DOES YOUR HURRICANE BITE?

Finally, I was a ‘Cool Kid’.

But sadly, short lived – I’m back to ‘Isn’t Cool Kid’.

I morning beach walk – Ear buds in, music on, waving in ‘friendly’ fashion to passersby – speeding up when necessary to avoid conversation.

But our beach very Dog Friendly, the majority of walkers ‘with dog’, appearing to know each other.

As do the dogs, who have their cavorting, licking and sniffing rituals.

And if the rumors are accurate, as do many of their owners. 

A community of regulars.

Illustrating the advantage of dog v. cat ownership: Dogs companions for invigorating walks, Cats indifferent to their owner sitting in the dark watching stupid cat videos.

But when our St. Pete niece Milton-encamped this week, I added her dog Frankie to my morning walk, and was looked at with new respect: “That artificially friendly guy got a dog!”.

But on days 2+ I was reminded that every ‘cool group’ has shades of cool, as did ‘Mongrel Horde’ – my suggested group name which never caught on – but had it, I’d be assured lasting cool status, maybe even put in charge of the groups’ ‘Mongrel Horde’ T-shirt order.

A dog pecking order:

The coolest owner: Dog off-leash, strolling peacefully nearby, even bagging up after itself.

The next coolest: Dog off-leash, cavorting respectfully.

If ‘Mongrel Horde’ had an executive board, they’d be prez and vice-prez.

The poodle owner assigned meeting clean up duty.

From there, an un-cool dog’s breakfast: dogs running stupidly in circles, dogs un-trusted off-leash, and dogs straining to get at other dogs, hoping for inappropriate sniffing.

Fortunately, Frankie was having none of it, walking straight ahead, ignoring the other dogs – except for the occasional ‘Dog dust-up’ – her stellar resolve making other owners envious.

And not barking in response to the yaps around her, making her look cool.

Reminiscent of Peyton’s stoicism around barking dogs – but she was old and deaf.

We had a lot in common…

Unfortunately, Frankie – like My Captor – walks faster than me, meaning I was dragged on occasion. Based upon the looks I received, not cool.

But when Frankie left, I was once again walking alone and definitely not cool.

It was lucky I had this ‘dog controversy’ to occupy me, because we were staring down Hurricane Milton, unsure what it would mean.

The initial forecasts scary …

Eventually, it meant nothing, a little rain and wind, no great shakes.

Best of all, the power stayed on – take that Helene!

And with the multi-day warning for Milton, I was back in my hurricane routine:

National Hurricane Center site bookmarked, and checked on the 3-hour updates: Turn South young Milton!  

Rechargeable lights at the ready – but the way I look with my headlamp on, almost makes me wish for a power outage.

Checking for overdue library books, in the event our house gets blown away – the fines for lost books severe.

And with the internet buzz about “they controlling weather”, I mailed away for the “They Weather Kit”, allowing me to make it rain whenever and wherever.

It was great having a dog again. I gave Frankie her morning walk throughout the week, and I think she really looked forward to it.

Of course, we all need to use the ‘facilities’ when we wake up, so maybe it was that.

But like so many times before, I’m coping with being ‘group dropped’, though reminded not caring is one of the best parts of aging: I genuinely and sincerely don’t care what other people think!

Best of all, for ‘older men’ the partner of indifference is grumpiness: Irritating others without regret! Now that’s cool!

For 252 more posts like this –each with a wish for a cooling breeze– go to beersatthenifty.com. Your phone will display every post, and you can waste an hour or two.

ENHANCE YOUR ENJOYMENT OF THIS POST, PAIR IT WITH THE FOLLOWING ‘AGING HIPSTER MUSIC’:

Marvin Gaye had nothing to do with Hurricane Milton, despite rumors to the contrary – or my confusion over the storm’s name. But he’s a good music choice. Sadly, he died the day before his 45^th birthday, after being shot by his Father after an argument. Added to the BATN playlist: ‘Mercy, Mercy Me’ ‘Got to give it up’ ‘What’s Going On’ and ‘I Heard it through the grapevine’. There’s a lot of popular Motown stuff in his catalog, check it out.