I posted my nightly story earlier and already took it down. It was a lot earlier than normal and I have already had two ask where it was. I am posting it again so they can check it out. I hope you enjoy and welcome any criticism you have. Dog Walking Day 374 Today blew worse than an exploded can of Coke left in a hot car. That sticky stuff in life, like sugar on my CD collection, keeps me forever stuck in a rut. I quit my job at the food truck today. Bernie yet again claimed that grabbing me was just an “accident”. Yeah right, dirty guy needs his fingers chopped off in a freak tomato slicing “accident”. I’ve been in Washington DC a little over a year now and the hopes I once held are sinking to the bottom of the Potomac River. The same river that once separated the Union from the Confederacy. Somewhere about the point General Robert E Lee crossed to invade Washington, is where my hopes can be found drowned at the bottom. Jeff says I am a bit overdramatic, maybe he has a point. A little drama goes a long way, especially when rent is due and now I have no job. I keep writing in this stupid journal because I don’t know what else to do. Without my words pressed to paper I feel like my life in unbelievably bland and hopeless. No job, no life, and at this point I might very well end up living in a van down by the river :( Day 375 I must begin today’s journal entry with a huge shout out to my amazing mother. I was in such a slump yesterday and I called her to throw in my dirty sweat soaked towel. I was giving up my grand adventure in DC. I came to this city wanting something big and mind blowingly beautiful. Something life changing from my former life in Ohio. I dreamed about living near the President as a child. My passion for history has been my one corner stone, but with little more than a high school education using my massive knowledge of civil war memorabilia and the amazing feats of our nation’s forefathers doesn’t get me that far. I should have gone to college and become a History teacher, but shoulda coulda woulda doesn’t change much when you are thirty-two and just lost your job in a food truck. I didn’t move to Washington in search of a job anyway. I came to see so many things I had read about. I came to feel our countries politics buzzing around me. I have not regretted a single one of the 375 days I have been here. Except maybe that time I got totally smashed with Jeff at an early lunch and we traveled across town to the Franklin Delano Roosevelt memorial. I had always wanted to leave the statue his dog Fala a bone. He seemed so hungry and drunk me could resist the temptation. I got way off track here. Back to my beyond amazing mother and her beating my ear through the phone this morning. She reminded me why I started this crazy adventure and told me not to let it go. She advised that I should visit the Washington National Cathedral to find guidance. I’m not much into religion, but I make it a point to always do what my mother’s says. In the most twisted as a Twizzler way possible, my mom was right. At least I think she was. I never actually made it to the Cathedral because I stopped by the National Zoo at Woodley Park Station on my way. I love animals almost as much as I love history and a free zoo trip can brighten anyone’s day. On my way out of the zoo I decided to hold off on the Cathedral for a little longer, with an iced café white mocha from Starbucks. As I neared the café a drop dead gorgeous man walking a Scottish terrier, just like Roosevelt’s Fala, was mere steps ahead. I blushed at the sight when the man tripped on a crack in a grand scale. He lost the leash and the little terrier bolted in all the commotion. I took off after the guy, the dog not the cute guy, and caught up with him near the crosswalk at Connecticut Avenue. The man ripped a hole in his business pants, but limped right to us. He had a long yada yada story about how his dog walker was a loser that never showed up on time and how he really needed to find a reliable service for the $250 a week he was paying. I was quick to tell him that I am the best dog walker ever. I start tomorrow morning. I will be walking JoJo twice a day, including thirty extra minutes of play and training time. Looks like I might just make rent. Wisdom consists not so much in knowing what to do in the ultimate as knowing what to do next. – Herbert Hoover Day 376 Day one of doggie day care is on the books. I think I have found my calling in life. I picked up JoJo a little before lunch and we took a perfectly pleasant trip around Woodley Park. We watched all the coming and going and even met a few other dog walkers in the area. I dropped JoJo back off at his house, ran a few errands and then returned for his early evening walk. I can’t believe how easy this is, especially after making just eight bucks and hour to burn my hands and get molested in a food truck. Now I just need to find a way to get a few more clients. I might really need to make it to that Cathedral for some prayers. Day 