All language subtitles for Gates.of.Heaven.1978.REMA12STERED.BDRip.x264-VoMiT-English

Inspiration
of the pet cemetery business is...

a little story that probably
leads me back many years.

I was born in the state
of North Dakota...

county of Barnes,
city of Valley City.

I was there for several years...

being born in 1930,
and then the World War II started...

in 1941,
when I went to the farm.

On the farm,
I had my own pet collie...

which worked with me
and was beside me.

No matter what I did
and where I'd go...

my pet collie was with me.

One,
One afternoon...

we came back
from hauling bundles -

“thrashing,”
the old words going -

and an old Model A
came up the road...

and struck my collie
and killed him.

I never did catch him...

but I grabbed my collie...

and I held him in my arms
until he died.

And I pulled
one little acre of land...

right behind the house...

I'd say a quarter mile away.

Overlooked the,

the prairie to the north...

which was really a beautiful -
had the lake site in the back -

and I picked that
as the cemetery for my own collie.

Right across the street
from where I lived In Los Altos...

was the most beautiful
piece of land...

as far as I was concerned,
in the whole valley.

And boy,
I knew what to do with it:

make that into a pet cemetery.

I thought, “This is gonna be
my project of fife.

f found the land.
I found the need. ”

Something the old-timers
used to tell me years age:

“To be a success
in this world or this life...

find a need and fill it. ”

And hay, I found a need, and I wanted
to fulfill this more than anything in the -

anything I ever did in my whole life,
I wanted to fulfill this dream.

And there is where
we started our work.

Planning, development...

and getting the people interested,
working with -

I worked with
Carnation Pet Food Company...

I worked with Safeway stores...

I worked with Lucky stores.

Several. Several.

I remember talking to Dick Yee
with Dick's Supermarkets...

and asking him if I could come
and work in his pet food section...

and just hand out my cards
and talk to the people...

about having a pet cemetery.

I went to grooming shops.
I went to the veterinarians.

And the interest I got
was just phenomenal.

It was just great.

So then I had to get
some more interested people...

in the idea of it,
'cause we needed the financing.

Floyd...

is a very heartwarming individual...

and a man that likes
to do a lot for everybody.

He'd happened to come
into the office one day...

and him and I got to talking.

His real name, I think, is Floyd,
but we always called him Mac.

And Mac, very surprisingly,
said to me that...

something he'd always
wanted to do was...

put a pet cemetery together.

So I told him,
“Gee, Mac, that's amazing...

because we've just been thinking
about the same thing ourselves...

and maybe we can
put it together...

you know, under one group."
So he said, “Wonderful?

So I was made aware
of this property...

that is in Los Altos
on Foothill and Highway 280...

and we felt that that would make
a great place for a pet cemetery...

because it had
tremendous visual ability...

and the thousands of cars
that went past 280.

And the property leaned
in other directions as well.

h' was a marvelous location
for a restaurant or a motel."...

or various and sundry things.

We found that people
by the name of Danton...

owned the property...

and we approached them
and asked them what they thought of it.

There was a meeting held
at Mr. McClure's house...

which I attended.

I was a little late...

but during the meeting...

Mr. Dunton had expressed...

his wishes, desires, and needs
to Mr. McClure...

and emphasizing
very, very strongly...

“Mac, you have nothing
to worry about.

I'm a minister
of this particular church.

You can trust me.
You can trust me. You can trust me.

I'm a minister.
We will have a pet cemetery.

It'll be a success,
and you and I will put it together.

We'll do it, we'll have it,
just you and I."

It was sort of a “kismet" idea.

So we went to work
on the pet cemetery...

and...

the ugly crisis...

which we used as our basis -

and this was no,

nothing against the SPCA
of Santa Clara County.

It was nothing against
the animal control officer...

of Santa Clara County.

But the idea
that we needed the concept...

and,

for the people
that loved their pets...

and needed a place for 'em.

Not the garbage pit,
not the garbage can...

and a place to bulldoze 'em
into the ground...

'cause we have more love and desire
for Mother Nature's little pets.

God only gave us these pets...

to be our fellowship...

our desire and our will...

and what have we got
to give them in return?

Not to be put into a garbage pail
or a dump ground...

but our last good-bye...

for the things they gave us.

Rendering is one
of the oldest industries.

It dates back
to the time of the Egyptians.

They can trace it
back this far, rendering.

In the Bible,
way back in the Old Testament...

the guy cut off the sheepskin
and put it over him.

Put the lamb fat on him
to keep him warm.

It could be
the oldest industry in the world.

It could be. ifs possible.

When the public
got concerned about recycling...

that's when
the rendering industry...

started to blossom out,
so to speak, and say...

“Hey, we've been recycling
for 500 years here.

Take a look at us.
We are recycling.

We're doing
what everybody wants us to do."

That's when we started
to come forward.

Before that, nobody talked
about the rendering industry.

That's why it was the invisible industry.
Nobody ever mentioned it.

On the quiet side.
“What those guys do out there -

They boil all this stuff in pots.

It stinks."

What is a rendering company?

A rendering company.

And my mind
pretty near exploded...

with the thought
and the remembrance...

of a very bad nightmare.

A dream of hell.

And it took me back to this
rendering company in North Dakota...

where all the little pets at that time,
when they died...

a truck would come out,
and a big old driver would come...

and grab your pet and throw him
in the back of this truck...

and take him to what I called
“the boiler chambers.”

it's controversial.
In other words, I -

You know, we stay low-key.

We don't want people to know
we're bringing in animals...

and reprocessing
animal by-products.

Some people get nauseated
by the thought.

They get nauseated by it.
You know that?

It actually nausea-
I've had people ask me -

I've been at a dinner party...

and been sitting down
at a dinner table...

and somebody will say,
“What do you do?”

And I say,
“I'm in the tallow business."

And somebody will say,
“Jeez, don't bring that up right now.

Wait till after dinner,
when we all break up."

In other words, “We don't want
to talk about what you do, Mike.

It makes us sick.”
Why? I don't know, but it does.

People say that all the time.

We called it back home
a “glue factory."

They don't waste nothing.

They take the meat and strip it...

and they take the bones
and boil them...

and cook them and make
some kind of a meal out of 'em.

They don't waste nothing.

Not even the toenails
on the animal or anything.

And the smell that came from it.

I walked in there
one day as a child...

and I seen all these animals
laying there.

