I hope everyone is enjoying their Easter.

My friend dropped off his dog, on Saturday, and so I've adjusted my schedule to revolve around her pee breaks outdoors and her one big walk I take her on around mid-day. I'm afraid she  might be a bit bored with not much else going on today.

Made plans to meet for another lunch with a friend in town this week. We both want to try a new-to-us Italian restaurant that's supposed to be quite good and has a price fixe menu for lunch. Our first lunch was Indian and also very good.

This friend has a female pit bull (or maybe it's a mix) and we took it for a hike we did a week or so ago. The dog is fine, and seems very sweet. My friend, upon learning I was dog-sitting, suggested we walk our dogs together  I explained that most especially since this is not my dog, I'd rather not do that as the dog's dad mentioned that while his dog "never met a human she didn't love," that sometimes she doesn't like other dogs. It just depends. So when I walk her I avoid close encounters with other dogs, even on a leash with their owners. I would just like to avoid any problems. Everyone says their dog is "friendly," but you really can't predict how they might react to another animal. I've also observed that most dog owners do not have real control over their animals. They think they do but then when they call the dog's name, it just ignores them. 

So those two things make me cautious. My friend seemed to understand when I explained all my reasoning, but then she seemed to forget and brought it up again later, so I sort of reminded her that I've decided I'd rather not walk the dogs together.

So today while texting, she brought it up again!! She said she "thinks it will be okay." I feel like she's not respecting my choices.

When we hiked with her dog at a local state park when the place was deserted, we had an unpleasant encounter with another dog. A man had his husky off-leash (against the rules) and his dog bounded up to sniff around my friend's dog. While my friend's dog WAS fine and well-behaved, this husky was coming across as very aggressive and dominant, and it started making sounds that to me didn't sound like a growl, but maybe was a precursor to a growl, if that makes any sense. I know huskies are very verbal, so maybe it was a husky thing. It was alarming, and what's more, this dog was so hyper-focused on my friend's dog that it bumped into me more than once (and my friend) with enough force that it could have knocked me over. It was like it was over-stimulated or something.

While all this was happening my friend was getting more upset, yelling at the owner to get his dog. The owner seemed very slow in doing so, said the dog was "friendly" and so on, but evidently he's had problems with it before because he had a device in his hand that would apparently send small shocks to the husky on its collar. Except that it wasn't having the desired effect so he finally had to grab the dog by the collar.

Spring has sprung around here, not in full force, but in addition to the daffodils in bloom and tulips well on their way, some trees, like wilow, are becoming green, red or yellow. Such a wonderful time of the year.

I've made reservations for a little getaway for myself soon to a southern Vermont town that  used to be part of my "beat" as a 24-year-old news reporter. I hadn't been back to this area at any time in the last over 40 years and I always thought this one particular town (not the one I lived in) was kind of cool and interesting, so I've done some research to find things to do to occupy my time there and have come up with quite a bit.

I plan on taking the long, meandering route up that way because it's a pretty drive, and I can stop at one particular musuem in Massachusetts where my friend whose dog I'm pet-sitting is having an exhibit of his late father's artwork. Like 30 or 35 equestrian paintings, so it's quite a big show. The timing is right and it could be the only such show I ever have an opportunity to see, plus my friend only dropped off the art and doesn't know what the exhibit will look like, so I figured I'd snap a few photos to send him. It breaks up my drive, too.

Once I get there, I'll be browing antique shops and galleries, seeing if I can find some ancient petryglyphs, checking out the very touristy Vermont Country Store, walking a riverfront trail on the CT River and maybe taking a short drive north to see what's changed in the town I did live in. On the way home, depending on whether or not I take the interstate, I can stop midway to visit a botanical garden, view a giant sycamore tree and maybe the Bridge of Flowers.

So the most direct drive with no stops would be just 2.5 hrs but about 4 hrs with my little stops. The B&B gets great reviews most especially for its full breakfast, so I'm looking forward to that but will be on my own for lunch and dinner.

I'm looking forward to the trip; I just hope it doesn't rain, cus that could really put a damper on things.