NEW DOG IN TOWN

Diane yawned and stretched luxuriously, welcoming Saturday’s early summer breeze carrying birdsong.  After a brief shower, during which she sang Oh What a Beautiful Morning, while duly recognizing how corny she was being, she toweled dry and turned to select her outfit for a lazy stay-at-home day.

She opened the closet door, switched on the light and stared in disbelief as a knee-high dog ran into the bedroom, frisking in apparent abandon.  Her first thought was that a portion of her walk-in closet wall had been breeched, but investigation proved that not to be the case.  She lived in a condo complex which opened off the second floor.

Her next thought was that someone had invaded her condo while she was out, inadvertently forgetting their dog. What else? A creepy notion, surely.  Ever since the town’s serial rapist had attacked her last year she had been doubly careful about everything, she thought. She checked the windows which were all on the second floor and assured herself that her single double-locked entrance was still secure. Although it was unlikely a serial rapist would strike the same place twice, there was always the fear.

She sat down to finish waking up. Surely she was not processing correctly this morning?

It was then that the light caught the reflection of a thin collar around the dog’s neck, bearing an engraved nameplate with the word Messenger on it.  Diane burst out laughing.  Who could be playing such a complicated joke on her?  She shook her blonde head in surprised disbelief and patted the smiling—yes, he seemed to be smiling—dog’s own light brown head.

Of course she had no dog food, for she had no dog, but poured milk into a cereal bowl and watched as Messenger lapped it up.  Studying the canine, she wasn’t sure what breed he was.  His ears were long, floppy and soft like a cocker spaniel’s, but his coat was short and had a tan sheen.  And oh, his eyes were as endearing as a hungry child’s. He wasn’t a mess, but Mess would have to be his name for now, she decided.

He apparently had very short nails since he had moved silently into the kitchen with her, but now she heard hungry lapping noises. Her energy suddenly returned with a spurt of memory.  Drink equals pee!  Returning to the closet, she hastily put on a summer frock and grabbed a bathrobe belt for a leash.

“Let’s go, boy!”

The two of them hastened down the outside steps and paused by a bit of lawn.  She had no plastic bag so was thankful one wasn’t needed at the moment.  However—if Mess was going to be even an overnight visitor she realized a trip to the grocers was in order, and was pleased to note the dog was a calm front seat passenger as well, watching the scenery out the side window with apparent interest.

It had been decades since Diane had owned a pet, and it was a cat at that.  She returned to the car after purchasing the necessities, and immediately clipped on Mess’s new leash.  A walk would be indicated, as soon as they returned home.

After Diane put away the groceries she and Mess set out for the leisurely walk she anticipated.  They walked past yards with blooming flowers, bird baths and the pleasant accoutrements of a quiet early summer morning, Mess at her side as though he had just finished training school.

They had gone several blocks when he began pulling, unexpectedly determined.  Diane gripped the leash tighter, but Mess appeared to have discovered a scent he lusted after.  The leash was hurting

Diane’s hand, and he ignored her words.  Perhaps he hadn’t just graduated from training after all.  Finally she gave up, and let him run, and soon he was out of sight.  Diane turned slowly and headed home, surprised at how lonely and abandoned she felt. She realized she had already bonded with him, but apparently the experience was not reciprocated.

It was two nights later that she heard scratching at the door.  Looking out the peep hole she could only make out the dripping wet tail of Messenger since he was so close to the door.  She was torn between wanting to embrace him and fending him off. He had been into mischief, perhaps with a rooster, and bore the cuts,  bloody mouth bloody patches on his coat and tail as a result.  He still wore his leash, and after re-locking the door Diane led him into the bathroom, where he was shampooed  twice, and his bloody teeth soaped off.

He was not a happy camper, nor was she at first, but gradually warmed to the fact that he had found his way back home, even in a new neighborhood,  which she recognized as a rare accomplishment. It was late by the time she had towel dried the dog, and had taken a long shower herself.  Yuk—she hated to imagine the fight Mess had been in.  She decided not to take him to the veterinarian for fear Mess might be mis-perceived as a dangerously aggressive dog, and labeled as such.   Maybe he had tried to play with the wrong animal.  Diane smiled into his trusting eyes and stroked his soft ears before heading to bed.

She didn’t have to invite the enthusiastic pup up onto the bed to snuggle.  Perhaps he was a harbinger of good times ahead.  There were no more reports of the serial rapist, either.

THE END

This CAN’T BE THE REAL END.  HOW CAN A MYSTERY HAVE NO END?

Feel free to finish it for me….