Being a 4-H man
and an animal lover and -

I just thought,
“Boy, being in hell. Here I am.

I'm sitting in the floors
of hell right now.”

I furnished the car -
or the station wagon -

and Mac furnished
some furniture and his time...

and his promotion skills.

And Joe...

also furniture and some labor.

We both dug the first few graves.

And I made some
of the caskets...

and Joe would also go around
and pick them up.

He'd go around and pick up
the pets to be prepared.

Burying the pets
was a very, very difficult task.

Mr. McClure...

was physically handicapped.

He couldn't. no way...

do any physical labor whatsoever.

And my having
full-time employment...

it was mostly done
in the evening.

A gentleman came to my door...

and the gentleman
was a huge man.

I'd say about 6'2”...

a large -

He's the type -
more like you'd say...

he's more the Hercules type.

And he asked me,
“Are you Floyd McClure?"

And I said, “Yes, sir."

He says, “Do you have
the pet cemetery across the street?"

My house is right across the street
from the cemetery.

I said, “Yes, sir.”
And he started crying.

I thought -
I asked him, “What's wrong?"

He says,
“Last night my dog died."

And he says...

“I wanted to bury him
this morning."

His family was home,
and they were gonna go to church.

But he had him
completely wrapped in -

like a mummy, pretty near.

I would then...

get the pet out of his car...

lay him out in the driveway...

and proceed to clean him up...

brush him out,
make him as presentable...

as possible
under the circumstances.

We had all kinds of animals.
Every type of animal.

We had snakes, we had rats...

we had monkeys,
we had chickens...

we had hamsters, we had mice.

Seen a few.
Rodents of all types.

And we had -

Of course, dogs, cats...

were our main pets.

But it doesn't make any difference
what type of animal.

If that animal, you love it...

and you want to give it a proper burial,
that's your business.

You bury that pet
'cause you love it.

You could have...

an idea that all animals
should be buried...

but if you live over here,
or five or 10 miles away...

and you have a horse,
and that horse dies on a Saturday...

and it's 102 degrees,
and you can't get anybody to bury it...

you're going to get a hold
of the rendering company real fast.

'Cause you want that horse
out of there, like, now.

See?

I remember
one young lad there that -

He had a pet lamb,
and his lamb died...

and right away
his dad picked up the phone.

This is a 4-H animal...

that he'd taken from birth
and just loved this animal.

And right away, his father...

had grabbed the phone -

and back in North Dakota,
very few people had phones...

but at this particular farm,
they had a phone.

He called the rendering service
outside of Valley City...

and asked them to come
and pick up the animal.

I've had people call
that have an animal...

and they'll want us to bury it,
and we don't bury animals.

And they're crying.
People are very emotional about-

That's why
it's a controversial thing.

That's why I don't like to break away
and get into the individual things.

But you take a guy
who loses his pet horse.

I mean, to some people,
you know...

it's like losing
their son or their daughter.

I mean it.
That's no kidding.

They're really chilled up bad.
Heavy. it's heavy.

You get some real moaners
on the phone. They're crying, and -

This young lad,
boy, he was so upset...

he went out
and jumped on his pony...

and rode
clear over to our place...

and told me
that his pet had died...

and wanted to know
if he could...

bury his pet
with my collie out there.

I said, “Well, sure."

So we hooked up
a team of horses...

and headed to his place
to beat the rendering truck.

And we did. We got there
and got the pet on the wagon...

and got him back over
to the farm...

and...

I guess we beat the rendering truck
by two hours or something.

We had a little altar
set up in the office...

with some artificial flowers...

and Mr. McClure
would light the candles...

and be ready to receive...

the mourning owners of the pet.

The mother
was uptown shopping...

and the kids were home.

I'm not talking
about just small children.

I'm talking about kids
that are teenage children.

And the mother had given 'em
specific chores to do.

One was, the girl was
to wash and dry the clothes.

One was to wash, and the other
was to take the clothes...

out of the washer
and put it in the dryer.

So anyway, the job was done.

The girl threw the clothes in the dryer
and slammed the dryer door shut...

and walked back to the kitchen.

And as I understand this now...

she heard some meowing...

and frightening screams
of the cat.

They were looking for the cat
and couldn't find the cat.

All of a sudden,
they seen in the dryer-

They heard it in the dryer,
and they opened the dryer door...

and the cat was in the dryer.

The little cat suffered
a broken neck.

I guess they'd called out
the fire department...

and they tried to revive the cat.

The cat did pass on.

The love that people have
for their pets...

is really tremendous.

It's something that is
very, very difficult to explain.

On several occasions,
I've seen it myself...

where we were burying a pet...

where the whole cemetery
would be at the gravesite...

and the children...

and the mother and the father
would really break down...

and actually cry.

The little services...

that we give
out there at the cemetery...

we bring out pretty much that...

“Here before us lies little Toby.

Little Toby was put on this earth
for two reasons:

to love and be loved.

And today we're standing here
saying good-bye to little Toby...

who was
the Smiths' beloved little friend.

And now we are going
to give you back...

little Toby, to Mother Nature.”

We had a gal here -

I had a gal hired here -

This'll show you
what you're up against.

She never went in the plant.
She never left this office.

You don't see anything from this plant.
Yeah, these trucks come in...

but you don't see
too much, right?

And she didn't see anything.
But she left.

She quit working here
because it bothered her mind.

The mere fact of what we did
bothered her mind.

And she never saw a damn thing
or smelled anything.

This is one thing...

that really bothered me a lot...

that really got into my heart...

was knowing not only
that animals are being treated...

in such a violent way
after death...

in this rendering company...

by being tore apart,
and every scrap of their body...

being used
in one way or another...

but the smell and stuff
was so terrific.

We'd even sit down
in the evening time to our meal...

and the only thing
that hit your nostrils...

wasn't that good piece of meat
you were about to eat...

or the vegetable...

or the nice dessert
that's put on your table...

but you first had to grab...

the wine glass off the table and take
a whiff of that to get the smell...

of the rendering company
out of your nostrils before you could eat.

You know John Ascuaga's Nugget
up there?

They lost one
of those elephants one time.

Jeez, they didn't know
what the hell to do with it.

We got it, and somebody
made the statement...

“Hey, that thing went
to the rendering company."

We had so many phone calls...

and we actually had to deny
we had that animal.

We told 'em we took it
to a pet cemetery and buried it.

