Dogs Live in the Moment

Tags

Dixieland Bands, dogs, funerals, sympathy cards.

I suppose they do. I don’t know as I’m no canine shrink or dog whisperer but I think they do.

They have a limited grasp of the past and the future – who cares? Next meal? I gotta go out? Gotta remember to chase the cat. Seems like a pretty full life to me.

The motto of the dog world seems to be.”What, Me Worry?”

Unfortunately we and I mean specifically me don’t, can’t or won’t live in the moment to any substantial degree.

Everything seems to be too much sometimes.

I went to a celebration of life this morning. We used to call them funerals. You can call them anything you want but it’s a send off for someone you knew well, maybe a little or maybe not at all.

The morning wore me out even though it eventually ended with a Dixieland Band playing ” When the Saints…”

That left everyone smiling and temporarily forgetting why they were where they were and why they were there. That’s a pretty succinct sentence I think. Sometimes repetition works.

See ” Helplessly Hoping” by CSN and maybe Y. He was in and out of that band on a fairly regular basis as I recall. Whatever happened to him?

This is turning into a catch all post after an exhausting day.

These days I’m buying 2 – 3 sympathy cards at time. Saves time and multiple trips to the store. Besides, then I don’t have to handle several different cards and I buy the same card every time. Saves mental wear and tear on me.

I just sign my name. I can’t think of anything better to say than the card has already said and I can’t possibly put myself into the mindset of the person receiving the card.

When my uncle passed away I was the executor of his estate. Before he died he handed me his address/phone book and told me to call everyone after he died to tell them he was no longer among the living.

You can’t dodge that responsibility so I didn’t. I called everyone.

I received several wonderfully written memories of my uncle from people who truly were going to miss him.

I just feel my words are inadequate or menial or trite or useless.

I came home form the celebration and took a nap. Then I walked the dog.

She has the right idea about life.

Telling Secrets

Tags

dogs, secrets

I just got a dog. I tell her everything.

Put Down Your Phone, Now, I Said Now!

Tags

bikes, dogs, phones, texting

This might fall into the rage writing category or at the very least the ” Old Man Yells at Cloud” school of thinking.

In any case kudos to the person who invented the term ” Doom Scrolling.” There aren’t enough kitten and puppy videos being produced lately so let’s get on it shall we?

I spent a good deal of the late, lamented and too soon gone summer on my front porch either, A – Playing my guitar, B – Reading a book or the local newspaper, C – Listening to the local nine on the radio play the national pastime or any combination of A or B and or C.

Which bring us, me and you dear reader to the point of the title of this piece.

You don’t see the word phone anywhere in my porch activities. But what I did notice was all manner of dog walkers, stroller pushers and even bicycle riders furiously engaged with their cellular telephones while riding or walking or jogging or pushing strollers.

One phone dog walker person deserves special mention.

She would walk right past my house and me with her daughter who was holding the leash of their dog, The kid had the dog and the Mom had the phone.

Mom never looked up while walking spending all her time not relating to her kid or the dog.

As one who has kids that are grown and gone I wanted to send her a wake up call and tell her that she’ll never have the summer of 2020, good or bad, with her daughter again.

It’s over, gone, deleted like that last text.

There are things and times you can’t get back.

See if you can spot the problem here:

Man riding bike – No helmet.

Man riding bike, no helmet with dog on leash.

Man riding bike no helmet with two dogs on leashes.

Man riding bike with no helmet, two dogs on leashes in traffic.

Man riding bike with no helmet, two dogs, in traffic and texting.

See title above.

Spanning the Globe,the Newspapers and the Neighborhood

Tags

dogs, neighbors, Running, space

In no particular order – sort of a catch all from the week so here we go:

News Item – Space Archaeologist  discovers new Viking settlement in North America.  Space Archaeologist ?  When did that become a job?  I missed that along the way but it sounds like a great way to make a living – playing with satellites and dirt.  Where do I sign up?

On a run this afternoon and chatting with the neighbors:

Neighbor #1 -Two miles in –  I say tomorrow is Opening Day for Major League Baseball.  He says he doesn’t care but is happy that today is the First Day of Trout Season in PA. I wonder who threw out the first fish?

Neighbor #2 – Three miles in – I pause at a stand of evergreens that have suffered wind damage from yesterday’s storm.  There are branches on the ground but strangely only from one tree in the middle of the stand.  We ponder the randomness of the destruction and decide that ” When it’s your time to go it’s your time to go.”

Finally – Three miles in – I see a guy walking his dog while riding his bike.  His bike, not the dog’s bike.  The guy is talking on the phone, his phone, not the dog’s phone.  The dog’s leash is wrapped around his waist, his waist, not the dog’s waist.

Let’s recap, riding a bike with a dog’s leash attached to your belt and you’re on the phone.  At least he wasn’t texting while riding, the guy not the dog.

The dog would know better.