Weather extremes; or Dog Days in Chi

Remember the polar vortex?

That period of a few days back in January when the shift in weather traits actually gave in Chicago a taste of what things normally are like around the Arctic Circle!

Rocco (left) and Carmelo back in the winter months. Photos by Gregory Tejeda

IT WAS COLD. Particularly that one day where I got an assignment that actually required me to go outside and walk around the neighborhood in search of some colorful tidbits for a newspaper story.

Which I managed to accomplish in record time. No point in getting frost-bite for the free-lance pay rate I take in these days.

I also remember having to take the dogs outside during those days so they could “do their business,” so to speak. They’re not paper-trained, so their reaction to bathroom-type functions is to want to go outside – no matter what the weather is like.

While Rocco and Carmelo usually manage to linger out in the back yard for a few minutes before doing their “duty,” on those days they managed to run outside, complete their business them come charging back to the house.

LITERALLY CLAWING AWAY at the back door in desperate need of somebody to let them inside. Because it’s cold out here!!!

Anyway, these are the memories popping into my head on Friday as we’re enduring a heat spell that some are saying will be record-setting for the Chicago area.

The National Weather Service issued warnings for northern Illinois and Indiana, along with southern Wisconsin, going from Friday at 10 a.m. and supposed to last until about 7 p.m. Saturday.

It’s going to be hot and humid and people were advised to stay indoors as much as possible during that time period.

Rocco prefers the snow from indoors

FOR WHAT IT’S worth, I took the doggies out for a walk Friday morning and they managed to complete their business. But the walk didn’t last that long – pretty soon the dogs were panting heavily as they were hot.

They couldn’t wait to get back inside, and it was a good move that I refilled their water dishes before the walk. For they immediately went for the water and began gulping it down once we got back to shelter.

Now there have been some reports these days reminiscing back into history and 1919, when the heat of that summer was considered a cause of boosting tensions that ultimately resulted in race riots that left many people dead.

Although I suspect many more people had 1995 come to their minds. Much more recent – although even that is a quarter-of-a-century in the past.

I WAS FORTUNATE enough to not actually be in Chicago that summer – I was living in Springfield, Ill., at the time, although I got to hear the horror stories from my mother and brother of just how ridiculously hot it became and the extremes they had to go through to remain cool.

I recall the reports ultimately said the intense heat was because of a shift that, for a couple of weeks, caused Chicago to become something along the lines of Saudi Arabia.

And while those who actually live in the desert perhaps are capable of coping with such conditions, we managed to get caught off-guard. Causing the hundreds of deaths from that summer due to intense heat.

Carmelo wanted the water!

All I know is that if this is what other parts of the world feel like, it makes me all the more thankful to be a Chicagoan. The rest of the world can keep their weather extremes.

BUT I MUST admit to being uncertain about which extreme is more uanbearable. Polar vortex or Arab desert?

All I know is that I take one look at Rocco and Carmelo in heavy pant and know they were about as miserable as they were back in January when they virtually froze their paws off.

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A crucial public service, or a place to lounge? The purpose of a dog park

Reviewing the various aspects of the budget that officials prepared for Illinois state government’s upcoming (beginning July 1) fiscal year, there’s one aspect that has managed to catch my eye – dog parks!

Rocco, Carmelo encounter a friend (left) at the local dog park. Photos by Gregory Tejeda

It seems that Illinois officials thought to include some $400,000 that will be given to officials in Chicago and Aurora to be used to either develop new, or improve existing, facilities where pet owners can legally let loose their animals.

AS IN THOSE areas completely fenced in so that a dog owner can legally bring their precious pet, unhook their leash and let them run about. Working off the frustration of being chained up the rest of the day.

The idea is that it’s pet exercise. They can run. They can play. They can interact with other dogs – although one aspect of every dog park I’ve ever seen is the separate portion maintained for dogs who act up.

Almost like a ‘doggie jail’ for those pets who just can’t “play nice” with each other.

