I'm Glad Dogs Can't Talk

It's very restful being the only verbal one on my walks with Porter because I am certain she loses patience with me.  I stop for no reason, making her sit when I do, she sits at her own angle (the better to see oncoming threats, I'm sure), and take pictures of random things.  I talk to her about whether she's going to go potty, when and where, and then I gather it up and carry it along.  I chastise her for eating goose poo (it must taste great, she's a fan) and shorten her leash when we cross the park full of the stuff.  I don't run like other people do; she wants to run too.  I think I'm a frustrating walk partner but better than nothing.  I do tell her how good a girl she is and I pet her ears.  We make it work.

It was beautiful on the trail yesterday morning, the leaves have fallen enough that I see the river more and the berries and grapes are plentiful, also the milkweed pods have opened and bright white fluff's pouring out.
 
Durwood had a bag of leaves for me to take to the chickens when I went walking and I wish I could show you how those birds behave when I come into the yard.  Yesterday Kiev and General Tso were out in the coop so they rushed to the side by the door.  Henny and Penny were in the chicken house and collided in the doorway, shoving each other to be the first out.  All four of them were in a clump then, crooning and softly clucking, as if they could lure me closer.  When I open the door they scatter and then race from leaf to leaf when I toss them.  Even though I make sure to spread whatever I bring out, at least once Penny, the top chicken, will chase General Tso, the low chicken on the totem pole, just to exert her superiority, I guess.  They're entertaining, and they lay eggs.  It's an excellent trade off.

In the afternoon Durwood and I explored Costco and got our membership cards straightened out.  It's very Sam's-like and the prices seem comparable.  They did have lots of samplers which Durwood's a big fan of but by the time we'd gone up most of the aisles my back hurt from walking on the concrete floor and I was ready to be done.  After Costco we zoomed to the oxygen place's new digs and swapped his empty tanks for full ones, then we swung by the dive shop where the customer was waiting so he could hand me a full-face mask that needs service.  He was appropriately grateful that I came.  That was nice.  Then we drove to Woodman's for lemon yogurt (I'm a big fan) and some more boxes of some discontinued crackers he bought one box of and liked a lot.  Naturally the discontinued crackers that I liked were all gone.  Natch.  Oh, and then we hit Aldi for a fresh pineapple (I'm a big fan of that too), a drum of pretzel rods for work, and some silicone spatulas because they were irresistibly inexpensive, then we went home.  Whew.  We're like the whirlwind.  Now all that's left to do is get rid of the solid carpet of fallen leaves on the front lawn before more snow flies.  It was drizzling when we were just finishing up our errands and a few of those drizzles had MASS, white mass.  Eesh, I'm so not ready for snow.

October 24--Joseph T. Keiley, A Sioux Chief.  He was suspicious of new things, foreign things, so he kept his mouth shut and let others prattle on about bits and bytes, apertures and f-stops.  He had too much pride to let on that he didn't know so he was silent.  He felt the new world laying on him like a weight, compressing his lungs.  No one tried to understand his world, they thrust him into the new one without asking.  Having children saved him, they showed him what they learned and that way he crept into the future.

Sometimes I feel the exact same way, things change so quickly these days.  Gad, I sound old.  I'm off to shower and make myself presentable for the day.  Sayonara.
--Barbara