Buster's Day Out

I took Buster with me when I went to run some errands today, and when the errands didn't take nearly as long as I had expected, Buster and I went to Settlers' Cabin Park to have a walk in a different venue. Something actually just occurred to me: I've lived here all my life, and actually went to high school and kinda grew up in the vicinity of Settler's Cabin Park, and I don't ever recall having seen a cabin in the park. Where the hell did it get that name, I wonder. Something I must look into.

Anyway, Buster did his usual low-level perpetual whine while we were driving in the car. I must confess I'll never understand this little dog - at least in this respect. He refused to relieve himself when I leashed him up and we went out into the yard before getting in the car, but as soon as the car was in motion, the whining began. Not until we had reached the park and he'd had the chance to sniff around a great deal did he let loose and empty his bladder. And I'm telling you, judging from how long and how forceful that little event was, he'd been holding it in for quite some time.

Buster is all about the nose, my friends. I wish I'd had my camera along with us, 'cuz I'd have loved to capture a picture of him sniffing through the snowdrifts for traces of scent from other animals. There was one point where his enitre head was under a snow bank so that he could get close enough to the ground to smell some quarry.

All in all, we had a swell time, and it offered a lovely little quiet time for me - a chance to engage in a little reflection.

The time is looming when I'll be leaving for Philadelphia, and excited as I am, I'm going to miss all my friends here. Now, I know that I'm likely to see them all when I get back from the New York excursion, but that's not going to be 'til the end of May. And who knows what'll happen while I'm up in New York. Hell, in a perfect world, I'm going to find work that'll last through the summer and beyond. I don't know when I'll be back in Pittsburgh.

So I'm having a going-away party this Friday, and boy am I looking forward to the opportunity to see a lot of people that I wouldn't otherwise get to see. I've been running around like a freak the past week, having dinners and lunches with all sorts of people, trying to make the rounds of my friends before I leave, and I haven't even made a dent in the throng of people to whom I'd like to say good-bye.