My own experience with dog parks involves the two canines my father and step-mother have. I help out with their walking, and periodically am the one who puts the dogs in the car so we can make a 5-minute drive to their neighborhood dog park.

WHICH I HAVE to admit, it’s like the two dogs (Rocco and Carmelo, a black standard poodle and tan goldendoodle respectively) eagerly anticipate the trip. Getting them to climb in the car is never a hassle. Although sometimes, Carmelo tries to then move to the front driver seat – and oftentimes will have his paws up on the steering wheel as though he’s going to take the automobile out for a spin.

Carmelo (right) encounters a pack at the park

Then, we arrive at the dog park (which is a fenced-in area about the size of two football fields where it is legal to unleash the animals and they’re encouraged to run around to their heart’s delight). It’s like the excitement level boosts the moment the dogs realize exactly where they’re going.

In fact, the real trick is to wrestle with the dogs long enough until we actually get past the locked gates that demark the point at which the municipal “leash” laws no longer apply.

Plus, I always find it intriguing the notion that any dogs who happen to already be in the park come running over to the gate to “check out” the newcomers.

WHICH INVARIABLY CREATES a noisy racket – everybody in sight is barking at each other, and it doesn’t end until the dogs are safely inside and off the leash.

Then, there’s the sight of dogs galore running all about. And sometimes my father’s pooches managing to find another doggie or two whom they feel some special bit of attention for. They make a new “friend,” so to speak. Other times, they “wrestle” with each other.

Carmelo gets playful at the dog park

Personally, I find it enjoyable to know I can let the dog off the leash and they can have some freedom (of sorts) to run about as they please. Which is why I find it odd that some people seem to think the dog park is a place to find a bench to sit in the sun and watch while their own dog is perched nearby. It’s like those people won’t let their pets have any fun.

Then again, I’ve heard of some dog owners insist they’ll never take their pets to one of these public parks. They insist their precious pooches will get contaminated by the germs carried about by everybody else’s mutts!

OF COURSE, I have to admit that Rocco once developed a pretty serious cough – one severe enough that he was taken to the “vet.” Who ultimately diagnosed it as “kennel cough,” and said it most likely was something he caught off another pet at the dog park. Some medication and a two-week time period away from the park turned out to be the cure.

My father playing w/ pooches at park

Now I know some communities have had these facilities for some time, while others are trying to turn any sizable plot of land they have into a dog park. I know in Gary, Ind., officials are contemplating using a one-time Little League baseball field as a dog park – on the grounds that the outfield fences already are in place. A one-time center field can become a new doggie playland.

Over here in Illinois, the General Assembly signed off on providing $50,000 to the Chicago Public Schools to develop a dog park in the Mount Greenwood neighborhood, and $200,000 to the Chicago Park District for a place in the Hyde Park neighborhood and another such facility elsewhere. While the Fox Valley Park District will get $150,000 for a new dog park in Aurora and upgrades to an existing park in Montgomery.

It might be the smartest money spent, if it encourages people to not let their pets roam free and unleashed. Now if only we can get all pet owners to pick up their animals’ poop, we’d have a better world.

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Electoral confusion?!?

I happened to be taking my father’s dogs out for a Sunday morning walk when we stumbled across a house that had campaign signs galore posted all over the front lawn.

Carmelo, a Golden Retriever/Poodle, surveys the confusion of some voters as Election Day approaches in eight days. Photograph by Gregory Tejeda

So many that the end result was a chaotic mess – with some of the signs actually being for conflicting viewpoints come Election Day.

DO WE HAVE people who think they’re politically aware who don’t have a clue how they’re voting? Will next Tuesday wind up being the end result of political chaos run amok?

Anything is possible. There are times when I think the only definitive thought would-be voters have in their heads is whether they want “four more years” of Bruce Rauner as Illinois governor.

As for the ones who don’t, I doubt there’s a true consensus of thought behind any one candidate, or even one political party. Which could be Rauner’s best chance of winning re-election.

