'I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS' on Yahoo today.......

Welcome to The Mud Puppy Do It Yourself Dog Wash And Spa! We are committed to providing high quality equipment and products to help you maintain a happy healthy pet. We provide the industries best shampoos, conditioners, professional grooming tubs, and dryers. We also carry medicated and specialty shampoos. You can even treat your dog to a blueberry facial. We carry the finest foods for your pet including Nature's Variety and Free Range Chews. We carry brushes and other grooming supplies as well.

Our philosophy is to provide a quality service at an affordable price. We feel we have accomplished that with our top of the line professional grooming tubs, high quality shampoos, and professional service.

The days of sore backs from leaning over the tub and the never ending clean up process are over. Our tubs keep your dog at waist height, the restraint collar keeps them safe and in place, and we clean up after you. Each tub is cleaned and disinfected after each use.

TEN REASONS WHY YOU SHOULDN’T GARDEN

All sorts of reasons are given for gardening…for relaxation, growing food, decorating your home with flowers… some are even psychological like attracting birds and fragrance all around you…very nice…

But none are ever given for why you shouldn't garden, and you deserve to know before you begin this hazardous activity:

1. Plants die… no matter how hard you try or how great your gardening skills the end results will be the same.

2. Plants grow…growing plants requires water, fertilizer and pruning…the bigger the plants grow the more work…soon you’ll have no time for anything else…is your life so worthless?

3. Plants don’t stop at one…it’s the nature of plants to make more of themselves…before you know it every square inch of your garden will be covered with baby plants…the happy life you once had is over.

4. Plants attract animals…the minute a plant pops out of the ground some animal will find it…some will eat it while others will just trample or pee on it.

5. Gardens get noticed…it begins with an innocent compliment by your neighbors about how nice your garden grows…but don’t be fooled…the complement is a lie to distract you from what they really think, that your garden looks like crap and pretty soon you’ll hear from your association garden police saying it doesn’t meet the neighborhood code and you must weed it and have it done before midnight or face eviction.

6. Plants and gardens are imperfect and so are you…since no plant is perfect reaching perfection is physically impossible…you will always feel inadequate and worthless...there are plenty of other things in life that make you feel this way, so why add one more.

7. Gardens attract thieves and lowlifes…your garden, though, may be so close to perfection that it attracts the wrong kind of people. They will steal your plants and veggies…they will steal your ideas…and then they will steal all of your free time by asking you to help make them a garden just like yours.

8. Gardening involves the use of sharp objects…though gardening is usually described as a gentle pastime it is not quite so…more often it’s a brutal affair involving lots of cutting, clearing, thrashing, sawing, tilling and killing…and then there’s rototillers.

9. Gardening encourages profanity…at best gardening is a losing proposition…you spend a lot of time in the hot sun breaking your back and your fingernails, then cultivating, weeding and watering your little darlings only to find them ravaged by snails…though gardeners often claim to be closer to God their words sometimes are not fit for God’s ears…

10. Gardening causes insanity…ask any gardener: once you start gardening you never want to stop…performing an activity over and over again that always brings the same result, pain and suffering, is an unmistakable sign of insanity.

100 YEAR OLD BABIES

New research shows that most babies born in rich countries, USA , will eventually make it to their 100^th birthday…since the 20^th century people in developed countries are living three decades longer than in the past, and the trend shows little sign of slowing down.

While illnesses affecting the elderly like heart disease, cancer and diabetes are rising medical advances are making it possible for them to remain active longer…

And the obesity epidemic complicates matters…

The point is for youngsters, and you know who you and they are, should eat properly, exercise, go to college, marry well if so inclined, and plan on getting very old…OH, and save money to take care of yourselves when Medicare is abandoned soon.

DOWN THE TUBE

The next top ten…

During TV summer re-run season we watched some of the following programs once or twice and then never again…

Some of these programs should have or may have already been canceled…

1. Deal or no deal…drove me nuts with contestants going for the big bucks and failing…pure greed is what is was and too sad to watch…

2. Don’t Forget the Lyrics…there’s nothing worse than people trying to sing when they can’t carry a tune…

3. According to Jim…not a program a young husband should watch…not too exciting watching idiot men talking down to their wives…

4. Are you smarter than a 5^th grader…very annoying…too difficult for me…?

5. King of the Hill…I don’t know anyone who watches this one…I may have too low an IQ to understand…and a pain to watch for more than two minutes…

6. Lost…need I explain how they lost my viewing beginning the second year? Year two left me wondering what happened to the kidnapped kid…too many new people; how many passengers did that plane carry?