While reading The Myth of Free Will by Cris Evatt, I was unbelieving.  What do you think of a statement that “compared to what you’d expect by chance alone, there are more people named Ken who moved to live in Kentucky, Florences who moved to Florida, and more named Lois who moved to St. Louis; there are more Denises  who became dentists and Lauras and Lawrences who become lawyers, compared with people with names that do not share letters with these occupations.  If your first or last name begins with ‘H’, you are more likely than chance to own a hardware store, and if one of your names begin with ‘R’ you are more likely to own a roofing company, with ‘C’ a computer company and with ‘T’ a travel business.”

What folderol!  Just to be sure, I checked out my names and places and occupations.  No luck.

Then I realized that my middle name is Stone, and that my daughter who just visited had brought me a container of…rocks?…stones?…she had collected in Washington State along a rock-covered beach, because she knew I liked and collected natural things, like stones…

WEAR MASKS

Beacon School in Athens, Ohio is closed for a week, with 30% of its staff and 30% of its students out sick.  My daughter is still isolated from family for another day at least, in her room, well hydrated.

But what about pets running in an out of the isolation ward?

Smiling. I understand the recommendation is to wear masks, which I’m doing, and eating in my office with the door closed.  I’m not wearing my hearing aids for at least another day!

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OF NOTE from Ohio Capital Journal by Nick Evans 1/22/24  — Debate between 3 Republican contenders:

Immigration

“The debate kicked off with a discussion of immigration and the U.S.-Mexico border. It’s been a perennial issue for Republicans and one that all three candidates have made a centerpiece of their campaigns. But the rhetoric has grown sharper since Ohio’s last U.S. Senate campaign in 2022.

“During the last cycle, now-U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance, R-OH, argued cartels should be designated terrorist organizations. Now, all three Republican candidates embrace the idea.”

Does LaRose agree the U.S. should use drone strikes against them? “100%,” he said, adding, “we must define these cartels as foreign terrorist organizations and use the full force of the U.S. military and the U.S. federal government to kill them so that they can’t kill our fellow Americans.”

LaRose has also proposed deploying three military divisions to the border.

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Music of the Spheres:  (The Lives of a Cell by Lewis Thomas)

“If, as I believe, the urge to make a kind of music is as much a characteristic of biology as our other fundamental functions, there ought to be an explanation for it…If there were sounds to represent this process, they would have the arrangement of the Brandenburg Concertos for my ear, but I am open to wonder whether the same events are recalled by  the rhythm of insects, the long, pulsing runs of birdsong, the descants of whales, the modulated vibrations of a million locusts in migration, the tympani of gorilla breasts, termite heads, drumfish bladders.”

….I can use something like AA’s Serenity Prayer:  ” Grant to us the serenity of mind to accept that which cannot be changed; courage to change that which can be changed, and wisdom to know the one from the other.”

I had to erase the mythical additional words to make the prayer feel real for me.  Prayer?   From whom to whom?

I remind myself of a poem I wrote in Time Wrinkles:

REALITY?

I’m going down fast with no soft landing.

No longer do I know what I knew, really KNEW!

Embryos and corpses  collide as parachute

jumpers drown

in puddles amid hills of salt  from which rises

the fabled Atlantis.

I’m present at the blow-out, but for naught.

No breath-taking poetry or inspired works of art;

no love, no troth, no arias, no green glades filled

with singing birds, no selfless devotion to exalted

visions or search for the truth.  Was there ever

any truth?  Who am I asking?

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MY ADVICE FOR THE DAY:   Pour a little humor in our tea.

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TO THE BABES OF THE FUTURE

Besides, I’ll be long gone into “A better land I Know…”  or  the happy hunting grounds…just hope it’s not an afterlife reincarnation during the crispin’ of Earth.

We’re almost halfway to 2050  and we still don’t know how to produce what Altman counts on saving us: nuclear fusion.  Planning on being rescued  by something that doesn’t yet exist is tomfoolery and not at all reassuring.

The fact is that the United States is still  the largest producer of fossil fuels in the world (Wikipedia). Next is Russia.  What’s that line about “Don’t do as I do; do as I say?”

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I’VE CHANGED MY MIND – Last post I said I was going to talk about not being friendlier and more outgoing/welcoming to blog visitors.  Well, (Surprise Surprise Surprise, as Gomer Pyle would say),  I changed my mind.  Is being flexible not a sign of maturity?  Maybe not;  a trait typical of females? That’s a lie! …Untrustworthiness?  I think so. Sorry.

