Today is Raven’s birthday. I decided the best way to celebrate was to order the (vegan) pizza that most resembled American pizza, complete with jalapenos and to take myself to the movies tonight. I can tell you the dogs were certainly happy to get their share of pizza crust that didn’t taste like whole grain or cauliflower.

I woke up really unsettled. I know myself well enough by now to give myself a task to complete that preferably involves some amount of extra effort that is required to get there. I needed to go to the pet store to return a number of harnesses that I wanted to try with Henry. I could have easily done this with my bike yesterday on the way home from work. Instead I got George ready to go and we walked to the metro to take it to the nearest station to the mall equivalent. From there, we went for quite some time on foot. George was nervous because he had no idea where we were going and furthermore, was he going to get left behind?

At the pet store finally, right after it opened. No line so we were easily able to return the three harnesses plus dog backpack that Henry was too long to fit into. A quick trip through the dog treats aisle where George was very interested in taking down the canisters in the buy 2 get 1 free promo. Back to the long walk to the station, only this time, we’re going to take the tram. Which we had just missed. But the key is to make things inconvenient so that the feeling of unsettledness goes away. Waiting for the tram we were surrounded by senior citizens and their trollies. Friday is market day where we live and I guess they were all heading there.

Should we take the tram all the way home? No, of course not. One stop before and out we go to walk some more and to pick up the vegetables for the weekend. By the time we got home, it was 1030 and almost 70 degrees. George was happy to take a nap under my desk and Henry didn’t even blink an eye when we came in. I was then reasonably settled enough to start working.

Work is a good distraction for me. At least that’s how it appears on the surface. Iit doesn’t resolve all the bubbling emotions under the surface though. I have a lot of anxiety lately. There’s be some high stress events over the past few weeks and then there’s the regular stress of watching the boys get older. Last time we were at the vet with Henry, she gave us a pamphlet that translates to “Better to Ask the Questions Too Early” which is a guide to asking yourself the questions when your companion animal is in the last chapter of their lives as they put it. She means well even if she is constantly shocked by the age of the boys. She calls them ancient and then apologizes to me for using that word. It doesn’t bother me to hear that, I have had them for 16.5 years – I am pretty used to how old they are. 😉

The biggest concern right now is the delicateness of Henry’s skin. It’s fragile and as he is mostly bald, there’s not a lot to protect him. He wears t-shirts to protect him from the sun. We are now padding his t-shirts with maxipads so that he has extra protection and doesn’t tear anything. It’s working pretty well. It’s a little extra padding. Of course, we had to search a lot of places to find those old fashioned bulky maxipads. The modern ones may have wings but they don’t have enough padding for our purposes. I know, that’s a weird sentence. 😉

GG is in London. She went with a friend for the opening of the ABBA Virtual Reality experience. Coincidentally it is also Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee, which the two of them did not realize until about a month ago! Go for the ABBA and stay for the real royalty!

Our favorite little queer bar is closing it’s doors on Sunday. That will be an adjustment. Apparently they got an offer they couldn’t refuse. It’s now going to become a Brazilian tapas place. They thought they would have longer but the new people want to start right away and the landlord said Okay. There aren’t many other places nearby that have the right mix of weirdo tolerance. Most of the places that I could crawl home from cater to a more upscale clientele. I don’t want to go anywhere that requires me to have manners and to wear socks. 😉