I don’t have anything mushy or profound to post on Christmas Day. Instead I have a fairly pedestrian post about walks I took with my dog Tabby on Christmas Eve.
Steven had to work from 6:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. while my assignment was to get The Rest of Christmas Ready before heading to Rome and my parents’ house. Naturally as soon as he left the house, I got right to work. And by “to work” of course I mean onto the computer to make my blog post and check out what people were posting on Facebook. Then a walk was in order.
The walk was actually of a practical nature, because we went to the Post Office to mail out a couple of bills that were soon due. It was delightfully quiet in the neighborhood, although quite cold. The lobby of the post office was open, but not the window. Actually, I would expect the post office to be quiet on Christmas Eve, because then it is a little too late for Christmas cards or mailing presents. I remembered how last Christmas I had vowed I was going to mail everybody their Christmas presents so as not to have to load so much stuff into the car Christmas Eve. It was the first I had thought of that vow since I had made it, so you see how well it worked out.
After mailing the bills, Tabby wanted to keep walking, so I let her pull me here and there. The only thing I refused her was crossing Route 5, not so delightfully quiet. It might have been fun, since we rarely walk on that side of town, but I felt it was too cold. We would just have had to cross back again, and it was really too far if Tabby suddenly got sick of walking, as she occasionally does. We walked down Albany Street instead, another street we’re not often on. Tabby looked longingly at First Source Credit Union as we went by, but I assured her that nobody was there to give her a treat. The walk ended up taking a half hour. I felt exercised.
Later that morning, we went for another walk. I intended to give Tabby a bath and wanted to give her every opportunity to relieve herself first. I like to give Tabby a bath before we go on a visit. Friday might have been a better day, and Steven might have been able to help me then, but things do not always work out as we plan. The second walk was shorter and one of the usual routes: over to the Historic Four Corners, down through the little park at Basloe Library, the up Prospect Street to East German. I was surprised to see the streets were almost as quiet as they had been earlier. Some of the residential areas seemed almost deserted. I guess everybody went away for Christmas.
Tabby was not best pleased about the bath, but she endured like the good dog she is, so I was able to get her all pretty to go visit my parents. We took the third walk after she was dry. She indicated the desire for another business meeting, and I was not about to let a brand clean dog run by herself into the backyard. I put her on the leash and walked her around the block.
In between these walks, I made guacamole and chicken wing dip, wrapped presents, cleaned up after myself and generally finished up the Christmas chores. When Steven got home, we were ready but not raring to go. I was tired after my various exertions. Tabby, of course, got her second wind as soon as she saw us loading the car. When I picked up the kennel, there was no stopping her! We were off the celebrate Christmas!
