A QUIET SUNDAY MORNING

 

          Typically, our Sunday mornings are very quiet….not today!!

          It started out quiet.  I was out of bed around 8:45 AM, in time to start my usual routine of watching Sunday Morning with Jane Pauley while Pete fixes breakfast. 

          I was returning from the kitchen when I noticed a visitor at our front door.  I usually have the front door open with the glass storm door allowing more light into our living room.

          There standing at the door was a black, pit bull mix.  I’m a little more cautious than I have been over the years, since I was attacked by a dog and had rather significant damage done to my right leg.  But this guy, he was kind of bouncing all over the place, wagging his tail and smiling that cute doggy smile. 

          Pete hesitated for a moment but then I went out and he was very friendly and managed to work his way into the house.  I knew immediately that he wasn’t a stray as he made his self very comfortable very quickly.  I could tell right away that he was rather young, maybe not even a year yet, as he had plenty of strength and again, was very bouncy. 

          We managed to hold him in one place for a second and found no information on his collar.  While we haven’t had any dogs since Sonny and Cher, I still have an old leash, got that attached to his collar and then headed outside with him.  Pete thought he might belong to a neighbor across the road from us. 

          I headed across the street, knocked on the door, and was greeted by a nice couple who said, “No, the dog is not ours.”  She offered to take his photo and post it to see if we could learn where he belonged.  While that was going on Ashley, another neighbor came over and shared that he had been hanging out with her ducks this AM.  Ashley, said, he might belong at another house a few houses down, so we walked down there but again, the answer was no.  That lady also offered to take his photo and post it. 

          So, then Ashley and I headed back to my house, I let him loose in our fenced in back yard while we discussed next steps.  Ashley went to her house to get some dog food and bowls in case he was hungry, and by the time she was headed back, she had found a post where he was listed as missing.  His name is Shadow and the owners lived about 2 miles away.

          Within about 15 minutes the owner showed up in his truck and was very happy to retrieve his dog.  Ashley suggested that he might want to put a phone number on his collar for the next time he gets out.

          Wish I had thought to take a photo, but I didn’t.  He was adorable and I’m very glad we found his owners. 

          It was a very nice way to spend a Sunday morning.

THE END OF SUMMER

           Labor Day Weekend is one of my favorite holidays, for 1 very specific reason, it is the weekend that since 1977 the WEBN Fireworks has taken place on the Ohio River.  

                                                    Joe Simon For The Enquirer

In some ways, Cincinnati has a very unique personality.  It was the first city west of the Alleghenies.  It is home to the first major league baseball team.  It also hosts, since 1977, the Midwest largest fireworks display…..not for Fourth of July (oh no, that would be far too obvious), but rather for Labor Day Weekend, celebrating the end of summer. 

I remember the August 30, 1977 first Riverfest celebration very well.  I had returned to my home just a year prior from my wanderings between Alaska and Guam.  I was working at the University of Cincinnati.  WEBN was the hard rock radio station that was no doubt the most popular in the city.  WEBN wanted to celebrate its 10^th anniversary so came up with the idea of a fireworks display that would be huge, and boy, did they deliver. 

The display was put on by Rozzi Fireworks and was the largest and loudest that I had every witnessed.  Fewer than 70,000 people attended that first year, but we all got a spectacular fireworks display.  On both sides of the river people were going nuts. 

The one image that stands out most clearly in my memory was at the end, as we were all leaving.  I passed a group of people who were circled around a dog who had collapsed, obviously in distress from the very loud, prolonged finale of the display.  I walked pass, wondering how stupid could someone be to bring their dog to an overly crowded, excessively loud display.  I often wondered if the animal survived. These days there are rules 2 ….no alcohol…..no pets.

 Joe Simon For The Enquirer 

Over the years the event has become even more massive, 2025 estimate being 500,000.  That means parking is a chore.  In the past I have ridden down to the river on the back of a boyfriend’s motorcycle, which made parking super simple.  I’ve taken the bus down (then had to walk back up to Clifton, as the bus was too crowded to ride).  I’ve attended on both the Ohio side and Kentucky sides of the Ohio River.  Pete and I partied at a friend’s house from 13 blocks south of the river where we had an ideal view of the display (parking was still a chore).  I’ve been invited to a party in a high rise directly on the river with a river facing view so we were literally in the middle of the display.  Over the years it’s been a real adventure.

In recent years though, Pete and I have reverted to watching the display on TV.  No, it is not nearly the same experience.  You don’t feel the explosions on your chest.  You don’t smell the fumes of the explosions.  You don’t have people screaming in your ears.  And you don’t have to worry about how long it will take to get out of the traffic jam of 500,000 people leaving at the same time. 

Instead, after 45 minutes you turn off the TV, head for the bedroom and call it a night. 

It’s a great way to end summer.