Monday, March 21, 2011

That's Why They Call 'Em Dogs

We went to Dowses Beach today. This little gem of a beach was just about pristine this sunny winter afternoon… except for the blackening body fluids of dead crabs and crustaceans on the parking lot where Grigri slipped in a quick slime bath before I noticed. Call 1-800 PET MOBILE! Oh, oops, that's me.

Grigri and I had a brisk walk and filled a white kitchen bag full of beverage containers and a few ragged garments. You wonder where things come from when they wash up. I remember as a kid a few times somebody in our neighborhood found a real note in a bottle. This week a mooring washed up on our beach - a heavy chunk of cement with a ring in the top - how could our wimpy Nantucket Sound waves push that thing up the beach?

In 2007, Jan and I spent a few days on a barrier island in Kenya. The warm Indian Ocean reminded me a bit of Nantucket Sound, but with bigger waves. There were beautiful beaches, but in some places the jagged bedrock served as "teeth" to catch flotsam and jetsam heaved onto it by the waves. All kinds of plastic were snared, but particularly foam rubber from "flip flops". The islanders harvest this and use sharp knives and hole punches to carve the brilliant colored foam into sculptures, jewelry and other decorative items. The mastery of some of these artisans is really hard to believe unless you saw the raw materials, the artists working at the doors of their huts to catch the light and the finished products all together.

Thinking about Africa, I was daydreaming and gazing at a flock of seagulls imagining that they were relaxing on the blacktop to enjoy the reflected heat on this bright but cold day. Grigri took this lapse of attention to throw himself onto the pavement and vigorously grind some black slime into his coat. Oh, that's why the gulls are all here; they're dropping crabs and shellfish onto the parking lot to break them up. Grigri had found some very old crab remains which were so juicy they left a big sticky spot on his fur which hardened into a glue-like patch on the way home and I had to drive home with all the wondows open. Yuck! I don't think I've ever smelled anything that bad. Luckily, I'm in the pet grooming business so a quick bath and blow dry is easy and fun. Grigri doesn't favor the bathing part of the process, but I hand dry him in my lap, which he loves. He sits contentedly for me and turns his head this way and that to catch the stream of warm air on his neck and behind his ears where he likes it best.

2 comments:

  1. Tried to contact you at the 800 number, but was told (by the automated system) that you don't work in Falmouth. Is that correct? I'll check back here! Thanks - ngalbraith, Falmouth.

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  2. We are operating in Falmouth - sorry about the 800 number. Just tested it and it's working fine now. Give us a call at 1 800 PET MOBILE!

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