We silly humans often spend way too much time and money on our egos. We strut around with our ugly designer clothes, drive overpriced vehicles, and some even go so far as to support puppy mills to breed the latest trend of dog.
Right now, it seems those weird Frenchies are the fad. People are spending $1,500 to $8,000 for these funny looking dogs featured all over TikTok for their weird screaming voices.
Designer Dogs Over the Years:
2022–2024: The French bulldog has been the most popular breed.
1940s–1950s: The cocker spaniel was the most popular breed.
1950s–1959: The beagle was the most popular breed.
1960s–1980s: The poodle was the most popular breed.
1980s–1990s: The cocker spaniel and Labrador retriever were both popular.
1990s–2020s: The Labrador retriever was the most popular breed.
Approximately 359,000 dogs were killed in 2023 after sitting on a concrete floor, looking through chain-link, waiting for their people that never came. These pure souls, who want nothing more than to be a part of someone’s life, died alone on a cold metal table.
As I’m banging this post out on my keyboard, my little mutt dog is happily snoozing on the couch, catching some warm sun rays through the living room window. I couldn’t tell you what breed he is. Nearly twelve years ago, somewhere in Dayton, Nevada, two mixed breed dogs had an unauthorized conjugal visit and created this awesome little yellow dog. I think they did a great job! Ti has no health issues and he is a very smart, lovable little dude, who is a very important member of our family. I have no idea if my neighbors are impressed by him, because I haven’t cared enough to ask them.
Dogs Design the Best Dogs
A few months ago, I had to say goodby to Ti’s older adopted brother. Dexter was another all-sorts dog. Everyone who met him fell in love with him. He had jaws strong enough to crush your bones, and a heart big enough to love everyone. He was with us for over 14 years, and that still wasn’t enough time in my opinion. Someone dumped him at the river as a puppy, which still pisses me off to this day, even though it led to Dexter living a long happy life in the Wooley clan.
Adopt a Mutt!
At the time I am writing this, I see there are 33 dogs in the Silver Springs shelter. That’s 33 too many. One of them is a lovable escape artist who once lived on my street, who has now been there over a year. With the right human – one who pays attention, and likes to go on hikes & adventures, Apollo would be an awesome companion. He and his cellmates need some heroes to save them.
Last night, I arrived a few minutes late to a Lyon County School Board of Trustees meeting at Sutro Elementary. As I took an empty chair in the back row, I heard the outgoing president giving his farewells.
I doubt I will be allowed to any more school board meetings, or even on school grounds to pick up my kids or attend their graduation.
Why? It’s a long story…
We Parents Lost the Battle
President Cowee (the bald dude) oversees the 12/17/24 meeting, where Trustee Hendrix asked the human resources director why 10% of the teachers don’t feel safe in schools. The answer: school shootings. Meanwhile, incoming Trustee Whisler looks on from the audience (the big dude with the gun on his back).
President Phil Cowee was the main target of an expensive smear campaign cooked up by a guy that looks like Willy Wonka in mom jeans. Greg Clausen started up a Facebook page last year he called “Save LyonCounty Schools” where he slammed on the school district to gain support of the White Christian Nationalists who dominate the local Republican party in our red county.
Prior to the launch of Clausen’s Facebook page, Pastors from Calvary Chapel Dayton Valley instructed their sheeple to get into their church vans to ride for an hour or more to pack the audience of school board meetings. Once there, they would pound on the board with evangelical ideology in public comments, while claiming to be concerned parents of Lyon County students. Meetings ran until midnight, as every anti-LGBTQ, anti-Español, anti-science crusader reading from their script was heard.
This engineered circus eventually led to the board voting to switch public comment times to once at the beginning for items listed on the agenda, and once more at the end of the meeting for items not listed. Clausen’s smear campaign went public immediately after, as he claimed Lyon County schools told parents to “shut up.” The banner image of his page was Uncle Sam with a cloth over his mouth.
