The One With Farmers and Puppies and Bulls, Oh My!

It seems like it's been a little while since I've written, so I just wanted to catch up. Last week at work, one of my co-workers showed me the funniest site, www.farmersonly.com, a web site for country-minded people to meet one another, like a dating web site. Yes, you, too, can find a dream hick to take home to the farm. I looked through it a little to see if anyone I went to high school with was on it, but I don't think anyone I went to high school with probably uses the computer that much -- or they're already married. A 26-year-old farm girl who isn't married is really considered an old maid. When I was 19, I was in Mon's wedding, and a cousin said to me, "Remember, don't be always a bridesmaid, never a bride." At 19!!

Anyway, they had a story about it on msn and interviewed some farm girl from Tennessee who was talking about why she hated city guys, and it hit me -- I've become a snob. I've really been trying hard not to lose where I came from. I love Kansas, and I'm glad I grew up there, but I'm also glad that I left. I was reading through all of these Cowboys Looking For Love entries, and I just kept laughing at the bad grammar and punctuation and how small-minded some of these people were. I keep thinking of Texas and the guys with the Southern accents complaining that there are too many blacks in their neighborhoods. "I ain't never met no woman who knows about football." I want to embrace my past, and I hate it when people who have a college degree suddenly think they're too good to try to understand why people who grow up on a farm think differently than them. But I found myself judging these people who would "rather go muddin' than have a fancy supper." Guess I need to work on that (but do go check it out if you want a laugh. :)

This weekend, I had my first full weekend of dog training. I had four private appointments, two classes and a pet fair. I worked all day both days. It was really fun just to see what my life will be like when I can do this full-time. It was not fun coming back to work today without getting anytime to rest during the weekend, not that I do much of that anyway. I did have an appointment with the cutest St. Bernard puppies. One was really good-looking but the other was "mis-marked" and only had one spot over his eye. I thought he was adorable. The look on his face reminded me of Chubbs, which my boss said she suspected since Chubbs has a "big-dog personality." The client was really great and his father-in-law is an artist who does pet portraits. I've always wanted to do that, so I might, if I can afford it.

Speaking of Chubbs, he's halfway through his Canine Good Citizen class. He'll take a test on Dec. 6, and if he passes, he'll be Level 1 therapy certified by the AKC. I really want to take him to those programs where kids learn to read by reading to dogs or to terminal wings in children's hospitals. He loves kids, and I think they would love to pet him with his long hair and all his goofiness. I'm also going to sign him up for an agility class.

Then, Sunday night, we went to the Lakers-Bulls game as the first part of my Chronikah present. It was great. Kirk Hinrich had 19 points and Kobe Bryant, who I despise with every fiber of my sports-loving being, missed the shot to win the game for the Lakers. Bulls win. I hope the Sonics have the same luck when Nick Collison comes to town on Thursday.

The weirdest part of the night was on the way home, 12 cop cars shut down the freeway probably four cars in front of us to arrest a car full of guys. I don't know what these guys did, but all I could see was policemen running around with huge guns. I was a little nervous, but they broke it up pretty quickly. When I told everyone at work about it, they were like, "Just another night in L.A." So I guess I'm officially a Californian now.