Even before I moved out
of Unity, I had a housesitting job lined up in Pennsylvania. Basically, it’ll pay for my expenses there
and back, but I get to spend Thanksgiving with Valerie and Jack again, and take
care of Duke, the Carolina Dog, again. Yes, that’s a real breed of
dog, though it was new to me when I first met Duke last spring, the first time
I housesat here.
So, on Tuesday morning I
left Maine,
knowing that I would have to stop half-way and spend the night somewhere,
because I just can’t drive at night anymore.
Couchsurfing to the rescue! This
is a site that I joined when it first went online years ago, and I’ve both
hosted and been a guest. It’s a great
way to meet new and very interesting people.
My host for Tuesday night was Ruthy,
who co-owns a huge house in Northampton,
Mass, and shares it with multiple housemates and guests. With an easy smile, and a good
conversationalist, she turned out to be hugely interesting, not in the least
because I never was sure of her gender.
I mean, she had a small beard, a slim but not-very-curvy body, and there
was a book about using gender-neutral language on the table when I got there. She and 17 others run a business called “Pedal
People”, and they collect trash from people and take it to the transfer station
for a fee. They do this using bicycles,
and it was fascinating to watch.
Ruthy comes from Kentucky and her father
raised Saanen and Sable-Saanen goats.
How’s that for a small world? We
talked about ADGA and Saanens and Sables for a bit, and then moved on to
vaccines. Turns out Ruthy has a radio
show every Wednesday and she asked if she could interview me for the show. We discussed vaccine safety and lack of
testing, the VAERS system, and the 1986 law that gave vaccine manufacturers a
free pass. I’m curious how it was
received, as anyone questioning vaccines is usually viciously attacked. Vaccination is now in the category of religion,
and woe to anyone who questions the doctrine.
The next morning, on to Pennsylvania and my
cousin Val’s. I spent the night and
stayed for Thanksgiving dinner. And what
a dinner it was! Jack, Valerie’s
husband, is the chief cook and he is a very good cook. I had brought with me three kinds of cheese
(two of which I made), hummus, and liver paté and we all snacked on that. While there,
I also made a paleo pumpkin pie.
Mmm. It turned out very well, and
since dinner was so late, Val and I quieted our grumbling stomachs with a piece
of pie and a generous dollop of raw heavy cream, the kind you can spoon out of
the jar. Sooo much better than whipped
cream!.
After dinner, I started
my housesitting and, happily, Duke not only remembered me but was happy to see
me. We spent a good part of the evening
playing ball. When I reached under the
sofa to retrieve a ball, and found a bone he hadn’t finished, the game was
over. He’s been carrying that bone
around ever since.
It was COLD when I got up in the morning, and it took me until early afternoon to take Duke for a
walk. That didn’t last long, about a
half mile. Duke needed to have some free
time, I thought, so we headed over to a dog park recommended by his
owners. Alas, it was closed, padlocked,
locked up tight. No dog park activity
allowed when the town offices are not open, apparently. I headed for another dog park that I’d taken
him to last spring. I’d forgotten about
Black Friday. The traffic was thick
enough that I headed home.
I took Duke to the Cuddy Dog Park this morning. There were two more dogs there: a 2 year old French Bulldog and a 4 year old rescue that looked like the RCA Victor listening dog, which turns out to have been probably a Fox Terrier cross. Mario (the rescue) and Duke played hard for almost an hour, and then the three owners/handlers went for a walk together. I wish I'd had my phone to video their play, but I left it in the car, even though I had my purse with me. Not the first time I've done something like that and later regretted it. By the time we got home, Duke was played out. Within minutes, he was sacked out on the floor. Even tonight, he's quiet and sleepy. I am so glad I took him there!
