Red-Necks

I don't self-identify as a "red neck". I have to say that first. I know people who do, and who take pride in it. Personally, I don't get it. To me, a "red neck" is an uneducated person who lives in the country. And yet, I live in the "country" and know educated people who call themselves "red necks".

I don't get it.

But I also don't think it's appropriate to call people red necks as an insult. Insulting someone based on their income or education or hometown or race is never appropriate.

I volunteer for St. John Ambulance, and I was a volunteer first-aider at an event called the Verona Mud Drags. People race cars with really loud engines and way too many housepower (2,000-3,000). I don't get it, either! But I also won't laugh and call them rednecks, as one of the other volunteers did. According to him, he couldn't believe the low intelligence of people who live in this town.

Well, I don't think that most people at the event don't actually live in that town, since it's a small town and there were a lot of people there. But as I live two towns away, I thought this person was rude to make a statement like that. Actually, I know I would have been offended by that statement even if I didn't live in the area. To judge everyone in the area based on where they live, and to judge everyone at the event based on this event, seemed ... ignorant.

I will admit, there were people at the event who were ill-mannered, like the two teens who were chewing tobacco and spitting everywhere. (And they were clearly under 19, making their activity illegal here.) There were women who appeared as if they had not bothered to brush their hair this month. (Yes, that is a harsh thing to say, but that's what it looked like.) There were young men (maybe my age) wearing shirts with very rude messages. But though I found some of these behaviours sad or offensive, I wouldn't judge the entire community based on the actions of the people at this event. Nor do these actions necessarily make these people bad people. Sure, they may have questionable judgement (the t-shirts) or may have succumbed to peer pressure (the chewing tobacco) or may not have self-esteem or self-pride (the messy-haired women). But that doesn't automatically make them bad people.

Besides, there are a lot of other things I can judge people about - for example, the parents of the child (probably around 10) who I observed careening around the grounds of this event on an all-terrain vehicle (four-wheeler) at very fast speeds, almost hit my car in the parking lot (yeah) and not wearing a helmet. Don't get me started about the many reasons this was wrong!

On an unrelated, neat note, a family who had been on Wife Swap had been there. Apparently, the mom (at least prior to going on the show) did all the cleaning, cooking and "women's chores", while their husband races at these mud drag events. I don't know who they were, but it wasn't that big an event so I probably saw them. Random, eh? :)

Yay - internet is fixed. I think. So let me tell you about our doggy!

So, after spending almost two hours fixing our wireless receptor (it's a cross between a satellite dish and an old-fashioned tv antenna), our internet should be fixed.

Here's hoping!

So, the dog. Her name's Princess. She's about a year and a half old. She was found wandering the streets with another dog in Kentucky. She was "very pregnant" when she was found, and was taken into a shelter with a high-kill rate. So a local (to me, not local to Kentucky) rescue agency took her and her friend in (presumably the father of the puppies, but they have no way of knowing. The puppies were born in late June. Most of her puppies were adopted in September - there's still one left, but he shouldn't be there much longer.

Here's her remaining puppy in "foster care":
This puppy was born in "foster care" and was hand-raised in that great home. He's in Peterborough, Ontario, so if you're anywhere remoting near and are interested in him (or rescue dogs in general), go here for more information.

Look at my dog in the background of the picture! Yay!

Speaking of my dog, she currently goes by the name "Princess". We're not Princess people; never in a million years would Princess have occurred to us as a name. We're used to dogs named Tippy or Misty or Yogi or Patches. Not Princess. But she's used to that name. She responds to Princess. I suspect she has many good memories of the name Princess, since she was only named that after arriving at the dog rescue foster home. So if we were to change her name (as much as we'd love to call her "Kiah", which is Australian Aborigine for a beautiful place), we're not sure if she'll appreciate it.

Maybe we'll just call her Princess Kiah, and see. Or maybe she'll stay Princess.

Random Thought of the Day

Why is cottage cheese called cottage cheese? It has nothing to do with cottages ... unless it has to do with what it would look like if you're at the cottage and you leave the sour cream out of the fridge. I figure that would be about the same consistency as cottage cheese.