I spotted this sign on South Street in Jamaica Plain, near the Forest Hill T station. I'm not sure what it means, but I suspect it is a comment on Our Exalted Leader, President Dubya.

You may have expected that enlightenment would come ZAP! instantaneous and permanent. This is unlikely. After the first “ah ha” experience, it can be thought of as the thinning of a layer of clouds.
Ram Dass

中國哲人云修身養性，而後明心見性：身心不二。于西洋則不然；身是身、心是心，嘴巴上說說就夠了，不需身體力行。
身心自然分不開；不修身如何養性？身不修則心不正，心不正，當然無法悟道。但西洋人受鈴木大拙誤導，對禪理誤解極深，認為不待紮根、不用實修，糊裡糊塗遇禪機便開悟了，開悟等于立地成佛。
在人間，自知軀殼是五蘊的一合相，卻只此臭皮囊，便要借假修真。悟，是心亦是身，身不調、氣派不通，如何能悟？
不持戒、縱慾失節、造業損德，難悟。口食葷腥，氣脈阻澀，殺生造業，離道日遠，智者不肯。
The West's conception of Ch'an (Zen) has been so sorely malformed by Suzuki that you can be pretty sure that anything which says Zen isn't.
Under the influence of Suzuki, you might think enlightenment is something that comes suddenly and stays, turning you into a buddha in a moment. Far from it. Ch'an stories may tell of the moment of an enlightenment, but as they were originally recorded for Buddhist practitioners, the stories do not need to recount the decades of strict discipline and hard work that preceded the enlightenment, and the years and years of increased dedication that followed. Those are taken for granted.

來果禪師 Master Laikuo, a contemporary of 虛雲老和尚 Master Hsuyun (early 20th century) told that when he was a young monk, one retreat he attended was so harrowing that he thought of running away. The Master in charge of the retreat picked up that thought, and announced, "If any practitioner thinks of running away from this retreat, we'll catch him before he gets over the wall, break his legs, beat him to death, and burn him to ashes before the retreat is over. Sit where you are and keep your mind on your work!”

Ch'an cultivation requires more work and dedication than most people are willing or capable of. It is more than something you write on your products or place in your mouth to raise your value or inflate your ego.

It is ludicrous to suppose that a body fed with meat, clogged by onions and garlic, polluted by cigarettes or liquor, and numbed by the hammering of television shows and popular songs, could approach the tranquility that is the first stepping stone of Ch'an.

I saw a great T shirt across the street from Harvard Yard. There was a picture of Our Exalted Leader George Dubya Bush, and underneath it said
BLAME

YALE

Thank heavens for disasters such as the cyclone in Burma and the earthquake in China! Well-fed comfortable citizens of developed countries can write off their consciences with a donation check and with great self-satisfaction continue their lives unexamined and unaltered.

Cyclones and earthquakes are great tragedies, brook no dispute on that, but more people suffer from the repercussions of unbridled consumerism than from natural disasters.

Evidently there is an inviolate Massachusetts law that before you even consider having a baby, you have to promise to spend at least a month’s pay on a stroller. Nobody in the Boston area actually carries a kid: dog forbid that you touch your child, it may learn to love you. Rather, you place your progeny in a stroller, the more expensive the better, where it cannot see you, cannot smell you, cannot feel you, probably cannot even hear you, and push your kid forward inexorably into the world unprotected and unaccompanied.

These photos were all taken within a short time within a small area, just a sampling of what rules Boston sidewalks. You can see that some irresponsible parents are risking drastically impairing their children’s futures, because they are in four wheel strollers. Better parents go into hock if necessary to place their babies in three wheel strollers made of nylon, aluminum, titanium, and carbon, with safety belts, pneumatic brakes, and, most important of all, coffee cup holders.
But surely you can see how important strollers are. First, without strollers, parents would have one less item to compete for conspicuous consumption. Even worse, without strollers, parents might have to touch their babies and hold them close. Yikes!

announcing the marriage of Yugan and Sabiy

超 + 極

Boston City Hall

by Judge R Salerno

May 12, 2008

Anybody who doubts that glamour has disappeared from flying should go through Osaka's Kansai Airport, which displays all the grace and splendor of a parking garage.

Japanese esthetics are very good at small, and they can sometimes manage big, but they cannot do grand. Flying may no longer be glamorous, but a line of jets lined up at a terminal, with some gliding to the runways, others taxiing for takeoff, is a grand sight.

What is this man so happy about?

