Month: April 2023

Doggie Daycare, No Care

If you are a parent and your kid has ever been the victim of bullying or cruel behavior of some kind, then you know what I’m about to say. Yesterday was my dog, Dash’s, daycare day, and as usual, we went in and waited for a staff member to come get him. At first, no one was there, but then the office door burst open, forcing me and Dash to move hurriedly out of the way. No welcome, just a rude “There’s too many dogs here today.” I was flabbergasted, and even more so when this same woman went to the owner of the daycare, and again, rudely, and loud enough for me to hear said, “I don’t know what you’re going to do with him,” the “him” being my Dash.

The ferocious maternal instinct roared to the surface, and with a tear in my eye for my boy, I turned right around, got in the car, and drove home.

Besides needing to get this off my chest, I also tell the story for you pet parents to be careful where you take your pets. I have also taken classes here – and have gotten a lot from the owner/instructor. This woman has assisted in the classes, and I have found her to be crude and rude in the classes, but never had to really deal with her. Instead, we dealt with the owner and another instructor who was warm and caring.

I guess it goes without saying. Check out the staff wherever you decide to place your dog and be sure everyone will treat it with care and respect.

You Have Got to be Kidding!!!

I cannot believe this, but then again, in this day and age, I can. All of these wonderful classics are being destroyed for the sake of … for the sake of what?

I am sad, angry, and disgusted at the contingency of individuals who are making this happen. It appears the true art inherent in these classics is being destroyed for no other reason than to placate a group of senseless, clueless, and demanding bullies.

Consider this:

In Agatha Christie’s novels, terms like “Oriental,” “Gypsy” and “native” have been taken out, and revised versions of Ian Fleming’s “James Bond” books will be scrubbed of racist and sexist phrases. Classics by Roald Dahl have been stripped of adjectives like “fat” and “ugly” along with references to characters’ gender and skin color.

According to this article, the driving factor is financial — do what you have to do to sell, therefore remove offensive language.

But also consider the writers: Many will now be afraid of every word they write that could be offensive, therefore taking away the freedom of an artistic exercise.

When I taught in the college environment, we needed to be extremely careful of everything we said, which was important to show respect for differences, but it got to the point where at times I was afraid to open my mouth.

Song for an Old Horse

I went to see my 30-year-old horse today. His name is Buzzy, he’s a retired Standardbred racehorse, and I’ve had him since he was 8.

Today was probably a true April Fools Day with the temperatures in the mid-60s under a cloudless sky in a part of the country where 10 inches of snow have been known to fall in May.

Today I joined Buzzy in the small lean-to in his also small corral, picking my way through the mud that is officiating whatever spring we are going to have now, before the May snow, that is. Buzzy is blind, but his ears and nose are faultless and when he heard the crinkle of the carrot bag I brought, he stuck his nose out in his blind way of moving and slowly ambled to me.

There we were, we two, standing in spring mud while I doled out the mini-carrots to him one by one. His winter blanket is still on, but I was able to brush off the caked mud on his face and neck. He likes to be groomed. I like to groom him. It’s a meditative thing – creating pleasure in a simple way for an old being. For this human, it’s soothing – watching the geese pair as they devotedly waddle together,  the wasps who have awakened from their winter nests, and the other horses lollygagging in the first warm sun of the season.

Thirty is old for a horse – VERY old – and I wonder how many more years, seasons, and days we will have together. Hopefully years, more likely seasons, hopefully, more than days.

I keep my frig stocked with many bags of carrots.

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