Seeing the Facebook page floating around, I initially gave it a “hell yeah!” I was never a good student, nor was I a fan of public schools. I was willing to jump on board and shake stuff up. So I made it a point to attend my first school board meeting.
In my first meeting, I quickly realized who the “concerned parents” were in the audience. A sea of silver and white hairs atop the heads of recent California transplants who were far beyond their baby making years – the same people I once saw in County Commissioners chambers in 2018, who tried to shut down my workplace by getting a question on the ballot. Calvary Chapel Dayton Valley was showing up in force, commenting and applauding each other as they attacked the school. Every speech they read, sounded like it was written by the same person. Oddly, so did much of what Trustee Hendrix would say.
Seeing my crusty old pals from Calvary were the dogs being used in this fight, my interest was peaked. It was obvious Trustees Hendrix and Parsons were part of that program. Their only focus was anything that appealed to the zealots in the crowd. This encouraged me to drive out of town the following month to watch the next show!
That Time I Said a Bad Word to Hendrix
The next month’s meeting went much like the one I saw before it. The majority of the board, along with the superintendent and legal council all tried their best to conduct business while Calvary Chapel and their two pet trustees poured hate and ignorance into everything. Parsons was constantly lost and slowing down progress, while Hendrix read off his complaints from his apparent handlers. He was especially spicy this night, and it must have set off my resting bitch face, because he hopped up to come see me as soon as the meeting was adjourned. Throwing his mustache into my face, he asked, “Did you have something you wanted to say to me?”
“Fuck off,” I mumbled to his face.
Knowing this was not a mindful answer, I immediately turned around, walked to the parking lot, then drove home.
Church Dude Almost Started a Fight
The following month, while Calvary was again packing the meeting with angry public commenters, there was an unusually harsh outburst from a ol’ boy in their crowd. Right after Mrs. Davis of Calvary’s Community Impact Team read off her comments for the record, a cluster of F-bombs rained down upon the board. Cowee called recess as the F-bomber aimed his arsenal of F’s at the few crowd members who were willing to get up in his face and welcome him to leave. I think I actually startled him when he saw me creeping up from behind. I was ready to give him a big warm hug to calm him down if he swung on anyone. He left, spraying F’s all over the hallways and parking lot.
I’m disappointed that they muted Mr. Potty Mouth in the video. If you listen carefully after Deanne’s public comment, you can sorta hear an F or two as Cowee calls recess.
In the next meeting, which was now guarded by deputies, Trustee Tom Hendrix took time to complain about how the F-bomber was banned from school grounds, while someone else used the same language once to an elected official, and Tom couldn’t get approval to ban him [me].
A brief argument erupted again later while the superintendent was reminding the board not to file complaints with false information. It prompted Hendrix to again, bring up the bad word once said, then call me out in the crowd as the person who once uttered it in his presence. From this point on, I knew that if Hendrix and Parsons ever gained the board majority, I would be banned from school grounds.
In the next meeting, which was now guarded by deputies, Trustee Tom Hendrix took time to complain about how the F-bomber was banned from school grounds, while someone else used the same language once to an elected official, and Tom couldn’t get approval to ban him [me].
A brief argument erupted again later while the superintendent was reminding the board not to file complaints with false information. It prompted Hendrix to again, bring up the bad word once said, then call me out in the crowd as the person who once uttered it in his presence. From this point on, I knew that if Hendrix and Parsons ever gained the board majority, I would be banned from school grounds.
I Ran for Commissioner
It was becoming painfully obvious that the White Christian Nationalist movement had infected all of Lyon County leadership, so I took a jab at knocking one out of her seat. I ran in the Republican primary against the previously appointed Tammy Hendrix for County Commissioner. While I would end up losing this race, I’m still pretty proud to have gotten one-third of the Republican vote, considering the local party leaders absolutely hate me.
Greg Clausen spent tens of thousands of dollars on Tammy’s campaign. He would later spend even more on his candidates for school board.
