Yes, this blog has officially become a movie quote-friendly Tico the dog's adventures blog. This quote is the best quote that I could find from the movie "Blue Crush" that applies to today's blog. This is when Ann-Marie, played by Kate Bosworth, was getting fired by her supervisor at the resort hotel that she and her two other roommates worked at. The movie's director itself is great; since he took some surfing shots that are very competitive with most surfing movies you could find. Even the story line was not too bad. And having lived in Hawaii for 16 years, the culture, the type of people that live and work in the hotel and that part of the island itself, are true to point. The acting and dialogue on the other hand, not so good. But still, it's one of my favorite movies, shamelessly enough. Point Break would have been a good movie reference, since "Johnny Utah" is one of my favorite Keanu Reeves character. But alas, no personal meaningful reference I can relate to out of that movie for today's blog.
Anyhoo, Tico is due for a bath. It's been two months, and boy; he needs one so bad. His breath also smelled of poo and whatever you can imagine, so a quick trip to "Le Target" was also necessary today to get some doggie biscuits, which helps counter the bad breath. And then we'd give him his Frontline which he absolutely hates and try to charm his way next to you so you can rub his back off of this oily mess, while whining. He learned to whine from the neighbor's German Shepherd dog who stays outside of the house. Tico's whining drives me absolutely mad, but it's taking us some time to wean him out of it. Anyway, since we are going to give him a bath, we figured we'd give him another day of running around in cold, damp sand and salty beach water in our favorite stomping ground, the Huntington Dog Beach (http://www.dogbeach.org/). We love this beach.
Today, there was a surfing competition; and I have taken great photos of Tico with the surfers in the background. I've also taken photos of the neighborhood and the streets. You can get to HBDB by taking the 405 freeway, exit on Goldenwest, make a right on Goldenwest, and take that all the way until you reach the beach. Address is 100 Goldenwest Street, Huntington Beach, CA 92648. The start of the HBDB is on Seapoint, and it ends on Goldenwest, off of the PCH. You can get free street parking on the residential streets just south of Goldenwest, two blocks from the PCH. Otherwise, there are paid meter parking, some only takes coins, and the ones that are on the beach itself takes debit/credit cards. It's about $1.50\hour. This is a great beach for surfers and dogs alike. And you see on a daily basis, the joggers and runners on the jogging patch up the hill from the dog beach on the side of the PCH, and there are picnic tables as well. And the landscaping up the hill is marvelous, add a backdrop of million-dollar homes across from the PCH, and it's nothing quite like it anywhere in the world, as far as I'm concerned.
I dream of owning one of those townhome-looking million-dollar homes that are Venetian in style; with balconies that see straight across the highway, and on to the big, blue ocean that is the start of the dog beach to the right of Goldenwest. The dogbeach.org volunteers supply the poop bags regularly, and there are sufficient trash cans to put away your dog's poop. So no excuses. As much as I am jealous of those million-dollar homes that laced the PCH Highway on our way to the actual beach from the residential street parking, we do understand the frustration of trying to maintain a beautiful lawn area only to be defecated by dogs whose owners don't give a darn.
Tico is a very fascinating dog. He is not the friendliest dog, and he works alone. Whenever we go to parks and beaches, he's very focused. He'll hang out with us all of the time, and wait for us to throw the ball. He hardly makes friends, and never joins the pack. Bryan and myself are, as far as he's concerned; his pack. And he's our fearless leader. Dogs of different shapes, sizes, and age ranges will be fascinated by his fascination with the ball, or twig, or whatever we throw to Tico to fetch, but Tico never loses out of focus. Dogs will follow him - - chase him, even; when Tico runs back and forth while fetching the ball. But Tico ignores these dogs because he's on a mission; to catch the ball/twig/what-have-you; and to keep it. Not to return to us to throw again - - like other dogs, but to keep it, and run around with it. Only if you have another ball/twig thing, will he drop the ball currently in his mouth, and only then will he chase the second ball. Sometimes, he'll keep both balls in his mouth. I've seen him hold three. That was something else.
