I saw this stack while walking in Riverside Park and thought it was precious. I get serious dog envy when I see people playing with their canine friends at the dog park. I start to daydream about my imaginary yellow Lab, Sundance- who wears the cutest bandana- playing frisbee with me in the park. In my daydreams he can catch and throw the frisbee. He's amazing. And I have serious cat envy when I hear about feline favoring New Yorkers not having any problems with mice. I've moved around way too much over the years to have had an animal companion. Now that I am somewhat settled for the first time in a long time, I'm beginning to consider such things. But after years of being responsible for only myself, and after years of traveling around with just a couple of bags of clothing, and after years of impending movement, it is kind of scary and unsettling to begin accumulating 'stuff' and to make the commitment of inviting an animal into your home. I love dogs and cats, but I'm more of a cat person truth be told. In fact I'm pretty damn sure I was a cat in a previous life. And my dog envy tends to end when I see these poor city dogs having to moop and pee in the street. And especially when I see their owners having to scrape their moop off the sidewalk. Plus I just don't think there is enough room for a dog in these shoeboxes New Yorkers call apartments. A cat really is the way to go. An entire city is not staring at you with pity when you're cleaning out its litter box. They keep the terror inducing rodents away. And they aren't so needy and high-maintenance. It's unfortunate that after a lifetime of being happily surrounded by animals, I seem to have developed allergies to them now that I'm in my early thirties. I pretty much lived with my cat on top of my face throughout my entire childhood. This is a heartbreaking development for someone who benefits greatly from furball cuddle time. What to do? Luckily Ben and Roland go out of town a lot, so I get to catsit (pumped full of Zyrtec) for their precious Nina, who does a lovely job of filling the void.
I am such a sucker for heroic animal stories. Recently there was an elephant who protected a girl from a tsumami, a gorilla who saved a boy that had fallen over the railing at the zoo, a dolphin who saved a surfer from sharks, and a beluga whale who saved a diver from drowning! Dogs are sniffing cancer; cats and horses are being used for therapeutic purposes- amazing! Even if they aren't 'heroes' necessarily, I also love the loyal pet stories, such as the one that went viral last year of the fallen Navy Seal's dog who laid down by the casket of his owner during the entire funeral *Tear*. Check out these Animal Halls of Fame, that annually induct heroic pets:
What's your favorite 'amazing animal' story?
"Oh, how we danced and we swallowed the night/ For it was all ripe for dreaming/ Oh, how we danced away all of the lights/ We've always been out of our minds" --Tom Waits, Rain Dogs
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