By Ruby Elbogen

When the City Council voted to have a Dog Park trial on city owned property, near our walk/bike bridge; they assumed the cost of this project would be minimal.

Before Councilman Barry Chang insisted on having a special fountain with running water for the dogs, and benches for dog owners—it was; but with Chang’s luxury add-ons the cost inflated like the giant balloon in the movie “UP.”

Councilmen, Mark Santoro and Orrin Mahoney asked for a simple temporary chain link construction fence with a modest price tag. When that aspect became grander, the cash register just kept on ka-ching-ing.

As anyone who has built a new bathroom knows, having plumbing installed where none exists, carries an astronomical price tag; and even temporary benches must be of a sturdy variety so no one becomes Humpty Dumpty, also costly. Ergo-don’t be surprised at the $250,000. price tag being pinned on this puppy’s tale.

Solution? Get Councilman Chang to dial down his dog-desires, and leave the amenities to the dog owners. They aren’t moving in, they’re just romping, and can provide their own water and seating during the trial. Check Craig’s list for used chain link construction fencing around the same size–it doesn’t have to be exact for a trial; and let’s get this thing up and running. Why do I have to come up with all the good ideas?

By Ruby Elbogen

A not-so-pretty side of the annual budget request meeting popped up at the last City Council meeting, and it was selfish and uncalled for.

It is altogether fitting and proper for any proponent of a cause to come before the Council to request funding. All are valid and should receive and give respect—doubly so from requestors of funding we all provide. Anything less is petty and mean spirited.

For the first time in my recollection, a requestor asked for funding, while marginalizing another she deemed unfit.  FYI, “Nobody/Everybody” isn’t just your group.  The funds you requested comes from 52,000 residents whose interests are extremely diverse.

She bashed a dog park on budget review for the first time, and it was inappropriate. The COUNTY Library is always cash infused from our CITY coffers. It’s a good thing, but not everything.

We favor CITY funding of our COUNTY Library, but not at the expense of all other projects; 8,000-ish dog owners live here and they haven’t had a turn at public funding; Thousands also favor the Historical Society’s educational projects; and giggling toddlers who love running through the fountains.

So, zip it, share, and be grateful and gracious to the City, the City Council–and City Staff who always do “the heavy lifting,” as the naysayers do the heavy bashing.

By Ruby Elbogen

It’s time to enlist Cupertino’s Dogs to join the fight

against the Geese and the Goose-Gunk taking over Memorial Park.  Since the city is looking at options for keeping Goose Feathers out; and one includes paying thousands of dollars to rent a pack of dogs (I kid you not) to get the honkers out. Patriotic Cupertino dogs need to step up and do the job for free.

The way I see it, by having our own dogs chase the Goose Steppers away, our very own dogs would save the city enough money to pay for their own dog park.  It doesn’t get better than that. The city council can thank me later.

So, Cupertino dog Moms and Dads it’s time to step up and do what’s right to fight the doo-doo. The people of Cupertino need your dogs; the kids at Memorial Park need your dogs—and our collective shoes need your dogs to do their civic duty and chase geese.

Get out there and make us proud.  Dogs of Cupertino:  Get Ready.  Get Set.  Go-Get-Geese!!!

Hats, Balloons, Music, and a Hearing Dog Theme

By Ruby Elbogen

Every seat, at every table in Quinlin’s Cupertino Room was filled—just one more guest would have exploded the venue.

Club President, Barbara Nunes was MC, with an assist by Co-Pres. Gail Jensen.  Music filled the air, as the Cupertino High School Choir entertained the large group, and delicious food catered by Outback graced the tables.

Event Chair, Inge Roberts guided the luncheon and everyone enjoyed watching the program given by the Service Dogs for the Hearing Impaired. A Basket Raffle was held with proceeds going to the Hearing Service Dog Program.

There were so many guests, it would be difficult to list them all, however—City Council Members, Orrin Mahoney and Mark Santoro; Planning Commissioners, Marty Miller and Dr. Winnie Lee (a member of Quota), Police Chief Capt. Terry Calderone, Sherriff Laurie Smith; Lynn Ching, Chamber of Commerce Pres.;Carol Atwood, Helene Davis, Board Member of the Historical Society; Scot Austin, Lion’s Club Member, Howard Jensen, and a host of others attended.

By Ruby Elbogen

Does anyone else see the irony of the Parks & Rec. Commission taking up the issue of the current problem of Geese and Geese poop in Memorial Park?  I almost fell out of my chair with laughter, when one of the ways to solve the problem brought forth was to bring in a pack of dogs from some company that charges thousands of dollars to chase the Geese away.

If the naysayers against having off leash hours for dogs in the park between 6:00 a.m. – 7:30 or 8:00 a.m. had let the trial

take place, the Cupertino dogs would have done the city a great public service for absolutely no money at all.

