This ring: how much coffee could I have bought with this ring?!

[Strangler Lewis]

As Robert Frost wrote in "Two Tramps in Mud Time,"

" . . .I had no right to play
With what was another man´s work for gain.
My right might be love but theirs was need.
And where the two exist in twain
Theirs was the better right -- agreed."

This is to say that I never should have started making my own espresso and afternoon decaf at home, because I woke up to this headline in the Press Democrat this morning:

"Deaf Dog Coffee bites the dust
Maverick Sonoma County java retailer victim of Starbucks, Petaluma flooding, redevelopment."

Frankly, the coffee wasn't that great. I don't know what animal pissed out the soy milk that they served. Before the city put the kabosh on the practice, they allowed dogs in, not all of which were friendly. The staff generally looked like they hadn't slept before coming to work, and there was generally too much ass crack. On the other hand, the kids were competent without being Starbuck's peppy or without the pissy "We're not Starbuck's" attitude you get at Peet's if you accidentally use the word "tall."

The Deaf Dog near us opened up just as we moved to Petaluma. It was within a half mile walking distance, which made us hyperventilate a little less about the transition from San Francisco. The fact that a good chunk of that walk was over a mucky, glass-strewn unpaved path did not deter us.

Now the pressure is on for me to make my own coffee every day or go further out of my way to get to Starbuck's. My dog run routine is now screwed up, as I always hit the Deaf Dog drive-through on cold mornings while my dog whimpered in confusion.

We have to move.