He was, until today, Vice Premier. Past tense, because he is responsible for the disappearance of US$30 million of public funds. Now, in today’s national budgets, US$30 million is no great shakes; it would fund the American war in Iraq for half an hour, maybe. But the sticking point manner in which the money disappeared.

President Chen, leaving office on the 20^th of this month, has worked hard at his diplomatic offensive, with startling results. Costa Rica, Taiwan’s friend for decades through thick and thin, broke off relations. Nicaragua, another faithful old friend, appears to be gone. On a state visit to Central America, Chen was in the middle of a speech when the President of Honduras turned off his microphone. When you get snubbed by Honduras, you ought to ponder how successful your diplomacy is.

Chen has thrown wads of money at small countries all over the place. There was a bidding war for recognition from Vanuatu, which you probably don’t remember is a small island nation in the Pacific. I forget who won, but these people do pay visits (at our expense); sometimes downtown Taipei, near the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is draped with some really unusual flags you probably see almost nowhere else.

And so the focus shifted to Papua New Guinea. To forge relations with PNG, and the word forge seems especially apt here, Chen’s regime promised to give them thirty million US dollars. PNG decided not to set up relations, and the middleman skedaddled with the thirty million.

People are seeing the safeguards in red tape and bureaucracy; you have a clear path of how much money went where for what. Chen’s regime has always leaped past those safeguards, throwing public funds to friends and associates with as little legal oversee as possible. Chiu, the man you see smiling here, did not do any background check on the middleman; his reason was, “He’s the friend of a friend.” That should be reason enough to entrust somebody with a fortune, no?

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is trying to write off the money as ‘lost due to accident,’ but the public, already sick of Chen and his regime, is aroused and will not buy that. After avoiding the issue for days, President Chen finally announced his apology and in the same breath announced that this scandal has nothing to do with him, that he didn’t know anything about it.

Although I think it would be great if Dubya walked through Iraq with the troops, nobody really expects a ruler to fight a war personally; a ruler does not drive buses, ring up sales, pour concrete for houses, or grow produce for the markets. A ruler’s job is to see that others do their jobs properly. In other words, a ruler’s job is to choose people who can do their jobs, delegate, and supervise. A ruler who does not choose people, delegate, or supervise has no business in power.

Chen’s regime has been one corruption scandal after another. If he will not be held responsible for his people, what is he doing in office?

以前有一位同事讓我厭惡；每次有事情需要處理，他先不處理，卻逕奔來跟我說，事情發生不是他的錯、不是他的責任。我很不耐煩：我不管誰的責任，臨發事先處理好才要緊。加上，我欣賞敢作敢當的人。

今天聯合報的新聞，陳總統終于談到納稅人的錢消失了十億元，說此事「傷害了政府及執政黨形象，他深感愧疚，並向全民道歉。陳總統表示，他本人心中坦蕩，既未主導，亦未參與執行。」

乾乾淨淨的；女婿有罪，沒我的事；我選派的官有罪，沒我的事。

論語：舜命禹：「朕躬有罪，無以萬方；萬方有罪，罪在朕躬。」又曰，「百姓有過，在予一人。」

尚書，湯誥：湯既黜夏命，告萬方，「罪當朕躬，弗敢自赦…其爾萬方有罪，在予一人；予一人有罪，無以爾萬方。」

Don’t repeat your parents’ mistakes

I wrote this refreshing little piece on 1994.12.25.

A sick child’s parents spare no pains to cure it. They can stay up night after night until the child gets well. If the sickness is more serious, they can leave work and hobbies behind to be present at the sickbed or outside the operating room. They are willing to accumulate enormous debts so that their child may, if not be healthy, at least live.

But what about old folks? They’d better not get sick, because if they do, their children are busy with their careers and don’t have time or patience to spare for them. Doctor’s bills are paid grudgingly. If the old father or mother needs attention for more than a week or two, their children have a hundred other more important things to do.

This shows the basic ingratitude of humanity. Parents willingly sacrifice their time, their money, and their talent for their children. But it’s a one-way street.

2008 note: actually, it makes evolutionary sense. But why bother?

Many are concerned about the Hispanics entering the United States. They say that few Hispanic children in the US learn English; the signs in our streets have inscriptions in both languages, and in some places only Spanish. Spanish is heard in courts, so there is a continual need of interpreters, and if current trends continue, legislative sessions may even be held in English and Spanish! Some Nordic, WASP, or Aryan type Americans say that since the Hispanics have so many kids, they will soon outnumber others, so America will not be able to preserve proper English, and even the government will be changed.

