Husband is an oldest son with younger siblings, and is a real caretaker. This extends to a sense of duty that he has toward our pets. He is currently feeling very guilty because he can’t give our dog the three walks a day that he has become accustomed to. Husband just doesn’t think that vigorous indoor play is sufficient. The problem is that there is so much treacherous ice coating the sidewalks that it isn’t safe for him to walk the dog right now. He cracked his wrist last Friday by falling on the ice while walking the dog.
Kyrill is very spoiled, in terms of the dog treats he gets and the attention that he is paid, by both me and Husband. Husband carefully reads the ingredients of the treats we buy, and we seem to make weekly trips to Runnings and the pet store in search of just the the right chews and toys. I don’t remember Husband spoiling our children like this, although he was always playing with them and keeping them busy.
Husband decided to brave the ice last night and try to walk the dog. He made it half way down to block and came back home as he was afraid of falling. I am afraid that there will be terrible ice for some time, as there is tons of snow, and as the weather warms during the day it is just going to melt and then refreeze into more ice.
I heard from a friend yesterday that the city street department has sixteen vacant positions that no one will take due to a reportedly toxic work environment. I don’t foresee the city stepping up to remove the snow and ice, so Husband is going to have to deal with his pet guilt for many weeks.
How does guilt factor in how you deal with your pets? How well does your municipal government function? What are the best and worst city governments you have dealt with?
Trail Baboon 
No pets here currently.
Our city government is pretty decent most of the time – not all my people got re-/elected, but even some non-favorites have stepped up to the plate on one issue. In looking for a new location to build a new police-and-fire facility, a vital local rec center was being considered for some kind of merger. After a well-attended community feedback mtg., a couple of people finally “saw the light”, and that site is off the table.
There are county issues about feed lot #s and caps, though, that are a mess… That board at least managed a frac sand band right before we moved here.
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That’s a tough one, Renee – I presume you’ve tried some kind of cleats on boots?
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He was wearing hiking boots when he fell. A friend suggested Yax Trax. We shall see.
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I always have a pair of cleats in my car after experiencing some serious falls, including one 10 years ago when I broke my elbow. I don’t like the brand your friend recommended. I use a more generic kind without the springs, but many cleats that grip the ice.
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I agree about the Yak Trax. Cleats work better.
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I started wearing those yak tracks after the the knee surgery. I love them.
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I have a pair called NanoSpikes.
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I guess that our sanitation department has six empty positions for the same toxic work environment and are considering reducing the frequency of garbage collection.
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That’s really sad about the work environment – makes you wonder what can be done in these situations, which are many.
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I have a lot of feelings about the interactions between the dog and the cat, which are not good. We do have strategic gates set up to keep the cat safe from the dog’s instincts. But it’s not really guilt, because I’m not in charge of the fact that the dog has herding instincts. And that the cat is not too bright sometimes. I feel a little guilty that the dog doesn’t get as many walks as she should get, but like Chris, I’m not walking on ice and snow. Guinevere has on a few occasions in her life suddenly launched herself after a squirrel or a rabbit when she’s on the leash and a couple of times pulled me over. I don’t want to experience that in on ice. So she’ll just have to wait until the ice has abated, and then walks will begin again.
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From FB this morning:
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Rise and Shine, Baboons,
I have pet guilt this morning, after being up last night with a sick dog. Every winter when we travel to AZ, she feels stressed and has an episode of “gastric distress.” Always at night. And I am always the one who gets up with her. Lou feels no pet guilt or wife guilt about it at all and sleeps through the mess blissfully.
However, if we leave her home with a pet sitter, that also is stressful for her because she loves to be with us. So every choice except staying at home is riddled with guilt.
Just like parenting.
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WP is making log in with every comment and like today. GRRRR.
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And it’s not the spicy Tex-Mex food?
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Franklin, Ohio seems to operate well. We have the Mayor/City Manager system. I often judge a community by how it treats schools and here there is a new high school being built that is sited downtown.
When The Birds aren’t chirping, I try to figure out what they need. It might be the sound of other flocks. YouTube has dozens of recordings from which to select. Often it’s millet treat that makes them happy. For regular meals, they want seeds so I have to trick them into eating fruits and veggies. Changing out toys frequently also helps. I’m guilty.
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One of our cats gets bladder stones and is on prescription food, so I have pet guilt whenever the others are getting something nice and she can’t have it. Our vet also supplies prescription treats, so she does get something, it’s just not the thing she really wants.
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Pippin has bladder stones too and has to be on prescription diet. I have guilt every time I eat peanut butter because it’s his favorite thing and he can’t have any. Sadly, there has been a reduction in peanut butter consumption at our house. He has had no bladder stones in four years, though, and he’s 13-1/2 years old. Life is short and I’d like to make Pippin’s as sweet as possible. So sometimes he does get to lick the spoon clean.
I have lots of pet guilt. He has always been really disappointed in me as his family member and mom. He wanted a 9-year old boy. I didn’t know that when I got him but I’m fairly certain of it now. A 9-year old boy would play rough and wear him out. A 9-year old boy would go outside with him and build little forts for him to hide in and let him eat rabbit poop and get all muddy. They would bark and howl together for the fun of it. He would sleep better at night if he had a 9-year old boy to roughhouse with all day. No matter how I try, I can’t be a 9-year old boy for my energetic little dog.
We usually try to walk two miles a day but the ice this year has prevented that. I can’t wait to be able to go for a long walk again. There are neighborhood trails in Northfield that wind through green spaces and parks and connect neighborhoods. It’s such a nice thing to have and I love it. I think the City Parks Department does a pretty good job of maintenance. It would have been impossible to keep them free of ice this year and I don’t blame them for the iciness. There are, unfortunately, those who do. I think they’re the same people who complain about high property taxes.
