Exotic Paddles random thoughts page

As a paddlemaker and seller, sometimes I get to do some traveling. On one such occasion, while on our way back from
a party in Florida....... My hubby (fondly referred to as BobDJ by many) and I were going through airport security. I still had
some paddles left after the sale and the fellow at the security decided he was going to try to embarass me. He started picking up paddle after paddle, holding it up and asking me questions. He came upon the most expensive one, not because of size but because of wood type. He said... I don't think I can let this one pass. I looked him in the eye and said.... Look, there's something you need to understand.... I'm not going to board the plane and threaten to spank the pilot if he doesn't take me somewhere. If he wants that kind of service, he is going to need to get on his knees and beg for it just like anyone else.
With that, the fellow dropped the paddle back into the carryon and waved us along. I packed up the rest of my paddles, picked up my stuff and headed off. Hubby looked at me and said... I can't believe you said that, I thought we were going to end up getting strip searched! I said ... he was trying to embarass me, I just showed him it wasn't going to happen.

Now, more than ever, I wonder at the genuine nature of our pets. They love us for us and don't worry what anyone else thinks. When we're sad, they are there to try to console us, when we are happy, they are there to play with us. Of course if we're eating, they want some too! :)
How hard they try to understand everything about us, our body langage, our words, our actions. Occasionally someone will be so good at understanding pets, they are called horse whisperers or dog whisperers or any other type of pet. Have you ever stopped to realize that the largest portion of our pet population are expert people whisperers? How wonderful it is that we are blessed with the companionship of so many different types of animals.

I just read an 'article' (and I use that term lightly), where a fellow strawberry picked all sorts of information, both scientific and biblical to show that humans as a race should never own cats. He explained them to be devilish animals and owning them, to be an afront to the Lord. He named all sorts of diseases (okay, one disease he used every name he could find for it and showed each name as a different affliction). From reading his initial article and reading all of his responses to the lambasting he has gotten, it seems that he rented a room from a woman that had two cats that she didn't take care of. Their litterbox was constantly filthy and the cats were forced to look elsewhere for a place to relieve themselves. He appears to be basing his information of the cleanliness of cats on his experience with this one woman and his 'research' into 'crazy cat ladies'. Neither of these are going to give a fair and impartial judgement on cats and their behaviors.

I, for one, have had cats in my life almost all of my life. The only times they soiled outside the litterbox was when they had good reason to, such as the litterbox was not available to them, or, they were sick and getting sicker. Cats are very clean animals left to their own devices, how many animals do you know of that cover up their droppings? They are very friendly, loving, caring individuals. I truly believe this fellow allowed himself to be traumatized by his situation, rather than getting out of it. Once he was out of it, he decided no a vendeta against all cats. He has blinded himself to the true nature of cats.