A Walk on the Wild Side

On the way to the post office today, this cat was quite intent on Mel's intentions. :-)

Can you see me up here?

Here I am! Watching a guy play fetch with his German Shepherd. Silly dog, just look at him!

Birdy, birdy on the street, hope a kitty cat you don't meet!

Cool and the gang - or maybe, Boyz in the 'hood - or maybe, the Three Musketeers! (Unfortunately, the beautiful yellow kitty in the back has a severe case of mange or something :( and has lost all the fur on his neck and chest.)

Snoozin' on a lazy afternoon. Hey, who's that behind me? Leave my tail alone!

Waiting. Watching. Thinking. Ignoring (but I know you are there!).

What. Is. Your. Problem??

That tree back there belongs to me. Don't believe me? Just take a sniff! Then you'll know I'm King Kitty Kat around here!

How many doggies are there?

Fooled you! There are five! :-) And mama dog was howling (howling!!!) at me as I took the photos from across the street. Kind of like "Go away and leave my puppies alone!"

Some People Have TiVo.....

I've read on some blogs that some people have TiVo. I have no mental picture of what that is, just what I read when I typed "what is TiVo" into google. :-) We do not have TiVo. We have something better (I'm sure) -

the dumpster!

Oh yes, the ol' dumpster. That thing has brought us minutes upon minutes of entertainment. I don't take a lot of photos of people rummaging through it - although I could. Maybe I should... But people are not the only ones who rummage through it.

Yesterday Mel came in to talk to me and noticed that there were two dogs dining out at our dumpster. White Dog was sitting there, looking around, kind of like a guard on look-out duty, while German Shepherd Dog was dining. (I wonder if White Dog could even jump up in there? Maybe he was hoping German Shepherd Dog would throw out a few morsels for him.) Someone walked by (you can just see the person as a colored splotch in the very corner of the picture, under the bars that cover our window). White Dog wasn't too sure about the walkers' intentions. White Dog started getting antsy and walked around to the back of the dumpster. Suddenly, down the street, came the sounds of another dog barking loudly (insert dramatic music). (It was probably only little black Super Dog barking at someone who dared to walk past his podyezd door.) German Shepherd Dog jumped from the dumpster faster than my finger could snap a photo and both he and White Dog took off running down the street toward the other barking dog.

We have no idea what happened from there. I could, however, make up all sorts of story lines. Old friends meeting. Gang rumble starts. New love interest begins. And so forth and so on.

Later we went to the store and along the way, we saw these two dogs again, along with a couple buddies, harrassing a dog on a leash. Oh dear. Looks like we have another dog pack forming in our area. One of the signs of the worsening economy.

Yes, looking out our window can be quite entertaining. Who'd a thunk a dumpster would be the star? Who needs TiVo anyway??

Eagie

A few minutes ago my parents big old dog, Eagle, came up to me to beg for something off the table. Eagie, as we call him, doesn’t normally beg. However, Eagie absolutely loves apples and Mel eats an apple almost every morning and tosses the core to Eagie when he’s finished breakfast. Unfortunately for Eagie, I had vanilla Greek yogurt with fresh raspberries and a glass of buttermilk – no apple in sight.

Eagie is a German Shepard/Chow mix. He came to live with my family almost 13 years ago as a rambunctious puppy. My sister and her two kids were living in the downstairs apartment at that time, and my sister got him somewhere for her son, Patrick. My mother was somewhat horrified. Not because there was another dog in the family – there were already 4 other rescued dogs of assorted sizes and shapes living here, plus around 11 mostly outdoor cats. No, the problem was his breed heritage. Patrick named him Eagle, or maybe it was my sister, I don’t remember. However he came by that name, Eagie he soon became and it just sort of fits him.

Because my mother was so concerned about his breed mix, she started from the very beginning training him to be gentle, and this is how she did it: “You are a good dog, Eagie. You are a gentle Labrador.” All accompanied by loving petting of the head, an occasional kiss on the side of his muzzle, and all the love that could be poured out on him. I’m surprised he doesn’t think his name is Gentle Labrador! (Actually, maybe he does….) Eagie is one of the most gentle dogs you will ever meet.

So, while Eagie was begging from me – such an unusual thing for him to beg from me! – I was giving him long loving pets on the head and telling him what a good dog he is and wishing I had an apple core for him to eat.

Eagie is almost blind now and a little deaf. His muzzle is mostly gray and his beautiful thick red coat has faded and grown much thinner. He is still a very big dog, but not nearly what he used to be. Arthritic and stubborn in his old age, he still goes out and patrols the yard, although he stays very close to the house now with all this snow on the ground.

I felt such a wave of sadness as I pet him. My parents are in their mid-70’s now. Both of their dogs are elderly. It is a strange feeling to be here this time because so much has changed. Only the cats are young, and there are only 3 of them left. The others have all died and been buried over the years, or else the foxes have gotten them in the last 5 years. These 3 cats are indoor only cats and hopefully they will never ‘escape’ because the foxes are around all the time and are not afraid of humans. Mel had an encounter with one out by the car the other night and had to stamp his foot and yell at it before it trotted off.

It's Not Just Old Ladies...

No, it's not just old ladies who go dumpster digging around here! As I was sitting here reading the morning news and finishing my first, but not last, cup of coffee this morning, Mel walked into the living room, glanced out the window and said, "You need to look out at the dumpsters." So I did. I stood up and looked just as this guy jumped from one to the other. I went and got the camera and voila! For your viewing pleasure. ha ha ha

(You know, sometimes I wonder about me, what with the dumpsters providing me with so much entertainment all the time. I mean, really, is this like, you know - "normal"?)

I love my life, I really do.