DNA

In the 1980’s the scientific use of DNA was exploding, especially its use in courts to identify suspects or specific evidence as it related to a particular investigation.  Over the last thirty years, the use of DNA has accelerated in the medical field to find cures for diseases, identify genetic material, cloning, treatment protocols and determining family trees and heritage.   So why not try to do the same for a pet?  What was once an expensive test, now is a reasonable cost to determine the genetic history of your pet, say your dog!  And that is what I recently did.

Some background:  I never had a dog during my lifetime.  Oh, a couple of strays wandered into the backyard occasionally, but my mother made sure that they were quickly moved on because we had no money to feed another belly. 

About six years ago, my daughter who was in high school begged me to get a dog… everyone seemed to have one in the neighborhood; a California thing I guess. So after much family discussion about who would care for such a pet, we set out to search for the perfect dog.  Near our home is an animal shelter; I made many trips to that shelter looking for the perfect dog.  I never found one.  Pit bulls, Chihuahuas, barkers, yappers… none seemed to be the one.  We went to a couple dog adoption fairs; nope!  Then we found a place that sold dogs in a neighboring village.   It was a pet store and they had a few puppies:  aren’t they always so cute! 

 

While looking at them we noticed this really cute, furry, tan model which seemed energetic with personality.  After holding and playing with it my daughter announced that it was the one!  I suggested we wait a bit, you know, check around.  But of course the sales pitch, “I can’t hold him for you.”  So it was a now or never purchase.  

 12 weeks old.

I wanted an Australian shepherd or a German shepherd:  this one was offered as a Golden Retriever mix.  Boy was it cute!  Seriously. And the personality was on display; he took right to our daughter and literally wouldn’t let go!  Come on dad… “This is the one!”   So after paying $345, including shots and other things, we became the proud owner of a cute puppy which was allegedly born on 5/7/2010.   

At the first vet visit, the doctor checked “Mickey” over and asked what the date of birth was, as he thought Mickey was less than 8 weeks old and barely weened.  Also, he was curious about the breed:  we showed him the papers.  He thought maybe he was Golden and Husky mix.  I showed him black spots on the tongue and he said that it was from heavy pigmentation found in animal cells.  He assured me that the Chow breed required a blue-black tongue and gums and were bred specifically for that in the mouth. 

 

 One Year Old

 So for the last six years we have enjoyed having a Golden Mix.  He has a beautiful long tan coat, is about 60 pounds and stands about 22 inches at his shoulders, slightly smaller than the local pure Goldens we see in the neighborhood.  Mickey has continuing ear problems and skin issues, but otherwise is a healthy dog.

  Two Years Old

Mickey is instinctively protective of the house and daughter.  Nothing come between him and her.  And if you do, he lets you know you have invaded her space.  He is not a dog’s dog.  He loves interaction with humans and always seeks them out.  If they happen to have a dog with them, he will cautiously work his way around the dog to get to the owner for that reassuring pet and affection.  

One thing I noticed is that Mickey LOVES to pounce on gopher holes.  If he sees a mound of fresh dirt he immediately pounces on it and frantically digs, his nose buried into the small hole.  Not a retrieving instinct, for sure. 

Four Years Old

So who is Mickey?  What is his heritage?  I decided to find out through a DNA test.  I did some research and determined that “Wisdom Panel” was highly recommended.  So I set up the account, received the swabs, took the sample and waited for the results.  Within a week and a half I received the results: 

 

Mickey is determined to be 25% Chow Chow, 25% American Staffordshire terrier, 13% Siberian husky, and 37% a mix of three distinct breed groups.  These groups comprise the Terrier Group which includes the Russell Terrier, Schnauzer and Chihuahua; the Companion Group which includes the Pug, Shih Tzu and the Pomeranian; and the Sighthound Group which includes the Irish wolfhound, Whippet and the Italian Greyhound.   Did you notice… No Golden Retriever!   So regardless of what the “paperwork” says, it isn’t always accurate.

 Six Years Old

Now that I know what Mickey is (genetically) I can understand some of his characteristics:  terriers hunt vermin and were bred to go down the holes of the fox and other pests; the Chow is protective of one or two family members and sometimes adopts an aloof disposition to people other than their owners; and the Am Staff is a people-oriented dog who is loyal to his family.  The Am Staff is also vulnerable to skin allergies 

So that is about it… we love Mickey just the way he is…. he’s a “Good Boy!”

Cubs Win!

So there are a lot of people going crazy tonight!  THE CUBS WIN!  The World Series, that is.  Everyone will have a "Cubs" story to share... now that they are winners.