But as for the rest of the ballot, I won’t be surprised to learn many people will walk into the voting booth without a clue how they’re going to vote.

WILL WE HAVE people picking and choosing at random just so they can fill out their ballots? Or will we have people leaving the bulk of their ballots blank because they don’t have a clue who, or what, to cast votes for?

I know some suburbs are putting “home rule” referendum questions on their ballot – asking voters if their municipal officials ought to have full authority to deal with local issues involving taxes.

There are some people who put their full faith in their local officials over any other, while others think government officials deserve to have as little authority as possible.

Yet I have heard some people come right out and say they’re inclined to skip that question, particularly if the concept of “home rule” in general is one that is alien to them.

OF COURSE, THERE’S also all those judges to pick from – and I’m sure that’s going to cause intimidation for many voters.

Now I’ll be the first to admit that as a reporter-type person who has written about courts in Cook County, I have an edge over other voters. I’ve actually heard of many of these judges – in some instances, I’ve covered cases in their courtrooms.

I’m not above refusing to vote for a judge who acted like a pompous blowhard while I was in his presence.

Which makes as much sense to me as those people who cast votes for as many of the white, Irish-sounding names they see. To the point where I’m astounded at the many judicial candidates who have their campaign lawn signs in Kelly green-colored letters. Putting the thoughts of St. Patrick’s Day into our subliminal thoughts.

AS FOR ME, when I cast my ballot last week at an Early Voting Center, I actually went with my own ethnic origins in cases when I was unfamiliar with all the candidates – hence, a slew of Spanish-sounding names got my vote. Although I’m also aware there’s been enough ethnic intermixing in our society that it doesn’t take a “Rodriguez” or “Martinez”-like name to be Latino.

I’m also sure there are others who have equally-goofy ways of distributing their votes in cases of cluelessness. Besides, when you think about it, does it really make sense to seek out a Bar Association endorsement list and pick off all those names? Those lists tend to be the legal establishment, and I’m sure there are those who’d rather be shaking up the established courthouse regulars for our societal good.

So those of you who have yet to cast your votes, I’ll wish you luck on wading through the many anonymous names that comprise the bottom half of the ballot that you probably haven’t paid attention to.

And I’ll wonder if your reaction will be something similar to one of my father’s dogs, who I swear let out a sigh when he saw the mass of signs cluttering a lawn that he probably would have put to better use by relieving himself.

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Brrrrrr! It’s cold outside. Or, only 90 more days till baseball Opening Day

As I write this, it’s 10 degrees outside, with the potential to rise to 14 degrees. Wind chill will create conditions that supposedly will make it feel more like 1 or 2 degrees temperature.

Rocco, Carmelo cope w/ winter weather

In short, this lull of a week between the Christmas and New Year’s holidays is friggin’ freezing. This week during which many people will look for any excuse they can find to get out of work is provided with a perfect excuse by Mother Nature.

IT’S COLD OUTSIDE!!!

There’s no reason why human beings should be outdoors if they can possibly avoid it. The perfect time to do as little as is humanly possible.

For some people, it’s the perfect excuse to contemplate finding some other region of the globe to live in – some place where the idea of the temperatures ever dropping below 32 degrees (the official standard point at which water freezes into ice) is just a bad nightmare.

I’m not necessarily talking about some place with sunshine and perpetual 70 degree temperatures. Just some place where taking the dogs out for a walk doesn’t put one at risk for hypothermia.

Even he's shivering

I BRING UP that example because I often do wind up taking my father’s pair of dogs (a Standard Poodle and a mixed-breed Golden Retriever/Poodle) out for their daily walk.

While I have noticed they still get excited at the thought of being able to go outside, all it takes is one blast of the Arctic-like air for them to immediately change their minds.

I’m amused at how quickly the dogs (Rocco and Carmelo) are now capable of doing their “business” before they suddenly give every indication that they want to go back inside. Back home. No more of this aimless wandering that they usually do because “it’s outside.”