The 3 Pack
This last school board race was insane! Looking up the campaign expense reports, I saw Clausen’s name pop up next to some big donations for three candidates, who he also praised on his Save LyonCounty Schools Facebook page. Soon, all over Lyon County, three candidates were listed on the same campaign sign. These signs looked eerily similar to Commissioner Hendrix’s signs used against me in the primary.
The same people who went on the war path against opponents of Clausen’s 3-pack, also happened to be the group who publicly smeared me for being “out of control” for saying a bad word, and “immoral” for not being Christian. Now they were claiming Cowee was part of the liberal woke agenda, and shamed him for gaining support of a couple Democrats in this [nonpartisan] election.
Phil Cowee’s campaign signs were vandalized shortly after going up. This one on Dayton Valley Rd. was the same location my campaign sign was stolen from during the primary election.
One thing that certainly didn’t help, as I realized late in the election, was there were many voting idiots who confused Trustee Phil Cowee for me, Phil Wooley. My tendency to speak my mind publicly seems to have hurt Cowee’s race in this way, and I’m sure the people at Calvary were happy to spread the confusion.
Once Clausen and the cult got their hands on my CE report during my run, they flipped out to find a small donation from Phil Cowee. From his Facebook page, Clausen called me “Cowee’s Tool,” to convince everyone I was some agent of chaos to help push a woke agenda. He even wrote a post calling us “two Phil’s in a pod.” I can’t help seeing the mental image of our two bald heads popping out of a legume.
The Phil/Phil Confusion
One thing that certainly didn’t help, as I realized late in the election, was there were many voting idiots who confused Trustee Phil Cowee for me, Phil Wooley. My tendency to speak my mind publicly seems to have hurt Cowee’s race in this way, and I’m sure the people at Calvary were happy to spread the confusion.
Once Clausen and the cult got their hands on my CE report during my run, they flipped out to find a small donation from Phil Cowee. From his Facebook page, Clausen called me “Cowee’s Tool,” to convince everyone I was some agent of chaos to help push a woke agenda. He even wrote a post calling us “two Phil’s in a pod.” I can’t help seeing the mental image of our two bald heads popping out of a legume.
Calvary Chapel Blessed My Heart
As mentioned before, I have a little history with CCDV. They tried twice, and succeeded once in kicking me out of the workforce, since I am such a public guy and don’t drink their KoolAid.
Once upon a time, CCDV pushed to shut down Dennis Hof’s legal brothels as he ran for Assembly in 2018. One of their members, then Commissioner, now Assemblyman Ken Gray played Hof pretty hard through that ordeal, pretending to be sympathetic to his struggle. He even attended one of Dennis Hof’s infamous birthday parties. As Dennis and I sat across the conference table with Ken, we had no idea he cooked up the whole scheme to put us out of work.
For the sake of not making this post any longer than it needs to be, I won’t list off every interaction I’ve had with the leadership of Calvary Chapel. There were several – a couple good, but mostly bad. Their secretary filing complaints against me to get me fired while I ran for office, can be the first in line to kiss my butt.
If you read my previous posts, I hope it’s obvious that I am not anti-Christian. Religions of all flavors have their place in society. We humans often need something to supplement our mindfulness and help us stay on a productive path. What I hate, is when anyone uses their religion as a weapon to attack their community the way this group constantly does. At any moment, if I hear their pastors start preaching love, instead of hate, I will respect them for it. Politics and religion need to be separate, or else they corrupt each other.
Calvary Chapel Dayton Valley was kind enough to host a candidate meet and greet, to which they invited the entire public – even me. Yes, I asked, and I was told I was welcome to attend. At that time, this was the only opportunity to hear all of the school board candidates speak. Immediately after walking in the door, I was singled out, surrounded by armed guards, then told to leave by a Lyon County deputy. Pastor Gil’s only reason given, was that I “showed hostility” toward the church. I guess that’s what they call any disagreement to their political or theological opinions.