Because people
just didn't want to get-

People got chilled up.
“What happened to that animal?

What happened to that elephant?
Where's the elephant?"

Every once in a while,
they'll lose a giraffe at the zoo...

or they'll lose Big Bertha,
or they'll lose...

Joe Bear
or whatever his name is...

and people say,
“Hey, what's going on here?

We'd better bury this
and get a plot and everything," see?

So we got a standing deal
with the zoo.

They don't tell 'em
where the animal went.

'Cause they don't want to be
in the burying business.

When I came here...

and seen this ugly crisis...

these gas chambers
that they got built down here...

and these pets half dead
going into the dump grounds...

and the bulldozer
going over the top of 'em...

and leaving 'em half alive
in the garbage dumps...

brought me back to that, and I thought,
“Boy, we're going to beat this.”

And this is the pan
of the inspiration...

of getting our little pets...

out of these places
and into a cemetery...

something that...

we can be proud of, of saying...

“My little pet
has did his chore here...

that God has sent him to us
to do a chore:

love and be loved
and serve his master."

And boy, these little pets
have did that.

And not let 'em go
into the basis of the living hell.

Like I said before,
“Death is for the living...

and not for the dead."

Sing. Sing, Babe.

Come on.
Come on.

“I want my mama."

So sleepy.
N'

“I want my mom."

“I want my mom."
Come on.

“I want my mom."
“I want my mama."

Come on.
“I want my mama."

Attaboy.

“I want my mama."

“I want my mama."

Are you sleepy?
We'll sing loud.

How can I say
how you miss them...

and how you wake at night...

and feel around for her...

hoping she's all right,
and then shes not even there.

It's,
It's-it's heartbreaking.

And then you remember
that she is gone...

but you get to thinking
where she is...

and you know where she is,
and you're happy where she is...

and the next day
you go out and take flowers...

and maybe meditate
a little bit and think of...

how often, maybe,
you cried into her fur.

People like people
because they like one another.

And people don't trust
one another thoroughly...

like an animal
and a human being.

I can know you very well...

but when I turn my back,
I don't know you. Not truly.

But my little dog -

I can turn my back on my little dog,
and I know he's back there.

He's my little friend.
He's not gonna jump on...

or bite me or anything like that.

But human beings
cannot be this way.

We didn't get an agreement -
which is our fault -

in writing.

And it just kept getting involved
and more involved and...

since there was no final agreement,
why, then we started...

to differ on ideas
and get in a few arguments.

A pet cemetery business
is not a fast-buck scheme.

It's not a suede-shoe game.

It's a good, solid
business enterprise.

And in order
to have this concept...

it has to be in your heart,
not in your billfold.

And these are the type of people
I wanted in business with me...

in the pet cemetery concept.

The reason, unfortunately...

that we didn't continue on
with the entire development...

of the pet cemetery was...

we couldn't actually
work it out with our investors...

that we could project exactly
what the income would be for it...

because we had no way
of projecting the amount of people...

that would want to put their pets
into a cemetery...

even though we felt
that there was a great need for it.

So after several weeks
and several months, we,

we decided that...

it would be better to turn it back
to the original owners...

which was Mr. Dunton
and his family.

I was told that the Duntons...

were trying to get themselves involved
in some sort of gold venture...

or exporting of dead animals...

from the United States to Mexico
for some university in Mexico...

to do some exploration type
of work on the animals.

Mr. Robert Dunton had convinced
Mrs. Ken Dunton...

to have her child born in Mexico...

so he would be a Mexican citizen,
and under those pretenses...

he could have a business
in Mexico and control it.

Mr. Dunton came back into town...

and then he decided
at that time that...

“Well, maybe
this is just a great thing.”

I can't speak
for this man's mind...

but the only thing I thought at the time
was the way they decided...

I should open one gravesite...

and put several pets
in the one grave and then close it.

To me,
that only spelled one thing:

“Let's get all the bucks
we can out of this."

Mac called me and says...

“We can't come
to a final agreement...

and I got put out today."

He says,
“The attorney's advice would be...

to get all those pets over
on the legal side...

and vamoose."

So that's what we did.

Mrs. Billingsley
came out to the cemetery...

and said that they had moved
the stone on her animal.

I said, “How are they gonna get
the animal out of the grave -

the casket out -
if they don't move the stone?"

And she said
she didn't want her animal moved.

She said, “You talk as though
I didn't care about my animals...

like you did about yours."

I says, “That's the way
it appears to me."

I asked her
if she had signed a release...

and she said
she had signed a release.

Then she said she hadn't,
so I don't know.

I can't swear to that.

But I made up my mind
I wasn't gonna fool with her.

She went down and talked
to Mr. Robert Dunton...

and then I sat in the car
waiting for his son.

I was supposed to sign
the release to let my dog go.

Then I saw both of them
look in my direction...

and start laughing,
like it was just a big joke.

She isn't gonna
cause me any trouble...

'cause I ain't gonna pay
any attention to her.

She just wanted to be noticed.
She just wanted to be Miss Big.

Here we've got all these other
poor people that really needed help...

and she was just trying
to be Miss Big...

and she didn't pay half as much
as the rest of us did.

I don't know whether she really
liked her animals or loved 'em...

or whether she was
just trying to show off...

and make a big impression.

This was my idea,
because anybody that would come...

whizzing up in a Cadillac
with all of her furs on to a cemetery -

and you know when they're digging
animals, ifs gonna be an odor there -

didn't have much upstairs.

'Cause I'll tell you,
that was not the place to wear fur.

I think that
something should be done...

so that it shall
never happen again.

I think it was a horrible thing for us
in this generation to have it happen.

And in a state like California...

to have something like that,
I think it's inhumane.

I think Mac really wanted
a pet cemetery...

and I think he had probably
a great love for animals.

But unfortunately,
ifs not that easy.

You just can't go out and start
something like that, and build a chapel...

and pay
$50,000 an acre for land...

and pay taxes...

and interest on the balance...

for 25 cents.

Impossible.

And the Duntons
were not interested...

in that beautiful Garden of Eden...

that Mac had in his mind.

'Cause I really think
he had it in his mind.

So as a total...

before it finally wound up
and went to the final lawsuit...

why, I myself lost
around $30,000..

And I'm not sure
how much Joe has lost, but...

ifs in that neighborhood.

I suppose after you lose
this kind of money...

you just keep working at it
until you're a success at something.

