day, I even overheard a couple of the dog park regs refer to Sabo as "the fast one". I having the fastest dog in the park, again.

Dive bar #4 isn't dog friendly.

The bar doesn't go back this far... but this area was the original shopping nexus of the Sabo'hood. In fact, it has a disputed claim to being the site of the first true shopping center ever. While the Sabo'hood is certainly typical of post WW2 suburbia, it isn't typical, in one historic sense. It was the very first one of it's kind... defined as being away from the urban core, having the streets follow geography instead of a grid, and being designed with shopping centers instead of a business district. However, the iconic bowling alley, and almost all the stores, were redeveloped into condos during the Cinnamon era... leaving only a remnant strip mall. I could safely lasso Sabo outside this bar.

Dive bar #3 wasn't dog friendly, that day.

Cinnamon, "the exception to the rules", would have so been sitting at the bar here. The bartender said the owner sometimes approves dogs inside, if he likes him. She also said he wasn't coming in today. This bar doesn't have any windows or shade outside, so I ran the A/C parked for Sabo.

Dive bar #2 isn't dog friendly.

They have nice shade outside, but no windows, so again I ran the A/C parked for Sabo.

Dive bar #1 is our local dive.

Sabo's already a reg here. With our visit here, we have now checked out every single store, and every single dive bar, in the entire Sabo'hood. As Bush II said... "Mission Accomplished" !!!1!

Western Metal building @ Petco Park

Wednesday

1. We do the Walk of Shame back to dive bar #1.
2. Two beers, one shot, for breakfast.
3. Sabo watches some of his Padres, today playing a morning doubleheader.
4. Drive across town, park.
5. Grab a Car2go, drive to the Gaslamp bar district.
6. Lunch w/cocktails at a patio bar.
7. Sabo watches his Padres finish losing the first game.
8. Walk to the Padres Store @ the Western Metals building.
9. Buy our Padres gear.
10. Sabo watches his Padres beat the Indians in the second game...
11. Spoiler:

    Wearing his Padre's shirt, in the Park at the Park !!!1!
12. Grab another Car2go, drive back to the minivan.
13. Shop the adjacent Home Depot and Pet Smart stores.
14. Buy Sabo's hardware, and get all new doggy gear for Sabo.
15. Drive back to the Sabotat.

Perhaps like Bush II himself, I awoke the next morning with a hangover, and the realization that I only got 2/7ths of my shopping done. Arghh shopping... it always ends up being a never ending death march. So again, I called an audible... Wednesday's theme was 'Hair of the Dog'.

Neither Sabo or myself had ever watched an away game in the Park at the Park before. The best part was when we were sitting on the Tony Gwynn Sr statue, right under the giant-sized metallic rendering of his giant butt. Some dude wandered by while I was putting Sabo's new Padres shirt on him. He asked me if I just got it for Sabo. I said: "yep". He pointed to his Sabo-sized dog's Padres bandana, and said he had just got that for his dog... and we shared a dog lover 'Go Padres !!!1!' moment.

On the way home, I accomplished in about an hour what I couldn't get done in three days.

San Diego State University

Thursday

1. I drive to SDSU, Sabo guards the Sabotat. Free parking.
2. I spend the day at a career fest, tabling for my union.
3. Free breakfast and lunch.
4. Drive back to the Sabotat.
5. (Sabo's Padres traveled back to San Diego)

Sabo's now 0-3 on getting to go do union stuff. He's gotta be getting a little impatient here. Who could blame him? But I promised him... just wait 10 days... then for sure.

Petco stores, not as cool as Petco Park

Friday (yesterday)

1. We walk to the Sabo'hood Mall.
2. Return all of Sabo's old gear @ Petco, except his Padres tag.
3. Walk back to the Sabotat.
4. Sabo watches his Padres beat the Tigers.

My fourth epiff was that while Petco, the Park, is a pretty cool, Petco, the stores, really isn't. To be fair, they are convenient, the very few staffers are friendly and hard working, they have a good return policy, they support adoptions and pet welfare, and they sponsor the Dog Day of Summer.

On the other hand, Pet Smart had everything I wanted, except MLB gear. It had adequate staffing, better quality gear, more selection, and lower prices. In fact, if I had wanted NFL, NBA, or Pac-12 gear, Pet Smart had that too.

</SHOPPING>, thank dog !!!1!



This weekend it's either 'Sabo takes the train to Poway', or 'Crate Training'... Sabo's choice.

I was pulling Sabo's tail about taking the train to Poway. There's never been a train to Poway. However, there was a railroad chartered to build through Poway in the 1880s.


Sabo & the San Diego Central Railroad were to start at today's BNSF freight yards. From there a right of way was graded, but rails never laid, up 22nd St to N St. This is now up Beardsley St, over I-5 on a pedestrian bridge, then on to Commercial St.

Back in the 1880s land boom, the San Diego Central, and seven other railroads, were granted franchises to build east up Commercial St. Two of the others were actually built. One still exists today: the San Diego Trolley's Orange Line.


Here Sabo would have been stuffed in a bag, and we'd have taken the trolley. The trolley goes through Lemon Grove, La Mesa and El Cajon to Santee. The San Diego Central's proposed routing was roughly parallel but off a ways to the south and east.

From the Santee area, the San Diego Central would have built up Sycamore Canyon. This is now part of MCAS Miramar. So, using a pre-staged car, we would have detoured around to visit some friends in Poway. Sabo is carrying them a special surprise.


Then it would'a been off to Old Poway Park. The San Diego Central would have been built right through here. Now it's a park with a historic narrow-gauge train ride... which neither Sabo or me have ridden. From there, we'd have driven roughly the proposed San Diego Central routing through Rancho Bernardo to Escondido.


In Escondido, Sabo back in the bag, we'd have ridden today's Sprinter through Vista and San Marcos to Oceanside. This is the only part of the San Diego Central that was actually built.

Alas... the Poway Midland doesn't operate on second weekends, my friends were out of town, and more importantly... Sabo didn't wanna get stuffed in a bag.

He choose 'Crate Training' instead.

Yeah, Sabo don't wanna get stuffed in a bag.

Which is, so far, a shame... as we might have had a fun adventure this last weekend. But it brings up a couple of other important topics. The first is the sad story of the never used pet carrier I bought for Cinnamon... which I'll save up for when I feel like blogging sad Cinnamon stories. The other is... what exactly kinda bag should Sabo be stuffed into. Here is what the Google gods have informed me...

