Horses are good company -- The Witcher

The dog paddle was a giant chaotic free for all with hundreds of dogs, hundreds of people, and it overwhelmed both me and Sorcha. I think she did go in the water? IDK, she got wet anyway. Mostly I didn't see her because she ran all over the place. It was too overstimulating for us. Like dog, like owner, we both seem to prefer quieter, controlled situations.

I repotted lots of plants yesterday. What I am going to do with all these spider plants? I left 2 smaller ones in the hall with a "free" sign and someone took them, so that is good.

----

The other day I read Theft of Assets, Destruction of Property, an HP story by Helenish, and it was wonderful. I liked that Draco is treated, societally speaking, as a woman might be treated in our society, and that it's unremarked upon. I also like that he finds his own way within that structure. Content note for abuse.

My dog is a wonderful blessing and I am grateful for her every day. We went to the dog park twice yesterday and twice today.

Sick today with major sinus pain; watching a lot of the TV show "Alphas" on Netflix. I tried the pilots of a few different shows before settling on this one. I like that it is an ensemble show with good actors and good guest stars. There are women and people of color in the main cast. All the characters have back story. It is about a team of people with special abilities (basically mutant powers but not superheroes) who investigate crimes and track down other people like themselves.

Sorcha and I had a lovely, full day yesterday. The heat dropped from 100 degrees F to around 85 which was a huge relief. In the morning we went to the Verona dog park where we met (among other dogs) a huge 1-year-old Great Dane. He made my rather large dog seem small!

After a break for lunch and some Glitch-playing, we went over to were_duck's place to help her sort clothes. Put some pillows on the floor, and Sorcha will happily lie there for hours. We then went for a walk at Quann park, a huge dog park that just got mowed for hay. There weren't many other folks there. Later in the evening we decided to go to the Terrace and have brats.

After all this, I was worn out and my legs hurt. The walking does seem to help loosen up my hinky hip joint though.

---

Last Thursday I went to antarcticlust's dissertation defense along with a bunch of other folks. She did a good job of making it understandable-- it was about megafaunal extinctions in North America and the impact this had on the types of trees growing and the types of landscapes present. She also has a Really great blog!

I am fickle and super inconsistent about how I say my dog's name. I should probably stick to something because I've now had her for 7 weeks. Weigh in! (I think "pronunciation" is the right spelling but I don't want to edit the poll.)

First: my dog is A-OK!

On Saturday during WisCon I went home for the dinner hour and Tiptree Auction, thinking I'd have a little rest, walk the dog, have a light supper at home, and just take a relaxing break. Ahahahah, yeah right!

The main dog park by my house was closed for the Brat Fest, meaning the gates were open to let people park there. So I took Sorcha into the small dog park next to it, which has fence on 3 sides and a creek on the 4th side. We walked all the way down and started walking back, when she went down to the water. I thought she was sniffing it or taking a drink, but suddenly she jumped in and started leaping/swimming across the creek! I stood on the bike path yelling at her, but she kept going all the way across and up the other bank. I've only had her for five weeks: I had no idea her interests and talents included swimming in filthy creek water.

I yelled at a man standing there, "Can you catch her?" But he couldn't? I contemplated leaping into the shallow water after her, but instead I walked all the way down to the bridge and crossed the creek. By that time she was long gone. I texted my roommate who called back and said he'd come help me look for her. Crying, I asked every passing bicyclist and pedestrian if they had seen a dog. The first people had; everyone else said no.

I walked all the way down to Lake Monona when my phone rang; some bicylists had found her! My number is on her tag on her collar. The man stayed on the phone with me while I walked over to the railroad tracks where they were. Apparently she had been running in traffic on a busy thoroughfare while people honked at her! When I got her back on leash, she did not appear scared though-- just wet, dirty, stinky and bedraggled. I was so grateful I gave the good Samaritan a hug. My roommate met up with me and called Sorcha "the devil's mistress": "She is so calm and sweet, but secretly she is up to no good!".

When we got home I immediately made her get in the tub for a shower.

Then I took a shower myself, had a little snack and an outfit change, and it was time to go back into WisCon.

ETA: Google maps tells me that her route of running is a little over a half mile; the whole thing probably took less than 20 minutes (but felt longer).