It makes me wonder if dogs can have more sense than people, or at least some individuals, based on their public behavior.

With holidays over, we do countdown to spring

YES, I FEEL the cold temperatures, just as much as anybody else. Even my neighbor with the elaborately-decorated front yard came up with something appropriate -- an inflatable snowman that shivers because it's so cold!

Yet I have to confess something – maybe it’s evidence that I’m losing it. But I don’t feel the urge to want to flee Chicago, or the Midwestern U.S., just because it’s cold outside!

I still remember one December I spent in Florida just over three decades ago – the idea of a swimming pool at that time of year just seemed strange. And listening to the locals complain about the cold because for a couple of days the temperatures dipped into the mid-30s?

It elicited the same reaction I get whenever I hear reports of snowfall in the Southern U.S. bringing daily life to a standstill – What a bunch of wimps!!!

IT’S COLD OUTSIDE; I’ll be the first to admit it. But it truly is part of the natural cycle of life on this planet to have the seasons. Finding a place where it never freezes is the extreme of life – just as a place like Antarctica is the opposite end (a land of perpetual winter).

We’re in the cycle of life – about to end the current calendar year. And for what it’s worth, we’ve passed the point where the days are getting shorter and the sun sets about 4:30 p.m. Minute by minute, we’re getting extra daylight and moving toward the time period in which we’ll have the mild temperatures that make life truly sweet and pleasant.

Besides, if we’re to be totally honest, we’ve managed to avoid the most annoying part of winter weather – the slop of snowfall. That downpour we got on Sunday (a.k.a., Christmas Eve) was over by day’s end and wasn’t that hard to clean up.

It won't be long before springtime returns, even to Chicago

It added to the winter ambiance that we’ll be able to remember fondly come May. Besides, it’s only 90 more days ‘til Opening Day for Major League Baseball – a thought to keep in mind if the wintry weather conditions become too unbearable.

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EXTRA: Halloweenie creepies! Or, letting the childhood beggars loose!

About the most ominous memory I have of childhood trick-or-treat activity some four-and-a-half decades ago was one time my brother, Christopher, and I were walking around the neighborhood and we encountered a house where no one was answering the door.

'Letting the hounds loose' in my case would probably create a batch of kids wanting to pet the cute puppies, no matter how much they snarled and barked

Then, I happened to look over to the side, and saw the giant sign the homeowner had scrawled out by hand – informing all of us candy-seekers to “Scram!!!” No candy, or anything available at that house.

I DIDN’T FEEL like pushing it. My brother and I got out of there, and quickly found many other places where the local residents were more than willing to cough up the desired chocolates, sugary junk and occasional spare change that would make for a Halloween bounty.

To tell you the truth, I don’t really blame that guy (or whoever it was, I never did find out) who didn’t feel like giving out any candy to the neighborhood freeloaders who felt that Halloween was an excuse to beg publicly.

There’s a part of me that jokes about using my father’s dogs to try scaring away any kids who come near me seeking candy (not that they bite, it’s just that they’ll make a lot of noise toward anyone they don’t recognize). But I'll confess to having a small bowl of Snickers bars and other candy available for anyone who shows up later Tuesday.

In short, I always think of Halloween as something relatively harmless – and something I haven’t really celebrated since the last time I went trick-or-treating; which I think was at about age 7.

SO I HAVE to admit to wondering what the heck is wrong with our society that Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan felt compelled to issue a statement telling people to check the state registry of people listed as sex offenders before letting their children loose.

MADIGAN: Warning us all of threat

You might just find out that someone living near you has something in their past they’d rather keep quiet about, but which Illinois law won’t permit them. It seems we’re far beyond the point in our society where we have to worry about that old urban legend about some kid getting cut up because they ate an apple with a razor blade inserted into it.

Which is something I always wondered was just a myth created by parents to justify confiscating some of the candy collected by their kids on the grounds they didn’t need to be hyped up on so much sugar!

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Who really needs to be first?