Transport	Dog Carrier	Dimensions (LxWxH)	Fee
Alaska Airlines	... no body parts [may] protrude from the carrier... The pet must stay in its container (including head and tail) at all times while onboard, and be stowed under the seat during taxi, takeoff, and landing...	17"x12"x9.5"	$100
American Airlines	...Soft-sided pet carriers such as Sherpa bags may exceed these dimensions slightly because they are collapsible. Animals must be able to stand up, turn around and lie down in a natural position in the kennel. Soft-sided pet carriers are accepted as long as they are constructed of water-repellent, padded nylon with mesh ventilation on two or more sides... Pets must stay in their closed and/or zipped kennels under the seat in front of you at all times...	19"x13"x9"	$125
Delta Airlines	...Your pet must be small enough to fit comfortably in a kennel without touching or protruding from the sides of the kennel and with the ability to move around. The kennel must fit under the seat directly in front of you...	(Fits under seat)	$125
Frontier Airlines	...The travel container must be large enough for the pet to stand, turn around, and lie down in a natural position. The carrier must also fit underneath the seat in front of you...	24"x16"x10"	$75
Jet Blue	...Your pet must be able to stand up and move around in the carrier with ease... Carriers must have a leak proof bottom and be well ventilated... Soft-sided and hard-sided carriers are acceptable...	17"x12.5"x8.5"	$100
Southwest Airlines	...Soft-sided and hard-sided carriers specifically designed as pet carriers are acceptable.... [dogs] must be completely inside the pet carrier and be able to stand up and move around the carrier with ease... dogs must remain in the carrier (including head and tail) and the carrier must be stowed under the seat in front of the Customer (owner) for the entire duration of the flight...	18.5"x13.5"x8.5”	$95
United Airlines	... must be carried in an approved hard-sided or soft-sided kennel. The kennel must fit completely under the seat in front of the customer and remain there at all times... the animal must be able to stand up and turn around comfortably...	18"x11"x11"	$125
Amtrak trains	... [Dogs] not permitted. [Including] Comfort Animals: Animals not trained to perform a specific task, but which are said to provide emotional support or to relieve anxiety simply by their presence; Pets: Animals for which no claim of any service is made; Search and Rescue Dogs; Police Dogs...
Coaster, Sprinter trains	...Small pets allowed only in proper carriers...	(Fits on lap)
Metrolink trains	...Animals must be in a small pet carrier under the seat or on your lap...	Fits on lap
MTS (SD trolleys, buses)	... your pet...must be fully contained inside an enclosed carrier which you are able to transport by yourself and which you can hold on your lap.	Fits on lap
MTA (LA subways, trolleys, buses)	"In a carrier"	"Not blocking Aisle"
Car2go cars	... Your pets may ride in a car2go only if they’re in an approved pet carrier...	(Fits on seat)
Hertz cars	...animals are not allowed in the vehicle at any time unless they are contained within an appropriate animal carrier...	(Fits on seat)
Greyhound buses	...No dogs, cats, birds, or other animals will be transported...
Bike	Sabo in open top basket (?? haven't tried yet)	18"x12"x6"
Walk	Sabo in carrier. Dimensions are for the Top Paw brand Backpack Carrier, when being held 'sideways' and carried using the handle.	20"x13"x12"

Hmmm,

Let's tackle this by market segment...

Airlines

Sabo's about 13" high over his front legs, and his head is about 17" high when he's standing holding his head high. The airline requirements are generally 8 1/2" tall. This is the part that is kinda screwy...

• I went to the pound four times looking for a dog. Each time they asked, and I answered, that I wanted a dog that is small enough to fly carry-on. Each time they showed me Sabo sized dogs.
  
  
• Every pet store clerk... Petco, Pet Smart, and whatever independent store we went to in Michigan City, IN... said Sabo, and Cinnamon who was about the same size, are a cool size to fly carry-on... and happily sold me soft-sided carriers that were copiously labeled as "Airline Approved". None of them knew anything, in the slightest, about airline or transit carrier requirements.
  
  
• Lots of randoms have told me that the dog only needs to curl up under the seat during take-off and landings. The rest of the time you can put the carrier in your lap, and then expand it to satisfy the typical "stand up and turn around" airline requirement.

A plain reading of the airline requirements says that all of the above is a buncha bull-crap. However, I'd sure like an experienced dog airline traveler out there in 2+2 land's opinion here. The pound said I can bring the dog back for any reason, or no reason, at any time, and they won't kill it. So back "Artie" goes...



Regional Transit

Here, the pet backpack I bought is fine and legal. But it's not collapsible, and without any "stand up and turn around" requirement, it is over-sized. A net laundry bag, or sports ball bag, or even a typical people net day-pack, would satisfy the implied, or specific, 'completely contained' requirement... but seems to be ruled out by the implied, or specific, 'proper carrier' requirement.

Other possible options for me here is a 'pet sling', which is carried at your hip by a strap over the opposite shoulder, or a belly carrier 'platform'-style bag. Again, I'd really like it if an experienced transit dog traveler could share their opinion here.

Car Rentals

LMFAO.

Bike

Flower was way too big to be a 'basket dog'. Cinnamon was having none of it. The two times we tried it, she tried to commit suicide. She almost succeeded the second time, and we never tried again. I never ran Flower or Cinnamon while riding the bike either. But sooner than later I'm going to try both with Sabo.

Walking

I really don't want get a plain 'handle only' carrier because the only real reason I'd want to take Sabo on transit at all is to start/finish a hike to/from the car/transit. I can't be hiking w/ my dog holding an empty carrier in one hand.

Any help here from 2+2 land ??



As promised, on Sunday Sabo finally gets to go to a union meeting... where his name, 'Sabo-doggy', alone is sure to make him popular. I still gotta get the minvan's window fixed. So Sabo's other big adventure, and it's going to take all week, is I'm going to make him walk to/from my garage... Backwards !!!1!

It was a beautiful spring day this Easter Sunday. A perfect day to spend in the shade, on Old Town plaza. Which was convenient, as the IWW San Diego Caucus meets on the third Sunday. And starting this month our new, dog friendly, venue is... Old Town plaza.

So I stuck my IWW 100th anniversary pin into Sabo, and I stuffed Sabo into the car, and off we drove... for hours it seems... all the way across town to Old Town. Since Sabo still doesn't wanna get stuffing in a bag, afterwards my union brother P gave us a ride back to the Sabotat.

And what happened was... Sabo was the hit of the park. There he joined the union. And... Sabo-doggy was proclaimed the new IWW mascot (replacing that stale, 100 year or so old, Sabo-tabby). As a new Wobbly, this is what Sabo gets...

• An 'X-Number'. Our union membership number.
  
  Traditionally the letter 'X' followed by six digits. This has also historically served as an alias or handle, similar to a HAM radio dude's call-sign. For example, my IRL e-mail address is of the form <x123456@iww.org>. I just need to hold a potential membership number "in stock". Our initiation fee is one month's dues...($5)
  
  
• A 'Red Card'. That's what we call our dues booklets. Replacements are ($1).
• An IWW pin. I stock these.
• One Big Union introductory pamphlet, copies of the current Constitution, and LA GMB by-laws. I stock these too.
• A subscription to the Industrial Worker. In fact, I'll do Sabo better and get him four additional gift subscriptions.
  
  Our union newspaper is available free to read on line. However, there really is something special about personally serving up some tasty Dead tree, sliced thin, sprinkled with ink. Members can request a free snail mail subscription. But... anyone can buy five 'bundled' subscriptions for... ($20/year).
  
  Of course, Sabo can't read, so I'm just going to give away all his copies to other people... so they can give them away to still other people.
  
  
• ...and his 'Stamps'
  
  Unlike mainstream unions, we reject the 'Dues Check-off System'. That's where the boss deducts your union dues from your paycheck. Instead, we have this quaint, but very effective, practice of selling dues stamps. Our dues rate depends on wages, from $5 to $27/month.
  
  However... we also sell 'Voluntary Assessment Stamps'. These are just a quaint way of earmarking donations to certain projects or campaigns. Several of these are also denominated as $5. I can't sell Sabo dues stamps, but I can still buy him $5 stamps, and paste them into his replacement dues booklet ($60/year).

So, once again, this 'free dog' is sure costing me a lot of money. That's another ($86) more he just cost me yesterday !!!1!.


One thing I wasn't kidding about, however. Sabo really was the star of the park.

