Saturday’s Arrowbear Rant

   I’ve never met a lab I didn’t like.
   Before tonight.
   When I was almost mauled by a snarling beast.
   Does it seem like I complain a lot about dogs attacking me when I run? It happens almost every  day I run in Arrowbear! Not surprising in the least bit that  a Akida was just hit on the highway in front of my house. Why do people let there pets run loose? I don’t even let my cats outside!
   Don’t get me wrong, I like dogs, well not rat dogs, but real dogs. I don’t know what it is about me, my leggings, my mountain smell, or well, my other various smells, but dogs just like to chase, bark, snarl and try to bite me. And my neighbors are most likely to high to pay any attention to their pets, or heavens! Keep them in their yards!
    Okay, I grew up in a neighborhood of Running Springs, where no one and I mean no one kept their dogs in their yards and that was just the way it was. This is how the mountain communities are, I’m not saying its right or wrong; mountain dog owners have strong opinions on letting their beasts run free. If I had a dog, it would be in my yard, because these days who wants to deal with a lawsuit if your dog bites a jogger or  a kid, or if your dog was run over in traffic.
    Besides almost getting mauled, I had a nice run. I started out really late, at dusk. I had to run out to Orange County this morning to finish up some Christmas shopping on my day off and I’ve been gone all day. I went to Santa Monica Seafood in Costa Mesa for the first time, and it was an amazing experience! The fish was extremely fresh and perfect. I just ordered from the deli and ate in my car in between errands (Super busy day!) But I so enjoyed my calamari, anchovies and Indian Candy (Sugary smoked salmon) Plus this cafe and fish market will give you samples of any thing in their deli case. Next time I get back down to the O.C. I am so stopping here again!
    I didn’t make it back to the mountains until the sun was just beginning to dip behind Catalina Island in the distance.  Yes, here in the mountain communities we are really lucky; on a clear day,we can see Catalina and even sometimes sail boats on the ocean, some two hundred miles away. Its truly a spectacular sight.
    As I admired this fantastic view, I did my typical four mile loop up the behemoth hill, Upper Boulder, which I ran way more then I usually manage. Then I managed to run up Music Camp Road, quite a bit, which is really hard. Music camp hugs the frozen lake, then goes straight up into the hills. It gave me a killer view of the sunsetting on the ridge line, as I ran with an angry lab nipping at my heels and snarling. Seriously, two minutes earlier, I had watched him playing in the autumn leaves and looking real cute. Then, he turned into Cujo when he saw me approach his leaf pile. Keep your damn leaves Cujo!
    At this point, the sun had set as I made my way back down Ridge. You would think my ghetto ‘hood would be a bit scary at night with rabid mutts chasing me, but the Christmas lights blinking in the moonlight on nearly every house is distracting, calming even.  Roseann Cash singing in her smokey voice in my ears is reassuring. I began to notice, that along with Christmas lights, quite a few people in Arrowbear have toilets in their front yards.  Toilets, the new Christmas decoration in 2011?My co workers joke about me having an outhouse, but really I’m beginning to wonder in this neighborhood. Than I came across quite a few dirty diapers in the road that I hurdled over like an Olympian. Gross, Arrow Bear, Gross.
   I took a left around the frozen little lake. In the twenty degree moon light I spotted a pair of tire cables in the snow, and had to laugh.
   A perfect Christmas present for Dad! My Dad is forever stopping to pickup abandoned tire cables and tire chains he finds left behind. Actually he stops for pretty much any junk he finds. Life jackets, tables, chairs. Why do you think my parents garage looks like that show, Hoarders? I don’t think any one in my family has ever bought a pair of tire chains. In the past if my truck threw a set of chains, my Dad Always had a extra pair, or twelve in the garage.
    As I ran in the approaching moonlight I wasn’t tired at all, and I really wished I hadn’t lost my flash light, I would have loved to have kept going! But I was kind of afraid of stepping on more diapers in the dark.