Puppysitting Day 6: Let's go fly a .... dog?

Okay, so I'll admit that I am often prone to exaggeration. But I swear that I do not in this story. But, first you need to know two things so it all makes sense.

1: Please remember that Jasper is a Shih Tzu, and weighs in at . . . what . . . 6oz? I'm not sure, but he is small. I think he has an eating disorder. He's always talking to M.K. Olsen and listening to Karen Carpenter. Anyway, that's not for here . . . just know that he is light.

2: If you know anything about Toronto, you know that the intersection of Yonge and Eglinton has some weird wind patterns. It could be the calmest day of the year in the rest of the city, but at Y&E you get whipped around like you're in the center of a twister and you can't find Auntie Em or Uncle Henry.

Now for our story: I was taking Jasper up to his real house so that he could visit his brother, Smudge. Smudge is a pretty self sufficient cat who really enjoys his alone time, so I didn't take him into my home. I just go up ever day or so to water him and give him food. This way he gets his privacy so that he can read, catch up on 'The National', listen to his Dolly Parton albums; y'know, Cat stuff.

Today was a very blustery day indeed. The winds were averaging 30km/hr with gusts up to 55km/hr. Poor anorexic Jasper was having enough trouble walking a straight line with the usual wind pushing him this way and that, but as we were crossing Eglinton a mighty gust blew Jasper right off his feet. Quite literally, he cleared at least a foot off the ground. Everyone around me started laughing and one woman screamed . . . actually, that might have been me.

All I can say is thank goodness for the non-gender specific person who designed dog leashes! If it wasn't for them, Jasper would have been blown right into the intersection and into oncoming traffic. And I'd have some serious explaining to do tomorrow when The Philanthropist gets home.