October 26, 2009
If you waited until the rain stopped before doing anything, according to K., you’d never do anything. This from the woman who tends to the juvenile grapes in her vineyard rain or shine. But it’s true here, and despite the rain, people mow the grass, attend the Mushroom Festival, shop for vegetables at the farmer’s market, run on the bark paths, ride bikes, and hello! walk dogs. Except today I waited for a window and when it came we headed out and stayed dry, huzzah.
Cat poop consumed: no
October 21, 2009
One of the good things about having a dog is that you don’t have to worry about him becoming a grown up and finding himself irritated with my enthusiasm for the banal and the way I repeat the same questions again and again on a single walk through the neighborhood. It seems inevitable, the impatience I feel for my extremely well-intentioned mother–tonight at the mercy of Ramona–that will someday boomerang back to me from E. It’s part of the great circle of life that The Lion King neglected to cover.
Cat poop consumed: no
August 17, 2009
A few years back when they were relevant, I read an article in one of those magazines about Sporty Spice vacationing on some tropical island. As soon as she arrived she did a vigorous workout to combat travel fatigue and jet lag. I was all, yeah right, but there were, like, pictures to prove it! It does seem counterintuitive to believe that exercising a weary body will infuse it with energy, but I just have to say that tonight when I was feeling tired and mopey and swoll’, a loop around the neighborhood perked me right up. And I even got a little upper body work done yanking Ramona away from cat poop.
Cat poop consumed: yes
August 11, 2009
Poor Jenna. She’s curious. She’s probably friendly. She has a mandate to patrol the perimeter. Her people let her hang in the yard without a collar. It’s only natural that she’d come over and check us out. This takes some time and care, so she didn’t respond immediately when her person demanded she get back in the house. We hustled past but not fast enough to mute the sounds of her cries when they punished her. Judge not lest ye be judged and everything, but come on.
Cat poop consumed: yes
August 3, 2009
The chatty kid with the yappy little black dog at the corner of 10th and F was out in the yard with his friend eating popsicles. Is that dog part bagel? the friend asked, pointing at Jones. Yes, he’s part beagle (subtle correction to help the earnest young person learn the appropriate names for things). Good call, I said loudly over the hysterical chihuahua. Not to be outdone, Mr. Chatty attempted to plumb the depths of the universe’s most mysterious secrets and pointed at Ramona: What’s that other one? I think it’s a Cuban. Yeah, I’m pretty sure that one’s a Cuban.
Cat poop consumed: yes
July 2, 2009
I ask you, is pee really the worst thing a dog can “contribute” to someone’s lawn? Is sarcasm really the best approach for dealing with it? I suspect the woman–who owns a dog which presumably pees somewhere other than her grass–is troubled by larger issues of powerlessness, so naturally she takes out her frustration on us for this tiny imposition. She should make that angry phone call to the IRS. Her father needs to know how he crushed her self-esteem by teasing her about her hair all her life. The neighbors with the noisy bad music across the alley? Confront them!
Her lawn wasn’t even nice.
Cat poop consumed: no
June 19, 2009
After too many dogless days in the wilds of the Redwood Empire, even this too-familiar route feels good. And there’s lots going on in the neighborhood. Cherries are getting ripe. Shasta daisies are blooming. California poppies are looking a little shaggy. Downtown, no surprise, the ill-fated Maca Baca is already long-closed, but a new taqueria has opened next to Jim’s Landing. Dancers A La Carte (new & used dance wear and erotic housecleaning) is having a sidewalk sale. And a new antiquey junk store has staked a claim a few doors down. The inexorable turn of the seasons seems somehow linked with the entrepreneurial tide.
Cat poop consumed: yes
May 12, 2009
I had high hopes this morning for a long walk someplace different but alas with the industrious planting (two shasta daisies, two forsythia, one Russian sage) and gravel relocation, it was almost eleven before I could get out. So it’s the same old same old, made only slightly more eventful because of a torrential shower that soaked my poor fastidious dog and dampened my underpants despite the umbrella.
Cat poop consumed: yes (small consolation)
May 11, 2009
I’ve got nothing. We walked down C to 12th and back down E and alls I did was listen to a podcast of Fresh Air. And okay I did think how nice it is to have bare legs under my skirt this fine May morning, and also how the mural on Brattain Elementary School depicts a rainbow of children and one dog about to eat a sandwich from someone’s lunchbox.
Cat poop consumed: yes
May 7, 2009
To Better Serve the Community We are Now Accepting Complaints in Person. This cryptic sign hung on the picket fence in front of one of the charming bungalows on D St. The yard was tidy and attractive. None of the cars was up on blocks. No loud music blared from the windows. No dogs were barking. What brings on these complaints? Is this the home of one of Springfield’s public servants, bombarded with citizens crabbing about the skeezy bars on Main Street, the eviscerated trees on Pioneer Parkway, or the high cost of Sierra Nevada six packs at the Bungalow Market?
Cat poop consumed: no