Thankfully, another meet and greet was later scheduled in an actual public setting, where I was not trespassed for showing up. However, the Sheriff was there, and he did make some jokes about me behaving myself.
Win For Clausen
Fortunately for Greg Clausen and his 3-pack, most Lyon County voters don’t pay any attention to public schools. His money spent on signs and canvasing paid off. He and his cult friends twisted the narrative enough to make it interesting to the average churchgoers, who were already showing up in force for the US presidential election. You weren’t a true Christian or American if you didn’t vote for Whisler, Parsons, or Carson.
Sadly, Greg’s Save LyonCounty Schools Facebook page disappeared as soon as the election results came out, and so did James Whisler’s entire Facebook page. Like the phantom menace he is, Mr. Clausen has vanished into the darkness to take on other crusades.
CCDV seems to have switched their attention to libraries. Since their favorite candidates / fellow cult members won the school board, I haven’t seen them show up for any of the meetings they fought so hard to have a voice in.
Separated from My Kids?
The biggest irony of it all: a movement that alleged to be the voice of Lyon County parents, will now work to silence a Lyon County parent. Hendrix and Parsons now have their majority with three comrades swearing in next month. I doubt he’ll waste any time in getting me banned from school grounds. In doing so, he will block me from picking up sick kids from school, or even getting to watch them graduate.
This is how these people operate. Whenever they lose a debate, they abuse power to shut us up. Politics and religion are the same to them. Kids like mine, who are not part of their religion, will have to suffer the side effects of this evangelical majority on the board chasing imaginary “woke” phantoms. The quality of public schools will decline, as more money gets funneled into programs like Calvary Chapel’s Homeschool Discipleship and private Christian schools.
Luckily, I only have one more year of my kids in Lyon County schools.
Right now, I’m sure we have some Christians cracking their knuckles, getting ready to write spirited responses to that headline. Slow your roll there, children of God! Let me explain…
Of course, I realize the significance of Christ in Christmas. It’s a celebration of the savior’s birth, although the historical accuracy of his exact date is something I’ve heard debated often. I wage no wars on Christmas, nor do I ever go around saying “happy holidays.” I’m totally down to give Jesus credit on his birthday.
I also recognize the Pagan significance to the holiday. Christmas simply wouldn’t be the same if we stripped out the Yule tradition of trees, mistletoe, etc. So let’s not kick the vikings out! We need them to do this right.
Circling back to the Christian faith, let’s also not forget the fourth century bishop known for his generosity and secret gift giving. The feel-good stories of St. Nicholas have lasted 1,600 years beyond his death. Over time, with the help of Coke advertising, St. Nicholas morphed into the legend of Santa Claus, who requires no introduction. We all know that story.
The Real Deal for Me
The tradition of decorating the house, Christmas movies, thawing out Mariah Kerry, and thrashing my living room with torn wrapping paper on Christmas day, is about as ‘MERICA as it gets. I love it when the Christmas tree is decorated and lit up, then I see the glow of other trees in neighbors’ windows.
Every year, as I pull out homemade ornaments, I’m reminded of all the previous years of celebration. My kids would take turns every year, putting the star at the top of the tree, while I held them up. Nowadays, they don’t need that boost from Dad, but they still make a big deal over who gets to do it.
Every year, my wife and I stress over how we can afford presents. On Christmas day, all that stress is worth it to see faces light up as kids unwrap them. Even the dog knows what’s up, as he goes looking for his stocking full of treats.
This annual tradition of giving and getting takes me back to when I was a child, making memories with people who are no longer among the living. I can’t tell you much about my daily life when I was five. On the other hand I can tell you all about that Castle Greyskull I got at Christmas. I can still smell that He-Man specific plastic smell. Times like this are little bookmarks of happiness in my life story.
My kids are all full-sized humans now. Only 2 of the 5 are even minors anymore. Even so, we still do presents under the tree every year. When I see a 6-foot tall adult digging into his Christmas stocking, I see that little kid again. At least now, they don’t wake me up at daylight to open presents, although I miss that too.
