A Tribute to Balto

Balto happened to have been
A German Shepherd,
But he was no ordinary dog.
He enriched
The neighborhood for years
With his antics
And sense of play.
He was a tireless
And somewhat obsessive
Ball fanatic.
He loved to play catch,
Keep away,
Or hide and seek.
He had a tendency
To barge into
The middle of a game,
Particularly soccer,
And become the star
Of the show.
If he couldn’t
Play any other way,
He would steal the ball,
And often both teams
Would end up chasing him
To get the ball back.
He loved maneuvering
Through crowds of players
Challenging them
To a game of keep away.
He lived a royal life
On a ranch in the Ojai Valley
Where he was treated to
Fresh cooked steaks daily,
And the best dog food
Money could buy.
He became something of
A neighborhood celebrity,
And when he got into some
Ground squirrel poison
Somebody had inappropriately placed,
And passed away,
A major funeral was held
In his memory
Which multitudes attended.

Nito

Nito is one of the neighborhood park dogs, a large and stately female mut, who lives off of handouts from the Central Park police. She entertains herself chasing lizards, frightening visitors, especially those on motorcycles, and wrestling with some of the pet dogs who visit the park on a daily basis.

She is a street urchin, skilled at crossing busy lanes of traffic to and from the park, adept at survival in a sometimes hostile world, able to hold her own and make her presence known when she sees fit. She has an acute eye for character among the park visitors, sizing them up in an instant, knowing almost instinctively who to trust and who to avoid.

She can curry favor with the best of them, ingratiating herself to the kinder souls who cross her path. Nito loves to be petted by those brave enough to do so, and will frequently follow that person home in the hopes of persuading them to take her in, yet there is a street roughness about her that has people ultimately turn her away.

She is young and full of play, eager for a friendly game of tag or a wrestling match with the other park dogs. Like most young dogs, she has learned the art of the gentle bite so that nobody gets hurt during their rough housing, and she readily adjusts the intensity of the play to that of her playmates. This works well for some of the other dogs are little more than puppies, and are easily scared off by too much aggression.

Though Nito loves the unfettered freedom and openness of life in Central Park, she clearly envies the dogs that have masters who take care of them, and take them for walks in the park. She would happily trade her freedom to anyone willing to do the same for her, though in reality, many of the visiting dogs envy her as well.

Her and Lilly, my friend’s Golden Retriever, have become best friends, and frequently accompany each other on our walks throughout the park. They can easy spend an entire day playing together, and following Lilly’s lead, both will jump into one of the many fountains at the park to refresh themselves when they get tired or overheated from the rigors of play.

Actually, I wish I could bring Nito home. The two of them certainly go well together, but it isn’t really my place, and an extra dog might not go over so well. I think I could curb the rough edges of Nito if she were mine, but I am only an extended visitor, so I will have to leave her to the care of the Park Police.

The police apparently use the dogs like Nito to help patrol the park and keep the drunks and drug users away. The dogs have an uncanny sense of who is sober, and who is not, and have a rather loud way of letting the police know when someone doesn’t belong there.

Greedy Fish

On the big island of Hawaii,
Next to White Sands Beach,
Lies a shallow lagoon
That is perfect for snorkeling.
Underwater visibility is exceptional
And countless fish
Of every neon color imaginable
Populate the coral reef.
The area is sheltered
From waves and currents
And is one of only
A few places on the island
Safe for almost anyone to swim.
A lot of people bring food
To feed the fish
Because the fish will come up
And eat right out of your hand.
I don’t imagine
That people food
Is all that good for the fish,
But they eat it anyway.
Some of the fish
Are more aggressive than others,
And will sometimes take matters
Into their own greedy fins
To get fed.
I had one fish steal
An entire loaf of bread
Which I was holding up
Out of the water
While I fed the other fish.
I never did get to see
Which one it was
That had the audacity
To do that.
It was gone in a flash.
I can just imagine
What the culprit
Looked like though!
It would be
An exceptionally corpulent one,
Bloated to the gills
With stolen handouts,
Sporting the shifty,
Devious eyes of a thief.
If you happen to see
Such a fish
Look out!

Animalistic Education

Having pets was definitely
A huge part of my childhood,
And I simply can’t imagine
A child growing up
Without such company
And companionship.
From the time I can remember,
And probably even before,
I had everything from cats,
To dogs and turtles,
Fish and a few birds.
From the wild,
I collected lizards
And salamanders,
Tadpoles and frogs,
Snakes and anything else
That moved, crawled
Or flew across my path.
I remember my uncle George,
Who was something
Of a naturalist,
Brought a live octopus
And let it squirm around
On the kitchen floor
For us study.
My natural curiosity
About the nature of life
Was encouraged from
A very early age.
When I had kids of my own,
There were even more
Animals occupying my home,
For I figured pets were
A vital part of growing up.
They tend to teach a lot about
Love and caring,
And a great deal
About responsibility.
These are things
A child needs to learn
At an early age.
I am not saying
That they will necessarily be
Be better wives and mothers
As a result of their
Animalistic education,
But they might
Just end up being
Able to live better
In conjunction with nature
Than kids who were
Less fortunate.

Scorpions

He was the biggest,
Blackest scorpion
I ever saw,
And I was lucky
I saw him at all,
Hidden as he was
In a dark corner
Of my bathroom
There in Yala,
Southern Thailand.
His body was at least
Seven inches long,
And he stretched out
To over a foot long
With tail included.
He was what is known
As the elephant scorpion,
But by the time
My co-workers there at
The Community
Development Center
Got done torturing him,
I was rooting for it
To get one of them,
And believe me,
It was trying valiantly.
I am told it is
The smaller scorpions
Which are the most venomous,
But I never what to
Conduct a test
To find out for sure.
I first encountered them
In 1959 on my first trip
To the big island of Hawaii.
They seemed to have
An affinity for my aunt’s house,
And I was always afraid
To walk barefooted
For fear of stepping on one,
Or to carry in fire wood
For fear of grabbing one
By mistake.
Every time the fire was lit,
I would always see one or two
Trying to escape.
As a young boy in Las Vegas,
Scorpions were everywhere.
I don’t know what it is like today
With most of the areas
I scavenged and scoured
Now housed over,
But back in the early sixties,
One or two could be found
Under every stray
Piece of cardboard.
I used to capture some of them
In a glass jar
With a lizard just to watch
The lizard eat them.
Their sting didn’t seem to bother
The lizards at all,
And the lizards acted like
They were a tasty treat.
I have never been stung by one,
And hope to keep it that way.