So Something Really Cool Happened

 So in this post, this woman named Shawna followed a link to my blog from Swistle's (everyone knows Swistle, right? If not, absolutely just ditch my blog right now and go to Swistle's if you haven't, she's awesome, big, big fan). And then was surprised and amused to find out that we live in the same Ottawa suburb. That was cool.

So on Tuesday I went to the chiropractor and then got groceries. I was grumpy. I was wearing a cloth mask after weeks of wearing nothing but medical ones because my chiropractor is fully vaccinated and I wasn't going to be close to anyone else and I like the smell of the dish soap I boil the cloth masks in and I hate the smell of the medical masks, but everything still smelled bad and I hadn't slept well and we're in lockdown and all I want to do is sleep but I do it badly, and you know the drill. Anyway, I got my groceries and I was loading them into my car, probably wearing a textbook example of Resting Bitch Face, and from the car parked RIGHT NEXT TO ME, I heard a woman's voice say "hey, do you write a blog?" 

IT WAS SHAWNA, YOU GUYS, parked RIGHT THE FUCK NEXT TO ME AT LOBLAWS. I said we should go buy a lottery ticket, and we took off our masks and had a conversation from two car widths apart which was awesome because the conversations I've had with people I'm not directly related too are few and far between right now. She's a really good photographer which I know because I Facebook-stalked her, which is okay because that's how she recognized me. Nothing like a cosmic coincidence to torpedo a massive grump-fest.

So up until Covid, I was the one who walked Lucy the majority of the time, other than my mom who walked her whenever they dog-sat while I was working (not really necessary at all given the hours I work, but both my parents and the dog enjoy it, and it gives me an excuse for frequent quick visits). Eve would walk her once a week-end or after school if I expressly asked her to, and Matt almost never. This made sense - I'm the one who's here the most, I'm usually the least busy, and I'd usually walked her before Eve got home from school. When we went into lockdown the first time last March, Eve quickly made walking Lucy a part of her daily routine most days, because even when they started online learning it ended early in the afternoon, so she would have lunch, go for a walk and then do homework. Matt would take her once in a while if I told him he should, mostly to get him out of the house because he was in the basement sometimes from seven to seven and it seemed unhealthy.

This worked out for the most part, but the new wrinkle became that if I came downstairs in anything resembling walking clothes, Lucy started refusing to go with Eve. This is both hilarious and infuriating - she loves walks, but she apparently she loves me slightly more. Eve would drag her for a few metres and then come back enraged and I would have to go for a short walk with them before going on the treadmill or doing errands or whatever I was planning. 

Today I was actually going to walk her, but I was doing some kitchen stuff first, and Matt decided he was going to. I said fine, I would drive somewhere and get in a good trail walk (I take Lucy on these sometimes, sometimes I go along because she's annoying and my shoulder gets sore from the leash). Then I said "oh shit, she's seen me, she might not go with you." He said confidently that she would go with him. I thought maybe she would. I'm totally the alpha bitch, Matt is an authority figure, and Eve is just like her other-dog sister or something. 

I went in the bathroom to brush my teeth. I heard them come back in. Matt said "she won't go with me.

I had to walk my husband AND my dog.

On our walk, we passed a tree with a bunch of loud birds in it. Matt noticed that a bunch of grackles seemed to be harassing a crow. The grackles were vocalizing loudly and following the crow around. We walked a little further and found a dead baby bird in the street and realized the crow had found the nest and the grackles were congregating to drive the crow away. The crow came back for the dead bird and the grackles started dive-bombing it. We were transfixed - it was heartbreaking and fascinating all at once. I said "well, it's only one crow. What's a group of grackles called?" I looked it up when we got home. It's a plague. Bit on the nose, if you ask me.

So things still kind of suck, we have no idea when lockdown will end, I still can't fall asleep before four which means getting up before noon is torture, my one work project is over and now I'm not sure what to do because librarianing at home is just kind of pathetic. But I met a new friend and went for a walk and had ringside seats to a nature documentary. And we just got home and it just started raining. Taking the little wins where I can find them.