Pretty much every family with young children asked if their kids could pet the cute little doggy. The young ladies, and the park rangers (cops really do like Sabo), also came over and said Sabo was cool. Sabo was loving with the children, and was just loving all the attention. After May Day, I'm going to sit down and do a serious self-evaluation of where I'm at with Operation Sabo Training (OST). But tentatively, I'm considering crossing this 'Shy Dog Syndrome' off the training list.

Monday morning I stuffed Sabo into the minvan, and off we went. Our first stop was the local Sabo'hood dog park... where 'The Fast One', once again, bested the competition. Then we drove all the way across town... for miles it seems... to my garage.

After dropping off the minvan, we walked a couple of blocks over to the pound, from whence 'Artie' came from. As I mentioned above, they requested a follow up status report. However, I couldn't resist first having a quick LOL by saying I was returning him. The receptionist remembered 'Artie'... so I guess he even had his fans during his stay in doggy prison.

Continuing on we walked to, and cut through, the trolley station, scrambled up an embankment, and walked over a bridge into Old Town. In Old Town we retraced Sabo's steps on Sunday, looking for my IWW 100th Anniversary pin. Sabo had lost it yesterday. I gotta figure Sabo was mortified... as he carefully inspected every single blade of grass, everywhere where he was... but we had no luck {more 'free' dog costs... $1}.


Here, we jumped in the car, and drove downtown, parking across from the airport, and just south of the Coast Guard base (free for 2hrs !!!1!). From here, we strolled south along the embarcadero, where Sabo checked out all three floating dinghy docks. Then we strolled past the Maritime Museum (featuring The Star of India) past the Cruise Ship terminal, past the Broadway Pier (closed for some construction) to the Midway air craft carrier museum.


Then we went over to the iconic Santa Fe train station. San Diego is somewhat unique in that the airport, passenger ship dock, and train station are all within a two mile walk, along a scenic embarcadero. But be advised... it's about 6-7 miles from Amtrak baggage check to Lindbergh Field's baggage checks.


On the way back to the car I stopped briefly at the County Administration Building, where I had a little bit of business to attend to. A SD County deputy said he'd make sure nobody messed with Sabo if I wanted to lasso him outside (cops really do like Sabo !!!1!). The park-like grounds here were all closed and torn up. But that's a good thing, as they are under-grounding the parking, and restoring the original park-like grounds over the top.


Then we drove home, where Sabo (who missed his first Padres game on Sunday), watched in dismay as his Padres lost in Milwaukee 3-4.

The minvan's window had been fixed by Tuesday afternoon. So off we went again in the car, driving across town... miles and miles it seems... to finally park near dive bar #6. Sabo's been to this dog friendly dive bar before. I had exactly one beer.

Next, we walked a couple of blocks to the Coronado Brewing Company's brewery. We found this super-cool place by accident, looking to park near dive bar #6 last time. This smaller industrial brewery has a dog friendly tasting room. What's super-cool is this tasting room is right in the factory... with no real barriers.


As someone who has spent his time standing in my steal-toed work shoes on factory floors like this... I just have to love this place. It's pretty amazing thinking I could have been working in a factory with a bar right in the middle of it. Last time, we were here at the end of the shift, and several of the workers just stepped on into the tasting room.

On the flip-side, for a manufacturing engineer like myself, it's pretty amazing sitting in a bar, with my doggy, and getting to watch a working factory. I was talking to one workers regarding their automated bottling line. He said he'd be happy to show me the line close up... but he couldn't that particular day as the big-big bosses were entertaining visiting VIPs.


After I had exactly one micro-brew, we walked a couple of blocks to Sabo's favorite restaurant... where every table on the patio has a water bowl down, and every dog gets a free bone. Here I had a late lunch, and also exactly one beer.

From there we walked a couple of blocks to my garage. We arrived just about closing time. Sadly, I couldn't join the crew for a couple of their after-work beers here like usual, as we'd already been bar hopping. Instead I drove the now fixed minvan back to the Sabotat. We got home just in time for Sabo to enjoy watching his Padres beat the Brewers, 2-1 in twelve... in their first extra inning game of the year !!!1!

Wednesday, I stuffed Sabo into the minvan, and we went again to the local Sabo'hood leash-free park. Strangely enough, this morning we had the park all to ourselves... and Sabo didn't really feel like running much. So I stuffed Sabo back in the minvan, and we drove out of the Sabo'hood... for miles and miles it seemed... to end up parking near dive bar #0.

Even though I'm no longer a reg here (It's too far away), dive bar #0 will always have a special place in my heart. It was my late brother Bobby and my special place. All important life decisions, such as getting married, getting divorced, quitting college, changing careers, or getting a dog... absolutely required a heart-to-heart discussion at dive bar #0. In fact, I stopped off here on the way to get 'Artie'.

Back in the Cinnamon era, The Missile had her picture up in lots of different bars. But she moved to Chicago-land getting on near ten years ago. Today, only dive bar #0 still has her picture up... and none of the regs, or employees, had ever met her, or even have any idea who she was.

In fact, dive bar #0 has never been dog friendly. Although Cinnamon was inside once... for about a millisecond. One time I let her off her lasso... and she ran fast as a missile in the bar's back door, through the dive (amazing all the drunks), out the front door, and right into the shop next door.

Unfortunately, at that time, the shop next door was a tattoo parlor. A tattoo parlor inhabited by two super-sized gnarly looking artists, and two super-sized gnarly looking pit bulls. The pit bulls were 'guarding' the front door, but The Missile was zooming so fast she was past them before they saw her. Or she saw them... but she quickly realized she was now trapped inside. And... the artists just laughed and said "no worries, just come on in and get your dog."

The reason Cinnamon has her picture up here is because of former bartender N. N, in addition to being a sweetheart, a young mom, a girl-band rocker, a bowler (LOL), and being easy enough on the eyes... is also a 'dog person', who moved out of town to open her own dog grooming shop. She 'd Cinnamon.


Well, it turns out the current employees are still in contact with N. They said they'd be happy to forward a letter to her. So today I dropped off a note, along with a rare remaining sheet from the 'Missile Pad' (a whole 'nuther story), and Sabo's original 'Doggy Prison' rap-sheet (above ITT).

I also had a token beer, while Sabo was safely lassoed outside. Then Sabo & me set out on Sabo's first longer hike. In fact, in order to get back across town, actually across this sprawling city which is the eight most populated in the US, we're going to have to average well over five miles the next four days. Eventually, we ended up back at dive bar #6. Where I enjoyed exactly two beers and a shot, before driving the car back to the Sabotat.

That evening Sabo was disappointed as he watched his Padres lost both the game (2-5), and the series (1-2) to the Brewers, falling to 10-12 for the year. When I watch a game in Milwaukee's Miller Park, I think of three things. I think about their beer of course.

The second thing I think about is... WTF, why aren't they using the DH ???/?. Then I remember Commisioner Selig upgraded the value of owner Selig's team by changing leagues. At that time at least, just being in the NL made an MLB team more valuable. The Astros were paid off by MLB to move to the AL. That said, it's time for a little trivia...

How many current MLB teams have changed leagues?



The third thing I think about is the 'Speed-up' kills. It should be Safety >>> Profit, not the other way around.

Thursday I stuffed Sabo into the car, and I drove... for miles and miles it seems... across town to park near C's Bar & Grill.

C retired a few years ago and sold the business... ironically to his boss where he worked before. But he still hangs out, the food is still excellent, the regs are always the same, and so are a few key employees. Cinnamon was here several times, and this was actually the first business I ever took Sabo to.

