I Want a New Dog

 

We have a great dog. He's very loyal and loves to cuddle. He can walk backwards over any threshold. But there are a few things he chooses not to do. He refuses to fetch. He refuses to walk to certain places.

But here's the deal. Today I saw a dog riding in the front passenger seat of a car. Nothing out of the ordinary there, you say. But this dog had his head completely out of the vehicle almost above the plane of the car's roof and his front leg and paw were hanging about two-thirds of the way down the door. It didn't look real. It looked out of proportion, but darn mutt was having so much fun. I could almost imagine a huge grin on his mouth.

If a dog like that were offered to me, it would be hard to refuse.

I Was Almost Amish

It’s not like I haven’t observed much lately. Actually our internet has been down. The router went out. And of course it took me two days to figure it out. Two days which were fraught with frustration and angst, primarily because I’m such a valued customer of many national super-corporations. I spent countless hours in phone therapy with Comcast as they repeatedly told me that I’m important to them. I’m figuring that they wanted to raise my self-esteem as they were experiencing “higher than normal” call volume.

Or maybe they were testing my gullibility.

At the end of those two days, I was seriously ready to chuck all technology and become Amish. Really, I started making plans for a media fast, no email, no facebook, no checking my checking account on line. I was resolved.

But then something happened, something that gave me a glimmer of hope and actually changed my shopping habits. In my search for answers to this dilemma, I was calling many retail places, each one treating me like Comcast and the others that so greatly care about me. But lo and behold there was one, yes only one, that did not sent me down the rabbit hole of telephone number typing. Upon making one fateful call I heard a human voice, a non-recorded voice, a live human voice (as far as I could tell) saying hello, this is the Brooklyn Park Wal-Mart, how may I help you? After I picked the phone up off the floor, I spoke my request. And this gracious creature actually transferred me to the right person.

So I did what I’m usually too proud to do (except on vacation), I went to Wal-Mart and made a purchase. It was my offering to a company willing to actually answer its phones with real people. So here’s to you employees of the late great Mr. Sam. It was good talking with you.

Raucous encounter

When Raven, our German shepherd mix dog (pictured here) and I were out for our morning walk, we heard some commotion across the street. A couple were arguing, using some very choice and foul language. We stopped, waiting to see if the conversation would escalate. It seemed to, and I was thinking (as I did in the grocery store in my earlier post), "Someone should do something." Finally the man walked away from the woman, after telling her to get out of his life, and she yelled something similar and bent down to pick up a stone to hurl at him.

Fortunately, the stone seemed far from the intended target, and the man  had several good paces ahead of the woman. Someone from the Quick Mart near where this took place came out, too. The couple disappeared down the alley, and I decided a call to the police wouldn't be necessary.

The rest of the walk was fairly uneventful--we saw some barking dogs (one was my own Raven), and several people out walking or running on this beautiful fall day--temps again unseasonably warm.

As I walked in the door, I was thankful again for my calm, reliable husband, who sat eating breakfast casually and quietly in the dining room. I couldn't live with a screaming, irritable person. Thanks, Tim, for being such a great life partner to enjoy such a beautiful day with.

Till next time,

Suzi

Tag Team

On this mid-October eve the house is too hot. I've been forced outside to sit on the deck. The wind has departed, yet no mosquitoes come looking for blood. Maybe they're all attending the Zombie Pub Crawl in downtown Minneapolis at this hour. It only makes sense. Now, will my partner offer me consensus on this observation?

Write from the start

The idea for this blog began last week when I made a grilled cheese sandwich. For me, not for my husband. As I got ready to take my first bite, I was telling my husband Tim how I hoped to become more observant in life, and to record these sitings somewhere. I wanted to become a better writer, and sought to pass this skill on to others.

Tim started laughing at me. I thought he imagined I had embarked on a brilliant idea and was happy about it. Finally, he pointed out to me that I hadn't noticed that he had taken the first bite out of my sandwich.

So, to prove to him and myself that I can be a perceptive and watchful person, I took his challenge to begin a blog. And I began noticing things.

First I'll tell the story of  a woman who was behind me in the grocery store last week. I  happened to look up from my flurry of bagging bread, carrot sticks, grapes and cereal. She was harried, too--looking frantically through her wallet for enough cash (or a credit card) to pay for her purchases. I was just thinking, "Someone should really help that lady" when a man two people behind her handed the cashier his credit card. When the cashless customer tried to thank him and ask if she could repay him somehow, he say, "Nah, I went to church today." (It was early Sunday afternoon.)

I hope to happen on more random moments of kindness like this as I keep my eyes open to the good works of others around me.

Till next time,

Suzi