I don't know.

So-

The only thing I'm guilty of...

is compassion.

And that's all.

If you want to put...

to what I was charged with...

in the courts...

the only thing they can
charge me with is compassion...

because f put my heart...

over the dollar sign.

Ii wasn't the dollar I was after.

It was to take care
of m y customers...

and my dedication...

to what! believed in.

Then, because of the way
I proved my point...

by using my heart...

into fulfilling my obligation...

then I was condemned.

Then they write letters...

tell everybody
lam no longer part of it...

which broke me...

not only financially...

a burden upon myself
and everyone else -

t was not only broke...

but brokenhearted.

Fm raised on a farm.

We had chickens
and pigs and cows...

and sheep and everything.

Bu! down here, I've been lost.

Now they've taken 'em all away
from here up to the -

What is the name of that place
up above here a little ways?

That town?

Commences with “B."

Blue Hill -
It's Blue Hill Cemetery...

I think the name of it is.

Not too far. I guess about
maybe 20 miles from here.

Little town there. Little place.

You know where it's at,
that place.

But I was really surprised
when I...

heard they were getting rid
of the cemetery over here.

Gonna put in buildings
or something over there.

Well. I know people have been
very good to me, you know, 'round -

Well, they seen my condition.
I guess they felt sorry for me.

But it's real, my condition is.
It's not put on, that's for sure.

Boy, if I could only walk.
If I could only get out...

drive my car.

I'd get another car. Yeah.

And my son,
if he'd had only better to me.

After I bought him that car -
He's got a nice car.

I bought it myself
just a short time ago.

I don't know.

These kids. Sometimes
the more you do for 'em -

He's my grandson,
but I raised him from two years old.

And my husband
always told me, he says...

“Mama, someday
you're gonna be sorry.”

That was a car?

Was that that? Boy.

He says,
“Someday you're gonna be sorry.”

You see how it happens, things?

I don't see him very often.

And he just got that car.

I didn't pay for all of it.
I gave him $400.

Pretty good.
His boss knows it.

Well, he's not working
for that outfit now. He's changed.

He's gone back on his old job...

hauling sand.

No, not hauling sand. He's working
in the office. That's right.

He took over the office job.

His boss told me that
on the phone.

But you know,
he should help me more.

He's all I got. He's the one
that brought me up here...

and then put me here
by myself among strangers.

It's terrible,
if you stop and think of it.

I've been without so much
when I first came up here.

It's just - You know, it's -

It's what half my trouble is -

from him not being home with me.

Didn't cost him nothing
to stay here.

Every time he needed money,
he'd always come...

“Mom, can I have this?
Can I have that?”

But he never pays back.

I'm too good, too easy.
That's what everybody tells me.

I quit now. I quit.

Now he's got the office job,
I'm going after him.

I'm going after him good too.

If I have to...

go in a different way,
he's gonna pay that money.

He's got the office job now,
and he makes good money anyway.

And he has no kids. He is not married.
“Never get married,” he says.

He was married once.
They're divorced.

And,

Well, she tried to take him
for the kid, but she didn't.

They went to court.
It was somebody else's kid.

She's nothing but a tramp.
I told him that.

He wouldn't listen to me.

I says, “I know what she is.
Richard, please, listen to me."

No, he wouldn't listen.
He knew all. He knew everything.

Big shot.

But he soon found out.

Now that's all over with.

I've been through so much,
I don't know how I'm staying alive.

Really, for my age -

If you're young, it's different,
but I've always said...

“I'm never gonna grow old."

I've always had that.

And people that I tell how old I am,
they don't believe me.

Because people my age, as a rule,
don't get around like I do.

Skippy had been dead quite a while,
two or three years.

You know.

Yeah.
I don'! want to think about it.

Everybody liked that dog
around here.

You know, you miss your pets
just like you do any of the family.

I don't know what happened
to this last little kitty who was here.

All the cats have gone.

There's no cats around.
There are no animals, no nothing.

I miss that little black kitten
so much.

It was wonderful.

And all of a sudden, boom.
No animals around.

Somebody in the neighborhood
or something...

is doing away with them.

The thought
of trying to bury 400 pets...

was pretty hard
to accept at the outset.

However, we felt we had
an obligation to pet owners...

because if we were not
to take on this endeavor...

it would leave many pet owners
with a sour taste...

and could set our industry back
for a long time.

We are often asked,
“Why is your business...

apparently successful
where others have failed?"

And the only answer
that I can give...

Is a very obvious one,
and that is that...

we have tried to follow
sound business practices...

where ifs quite obvious
that other pet cemeteries...

that have now failed did not.

This cemetery will be in business...

50, 60, 70,
or a hundred years from now.

Surely beyond the lifetime
of anybody...

who ever buried a pet here.

And I think this is all
that concerns the people...

that have buried their pets here.

When we decided to...

turn the property
into a pet cemetery...

and we discussed a name...

and we just all agreed that we couldn't
come up with a better one...

than Bubbling Well
Pet Memorial Park...

which has a lovely sound.

The connotation
is something living, bubbling...

a well...

with lovely, refreshing springwater.

And it has a meaning of life...

and, um...

purity and all
of the good things...

that we all like to think about.

Most people don't know it, but we're
in the middle of a pet explosion...

throughout not only the United States
but throughout the world.

And this is brought about. ..

From the new pattern that has
emerged in the last 10, 15 years...

in the family fife.

I would say that the Pill...

is probably largely
more responsible...

for the pet explosion
than any other single factor.

This is quite a surprise...

to a lot of people
that don't understand the business...

and haven't done
any background work...

but ifs very simple.

The old style was for the husband...

to earn the living,
and the mother stayed at home.

Today we have
a different pattern.

Today the husband and wife
both work...

and they want to prepare
themselves with a home."...

and some of the things they'd like
to have before they start a family.

Well, this is just fine
from a planning standpoint...

but nature can't be put aside.

So when the young mother
comes home...

she has to have
something to fondle...

something to mother,
something to love.

She'll have a pet.

The rest of it,
in the normal pattern. ..

Would be that
the grandparents...

would have children -

grandchildren -

to take care of and to fondle
and to help to rear...

and this would satisfy
their need for love...

and giving of love
and receiving.

But when this has been set aside
for five, six, seven, or eight years...

what do they do?

They get a pet. Now we're talking
about both sides of the family.