So here is mine:  Back in 1959 - 63, I was a paper carrier for the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel newspaper.  I lived in the small town of Huntington, IN (the home of James Danforth "Dan" Quayle, the 44th vice president of the United States) which had its own newspaper, the Huntington Herald Press.  Dan Quayle's father was the editor.  

But I digress... so it being the out-of-town newspaper, I didn't have a lot of customers on my route, maybe 35 customers.  My brothers each had their own routes in the neighborhood slinging the paper.  Each day a car would swing by the little house at 404 Swan St and dump a couple of bundles of the daily papers onto the sidewalk.  We would cut the wire and count out the number of papers for each route.  And then we had to fold them so we could stuff them in the big newspaper bags tied to the handle bars of our Schwinn bicycles.  

During the summer and into the fall, as we folded our papers, we had our transistor radios blaring the Cubs games.  The scratchy play-by-play transmission from WGN, the AM signal surging in and out,  captured our attention so much so that often my mother would yell at us to hurry up and get going on our routes.   She wanted us home by dark!

One funny thought was that my mother was always yelling at us to shut off the radio when a Pabst Blue Ribbon beer or "Lucky Strike" cigarette commercial came over the airwaves.  My older brother remarked that due to those cautions he never took up smoking!

Ron Santos, Ernie Banks, and Lou Boudreau the manager wow... those were the names I remember.  Each year we had a newspaper contest to try to get new subscribers and usually the winner won a free trip to see the CUBS... I never won!  But that didn't soften my love of the Cubs.
  

                                        Ernie Banks

                                     Ron Santos

Next to our house was a park with a baseball diamond.  We often played neighborhood baseball; one of the teams was always called the "Cubs."  And we each took the name of our favorite player... all of us in the neighborhood were white:  none of us gave it a second thought not to take the honored name of Ernie Banks! 

And all those years of losing the big ones, never going all the way, the perennial losers, those Cubs.  Not because they didn't try... it just didn't work out.  Maybe it was the big bucks of the Yanks and Mets buying all those star players; whatever it was, I became a fair-weathered Cub fan.  I moved to Houston then to Washington DC then finally to San Diego -- all towns with pro baseball but I had no interest.  After the baseball strike, I lost my enthusiasm for America's favorite past time.

But tonight I became a big fan!  Not necessarily of baseball per se, but the idea that after 108 years, the CUBS WON!   The perennial losers won respect again.  Happy fans, family and friends all celebrate the way the ball bounced... their way! 

Terezin: Small Fortress

Announcing: 

Results of the PPD Photo Book Essay Contest

By Larry Cowles FPSA GMPSA/s

This is the second year for the Print Division Photo Essay Book Contest.   This year we had 17 books from 4 countries.   Congratulations to all the winners which were announced at the Photographic Society of America Conference in San Antonio on September 9, 2016.

1st Place Terezin: “Small Fortress” James David Phenicie

2nd Place The Wild and Woolie Sheep Rodeo Viki Gaul

3rd Place The John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon Michael Todd

Judges Choice Exploring China Lynn Troy Maniscalco

Judges Choice Cats of Beaufort Sandy Dimke

Judges Choice Old Car USA, A Photographers Paradise Bill Buchanan FPSA

HM Devesh Devkumar Gupta

For those interesting in entering the 2017 contest, all the information, requirements and entry form can be found on the PSA website in the PPD section.

This summer I entered the Photo Book Essay Contest which is part of the Print Division of the Photographic Society of America.  At their annual conference in San Antonio, TX, it was announced that my entry had won first place.

The idea for this 75 page book was developed from my 2015 visit to the Terezin Small Fortress Concentration Camp located outside Prague, Czech Republic.  It was a happen-stance visit, as we passed through on the way back to Germany.  And there it was, in the afternoon that I walked through this small fortress with its connection to Nazi evil.  I paid the small fee for the privilege of photographing and as I self-toured each room, the impact of the place was great.  I took each image knowing that it had been a horrible and torturous place for those placed in the cramped prison.  The suffering and agony weighed on my heart at each click of the shutter.

When I returned home I was unsure exactly what I would do with the images.  And then a local photographer told me that the PSA had a category for a Photo Book Essay Contest.  So I decided to design a book around the images.

At first I was unsure as to how to tell the story, but after extensive research for a short documentary video on the Small Fortress, I decided to use old, historical photographs on the facing page of each of my images to help tell the story of the "Nameless Ones."  Here are several samples of the pages:

I appreciate the judges rewarding me for the work I did and selecting my entry as the first place winner.

Here is a link to my video:  https://vimeo.com/143300885

Helping a Friend

I have a friend who is trying to start her own business here in California; she recently had a successful Kickstarter campaign to launch her Cozy Chic Fashion for a Cause.  The name of her company is Tillage Clothing Company.  She designed a sustainable, wrinkle-free pant for ladies to wear on just about any occasion.  The thrust of her vision is to help combat human trafficking in our own back yard and in the world around us.


