I stopped at the Barton Hills Market, a convenient store near my house, on the way back from the dog park to pick up some smokes and cokes. As I was pulling up to the store, there was a guy in a dirty green sweat shirt sitting on a bench next to the entrance. He was in his mid twenties, had long, dirty red hair and a beard that hung halfway down his chest. I was thinking to myself, great, thats all we need, vagrants hanging out in my neighborhood. You may think that to be a rather insensitive and heartless statement, but live in Austin for a couple of years and you'd understand where it comes from.
Well, anyway, I get out of the car and walk to the front door and true to form, the guy asks "Got a Spare dollar," and like a broken record played and scratched way too many times, I answer "Nope, sure don't." 95% of the time, that would be the end of the story. This guy fell into the 5% that tend to be more pro-active and aggressive when they beg for money. I bought my stuff and started back out to my car. As I stepped out of the store, the guy calls out, "You've got some spare dollars now." I was kinda shocked, the guy had watched me through the glass as I made my purchase and saw me put my change in my pocket. Again I said, "No, I don't have any spare dollars." At that point, he said, "Fu**ing A**hole," and got up from the bench coming towards me. I was at my door, saw him round the front of my car and to say I felt threatened would be an understatement.
Here recently, central Austin has had a serious problem with violent transients. The worst being a golfer at a putting green being attacked by four and getting beaten so bad, with his own golf clubs, that he is blind in one eye from a detached retna.
I openned my car door, wanting something solid between me and him. I was thinking to myself, sh**, the last thing i want to do is get into a fight with an aggresive vagrant. I'm not an aggressive person and avoid violence at all costs, but if I had to, I was ready to throw him to the pavement. I was on the varsity wrestling teams in Jr High and Highschool, so if it was gonna be a physical match, I wasn't to worried. The scary part is, you don't know if he has a knife or even worse, a gun, especially these days.
I was so focused on this guy coming at me, I completely forgot about my dog in the backseat of the car. She routinely travels where ever I happen be going and will just lay down in a ball in the back and sleep. She's very quiet and only barks when someone knocks on the door or if there's someone she feels is a threat. She's not big and weighs in at 56 lbs, but she's very fast and can jump like a frickin gazelle.
Zeta came up out of the back seat, baring her teeth, growling like she had rabies, hit the front drivers seat, jumped over the door (the window was still up) and landed in front of the vagrant. She went freaking schizoid nuts on the dude. I've had her for 7 years now, and I have never seen her be so violent towards someone.
The guy nearly jumped out of his shoes trying to get away from her and I'm pretty sure he probably sh*t his pants. He stumbled into the metal barriers in front of the store and took off running with Zeta nipping at his heels. After the shock wore off, I called for her to come back. It took a couple of times, she was in an excited state, but she did come back. She was trotting, tail wagging, like she knew she just pwned that dude.
MY DOG ROCKS!!!! I am so happy she was there with me.

 

AWESOME!!! She definitely needs some special TLC tonight.

 

wait this was not in the mustang right

cute dog though give her an extra goodie tonight

but not more then one or shell look like me

 

nice man, thats why I'm so glad I got my pit... she's a big baby but when people she doesn't know sneek around she goes crazy... she came so close to catchin the meter reader twice... LoL chain held her back, and probably saved the guyz life...

 

Yeah, alot of the street corner guys have dogs. Can't blame them, if you treat the dog right, they'll watch your back, plus they are more likely to get hand outs if they have a dog with them.
And Zeta will definitely be getting a treat for her actions. I'm already planning on getting her a new bed and pillow, plus a rack of ribs from Art's Rib House.

Austin really has a bad problem with transients. Some you can tell have some serious health issues plus age and what not. I can feel sympathy for them. But the 20-somethings that are strung out on crystal/crack/heroin and would rather beg than get a job, they are just plain pathetic. They'll straight up tell you they'd rather stand on a corner than work at McDonald's or something.

 

It is she'll! I am gonna start following your posts around just to correct your mistakes.

Better yet, get the newest Firefox update, it alerts you automatically when you do your trick again.

Back on topic, sorry.

 

I was in my GT, Zeta was in the backseat. I don't know if the guy thought I was lying to him or what. I was honest with him, I don't have any "spare" dollars, I use everyone one I earn from my job.
Not too worried about Zeta's weight either, I take her to the dog park every day, somethimes twice a day so as to keep her in shape. She's gotten alot leaner since I took the picture from above.

 

Actually, as a Modded Mustang Owner, you will never have "Spare Dollars".

 

ROFLMAO, ain't that the truth.

 

My lil girl is curled up on the couch next to me sleeping, lol, but my nerves are still kinda shakey from it. It wasn't a confrontation I was expecting, especially in a neighborhood I've lived in for 6 years. I know the owner of the store pretty good, we've been friends for a long time. He said he was going to report it to the police since only 2 of the transients that beat down the golfer were arrested. The other 2 are still running around Central Austin somewhere.

 

ROFL, yeah, its an adverse side effect from living in Austin for 13 years, its hard to NOT be PC here. That may have been the reason why he came around after me, he saw another white collar democrat suppressing his god given right to solicit donations free from any obligation of work or responsibilty. I can't believe I was so insensitive to his situation, I may end up getting my liberal card revoked after this lol. Thankfully, Zeta sees only black and white and doesn't have a PC bone in her lil body hehe.

 

Thanks for giving props to my dog Zeta. She really is an awesome pet. Have a happy New Year, and if your heading out somewhere, be safe and call a cab if you plan on drinking.

I'm the designated driver for my friends tonight.

 

If you're gonna give her ribs, make sure you scrape the meat off the bones and just give that to her. Otherwise you'll probably end up making a late night visit to the vet.

 

kick ***...

Reason why Dogs = Man's best friend...