She Walked Away

Sunday Morning

Wilson and I just came in from our morning walk. It is surprisingly cool, even if it is still muggy. I think I am looking to appreciate even the slightest improvements.

I am not sleeping well, which is nothing new, but I always feel a little better after our morning walk. Wilson seems to feel better, too. He sure doesn't ask much of me for all he gives in return.

I am tutoring later today, but am doing my best to enjoy a slow, quiet morning at home.

The library was particularly slow yesterday and I spent a lot of time reading at the circulation desk. Storms that had rolled through Friday night caused us to lose internet a few times, so I was glad to have a book to keep me occupied when I couldn't catch up on blog reading.

One patron came in and paid for his computer access with a silver dollar. I told him I liked to save special coins for my nieces and nephews. Almost immediately, he pulled two gold dollars out of his pocket and put it on the desk. He told me to give them to my niece and nephew.

I waited for him to get settled upstairs, then headed up to give him two paper dollars. He didn't want to take them, telling me to give them to charity. I told him that he could give them to charity if he'd like, but I was happy to reimburse him for the special coins he gave me. I would guess that there is probably a policy preventing me from taking money from a patron, but I'll admit, I have never seen one.

Apparently this patron had complained about someone who worked in the library before and everyone seemed to dislike him. My reaction to him was quite the opposite. His gold coins really made my day.

Today I will just enjoy the rest of my coffee and the cool, quiet house until I have to leave. Days like this are fleeting, to be sure. My fall classes begin in just a few weeks and I will once again be busy in every waking hour.

That's right, Fnn. Enjoy it.

 

The H Word.

While it is miserable, I am struck by how much worse it is for others.

Taking Wilson for his walk each morning, I notice a house with all the windows open and a single fan that seems to be in a different one each day. Before the weather got this extreme, the man who lives there would sit outside and say hello when we walked by. I have no business complaining about being uncomfortable when I see that.

Wilson is always willing to go walking - even with his double coat. This morning I noticed his tongue seemed to get longer and longer as we walked. His panting continued in the comfort of central air for a good hour after we got home. I think about the dogs who are 'outside dogs' - a term I really can't comprehend, and cats. My crew is fortunate to enjoy the air indoors even when I am not here.

The members at the senior center where I teach seem to spend more time there when the heat is oppressive. As my class painted away in the art room downstairs, the sounds of dancing continued throughout the afternoon.

At work in the library it seems the percentage of public patrons increases with increasing temperatures. Often patrons approach the desk quite literally drenched in sweat. While lots of conversation seems to center around how unpleasant it is, I am happy that libraries provide a cool place to relax for so many.

This weather is supposed to continue. Be cool and safe everybody.

 

Linky Miscellany

Time is passing quickly this summer and I am taking inventory of what has been accomplished and what is still on my list.

I've spent this morning watching my not-so-guilty pleasure, CBS Sunday Morning. Today's episode was all about animals. A real no-brainer.

My television and/or digital converter (because I don't have cable and frankly, don't want it) is failing in my bedroom. I had the horrible habit of turning on the television for the news or Austin City Limits before falling asleep and had grown accustomed to waking with the television still on. Bad habit. Come to think of it, all that "on time" could be the reason the electronics are failing. Regardless, I realize that I don't need a television in my bedroom and without one, I am actually sleeping better. This realization should have been much more obvious to me - a confirmed [perhaps former] insomniac.

So today, Wilson was ready for his walk at 7:20 or so, and I was eager to head out before the oppressive heat of the day made it uncomfortable and maybe unsafe for being outside in the sun. We walked and walked, saw a LOT of rabbits - most who froze in profile, as if they were chocolate, as soon as they saw or heard us approaching.

I told Wilson who immediately seemed focused on catching a rabbit once he saw one that he would never catch one. Remembering the squirrel incident less than one week ago, I quickly added, "while you're on a leash."

Returning home I had time to make coffee and read a few chapters of "An Object of Beauty." Not well received by literary snobs or art experts, I am enjoying it. Well past midway, but not yet finished, I plan to go out to lunch and read the last chapters with a sale-priced Bloody Mary nearby.

Thanks to Goodreads, my summer reading has been very consistent, even if the subject matter has been pretty varied. I won a Goodreads First Read Giveaway this week, too. I am anxious to receive my prize in the mail and get it read and reviewed.

I'm bracing for the heat advisory that is in place for today and the next several days, but planning to get things done indoors with my air conditioning on. I am so grateful for having a new, environmentally-friendly central air unit installed and even more grateful that I wasn't forced to get through the summer with a window unit in my bedroom.

Wilson: 1 Squirrel: 0

After posting yesterday, as I was preparing to leave the house to meet the student I am tutoring, I decided to let Wilson out for a quick trip around the perimeter of the back yard.

He bolted out the door and quickly wrapped around the deck and darted out of arms reach. I followed him out to see what was happening and by the time I could assess the situation, I heard a quiet but desperate screeching.

Wilson had caught a squirrel.

I always told him that for all the watching he did, he would never catch a squirrel because they were fast and could climb trees. I was wrong and Wilson knew it.

In the few seconds it took for the squirrel to stop moving, she had bitten or scratched (or both) Wilson's nose. I calmly asked Wilson to leave it and he did. Poor squirrel. Poor Wilson, too. He was so proud of himself and couldn't understand why I wasn't assembling a parade in his honor, but was instead trying to wipe blood off of his snout and determine if it was canine or squirrel.