Today is one of those fascinating days for me. He's done this a few times, and I don't know the whole reasoning behind it. He'll drop the ball in the sand, and dig a hole around the ball. He'll be so focused on digging the hole around the ball, and he'll dig with so much energy, intensity and determination, to the point that he gets so frustrated that he's not digging fast enough to meet his standards. He'll dig enough to fit about 10 of him, and then maybe he'll stop. After digging, he'll plop down, and rest, and then dig some more. One day, we were sunbathing near his "artwork" and a lady passes by us. She said "when I come back and don't find you two (Bryan and I), at least I know where you're buried". I don't know where he learned the digging, and the reason behind it; and I am fascinated to know. He definitely keeps me on my toes.
Another thing that I like about the HBDB is that they have volunteers there every weekend who sets up their tents, and provide free water, and tennis balls to the dog owners. And it's a convenient way to donate to the organization by either giving cash; or purchasing one of their sweatshirts, shits, caps, leashes, dog toys, etc. We have purchased things like a sweatshirt (about $30) and a chuck-it (about $10) from them. And they are pretty sturdy and of great quality; they last very long. We got there pretty early and we were already leaving when the volunteer just started setting up his tent; otherwise, a pair of T-shirt would have been nice.
After a year of living on Main Street, I often wondered how things would have been if we stayed in Huntington Beach. When I was house-hunting, I came across a 2-bedroom, 1 bath, 900-square foot condo in HB for my price range. It came with a community pool across from the condo, and there are no neighbors on either side of our unit, or upstairs or downstairs, but there is only one right behind us. But the night before I was going to see the condo, I called my realtor and told him I can't see it, because I know I will love it; and knowing that I have a large dog and large dog = backyard; we can't possibly be living in a condo with no yard. We'd be miserable. Because large dogs liked to play outside. Supposedly. My dog, on the other hand, became an indoor dog. He does NOT; like to go outside. He stays indoors all day, Monday to Friday. He gets out in the yard only to do his "business". So now I often wondered what our life would have been if we did get that condo, which is only 3 miles to this beach, and on top of it, it's in a better neighborhood, with better school systems, and is walking distance to shops and restaurants, and a movie theatre who charges $3\movie. When we lived in the HB apartment, I could take Tico to the beach almost every other day. Now, we'd be lucky of we go once a month. Hence the reason for the blog, to keep us accountable to get him out and about whenever we can.
After today's beach fun, we took Tico to the Doggie Spa http://www.thedoggiespa.net/, who has great people working there; and they never make us feel guilty about leaving the bath tub a mess. I've taken the liberty of taking photos of Tico in the bathtubs. He's used to the bath itself, but still hates - HATES the vacuum dryer. I wish I could take pictures of him trying to eat the dryer, but he moves faster than my 2nd generation Iphone can take. I also took a picture of the store front and the spa owner's ride. I thought the license plate is cute. The address to Doggie Spa is 19365 Main Street, Huntington Beach, CA 92648. They also sell HBDB shirts and other things there. For a $15 self-wash, they provide two water-proof aprons, a prep area, a large bath-tub, an ear cleaner and cotton balls, a couple of hand towels, shampoos, and comb. They also provide other grooming service ($25 and up) and sell other dog-related toys, leashes and food stuff, but we are there on a purpose, so get in and out of there in 30 minutes tops. We get in there with a dirty, wet, sand-laced dog, and we come out of there with a very clean and nice-smelling, huggable (when he lets me) dry dog. I usually tip $5, but for all of the dog hairs and watery mess that we make and leave in the tub, out of the tub, on the floor up to 10 feet away from the tub, and black hair on the tub wall up to six feet high - - I swear, giving a bath to Tico is like an exorcism of 5 pounds of sand and dog hair sets - - we could easily tip this establishment's staff $50; but alas, we are broke.
The actual bathing of Tico is a challenge in itself. Tico is not a quiet dog, so he barks and whines at us, and barks to everyone else that are remotely in his line of sight - - as if to say; "don't look, I am at my vulnerable state!", or maybe "please help!" - - I would like to think it's the first one, but it could very well be a combination of the two. Being bathed is not really his happiest moment, because he's being forced to stay in one spot, and get touched and probed and scrubbed in every single crease of his body by four hands. And this is a true testament on how much I love my dog - - I lift up his tail and make sure that there's no sand stuff "under there". His lipstick on the other hand, is B's department. We'll see how well we'll do once we start having a family and have a baby boy.
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