In fact... under the old regime, I had a standing offer for a free lunch on the patio anytime I'd bring The Missile in. I always tried to bring Cinnamon in when they weren't really busy. The reason being that she was such an amazing and beloved little doggy. In fact, she was, quite literally, a 'Show Stopper'. Once I remember bringing her in here... and hearing a three round chorus of "ZOMG, The Missile's here !!!1!". First from the bar regs, then from the wait staff in the dining room, and finally, in Espanol, from the kitchen staff. This brought the whole joint to a temporary standstill, as C called a general break so all could say hi to my doggy.


I enjoyed lunch w/cocktails at C's Bar & Grill. Sabo, understandably it will turn out, thought I might have spent too much time at lunch. Finally, Sabo and me set out for our second long hike. Eventually we ended up back at dive bar #0.

I dropped off my letter for N, but didn't stay for the traditional token beer. Sabo's Padres game in DC had already started... so I stuffed Sabo into the minvan, and directly drove him back to the Sabotat so he could watch the rest of the game. Luckily it was a long game... his Padres won in twelve again, 4-3.

Friday, I stuffed Sabo into the minvan, and off we went to Sabo'hood Dog Park. There were plenty of dogs this day... plenty of slower dogs. Then we got back in the minvan and drove to the old state highway trail-head into Wilder Canyon. This is right about on the unoffical border of the Sabo'hood, a good hike from the Sabotat.

Instead of hiking the canyon, we started off in a different direction... on our longest hike of the week... back to C's Bar & Grill. Where I once again had lunch (I did mention excellent food). This time, to make sure I got Sabo home in time to watch the whole game, I limited myself to two beers and a shot. Then I stuffed Sabo into car. We shouldn't have hurried... the Expos Senators Nats pounded his Padres 11-1.


For Sabo's big weekend, we have too big things planned. First we're going to hike the entirety of Wilder Canyon !!!1! Second, were going to take the train to the City of the Angels !!!1!

Things didn't go at all as planned.

AFAIK, 'Wilder', or 'I St', canyon doesn't have an official name. That's just what it was called by us kids back in the Flower era. It hardly warrants an official name, as it's only 300 feet deep, only about three miles long, and only drains maybe two square miles.

What makes it kinda unique in the Sabo'hood is that it is it's own watershed. It doesn't drain into Owl or Bear Park creeks. That, and it's privately owned, not a park. For reasons that remain a mystery, and despite the billboard sized 'available' sign along the state highway, most of this tiny canyon has somehow avoided being developed.

Sabo's Padres were playing a morning game in The District, where they were skunked, 0-4. After the game, Sabo & me set out to hike the three miles or so, through boring suburban streets, to the I St trail-head at the head of Wilder Canyon.

The first 1/4 mile or so of the trail into Wilder canyon has always been a footpath, at most. In fact, Historical Aerials shows no trail whatsoever when this part of the Sabo'hood was under construction, c.1950. My recollection from the Flower era, all subsequent aerial photography, and when I scouted the trail heads in person a couple of weeks ago, show only a footpath. So... imagine my surprise upon Saturday afternoon discovering a freshly graded 4WD trail, blocked by a whole buncha orange construction netting.


That didn't confront Sabo however, so we just walked the parallel boring suburban side street instead. Eventually we got to where the minvan was parked, and I stuffed Sabo into it. Then I re-scouted the other trail heads.

First I drove to the back of the infill condos here (c.1980) to the new lower trail-head. Except for the upper 1/4 mile, a sewer main was buried under this mini-canyon, also c.1950... and covered with a 4WD access trail. Sure enough, that access trail was also freshly graded, there was that same orange netting, and a buncha staged 8" PVC sewer pipes.


From there I drove the other trail heads, which are clustered about halfway down the canyon. These are two side streets, and a stub street (H Ct, above), which just stop, open ended, on level ground, well short of the ridge-line. This area was also built out c.1950. There's enough room here to build at least a dozen houses. Using modern construction grading machinery, several dozen condos could also be built here extending down into the canyon. Instead these streets have been mysteriously waiting to be extended for over 60 years now.

These trail heads had also changed in the last couple of weeks. Before they were unsigned. Now there are several new signposts with bright new "Private Property, No Trespassing" signs attached. And at the bottom of the foot path down into the canyon... the 4WD trail was also freshly graded, and was also surrounded with orange construction netting.

It wasn't signed "keep out" however, just no camping, dumping, motor vehicles, or bikes. So... Sabo & me will just wait until next summer or something, and hike Wilder canyon then.


Sunday, Sabo once again balked at being stuffed in a bag. So my union brother P instead drove us to the IWW LA GMB monthly meeting at Corazon del Pueblo in Boyle Heights, Los Angeles. Even though I sucked as a navigator, P managed to get us there.

The same couldn't be said for whoever had the keys to the meeting room, however. So we adjourned to Mariachi Plaza, a couple of blocks down the street. Ironically, this is where we would have taken a trolley to, if Sabo had wanted to get in the bag.

The little book store on the plaza was nice enough to host our meeting. But I wasn't sure if it was dog friendly, and didn't want to be a pest... so Sabo & me ended up skipping the meeting itself.

Instead we found this dog friendly cool Latino dive beer bar. They had Jennifer Tilly playing a Colombian in El Padrino: The Latin Godfather, dubbed into Espanol, on the TV... and alternately Snoop Lion or Mariachi music on the jukebox.

Through a series of mistakes, confusions, and coincidences, I got this whole 'Wilder' canyon thingee completely wrong. In fact, it turns out the folks on it's rim call it 'Ripley' canyon, after a old elementary school that used to be along a ridge-line 25 years ago. I came to this realization Monday night, while Sabo watched his Padres beat the G.I. Ants in The City.

So... I spent some quality time with the historical and current topo maps, aerial photos, and 'Street Views', examined the current assessor maps (which I copied while I was down at the county building recently), and Sabo & me consulted my union brother B, who has lived above this canyon since the 1980s. That information, together with whatever I might remember as a child, and what I've learned about the history of this land as an adult, allows me to give a much better explanation of what's going on in this little canyon.


Along the way I had another epiff. As kids, even though we vaguely knew that what is now the Sabo'hood used to be cattle ranches, we imagined that was way back in the 1800s, and these urban canyons were in a 'state of nature'.

We were partially correct... this land was cattle ranches in the 1800s. In fact that goes back to the 1830s under the Mexican regime. What we didn't realize is that some of those ranches operated into the mid 1960s.

Over a hundred years of cattle ranching had basically stripped the land of all vegetation, except for a few trees. There are aerial photos of the Sabo'hood circa 1950, 1960, 1980, 1990 & 2000. Every decade shows significantly more vegetation.

Another striking difference is that the 1960 & 1980 photos show dirt roads, 4WD trails, construction tracks, footpaths, goat paths, and worn passages running everywhere all through the then wide open canyons... several up every side canyon, finger canyon, draw, to every ridge line and school yard, through every undeveloped area, empty lot, and up to a lot of the back gates.

The build out of the Sabo'hood coincided with the Baby Boom. There was originally about three gazillion kids in the 'hood. In those pre-interwebs days all those kids hung out in the canyons. They were the worlds biggest playgrounds... just packed with kids. As well as trash, and dog poop... a whole lotta people, kids & adults, were litterbugs back then.

That was Flower's canyons. We thought the wide open canyons were a 'state of nature'. We never imagined our canyons could be better. We were wrong. Sabo's canyon's are much different... and better.