Do you foresee a future United States taken over by Spanish speakers? Before you answer, consider what Ben Franklin wrote about German immigrants in 1750:

“Few of their children in the country learn English…. The signs in our streets have inscriptions in both languages, and in some places only German…. their own language …[is] allowed in courts, where …there is continual need of interpreters; and I suppose that in a few years they will also be necessary in the Assembly, to tell one half of our legislators what the other half say…. They will soon so outnumber us that all the advantages we have will not be able to preserve our language, and even our government will be precarious.”

By today, over 200 years later, over a third of all Americans have German blood. Please tell me which of your true-blue American friends and neighbors have German blood; tell me how many of them speak a word of German. Yes, German immigrants have influenced American culture; would you throw out the Christmas tree because it was brought by Germans? When I moved to California as a boy, I was charmed by a strange custom we read about in our local history textbooks, called a piñata. There were some for sale on Olvera Street, but none of us had ever seen one elsewhere, much less batted at one. Will you toss the piñata out of your next party because it was brought by Hispanic immigrants?

烏來泰雅雅爸達利‧瓦旦說，

從前從Ulay烏來到Sinciang新店只有步道，沒有橋。烏來的泰雅很少到新店。我們也不喜歡到平地人的地方。有東西要買才去：例如米、鹽、豬肉；平地人的米、豬肉跟我們的不一樣。天亮從烏來出發，十一點到新店，兩三點回來，天黑才到家。要過河五六次，沒有橋，可是有渡船；有五個人要過就開船。背回來的東西多，背包很重，上伸杖板的坡最難、最累。

後來日本人在烏來蓋發電廠，才開路。但是路開了，只有一部卡車可以開進山來，其它車都不准進來。車上帶生活用品到合作社賣；合作社在現在烏來博物館的位置，那時老街才兩三家住戶，也不該算是「老」街。日據時代，警察就在合作社那裡，現在分駐所前的大樹旁，從前是學校。

民國五十五年，我當鄉長的時候，老總統蔣中正到烏來來，來到我的鄉長辦公室；他坐轎車從臺北來烏來，我在辦公室上車跟他一起坐到瀑布，我當他的導遊。烏來的泰雅，只有我一個人坐過蔣中正的轎車，別人都沒有。他的車子很穩。

他來烏來，我陪他一個小時；我們到瀑布前面的大樹下坐下來，他叫旁邊的人走開，我們兩個人談了半個小時。我們用國語跟日語談；他會講日語，可是他的日語很差，鄉音太重，別人恐怕聽不懂他講的日語；我聽得懂。可是因為他在日本念過軍校，所以軍隊、戰爭的事情，他都會講。他問我日據時代泰雅的生活怎麼樣，我都跟他講了。他很關心我們原住民的生活。

蔣總統回去以後，記者問我，「你們兩個人談了那麼久，總統跟你講些甚麼呢？」我回答說，「總統給我三個指示。第一，從新店到烏來的路要拓寬、要鋪好，讓烏來的泰雅好發展。第二，總統說烏來的橋作的不夠好；烏來山高溪急，橋如果作不好，人民沒有辦法好好從事工作，所以橋一定要作好，來改善居民的生活。總統的第三個指示呢，說要加強泰雅的教育，讓我們山地子女有更好的發展、改善我們下一代的生活。」

我就跟記者說蔣總統有這三個指示。馬上就有施工單位來跟我接洽，新烏路開始拓寬，各方面有很多建設！

Dali Watan, yaba maku, Chief of the Wulai Tayal, former Headman of Wulai Township said, In 1966, when I was Headman of Wulai Township, President Chiang Kai-Shek paid a visit to Wulai. He came to my office. He rode in his car from Taipei to Wulai, and at my office I got in his car and we rode to the waterfall together; I was his guide. Of all the Tayal in Wulai, I am the only one who rode in Chiang Kai-Shek’s car, none of the other people in the Tribe have done that. His car was very smooth and steady.

When he came to Wulai, I accompanied him for one hour. We went to the waterfall and sat down by that big tree there, and he told all the other people to go away and leave us alone; we talked privately for half an hour. We spoke Mandarin and Japanese. He could speak Japanese, but his Japanese was lousy. He had a very heavy accent. Most people could not understand his Japanese, but I could understand him. He went to a military school in Japan, so he could speak fluently about military affairs and war. He asked me how the Tayal tribe fared during the Japanese Occupation of Taiwan, and I told him all about it. He was very concerned about how Aborigines lived.

