Last week I was walking Paul, just a few blocks away from our house on a very neighborhood-y street, and suddenly something behind us caught Paul’s urgent attention. Usually that means there’s another dog, or a cat, or sometimes a coyote nearby, and when I turned to look I thought for a second that it was several stray dogs escaped from yard or leash. But in fact it was several javelinas (if you don’t know, these are wild local pigs) and they were RIGHT UP in Paul’s face.
Usually if a dog gets aggressive in Paul’s vicinity I just yell “NO!” a bunch of times and that does the trick. But it seems that javelinas do not have the same innate understanding of what a human “no” means, and I had to stomp and yell for a little while before they scattered into the bushes. (No humans, dogs, or javelinas were harmed in the living of this experience.)
Anyway, now I’ve drawn some javelinas for you, you are most welcome.
It’s Thanksgiving, and I’m having a little trouble feeling ordinary joy, particularly of the “let’s eat a lot of food to celebrate the kinship of white settlers & native inhabitants” variety, considering the violent police response to the peaceful water protectors who are protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline. (If you don’t know about this, the pipeline was originally routed through/near a more populated-by-white-Americans area and had to move due to protests about the negative impact on the area. So instead they moved it right by a Sioux reservation, well within the environmental impact area. Since then, peaceful protestors from many tribes and their allies have been protesting to protect the water from this pipeline, and they have been met with tear gas, attack dogs, water cannons [in sub-zero temperatures; a woman just lost her arm as a result of this], rubber bullets, and more. It’s appalling, and a national disgrace.)
So, today I donated to the Oceti Sakowin Camp, since I can’t be there with them. If you’re interested, I strongly recommend donating as well.
Unrelated to the DAPL but related to the ongoing welfare of our nation & citizens, I also recommend donating to:
Hold close and cherish your beloveds, everyone.