Time Warp #2 - Back To Normal, Things Always Change

For what it's worth, as I write this, Monday, Sept. 3, I am still without internet access. I called the cable people and they said they had no idea when my area would be getting access again. Honestly, apart from the fact that it's easier to look stuff up on my computer than on my phone when I really want to know something - and posting this gibberish, of course - I'm not sure I miss it all that much. Same for the cable. Oh, sure, it's nice having a little background noise without having to think to hard, but I suppose I could always turn on NPR. I do sort of miss the connection to the big political show, but I must admit the increased focus on local news has been illuminating.

Anyhow.

This is a dog that appreciates his naps, and I'm a man that appreciates that.

 I have a dog. Best the cognoscenti can tell, he's around two years old and seems to be a wire-haired terrier. He's a lovable little dude, big into cuddling. He's a very tactile dog, I've noticed that. He seems to like sleeping on my foot, for example. He's very laid back and seems to be seriously into napping.

 He's a friendly, personable dog, but at the same time, he's very independent and stand-offish. I'm of the opinion he's a gutter-punk kid's dog. He's got that sort easy-but-guarded bonhomie that let's those kids move through that world. They take life as they come and do the very least they have to. I'm saying that because I also don't think he's had a whole lot of one-to-one love and affection, though I don't think he's ever been abused.



 Even knowing his story, I don't think he was ever abused on a regular basis. Okay, so, the first decent day after the storm, the girlfriend and I took her pack to the levee like is done in the evening. We ran into E., another dog owner and a groovy person in general. E. has a serious pack, something like a half-dozen dogs. Furthermore, she's got that number of cats, at least one pig, and a whole mess of ducks, chickens and turkeys. One of those types, you know. Anyhow, she’ll take in strays and, on that particular day, she had a new dog with her.

 Someone had basically dropped him in her yard the day before the storm, and E. being E. just had to take him, even temporarily. As things calmed down, she did some investigative work. Turns out, he'd run off from his then-home a few days before the storm. He was staying with a gutter-punk kid who'd found him tied up in the bathroom of an abandoned Sonic somewhere in the 9th Ward. Yep, someone just left the little guy tied up in a unused bathroom.

 I'd like to think that whoever did that didn't do it out of malice or the hope that exposure would kill him. People do horrible shit to dogs on a regular basis, we all know who Michael Vick is, but some folks take cruelty to a whole new level out of pure apathy. I remember summer evenings on the front porch as a boy, seeing a car slow down at the old property line at my folks' house and us having a new kitten or puppy the next morning. People will do that, not caring about how it affects the animal nor how it impacts whoever has to clean up after it later. We are an asshole of a species, ain't we?

 I hope whoever left this dog did it because he or she had no other choice and just hoped someone would find him. He doesn’t have that skittish look of an abused dog, rather the confidence of a traveling dog. Or he might just be remarkably well-adjusted for a terrier, I don't know.

 I've never owned a dog, so this is all new to me. We had hunting dogs and yard dogs, sure, but having a house dog - or as most folks refer to them a “pet” - is a whole new pipe to smoke. I like dogs a lot and generally get on well with them. The girlfriend's pack takes me for theirs, and E.'s dogs all like me, and so do just about every dog I've ever met. However, I've never had this much responsibility for a creature totally dependent on me. It's a bit daunting and I'm honestly not sure I can handle this. I don't like responsibility and I've avoided it as much as possible.

 But I've been thinking about getting a dog, partly because of the girlfriend's influence and partly to do something to shake up my existence. I was thinking of taking my folks' dog because, to be quite frank, they don't have much use for him and he doesn't really care all that much for them. He was their late beagle's dog more than he was theirs, and when she died, that bridge was never crossed. He's a bit of a handful, though.

 This new guy is almost perfect, though, if he stays this laid back. So, we'll see. If nothing else and I can't keep him, I get to do help things out a little bit and give a lost dog a little love for a while. We should all be so lucky.