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Sunrises with Cody
The thing about routines for me is that as soon as I find a good one, life throws me a curveball and I have to work and work at finding a new one. It takes forever. But then I find it and life is at its sweet spot until another curveball comes my way.
Right now Cody and I are at our sweet spot of walking to the sunrise.
We get up before dawn and leash up.
Cody is acting like he’s afraid of the stairs right now. I’m not sure if it’s a mind game he’s playing on me because we did it once when I went down and called to him or if he really dreads going down them. Is he afraid of heights? Do his joints hurt with all that weight he’s carrying around? He stands at the top and requires quite a bit of coaxing from me to get him down. But then when he comes barreling down he seems perfectly fine. I’m not sure. I’m actually really worried about this because it’s not like I can move to a downstairs apartment anytime soon and I don’t know if dog elevators have been invented or if I could even afford such a thing. Maybe a sling? I don’t know. He’s going to the vet on the first of December so I’ll have his joints looked at and see if maybe living upstairs is really bad for him. Cross your fingers it’s a mind game. He’s been known to develop such tics before.
Anyway, we get down and we walk to the park. It’s a bit of a walk. When I first got him I only walked a quarter of the way. He was really overweight and panted a lot and I was worried I might give him a heart attack from too much new activity. We gradually added a bit more distance to our walks every day until now we are clocking about two miles with no trouble. We stop a lot along the way to sniff things and make sure he’s not too tired.
The best stop is a little wooden ledge at the edge of the lake. I think it’s a filter cover or something. It’s the perfect spot to sit and watch the sunrise. (Not counting that it’s usually covered with dew and I desperately need to remember to bring a towel to sit on.) The sun only shines on half of the lake so this is the spot for the best view. When the sun creeps over the mountains and shines up into the clouds it reflects onto the lake in the most amazing ways. I don’t know what it is about symmetry but when I see the reflection of a really pretty sky it just makes me want to take a million pictures.
And I do. Cody takes a rest and I snap away. I love it.
Remember when I lived at the beach and I took a walk to the ocean every day to take pictures? Well, now this is my ocean. It’s a lake! Or a pond…on Golden Pond. I feel so lucky to live within walking distance of it. I don’t even care about the exercise (actually I do). I’m here for the pictures! I schedule my walks so we can be at that spot at the perfect time.
Sometimes I make it. Sometimes I don’t. Sometimes the sky is filled with dynamic clouds that make spectacular pictures and sometimes it’s not.
But we don’t care. We love the view. We love the way the sun warms us up from the cold twilight of pre-dawn. Cody is the best at warming up my feet. He’s like a walking furry heater.
And that’s how I start my day.
I’m giving tours if anyone wants to come along. These are the perks of being a morning person.
I love having a dog. He’s a pain. He has a ton of hair. He slobbers. He’s ruined my white carpet even though I wipe his paws every time we come in from the outdoors. He’s loud and smelly but you know what? He’s my best bud. He loves going on walks with me (after he gets over the scary stairs). He never complains about being bored. He’ll sit with me for hours watching the ducks and the sun changing the colors of the water. Of course, I don’t stay there for hours. I’ve got places to be and things to do but we do sit and enjoy the calm for quite a bit.
I love it. It’s good for my mental health.
We’ll see how long this lasts and try to appreciate it as long as we can. I might get my job back at Ralphs, sunrise times shift as the seasons change, Cody might not be up for so many walks. Who knows! But for right now, it’s sweet.
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Grocery Culture and Cody Comes Home
I really should make this two posts because what does grocery culture have to do with Cody but if I took the time to write two posts I probably wouldn’t finish the second one. So I’m going to jam it all together and hopefully, you feel like you’re getting a deal. Two posts for the price of one! I know. Whatever Brenda. Just get to it already.
Every hour on the hour when I’m working as a courtesy clerk at Ralphs I push a broom around the floor, up and down every aisle. It takes me about sixteen minutes to sweep the entire store. I’m pretty much just pushing dirt around the store with a big wide broom that takes turns surprisingly well. It’s kind of fun actually and I pride myself on my efficiency in keeping the small pile of debris relatively under control. Sometimes I lose a bit in the turns but I know I’ll be back the next hour like a cuckoo clock to catch it again.
I compose blog posts in my mind as I go. I think maybe I’ll blog about that dinosaur sticker that is stuck to the floor in the deli section that has been stuck there for two weeks. Or maybe I’ll blog about the morning stocking crew and their lively choices of music. I love it. It’s a party in the early morning hours at the grocery store. One aisle is rocking 80’s power ballads while the next is jamming to R&B. Everyone says good morning and hello as I pass by them in the aisles, dodging towering piles of toilet paper or teetering boxes of cans that are stacked up to be unloaded. It’s just a lively bunch.
I also think about blogging about the state of the linoleum floor that is breaking into bits. Every day I sweep another inch away into the trash can. The floors are a mess. Does anyone notice? What’s the state of the grocery store’s budget for repairing these things? The store seems to be run pretty lean and there are a ton of improvements needed but nobody ever says anything about them. But I never ask either because we are all overworked and no one has time for such questions. It’s always a state of either being slammed or “if you have time to lean you better clean.” Everything needs cleaning all the time.
I love the grocery store. One of the rules of being employed there is that you have to smile and say hello to everyone. At first, I hated it because I’m naturally shy and I never want to be that overly chipper person annoying people. But then I learned about the secret shopper system and if you don’t say hi to the person who is the secret shopper you can get docked and the whole team loses their rights to a pizza party or something. It’s a big deal. So we all say hi all the time. We say hello, good morning, how are you… We’re just a chatty bunch. And you know what happens? It rubs off on you. You can go to the store in a bad mood but after an hour of saying hello over and over with a smile, you start feeling genuinely cheerful. By the time I leave my shift I’m the chattiest person there. And I kind of love it because all the conversations are short and funny. There’s no prying into deeper personal matters. No gossip. Just friendly hellos and funny quips all day long. The grocery business is onto something.
I don’t know who the secret shopper is but I’m dying to find out if I’ve ever said hello to them. I’m pretty sure I’m not the one who gets the pizza party privilege taken away.
In other news: Cody came to live with me! Payam was getting a little overwhelmed with having two dogs. Cody can eat a lot AND he has so much fur. He’s a lot of work. I’ve missed my dogs terribly and I know they miss me too so when Payam asked me to take Cody I was super happy to oblige. I was a little worried my apartment complex wouldn’t allow a big dog like Cody but after some investigation, we were approved! Don’t ask me about the pet deposit though. It’s robbery. I guess they know a big dog can do some big damage to a small apartment.
So far the hair is manageable. I bought a new special pet-approved vacuum and we’re doing our best to keep his paws clean when he comes in from a walk. I don’t think I’ll keep my white carpets white but on the upside, it is awfully cheery to have a big fluffy white dog to keep you company all day long. I might as well buy stock in a lint roller company and call it a win.
We love having him and I think he loves being here. He really is a good only dog and I hear Whiskey is living it up being an only dog too.