After President Chiang went back to Taipei, all the reporters asked me, “You two talked privately for such a long time, what did the President have to say to you?” I answered, “The President gave me three directives. First, the road from the city to Wulai has to be widened and paved better, so the Tayal of Wulai can have better development. Second, the President said that the bridges in Wulai are not good enough. In Wulai the mountains are steep and the rivers are fast, so if the bridges are not good enough, the people cannot do their jobs well, so the bridges have to be upgraded, to improve the living standards of the residents. The President’s third directive was, we have to improve education for the Tayal, so that our Aborigine children can have a brighter future and to improve the living for the next generation."

I told the reporters that President Chiang Kai-Shek gave me these three directives. Immediately construction units got in touch with me and started improving the roads and infrastructure of Wulai!

A recent headline:

Supreme court to weigh usage of murder victim’s statements

Usage? 名正言順; language is built on the foundation that words have a certain, conventional meaning that we all agree on. There is no objective reason that that thing which flies through the air is called a bird; we all agree that it is a bird, so that is what you call it. Certainly you are within your rights if you call it a giraffe; there are no laws that prohibit this. But don’t expect to be understood if you say, A giraffe just flew up to the window and started singing.

Use, noun and verb; usage means the way a word or sentence is used; utility may mean the merit of use; utilities are water, gas, and electricity; don’t even say ‘utilization’ when I am present, please.

So if we are to insure communication by using language correctly, as Confucius urged, the headline that the Supreme Court is weighing victim’s statement means the Justices are examining the grammar, syntax, and meaning of the statements given by a murder victim. I strongly doubt that the Justices are teaching Freshman Comp. I strongly suggest that whoever wrote that headline go back to Freshman Comp, and take his editor along too.

Of all the reasons I have heard given for homosexuality, the most absurd is, “Homosexuality is biological.” Biology is evolutionary; biology is tuned for having babies to pass on the genes. The only ‘path’ biology treads is to perpetuate the species by sending genes to the next generation. Homosexuals don’t have babies. How could biology possibly herd individuals into a dead end? If you say homosexuality is biological, this is tantamount to saying that for some reason biology ‘wishes’ to eliminate those genes.

If homosexuals are so proud, free, and open, why do they have to claim it is caused by circumstances totally beyond their control or choice? I didn’t mean to do it, but my biology forced me to; I didn’t mean to do it, but society forced me to; I didn’t mean to do it, but I ate a Twinkie; I didn’t mean to do it, but the Devil made me do it!

Even if homosexuality were biological, I do not see that that implies a stamp of approval. Step-mothers maltreating step-children makes far more biological (evolutionary) sense than homosexuality; if homosexuality is to be approved because it is ‘biological,’ then we should condone the maltreatment of step-children by step-mothers. There is a quirk in chromosomes – I forget just what, XYX, something – that has a direct correlation to violence; men with this chromosome fill jails serving time for violent crime. Before homosexuality is approved because it might be ‘biological,’ these men should be freed from prison, and be exempt from further punishment for any injury they do to others, because medical science has proved that the chromosomes they were born with tend them to violence.

IMHO, widespread modern homosexuality probably has nothing to do with biology, and much to do with modern methods of raising meat animals. For economic efficiency, cows, pigs, chickens, and other meat animals are pumped full of hormones to make them grow faster. These are passed almost undiluted into the consumer, because the animal is slaughtered before the chemicals pass out of their systems. I observe that, in Taiwan at least, I do not know any homosexual vegetarians; the people I know who are most strongly opposed to vegetarianism, and most adamantly dedicated to eating as much meat as possible, are all homosexuals. Naturally, correlation does not prove causality, but if an outside cause were to be found for homosexuality, I would place meat eating over biology.

我個人認為，中國字比英文字好看多了。可是在民進黨愛臺灣、重本土文化指導下，貴英文賤中文；寧見半調子的「英」文，不屑現完美的中文。國家劇場整修，外帷大字renewing is better(記不清楚，因為句子一點也不響喨)，用的是最呆板、最難看的times new roman字型，下方才有半高的細明體中文語句。為甚麼那麼瞧不起本身的文化？為甚麼不能用唯妙唯巧的漢字大大方方的寫？臺灣書法高手多，隨便請一個題字，一定比細明體漂亮。不必請甚麼書法名家揮毫，縱使學生習字，比電腦字活。Times new roman更不用講。

