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Puppuccinos
I have become quite the crazy dog person. Half my life I only liked cats and then after we had Holly I became a hardcore dog person. Maybe even too much so. I don’t let them eat off my plate or share my toothbrush or anything but I have been known to make quite a fool of myself talking and playing with my dogs. Saying they love me would be an understatement. They have become unhealthily attached to me and whine obnoxiously when I am gone. I love it. Payam hates it.
So this week my mom has come to visit. My dad is out of town on a job and I am taking care of my mom by keeping her on her diet while he is gone. Mom’s do 100% better on their diets when someone else cooks for them. You should try it. :P
With her came Spreckles! So I had three dogs to walk this morning. No problem! Bring it on, I say! It’s not like we haven’t been here before. Spreckles can be a prickly dog and has been known to bite (Ugh. I know.) but when she is with me and my dogs, she acts like just another pack member and is no problem.
Today I took all the dogs to Starbucks with me for Puppuccinos. Do you know what a Puppuccinos is? Check it, one two.
We have a new Starbucks in our neighborhood that is smack in the middle of my new-and-improved dog walking route. I don’t go to the fake lake anymore because there are just tooooo many people walking around it. I hated confronting people before the pandemic but now I hate it even more with the new mask-wearing social distancing rituals. This new route is on a busy road and it seems most dog walkers prefer a more scenic route. Road noises are not a problem for me because I put headphones in and listen to podcasts anyway.
The perk to this new walk is the new Starbucks. I wasn’t really a fan of Starbucks, preferring my own brew at home, BUT it can be enticing when you walk by it every day. I don’t go every day of course but about twice a week we pop in for a tall latte for me and Puppuccinos for the dogs. It took about two visits before the dogs learned that Starbucks is super fun and wonderful and we should go there all the time. Whisky is the worst. He pulls me like he’s pulling a 100 pound sled as soon as we get within eyesight. It’s kind of hilarious.
My dogs love Starbucks. I might miss taking lake photos but silly dogs lapping up whipped cream out of little paper cups is pretty fun too.
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Patches
There’s a coyote in our neighborhood who has been openly lurking about in the middle of the day. I’ve seen him four days in a row, but not yesterday. He seems to be minding his own business. He sees me and the dogs but just keeps trotting by. One day I passed him on a foot path that traversed my path and there he was just sitting under a bush, munching on a rabbit. He narrowed his gaze, his ears stood straight up but he made no move towards me or away from me. I fumbled for my phone but ended up getting only a fuzzy shot because I didn’t have the patience to stand there still long enough. I have a feeling I will keep getting chances though.
I’m going to name him Patches. I like to name the neighborhood squirrels, Chippy so it seems appropriate that our neighborhood coyote is named Patches. He has patchy fur on his back. I’m not sure if it’s his natural coloring or if he has battle wounds from fights. He seems healthy enough. He doesn’t seem to be super skinny or act sick. I was talking to some neighbors who were also out when I’ve seen him and everyone seems to be in agreement that he’s really nothing to be afraid of. After all, we do live right next to a nature preserve that is probably his home.
We’re thinking Patches is lurking about because we have new neighbors next door who don’t understand the trash system. They are students going to the local college. Apparently some rich parents bought their daughter a huge big house and she is renting it out to many roommates. We really have no clue just that people are constantly getting dropped off with big suitcases via Lyft or Uber and they don’t speak English. We don’t see them out in the day but their trash on trash day is piled high in their trashcan and over-flowing in flimsy white trash bags stashed around the base of their trash can. Of course this never ends well. Animals (like Patches) come in the night and tear the bags open and strew the trash all over our street and into our front yard. I don’t need to get up in arms about it, the rest of the neighbors have already reported them to the to home owners association. I’m sure the matter will be rectified with an extra-size trash can soon.
But in the meantime we have a new friend, Patches.