Kids don't play in the canyons anymore. Hardly anyone litters. There are now park rangers, and private stewards, who keep these spaces clean. Almost all of those old trashy little side paths have faded out. At the same time the canyons have revegatated. Significant remediation has occurred. Now pretty much every finger canyon, draw, ridge-line, and back gate are impassible and/or unreachable. After about 50 years... the undeveloped parts of the canyons are largely healed.


I was completely off in the ozone when I imagined they were replacing the sewer main buried under this canyon. Sewer mains big 24-30" pipes, not little 8" ones. Currently they are replacing the 60yo substandard 6" collectors buried under the streets... nothing to do with the canyons.

In fact, they replaced the sewer main buried under this little canyon eight years ago. At that time the city graded a gravel 4WD access road, from the I St trail head, down to the first manhole. From there the access road was completely regraded, and paved with wood chips. Unlike when I was a kid, a passenger car could drive this trail, below the first manhole, easily.

However, a passenger car would now be trapped. The access trail now dead ends at a last pair of manholes, about 1/4 mile above the infill condos. From here, all trace of the c.1950 4WD access trail has been completely removed and the area remediated... leaving only a footpath through a restored canyon.

The orange construction netting is there to protect additional remediation along the sides of he access trail. Behind the netting, hundreds of little flags mark where new vegetation was recently planted. The canyon trail itself is open for hiking... and Sabo & me enjoyed doing so.


As for the mystery of why this canyon has never been developed, it's not really that mysterious. It is a small, narrow, steep canyon. Most of it will never be developed. More importantly, B confirmed what I suspected. The canyon proper is staked in some sort of mitigation deal. How these work is the developer agrees to not develop X acres here, in return for permission to develop X extra acres, or equivalent variances, somewhere else.

That left three areas unexplained... at the bottom, the middle, and the top of the canyon. The question of why the mouth wasn't originally developed was answered when the infill condos were built. There was no reason.

The assessor's map shows why the open area at the top, where the new gravel access trail drops down into the canyon proper, will never be developed. With few exceptions, the lots along these urban canyons are fenced at the ridge-line, not the property line. The property lines are generally somewhere part way down a steep canyon side. Here instead, the new gravel access trail was graded through a 20' wide public alley R/W. The rest of the open area is actually the surrounding house's unimproved and unfenced far backyards.

This alley was dedicated to the city to preserve lateral access to their sewer easement. It was never improved before because such access has never been needed... until that sewer was replaced. That's why the I St trial-head has never been signed, and has always been open to pedestrians.

Now, where the alley R/W ends, the access trail continues into the undivided and undeveloped canyon proper. Here, the gravel paving turns to wood chips, and the trail passes between two tall 50yo trees with "Private Property" signs posted high on their trunks.

The third area is the small open areas above the ridge-line, where J St, P St, and H Ct stop open ended. The trick here is noticing that these streets all stop along a boundary of one of the original San Diego Pueblo Lots. This is a tell-table sign that these lots were under different ownership when the Sabo'hood was built out.

In fact, as originally built out, there were three other of these open ended streets... E St, C St, and C Ct. Four custom houses were plotted at the original end of E St c.1960 and were built out c.1980. Six custom houses were plotted at the original ends of C St & Ct c.1990 and five have been built so far.

Past the end of H Ct, where the BMX riders were trespassing and scarring the land, an area was just fenced off and remediated. The fence-line is an extension of H Ct, hinting that about four custom homes might soon be plotted here. I'm sure J St (~4 homes) and P St (~6 homes) will eventually be likewise built out.

In the meantime, the private stewards of these small areas have their hands full with the trespassing BMX riders, the trespassing residents at the end of P St (who are parking cars past a vandalized barricade), and the trespassing resident at the end of H Ct, who can access the fenced remediated area through a back gate (and has set up a whole picnic/party zone inside of it).

So... is it a three day weekend if Cinco de Mayo falls on a Monday?

Sure, if you live in the State of Puebla, MX. It's a legal holiday there. Otherwise, LMFAO no. From Wikipedia...


Well... is it four day weekend if May Day falls on a Thursday?

Of course, like duh. Happy May Day folks !!!1!

May Day, May 1st, is the most wonderful day of the year !!!1! It's makes a three day weekend when it falls Friday-Sunday, a four day weekend when it falls on Tuesday or Thursday, and a nine day 'weekend' when it falls on a Wednesday. From IWW.org...


Well later this morning, Thursday, Sabo & me are going downtown, and stroll the City College campus. In the afternoon Sabo's marching in the big yearly May Day parade... from City College to Chicano Park. Then we'll help table with my union during the after-march programs. This evening we will be attending my union's May Day Party (pun intended).

Friday is going to be Dog Park Tour, Part II... as we check out several of the leash-free dog parks, and dog runs, we missed several weeks ago.

Saturday and Sunday Sabo & me are going to have a little 'family home weekend'... as I evaluate our progress so far, and plan the next stage, in Operation Sabo Training.

And Monday 5-5, I'm going to take Sabo the one place where it ain't going to be amateur day at the bars, and a buncha drunken idiots aren't going to be mistakenly celebrating MX 'independence'... to Mexico. I've never been to Mexicali before, and I've heard MX-2 is pretty cool to drive (but only during the day).

Again, not at all as planned.

On May Day there was a full Santa Ana blowing... 100 degrees, with periodic bone-dry gusts up to 30 mph.

That morning Sabo & me set out and drove... for miles and miles it seems... across town to my beach house, where I stuffed a folding table and a few lawn chairs into the minvan. Then we drove... again for miles and miles it seems... to Chicano Park.

From here, Sabo and me set out on foot directly to City College. This is about two miles, and while not really steep, is all up-hill. Then quickly walked the compact urban campus. At that point I had one tired and hot little doggy... and Sabo flaked out on the campus front lawn, under the big tree, and took a nice nap.


Then something, something, something happened... and I lost hold of Sabo's turbo-leash. Sabo started going downhill, across the lawn, towards busy Park Blvd. I ran down the hill to stop him, and right in the middle of the sidewalk, stomped down on the turbo leash.

And that's where disaster struck, for me at least... that turbo-leash slipped out from under my right foot like a banana peel. The other knee buckled, and all 200lbs of my fat behind came straight down on my left knee's inside face. No... knees aren't made to bend that way.

Luckily we weren't alone.

This lawn was the rally point for the big May Day parade. Right next door, San Diego HS was just getting out. In fact several HS students took Sabo's pic. Several hundred people had nothing better to do than watch the cute little dog and his clumsy master's slapstick pratfall.

Sabo reached me first, but was soon joined by several people, including a nurse who was working the parade. He offered Sabo & me a ride... but I walked it out a bit, and said I'd try to see if I could make the downhill three mile parade first. He said fine... they gotta 'sag-wagon' following the parade, so I could just stop and get a ride if I changed my mind.

Luckily, I wasn't hurt much... just some scrapes, and a pretty good Grade I MCL sprain. However, I realized a few blocks into the parade that, although I could indeed march the parade, I was straggling.


A couple blocks up we ran into the giant-puppet dude. He had had a wardrobe malfunction and needed to bring up his giant-sized giant-puppet mobile. Recognizing us from the OSD daze, he offered me a ride back to Chicano Park, if I watched his giant-puppet. Mutual Aid really does works in mysterious ways... it turns out the giant-sized giant-puppet mobile has cranking A/C, and he had gotten me ice cold Gatorade, just what I really needed. Sabo marched the parade with my union sister S.

