Unfortunately, the sodders won't be here until the 17th of October, so Sukkot will have to take place in the embarassing wilderness that the back yard has become. At least there aren't shards of broken glass, but I will have to clean the place up from the dog's various deposits of toys and, ah, dog deposits.
But that's tomorrow. Today, it's get ready for Yom Kippur. Naturally, for a fast day, the bagel store was hoppin'. As usual they had brought in some extra help for the day, and as usual, they didn't know any of the prices or the clientele. No matter. For a staff trying to deal with a bunch of Jews, they were doing pretty well.
From there, it was on to a nice, long walk with the dog at the dog park. Cherry Creek Reservoir has a hugh off-leash area, and while Sage used to play with the other dogs, now he mostly just enjoys the chance to run freely and smell everything without being dragged along on a rope. He did manage to find a chocolate lab his size to play with this time. He dutifully tried to dominate him, and the chocolate let him get away with it for a while before running away and seeing if Sage would give chase.
I apologized to the owners for Sage's behavior, but they said they didn't mind, and actually were laughing at their own dog's failure to hit back. I give them credit. Usually, I'm a little embarassed by Sage's need to show every other dog who's boss, but the real problem isn't with the other dogs, it's with the owners who seem either offended or threatened by it. The other dog will have one of three reactions. Either he'll put up with it indefinitely. Or she'll take it seriously, get her hackles up, and let Sage know that he should at least spring for dinner and a movie. Or he'll start playing himself. Any of these reactions is ok, and the dogs will generally figure it out. If a dog is the type who won't figure it out, he shouldn't be off-leash at a dog park. But I've run into owners who've gotten really angry at this stuff, and one jackass who actually started throwing tennis balls at Sage.
Tennis balls! Why didn't I think of that? Perfect! Let's punish a dog who's playing with our dog by rewarding him with a game of fetch! In that case, it wasn't just the guy's dog who could have used a little socialization.
No today's idiots were of a different order. Now the sign clearly states that Motorized Vehicles are not allowed. Fair enough. There are horses out there, dogs who think they have the unfettered right of way, little kids who aren't exactly known for situational awareness. Yet some mother thought it was perfectly fine for her little tyke to go riding around in the big-wheels version of an ATV. I could have outrun the thing, when her little angel does what boys do and tries to catch that little dog with the short legs and bad hearing, she's gonne regret it.
The other was a comment I heard on the way out of the park: "Gee, I hope she's not in heat again..." Gee, I hope she was talking about her dog. Or maybe not. I had Sage's doghood snipped off before he had a chance to miss it, but why on God's green earth would you bring a dog in heat to an off-leash dog park unless you wanted a lot of company? And this in a country with mandatory sex ed in the schools.
Then it was on to a tour of the Evil Big Box stores: Wal-Mart and Home Depot. I still think the liberal hatred of Wal-Mart doesn't have anything to do with unions, health benefits, cheap generics, or leaning on suppliers. I think it dates back to their unwillingness to carry certain books, magazines, and CDs on the theory that, well, they didn't want to carry them. The Left went ballistic, screaming, "censorship," when in fact, if they had the least bit of imagination, they would have been screaming, "business opportunity." Or at least attending shareholders meetings.
As it happens, Costco is also on the Odyssey. I noticed that Air America has a book out, with the ravings of their various hosts. Just in time for bankruptcy! Someone pointed out that Air America had found the one talk radio format that doesn't work. You can get people to listen to other people talking about anything, from cars to fantasy baseball to whatever This American Life thinks counts as human interest. But these bozos managed to fail with politics.
I actually like Costco. They have kosher Empire chickens, much cheaper than the deli. Not once but twice people saw them in my cart at or after checkout, and wanted to know where they were in the store. In one case, it was a couple of Israelis in the parking lot. They didn't know when the deli closed, but since it's on the speed dial, I called and asked for them. That's one of those scenes that was completely unimaginable 10 years ago, and will probably be again 2 years from now, when I'll just pull out the web PDA and check the website.
The one thing I don't like about Costco is having to wait untl you clear the store to pocket the receipt. The opposite-of-the-greeter solemnly checks the list, including the items buried in the box where she can't possibly see them, checks them all off, and you are finally released to your car. I can't believe that company management still thinks actually accomplishes anything.
Sandwiched in-between was a small-shirt drop-off at Goodwill. I pulled into the motorized drop-off lane, and then called out to the guy in front of me, "Don?" Turned out it was the guy who used to own Willow Creek Books, one of my favorite used book stores. He always had new stuff, the best selection of Judaica in town, and was the source of numerous presents, including a book of opera librettos compressed into doggerel. When he was selling out, I considered buying the store from him and taking it Internet-only, but couldn't figure out the financing.
Still a small town in a lot of ways.
All right, on to Yom Tov. See you on the other side. Or at least, that's what I'm praying for.
