Entry #21

Entry #21

Wednesday, November 9

9:00 a.m. I turned on the radio after dropping the kids off at school and heard a commercial about home schooling. “Who do you want to disciple your child? Public schools teach immorality and bullying....” That’s some heavy-handed propaganda...

I caught the end of a piece on NPR about a family living in a place where toxic vapors from nearby chemical plants cause them to frequently go indoors. The mom sounded oddly cavalier about the whole thing, saying something like, “Well, when we get a warning about the chemicals in the air, I just call in my kids, close the windows and doors and they play inside...” 

Izzie has officially entered adolescence, and now displays selective hearing. When I dropped off the kids this morning, she started to climb out the window. (Luckily she was already on a leash, so she didn’t succeed, but still...) Our walks around the reserve have gotten longer, with hopes that I’ll actually tire out my fluffy white beast.

While moseying through the woods today, we first passed a friendly Rhodesian Ridgeback. We stopped a few minutes to play, but the owner needed to go, so that was that. The next dog we saw was very eager to play with Izzie, but the owner was not. “Could you please take your dog? I’m trying to make a certain time here!” After this unpleasantry, we happened upon a black-and-white poodle mix who came up to greet Izzie. The owner yelled, “C’mon, Tina! We don’t have time to play!” Evidently, Tina needed to get to work.

11:00 a.m. I decided to take Izzie into the new PetCo that opened right near our house, just to check it out. Besides having some interesting birds and fish, it’s basically the same ol’ PetCo you’d find anywhere else.

There was one thing, however, I’d never seen before: dozens of bulk bins along the check-out line—the perfect placement for impulse purchases, or grazing by kids and canines alike. Several items looked just like regular human cookies—vanilla cream, carob chip, cranberry biscotti. The only difference between these items and the ones across the street at HEB was the fact that they didn’t contain chocolate.

Since when are cookies good for dogs? I wonder if this is an extension of the whole “doggie bakery” craze nowadays. If you want to get a dog a real treat, get thee to the butchery, not the bakery.

4:00 p.m. I opened a magazine to see that the reality show, Top Chef, is heading to Texas.

 In Episode One, Group One has to cook pork — from a pig broken down into its primal cuts. Each cheftestant gets to choose from the loin, back, cheeks, ears, etc., and they’ve got an hour to cook. They’ll be judged on their butchering technique and cooking skills. 

The second group had to choose one ingredient...and they chose rabbit.

5:30 p.m. While walking Izzie around the neighborhood, I heard an awful crunching sound that was unmistakably a car accident. Since I was nearby, I ran towards the scene to make sure no one was hurt. Luckily, both parties were fine, though one car, a white Prius, was completely smashed in on the passenger side.

I stayed at the scene to make sure everyone was okay and witnessed the interchange. The woman who crashed into the man said in a remarkably calm voice, “I was trying to avoid you. You turned right in front of me,” to which the man responded, “Yes, ma’am. You had a stop sign.”

Since the man driving the now-smushed Prius lived close by and his car could still run, he didn’t need my help, nor did the woman who ran the stop sign, so Izzie and I walked back home. Still, it was relieving to see something like this happen without arguement, with complete courtesy, and luckily, no injury.

Thursday, November 10

11:00 a.m. After his “epic brain freeze” last night, Rick Perry is all but out of the presidential race.

“Perry fell flat on his face Wednesday night in a way that is likely not redeemable, even by a good natured attempt on Perry’s part to poke fun at himself and to proactively go on all five morning TV shows.” —Huffington Post, 11/10/11

“Yeah, I stepped in it, man. Yeah, it was embarrassing. Of course it was,” he said. “But here’s what’s more important. People understand that our principles, our conservative principles, are what matter.”

—Rick Perry, 11/09/11

I’m willng to bet that writers at Saturday Night Live are feverishly planning an opening skit based on Perry’s now infamous debate flop. I kind of feel sorry for him on a human level, but it’s hard to be sympathetic towards someone who’s so ignorant about the current state of our environment and educational systems.

Friday, November 11

Noon (I should’ve written at 11:11, but missed my chance): It’s 11/11/11 today and  also Veteran’s Day. I was reminded of this holiday when driving down the street this morning. Almost every house had an American flag waving proudly in front of it. 

Aidan asked what Veteran’s Day was and I told him, then noticed that ours seemed to be the only street that was lined with flags. “I guess we have more veterinarians on our street,” he said.