Being a civic minded person who loves to help out when I can, I thought about volunteering my Chihuahua, Trevor—but since the Geese are bigger than he is; our Pound Puppy would become part of the problem and not part of the solution.

So here we are—mired in Goose Gunk at Memorial Park and the only holistic and organic way to play – Duck, Duck, Goose – is to rent a pack of out-of-town dogs, for thousands of dollars to do the same thing.

As my pragmatic Mother used to say: “Only in America.” What her pragmatic Daughter says is—Are You People Crazy?” and what the late great Laurel and Hardy used to say—

“That’s a fine kettle of fish you’ve gotten us into.” However, it does somehow bear repeating—Spend Thousands Of Dollars To Rent A Pack Of Dogs To Run Off Leash In Memorial Park, But Don’t Allow Off-Leash Cupertino Dogs To Do It For Free In A Trial. –(that was me shouting in print.)

Travel

Rosie is Still The Queen

By Sandy Sims

Rosie the Ribiter jumped 21 feet 5.75 inches in 1986, and nary a one has beaten the long-legged beauty since. But each year, during the third week of May, contenders trek from all over the United States to California’s historical gold country, hoping to leap passed Rosie’s record.

Thousands of two-legged types wander the shores of lakes, swamps, rivers, ponds, even backyards in search of that special bullfrog. They lug their green hoppers in coolers, Tupperware, cans-whatever holds a little water and a frog or two or ten-to the Calaveras County Fair International Frog Jump Championship in Angels Camp. This year was no exception. More than 2,000 frogs competed, and 40,000-plus people came to watch.

Surrounded by all the hoopla of a big county fair-including carnival rides, farm animals, booths of food and froggie kitsch, pie contests, music, dancing, and all around fun—the frog contest was the main event.

Qualifying trials on Saturday determined the top 50 frogs that competed in the International Frog Jump Grand Finals held in the stadium on Sunday,

The people who inspire the frogs to jump are called, and I’m not kidding, “frog Jockeys.” Some of these jockeys have been inspiring frogs for over 20 years; some are second and third generation jockeys. Rosie’s jockey, Lee Giudici, who hails from Los Altos, has been returning with new frogs since before Rosie made her mark in 1986.

But this is no casual event. There are rules. A frog must measure at least four inches from nose to tail. Its four feet, including toes, must all be on the eight-inch green pad before it starts to jump. And it only has a few seconds in which to do its three hops. (The distance is measured as a total of three hops.) There are other rules, too. While jockeys can tickle or pinch the frog to get it to leave the pad, they cannot touch the frog after it’s left the pad. But they can do almost anything else. And they do. They yell, jump, whistle, clap, slap the ground.

We aren’t just talking fun; there’s money in this. First place wins $750 and on down to $50 for eighth place. And if a frog equals Rosie’s record, it’s $1,000, but if it were to actually beat Rosie, it’s a whopping $5,000.

All this craziness was inspired by Mark Twain’s 1865 short story ‘The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.’ The setting for the story that made him famous was Angels Camp, one of the gold rush towns in the Sierras above Sacramento. Back when Twain was there, the town was a dusty, Old West sort of place, with dirt roads, saloons, and wooden sidewalks.

The idea for the contest was conceived in 1928 when the people of Angels Camp-still a mining town back then-passed a bond measure to finally pave their roads. Wanting to celebrate in a big way, they decided to trade on Twain’s famous story and have a frog-jumping contest. Some 15,000 people came to the first jubilee, and the winning frog jumped 3 feet 6 inches.

These days, things are a bit more gentrified in Angels Camp, with bed and breakfast Inns, contemporary cuisine, art galleries, golf resorts, and wineries tucked in the nooks and crannies of the hills.

But there’s not a lot of gentrification that can be done to a frog-jumping contest. It’s still pretty wild to watch a jockey inspire his frog. And you can bet old Rosie is watching down from froggie heaven, proud that not a one has topped her record.

Note: Calaveras County is dedicated to the prevention of cruelty to frogs and advocates the safe and proper handling of frogs used in public events.

By Ruby Elbogen
There are thousands of dogs in Cupertino, and many of them want to play in the park. Sounds simple enough, but it’s not. The City Council is almost ready to hear why they should fund a dog park and off-leash hours in parks and a group has been meeting to sort our the do’s and don’ts for months on end.
The problem with the committee is that people who are against a dog park, or off leash hours – who attended the first few meetings wearing badges with a dog circled with a “no” symbol over the dogs, and their attitudes have not changed. Continue reading Cupertino Pups In The Hood

by Ruby Elbogen

Dogs. We love them, and they love us unconditionally. Day and night, smiling or grouchy—even before we’ve had our morning coffee. They put up with sticky little fingers in their ears and getting fed way past mealtime when we can’t get home on time. We love them but they love us more Continue reading It’s yappy hour in Cupertino