377 JoJo and I had a wonderful walk today. He is cute as can be and is a real attention getter. People are attracted to his overall furriness. We even met a Capitol Hill intern on a park bench. I should have been an intern, talk about getting right in the action of making history. He was finishing up a sub sandwich when JoJo decided to steal a taste. The guy laughed it off. He said he wished he could afford someone to walk his dog Shera a German Shepherd. I offered to take on the task at a deep discount of only ten bucks a day. I figured I was in the area already and that would cover my lunch. Now I have two clients and I could not be happier. I still have not made it to the Cathedral. Day 378 As of right now I am an official dog walker and I could not be happier, unless you were to hand me a million bucks and tag on the words “tax free”. I found another client in need of a mid-morning walk. Things are moving fast, almost as fast as I run from apartment to apartment to pick up my clients. I have to get up early tomorrow, so tonight’s journal is just this. I am a dog walker : ) Day 379 As I walked my last afternoon client today I decided to finally make it to the Cathedral. I lied to my mom last night when she asked if I went. She thinks that all the blessings I have been heaped with are a thanks from God for visiting him. I decided I had to make right the lie I told her. I couldn’t go in because Shera the Shepherd would not be allowed in, but I could at least get close enough to say I went. I waved to the Cathedral as I walked by, with a hot pretzel in my hand. We exited at Pilgrim Road when Shera began to pull me to an area of trees. The fall leaves were thick on the ground. Shera was barking and acting up awful when I realized she had caught sight of a small kitten. I tied Shera to a nearby tree trunk and tried to coax the kitty out. The poor thing was petrified. I tore the rest of my pretzel into the smallest pieces possible and tossed them towards to kitty. I am not much of a cat person. Dogs I can get. You put a leash on them and they lead the way. They bond with humans in a cohesive way, while cats kinda make their own rules. I just don’t get them. In the end I walked Shera back home and then walked myself home. It was a long day for sure and I didn’t break my promise to my mom either. Day 380 That darn cat haunted my dreams all night. It ran the gamut from her starving to death, to being hit by a car. It got really weird when she donned full military garb and fought alongside a band of Confederate soldiers. It was the battle of Shiloh and Ulysses S Grant had his black powder colt revolver aimed right at her. How could I let that little kitty be defeated by the Union? Well, needless to say I took Shera back along the same walk as yesterday. I had to know for sure if the kitty was still there and sadly she was. All I had was two dog treats in my pocket, which I broke up and tossed her way. She still wouldn’t let me get close. I sit here now wondering why I am so worried about a cat, but I am. I will have to try again tomorrow. Day 381 We are making small improvements in the world of the little kitty I have named Callie. She popped her head out through the leaves long enough for me to see she is a young calico. I picked up two cans of food at the seven eleven near the Starbucks. I opened one up and left it for her. I am walking four dogs a day now, along with house sitting a couple of nights. I really need a few more clients to make this work in the long run. I don’t really have the spare time to mess with a cat, but at the same time I will always find a way to at least go feed her. Day 382 Unbelievable! Almost as unbelievable that surgeons during the civil war never washed their hands. They thought all blood was the same. I guess that’s not as bad as thinking I can save a cat off the street. What has amazed me the most though is Shera. She started out wanting to attack poor Callie and now she has become totally accepting of her. It is almost like Shera wants to save her as badly as I do. This all adds up to the unbelievable though. Today little Callie stayed hidden the whole time I opened her can of food and set it a distance away. That is until Shera and I started to leave. Callie actually stepped out onto Pilgrim Road and began to follow us for a ways. If I would turn around she would stop dead in her tracks and if I would head back her way she would dart to her hiding space. However, she would follow again as soon as we weren’t looking at her. Silly Callie. I wonder what tomorrow will bring? Tomorrow my forth client will be walking at Shera’s time with us. I hope she doesn’t have something against cats. Day 383 I have officially found a new and beautifully perfect client. She isn’t paying me a dime, but Callie followed Shera, Destiny and me all the way from Pilgrim Road back to Destiny’s apartment. She even let me stop and pat her head for a bit. Then Callie followed Shera all the way to her townhome. People on the street would stop