After the march, Sabo & me got the gear out of the minvan, and helped table during the after march program @ Chicano Park. It's always amazing who you meet on May Day. This year, E came up and asked if I remembered her. E is quite attractive, so of course I did... but I wasn't placing her from activism. We actually knew each other from back in the Cinnamon era, when he was a server on the night shift, working her way through grad school. Now she's a tenured teacher, activist, and organizer.

It turns out the venue for our union after-party wasn't dog friendly. So I drove Sabo back to the Sabotat. The after-party was somewhere super-confusing, somewhere way out in east county, so of course I got hopelessly lost. I missed most of the party, but a good time was had none-the-less.


On the way home, I did something I hadn't done in six months -- played some poker. I stopped off and closed down the Lucky Lady...

Quote:

2014 Poker Log

When	Where	What	Win	Comp	How Long	Buy
5-2 0030	LL	23	52	--	1:30	200

Table:5, Floor:James

As predicted, the knee swelled up over night.

By about 5am Friday it was really too painful to sleep comfortably. So on went the knee brace, in went the Naproxen, and all the above activities were postponed.

I'm now giving Sabo an overall grade of B--.

As part of the 'free dog' deal, I got in pocket a free hour of in-person consultation with the pound trainers. When we stopped by in person, the trainers weren't available. The receptionist, who remembered 'Artie', said just go ahead and email them any simple questions before coming in for that meeting.

So... I'm making another attempt to get in touch with the long lost S, Cinnamon's master. I'm consulting with Sabo's 'dog-father' (God-Uncle) B. And... as long as I'm off my feet, spending some quality time with Google. Along with making an OST game-plan for this summer... I'm going to write up a "State of the 'Artie'" email, and send it to the pound trainers. Might as well get a little free "dog-whisperer" advice.

Of course, any such essay, on a plain reading, is going to make Sabo look like a little monster. So I'm not sure how much I wanna share with my (single) reader.

It's not like I only take Sabo out on the weekends... I take him with me whenever practical. That's Sabo's new life... and as a 'go' dog, he's loving it.

But this last week I was pretty much off my feet as my knee swelled up. Except for a couple of quick trips to talk to The Clown, Sabo & me stayed home all week long... for the first time ever. Luckily the Sabotat is big enough, and has that little terraced hill in back... so a little dog like Sabo can still get his exercise.

This morning, I was finally feeling good enough to take Sabo out again. He was scratching at the front door, he was so ready to go. We went, of course, to his favorite park... the local Sabo'hood dog park. This time I overheard the dog park regs refer to Sabo as both "the fast one", and as "the cute one".

Sabo showed me another new side to his personality today.

I was sitting on a park bench resting my knee. A big dog, for whatever reason, came over and sat down close to me, but facing away. Sabo had been happily playing with this big dog a couple of minutes ago. But when he saw that big dog right near me like that... well he came flying right over, at full Sabo-speed.. and ran that big dog off. Later, a different big dog ran over towards me... and Sabo ran him off too.

As if there was any doubt... I think with this 'guarding my master' behavior, it can objectively be said that Sabo has bonded to me .

I'm still working on that essay... but I've already made some decisions regarding OST Phase II. And who was I trying to kid... of course I'm going to blog the dirt on Sabo. As if there was any doubt... I think with me even considering 'guarding' Sabo's anonymous reputation, it can objectively said that I have bonded to Sabo .

The themed weekends are actually a part of OST. The idea is to make a sequence of relatively short visits to new and different places, where Sabo can meet new and different people/dogs... as a way of working on his 'shy dog' problems.

However, a couple of days after I mused ITT that I probably would scratch this 'shy dog' issue off the list, something, something, something happened, and Sabo snapped again. So... I've decided that the themed weekends will continue into OST Phase II...


I actually did a little research on dog parks in the county... and was amazed to come up with over 40. My knee ain't up to any kinda mass marathon like that (or any hiking in the canyons for that matter). But I am up for some driving... for miles and miles it seems, out of the Sabo'hood... and some sitting on park benches watching Sabo run around like a crazy dog.

So the theme for Sabo's big weekend this time is...

Do-Over weekend... Sabo does what we missed last time !!!1!

Saturday is the grand opening of the new Waterfront Park @ the County Administration Center downtown. They say there's going to be a beer garden !!!1! We're also going to check out if the new Cramer Park in Linda Vista is open yet, or if Chavez Park in Barrio Logan has re-opened yet. All three of these parks were surrounded by fencing and construction equipment when Sabo last visited.


Sunday, we're going to go to four dog parks. Dusty Rhodes park, which we skipped last time because it's right next to Dog Beach. And three others that Sabo's been to, but didn't get to run in for various reasons: Capehart, Grape St, and Morley Field. And if my knee is up to it... we're going to re-visit the City College campus. We didn't really get a chance to check it out, as it was so miserably hot, and I ended up hurting myself.

Not exactly as planned, I switched up the order a bit... but it didn't go in a particularly unexpected way. Lot's of fun was had by Sabo !!!1!

Sabo runs with the big dogs.

Friday I had a dinner date down at the beach. So Sabo & me drove... across town for miles and miles it seemed... to Pacific Beach. Beforehand, Sabo & me stopped by to check out Capehart dog park. This park has two fenced dog runs... a tiny one (smaller than the Sabotat) for little dogs, and a larger one for all dogs.

This could have been the site of Sabo's very first leash-free run on his very first Big Weekend. Back then I didn't know then if Sabo was going to be cool with the big dogs... and the small dog pen had an rolling and wrestling ball of little dogs in it, that Sabo obviously didn't want any part of.

Friday evening I also sat down on a bench to rest my knee. Just like Thursday Sabo ran off both the big dogs who came over towards me... even though he happily hung out with all the dogs, and hypocritically their masters, otherwise.

Saturday was warm and humid, but thankfully overcast with a cool breeze blowing off of the bay.

Sabo & me drove... across town for miles and miles it seemed... to Balboa Park. Back on Chavez day we had scouted out both the Grape St & Morley Field leash-free areas. The plan was to come back and let Sabo run free after we had checked out Nate's Point, the third leash-free area in the park. That was until Sabo LOLtastically fell into the Koi Pond.

Both the Grape St & Morley Field leash-free areas are unfenced. Sabo still has dozens of dog parks in the county to check out. That said, Grape St is the best he's been to. Even better than his previous best... our local Sabo'hood dog park. I didn't really spend any time sitting off by myself this day... so I didn't see if Sabo was going to 'guard' me from the big dogs for a third day in a row.

Fun was had, by all, at the CAC Waterfront Park grand opening !!!1!

Then Sabo&me drove downtown to the new waterfront park. This grand opening was wildly popular, and the new park was jumping. We first strolled the new area south of the CAC building... which is now a giant kids playground with all sorts of kid-cool slides, etc... which was packed with children.

We next checked out the plaza with fountains on the west side. This is the only part of the original 1930's gardens to be preserved. Sabo, who was dog-tired by this point of the day, flaked out in the shade here and had a nice nap. After Sabo rested up, we checked out the very dog-friendly beer garden set up in the formal gardens along the north side. It was a reasonable $10 admission, including a commemorative glass.

The beer garden was cleverly designed to make it impossible to get a buzz-on.