Imagine this:

Only the squirrel in my yard was punctured and dead.

I put Wilson in the house, removed the squirrel from my yard, returned to the house to be sure Wilson was no longer bleeding, washed my hands to my elbows, then left for my appointment.

Such excitement.

When I returned home later in the day, the heat index was 108 and Wilson darted out into the yard to look for the squirrel. He quickly realized it wasn't where he left it AND that it was hot enough outside that he wasn't going to look around much.

Today it is equally blazing outside, but Wilson was more interested in his morning walk than any tree-dwelling prey that might be in the yard.

 

 

Promises Made

I have made some promises this summer. In many ways, I am just setting goals, but I find if I can frame a goal in the context of a promise - hopefully to someone other than myself - things will actually get done.

Previously I mentioned that this was to be my 'Summer of Organization' and I was really going to get a handle on my house and my copious amounts of stuff. I should have promised someone else, it is not coming along nicely.

The positive things that are on schedule are things that involve some level of commitment, and it is only fair that I list some things that can soon be checked off my list as accomplishments.

I promised Wilson I would walk him regularly. This was a thinly-veiled attempt to force myself out the door to walk him. The benefit to me is becoming more obvious, the benefit to him is certainly apparent. Wilson's aversion to storms and firworks means that we sometimes haven't walked at night, but ALWAYS a walk in the morning. Rain or shine. He loves it, and I am feeling healthier for it.

I promised myself I would eat better. I have been so much better about that. I can't say I never eat unhealthy food, but I have salads or fruits and vegetables more than anything else. And cheese. I have had such a long, torrid love affair with cheese that it is pretty difficult to quit cold turkey, but I have stopped buying cheese at the market, and the times that I have cheese when I am eating out is somewhat negligible.

Not really a promise, I told myself that I would read more this summer. Get this: for fun. By late August I will have required reading for my classes - not what I would consider fun - and my summer reading has left me prepared to tackle that with a bit more gusto than I have had in previous semesters.

To be fair, my lazy summer has not been very lazy. My three part-time jobs are clocking in at about 30+ hours each week. True, I don't have classes on top of that, but it hardly constitutes a summer vacation. And now I am off to one of my part-time jobs and have every intention of returning home to do some sketching this afternoon.

Strike that, I will promise Wilson that he and I will spend a minimum of three hours sketching when I get home.

Blowing Stuff Up

Wilson is pretty sure he doesn't like the 4th of July. In my neighborhood, apparently people think that the 16th of June is a fairly good day to begin the shenanigans, er... celebrations.

As Wilson and I walked this morning, there were people out lighting firecrackers within earshot. It was 9:00 am, drizzling a little bit, and people somewhere - near enough to freak my dog out - felt the need to continue to blow stuff up.

Having my dog too freaked out to eat or go outside is a considerable dilemma. Having this issue last for 2+ weeks runs the risk of becoming a health crisis - for both of us.

Happy Place Moment: Usually on our morning walks, I take time to notice the things that are so nice about our little 'hood. The house with the indigo glazed flower pots on the front porch (which, incidentally, has two dogs in the back yard who either bark at Wilson or alert him to the squirrels in their tree as we walk past).

I take time to notice the terra cotta birdbath smack in the middle of a front yard with a big robin sitting in the middle of it and little birds (sparrows, maybe? I really should look that up) perched around the sides as if the robin is storytelling or some sort of avian spiritual advisor.

I enjoy our walks when we see Sally, a very undersized Bernese Mountain Dog that Wilson seems to fancy. Seriously, Sally's Mom should check my house first if Sally is ever missing. I would be very tempted to dognap her.

The dog with one blue eye and one brown eye who looks ferocious, but just watches us from his or her picture window as we walk past. I wonder if that dog ever gets to go on walks. I've always said that if you don't want a dog in the house, you don't want a dog. I believe that, but I also know that dogs like to be strutted around or at least have you come into the back yard with them on occasion.

I bought and read this book mostly because of the cover:

I have since read it many times and will give a spare copy to someone for the asking. I buy up copies at thrift stores whenever I see them. I've called Wilson "Wilson Half-Malamute" on occasion, as his tail suggests Malamute more than any other part of his Mr. Potato Head breeding. A shout out to Jenkins's Cooper.

I saw the film "Buck" yesterday. I will see it again. It was pretty magnificient. I'm obviously an animal lover, an advocate for their well-being, but I don't know much about horses. This film is packed with nuggets of wisdom. Trying to determine where Brannaman gets his wisdom is slightly mysterious. For now, I'll choose to believe it comes from equal parts life experience and being near animals. I'm convinced that you can't be around animals, animals of any kind, and not learn.

Tomorrow will be the first anniversary of the day I adopted Wilson. what a great day that was - and what a year it has been. I am better for it, and I hope Wilson is, too.

That first day went so well and Olive loved having Wilson around for those (very unexpected) last months. I sure miss Olive, but am forever grateful for the nine years she was here.

So I will choose to look at what I like and enjoy on a holiday like today, rather than blowing stuff up and the people who blow stuff up. Hopefully, the closeout sales will be over quickly and the sky will settle down soon for Wilson's sake.

Have a safe and happy 4th of July.

Jasper Johns. Three Flags. Encaustic. 1958.