Bestest Friend and I are doing a blog project. Each day we will write a blog post on a pre-determined theme chosen by a random noun generator. The theme for the eleventh day of the month is "Stranger."
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EVERYBODY PANIC. There have been CHANGES to things in Hannah's orbit. CHANGES, I say.
Late in June, they turned this fountain on. Because of a certain situation with sidewalks (stay tuned for more on this tomorrow), we started walking by this fountain more regularly than we had before and it was all good until one day there was actually water in it. This freaked out Hannah, of course, so we spent the next two weeks getting closer and closer to the fountain until today we walked by it and she didn't even care. Progress!
Now, on to something she noticed on our walk last night.
Sometimes I wish I had a dog that would just see that *I* am not freaked out by something new and would just get surprised once and move on with her life, but other times I think it's pretty cool that we build up that trust so that eventually she'll just walk by these (admittedly creepy) horses.
What's the new thing in your 'hood, scary or not?
To be fair, those horsehead columns are very menacing! But yes, it is wonderful that you have the kind of relationship with Hannah that you can slowly break down her fears.
ReplyDeleteThe only thing I can think of in my neighborhood is a neighbor who is clearly having A LOT of work done on her house. Trucks and workpeople on her driveway for a couple of weeks now. I am so curious what she is doing but I haven't seen her out and about in a long time to ask her! I suppose I could text her, but that seems a little TOO nosy.
Soon, YOU'LL be the topic of conversation when you start moving! Won't that be exciting?
DeleteWell, to be fair I can see how those horse heads would be alarming to Hannah. I'm laughing a little at what your life must be like. Most people would just walk right by those and not give it a second thought. I doubt there's much new in my neighborhood, but if there was I wouldn't know about it- I won't be out walking around the neighborhood again until October or November.
ReplyDeleteMy life is a constant expectation that something will scare Hannah, that's for sure. LOL. She is really better than we first got her, but she's definitely more timid than the average dog.
DeleteDo you ever notice anything when you run or are you too focused to notice changes when you're running?
Poor Hannah! She loathes change. I know a great many People just like her.
ReplyDeleteIn our neighborhood even more street/road construction projects are taking place. It's become even more impossible to travel anyplace in a direct route. I'm pleased that this infrastructure upgrade is taking place, but must it all be done at one time?
And more personally local, the property directly behind us continues to be neglected by the owners. Yet another part of their wooden fence has fallen apart, and we have to look at it. Ugh. These are the people who also own the huge black walnut tree that has destroyed all of our landscaping, so it's even more irksome. Sigh.
Bad neighbors are so very challenging. I wish you patience and grace in dealing with them!
DeleteThose horses?! I also find them creepy.
ReplyDeleteThere seems to be a lot of summer work happening - new decks, landscaping, etc. We're part of that fray, finally repairing yard damage done FIVE years ago when we had to excavate for drainage. Our place has been a work site for years but it's finally (sort of!) coming together.
Yay! Think about how great next summer will be when all your landscaping projects are completed. It's going to be THRILLING.
DeleteMercy I hope so. SIX years of renos has left me traumatized!
DeleteI promise you that it's GOING TO BE GREAT!
DeleteHaha. I think I may have a version of that horse head in my life... My kids recently gave me a horse head silhouette and instead of mounting it on the side gate (as requested), my spouse mounted it on the side gate POST. So instead of looking like a horse playfully poking its head over the gate, it looks like a decapitated horse mounted to the gatepost as a cautionary warning!
ReplyDeleteLOL. I guess you're warning off trespassers! This is what happened to the last horse that crossed us.
DeleteLOL Those horses are....very odd! hahahahah!! Too funny. Wonder what the appeal was there... lol.... Those would catch my eye too, but only bc I would briefly think, "Hmm, odd and kind of ugly..." before moving on with my day.... ;) Poor Hannah.
ReplyDeleteThis house! They bought the house a few years ago and immediately pulled out all the native landscaping and replaced it with invasives, so I was already side-eying them. Then they built a ginormous garage and poured a gazillion feet of concrete. NOW they're slowly adding weird garden art everywhere. I just don't think the people who live in that house are my kind of people. The horses are honestly the least of my odd and ugly when it comes to their art (Hannah does not seem to be bothered by the giant ugly bird statue they have). Oh, well, they're very NICE and they take care of their house and yard, so I can't complain too much.