The commemorative glass turned out to hold only 3oz. However they had pour-spouts on all the higher alcohol content products set for less than the 3oz. You got wristbands with 10 'void-if-detached' tags... five for beer tasters, and five for wine tasters. They had a couple of dozen local micro-brews and vintners happily giving these tasters out... each one at at time, after waiting in short lines. They even had high standing 'cocktail' tables scattered about... but nowhere to sit down.

Then we checked out the west (bay side) of the new park. Here there is a series of wading pools, with playable fountains spraying over the top. All sorts of children, some adults, and at least one little black&gray doggy had a blast cooling off splashing around in these pools.

Along side the wading pools there is a large green all the way along and across from the waterfront. Here they had a bandstand setup. The Mar Dels were playing, complimenting the 1950s car show occupying Harbor Dr.set up in. They also had a cultural stage setup, along with booths from various county departments.

I aggravate my injured knee

Saturday, as I mentioned, I didn't really sit down while we visited the two dog parks. The grand opening of new waterfront park was wildly popular, and the whole area was severely parking impacted. We ended up parking about 3/4 of a mile away uphill. I would have liked to have rested my knee a little before hiking that 3/4 miles back uphill from the park... but couldn't as my time on the parking meter was expiring.

Bottom line, I overextended myself on Saturday. Sunday about 4am my knee swelled up again and became quite painful. So... all the above activities were postponed, each for the second or third time now.

Seventeen years ago today, a pure-bred Boston Terrier puppy, with almost perfect markings, was born in a TN breeding kennel. They named her 'Cinnamon Stick' after her very beautiful and very rich brown coat.

A few weeks later she was shipped off, for well into four figure$$$$, to a wealthy man in LA's San Fernando Valley. Less than a year later, he relinquished the completely wild little doggy to the local Boston Rescue. He said an older female dog was "beating the puppy up".

That chillingly sad little note is all we'll ever know about Cinnamon's puppy-hood. Of course, we know even less about Sabo's (the new dog) puppy-hood.

What we do know is that she turned out OK. She later earned the title, and became known as, 'The Missile'. In her own way, she was an extraordinary dog, and famously popular. More important... She was a good little dog.

Yeah, I suck at that. And I really need to step up my game. So... I'm going to post a new pic of Sabo in each of my next ten posts.

Hardly any pics of Sabo, Cinnamon, or Flower, exist. The above is one of the few. Ironically this pic only existed, until I just scanned it, as a refrig magnet on the very same refrig I cropped out of the pic. For whatever reason, Cinnamon's brown coat looks much darker here than it really was.

Well I guess if I'm going to make Sabo, who isn't a little monster, look like a little monster... I might as well do-up the dirt on him good. So, without further ado, I'll commence blogging that essay...

Of course, like :duh: !!!1!

Memorial Day Weekend is traditionally the official start of the beach tourist season. So the theme for Sabo's big weekend is going to be... Sabo goes to the beach !!!1!

It's time to see if Sabo is really a water dog... so we're going back to OTL Island, and Dog Beach, and also going to the two other leash-free beaches in the county: Horse Beach and Coronado North Beach. Sabo is also going to get to hike around Mission Bay... just like Flower and Cinnamon did before him.

But the highlight for Sabo might well be his first ever overnight road trip... we're going to be tourists ourselves, and spend four nights and five days in Missile Beach !!!1!


I'll have more to blog about Sabo's Aztecs on Labor Day Weekend. They open at the Q -vs- FCS Northern Arizona on Saturday August 30th. But I think we all know that Sabo's first love is his Padres.

Sabo is young. Even though his Padres are six games under .500, and 8½ games back of the Giants... Sabo still sees his Padres coming back to win the division, or for sure get a wildcard. Sabo feels the starting pitching has been excellent, Street's been perfect as the closer, and now that Headley's back the offense will surely get into gear.

I spent over a decade betting baseball for a living. My best friend & me seem to have literally invented Fantasy Baseball. I've been watching Sabo's Padres since back when they were brown. I've tried to explain to Sabo to be patient.


That evil carpetbagger J.Moores hasn't been gone that long. It takes a few seasons for a MLB franchise to recover from a raping like that. Sabo's Padres were five games under .500 last year... a reasonable goal would be to finish five games over. They have there work cut out for them... they'd have to go 65-49 (.625) the rest of the way.

Sabo's correct that his Padres starting pitching has been very good. As any baseball better will tell you, starting pitching is the key to winning ball games... and winning championships. Streets been very good too. Although the public way overestimates the importance of the closer... if he ain't racking up saves, the team for whatever reason isn't winning.

The problem is, of course, that Sabo's Padres can't hit. They couldn't hit water if they fell out of a boat. They're dead last in runs scored, with only scored 143 (3.o runs/game). The MLB leader Humidor's (CO) have 255 (5.4 runs/game).

And of course, Sabo's shooting an angle here, like fanatical fans always will. He's counting Headley coming off the DL as a big plus (even though no one hitter can turn this offense around, and he only batting .198 with a .641 OPS for the year anyways). At the same time he's ignoring the fact that 2/5ths of that very good starting rotation just hit the DL: Erlin and Cashner. Cashner, in particular, hitting the DL is especially damaging... as the staff Ace being out has objective and pernicious ripple effects that effect the entire team.


Bottom Line: I can't really pull Sabo's tail or give him any grief, because my Red Sox aren't doing any better. Although my Red Sox are a clearly better team than Sabo's Padres, and haven't buried themselves as deeply in the standings. Baseball Prospectus has my Red Sox at 21.9% to make the playoffs, while Sabo's Padres are at 4.6.


This summer I plan on training Sabo by making him go to the Dog Day of Summer (7-29 -vs- the Cards ), and to Petco Park to watch another away game or two. I figure that he'll develop a much better ability to handicap MLB after he's exposed to it some more in person.

My knee wasn't ready for any hiking, never mind around Mission Bay. Instead, I loaded the "Woody"* up with Sabo's Ole#8 nest & Sierra Cups. For me changes of clothes, towels, a beach blanket, foldy chairs, a sun canopy, sunscreen, a cooler with snacks/water, etc, etc,etc. And of course, a book to read ~ A Country of Ghosts by Margaret Killjoy. We had wonderful summer like weather all weekend...so off we went on Sabo's Surfin' Safari Big Weekend.

Off-Leash Beaches and Shore	Season	Hours
Dog Beach	Year Round	24 hrs
OTL Island	Year Round	6am-10pm
Coronado Dog Beach	Year Round	4am-11pm
Horse Beach	9-2** to 6-15	24 hrs

* ^{No actual wood in the minvan.}
** ^{Yearly, the day after Labor Day.}

Hotel Del Coronado; opened 1888

Thinking about Coronado's Dog Beach naturally reminded me of the Coronado Brewing Co's super-cool dog friendly factory. So Friday we stopped off there on the way to Coronado... and since I've never been to the actual restaurant in Coronado, we had a late lunch on their dog friendly patio too.

I'm positive I never took Flower or Cinnamon to Coronado Dog Beach. In fact, I assumed I'd never been here either. However, on seeing this beach I instantly realized I had indeed been here before. Can't for the life of me remember why or when ??

Afterwards, we drove to our home-away-from-home the next four nights... the Beach Shack in Missile Beach.

The Over-the-Line Tournament is in July

The Beach Shack doesn't have a fence, or any yards to speak of. This calls for regular 'duty' walks for any resident dogs. Out of nostalgia, I recreated Cinnamon's old 'duty' walk along Mission Bay between 8-9am. In the evenings, I took Sabo out three times... to Missile Beach to watch the sunset, to Mission Bay to watch the nightly fireworks at 9:50, and to Missile Beach again around midnight.