and stare at this tiny kitten walking behind a German Shepherd and a Rottweiler. It must have been quite a sight. As soon as I took Shera in and settled her, I went back down and Callie was nowhere. It worried me something horrible. I sat outside for a bit when I decided to go back in to get Shera. I thought Callie might come out again when she saw her. We walked half a block in both directions, when suddenly there she was. My beautiful Callie came back, but I still could not head towards her. This is when I became inventive. I walked Shera all the way back to my apartment and Callie followed the whole way, even into my front door. I did it. I can’t freaking believe it, but after five days I finally got Callie off of the street. Tonight she will have all the cans of food she can eat and tomorrow I will have to figure out what to do with her. What a day! Day 384 I woke up with a horrible cold and have not been able to get out of bed. I am not sure if it’s the flu or what. I had to call two dog walking friends to take over my clients today. I feel just terrible. Callie has been hiding under my bed to make it all the worse. She is too scared to come out and I am just not sure what to do. What an awful day. Day 385 Still sick…. I give up…. Day 386 Still sick and beyond frustrated. Callie still will not come out from under my bed. I wrestled all night trying to come up with a grand battle plan. What I conceded to do involves only one troop and I fear we will be beyond defeated. I still have not been well enough to get back to my clients, but I called Shera’s owner hoping to borrow her for the night. I am praying that this Hail Mary call will help Callie. Day 387 I feel like a million billon bucks. I can finally breathe through my noise again and the room has stopped spinning. Not only that, but Shera was just what Callie needed. As soon as I brought Shera in last night Callie came out from under my bed. Hilarious. Little Callie followed Shera everywhere she went. I don’t think Shera’s owner will let me have her as a friend to my little kitten, but I think I may have a better plan. This is a battle and in the wise words of George S Patton - Battle is the most magnificent competition in which a human being can indulge. It brings out all that is best; it removes all that is base. All men are afraid in battle. The coward is the one who lets his fear overcome his sense of duty. Duty is the essence of manhood. Day 388 Success is sweet when a war is won, almost as sweet as my beautiful Callie kitty. I woke up early and set out to get Callie something very special. Something to help her. I had to go to two different stores, but I finally found the right cat harness. It fit Callie perfectly and she joined right along when I had to take Shera home. I picked up JoJo and he was beyond happy to see me after so many sick days. At first he thought Callie was a play toy, but as soon as we got to the business of walking it all fell into place. Callie kitty would keep pace, but she always stayed towards the back. I picked up and returned each client, with Callie close by. We must have looked like a small traveling circus. People would point and smile. I would hear things like, “look at that cat”. We were quite the to do in Woodley Park today. Callie is fitting in perfectly. We are making for a great team. Day 395 What an insane day! I have not had a chance in days to write in my journal. I used to depend on it each night, but now I don’t have the time. I am glad I don’t have the time though. I have my books filled with dog walking customers. I could not have asked for more. I am beyond blessed and thankful. Callie kitty is doing amazing. She is always right with me. She has brought so much wonderful to my world. Day 402 Busiest day yet. Callie and I are so blessed :) Day 404 Callie takes the lead! Too tired to fill in the details. Life could not get any better. Thank you mom and thank you Callie. Day 440 Oh my, I can’t believe it has been an unheard of 36 days since the last time I wrote in my journal. I have no excuses really, except that I stopped grasping at straws to find reason in my life. I no longer needed my words pressed against paper to feel alive. Things have been amazing with Callie girl. She is the best cat ever. She walks my clients each day, leading the pack! We have so many new dogs wanting to join our train that we are out of time in the day. Who would have thought a street cat would bring in all the business I can handle. Callie attracts attention like a pile of poo draws in flies. It is hard to imagine that this one tiny kitten now makes everyone turn to look in Woodley Park. I owe so much thanks to my mom for planting that seed to visit the Cathedral. She was right, because without that trip Shera would have never seen Callie and I would have never be blessed with the most fantastic cat ever. I would have never met Callie - the dog walking cat :)
Posted on: Tue, 05 Nov 2013 06:20:24 +0000
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