Puppy in Training

I don't get to the Flying goat as often as I used to but anybody who has followed the Aztek Mocha trail will no doubt recognize the floor. I still get there on Wednesday with my friend Nancy after my 'downtown' Pilates class. I am forced to admit that once or twice a week is probably a better number of Aztek Mochas, especially after they raised the price.. Mine certainly tasted good this morning.

While Nancy and I were shaking our heads over the appalling state of the world, in came a woman with a Labrador puppy wearing a Canine Companions vest. The puppy, which couldn't have been more than 10 or 12 weeks old was lying quietly on the floor when a woman came in with her daughter who couldn't have been much more than the equivalent age in human years. Despite her wide tutu and ballet slippers, she was soon down on the floor playing with the puppy. 

Canine Companions is a large organization here that trains companion dogs for a variety of different needs. This puppy will probably leave its puppy raiser to be trained when it is about 18 months old. How anybody could give up a puppy after surviving the most difficult aspect of having a dog is beyond me, but it was nice to see the little girl's mother explaining to her why she needed to ask if she could pat the puppy. 

Pretty soon they were all down on the floor with the puppy ....

After coffee I made my way successfully through what I like to call the "Bermuda Triangle" of streets which all converge in an intersection which defeats my challenged sense of direction, and picked up a new rug which we ordered a couple of weeks ago. Javier, who usually is on hand to help with the heavy lifting was elsewhere, so the two ladies who work in the furniture store and I managed to wrangle a very heavy rug into my car. For a moment it looked like it wasn't going to fit, but I discovered that even the front passenger seat goes down so we were able to shove it in.

When I got home Jerry the tree guy was here, connecting the branches with ropes to keep our biggest oak  from splitting further until he can get here to do some major surgery. HIs helper scampered up the tree and attached the ropes as sure footedly as if he was standing on the ground and not a branch 15 feet above it. He was wearing a harness and was being belayed by Jerry, but his agility was nevertheless impressive.

Once again I think about the fact that this state, and probably half the country runs on the backs of Hispanic workers...literally. I salute them and the countless people who are working hard to pass sanctuary laws and help immigrants in danger of being deported.