Callia Lee Riden

Almost every morning, Callia and I walk Guido down the block to the park bench and back. Well, I walk. Guido lunges forward as if he's on some weird game show on Japanese Nickelodian where his life depends upon peeing on as many objects as possible. Callia "races" us to the bench.. and she does run fast. Half the time, I've got Guido's leash in one hand and my first coffee of the day in the other, so I kind of meander along, hoping not to trip and start my day off face down on the concrete and /or in dog poop.

This morning, Callia was talking about how pretty the leaves were and said, "the leaves keep falling out of the trees." All-Knowing-Daddy offered his deep insight, "Maybe that's why they call it Fall." Callia looked concerned, and said, "we need to put the leaves back up in the trees!"

Tonight, for her last milk before night time, I thought I'd tightened the lid on Callia's cup enough, but when she drank it, it spilled a little. I apologized saying, "I didn't screw it on good enough." Callia exclaimed, "I'm screwed!" I thought that was over-reacting just a little.. but I can see it from her point of view, too.

I should have typed this up two weeks ago.. then again, I should have renewed my driver's license in April. It's all about priorities, people. I'm trying to get mine in order.

Yesterday, I mentioned that Callia and I walk Guido every morning. A couple weeks ago, Callia was rushing to get her socks and shoes on in time to go race me to the bench. Guido and I went on out to put some letters in the mailbox. Once Callia was ready, the door burst open and out she ran, yelling at us to wait for her. Behind her, she was dragging her little electronic puppy on a leash - one of those things with two buttons: bark and walk. It doesn't walk very well and it sure doesn't race at all. We walked up the street together, me holding Guido's leash, Callia dragging her toy puppy behind her. She wasn't holding the 'walk' button, but it didn't matter cause he was on his side and spinning around.

It was really cute, and I wish I had a picture of us walking our dogs together.. but my camera's broken and I think we're years away from cyborg technology being affordable to the common man.. so that's not an option yet.