Just as the weather demands that I take Charlie swimming, or be guilty of animal abuse, I find the opportunities for doing so drying up, if you'll pardon the expression.

First of all, the beaches are verboten for dogs from May to September. Fine, keep your poisonous salt water, you bums.

Charlie's favorite place to swim is Ward's Pond, which is walking distance from the house, relatively clean and conveniently close to where Maggie has dog school. Unfortunately, the past two Saturday's it's been infested with weirdos holding sticks with string on them in the water. They take up all the good Charlie launch pads, and the ends of their strings have sharp metal hooks which have a worrying tendency to embed themselves in animal flesh. So this week, instead of going there in vain hope, dashing Charlie's expectations, I decided to take him on a field trip.

The obvious place is Callahan State Park, but on a day like today it will be so full of dogs that the chance for Charlie to be involved in a dog aggression incident is raised from vanishingly slight up to near certainty, and I'd rather not risk it. Then there's the Charles River, but it's not always safe to let him swim there, and it's never legal. It's not even legal for him to be unmuzzled, never mind unleashed, in Boston, because he resembles a pit bull so much. (When will the prejudice against Yorkshire terrier/German shepherd mixes end?)

So I looked on a 'Boston dog friendly park' website which had a little googlemap with markers on it, and found Centennial park in the wealthy suburb of Wellesley. It seemed to have some woods, some fields, and a pond--perfect! Plus I figured any locals would be on Nantucket or in traffic on the way to the Cape. Alexis offered the use of Ken, her gps robot, but I had my directions written in pen on an envelope, so I took my own car without any robots.

Then I wasted a couple gallons of gas driving in crazy spirals around Wellesley. Twice I was on streets that ran parallel to the park, but I never saw a sign for the park, a parking area, or even a place to pull over. I found a series of ballfields elsewhere in the town, and took Charlie for a short walk, but no swimming.

Feeling dejected, and like I had disappointed my dog, I decided to go back to the park where Alexis and Maggie were. But there was some huge event going on, with booths and cops directing traffic, and all the parking lots and on-street parking completely taken up. This is the problem with summery weather: other people are out there enjoying it too. I hate that. Where were all these people in the dead of winter, watching tv? The outside exists year-round, and since I'm a dog owner, I have to go out in it.

This is why I especially hate the cold--I can't avoid it. We also wonder where all the dog owners are in bad weather, when we're out in it. True, the only people we see are other dog owners and mentally deranged joggers, but on a nice day, suddenly there are ten times as many dog owners? What do they do in snowstorms, let them shit inside?

Ah, well, the lessons to be learned are: Do better research; Have a plan B and C ready to go; if possible, bring a directions-finding robot; be prepared to drive more.

My honey, now the driver in the family.

It was my job yesterday to drive the medical support staff over to a procedure, with this thing. Awesome.

A few minutes ago, just as I turned the corner onto my block I saw a wild turkey standing on a neighbor's stoop! I didn't crash the car, nor could I park it legally, so I completed the circuit of the block, parked in my spot, and ran to where I saw the turkey. It wasn't there, so I quickly scanned the area: the street (full of afternoon rush hour traffic), the roof (a four story apartment building; not likely, but possible), and all around. There, across the street, on the part of the Riverway we call the "hot springs" because of a probably illegal sewerage outflow we discovered, were two turkeys. They were casually strolling on the paved walkway. I had to wait until a break in traffic to cross the street, and once I got there they had descended the hill toward the river. I took a couple pictures, which I'll post a little later.

I've now been sick officially a full week. I feel like I haven't been sick this long since childhood. Who else has the time to be sick this long, other than children? I'm pretty sure I've got bronchitis, and that I'm not going to get better without antibiotics. I'm stubborn, though, so we'll see how long it takes me to go to the doctor.

Today is the anniversary of my check engine light troubles! That's right, one year ago today my check engine light came on, instilling dread and worry and starting a journey of auto repair that shows no sign of ending. I've had all my oxygen sensors replaced, replaced the engine pipe twice, and some other stuff's been done to it too. On my way back from a roller derby game, in a white-out snowstorm, the check engine light started blinking. I was in heavy traffic on a major road (93S) so pulling over was out of the question. Fortunately, it stopped blinking, and just stayed on steady. When I brought it in, the guy told me (in difficult English) that sometimes the sensor gets wet and the light goes on, but there's nothing wrong with the engine. Okay, sure, I can live with that. So now, for the past month the light goes on when it rains, then after a couple dry days it goes out. Just so long as it's dry the next time I have to bring it in for inspection.

Last year around this time, I asked you guys to recommend some new music for me. Several of you recommended Pandora.com, a site where you enter a song or songs or an artist or artists and it generates a radio station that plays music based on that. 11 months later I've tried it, and it's interesting. It notices things about my music that I didn't notice, creating playlists based only on how the music sounds. It has a hard time recognizing context and irony. It has forced me to accept that I listen to music for reasons other than the way it sounds, at least on paper. Music is too wrapped up in memory and time and culture to be described only by key, tempo, and instrumentation.

The new wheels.

Now why would a Republican administration try to interfere with a STATE'S RIGHT to make it's own fuel efficiency standards?

The weekend arrives and I couldn't be happier. Not that it was a terrible week, but still it feels like a relief.

On my way home I stopped by the Blanchard's in Jamaica Plain and there was a booze girl giving away free shots of Famous Grouse, and T-shirts. (Her line was "It's the best-selling scotch in Scotland." Great, babe. Budweiser is the best-selling beer in the US, what does that tell you?) However, I like the stuff, so I bought a bottle, telling her "I drank a lot of this when I was in London." She asked when I was in London, I said 2001, and she paused, saying eventually, "Not too long ago..." Then I realized she was probably in middle school in 2001.

Then to the Auto Shop where I've been bringing my car every other week since October, with a check engine light that just won't stay off. They've replaced all the parts related to the code, including the engine pipe which they replaced twice. Now I suspect they'll replace the sensor which is telling the check engine light to go on, or maybe just take the bulb out of the check engine light. I'd just ignore the damn thing but it's time for my emissions inspection.

I bought a whole mess of winter clothes at REI, the only place I will go to buy clothes. It doesn't give me a panic attack or make me sleepy like all other places to buy clothes do. I got longies, glittens, and an xmas party sweater (it's not really an xmas party sweater--that would be red with a big snowflake or a leaping deer on it, or white cable, it's a 100% synthetic pullover that makes me look like a jerk who hangs around a ski lodge). Thanks to Alex for being my shopping buddy. I also got a mini-pod for Alexis and a spork for myself.

Tonight is the neighbor's bday party--they're nice folks and it's an easy walk up the stairs to get home. Then tomorrow night--assuming I get my car back-my friend Nicole is having her annual xmas party/new apartment housewarming, with lots of babies. I'm not drinking at that one, so I think it'll be a short visit. Being sober in a room full of kids and xmas decorations and music is not something I'll enter into lightly. It's proof that I like Nicole very much. Then next week the Children's Zoo is having a holiday party on the zoo grounds. I have no idea what to expect. But that xmas party sweater will get a work out.

After the neighbor's party, we're going to watch Zardoz. I'm looking forward to it. I may have to watch it several times.



On this day in 365 Urban Species: Brant.