Rodents

I have an old friend that lives in the Brentwood area of Los Angeles, California. We met when we were in the Army, stationed in Africa in the mid to late 1960’s. Last summer, I reunited with him after nearly 40 years.

His nickname in Asmara, Ethiopia (now Eritrea) was Lurch. He was 6’3” and could do amazing things with his body. He did both the “fried egg “(an imitation of an egg frying on a grill with the accompanying sounds) and the “lizard” (down on all fours and imitating the movements of an Iguana). Lurch was also known to eat flies while performing the “lizard”.

Our unit was considered to be in the top 10% (test score wise) of the military at that time. When you see a guy crawling on the floor imitating a Lizard, and eating flies, it makes you wonder about the other 90% of people in the military.

Lurch was a very intelligent person back then and still is today. But he’s still living in the sixties and wearing tie dyes. Living in the 1960’s is not a bad place to live (in one’s mind). The 1960’s is my second favorite decade.

Lurch has not yet entered Cyberspace. He does not own a personal computer. Refuses to buy one. This is strange for a person that was in our technologically advanced military unit in the 1960’s.

Today I received a snail mail envelope from Lurch. It contained a personal message as well as many newspaper clippings from the LA area: Malibu and Santa Monica. In his note he also stated that he had seen Arnold and Maria shopping in the local Grocery Store. They must have a home in Brentwood.

One of the articles from the Santa Monica newspaper was about squirrels. As I have said before in a previous post, I am not very fond of these bushy tailed rodents. Once bitten – twice shy!

It looks as if these rodents are now overrunning Palisades Park in Santa Monica and attacking humans. The local Health Department warns that the rodents are aggressive and may carry rabies or host fleas that can spread disease, such as bubonic plague.

Bubonic Plague – now those are scary words!

Squirrels are vermin. So why not get rid of them? Probably because they are cute little animals and the animal rights activists really don’t mind if they bite and infect our children. There is always a cure for a bite from a rodent.

Santa Monica has decided to vaccinate the squirrels with an anti procreation vaccine rather than exterminate them. This. off course is the politically correct thing to do. And Californians tend to do the politically correct thing.

The Beach Bum