Since it’s Saturday and it’s been awhile since we had a breakfast croissant from the coffee shop Brad drove in and picked up our breakfast. It was more of a brunch than a breakfast since we were both slow to get moving this morning. Up and down, cool/warm/cool weather has our joints complaining and we’re both moving a bit slowly today.
There was a line at the drive-thru and there was a gorgeous Black and Red German Shepherd in the bed of the pickup in front of him. A young man was taking orders from people waiting in line and when he got to the pickup with the dog in the bed he thought he would be playful. Except he doesn’t speak dog at all and nearly got his face bitten.
He leaned forward toward the dog to within a foot of it’s face, then grinned like a maniac and lunged toward him with a loud “HI!”. The dog’s hackles were already up, the lip was drawing back and he was beginning to growl. Brad rolled down the window of his truck, eventually opening the door to step out because the young man couldn’t hear him, and told him to stop and step back. The kid looked confused but eventually stepped back and stopped with the lunatic grin. The dog immediately calmed down and moved to the opposite side of the bed of the truck and kept an eye on the young man, even glancing back at Brad as if to say, “Did you see that? That kid was going to bite me!”
The same young man was at the window when Brad pulled up to get our order and he took the time to explain a few facts of dog life to the kid. 1. The dog thought the kid was going to bite him: he was baring his teeth at a dog and getting in it’s face. 2. If you want to speak to someone else’s dog stay back, don’t lean in, say, “Hello Puppy” or something equally neutral and move on. At least give the dog the chance to check you out without behaving in a manner that the dog takes as threatening. The kid was genuinely puzzled about the whole thing, didn’t even see that the dog was reacting in a negative way because, “I was only saying Hi”, and it totally went over the top of his head.
He is a nice kid. Polite. Knowledgeable about his job. And once you get past the bright red hair and black nail polish Brad could tell he didn’t mean any harm. He just didn’t know any better. I’m so glad he didn’t get hurt and that Brad didn’t have to try to pull the dog off the kid. The lady behind the wheel of the pickup didn’t see any of it since her window was up and she couldn’t hear anything.
So. It’s coming up on 3 pm. The sun is shining, no breeze to speak of, temps in the high 40’s. All in all a wonderful day here in our little corner of Texas. Brad is puttering around on his laptop. I’m working on the Hitchhiker Shawl and watching reruns of Dr. Pol. I’ve had a hot shower and feel more like a human than I did when I first woke up. Hot water cures a lot of ills.
Hope your weekend is off to a good start and you have plenty to keep you occupied or just kick back and rest. Have a blessed Saturday, ya’ll.
Rural Texas Knitter 