You know you're old...

when you completely forget about your own birthday, oh and because my brother called to tell me I'm old. I’ve been so focused on the election day that my birthday the day before wasn’t even a blip on my radar. Of course I know when it is, and I got a couple of cards last week, but it still didn’t occur to me that it was Monday. So when I got up Monday, like any other day, and we were getting ready for our morning dog walk, I was actually quite surprised when my husband said, “Happy Birthday”. Oh yeah, it’s my birthday. Up until that very moment, I hadn’t thought of Monday (11/3) as anything other than the day before the elections. I remember in my younger years, I always knew exactly how far from any given day my birthday was. I would start the mental countdown in October, and each day when I got up, I would think about how many days until my birthday. Somehow through the years, my all-important day has gone from being the much-anticipated pinnacle of my year to being the day before elections.

It was just a Monday. I walked the dogs, went to work feeling quite unwell but managed to hang in there for the day, picked up Luciana and came home. She gave me a card that she picked out from the store (Snoopy & Woodstock, her latest passion), and she had decorated the envelope by drawing Snoopy & Woodstock all over it. She did a great job. I then served the cats for a while and went back over to my parents’ for dinner. My mom made some delicious (vegan) brownies with ice cream, and the family sang Happy Birthday. Despite me saying (and meaning) repeatedly that I didn’t want gifts—would rather have money donated to animal shelters and such—I got some gifts. L. handpainted flowers on a pretty glass vase. When she asked what I wanted for my birthday, I told her I would rather have something she made than something she bought. She put a lot of work into making the vase and also gave me a second card which she had made. M. got me a gift card for a massage. I love massages but feel bad about the money spent. My parents had already given us our gift. M’s birthday is also in Nov., so they gave us a joint gift of a new toilet for our second-floor bathroom. It was much needed and greatly appreciated. Mark’s parents sent a check, and M. has ordered tickets of some kind for our date night this Saturday. He is taking me out for my birthday then. It turned out to be a decent day for a Monday birthday that I forgot about.

Now for the next three weeks or so, until his birthday rolls around, M. will take every opportunity possible to announce that I am two years older than he is. Yep, it’s true, I am a cradle-robbing cougar. ;P

I’m appreciating the daylight savings time change in the mornings, as our dog walks aren’t pitch dark anymore. Last week was a challenge, as it was quite dark, and with the Halloween decorations in many yards, the dogs, especially Daisy, found many things to be afraid of. She does that with Xmas decorations, too. And sometimes things that are out for trash days. On occasion, things frighten her enough that instead of the fast walking with frequent nervous glances over her shoulder at the threatening object, she feels the need to bark at the big scaries. Sometimes she becomes fearful of trees or shrubs that we walk by every day. She’s an odd dog. She doesn’t like to walk on sidewalks, so she walks in the terrace grass on our walks. Except for this one yard, when she won’t walk on the terrace but switches to the sidewalk. We have no idea why and can’t discern anything different about that section of grass. Jezebel isn’t as fearful of things as Daisy, but she is terrified of trucks and large noisy cars, so we try to avoid busy streets, which throw her into a panic. She does not like to walk on leaves however, so this time of year is very stressful for her. Many portions of the sidewalk are covered in leaves. She will look around, when we get to a leaf-covered sidewalk, for any barespots she can find within reach of her leash. You can see her anxiously glance around, looking for the shortest distance across the offensive leaves. While she is walking through them, she kind of tightens her whole body up and trots as quickly as she can through the leaf scourge. It’s quite entertaining, actually. I’d love to know exactly what it is about the leaves that she finds so unpleasant—is it the texture, the sound, a smell they release when stepped on? I would love to get into their heads for a day to figure things like this out.

Daisy really maximizes her walks. She craps at least twice and up to four times on every walk. She will also pee at least once and frequently vomits. She really likes to clear everything out on her walks. Jezebel, on the other hand, does NOT go potty on her walks. Every blue moon she will pee, but that is very rare. She waits until we get home and has to run back to her fenced-in area to go.

We walk very fast on our dog walks, so they (and we) can get exercise. It’s very important to both dogs, however, to never allow the other to get lead position. They are always glancing over and speeding up their pace in an effort to prevent the other from getting ahead. We have to be careful to allow them the same length of leash and stay in the right position, or we get dragged through the walk—even with their gentle leads, which work wonderful, as long as they are exactly ‘even’.

With all the love and entertainment our animals provide us, I cannot imagine how empty and boring our lives would be without them. Despite the nastiness and inconvenience of their various bodily functions, they have all enriched our lives immeasurably, and I truly believe we are all better people for having known each animal we’ve spent time with through the years.


Okay, now back to business. I have polls to watch and stressing out to do for the next 8-12 hours. I was optimistic enough to have M. pick up a bottle of champagne for later. If Obama wins, I'll share it with him. If McSenile wins, well, I think I'll need that whole bottle and then some.