We're not talking about just one.

Now we have
a three-way explosion.

Well, we're here to...

put Caesar in the ground today...

and I know that you've -

This is something
that you've not looked forward to...

but I would just be
interested to know...

how you picked Bubbling Well...

and just tell us
a little about Caesar...

so that we can...

have as much personal feeling
about this as you do...

because we're going to be
Caesar's caretakers...

and take care of his plot
from now on.

And although we can't know...

personal details about all the pets...

of all the people
that come to Bubbling Well...

we have a great feeling for pets...

and we surely want to include
Caesar in our pet family.

Cal, here's...

a little picture of Caesar here,
and I think...

- Yes.
- If you see that, you can understand...

why we wanted him buried
in a good place like Bubbling Wells.

- You know, I feel like I know him.
- Is that right'?

- That face and that smile.
- He was quite some dog.

What was his pedigree again?

He was a mixture
of Australian sheep and terrier.

- And terrier?
- Yeah.

- Australian sheep.
- As you can see with all that hair.

- Did he have a coat! Look at that face.
- Isn't he beautiful?

I've never seen that kind of a mix.

And we get many, many
different combinations.

One thing that we get
and we see...

is it's the combinations -

it's the crossbreeding
that produces seemingly the best pet.

- Right.
- The purebreds are fine...

and a lot of people
enjoy their relationship...

as much as others,
but it seems that...

when we get a mix...

somehow it seems to bring out
the best in all the breeds...

- and they make a better pet.
- Right.

I don't know.
This is most unusual.

Most unusual.

I just can say
I've never seen anything like that.

He always had hair down over his eyes.

- That's from the sheep?
- From the sheep in him.

- He never had trouble looking out'?
- No, he found his way around good.

He got around.
I'm glad you showed that to me.

- He always got around me pretty nice.
- I'll bet he did.

I'll bet he did.

Our oldest son,
who was in the insurance business...

back in Salt Lake City...

decided that the pressures
in the insurance business...

were getting to him...

and he made a trip back home...

to just sort of look around
the Bay Area...

to see what might be available.

And his mother...

as devious as she is,
sort of got him on the hill...

and really sold him
a bill of goods.

And the next thing we knew...

he had decided to bring
his little family back to Napa.

Every young guy
has an aspiration...

to pursue
a very aggressive sales field.

So about the only thing
I could think about was insurance.

So I started off as a salesman...

and worked my way up
to a sales manager.

But all throughout that whole thing,
I wasn't cognizant of it...

but I was actually using my strength
and my youth to the height.

I was burning out.

I could not exceed 150 pounds...

no matter how much late.

There was so much...

mental work there, you know?

And I had, ultimately,
no free time.

So I resigned my position...

and of course gave them
plenty of warning and stuff“.

and decided
to come back to California.

I have to say to myself,
“What does it mean to me?

What does this mean to me?

And what is it going
to mean to me?”

So I recognize this, and,

A couple of things
when I was instructing in motivation...

back in Salt Lake City...

is that, you know,
if we don't stop...

and ask ourselves
a question once in a while...

to probe our subconscious
or to probe our conscious -

I used to teach it.
It's a plain, simple formula.

We reduced everything
to a formula, memorized it...

and therefore we were able
to repeat it constantly.

I used to call x?
the R2/A2 formula -

recognize, relate, assimilate,
and put into action.

Like, I could be driving
down the freeway...

and see a 450SL,
and I could say...

“Hey, I like that.
What does that mean to me?

What will I have to do to get it?
How can I do it?”

Then work for it and strive for it.
It kind of makes life easy.

I think that's why
a lot of people don't -

they get frustrated,
they have emotional problems...

is that they don'! know
how to cope with their mind.

There are three things
that I've got to do...

and that if anybody wants to do
to be successful is“.

to have the desire,
the “want-to," you know?

Why do you go to work
in the morning?

“Gee, why am I here?"

Because you want to.
You know?

But that's obvious.

And then the next
very important ingredient...

is something that a lot of people...

and a lot of businesses
fail to delve into -

ifs the activity-knowledge.

It would be the equation...

to a mathematical problem.

It would be equal to...

the chemist's ability to...

emulsify chemicals properly.

The valences.

But the knowledge of it,
the whole scope, everything in detail.

And then the third element would be
the know-how or the experience.

I have the inspiration to action.

I don't have
the activity-knowledge...

but I'm getting the know-how
before the activity-knowledge.

As a matter of fact, I'm getting more
know-how than activity-knowledge.

But they can be
correlated together.

They can be overlapped.

Dan, our youngest son,
graduated from Chico...

with a degree
in business administration...

and he thought this entitled him...

to an executive position
out in the world somewhere.

After many interviews,
he found that it wasn't that easy.

So he agreed to come home and, with a
lot of reluctance, to try this out...

to see how he and his lovely father
would get along.

College is an interesting experience...

and I was kind of taken with it
my first few years.

I would study
eight, nine hours a night...

and really caught up in the idea
of doing all this studying.

But towards the end
of my college days...

I ended up partying
more than I did actually studying.

But,

You know, I learned a lot.
Not that I - I learned -

I took many classes, say,
in mathematics...

business administration,
marketing, and things like that.

And it's not like you -
You're given things to learn.

However, you don't retain
the knowledge that you learn.

It's the idea that you're applying
your brain. You're exercising it.

That's the part where
the education comes in, I think.

Something also that happened -
it happens to everybody, I suppose -

I fell in love up in Chico...

and...

I think an important thing
in falling in love:

Before you fall in love,
you should have -

True love, I think, is experiencing
many different types of loves...

and learning exactly what you want
out of a relationship.

I spent about 2 112 years
with a woman...

and...

I fell in and out of love
and learned a lot of things.

“Nothing lasts forever'...

was something that hit home.

I think a broken heart...

is something that everybody
should experience...

because it makes you appreciate...

any future experiences
that you have.

You've felt the hurt...

so you can enjoy
the positive aspects of love.

So I finished
all those experiences...

and I came back here
to the park. ..

And my father offered
to take me on...

and teach me the business.

I knew we had
many houses up here...

and I would have no prob/em
having a place to live.

I lived in the chicken coop
in the little house for a while.

Then I got this place...

which is a pretty nice place
for just one person.

“The house on the hill"
is what we call it.

And so I moved up here.
I still haven 't completely moved up here.

