The umpire clinic was this weekend. I arrived right after 830am and said my hellos to the other “older” umpires. All of the attendees were kids, none older than 18, most 14-17. I will state, for the record, that males of that age group, are weird. LOL.

The gent running the clinic is an odd fellow. We do not see eye to eye, but we have agreed to exist in the same universe. He has been umpiring since the late 70s, so he’s got some time on me for sure. He’s in his 70s, so he’s been there and done that. I think, I am not completely sure, but I think he makes up some of the shit he’s done. Or, perhaps, he’s lost a LOT of the edge, for sure.

The boys who were attending were pretty rude during the clinic. They talked constantly, not listening to what he was saying – not loudly, but loudly enough that if you aren’t mostly deaf, you could hear them. I should have interrupted and blasted them. It is something I would normally do, and I am not sure why I didn’t do it on Saturday as it was bothering me. Likely because I don’t have much respect for the instructor myself.

I left at lunchtime and didn’t come back on Sunday. I have been umpiring a long time and although this clinic would provide a lot of information for the audience that was there, I felt I was not getting much out of it.

The good news from Saturday though is that Apollo (and Twix, of course) were left by themselves for 5+ hours and Apollo didn’t do anything bad. Nothing. The apartment was in one piece. I was very impressed with him and I praised him, big time. Twix was probably thinking “so what, you were gone for a bit. I was good as well, I am ALWAYS good” and that is true, but, Twix is also 13 years old and shenanigans are long behind her. I praised Twix as well.

I don’t know if it is a cooincidence or not, but I ordered an anti separation anxiety collar from the internet. It was free, I just had to pay $10 for shipping. I figured it was a scam, but free is a good price and the shipping was reasonable. It arrived Thursday, I think it was. It looks like a thick flea collar. It’s purple and has a slight scent to it. Regardless, it either worked, or Apollo decided overnight, to be a good and well behaved dog. I don’t know which, but for now I will say that the collar did what it was supposed to do.

Yesterday, I didn’t do a lot. It was a beautiful day, 16C and sunny. Apollo got out of the patio area, twice. I laid down to have a brief nap in the afternoon, Apollo beside me. I left the patio door open to allow a fresh breeze in. The one and probably only complaint I have with this apartment is that I only have one opening window, it’s in the bedroom, and that window only opens about 6″. The heat has been turned off for a month now, but the apartment is 20C or so, too warm for my comfort. So, I fell asleep, as brief as it was, with the patio door open. When I woke up, Apollo wasn’t beside me and I thought “did I leave the door open?”. Indeed, I did. I called for him, no response. I went to the living room and asked Twix where he was – oddly, she didn’t respond but it was clear he was gone.

I had a deck box on the patio, about 1.5-2 feet high. It’s just high enough that Apollo can jump on it and then jump over the glass wall/railing and off to “freedom”. I don’t go to look for him. He was found as a stray and luckily, he has “some” common sense with regards to cars and what not and he’s a VERY friendly boy. About 20 minues later, Apollo ran by the house and I got him inside. He was panting like crazy. He is, after all, a crazy dog. A few minutes later, while he’s outside sun bathing, a neighbour and her dog came by and he HAD to say hello. Although I was getting up and yelling APOLLO, he bolted, again. This time I caught him quickly as he was only saying hi to his friends.

I opened the lid to the deck box. There, Apollo, what are you going to do now?

Well, he showed me… He straight jumped the glass wall and was out again. It’s 4.5 feet tall. He’d be a great high jumper, that’s for sure. I got him back and, for now, the door will have to remain closed. Air conditioning will have to be my savior.

The deck box has been sold (I really wasn’t using it) and it’s gone. Apollo is home and is no worse for his adventures yesterday. I don’t know how I will keep him on the patio, I don’t think there is a way, really. I could tie him up out there, but that doesn’t seem right.

The patio walls on the other side of the building are double height, THAT would stop him in his tracks. But, that would also cut down on most if not all of the breeze, I would think and I really don’t want to move. I know I’ve talked about moving, but that was crazy talk. Wasn’t it?