7. Desperate Housewives…very similar to Lost above…too many wives, to many boyfriends, and I liked to go to bed at 9:00 PM on Sunday nights…

8. Parks and Recreation…this one looked like it promised good stuff semi-related to my business but failed miserably…not funny…much more fun to read instead…

9. Prison Break…the first episode should have been the last…I just didn’t get how they could make a series out of a prison break…

10. Ugly Betty…why didn’t this lovely girl quit after she read the script…the title of the show and the show were dumb…

10 FAVORITE BOOKs

I started something by posting a blog early this week titled Ten Topics to make Top Ten Lists about
In response to (popular) demand by Julie Hibbard and TS Harrison, following is the list…

To begin I researched 100 and 1000 best books and found a list of 28 that I’ve read, …*

I had to get this thing written…

1. 1984- George Orwell

2. Hawaii- James Mitchner, the first book I read by James

3. The Fountainhead- Ayn Rand

4. The Stand-Stephen King, may be my all-time favorite

5. A Time to Kill-John Grisham,

6. Bonfire of the Vanities-Tom Wolfe

7. Casino Royal-Ian Fleming

8. Hounds of the Baskerville-Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

9. Walden-Henry David Thoreau

10. David Copperfield-Charles Dickens

· Except for Henry David Thoreau and George Orwell I’ve probably read most books written by the same author…

· I should write a list of favorite authors, present day and olden days… but like TS wrote… the lists would be different tomorrow…

· I’ll tackle a few more of the Ten Topics next week

TEN TOPICS TO MAKE TOP TEN LISTS ABOUT

1. Reasons to come to work each day…

2. Bad habits I need to drop…

3. Unnecessary things I spend money on…

4. TV shows I could eliminate from my life…

5. Favorite books…

6. Why I’m happy to have a job…

7. Everyone has an idea…

8. The 1st 40 years are a lot easier than the 2^nd 40…

9. Don’t judge people by their relatives…

10. Learn a new language…

A Chronicler's Perspective

Things my kids may not know about or have forgotten or were too young to remember or not yet born …

In 1963, when Julie was 6 months old we had a car repossessed
for failing to make a few payments…the car was a new 1963 Pontiac Tempest Le Mans and we loved that beauty…it was so freaking beautiful…its total cost was around $2,200 yet we had to finance it…these days that's a down payment! the monthly payments were around $85 but having been laid off a few months after buying it it was repo’d right out of our apartment garage …I’m not sure those repo guys were allowed to open garage doors in those days or even today, but it thought me a few lessons…lock your garage door…and don’t miss making car payments…or buy a used car…

· Almost the same week (Julie was still 6 months old) John F. Kennedy was assassinated …a very sad day in America…it was the first time we voted…we were Democrats way back then (like my parents) and voted for JFK…

· In 1970 we sold our first home for $29,000, having paid $19,000 for it and made $10,000 profit! We were stoked to make that kind of money, but saddened years later when the same house sold for $200,000 and then later for $500,000…today its cost is sadly lower…

· But with the $10 grand we were able to stop working for others and begin our own business…there is nothing better than working for yourself…

· I was 30 when I started Cardoza-Di Lallo & Associates, a landscape architectural firm in Costa Mesa with Bob Cardoza, and our first employees were Dann Mikkelsen and Rose Reed, Bob’s neighbor, as our part time bookkeeper…we were fortunate to have good friends as our first clients and all home builders, Dick Rollins who built mobile home communities all over California, Gene Giannuli a VP with Larwin Homes in LA who built homes and some of our first Model Home Complexes and Dave Germain a VP with AVCO, first developers of Laguna Niguel…if you know Laguna Niguel our firm designed Crown Vally Parkway as well as the East and West Nine developments at the golf course...
We are still friends with all the above...some are retired but thankfully I am still breathing, working and loving it …