I still have a lor of my stuff
down in the chicken coop.

My dad initiated this whole program...

I would say
approximately six years ago.

So therefore, he has
the greater amount of knowledge.

He has the public relations...

with the veterinary doctors.

He knows them not only by name...

but also by their secretaries'...

and also their wives' names.

He has a vast amount of knowledge.

My brother Danny has been working
in the park for about, three years.

Therefore, he has
quite a bit of knowledge...

of procedures and public relations.

So therefore, my father is -

he's the focal point.

He trained my brother.
He gave him the knowledge.

He taught him this route
that Fm responsible for now.

I find it quite hard right now to -

you know, to go out on my daily task
here at the park...

without consulting my brother...

or consulting my father.

One of the things in the insurance
business that I always did...

that got me ahead, I suppose,
is I was able to memorize quite well...

with hardly any effort.

And I have to literally
memorize the streets...

and the localities
of these veterinary clinics.

These clinics are literally speckled...

all over that
southern peninsula area...

and I have to get on the freeway
and go to this one...

and come back on to this one
and pick up from where I left.

I have to memorize routes,
know exactly where they are...

what road to take to get to it,
to get back, to get to the next one.

Naturally, there's an element
of fear that I have.

With our permalloy markers...

we have several different formats
that the people can choose from...

and you can see some
of the different formats right here.

Now, in some situations...

when the people don't have
actual photographs...

they can sketch a picture...

right on to the alloy steel.

Now, probably
the most popular type...

of marker that we have
in a permalloy...

is what we call
a vertical-type picture -

the reason being,
a vertical-type picture...

they can place
the photograph in a position...

where you're getting maximum
amount of surface coverage...

with maximum amount
of wordage usage.

I have to keep telling myself,
“Jeez...

there's gonna be
more parts to this thing.

There's going to have to be
an advance selling program.”

I'd like to be selling
in Los Angeles...

and getting
the cemeteries there...

and starting another one
in Los Angeles.

Maybe Seattle. A larger city...

where there are a lot
of concentration of animals.

With our private burials,
we have two systems of marking...

and the first is
what we call a grid system.

And the way it works is,
we have a rectangle...

with letters and then numbers.

In a vertical position,
we put numbers...

and the numbers go from 1 to 17,
and then we have the alphabet.

It's a cross situation,
where an animal -

say, Bonnie -

would be 9-W.

What that would mean is that
the people would go to Row 9...

then they'd go to

And where those two points crossed...

you would have the location.

This opportunity doesn't mean
a damn thing to you...

unless you're willing...

to work hard...

to study, to be a student...

and to apply your experience...

and to do better constantly.

So I think that's what
my father's done for many years.

And I know
I've seen his successes.

He's read
the same textbooks I have.

Danny is basically doing
the same thing.

And this is what I have to do.

I have to learn to put
this knowledge into reality.

The basic tenet of our church...

the Bubbling Well Church
of Universal Love...

incorporated
in January of 1977, is...

“The Church has as its tenets...

a belief in a supreme being...

who does not differentiate...

in bestowing his benevolence
on all species of life...

whether of this earth...

or any form of life hereafter."

The thought occurred to me...

that any god,
any supreme being...

that was indeed compassionate
and concerned about people...

would surely be concerned
about any living creature.

God is supposed to know
when the sparrow falls...

when the lilies of the field bloom.

So surely
at the gates of heaven...

an all-compassionate goo'...

or an all-compassionate supreme being
is surely not going to say...

"Well, you're walking in on two legs.
You can go in.

You're walking in on four legs.

We can? take you."

I don? believe this will happen.

Now, people come up,
and there is a common bond.

At the church,
we don't have formal services.

We're not trying
to save any souls...

or collect money
or anything like that.

It's just a -
It's son of a church of love.

We do not have to go too far afield
to make this conversion...

because...

we have our own chapel.

We have stained-glass windows.
We even have a bell.

And we're usually talking
in terms of death...

and talking in terms of hereafter.

Well, this is the very essence
of any other religion.

So if in the hereafter
there are no pets...

I don't think any of us
that love our pets...

would really feel, maybe -

I can't say
we wouldn't want to go...

but I really believe
they'll all be there...

in the spirit with all of us.

The pet owners
that we have talked to...

have embraced the idea...

and it has had
a very dramatic effect on a lot of them.

It's brought them assurance,
it makes sense...

and ifs not -

It's very hard to refute it,
as a matter of fact...

because it makes sense.

You don't have to depend
on a lot of...

mystical type of thinking.

It just makes sense.

And people at this time
are looking for assurance.

They don't want pie in the sky.
They don't want fairy tales.

They want assurance.

Trooper was the type of dog...

that didn't have
other dogs to relate to.

He lived
with adult human beings.

And having the inability
to communicate...

like human beings do
through conversation...

he did it with his mannerisms...

and his eyes and reception.

One of the things
that you noticed with him...

is when we were sitting in a room,
he would position himself...

and as each one of us spoke,
the tone of their voices...

would direct his attention
to that person.

And during the course
of the conversation...

if the conversation was pleasant,
he would react to that...

or if it was sharp,
he'd react to that.

He also had a sense as to
the subject of the conversation.

In particular, on Christmastime...

the discussion about gifts
to various members of the family...

and there were certain things
that we knew he would like...

as to doggy bones
and little chewy things that he had.

Of course, we didn't conceive that
he would be aware of our conversation...

yet we were relating to him,
because as I say...

there was no one else he could talk
and relate to except ourselves.

Christmas morning -
this was just before his death -

we all came down
to open our presents.

They were all laid out in various sections
around the Christmas tree...

and we would hand
each one of us a gift -

particularly with my mother-in-law,
her being the elder of the family...

we'd bring her presents.

He lined himself up and couldn't wait
and went right to the direction...

of where his packages were
and started unwrapping them...

right there, and they were not
laid out in the open.

He unwrapped his presents,
just like sharing with all of us.

It's amazing that there are...

so many different aspects of this.

It's not just...

You know,
an opening in the ground...

somebody prefers a casket or not...

and the ground is put back
into the opening - no.

Sometimes the people
like to come up...

and witness the actual burial
of the animal.

Sometimes they don't.
And we pick out a date...

that's convenient for them,
and they come up.

And as far as preparation...

a hole has to be dug, prepared.

We have to make sure
the hole is gonna fit the casket.

You don't want to make it too large.
You're gonna waste space.

