Musings
an Online Journal of Sorts

By Alyce Wilson

It's squirrel season, time for squirrels to be active, which means you can't take a walk with my dog, Una, without saying multiple times "No!" as she tries to run after a squirrel.

She's getting better about it. Sometimes she actually does resist. I don't know what she thinks she would do if she caught them. Sniff them? One of her favorite toys is a squeaky squirrel, so maybe she just wants to see if their butts squeak.

Little known fact about squirrels: the English word "squirrel" is as difficult for the French to pronounce as the French word for squirrel, "ecureuil," is for English-speaking people to pronounce.

Almost every child says the same thing when they see Una, "Hi, doggie!" Either that or, "I like your dog." Una, for her part, ignores them. In her better moments she's indifferent towards children, but really, they freak her out.

I mean, they're shaped like humans, but they're too small and they don't act right.

You know I don't have many ideas today if I'm talking about my dog again.

Considering it's late September, the weather is still pretty nice here. Sometimes I put a sweatshirt on over my shorts and T-shirt when I walk my dog. But halfway through, I usually end up taking it off anyway.

Una doesn't mind me taking my sweatshirt off, because it gives her extra time for sniffing things, like discarded Styrofoam cups, for example.

One of my neighbors has had a refrigerator on the curb for the last several days. I'm trusting that the trash collectors eventually will take it, and it won't become a permanent feature of the landscape.

I like the fact that most days, I don't have to use my alarm. You get up and there's those first few seconds of saying, "Where am I? Who am I?" before you come back to yourself. With an alarm, there's also, "And what's that noise?" Very upsetting in the mornings.

In the good news department, I called my bank yesterday to tell them about the Kaufman Wedding World debacle, because I had made the payment using my check card. That is, the down payment for a bridesmaid dress I will never see, since Kaufman's is declaring bankruptcy.

I explained what had happened and asked if there was any recourse. They said they'll send me some paperwork to fill out, and they can then file a dispute of the charges and try to get my money back.

So I'll give that method a chance to work before filing a complaint with the district attorney's office.

If Una got married, she'd want squirrels to be her bridesmaids. Of course, she'd never get down the aisle, because she'd be chasing them. This is probably why dogs don't have weddings.

Copyright 2004 by Alyce Wilson

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