My parents these days are caring for a pair of dogs, Rocco and Carmelo, who have distinct personalities. But there is one significant difference I have noticed.

The Chicago-area's first-born baby is a girl who owes her name to this ballpark. It's a good thing the building at Clark and Addison doesn't still bear its original name -- or else she'd be going through life with the name "Weeghman"

Carmelo, the younger of the two (he was born back in May, but has grown quite quickly) wants to be assured he is first in everything. Just the other day when I tried opening a back door to let Rocco go outside for a bit, Carmelo ran up, shoved Rocco aside and insisted on being the first to enjoy some fresh air.

WHICH TO ME is what all of the incidents of having to be “first” make me think of. We’re behaving like animals.

So naturally, this is NOT the ideal time of year for me to be seeing various “firsts” that are now occurring. Because we’re now in a new year, we’re going to see a lot of happenings that otherwise would go unnoticed get significant public attention just because they’re first.

As it is, we already have the “first baby” of 2017 in Chicago – whom it seems was born early Sunday to a couple in the northwestern suburbs who are Chicago Cubs fans. They named their daughter “Wrigley.”

Which as far as I’m concerned means it would serve that couple right if the daughter winds up taking no interest in baseball, or worse yet, winds up developing enough sense to be a White Sox fan!

BUT BECAUSE THIS particular year began on a Sunday and government officials need to get their New Year’s holiday day off from work, they will have to have Monday free.

No mail delivery (including a pay check I’m expecting from freelance work I do) until Tuesday. In fact, all government entities will be closed on Monday.

Which is why the Cook County government will have to hold off yet another day. We won’t get their “firsts” until at least Jan. 3.

I remember back when I was a reporter-type person for the now-defunct City News Bureau of Chicago when we’d make a big deal out of the first party permit issued by the Forest Preserve District.

LARGELY BECAUSE IT was always issued to the same man. “Moose” Murphy always wanted to have Permit Number One issued to his group, the Antler Dancers, who would have a big, alcohol-laced, bash in the forest preserves every year for several years.

Murphy would make the point of camping out at the Cook County Building at the end of each December to ensure he’d be first in line to get that permit number one. Heaven forbid anyone had the nerve to try to cut in line or usurp that top spot.

Or if anyone just showed up in mid-summer at the forest preserve where Murphy and his buddies were gathered for their annual bash.

Of course, the fact that we news media types are so desperate for fresh news copy right after the New Year’s holiday that we highlight the story no matter how trite means the county is eager to get all the positive publicity available.

AS IT IS, the Cook County clerk’s office already informed us about how on Tuesday Clerk David Orr will be ready to celebrate whichever couple happens to be first in line to apply for a marriage license.

Orr will actually perform the marriage ceremony on the spot (he, along with a ship’s captain, gets that perk) and several companies have already pledged gifts including a hotel suite and meal at a luxury restaurant for the couple who happen to be “first” in line Tuesday morning.

No wrath is more furious than that of Carmelo (left) if Rocco tries to do something ahead of him. Photograph by Gregory Tejeda

I feel sorry for them if it turns out it was a couple that merely wanted to elope in secret, but will find their life’s partnership now blasted on every television station and newspaper in Chicago – all because we need to fill space or airtime.

It also makes me wonder if the process is reduced to the level of Carmelo feeling compelled to race outside and be the “first” to do his “business” in the backyard.

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When do dogs top pirates? Bo knows

Bo.

As in Diddley (well, sort of).

THAT IS THE name the Obama family plans to give to the dog they plan to acquire this week, bringing an end to months of speculation that Barack Obama was somehow trying to back out of the deal he made with his daughters (that they’d get a dog if he won the ’08 presidential election).

Sure enough, that story is snatching its share of attention, both from animal lovers who want to go on about how cute is the doggie in the White House window, and from those people who are determined to disparage anything connected to Obama.

