Forgive the polemic. If you know me, then you know that I am an outspoken advocate of the Pit Bull breed. I'll be the first to say that they get a bad rap that they don't deserve. With that in mind, I was talking to someone today who is thinking about buying a dog, and thinking about the Pit Bull. This person has a kid and was a little nervous about the prospect of their child chasing the dog and getting bit if the dog grew tired of horseplay. I said that I would post this video to show that I have no doubt about Salem's safety when she plays with Mojo.

Mojo loves kids. He is very attached to Salem, very gentle with Salem. And Salem is very attached to Mojo. Whenever other kids are at our house, Mojo never grows tired of playing with them. They chase him around and he loves it. In fact, when I was researching Pit Bulls when considering adopting one, I found that some of the qualities that make Pit Bulls great fighters actually make them great family dogs: Pit Bulls do not scare easily, and dogs bite when they are scared or when they are trained to bite; Pit Bulls have a very high pain tolerance, so they don't get defensive when a kid pokes them in the eye, pulls their tail, etc. Also, Pit Bulls are known for being very fond of adventure; they love to go new places and see new things. One of my friends takes his Pit Bull camping all of the time and the dog absolutely loves it.

However, if you have kids and want to adopt a dog, I strongly recommend adopting a puppy and not an adult. A puppy will grow up accustomed to interacting with kids. With an adult, you just never know.

Don't allow me to sway anyone into getting a Pit Bull if you don't really want one. Just don't buy into all of the BS that says these dogs are natural born killers who run about looking for children to attack. These dogs are very strong, and if they do bite, it can be nasty. But Pit Bulls are also very patient, very affectionate, very loyal to their family, and a whole lot of fun.

In this video, Salem was grooving to her favorite album and playing with Big Mo. Mojo was chewing on some denim I cut from the bottom of my pants. Salem had been taking it away from Mojo. He was a good sport and never so much as growled at her. The video is a bit long. But I didn't want to cut it when posting it with this discussion.

Good Songs--Part II

If you recall, about one year ago, I did a post "Some good songs you might have not heard." I figured it might be a good time to do a sequel. Seeing as how I detest the radio, I can't promise that these songs are obscure. For all I know they're all hits. But I doubt it. I'll leave the playlist up for a while. Let's get started.

"Soft" by Second Coming

This comes off of their first album. Their first album, "Second Coming," is, without a doubt, one of all time greatest hard rock albums. It is the most powerfully emotional album I ever expect to hear. It goes between upbeat songs like this and emotive ballads. And it just never took off. Their second album is crap crap crap. It's not worth vibrating your eardrums. This song actually got some decent airplay in the late 90s. I wanted to use another song from the first album, but this was all they had.

"You're the One" by The Black Keys

I just learned about this band. I find them enjoyable. I would say that if you melded The White Stripes and Led Zeppelin, you would get The Black Keys. Most of their stuff is a bit more bluesy than this, but I couldn't find anything else I really wanted to include.




"We are Ghosts" by Echobrain

This is the band that Jason Newstead created when he left Metallica. They made 2 albums, both of them excellent, and broke up. Too bad they never caught on, because they are very talented, very original, and made a range of songs. Oh, wait; that's why they never caught on.



"Saint John" by The Cold War Kids

I don't know anything about these guys. But I like this song. I hate hiphop, but I like some of the things influenced by it.



"Wish you Were Here" by Pink Floyd

Not a big fan of Pink Floyd. But I love this song. This is one that you might be well familiar with if you are bit older than my generation. If you are from my generation, give it a listen.




"Call of the Ktulu" (symphony version) by Metallica

If you're a Metallica fan, you're probably familiar with this. If you're not, give it a chance. This is an instrumental from the S&M album when they performed with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. The symphony and the band come together seamlessly and they create something quite unique.



"Astronomy" by Metallica

I mentioned this song last time. I thought I would include it since I mentioned it. It stars slowly, by this is one of my all time favorite songs.



"Violin Concierto, 3rd Movement" by Tchaikovsky

Another of my all time favorites. This is some crazy stuff. I think it sounds just like a Megadeth song. Seriously, I do. No, seriously.




"Catfish Blues" by Jimi Hendrix

Why don't people my age listen to Hendrix or the Blues? This takes care of both of those problems. This song is long, but very good. If you like guitar, you'll love this one. He keeps a very intricate melody throughout. The solo is vintage Hendrix. It doesn't seem like Hendrix gets enough credit for his blues work.

"Mean old World" by Eric Clapton and Duane Allman

Resist the urge to blow into the nearest jug! I know this sounds like someone would have to have been noodling in order to listen to this. But this is some of my favorite acoustic guitar work. Besides, with Clapton and Allman together, how could you lose? So lighten up and give this a listen. Moonshine not included.

Happy Birthday to Kaaryn! She turned 37 this week (don't tell her I told). She wanted to go to the Fort Worth Botanic Garden on her birthday. So go we did. If anyone is unfamiliar with a botanic garden, just think of a zoo, if the animals didn't move, and lived to be really old, and nobody else is there. That's a botanic garden. Enjoy some birthday pictures.

The entrance to the rose garden. Did you ever see Dirty Rotten Scoundrels?



You'll never guess who we bumped into.



Kaaryn wasn't posing. She always walks around smiling like this.


Unfortunately, you cannot be told what the Botanic Garden is, you have to see if for yourself.



We don't know who took this picture, or how it got into our camera. Kind of creepy really.


These flowers looked like cabbages. But, man, they tasted like crap!


"Heyyyyyyyyy."


She don't need no education. . .


"Hey, Mojo, guess what I had for breakfast."


It was just one of those days for Mojo.