Politics in Past for Peppy, the Gadfly’s Parrot Who Took the ‘Rot’ Out of Perot

Since the recent death of Long Beach political gadfly Ski Demski, I’ve wondered how his parrot Peppy was doing and whether the blue macaw might run again for political office.

Demski, who himself sought the mayor’s job numerous times, entered Peppy in the 1992 presidential race after having a falling-out with Ross Perot.

Demski heavily promoted Peppy with converted Perot stickers. He added “ppy” to the stickers and, as he explained, “took the ‘rot’ out of Perot.”

Anyway, Jim Alexander, the trustee of Demski’s estate, said that Peppy is doing as well as could be expected. He lives in Demski’s old house, but “he’s still looking for Ski,” Alexander said.

And Peppy is out of politics, which is probably for the best. The creature has something of a temper.

“He’ll cut your finger if you stick it in his beak and he doesn’t know you,” Alexander said. “He even bit Ski a couple of times.”

Today’s question: What do you call a tall, rectangular hunk of wood that has a door lock and a door handle? Not what you might think if it’s in the strip mall that Patricia Gunderman of Orange visited (see photo).

Heading the other way: I don’t know how you get out of the place that Robert Dean spotted (see photo).

Wait! Here’s a way: Marian Sowa of Los Alamitos was driving on a park road through White Sands National Monument in New Mexico when she came upon a curious sign (see photo).

“It looks like it’s pointing up,” Sowa observed. Then, again, she added, “Roswell is just a few hours to the east.”

Reading the small print: Checking for a legal expert on one Web site, Eric Munson was momentarily stopped by a strange disclaimer (see accompanying).

Then he realized the firm meant “pro per” (legal shorthand for a litigant who represents himself).

Diamond-less, but not forgotten: If it’s any comfort to ex-Dodger star Steve Garvey, I still receive Only in L.A. items addressed to him (two alone this week).

I’ve never spoken to him, but I used to feel a part of his success because Chuck Garrity, a Times assistant sports editor, would call me “Garvey.”

This led to an unfortunate incident once when the real Garvey phoned The Times sports department, returning a call that Garrity had made.

Garrity, his mind on something else, thought it was me phoning--me, a guy he loved to needle.

The conversation went like this:

Garvey: Chuck, this is Steve Garvey.

Garrity: Yeah, what ... do you want?

Garvey: Well, I was told you wanted to talk to me.

Garrity: Talk to you? I wouldn’t want to talk to you if you were the last man on earth.

When Garrity realized who was calling, he apologized profusely to Garvey (though not to me).

miscelLAny: In Hollywood, Howard Dover spotted this hand-written sign on a parked car: “Please do not break window. I only carry liability.”

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Steve Harvey can be reached at (800) LA-TIMES, ext. 77083; by fax at (213) 237-4712; by mail at Metro, L.A. Times, 202 W. 1st St., L.A. 90012; and by e-mail at steve.harvey@latimes.com.