DeleteHere's the thing - my dog only focuses on squirrels and other dogs, so I don't notice the neighborhood in as much detail as you're getting from Hannah. I must be missing out on a lot!
ReplyDeleteHa! Hannah also noticed squirrels and other dogs, so I'm on the lookout for those, too. I mean, think of all you're missing with having a completely normal dog who isn't scared of everything!
DeleteI CANNOT with weird garden art. I side-eye ALL OF IT in my neighborhood since we all have small yards. BUT we have a rusty washing machine on the curb several ays in advance of our city item pick up, so we're the jerks, really.
ReplyDeleteHey, maybe some freecyclers will WANT that rusty washing machine!
DeleteThose horse heads are very very odd. There are some very old horse hitching of poles in our neighborhood but they have been there since the early 1920s so it's a historical feature - not someone who wants to appear like they have a historic home? That's the vibe they seem to be going for? You are not fooling anyone!
ReplyDeleteThe joke in our house is over lion statues. My dad came home from a church auction when I was a teen w/ a lion statue. He thought it would be fun to put at the end of our driveway. My mom was appalled and hated it so he gave it to someone else and it became a sort of traveling white elephant gift. Now whenever I see a home w/ zions at their front entrance (which happens more often than you might think!) I text my dad a photo.
Something new in our neighborhood is that the neighbors behind us are replacing their fence, which means they took down the fake owl with sunglasses that my boys loved to point out on ever walk. WILL IS NOT HAPPY ABOUT THIS. He wants to know where the owl is. The other something new is that we have a nest of baby robins in one of my hanging pots. The boys have had fun seeing the eggs and then the baby birds (which were quite ugly) and now they are getting more feathers and pooping all over the nest. It's pretty exciting for them.
OH!! There are SO MANY lion statues in our neighborhood. They were one of the very first hurdles we had to overcome with Hannah. She's over them now, although there's one house where they're brightly colored (blue and red, maybe?) and she startled at those when she saw them, but quickly recovered. I'm going to start taking photos and sending them to you, too!
DeleteOh, no! Where did the owl in sunglasses go? Will it be back? I'm on Will's side here - this is a travesty of justice!
Yeah, those horse heads are weird as shit, and I also hate change, so I feel Hannah. Lucy doesn't notice much beyond other people and dogs ("please please let me lick them and love them"), other than those big Halloween blow-up decorations (not a fan).
ReplyDeleteThe first year with the Halloween decorations was SO. Hard. with the dog. We could really only walk on certain blocks. LOL. She's pretty okay with them and the only one that has really freaked her out recently was a GIANT dragon one last Halloween, which was totally fair if you ask me. What if it WERE real? It would be super scary.
DeleteWhy would someone put these horse heads on sticks? I am with Hannah - startling! ;)
ReplyDeleteThey're an old school Victorian hitching post for horses. They used to genuinely be at the front of people's homes to tie horses to, but these are obviously just for decoration. I mean, the house isn't even a Victorian...
DeleteYeah, those horses are just weird and very creepy. We took our dog Riley to Coean Grove and they have these bollards painted as people and the first time he saw one he got scraed and barked at it which we thought was hilarious. We went back again the next day to show our daughter and riley didn't even seem to see the bollard people. dogs certainly don't like change though.
ReplyDeletePoor Riley. That must have been very scary for him!
DeleteIt reminds me of the time Hannah saw a person dressed in a costume (it was a drop of blood for a blood drive). She absolutely lost her mind. It IS confusing from their perspective, right?
Hannah is a very unique creature.
ReplyDeleteTruer words have never been typed in this space.
DeleteHopefully she will grow accustomed to the new stuff in town. Are the horse heads on PVC? If so, they must go. :)
ReplyDeleteThey ARE on PVC. And now they're in concrete, so I think they're going to be there forever.
DeleteThey're disturbing. Hannah has a point. And good grief - didn't you know that water fountains MOVE in unpredictable ways? Of course it's terrifying! (LOL...glad she is now accustomed to it, although...do you think she'll be stressed when it turns off in the winter?)
ReplyDelete