(no subject)
The weather's been very cool lately, which has killed a lot of the summer vegetation. Today it's cold and dry enough for me to wear my parka. The sun is covered. At the beginning I was approaching two fighting animals, a gomphothere and a grizzly bear, who locked jaws, then backed off to assault one another again. The bear, even, was using his forepaws on the other's waist sometimes, to like a sumo wrestler, while the former's trunk sailed around. They were both enormously powerful. Upon inspection, I was able to read developed brandings on the hide of the shaved grizzly. It formed an entire two-part dialogue, which began with the capitalized, "PLEASE DO NOT FEED THE BEAR." Another voice had written beneath it, "We should have put the bear to sleep, not let it free like this," and the first voice responded, "As long as people don't feed him scraps, he won't bother anybody." The last segment concluded, "He's a crazy old bear! He kills dogs. He's sick and mean. Put him to sleep." There were some signatures on the bear's flanks.
I had not been to the animal shelter in two weeks, but on the telephone David offered me all of the dog food I could carry. He was, when I arrived, on call in the van, nor could I enter the newly locked storage shed. Oxford has recently been reported as one of the top ten places to retire in the nation, pushing property value way up. The whole city is growing, and as higher income families and elderly couples supplement low ones some of the best aspects of the city irradiate. They're also expanding the water treatment plant south of town, next to OLHS (Oxford-Lafayette Humane Society), to compensate for the growth. The shelter is moving away from all this to publicly owned land near a stoplight on Hwy 7 across from the BP station. What was shelter is becoming the new sushi restaurant, head chef'ed by Nga's fiancée Scott while she attends pharmacy school at Ole Miss in the fall. The puppy and cat rooms have been merged, so far, leaving what was the latter for restaurant - and the shelter and restaurant staff share the back room for injections, sick animals, and kitchen. It is an uncomfortable and cramped transition phase. Scott put his arm around me, shaking me affectionately, and rushed me around his facilities with childish excitement. He is so friendly. The employee who they've hired as my replacement looks young, tall, and bony. Mechelle is very happy to hear that the branded grizzly bear is in the area and doing well. Another woman is furious, however, at the slightest mention of the bear's existence.
I had not been to the animal shelter in two weeks, but on the telephone David offered me all of the dog food I could carry. He was, when I arrived, on call in the van, nor could I enter the newly locked storage shed. Oxford has recently been reported as one of the top ten places to retire in the nation, pushing property value way up. The whole city is growing, and as higher income families and elderly couples supplement low ones some of the best aspects of the city irradiate. They're also expanding the water treatment plant south of town, next to OLHS (Oxford-Lafayette Humane Society), to compensate for the growth. The shelter is moving away from all this to publicly owned land near a stoplight on Hwy 7 across from the BP station. What was shelter is becoming the new sushi restaurant, head chef'ed by Nga's fiancée Scott while she attends pharmacy school at Ole Miss in the fall. The puppy and cat rooms have been merged, so far, leaving what was the latter for restaurant - and the shelter and restaurant staff share the back room for injections, sick animals, and kitchen. It is an uncomfortable and cramped transition phase. Scott put his arm around me, shaking me affectionately, and rushed me around his facilities with childish excitement. He is so friendly. The employee who they've hired as my replacement looks young, tall, and bony. Mechelle is very happy to hear that the branded grizzly bear is in the area and doing well. Another woman is furious, however, at the slightest mention of the bear's existence.