Au Cochonnet Marin

We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals. – Immanuel Kant

Absolutely! I won’t respect anybody, regardless of his/her position, who does not treat animals kindly.

Most animal lovers have pets and treat them like family members. They love them, and when you love no price is too great to provide comfort… and health insurance for your kin.

Because once in a while our furry friends are indisposed and need professional attention. You then have to take your pet to the vet, and it can be a very painful experience… for your wallet. A single visit to a veterinary hospital can cost between $500.00 and $1000.00 with no guaranty of a favorable outcome.

A trip to a doctor in comparison (providing that you have medical insurance) is usually much cheaper, and many of the costly subsequent medical procedures are covered. The only way to prevent constant financial hemorrhaging is to get medical insurance for your pet. But it is tricky. Pet insurances have a yearly deductible and will cover only a portion of your expenses. And they know very well that you might skip a visit to the doctor but never a visit to the vet.

A human can rationalize his behavior, but since animals cannot talk (yet) and explain what ails them, you will always take your pet to the clinic because you cannot bear to see your friend suffering.

In my book, pets should be covered under your own medical insurance. I would be willing to pay a little more each month to insure that my pet would also be taken care of.

If having a soul means being able to feel love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals are better off than a lot of humans. – James Herriot

Pets are not just breathing playthings. They provide love and emotional support for a great number of people and if they did not exist, you would have to invent them. Pets deliver the same support (I would say superior) that religion provides for believers.

If a dog could be elected president, I would vote for that dog. I am certain that he would provide medical coverage for all, not just for his rich friends. He would deliver for all American dogs, regardless of their origins.

A vote for a dog would be a vote for humanity… and I am pretty sure that he would look damn presidential.

Alain, certified animal lover

I suspect that this particular tournament (Home vs. Home) came to be when one Petalumian challenged a Marinite this way:

“Let’s step outside to have a man-to-man conversation.”

 That’s one of the reasons Petaluma met Marin in the arena last Sunday. It was a clash of titans giants gentlemen bad hombres with raging testosterones.

This encounter consisted of four (13 points) round-robin games, with accumulated wins and points determining the final outcome. The club with the most wins (and points) will take first prize.
La Pétanque Marinière fielded the following grunts:

1. Sandra Shirkey, Mark Shirkey, Noel Marcovecchio
2. Alain Efron, Francois Moser, Claudie Chourré
3. Henry Wessel, Calvert Barron, Marc Davantes
4. Brigitte Moran, Charlie Davantes, Liv Kraft

The Petaluma Valley Pétanque Club deployed the undernamed doughboys:

1. Bleys Rose, Dennis Casad, Dennis Zerbo
   2. Albert Woodbury, Caitlin Woodbury, Hans Kurz
   3. Ed Porto, Dougie Coleville, Stu Rabinowitz
   4. David Hale, Larry Brown, Joe La Torre

The weather was sunny, a little cool in the morning, but absolutely beautiful in the afternoon. Due to the recent rain, the field remained a little “spongy” and unpredictable

One game was played in the morning and three games after lunch.

The first game was a total disaster for our team. We faced Albert Woodbury, Caitlin Woodbury and Hans Kurz and they sent us packing in a few minutes with a 1/13 score. We left the field with our tails between our legs.

After lunch, we met Bleys Rose, Dennis Zerbo and Dennis Casad. We did not fare much better, losing 4/13 to the enemy. Bleys’ impressed me with his shooting ability and handling of his team. A cool dude that Bleys dude.

On our 3^rd game, we faced David Hale, Larry Brown and Joe La Torre. At this point, we were seething with pent-up outrage and we finally won our first game routing our opponents 13/1. It was a much-needed shot in the arm.

On our 4^th and last encounter, we came across Ed Porto, Dougie Coleville and Stu Rabinowitz. We started well, lost a little steam midway and finally, due to the superb pointing of Francois Moser and Claudie Chourré, we scored another win 13/6.

The Petaluma folks are experienced players. They played very well and won more games than the Marinites. At the end of the day, they had won 11 games, versus 5 wins for Marin.

In 3 weeks we will meet Petaluma again (on their own turf) and the total number of combined wins of these 2 encounters will determine what club will be entitled to bragging rights.

It was an excellent day, full of action and brotherly love. Due to the flu epidemic, we avoided embracing or kissing, but some people could not help themselves and oblivious to the marauding germs smooched heartily. Containing passion is always a difficult task.

Around 4:30 p.m. it was all over. Petaluma had decisively beat us, but as we say in French “on leur réserve a chien de notre chienne” (an interesting expression meaning something like “we will have our revenge”).

Alain

PS: I managed to take some interesting pictures. Have a look.

Last Sunday Francois Moser and I played a few rounds of pétanque against Mireille Di Maio and William Lavelle.

Mireille’s pointing accuracy was uncanny; most of her shots landed on or a few inches away from the cochonnet. Useless to say that they literally trounced us in the first game. We managed to win the second game and lost the third game on the finish line.

Coming from a young adult, I would find Mireille’s pointing perfection annoying but normal; but (with all due respect) she is an octogenarian. According to the laws of nature, she should not be playing that well anymore.
Granted, she has been practicing for a very long time, but it is not the experience that counts; it is the person’s natural ability, and Mireille has it. Kudos then to Mireille and her achievements, and wishing her many more years of great pétanque…
William by the way also played extremely well.

Now, as you might have noticed, I like to give credit to individuals when they deserved it. But sometimes I feel that I have to update my original assessment.

Last year I gave a ringing endorsement to Wyatt (as she likes to be called) and she deserved it. I still say that she was the MIP (Most Improved Player) of 2017, but in 2018 she is quickly accumulating points to snag the MAP award: the Most Annoying Player of the year.

We all realize that she is handicapped, but even a disabled person should pay close attention to the game and abide by its rules. Susan does not seem to think so. She is a strong-willed individual who aspires to play only by her own rules.

We all know that she is hard of hearing, but this should not prevent her from being attentive to a game. Unfortunately, once she has expended her boules, she retreats into isolation and turns “a deaf ear” to the rest of the game.

She might be a nice person, but she can be exasperatingly argumentative.
Somebody has to talk to her. She is slowly alienating a bunch of players and in the future, she might find herself in a deeper isolation that she presently is.

It is a very difficult task since it almost impossible to have a heart-to-heart conversation with her. How can we handle this problem and keep everybody happy? Any shrink in our flock?

 Alain