In addition, Saturday we spent the day at OTL Island, on the leash-free sandy bay shores. Overall, Sabo had 18 chances to go swimming this weekend !!!1!

Mission Bay was originally called False Bay

Dogs can be on Mission Bay on-leash in the mornings; before 9am. So... at sunrise on Sunday (5:44) I lugged our gear the ~100yds to the Mission Bay sandy bay shore. In addition, I lassoed Sabo using the 'Missile Hook'... Cinnamon's old tie-down.

No dogs allowed on the Roller Coaster

Dogs can be on city beaches on-leash in the afternoons; after 4pm November-March, and after 6pm April-October. So... at 6pm Sunday I lugged our gear the ~100yds to the beach in Missile Beach'hood. Again, I lassoed Sabo with the 'Missile Hook'. We left shortly after sunset (7:47pm).

San Diego Dog Beach

In addition to going to some house parties in Missile Beach and Ocean Beach, Sabo & me spent Memorial Day afternoon at the mother of all off-leash beaches : Dog Beach.

Del Mar North Beach; Del Mar Racetrack (background)

Tuesday Sabo & me spent the afternoon where, as Bing Crosby sang... The Turf meets the Surf down in old Del Mar. This beach is adjacent to the racetrack, and is famous for the trainers bringing racehorses down to the beach to work them out (BTW, OTL Island is also open to horses). Afterwards, we drove back to the Sabotat, ending Sabo's Surfin' Safari.

Naw... I was just pulling Sabo's tail.

I am lucky enough, to be privileged enough, to keep a little dog. But since we're doing a State of the Sabo report, and Sabo's got all new gear, I figure I should do another accounting.

Dog w/Chip, licence (thru 2016), vet visit.

Dog rocks (dry food) {$28}, cookies (treats) {$5}, 'rawhides' {$14}, chew bone.

Backpack carrier {$80}, Ole#8 nest (3x lap blankets), Sierra Cups (2x), feeding toys (2x) {$19}, County tag, Padres tag {$12}, military dog tags (2x), light metal necklace, Cinnamon's collar, harness {$12}, Padres shirt {$36}, leader-leash {$14}, turbo-leash {$17}, Missile Hook (tie down).

Stolen turbo-leash {$18}, lost IWW Centennial Pin {$1}, IWW replacement Red Card {$1}, old pair of shorts, sprained knee.

Going through the receipts, I quickly noticed that I hadn't bought Sabo any more food. The treats are understandable. Partially because I didn't give him any until OST started. Mainly because Sabo was getting real (non-chocolate) people cookies for his 'cookies'... as I had a giant bag that I didn't care for.

But as for the dry food, well I haven't bought any more of that... and there's still some left in the bag. I've been feeding him the same cup/day that the first two pages suggested for Sabo sized dogs. On further review... it turns out I bought him a big bag of puppy food, and it recommends two cups/day.

ZOMG Sabo would be so bitter if he could read. LMFAO. Don't worry my (single) reader... he gets enough cookies as part of OST, he's doing just fine.


I also re-purposed my two Sierra cups as Sabo's new bowls. They really are convenient to take along on Sabo's hikes... dogs hate drinking out of water bottles.

I'm blogging about this past weekend, the weekend of June 1st. The theme for Sabo's Big Weekend was... Sabo Rocks, Rolls and Runs the Marathon !!!1!

In addition, June 1st was also the target date for Chavez Park reopening, so we finally checked out this park. Sabo walked the view pier all the way out. I made extra sure he didn't fall the 20 or so feet into the harbor. We watched Sabo's Padres play at Cell Phone Field at Dog Food Park, while also checking out the hoopla at the adjacent marathon finish line. I wonder if the White Sox fans were watching the Rock&Roll Marathon on their big screen. We also spent the morning at OTL Island, and we went back to the scene of the accident, exactly one month ago this day... City College.

Time	Miles	Sabo's Marathon	2014-6-1
6:10 AM		Watch	Wheel chairs @Start Line
6:15	0.0	Run to	6th & Redwood, parallel w/race
6:16	0.1	Walk to	Cab stand
6:30		Cab to	OTL Island like Rosie Ruiz
7:00	0.4	Missilation	Sabo runs 9.9 miles !!!1!
7:40	10.3	Walk to	Stage #11
7:55		Watch	Clapton Hook
8:10	11.0	Walk to	Stage #12
8:30		Watch	Santana Bros
8:45	12.0	Walk to	OTL Island
9:00	12.6	Missilation	Sabo runs 10.5 miles !!!1!
9:45		Car to	Chavez Park
10:15		Explore	Walk the pier !!!1!
10:45	23.1	Walk to	Petco Park
11:10		Watch	Finish Line & Sabo's Padres lose 1-4
1:18 PM	24.3	Walk to	City College, race now over
1:45		Explore	City College campus
2:15	25.5	Walk to	13th & J
2:29	26.1	Run to	Finish Line
2:30	26.2	Collapse	Sabo's elapsed time 3:27

I was kinda pulling Sabo's tail here... he's not a biter. But he still likes giving those little 'love bites' when in a playful mood.

Sabo definitely has his frisky, playful side. But he doesn't really show it much... he hardly has any play in him. He's not interested in toys, and he doesn't really like to rough-house.

The only two playful things he does is (a) when outside, occasionally he'll Missilate (super-fast, super crazy running around). Sometimes, if I'm sitting on a bench watching him, he'll jump up and give we some quick 'love bites' then jump down and carry on. And (b) when inside he'll sometimes initiate some very gentle rough-housing with some 'love bites'. But he always quits to get scratched almost immediately.

Dogs can be trained to play too... and I'll be blogging more about that next post. After I train into Sabo a new way to play... then I'll train out these 'love bites'. In the meantime... well, I don't want to stifle my little boy's only playfulness completely.

Mode	Segments	Time	Miles	MPH
Missilating	2	1:25	20.4	14.4
Running	2	0:02	0.2	6.0
Walking	7	2:10	5.6	2.6
Cabs/Cars	2	1:00	15.8	15.8
Watch/Explore	6	3:43

More on the R&R Marathon... correction, not counting Cabs/Cars/Watching/Exploring Sabo's clocked a time of 3:37. That's more than an hour longer than the winner's time of 2:23:50. He also lost a more important race that same day...

Yep, he finally wasn't the fastest dog at the park. Out on OTL Island, a big dog out-raced Sabo. This big dog had mastered the Little Dog Game of acceleration combined with quick turns. That, along with the natural advantage of a longer stride, bested Sabo.

However, even though I didn't have any problem walking the ~6 miles for Sabo's Marathon... my knee is still messed up and sore, all day everyday. Sabo is helping me with the mother of all spring cleaning projects... cleaning out the entire garage, after about 50 years. That's going to entail plenty enough exercise for my knee without any long hikes in the mix. So... Sabo's Big Weekends are suspended until summer.



It's not like I can't train Sabo. I taught him 'Sabo Drop It'. But I don't really know what I'm doing.

Grandpa trained Flower up to be the good dog she was... but the deal is he's not responsible for Sabo. Her master S took a wild Cinnamon Srick and trained her into The Missile, a good little dog... but he is still MIA. Sabo's 'Dog-Father' B lives over in AZ... so he can't be paws on all the time.

This, combined with Sabo's age and issues (NOT 'Little Monster' issues), made me decide that I needed some professional mentoring.