I guess it was a crummy idea for me to think Mummy was no longer in charge, and that I could do what I wanted. We both like me to walk off leash a fair amount, because I like to sniff bushes, and Mummy doesn’t like having her back jerked, every time I stop suddenly to smell something. (Needless to say, I do not walk in front of Mummy! I never have.... unless I’m chasing the crows. Or my Frisbee.) Well, I decided I’d like to cross the street the other day and see what kind of new smells were on the other side. I’m supposed to stay on the sidewalk, but I – like – “forgot”....
That ended my offleash walk for the day.
She also wanted me to “Come” a couple of times, and I said, “In a minute”, which didn’t go over very well.... so it was back on the leash again. Mummy gets really stern, too, when she’s upset: she doesn’t talk to me for a long time!
I decided I’d better do what I’m told, so I won’t have all of my privileges taken away, but.... I probably will forget again. I’m still a puppy, after all. (Some of the time!)
The other day, Mummy got all excited about a play date at the Offleash Beach that she'd set up with some people from North Vancouver.
I was kind of hoping she’d forget about the bath I hadn’t had in a long time – over 2 weeks! – but nope. She got me all spiffied up to go to the beach to meet Maya, the 1 year old Coton monster, and her parents, Stephen and Ayuka. I was keen to go, but Maya was a puppy!!! She was bouncing around - boing, boing, boing - and barking, and running and jumping on everyone, including me. She dug really deep holes in the sand and crawled in after them, she played with my toys and thought my treats were for her!! I’ll admit she was pretty cute – looking – with really long cottony hair that stood up straight around her body, making her look 5 times as big as she really is.
Mummy always says I’m not an alpha dog, but her Facebook friend, Birgit, says it’s not about alphas and omegas, it’s about relationships, and I wanted to make that clear to Maya. I’m older than she is, so I get to set the rules!! But boy, it sure wasn’t easy getting through to her! She kept bouncing around me, barking at the top of her lungs and even jumping on top of me!!
Now, I don’t care about most of the dogs we see at the Beach. We may never see them again, and they don’t act like that, anyway. But Maya is a COTON!! And I have the feeling I might have to see her again! So I had to let her know that I would play with her, but only on my terms. That is, for a minute or two... after I’d lain down in the sand with my head turned away from her for a long time, wandered off to say hi to the other dogs, and been as Mummy says, a real prune.....
Mummy also says I acted just like that myself, when I was Maya’s age! I can’t believe that!!! OK, maybe I was a bit bouncier than I am now, but I sure didn’t bark as much! I did jump on bigger dogs, like she does, but I was quickly put in my place.
With all the rain we’ve had lately, it looked as if everyone and their dog had decided to go to the Offleash Beach. I’ve never seen so many dogs in one place in my whole life! And they all came to Mummy as if to a magnet. Everyone thinks it was because she keeps my breakfast in her pocket, but I think they wanted to say hello to me!
It was a nice, almost sunny day, but as we stood around, it got colder and colder and colder! Mummy’s hands turned beet red, because she thought it was spring and didn’t bring her gloves along. We knew it had snowed on Saturday, down at Michelle’s place in Everett, because we saw the photos, but it was so warm here on Saturday, Mummy took her jacket off , when walked along the rocky beach over by 26th Street, and just wore her T-shirt. I don’t have that option. :(
It looked as if Stephen and Ayuka were getting cold too, although Maya certainly wasn’t – all that jumping around!! – so, after an hour or so, we all decided to go home. That was fine with me; there were lots more dogs to say hello to, and of course, their moms and dads like to stop and say hello to Mummy, too.
I wanted to play with my Frisbee once the little ankle biter had left, but when Mummy tried to step up on the ledge beside the beach, where she could throw it, her bad leg gave out and she fell. Not hard enough to hurt, but enough so that she limped all the way home and went to bed afterward. She has decided her problem isn’t the arthritis so much as it is fibromyalgia. And sure enough, today, she hardly hurts at all. It doesn’t make any sense of course....
On the way home, we stopped at the Safeway for some groceries. I always wait outside, because Mummy goes in and just gets a couple of things, and I get lots of pats from everyone. As we were leaving, we met Fred, the homeless man, coming with his cart full of bottles and stuff. He makes money by taking them back to the store. Mummy has known Fred for years, so she asked him if he’d been to our place yet. No, he said, but he’d been hoping to run into us. Our garbage and re-cycling is locked away, so Fred can only get in if someone unlocks it. Well, it was Sunday, and there is always a lot of stuff in the re-cycling bins, and Fred always leaves the place clean, so he came back with us.
Fred looks just like what you’d think a homeless man would look like. A shock of unkempt grey hair, a week’s worth of unshaven beard, a red flushed face and a handful of yellow teeth. We had never had a real conversation with him, but he turns out to be a normal person underneath all the booze, drugs and homelessness. As well as collecting bottles, he also, he told us, picks up bric a brac that’s been left out and takes it to a flea market over town, where he can sell it for a small amount. Fred told Mummy he had once been a truck driver, and Mummy asked him which job was harder work: driving a truck or his present “job”, and he said this one was harder. It sure looks as if it is!
We got up early this morning, just to go out to the front lawn, and guess what?? It was snowing.... here!!! Michelle must have sent her Everett weather up to us!! Grrrr. (Mummy says that every single time she has driven to Seattle – and that’s plenty of times – there has been a permanent raincloud over Everett. She always gets lost on the way home, because she either isn’t concentrating, or can’t see the signs because of the rain and the traffic, and inevitably goes off the I5 on the Everett exit.) We don’t think it has EVER snowed here – at sea level too! – in March, much less near the end of the month!! It all melted, of course, but it’s still cold out, and it might snow again tonight....
Ruth had a really unpleasant thing happen last year. She was living in a nice house, which she’d paid for, in back of her son’s big home. People here call them coach houses. Ruth went away for a holiday in the winter, and when she got back, her son had moved all her furniture out and into Debby’s highrise – meaning from Vancouver over here to West Van – sold Ruth’s house to someone else and taken a year’s lease on the apartment! If that wasn’t bad enough, Ruth thought that meant he had actually paid for the year, but he hadn’t. He’d only paid one month – i.e. $1,000 – it’s not a high end building at all - and her second month there, she got a notice from the landlord that she hadn’t paid her rent.
We all though, oh no! Every time we see Ruth, she’s going to be griping about her sorry lot, but nope. She’s always happy, pointing out nice scenery, talking about flowers and birds and a really pleasant person, despite her voice. Has never mentions how she came to live in our neighbourhood, since.
Well, Frank’s son decided that Mom was too frail to be living in a condo, so he and his sisters got together and decided to move Mom and Dad into a cheap nursing home over in North Van, which is miles away from this neighbourhood and the people!! Frank reminded them that he has plenty of money and can pay for a caregiver to come in, but the son, “Nope! You’re out voted!” Auntie Moira and Mummy are both upset about this – how children can just take over their parents’ life like that. Mummy is glad to know I will never put her in a nursing home!!
The Bald Eagles who were here last year are back, so Mummy is keeping close to my side. She doesn’t like the way the big one flies right over us at low altitude, as if wondering who she’d like for dinner.... The daffodils and early rhodos are finally in bloom, and the buds on the tulip magnolias are getting bigger every day. Clearly, the plants think it’s spring, even if the Weatherman doesn’t!
Well, as Mummy would probably say, that’s all the news that’s fit to print. For now.....