I think the City government does a good job here. There are widely differing opinions on this but most of the critics wouldn’t be happy no matter what. I really don’t think people understand that costs are involved in services. You really don’t get something for nothing, even with the government, even if you think you paid a lot of taxes. I called the City Building Inspector with a question twice. He came the first time and sent an employee the second time. I’d say that’s pretty good service.
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Pretty sure, Krista, that if Pippin were given a choice, he’d choose you.
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Thanks, Linda.
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I have a pair of hiking boots that I have dedicated to ice cleats this winter. I just the cleats on and wear those boots. I fell last winter and really hurt my back. I have been much more careful this winter because the ice has been really thick and it’s under all the snow. You never know when you’re going to find yourself hitting the ground. So treacherous!
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Before Wes beats me to it:
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I have no real complaints about the city street clearing services. They have many miles of street to deal with and this has been a particularly difficult year. Robin thinks the wealthier neighborhoods get earlier and more fastidious attention and that may be true but it would be difficult and pointless to prove that.
I am disturbed with the way the city has been dealing with the problem of homeless encampments. They have sprung up throughout the city despite the severe weather and their existence is an undeniable problem. But it’s a problem of inadequate or unsatisfactory services and of desperation. The city’s solution has been to use the police to evict everyone followed by heavy equipment to bulldoze all their belongings, as if by doing that the homeless will evaporate. I don’t know a satisfactory solution but that’s certainly not it.
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The homeless situation is a particularly frustrating, heartbreaking, and intractable problem. I know at least three people who are part of that population personally, and they individually seem beyond help because of addiction and/or mental health issues. All three have been in treatment – numerous times, and two of them have been incarcerated – also, repeatedly. Upon release, they’re right back into the same hopeless environment, and inevitably back to mischief in short order.
These are three people that I have known from when they were very young, one of them, from the day he was born, and I care deeply about them. For years I’ve tried to help and support them in every way I knew, to no avail. I’m not convinced that we, as a society, have the will to allocate the resources needed to address this problem in a humane and meaningful way. Like you, Bill, I don’t know what the answer is, but I agree, the current solutions don’t even begin to address the problem.
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renee
chris should talk to city about taking the street job til spring
then quit
my dogs love their afternoon walk and somehow I manage to be able to delegate it to Debbie and my son Spencer it’s their daily walk at about 630 and the dogs look forward to it and seem to realize what time it is even once the sun down changes that happen I can’t get no nothing ever in my fisher only my concern but they don’t guilt me too much as far as street maintenance I live by rich people shumai streets are looked after fairly well. I deliver Amazon to everyone and it’s remarkable the differences between well-to-do neighborhoods in the burbs and the urban Street in downtown Minneapolis and St. Paul and the immediately surrounding area they are , almost unbelievably bad sidewalks are not shoveled very well and I have wondered about getting those things that strap onto the bottoms of your boots cause I’ve gone down a couple times but I roll pretty well
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I am one big ? about why you think Chris should apply for a “street job til spring then quit.” Almost afraid to ask why you think that would be a great idea?
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hey Renee, I’m just on the meter what Chris needs is a bag of grit it’s like a 50 pound bag of cat litter except it is made out of small sharp edged pyramids like stones often granite a 50 pound bag cost like four bucks and what he can do is walk down the sidewalk and throw that down it’ll give them traction and when the weather warms at the ice melts instead of the grit going away like salt does it’s simply embeds itself in the ice, and it will be great traction for him on the ice refreezes it might be available at Running or you might have to look around maybe at the grocery stores or Menards or Home Depot or something like that to find it but that’s what you need. Cat litter would work, but cat litter is made out of clay and turns into mash after it thaws, and re-freezes so the grit is the way to go
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Chris says that is a great idea!!
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I wonder what that grit would do to a dog’s paws?
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They used to sell it as poultry grit. Ben, do you provide your chickens with grit?
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I don’t. They have gravel here and get enough roughage I never worried about it.
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Cherry Stone
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I’m getting as late as tim.
I don’t think I have guilt about any of our pets, other than when I yell at somebody and I know I really shouldn’t. Like our old dog Allie, she’s mostly blind and deaf, she can’t walk very well, she’s incontinent and pee’s in the house too often, (doggy diapers: can they really stay on??) The other day she wanted to go out and was 3 feet from the door when she stopped and pee’d right there. I yelled and kind of shoved her out the door. But of course I know she couldn’t hear me.
But they sure do know treat time. In the morning they get a bacon treat, at night they get a plain chewy. Allie will go out four times at night hoping to get a treat. The treat doesn’t come until I go to bed. She seems to have forgotten that part.
Now, let’s talk about government. As an elected member of our local Townboard, one of the talking points has always been that this is the closest to local government you can get. Town boards are called other things in different parts of the country; it could be a parish, or even municipal government, but around here most of the township governments are rural areas. So while not solving all the worlds problems, we do have to deal with roads, fire protection for the residents and law enforcement protection. And since we’re only dealing with a 6 mi.² area in our case, It’s pretty easy to get ahold of one of us to deal with your situation. We contract out the snow plowing and the county takes care of it. Other townships might do it themselves. But if there’s a problem, they can call us and we either take care of it, or know who to call. There’s not much red tape here.
Having said that, of course, we still have to follow county or state rules. And if someone decides rules don’t apply to them, well, we still get stuck in bureaucracy sometimes.
Our snowplow driver has just left the county after 29 years. He’s going to be tough to replace from an ‘institutional knowledge’ kind of place. Shucks.
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