30 Things to Do Before I Turn 30

Date of Completion: October 2009

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I must have had a horribly deprived childhood. (I wasn’t allowed to have a video game system, either. Rub it in.) Really, though? We’re cat people. And it took a hell of a lot of pleading and (ironically) puppy dog eyes to even convince my dad to let us have a cat. We had the world’s most low-maintenance cat and even so, my dad, having grown up on a sorta-farm, maintained that all animals should be kept outside. We finally won him over, and so we had our kitty, and then I got my own kitty, and my sister and her husband got kitties, and my mom got a kitty, and… well. We just never had dogs. It wasn’t really an option.

Also, I am sort of uneasy around dogs.

I don’t DISlike them. I just need to be able to warm up to them. Little dogs are usually okay. It’s the big ones that jump on you that make me really nervous. I mean, one time when I was little, this big huge lab decided it wanted to play and it was literally bigger than I was and it jumped on me and apparently traumatized me more than I thought. Also, doggy drool grosses me out.

Anywho. I was thinking about it and I realized that I have never, ever walked a dog. Even for a little bit. There is just something that seems relaxing and fun about taking a dog out for a walk when it’s nice out.

Unfortunately for me, it was NOT nice out when I got my opportunity to walk a cutie-pie little doxie named Barney. It was freakishly cold, even for October in Iowa standards. But my friend Calee and I took her new little puppy (all dogs are puppies in my mind, I don’t care how old they are) out for a jaunt around the ‘hood. He was a determined little guy, despite his short little legs. And yes, he even got to wear a sweater for the occasion.

So, I got to walk him for a few blocks and it was quite enjoyable. And I didn’t even have to clean up after him, so that was a bonus.

I’ve now got ‘er crossed off the list, and while it was fun, I think I shall stick to my kitty cat. Although she did try chewing on my (p)leather computer chair earlier, so she’s sort of part dog, I guess. Weirdo cat.