When I started this blog, we were still in the heady days of thinking maybe this whole shut down/shelter at home/kids stay home from school thing would last a few weeks or maybe a month. I remember it began with Amelia’s school extending its spring break from one week to two.
Writing “Day 40” in the headline feels kind of surreal. Back in those early days, I don’t know that I would have believed this would have gone on for 40 days. And considering that part of my starting this was to try to build a habit of daily writing, I’m not sure I would have believed that I would have made it to 40 consecutive days. So that part I feel pretty good about. Of course, I wish it was under much better circumstances.
I’d say that day 40 was much like the 39 that preceded it. There was no pomp or heraldry. Just another day, really. Kids did their thing and played some basketball, Erin and me got some work done and everything went as usual.
In the morning, I decided to go for a quick jog. While I was getting ready to go, I was in the garage and realized I had left Asta’s leash out there, so I came back into the house with it. Asta saw me with shoes, sunglasses and her leash and…let’s just say there were expectations.
“WALK!!!!!”
I can’t translate her expressions directly, but I can make the determination with about 99 percent certainty that this was what was on her mind.
My first thought was, “Man, I want to go for a run on my own,” but have you seen Asta? I’m supposed to say no to that? Yeah, I couldn’t.
So I put on her leash and took her out with me. Now some days, she’s actually been a pretty good running partner. This, though, was one of those days where she stopped every 10 feet to sniff at something.
It was a rather herky-jerky run, but a run nonetheless and at least Asta got a little workout. I of course talk a lot in this blog about how this quarantine is affecting the human members of the family, but I know all of this has an impact on Asta, too. She just celebrated her first birthday, and still is brimming with puppy energy. We try to get her out for walks and to play with her as much as possible, but it isn’t always as much or as often as we’d like and I’m sure that’s frustrating for her.
And she is very good at voicing her frustration. I’ll be in the middle of working or doing something and she’ll show up with a toy and just start barking at me. I mentioned in a previous post that even though she is a little 12 pound dog, she has a bark that can probably be heard for miles and pierces through the very barrier of sanity. I was writing my blog yesterday and she was making her displeasure at my not playing with her quite clear.
Eventually I did get out and throw the toy for her and all was right with the world. She is an incredibly awesome dog for our family. She is patient with the kids’ craziness and really just wants to be one of them. And she is. And sometimes I have to remind myself that when she is being a little clingy, it’s for the same reason the kids are. Life is strange right now, we’re all stressed and they sense that.
Another indicator of how weird the world is now is the 8:00 Howl. This has been going on in Denver for a while, and now it’s taken root here in the burbs. At 8:00 every night, people go outside and howl as loud as they can. I’ve heard various stories as to why…it’s cathartic, it’s supporting medical responders…or hey, it’s just something weird do to.
Suffice to say, Asta finds it especially vexing. She’s become very protective of our house during all this. Anyone who dares walk by gets a bark. And it probably really bugs her to think our home is under siege by wolves or something. So at 8pm every night, she looks out and stares.
But she doesn’t bark or freak out at it. Is it possible that, like me, she just finds it kind of dumb? Dogs are very clever, after all.