You don't want it too small
because you can't get the thing in.

Mentally-wise, I don't worry about
putting an animal down into an opening...

because if I don't do it,
somebody else is gonna have to.

It's just mind over matter.
You have to prepare yourself for it.

We pick up animals
that are 150 pounds - greyhounds -

and they're very heavy.

We have to bring them in
to our bodies...

to hoist them into the truck.

So it's mind over matter
once again.

Sometimes they come in -

When we get them,
their hair is matted."...

and they're very moist from being
in a freezer where they're kept.

So they have to be combed
and dried out a bit...

which isn't the most
pleasant thing in the world...

but ifs not that bad, really.

After a while it becomes
something you don't really -

doesn't really bother you at all.

Bu! I don't know
what happens down there. I really don':

The moisture, the contraction...

the expansion of the ground...

of course, the insects,
and so on and so forth.

There b another world
down there, you know.

He'd go down on his front knees,
and I knew something drastic -

He was just blacking out.
He'd just black out.

Fall over and black out,
just for a few seconds.

- Then he'd get back up again.
- Ready to go strong.

We took him down to the vet's...

- and we had -
- Tests.

Test after test.
They couldn't find nothing.

- One day we took him to -
- Back again to the -

back to the same vet,
because this vet, he's darn good.

We like him a lot.

And he called us and said,
“I found out what's wrong with York."

He says, the -

- “He has heartworms."
- Heartworms.

I'm telling you, if I never tell anybody
anything else again...

please watch your dogs
for heartworm.

It's carried by mosquitoes...

just like your malaria,
and you don't know -

We used to think we were free
from it here, but we're not.

It was a Southern disease. But here
in California, why, it's very prevalent.

I ask myself,
“What does this mean to me?

What does this park mean to me?
What does this opportunity mean to me?"

Well, it means a lot.

It means
I'll be able to have something...

to work for
for many years to come.

It will provide
the things that I will need...

and you know...

the long line
of the other things, events.

Phil has moved into the business.
He's slowly learning it.

He's learning the route right now,
and he'll be taking that over...

but at the same time,
he's learning...

about the private burials,
about handling the people...

because there's definitely things
you have to know...

to be able to talk to the people here
about their pets.

You have to see by example.
You have to learn by example.

We're working together.
We have our ups and downs.

He's a bit older than lam,
so it provides some hardships...

because I'm telling him what to do,
and he doesn't always like that.

He resents it at times.

So my father
is in charge of the park.

He's “el presidento."

He's number one.

Danny, by virtue
of seniority and knowledge...

is number two...

and I guess
I would be the third person.

My father now...

is trying to work
out of the business...

because he's getting on in years...

and he wants to do a little traveling
before he passes on.

So he's letting up...

and he's letting me take over
handling the people...

and he's staying
pretty much in the background...

although I don't think he'll ever stay
completely in the background...

because
he's a fairly dominant person.

Then he came out of it,
and he was perfectly normal...

and racing through Golden Gate Park
along the ocean beach.

And then just as suddenly...

we took him over for a checkup...

to recheck the prior prognosis...

and they said
they thought he was all right.

He came home
on a Wednesday afternoon.”

and I recall he was so relieved
to get out of that veterinarian office...

having been in there all day,
he had a habit -

To me, I always got
a kiss on the knee area...

and I recall that
as probably the last time...

I remember him doing that.

And then just
as suddenly as the kiss...

he seemed to go right down...

and we kept phoning the vets...

and they said not to worry,
that they didn't like to eat...

on medication of this son,
but to bring him in on Monday.

But before that happened,
we ran him...

to the All Animal Emergency Hospital,
and Dr. Benjamin there.

It was too late.
He was gone by then.

He just passed away
on the Sunday after.

But the main thing is
for people who have dogs...

and they don't breed them...

the most intelligent thing
I would recommend would be...

when the dog is about-
I suppose the same for cats -

two or three years old,
that is the time...

- to make a decision to have them -
- Neutered.

You keep that idea
of building this place up...

of fixing it up, and eventually
it will be something...

that nothing
else can compare with.

That idea keeps
the whole thing together...

and, that -

that concept is what...

keeps us together, I think.

My dad used to tell me
when I was a young kid -

I'd look at a job
that had to be done...

and he'd say to me,
“Nothing's impossible."

That always stuck in my craw. I couldn't
believe it. “Nothing's impossible."

I kind of learned, when I got
in the insurance business...

that everything is possible.

You have to look at it
with the right frame of mind.

And that's important:
your mind.

There's a tendency
to sit on your laurels...

and be somewhat complacent...

about small advances...

and small accomplishments.

Or even sometimes
large accomplishments...

have a tendency
to put you at ease.

However, this is a trap...

because we are not content...

with just having an ordinary...

nice or good pet cemetery.

Ours is going to be the finest.

We're not going to stop until ours...

is the finest in the country.

There'll be no finer
when we're through.

When I'd hire a guy...

I'd bring him into my office...

and I'd specifically
designed my office...

so I could display
the maximum trophies...

on walls and stuff.

And I'd bring this guy in,
who had probably been making...

maybe 9,000 a year or less.

I'd bring him into this office
with nice furniture...

and he'd see these trophies
and he'd - “jeez,” you know.

You know, they were taken away.

It's kind of like flaunting it, I guess.

To hire him,
all I did was tell stories...

about what each trophy meant to me
and what it could mean to him...

and if he'd like to increase
his income and his future.

The names of our gardens
were created...

by words...

that seemed to depict...

the qualities of pets,
like our Garden of Companionship.

A pet is a companion.

The Garden of Devotion.

Almost all pets
are devoted to their masters.

The Garden of the Gentle Giants,
again, is descriptive.

Kitty Curve.

The Reserve Garden is set aside
and reserved for smaller pets.

The Garden of Memory...

is set aside
because it will bring...

happy memories
in the future, we hope.

We had a Valentines Day party
for all the wives.

I think there was about six of us.
I told the guys to come over.

“We're gonna have a cake...

and we're gonna celebrate
Valentine's Day."

So we had a big cake,
and all the wives came over...

and I had this motivational
meeting planned.

They didn't know
exactly what was going on.

And I had
all these signs on the wall...

and I had made up a chart,
a commitment chart.

Anyway, we had the cake...

and we had the girls talk,
and we read the material...

the motivational material
for prizes and trophies...

to be won the subsequent week.

