Yep. for about 5 hours a week I walk the dogs at the CACC on Western. It’s fun, the dogs are great and you get to be around when a dog goes home. To their new home.
This is Anoosh. She will walk three feet and then demand a treat. She has this down, she knows the drill, and resistance is futile. She a very mellow, very sweet girl who just needs a quiet home.
Sweet sweet boy.
Dog walking might not be for everyone, but I do love it. The dogs love it, you feel like you’re helping, and maybe making the world a little better.
BUT WEAR ARM GUARDS! I’m forever getting scratched by the dog’s nails. Not their fault!
Yesterday I had my first shift as a dog walker for the CACC (Chicago Animal Care and Control). It took a while to go from the first intro meeting until I was cleared to walk, but it was worth it.
There are a lot of dogs, and quite a few walkers, but they are always looking for more. Because of the rules, only volunteers can walk the dogs, not the staff. If a dog is going to be walked, it’s going to be you or someone like you getting them out of their kennels and into the outdoors to romp and play.
I’m currently undogged; this is a great way for me to be around dog energy. There’s something wonderful about watching the pups go from bouncy/anxious from being in the kennel to a few minutes later running on the lawn or rolling over for belly rubs.
A dog I walked a few weeks ago. Rhubarb Pie, went home yesterday. When I heard that over the walkie talkie, well, someone made my day by being her miracle.
You know I love Chicago, it can be annoying how much I do.
As someone new to weather (Ventura CA isn’t known for it’s big weather swings), a rainy day like yesterday is wonderful. Granted, I’m not too worried about local flooding, so I’m lucky.
A light rain, ripples in puddles, drips from leaves, tapping on the window and the roof of the car- I love it all.
Driving home yesterday from work, going from the South Side to the north, I drive along Lake Shore. The sun was brightening the clouds, people were running along lake in the cool, and it was a city that seemed to be coming outside after staying cool in the AC. Small changes show up in large ways here; I love how dynamic this city is.
The city is still working on North Ridge Ave; my street is closed. This sounds terrible, but it’s so quiet! I can sit on the stoop, chat with neighbors as they walk by, drink my coffee and read outside. When it’s not 90 degrees and soupy.
Is there a Chicago gay bar for people who can’t hear in loud, crowded bars? No? Drat.
Here’s me confessing that I can’t hear you. Well, if we’re in a loud environment.
I have pretty good hearing. My tinnitus is there, and the engine room in the sub caused some damage, but for the most part I’m good. Except when there is background noise.
At 58, nearly 59, which is nearly 60, I’m not worried about my hearing. Unless I’m in a restaurant or at a bar.
Here’s my rant: every gay bar in Chicago is actually secretly a 100db dance club. Well, I haven’t been to all of the bars (most, probably, but not all). It seems the ambient noise level must be at 100 db (yes, I do use a phone app to measure). At my favorite spot, which I’ll call ‘Distractions’ because I ‘m not here to trash any one bar, I generally can’t hear any specific conversations. If I’m talking to my friends, I can lean in close and generally keep up with what is being said. It’s work, but I can get through it.
The other Saturday, I was at a birthday party at Distractions and was meeting new people (younger people). I did a lot of smiling and nodding because I couldn’t hear what was being said. I asked a few times if the person could speak louder, and they did for a sentence or two, but then they stopped. Maybe they don’t want to shout? I don’t know, but in a very short amount of time I’m back to just nodding.
But I still think of him as my dentist first, my secret identical twin brother second
The problem with nodding along is when someone says something important like “and that’s when my mom was eaten by a pack of dramatic capybara” or “but I still l think of him as my dentist first, my secret identical twin brother second“, you should respond. But I’m just smiling along. I look like an idiot. Because I am.
Now I just concentrate on the videos on the screens. I seem aloof, like I don’t care to talk to people. Or I don’t want to meet new people.
I’m pretty social, so I don’t think that’s it.
at 8pm the music got turned up to dance club 100db volume and the bar crowd, generally on the older side, instead of breaking out into dancing just had to shout, louder, to be heard
Maybe I’m just picking the wrong places? There was a Martini bar near me, Marti’s, that’s closed. It was a nice place, small and generally crowded. Depending on the day, and the staff, it could be a quietish loungey place. But religiously at 8pm the music got turned up to dance club 100db volume and the bar crowd, generally on the older side, instead of breaking out into dancing just had to shout, louder, to be heard. Now the loud music and the loud shouting make it impossible for me- but crucially not anyone else. People don’t finish up and leave, they just shout louder. This isn’t a problem, except for me.
The answer is obvious- I just need to stay out of bars. I need to convince my friends to meet in quieter restaurants or maybe host brunches or lunches where I can control the volume.
I don’t think my husband will go along with this, though. I’m newish to Chicago, but he’s a native and all of his friends hang out at Distractions, or the downtown bar The Upper Room (but it’s certainly not called The Upper Room). They all seem to chat along, understanding each other, enjoying the noise level.
there could be gay bars that just keep the volume down, music at 60 db?
It would be great if bars could have a ‘lounge vibe’ day in the week or in the month- music levels lower (maybe 60 db?). Larger bars might have a lower volume area? Sure, it would skew older and maybe all the older men would be stigmatized to be there (“does my older age make me look old?”). Maybe, and this is radical, there could be gay bars that just keep the volume down, music at 60 db? That acknowledge some of us have a hard time hearing but still want to be included in the community. Maybe.
Is there a way for someone like me to hang out in the gay bars in Chicago? Probably not.
Chicago has this cool thing where they close duSable Lakeshore Drive on Labor Day Sunday in the morning for bike riders. It’s 15 miles one direction, 30 to do the whole thing, and it’s a blast. Off we went. Ernesto did half the ride, I did the whole thing- it’s the legs. My legs were built for long bike rides. In Ventura I’d ride the loop from the Avenue to Santa Paula, through Ojai and back. It was GREAT.
This ride was perfect- the weather was in the 70s, there was a breeze off the lake, and humidity was low. Well, it was breeze heading south, but was more gusty heading north. The happy chatty riders heading south became unhappy silent grinders on the north side. Still fun though!
I promised to keep everyone up to date on the hijinks in Chicago. Here I am!
Got here July 3rd, just in time for the fireworks the next day. The drive across from Ventura was great, and Mac the husky was very well behaved. He mostly slept, snored, and enjoyed rest area grass once we got past the 11o degrees in the Southwest.
Mac likes Condo Living! I think he likes walkies four times a day, the elevator (he doesn’t understand stairs), he loves air conditioning and lies under the vent joyfully exposing his very furry belly while tumbleweeds of white fluff wander the condo until the are caught by the shark vacuum.
Mac! In the all-but-abandoned Highway in Southern Colorado!
Back to the drive. Google mapped me through southern Colorado, then Kansas and Nebraska, almost all on small highways. I recommend this! I wasn’t in a hurry, the weather was awesome, the roads were mostly (eerily) empty, and there are a million small towns worth driving through. Full disclosure: I love farmland and rolling hills. So does the husky.
As we drove along, all alone for mile after mile, I was certain we were lost and heading for an alien abduction or perhaps a pie shop. I’m okay with either. But nope, we just kept rolling along.
