This Santa currently unmarred by dog attack. We'll see how long he makes it.
Yesterday I had a dog lesson with Jim. Jim is Mr. Power Paws. He lives on 10 acres in the hills above San Jose with his wife Nancy and they are kind of like the head honchos of all things agility. They are like the agility equivalent of Posh Spice and David Beckham! Madonna and Guy Ritchie! I take lessons with Jim every time I get a chance. Not only does he help me get better, but he shares my love of tractors and llamas and ranches, and frequently we talk about ranch stuff to the point of I forget my course because of chattiness of us all. Usually I tell Jim what we need to practice. A lot of the time it's distance stuff. Yesterday was basic tuneup day, Ruby bar knocking, Otterpop hard weave entries, stuff like that. Jim is my best teacher because he has helped me figure out a personal handling system that works for me. And yesterday he told me I have turned into a good handler. How long has that taken? A long time! The dogs were good, I didn't screw up much, and I am a good handler now. Thanks Jim! That's the best agility way to start a day.
Also it was a sunny day. And there was no traffic on the way home. Huge plusses any time.
And then, instead of plastering or painting (I will pay for this today and all other days after with my unfinished construction albatross stink birds hanging over my head) I bought like 2 Christmas presents, but also it was the antique fair downtown! This meant things I NEED! I needed yet another scarey santa doll (but this one has WHITE boots, I forgot I also collect these) and a book about ghost towns and also a new hat. I am one bad, bad, bad Christmas shopper. And new sunglasses so now people won't stare at my messed up eye! And then my friend Janet was having a studio sale, and I also needed a slab of wood she had screenprinted with a horse head and also a thrift store polo shirt she screenprinted with snakes and a horse head and Johnny Cash. I had been thinking of polo shirts for a while now in my head and then Janet has one right there. So much for the Christmas shopping. So much for the plastering and painting. Hello all the new things I needed! Thank you the consumer gluttony of the holiday season getting to my brain! Welcome back to cultural consumption as opposed to production. Can a blog count as cultural production?
AND THEN it was still sunny and then it was low tide and 3 of the dogs got to run for an hour chasing balls and seaweeds and no one barked at any guys in flippers or stole any tennis balls and they were so tired by the time I got them back that no one complained if I took Timmy on his very own walk, just me and him. Sometimes it's nice to have really one heckuva good day.
3 comments:
Dear Team Small Dog,
You have given many things to which I feel moved to respond; however, I am reelingly tired, and in my reeling tiredness I was drinking a second beer, and swear to God out of nowhere the term, "Dog and Pony Show" just popped into my mind. (You try to live in this mind sometime; I'm telling you it isn't always easy.)
Close on the heels of the phrase popping into said mind, was Team Small Dog Leader association to said term, so I just thought I would throw it out as a possible topic someday when you are searching around for a topic, because if you aren't the Real Thing when it comes to Dog and Pony Shows, I don't know who (what?) is!
Sincerely, your biggest fan,
Mary (Maybe Tash is, but I bet I'm bigger than she is because I don't drive insane bicycle circles all the time and so have a little extra poundage on the Senior Frame --yes, it's true, my kids took me to Denny's for my 55th birthday this year because I really really wanted to get a Senior Meal which seems to me to be the quintessentially American Senior Moment. Am not not right? And drunk on 1.5 beers and tiredness?)
It was always my goal to be called a dog and pony show but that dotcom has been taken for so very long. But it is true, I really am the dog and pony show. Even though right now I do not own any ponies but I used to even actually have a couple of them in my entourage. Now it's just horses but they are not super big.
I am sorry you are so tired. Work is sad when it has that effect of mind numbing tiredness. When it turns to a whole 6pack, then it may be time to quit the new job and find another career again. Maybe it is being the senior and working and the 2nd beer is the equivalent of the 6th and it is already time to change careers even though you just started this one?
Once I worked at the university for a short while typing things into a computer to avoid being a horse trainer yet once again and that didn't last long because I would cry on the way to the bus to ride to the job.
Oh Wow! That cheered me up so much! Thanks!
Actually your haiku that started out philosophical and balanced and ended with babies being run over by small dogs and your regular grumbling that we know and love about irritating non-dog people who have dogs (or babies) and disturb our excellent walks...that cheered me up.
No, I think the new job will be good--is that I am finishing the old job while starting the new that is bringing me to my knees. So many students who have not attended class, not done assignments and then want to know, today, what they can do to make everything up in the next hour so that they can pass or they will lose their financial aid, visa, or life (cause parents will kill them)...this is what is driving me to tears. Goodbye all that! Stay in touch with all the lovely students who work so hard and laugh at my jokes and tell me (in ever-better standard English) that they learned so better the English in my class! Two more days, then fun, fun trip to Santa Barbara!
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