Sun and a light breeze... I should go roast a pig.

This weekend we were in Redding, where it gets notoriously hot. In fact, my mother-in-law gave us an outdoor thermometer for our deck, and I had it sitting in the front seat of the car. It topped out, then burst.

Melanie and I have always needed to make retreats into the heat so that we felt like we actually had some summer going on. Then we could return to the foggy gloom of the East Bay and not feel cheated out of summer.

However, now that we are outside of the Ring of Pea Soup, we realized that it not the extreme heat that we missed, just the warm evenings, which we have in Vallejo.

Weather best by government test?

No, that would be Redwood City, but we have to be a close second.

Government best by weather test?

No, but I would take our government over the Berkeley City Council or the San Francisco Board of Stuporvisors any day (except in the Keilholtz Dictatorship Work Camps, where great fun will be had by all watching Kriss Worthington and Tom Ammiano chipping rock all day long. Tickets for that will probably sell out early).

Anyway, today is another perfect day, and I am not sure how many of these I can take before I have to go out and roast a large piece of pork. I would prefer to roast a whole pig, but that would generate too much food.

Speaking of animals, am I the only person in America who does not think that dogfighting is that big a deal? Dogs fight on their own, in fact, it seems to be what they do best. Why is Mr. Vick facing federal charges for dogfighting? Why are there federal laws against dogfighting? Are we going to make sure that Iraq has federal laws against dogfighting?

Why do people have dogs as pets? I can understand work dogs for this, that or the other thing (including for food and for fighting), but as an object of affection? This is part of the problem of our society. Sick. Sick. Sick.

Now, I am not in favor of dogfighting. It has no appeal to me. Unlike bullfighting, it is not an art of any sort, but a sort of atavistic type of gambling, and I am not really into gambling, although the atavistic sorts are more attractive to me than the sophisticated forms. I have never been to a dogfight, but would not automatically say "no" if I were invited. I have been to cockfights and enjoyed them tremendously, so perhaps I would like a dogfight. I certainly like dogs less than I like chickens. Chickens don't bark their heads off all night, don't howl at sirens, and don't menace children, and, if they do, aren't followed by some indignant turd of an owner who says, "oh, don't worry, little Cujo is a good chicken, in spite of the snarling, baring of teeth, etc."

So, given my experiences with dogs, the idea of a couple of the nasty beasts tearing each other up, is, well, not exactly listening to a Bach fugue, but is certainly not worthy of much handwringing. In fact, it should probably be government supported as an endangered cultural practice. Hmmm. Now there's a thought.