Abby Farr has worked diligently on her project and has recently begun shipping her product to those who invested in her Kickstarter project. To help her promote her company, we recently photographed several models wearing her design.

 The pants are classy and can be worn on different occasions without feeling overly or under dressed in "California Casual" situations.

Here's wishing her all the best in her new endeavor and great success!

Anatomy of a burglary!

So what does a burglar look like?  What does he drive?  How does he operate?  In the middle of the night or during the day? 

 

On June 9, 2016 at approximate 10:45 am, a burglar struck my neighbor’s home on Paseo Tapajos.  On the same date between 8:45am, and 10:31am, a home one block away (as the crow flies) was burglarized on Paseo Carreta.  The location of the homes was not unusual.  They aren’t located on a corner, they have neighbors on either side and across the street.  The rear of one home backs up to Rancho Bravado; the other one backs up to the canyon.  From the home on Paseo Carreta you can see the roof line of the one on Paseo Tapajos.   And perhaps a coincidence:  both houses are the third in from the corner and on the left side as you enter off of the main street.

At 8:44am, the alleged thief drove slowly down our street, made a U-turn and then unhurriedly  retraced his movement back out to Rancho Bravado.  The bed of his pickup truck was empty.  But the future victim’s car was still in the driveway.  At 10:44 am, the same pickup returned and drove back down the street but this time he had a bicycle in the bed of his pickup.  And the upcoming victim’s car had left for the morning.  The thief  turned around somewhere down the street then returned and pulled to the curb in front of the next-door neighbor’s house because a waste container blocked the parking area directly in front of the victim’s home.  

And what did Mr. Burglar do?  He simply got out, went to the sidewalk and hung out, leaning on the passenger side of his pretty truck with no plates:  the rear plate appeared to have an auto dealer’s placard. 

So what did the alleged burglar look like:  well, he didn’t look like the “Hamburglar,” that’s for sure. 

He didn’t wear a ski mask or a bandana to cover his face.  He didn’t have a black hoodie or camouflaged clothes.  He didn’t try to hide from those who walked past him while he lounged next to his shiny new black Dodge Ram pickup with those gleaming, chrome, custom rims parked in front of his victim’s neighbor’s home with a possible stolen bicycle in the bed.  

No, he actually looked outrageous:  he was wearing a bright orange, long-sleeved shirt with blue jeans and a baseball cap:  kind of looked like someone who wanted to be seen, to look like he should be there for some reason other than mischief.  After all, what thief would draw that kind of attention to himself?  But no one paid him a look.

Was he building up courage to break in?  He probably didn’t need to!  After all, he had just broken into the home down the street and stole a bunch of stuff, including the bicycle openly hidden in the back of his big four-door “Ram.”  And then… well the camera stopped so it is unknown which side gate he entered to go into the victim’s back yard. 

The camera suddenly keyed-up at 11am; the full-sized white van with the square Amazon logo on the side drove up and parked directly abreast of the burglar’s truck.  Working from his truck the delivery driver ran up to several of the neighbor’s homes and dropped packages, passing within a foot of the tailgate of the thief’s truck.  At 11:06 am, the Amazon truck left, the housebreaker still inside. The camera timed off. 

At 11:08 am, the camera re-energized revealing the alleged thief coming around the corner from the front door area of the residence pulling a roller suitcase.  He stopped for a moment to look down the street as a young lady walking her dog was approaching from the other side of the street. 

So, what would a normal person do that wasn’t doing anything wrong?  He did just that!  He continued pulling his stolen suitcase full of pilfered goods toward the side of his truck and then he lifted the suitcase up and deposited it into the bed next to the stolen bike.  The alleged thief walked casually around the front of the truck toward the driver’s door, while holding a white clutch bag which he had just swiped from the victim’s home.  He hesitated just a moment and looked over at the young lady and her dog:  no problem, he casually entered and sat down, shut the door as she slowly passed by.  

Then the camera turned off.

Just a property crime the police blotter will say:  two victims in one morning… not a bad day’s work!  The alleged burglar drives a fancy, brand new Dodge Ram probably financed by selling his ill-gotten gains:  the victims are traumatized and violated with a loss of their possessions.  The alleged burglar targeted his prey; it wasn’t random – but the connection is unknown.  At one house he displayed his adroitness by carefully breaking a window pane, unlatching the window and slipping in side.  At the other house, he simply crawled through an open window.  He showed no fear of his surroundings:  two runners passed him, the young lady and the dog passed, the neighbors were home on either side and he literally waved a red cape at the bull with his iridescent orange shirt! 

It’s just a property crime… with victims.