Category: Los Angeles

Cassie the rescue dog

As part of my ongoing volunteer work with The Mutt Movement, I foster dogs that we pull from shelters until they are adopted. Some are big, most small. Some young, some old. Some quite ill (we nurse them back to health before putting them up for adoption), and some quite spunky.

Cassie, the doggie burrito
This week’s (well, it’s been a couple of weeks now) rescue pup is named Cassie. She’s a six year’s old Chihuahua mix. She’s a bit timid, but coming out of her shell now that she’s gotten used to the house pooch (Lucky, a 75 pound, Boxer/Pit Bull who was rescued 11 years ago by my roommate…and a lucky dog she is!). She purrs like a cat when you pet her and snores like a freight train when she sleeps.
People ask me how I keep from getting attached to these fosters when I have them for more than a few days. It’s not always easy. One stayed with me for a year before finding a permanent home with a great friend out in the dessert. I had the dog of my dreams for 16 years and know she will never be replaced. By helping out these few unwanted dogs that I have the honor of fostering until they find loving homes of their own, I get all the doggie love and satisfaction I need.

Wings Over Long Beach

My brother, Chris, and I climbed through this massive C-17 under brown skies this Sunday. You could see the smoke plumes from the Brea wildfires in the distance while the ash left a burning sensation in your nose and mouth. The show also included an aerial tanker complete with engine cozies, a 1961 vintage B-52 Stratofortress, an F-14 fighter (all in military gray), a curvy flying boat and a mint DC-3. We also got to watch the thundering, behemoth C-17 take off.

Enjoy the shots at www.joehoffman.com/WingsOverLongBeach.

It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s huge!

A380 at LAXAirbus’ long-awaited A380 rolled into LAX on Monday as part of its inaugural trip to the US. I was wondering if I would be able to catch a glimpse of this leviathan when my dinky little S-80 landed there Monday afternoon. Just as we were crossing the taxiway, there it was in front of us…huge, and, well, ugly. I am wowed by the sheer size of this thing and the very fact that it even gets off the ground. However, sitting next to the 38-year-old design of the Boeing 747, it lacked a certain something. It actually made the 747 seem svelte in comparison to its bloated fuselage and blunt nose.
I don’t honesty have any great desire to fly on this behemoth since I would most likely be one of the coach class herd and I really don’t have that much time to wait for a lavatory!