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METAPHORICALLY SPEAKING –  The daughter who lives with me came down with Covid this week, just as my other daughter in Atlanta visited for 2 1/2 days.  That has little to do with anything, but I thought you’d like to know.  There were so many cases of Covid in her classroom that her level one class is closed for a week.  Anyway, I found a couple of things on metaphors to share:  The first is from an old journal of mine I just came across on metaphors:  (NOTE: I still say “Couple of,” which apparently has been changed to the preferred solitary “couple.”  Just another way I’m out of sync with the times. [Well, who would want to be in sync with them?]

(1) ” The old woman (for at 14 she was already  old)  stood before her mirror and beheld an angel.  Since she was no angel, she knew it was no mirror, but a metaphor.”

(2)  My source for this second sample is from Metaphor by Warren A. Shibbles, 1971, unfortunately outdated due to the fact that Metaphor was compiled before sterling evidence of the existence of the unconscious was established.  (He pooh poohs the notion).    The quotes on metaphors themselves are clear, however (that’s what the book is primarily composed of, quotes and references on metaphors).  : Christie Jeffries is cited from the July 1948 article “Metaphor in Sons and Lovers” in the Personalist  of July 1948″:

D. H. Lawrence’s imagery is said here to reveal himself as a tormented man with warring personalities, preoccupied with daily life, showing strong regression to infancy and dominated by emotional and sadistic tendencies.”

Ouch! Wow! OMG,  WHAT DO MINE REVEAL?!  Maybe I’ll share in another post, maybe not…depending on what I find…

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QUOTE OF THE DAY:  “A horse is a horse of course of course…”

Yesterday I subscribed to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, a media organization, publishing a free-access website and a bimonthly magazine. Topics include nuclear risk, climate change, and disruptive technologies, including developments in biotechnology. They still believe that “because humans created them, we can control them.”  It will be nice if they also concern themselves with “unwise decisions”, or “If I had to do it over again.”

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UNEDUCATED – Several posts ago I was surprised at my lack of knowledge of world religions.  Today I am surprised that I never knew most if not all bull dogs have to be born caesarian due to their large heads.  I asked, and my daughter knew it.  Where have I been all my life!  At least I can read cursive handwriting.

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NOT ALL DARK AND DREARY – I guess I qualify as a dark alarmist blogger.  I’m working on that. For example, after reading Lois Eisden’s post on early memories, I do remember sitting at the head of the table at the farm with scads of unfamiliar children wishing me a happy two-year old birthday.  I think I remember the occasion because of how embarrassed I was.  Not a good feeling.  Recently I came across a photo which must have been the occasion.  (I’m the youngest one to the right on the front row.)  I recognize less than half the faces–the others I just wonder where they came from.  Thankfully I don’t remember the spanking I got at age one in Martinsville, Va. for wandering from my front yard into traffic.  I’ve been told I was so angry I went into the other room, slammed the door and held my breath until I fainted.  Not having luck with posting photos today, so just imagine it.

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P.S. When feeling down, just say “Be-Bop-a-LuLu…”  (?)

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THANKS FOR STOPPING BY –  It’s my fault for not being chummier.  My next post will be about that.

QUOTE OF THE DAY –  Lewis Thomas on Death:  “….there is still that permanent vanishing of consciousness to be accounted for. Are we to be stuck forever with this problem?  Where on earth does it go?  Is it simply stopped dead in its tracks, lost in humus, wasted?  Considering the tendency of nature to find uses for complex and  intricate mechanisms, this seems to me unnatural.  I prefer to think of it as somehow separated off at the filaments of its attachment, and then drawn like an easy breath back into the membrane of its origin,  a fresh memory for a biospherical nervous system, but I have no data on the matter.”   –Thomas, The Lives of a Cell–Notes of a Biology Watcher

I hope this is a single-sided photo of the satellites currently filling the skies above us.  When I first Googled satellites I kept getting weather pictures from satellites.  Then, in my current purview some dots were red, and all were moving, although you can’t see that from my picture. You can go there yourself, however:  (Sorry, I couldn’t find it again, but I did find one of low-orbit satellites moving PLUS DEBRIS: https://platform.leolabs.space/visualization   Google is HEAVY with boodles of posts on the topic  For this one, be aware that Leolabs owns it but it can be shared for educational purposes.

The second image with the low orbiting satellites and debris shows 20,087 satellites.  I read earlier that dark night was disappearing, and I guess this is why.  I hate being so old-fashioned about my opinions, but darn, things are changing so fast, and without a tiller at the helm.

While woolgathering I came across a https://platform.leolabs.space/visualizations/leo video smidge of a Timelapse of a glacier’s shrinkage from 1984-2022, on Google.

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DARK HUMOR –  The very idea that the United States’ Conservative Party would/should champion our former president.  Unbelievable, as is so much these days as we chug-a-lug toward 2050.