Just Another Day In Small Town, USA

Yesterday afternoon. I'm sweating it out to a P90-X video. The doorbell rings. 

[As I general rule, my hackles go up when the doorbell rings. I don't know why. Maybe it's an instinctive "fight or flight" response or perhaps I've conditioned myself to respond with my, "I wasn't expecting a guest therefore it's a mass murderer" reaction. Anywhoo...]

A large portion of our front door is glass, so I peeked my head around the corner. I didn't see anyone standing there so I assumed the UPS guy had dropped something off. I went back to Tony Horton and my video. 

♫ Ding-Dong. ♫

Huh. Not the UPS guy. I peek again and see the shadow of a man waiting patiently by the door. I resolve to go shoo the mass murderer away. 

I open the door and am surprised to find David standing there. David is a brilliant writer/photographer in our area, an older gentleman who I probably run into once every six months, at which times we'll chat for maybe 5-10 minutes, max.

"Hey Dena," he said, as if we'd just met yesterday. He pulled out a pen and small notebook. "What did you tell me was the name of your web designer?"

I vaguely remembered discussing my website with David the last time we'd met. Six months ago. 

"Oh, uh, Melody Watson," I said. "At melodywatson.com."

"Mel-ohh-dee" he said, writing it down. "Got it." He turned to go, then seemed to realize the situation maybe called for a bit more. "You doin' okay?" he asked. 

"Yeah, great," I said. "Just exercising, getting ready for a big race. You?"

"Doing good, doing good. Well, nice seeing you." 

And with that, he turned and walked down the porch steps and was gone. 

Later that night I described the encounter to Blair, who laughed and said, "That's classic Madison."

Yes, it is. And a great reminder of why I love living in this quirky little town. 

To Ponder: Should Dumbasses Be Allowed to Own Dogs?

Driving to the grocery store today, I saw two puppies cross the road in front of me (speed limit: 50) and start romping in some tall grass. I pulled into a side road and, seeing me, the puppies dashed across the street--ignoring traffic--and started jumping up on me. 

There was a man at his house, fixing a tractor nearby. 

"Excuse me, sir?" I called. "Are these your dogs?"

"Ay-huh."

"Okay, I just saw them cross the road and wanted to make sure they weren't lost."

He chuckled. "Nope." He slapped his legs and the puppies went running to him.

When I got home from the store, these two friendly beasts trotted up to greet me and tried to nudge their way into the house. They were panting, so I gave them water and a little dog food I keep on hand for strays. I've tangled with that beige one before. I'm pretty sure the dogs belong to people nearby, maybe in the apartment complex behind us. But it galls me to no end to see dogs running up and down streets. Who knows who could grab them or what happens if a driver not paying attention comes along?

BTW, these two dogs are now conked out asleep in the shade of my front porch.

What's an animal lover to do? 

URGENT: Help Brenda Find A Home

Brenda the BrindleI always say I'm not going to get attached and I always know I'm lying when I say it. This Saturday I went with our Animal Protection group to Petco to try to find some area dogs a home. Brenda, pictured below, is a one-year-old Shepard mix. VERY gentle and quite the trickster. We had a small box of treats sitting in the middle of the table and we'd s-l-o-w-l-y see this big nose rise up from the side of the table and then - blink! - the box was gone. She loves to be hugged and you would have thought she was in doggy heaven when we threw her a rubber ball that bounced. 

The bad news is that Brenda's time is limited. Very limited. As in, this week limited. The vet where she's at (good GOOD people) tries to keep animals as long as they can. But her time is up. This is one dog that, honestly, if I thought my allergies could take it, I might beg and plead with Blair for us to take home. Unfortunately, I went home in hives after my day at Petco. My dog allergies are significantly worse than my cat allergies.

If you can think of anyone who may be interested in a new best friend for life, please take the time to forward Brenda's picture to them, even if they're in another state. We're happy to arrange a transport. 

And for the love of God, please spay and neuter your pets. 

What treats? I didn't take any treats...