And we got the girls motivated.

And the girls
got the guys motivated.

We created the Garden of Honor...

and in this garden,
we will bury...

a Seeing Eye dog
or a police dog...

killed in the line of duty...

at no cost...

if it's killed in the line of duty.

And for anybody else...

who wants to share this garden...

then we created a price...

which amounts to more than
any other garden that we have.

I kind of think
I'm motivated all the time...

because I have so many
experiences of motivation...

and I understand it quite well.

One thing that...

this gentleman to my left...

always said, and it sticks
in my brain all the time, is that...

"Emotions are not always
subject to reason...

but they're always
subject to action."

And we all have
periods of inertia...

where we don'! want
to get up and do things.

So I have to tell myself
psychologically...

"It's gonna be a great day.
I'm gonna have a great day today. "

I repeat it over and over and actually
do the thing with that in mind.

I've been trying
to teach it to my brother.

As a matter of fact, couple of months ago,
I wrote him a letter.

I tried to write him
a very motivational letter...

because at the time,
he was very inspirationally dissatisfied.

I don't go out very much...

so what I do to pass the time...

aside from watching television,
of course, is...

I would sit down and put
these tracks down on tape...

and just play guitar.

It's something that gives me
a lot of personal satisfaction.

I mean, with any type
of a musical instrument...

you're never gonna be bored.

So much of the time,
people say...

“What am I gonna do?
There's nothing to do."

They're continually complaining.

But with a musical instrument,
you can sit down...

and you can provide
your own entertainment.

Even my kids -
You know, I try to abstain...

from the word “not”
and “can”? and “no”...

and stuff like that,
which are very negative words...

and try to instill...

rather than physical punishment...

but just saying -

My youngest girl is
2 1/2 years old...

and it's very hard
for her to understand...

the language, rationalize it.

So I sit her down when she's done
something wrong and tell her...

“Good girls don't do this.

Good girls do things
that make us happy."

We created our little lakes...

because we feel that this gives
an atmosphere of tranquility...

and helps to break up...

the rows of little headstones...

which could be very monotonous...

and not too appealing.

In former years, I would write
three and four songs a week...

and I've got a little notebook...

where I've got
about probably 50 songs.

You know,
you always have the dream...

in the back of your mind
that someday...

these songs will be published,
and you'll be famous.

But as you get older,
you start realizing that maybe...

those are just what they were -
dreams, nothing more.

But dreams are nice to have.

Something to look forward to,
you know.

It gives you more satisfaction,
something you can think about.

Our mind is like a computer.
If our mind read...

or extracted a data line from it...

if you put in positive,
you would get out positive.

If you put in negative,
you get out negative.

So you have to understand that.
Our mind is -

We can go into a negative pan
and into a positive part...

and if you really want to get more
involved, there's an in-between...

that people never get really negative,
and people never really get positive.

They call it “the gray area."

But the mind reacts to suggestion.

And suggestion is merely...

an external force
or an external thing...

that you perceive
through your senses -

like your smell,
your sight, your feeling.

You could even be
smelling a big vat of spaghetti...

and it suggests to you
that you're hungry.

So therefore,
our strongest power...

that we have is in suggestion
and the power of prayer.

That's the strongest power
that we have.

Success is like a journey...

and when you finally
achieve success in your given field...

the journeys over.

You have to look for another -
something else to motivate you.

There was a famous doctor
who was one of the first people...

to climb Mount Everest,
and at the end...

he looked up at the mountain -
The first time he tried, he failed.

And as he was coming dawn
from the mountain, he looked at it...

and he said,
“H! climb Mount Everest!'

He says, “Mountains don't grow,
but men always will."

There's a principle of law that
with every benefit, there's a burden...

and the responsibility
that you have with a dog -

It's not just an inanimate object.

In our life today, we do focus...

a lot of our attention
on material things...

such as automobiles, clothes...

trips, and things of that son...

and even objects -
paintings and...

other kinds of things
at home that you cherish.

Well, an animal, I think,
much more so you cherish...

because he does respond to you.

He doesn't talk like a human being,
but he is much more so...

than just an inanimate object,
and I think therefore...

a responsibility
that a person has with an animal...

you'll sense that
when you have them...

'cause their love and affection
comes to you.

And that love and affection,
over a period of years...

becomes a pan of your life,
and you just can't discard them...

to such a degree like you can...

a wrapper
around some food and say...

“Well, it's finished
and disappeared."

Of course, it is a very -

When a dog dies suddenly,
like Trooper died...

the moment of decision came:
“What do we do with him?”

I could often think
of Trooper's face...

and I say,
“Where are you gonna put me?"

There's something to life that,
even when you discard something...

of an inanimate nature,
you dispose of it...

with some kind of a reverence.

I got a stereo system
aside from a recording system.

It's a Pioneer SX-1010...

and ifs a hundred watts per channel,
which is very powerful.

And on some occasions...

say, late afternoon, when there's
nobody up here at the park.-.

I'll take my speakers,
and put 'em outside...

and turn it up.

You can hear it.
It goes through the whole valley...

and you can hear it...

from miles away.

N I Electric Guitar Rock: Blaring I

I think we'll all be
together again.

I think we're gonna live
pretty much like we do here.

I want to be able
to find my pets.

I don't want 'em dug up
and scattered all over creation.

I want 'em right where
I know where they are...

where it's like in the hunting fields
like they've had in this life.

I believe we'll all be reunited.

I really do. I believe that
from the bottom of my heart.

She's got me believing that now.
I never believed in it, but-

Before, but I still do.

'Cause after all, there's your dog,
your dog's dead.

But where's the thing
that made it move?

It had to be something,
didn't it?

There's your spirit.
There it is.

I might be dead,
but I'm not moving.

And you can't put that
back in 'em.

But I can take the body
where it'll be with it...

and lay it to rest
for a beautiful thing...

and it can rest there
or be right around there.

It'll stay close. it'll stay where he is,
and I'll find it again.

I really will.

They'll be with us.

- I hope she's right.
- I think I'm right.

In fact,
I almost know I'm right.

- You'd bet on it?
- Yeah, I'd bet a lot on it.

My assurance to the pet owner...

that they will be reunited
with their pet...

at some time in the future...

maybe under
different circumstances...

and in a different form.

As remote as this might be...

and as hard for them
to visualize...

it still gives them
a degree of hope.