前幾天到政府機關辦事，發現辦公室裏甚麼都貼上說明標籤，好像小學生家長到處貼上字，讓小朋友好認字一樣：電話上寫

電話 telephone

牆上掛四張沒有特色的水彩畫，每一張的框角插一張紙寫

圖案 picture

感覺迂拙。寫對還好。公文要蓋章，所以有蓋章機。「蓋章機」怎麼寫？您一定猜不出來：：：

cover chapter machine

服了吧！蓋者, cover也，章者, chapter也，機者, machine也，難道有錯嗎？

至少如果懂中文，cover chapter machine有蹟可尋。另有一個「專案窗口」，我真無法想為何寫成prolonged case window; 專案如何轉成prolonged? 不解。

其中還有一個問題；中文的習慣，蓋章機、專案窗口、文件櫃，注明機、窗口、櫃，與英文用法迥異。我們必須承認，中文與英文不一樣。文件櫃，上寫document cabinet，依字無誤，可是不是英文；英文若要寫的話，單一documents字就夠了。「綜合受理櫃」譯multiple application counter，其實不必如此：單一Applications即可。（英文有單、複數，加s便了。至于為甚麼中文寫「綜合」，我問辦事人員，他們也不知。）

我以前買過一個茶盤，附證書，證書加「英」文字Certificate Book。看不懂，書在哪？證書放桌上，想了幾個禮拜，才恍然大悟：證, certificate；書, book。饒了我吧！

坐捷運，看到一位先生背包上寫

淡江化工Chemical Society Located of Taipei Animal Meeting

前面四個國字看得懂，可是後面是啥，從臺北車站看到新店，只能搖頭，怪自己英文程度不夠。謝局長的英文，自沒人能比(也沒人能懂)，可是連個淡江化工的背包也看不懂。嗨，我真該加強！

不過，最精彩的，還是中山區運動中心停車場的柵欄：

禁止，stop也；進入，enter也。這樣寫不對嗎？

我哭了。

易、家人、彖傳：家人，女正位乎內，男正位乎外；男女正，天地之大義也。家人有嚴君焉，父母之謂也。

所謂嚴君，父母之謂也，父母並重；孔子無重男輕女，男尊女卑是後人的歪論，不是儒學原貌。(案：東周無「女子」連詞；女者汝也；論語云女子，你的兒子。)

但這個「嚴」字需注意；不是嚴格管束家人的意思。比孔子稍晚的中山/興昔*/壺銘敘作器「以鄉(饗)上帝**，以祀先王，穆：濟：，嚴敬不敢怠荒。」東周「嚴」字如此：嚴以律己，是也。不是嚴苛要求它人。夫子割不正不食、席不正不坐，不是囉嗦刁難它人，而是要求自己方方正正，不茍且過日子。所以禮記第一句：毋不敬。斯敬，如敬業的敬，謹慎也，樣樣事情不馬虎，要作就作好，活在當下。

故曰，所謂嚴君，是對父母的要求；作父母要認真作，不可馬虎。

*原器銘/興昔/是一字，今無。姑如斯寫。

**上帝，指天神，與猶太上帝不相干；明清來華傳教師借用故有明詞而已。

In yesterday’s post, I mentioned the printing of a bible in Wopanaak (Wampanoag, an Algonquian language). Lately great efforts have been made to revive that language, and the bible is proving a useful reference.

The Spring 2001 MIT magazine gives an account of how Jessie Little Doe of the Mashpee Wampanoag has worked to revive her ancestors’ language.

http://web.mit.edu/giving/spectrum/spring01/inspired-by-a-dream.html

or click here

For the homepage of the Wampanoag tribe of Gayhead Aquinnah, a sister tribe of the Masphee Wampanoag. also here

Good luck to the Wampanoag in their efforts to retrieve their language!

Hold your breath, this may hurt a bit.

First consider the founding of the United States. The Puritans reached New England in 1620, a harsh land of trees, stones, infertile soil, long harrowing winters, and short summers. They almost starved; indeed, half their number died during the first winter. Only 16 years after their unpromising arrival, a college was founded, called Harvard. Two years after that, in 1638, a printing press was set up and books were printed. (The first printing press in London was established by John Lattou in 1480; the first English language text was not published until 1525. Before the Industrial Revolution technology was transmitted much more slowly, so having a press so soon in Massachusetts, at the far end of the world, a month or more away from Europe by ship, was amazing; there were very few contemporary printers in London or Paris.) In 1663, only one generation after the Pilgrims landed, 1500 copies of a bible translated into Wampanoag, an Algonquian Indian language, were printed: the title is worth copying out as a testimonial to the valiant proofreader:

Mamusse Wunneetupanatamwe Up-Biblum God, Naneeswe Nukkone Testament, Kah Wonk Wusku Testament

Has a definite ring to it, doesn’t it? But you can see the translator fudging: Biblum? Testament? Before long this barren land, far from any center of civilization, boasted painters and poets, authors and thinkers, pewtersmiths and silversmiths, as well as hundreds of curious minds tinkering with machinery and inquiring into sciences.

