POST # 491
HAPPY DO(U)G
Like with any other house/pet sit, it takes a few days to get settled in. With Doug, that has now been accomplished. It only took him a few days to train me on how he expects to be treated, and I am a quick learner. He's got me wrapped around his front paws, when it comes to issuing treats. My guess is that he is taking full advantage of me, and he's probably getting more treats than usual. For my part, I have tried to compensate the extra treats, with extra walks. He seems to be very happy so far, with the way things are going, as can be seen in the above photo. That was taken on our walk in one of the local parks. He has plenty of new things to smell, and there is always another bonehead or two to say hello to along the way.
I've had the good fortune of having mostly sunny days since I arrived, which is a welcome change to what has seemed an endless parade of grey, rainy days of late. Eager to take advantage of this new found object in the sky, we have found a superb location in the backyard, to just sit, and hang out together. Sunshine, a faithful bonehead, and the tranquillity of our location interrupted only by the pleasant sounds of barking sea lions, is all that is needed to enjoy each and every passing moment.
After another fun-filled day of walks, wrestling with chew toys, and general playing around, it's time to rest. Doug finds one of his favourite locations to stretch out and dream about the wonderful day that he has just experienced with the house sitter.
Over the past two years, the house sitting service that I have been a member of, has had very few opportunities. There is no prize for guessing why that is. So shortly after my arrival here, I decided to join a second house sit service to broaden my chances of success. Within only a couple of days, the first opportunity was presented to me. A retired person from Nanaimo was looking for a cat sitter for just over a week. Normally, I wouldn't apply for such a short term, but nowadays, I'll take whatever I can get, so I responded to her ad, and set up a meeting with her at the local Tim Hortons. We seemed to hit it off right from the get go. I drove back to her place to meet Felix the furball, aka His Highness, and he too seemed to be happy with his potential carer. On the drive back here, I was quite confident that I had successfully secured another house sit.
The next morning there was an email from her which asked only two questions. Are you a non-smoker and are you vaccinated? I replied right away. Yes, I am a non-smoker, and no I am not vaccinated. I explained to her my reasons why, stating that I wasn't comfortable having an experimental drug injected into my body. I also mentioned to her, that it appears now that the countries that have the greatest amount of cases, are the same countries that have the highest vaccination rates. I doubt that she was aware of this fact. I also said that I would accept whatever decision she came up with, and then I sent off the email. What have I heard back? Crickets!!! So another potential house sit goes down the drain. A while ago, I might have been disappointed about this, but now I find it almost amusing. Why? Because we now know for sure, that even if you're vaccinated, you can still catch Covid, and you can still pass it on to someone else. So whether you're vaccinated or not seems irrelevant at this point in time. This one fact alone, should be enough to cancel all of these mandates, so that we can get on with our lives, but with what's been going on in Ottawa lately, it seems like these mandates have nothing at all to do with a virus.
Just yesterday a second house sit opportunity showed up in my in box, and of course I replied. This morning the person had gotten back to me requesting some references, which I promptly sent off. So far at least the vaccination question hasn't come up. If it does, I'll send off a similar response. Whether I get a reply, or crickets, only time will tell.
In the meantime, I am more than happy to spend time with Doug. He makes no judgement regarding my vaccine status. As long as the treats keep coming, at least Doug is on my side.
grateful for every breath,
Paul
The Thoughtful Wanderer
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