In the Time of COVID. Day 25
April 12, 2020
I don’t know what to call it
We have a golden retriever. She is 2 1/2. In the before time, each morning she looked forward to hanging with her buddies at the dog park. She was so into it, that if I didn’t lace up my shoes and get on with it, she became a pest. Goldens can jam you hard with a thrusted snout, I know. She would lay on her side with her nose under the base of the couch where yesterday’s tennis balls were just out of reach. No kidding, she moaned , she yodeled, she sang the tennis ball blues.
We can’t go to the dog park anymore. Someone stole the hand sanitizer. Community tennis balls are slobbery, who touched them and when, is a big concern. Random out-of-town visitors bring their dogs and it just isn’t safe.
We have tried to find a work around. Sophie needs exercise, we need exercise. This week, second home part-time Cambrians and some vacation renters have come in numbers to our favorite coastal walking trail. Perhaps next week will be better. But, for now, we can’t go there.
We have a neighborhood loop, which is a one way. There is only one exit to our neighborhood so we walk the loop 3 times a day, and enjoy the tranquility. No one is driving to work, No traffic, and beyond the trees to the south, is Highway 1. It doesn’t have any traffic either. Zip, nada.
Well, Monday is a big deal, the Garbage, Green Waste and Recycle trucks rumble through. Daily about 3 pm the mail jeep comes by, and there is Brian, the UPS guy. That’s it.
During the last week , I’ve noticed a change in Sophie. She stopped yodeling, she stopped singing. Her behavior is puzzling . She takes more naps, and is less insistent . Is it kinetic intuition? I don’t know what to call it. Humans create so much zoom zoom energy, pounding hammers, cars going by, Doors of cars slamming, leaf blower sounds and chain saws, and the constant faint rumbles of the highway. The school bus twice a day, someone is cutting wood on a table saw. We have become used to a constant background of noise generated by human kinetic behavior. But know “You could a heard a pin drop”.
Is Sophie less cranked up because humans have cranked down? Are we returning to a slower time, a more peaceful time? As I walk Sophie I pass houses where I know kids live. This is weird. No kids laughing or riding their bikes or skateboards, none. I did see three teenage girls standing about 10 feet from each other , chatting for a bit.
Does Sophie have kinetic intuition? Does she pattern her physical demeanor on the behavior of humans? I just don’t know what to call it.
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In The Time of COVID 