Reading various website commentary sections has subjected me to wisecracks about the Obamas getting a “sissyish” looking pet (a Portuguese water dog) that will cause world leaders to hold the U.S. up to ridicule, or claims that Obama is using the dog to detract from his refusal to take solid action to free a sea captain who has spent the past few days in the custody of “pirates.”

Of course, the fact that Navy Seals managed to perform a rescue operation on Sunday that resulted in Richard Phillips being freed kind of undercuts that argument. But never let irrelevance prevent a crackpot from shooting his mouth off anyway.
How many people would have gotten a kick out of White Sox fan Obama naming the family pet for the one-time Sox designated hitter? Photograph provided by the White House.

IN SHORT, THE Easter Sunday newscasts were dominated with stories of local Easter egg rolls, the piece or two of a local mass being held, the pirates and the dog.

This is the state of news judgment, as it exists in these early years of the 21st Century.

Now I’m not much of an animal lover. I have never had a dog, nor have I ever wanted one.

But there is something about this particular story that catches my attention, and not just because of how they picked the name (no, it’s not for Jackson or Schembechler).

IT COMES IN part as a tribute to the maternal grandfather of the Obama girls, who was nicknamed Diddley because of his love for the original Bo’s music.

Perhaps this means “Say Man” or “Bo Diddley” (the song, not the man) will become the official theme music of the Obama administration. Perhaps it literally is a political statement that they tried to find a dog from a shelter, and will still make a financial contribution to a shelter to show their support.

Or maybe this is just an otherwise slow news day being filled with content that gives us a little bit of perspective on the family life of the new first couple (who still have another 3 years, 9 months, with an option for four more years, on their time in the White House).

So for all those people out there who are ranting and raging about the “butt-kissing news media” (most of their phrases are much more tacky) willing to write anything that makes Obama look good, I’d have to argue what else was there.

YOU CAN’T VERY well do entire newscasts devoted to priests and ministers giving their Easter sermon. And it’s not like the “pirate” story got lost in the shuffle.

I have seen the Associated Press account of the gun battle between the Navy and Somali pirates turn up on many sites. It is getting its share of attention.

What intrigues me about this story is that it appears the rescue wound up straying into the jurisdiction of Kenya – which is the ethnic homeland of Obama himself.

For those who wonder if Kenya will be willing to prosecute the surviving pirate (three died in the gunfire), I have to wonder if the presence of Obama is enough to ensure that some action will take place.

NOW I DON’T mean to trivialize this story, but I have had my problem with the way it has been perceived for the past few days – mostly because of the repeated use of the word “pirate.”

Some people are probably envisioning a modern-day version of Captain Hook, and somehow thinking there is something quaint about having pirates in the 21st Century. What we’re really talking about here are thugs, petty criminals whose reason for operating at sea is because they think it allows them to elude anyone’s legal jurisdiction.

The captivity of Phillips, in many ways, is little more than a petty kidnapping and hostage situation. It is the kind of incident that people would normally lambaste news organizations for overplaying.

That is why I have a hard time thinking of it as some major international scandal.

IN THAT CONTEXT, I find the selection of a new White House pooch to be a more interesting story.

But the bottom line is that both of these stories gained as much attention as they did because it was a Sunday. What else was happening?

There was a reason that Pat Quinn used to make his major pronouncements at mid-day Sunday. It ensured that news organizations would be so desperate for fresh news copy that they’d cover him – no matter how minor his action turned out to be.

If either of these stories had occurred even 24 hours later (such as Monday morning), they would have been rendered to the recycling bin after getting a brief sentence or two mention.

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EDITOR’S NOTES: Kenya officials ultimately will decide what happens to the (http://www.nwi.com/articles/2009/04/12/updates/breaking_news/doc49e213cfd49ec000625519.txt) surviving pirate/thug.

Somebody at the Washington Post lost his/her chance to think he/she “broke” a major story (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/apr/13/barack-obama-pet-dog) when the celebrity-oriented website TMZ.com (http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/09/04/12/Meet-Bo-the-First-Dog/) came up with pictures of Bo first.