Suisun Pride 2025
Walls Started
Vallejo City Pride Month 2025 Proclamation
Shea (and others, including a bit of my profile) made it to the front page of the Vallejo Times-Herald! This was from the City of Vallejo proclamation recognizing June 2025 as LGBTQ+ Pride Month.
Tom Bilbo’s Vallejo Pride Proclamation Acceptance Speech
Mayor Sorce, members of the City Council, City staff, and residents of Vallejo, the proclamation just read reminds us of the importance of the alliances we foster within and beyond the LGBTQ+ community. Your allyship and friendship are essential to our collective wellbeing, especially in challenging times like these. Our community faces significant challenges, with members being targeted by political figures and individuals spreading hate. These moments underscore the fragility of our democracy and the critical need for strong alliances to protect and uplift one another. Simply living an authentic life can make us targets on both national and local levels, but having a hometown like Vallejo where we are valued and seen as an integral part of the community means the world. This year, we are proud to host over 17 events in and around Vallejo that celebrate pride and unity. From the flag raising at City Hall next Monday to Pride Night at the Museum, the Solano County Pride Picnic on Mare Island, and our celebration at the Solano County Fair, we warmly invite everyone to join us and partake in these vibrant moments.
These events are spaces for our community to come together and celebrate, and we treasure the support and presence of allies who stand with us in these spaces we call our own at this time of year. Finally, I am honored to present this new flag, which symbolizes our City’s unwavering commitment to diversity, inclusion, and belonging. Again, thank you.
May Dogs
I left old popcorn out for the birds and squirrels, but apparently that was still more delicious than the dry and wet food that I served for breakfast that morning. Moppy stealing popcorn:
So this is what goes on when I’m away for a meeting. Oh Penny:
Jonah comes back as a foster, while we have Penny, too.
Penny and Jonah are now besties and even play wrestling even a bit with Snoopy, so all good with the new foster makeup and our dogs. Penny and Jonah are available for adoption!
Snoopy chillaxing outside after a long (loud) night of chasing raccoons. He’s really clever at picking out his own burrs and not really keen on me taking them out for him. Unfortunately, there are a lot of them throughout the hillside/incline in the rental backyard, which frustrates me. I was hoping to be back home by this time of year. This will be the last summer with this pain, though, as those kinds of harmful plants don’t flourish in my dense garden.
Doppelganger for Snoopy is Penny, a little girl foster who came to me painfully shy.
Bonnie and Snoopy still in love more than a year later:
Bonnie, Snoopy and visitor Bentley (salt and pepper, who I sat for one night. Bryce is also in one photo with Bonnie.
May 2025 Vallejo Gay Network Potluck
Lorenzo provided the live piano music at host Barbara Gaea’s house. I had been to her house several years ago for the Vallejo Garden Tour. Where she had a big field of ivy is now a gorgeous ADU. The way the light hits the ADU is really lovely. Our VGN leader, Tom Bilbo, wasn’t able to make it, so I was deputized with not only taking pictures, but also making the usual announcements. Fortunately, there was a bullhorn we could use. I wore the appropriate shirt for the occasion. In case it’s hard to read below, it says:
“I’m not yelling. I’m Italian.”
Posts from others:
Memorial Weekend Start with Pool Time
Bridget and Denise from Vermont are visiting Greg and Steve. We brought five dogs (as of this afternoon) with us. It was a great evening, especially for three dogs who had never been to the pool before. Penny dove in for quite a shock. She was just trying to get close to me. I immediately picked her up and held her inside the pool. She didn’t make that mistake again. Moppy leaned over to taste the salty water several times, but we made sure she saw the fresh dog water bowl nearby. All the dogs got plenty of exercise and will sleep well tonight.
Two Emergency Grooms in One Day
First emergency grooming of the day for HSNB yesterday was for an elderly male Pomeranian mix. “Pommy” was sweet and patient, but hopefully he’ll be a great candidate for Muttville. He meets the age requirements and he gets along very well with other dogs. Shea graciously agreed to wash him as that’s his department. I’m the one that clips and puts the dog hair into compost. Here are the before and after pictures:
When we returned “Pommy” to HSNB they said, “we have another one for ya.” We met “Moppy” who was in even worse shape than the first one today. This female Maltipoo was very scared in her crate, having arrived just hours earlier. However, she was very patient with Shea’s thorough bath and my long trim. She wasn’t super fond of the buzzer, so I mostly clipped her manually with scissors. The difference in her appearance is really profound with this one. Like Pommy she had hundreds of burrs (it’s the season). She’s a fraction of the size she appeared to be with all the matted fur. She was so dirty, matted and covered in burrs that she was probably out on the streets for a while. I sure hope she is claimed by someone. Otherwise, she’ll hopefully eventually be adopted. She’s got quite a bubbly personality when she’s not in a kennel.
Vallejo School Board Pride Flag Raising
We attended the Vallejo City Unified School District (VCUSD) 2025 Pride Resolution and Flag Raising this evening. We joined the LGBTQ Community as the Vallejo City Unified School District made a resolution to recognize June as Pride Month, and raise the LGBTQ Pride Flag ceremonially. The flag will fly at the school district office for the month of June. We brought our dogs Bonnie and Snoopy together with the two fosters, Penny and Jonah. Great minds think alike because Peter brought his sweet dog (also a rescue), named Harlem.
Mental Health Fair 2025
For the third time, I attended the Jesse Bethel High School’s annual Mental Health Fair with colleagues from LGBTQ Minus Tobacco during lunch. We were well received by the students and staff. We were there with many excellent local programs set on making this city better. The kids seemed eager to learn about the harms of tobacco-related illnesses and cessation services.
Garage Door and other House Progress
I’m very thrilled that the larger of the two garage doors was finally replaced on my house under construction. It’s a perfect match with the smaller, second garage door and it is meaningful in part because the original company before the contractor I chose tore down the larger garage door for no reason. The boarded-up larger garage door always depressed me as a waste of resources to a prolonged nightmare. So it’s a milestone to have it replaced, to have the weeds carefully cut down in the front and to have the house less tarped already while the shingles (I already picked out) will soon go up. The curb appeal of this renovation has really improved in the last week.
The garden continues to fascinate me with the directions things are growing and how things have preserved regardless of human intervention, especially because I only stop by once in a while.