Now consider Taiwan, a fertile island with a mild climate, just a short hop across the straits from mainland China. Before the Japanese grabbed Taiwan, no open schools were founded, no books were published, no inquiries into science developed, there were no original thinkers, painters, or authors. Chinese are not evangelical, but no effort was made to civilize the Aborigines; rather, they were hunted (冬令進補) and exterminated whenever possible. During their exploitation of Taiwan, the Japanese educated only a small number of nipponized Chinese beyond third grade; the few who managed to obtain higher education produced nothing noteworthy in arts or sciences. To call the painting of the day second rate is to praise it too highly.

Japanese imperialism in Taiwan ended on the decks of the battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay. The Japanese did their best to wreck the economy of Taiwan before they left. When the Nationalist government accepted the return of Taiwan, they were reeling from eight years of unspeakable cruelty by sadistic Japanese armies, and bleeding from attacks by Chairman Mao, who, backed by Stalin, promised to wash Taiwan in blood. Under these circumstances, the Nationalist (KMT) government immediately established schools for everybody, instituted higher education on the basis of merit (大專聯攷) rather than family, connections, or money, gave Aborigines seats in legislative bodies and positions in the armed forces and police, and brought incredible intellectual and artistic growth in everything from biology to dance. It is fair to say that the high culture in Taiwan is the product of the Nationalist government.

Now the DPP is tearing apart Taiwan’s education under the guise of loving Taiwan. Perhaps the policy of dismantling education and 愚民政策 making the people stupid is designed with the idea that they will get reelected if the electorate is stupid enough to vote for a party whose Minister of Education openly picks his nose in a public hearing in the Legislature. (My belief is that legislators, of whatever stripe, of whatever caliber, are elected by the People; an appointed government official, who has not earned his seat through the will of the People, who shows disrespect to a popularly elected official, shows disrespect to the People who voted in elections, and to the spirit of democracy.)

I have no intention whatsoever to act as a spokesman or an apologist for the KMT, but I do think credit should go where credit is due, and I am sad to see education being trampled.

I wrote this a year ago. Now a new mood has grown in Taiwan, since voters thoroughly stomped on the DPP in the last several elections. We all hope for a better future to come soon.

I'm coming to get you!
Originally uploaded by Yugan Dali

This morning as I was working outdoors, the dogs raised off, and soon I heard Tlahuy’s vigorous barking. He had treed either a squirrel or a cat. He kept barking long enough to make me think he had a cat; a squirrel will jump from tree to tree, but a cat will not. It will stay treed until danger passes, but in desperation, it may jump from the tree and race along the ground to the next tree.

He kept barking; Byajing raced out to see me, and raced back into the fray again. I followed the barking, and sure enough, there was a cat up a tree. Tlahuy barked and barked, Byajing rushed here and rushed there, and Yumin was trying to climb the tree. The trunk showed the scratches of his attempts. To my amazement, he began to make progress up the trunk! Through sheer determination and muscle power, he was inching his way up the trunk to the cat. Not only my amazement, how do you think the cat felt? The worst possible feline nightmare, a tree climbing beagle!

I tried to dissuade the dogs, but nothing could thwart Yumin’s determination. I spoke soothingly to the cat, but it was not in the mood to be soothed. It watched Yumin with horror in its eyes, and finally, looking at me regretfully, launched itself off the tree. In a flash the dogs were following, but it made it off through the underbrush to a safer place.

But I have to say, that was the first time I have ever seen a dog climb a tree!

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I have posted a series of photos of the event starting at http://www.flickr.com/photos/talovich/2442004033/

or go to the beagle set: http://www.flickr.com/photos/talovich/sets/72157603523717504/

I saw Bengax climb a ladder once, but I had never seen a dog climb a tree before.

For Bengax and the ladder, please see http://talovich.blogspot.com/2003_11_01_archive.html#106940301552825948

The perils of creativity

Be careful what you name your brat.

Angry woman to friend: I have a contention with the way people pronounce my daughter's name. I did not name by daughter 'Lady Nasty'! I named my baby girl 'La Dynasty.'

--JFK

from www.overheardinnewyork.com