This might be better than the $27.99 elk antler.
Heather the Trainer had told me about “Puppy Social,” a drop-in, pay-as-you-go ($10 for the 45-minute session) supervised play group at Paws ‘N Effect in Hamden. I pride myself on knowing CT geography from my days of following the boys all over the state for their athletics, and I’m thinking, Hamden . . . not far, not far at all. Exit 36 off I-95. No big deal. I plug the Paws ‘N Effect address into the GPS, and Carol, Kemba, and I start out. Hmm . . . Seems to be a little farther than I thought. Navigation sent us via the Merritt, and by 5:55 we’re only at exit 49 — the route 25 intersection. Nav also says we still have more than 20 miles to go — and that we won’t be there till 6:25. Class starts at 6. Not sure what’s going
on, but Carol and I have a role reversal. I, the obsessive, we’re-gonna-do-it-because-we-planned-it one, say, “Let’s turn around and cut our losses. The session will be more than half over by the time we get there.” Carol, the pragmatic one, says, “No, we’ve gone this far. Let’s see what it’s like.”
Okay, so let’s think about this. Heather told us to leave Westport at 5 PM, but of course we didn’t actually pull out till after 5:10. It’s a weekday, so we’re in rush hour traffic. Going north, or homeward, for about a billion NYC commuters. On the Tuesday before Thanksgiving — one of the busiest driving days of the entire year. To go to a puppy play group.
And we still have more than 20 miles to go? Hey, wait a minute, Mr. CT Geography Guy! It wasn’t Hamden I was thinking about, that I always see on I-95 at exit 36. It’s the Hampton Inn! Hamden is off the Merritt at exit 61! It’s beyond the Heroes Tunnel! It’s north of New Haven! It’s more than halfway to freakin’ Hartford! And Carol still says we’re going!
We finally get there at 6:34. Yeah, there are a bunch of puppies with their humans. Yeah, there’s a
certified supervisor. Heather the Trainer is also there with her own puppy, Rowan, a 4.5 pound Miniature Sheltie, almost exactly the same age as Kemba. Because Kemba recognizes Heather, he hovers around her and Rowan — who makes him look like the Jolly Green Giant — for about 8 of the 11 minutes we’re there. We could have done this in a play date in Westport. Or informally after one of our lessons. Instead of driving for a total of two-and-a-half hours!!! We could taken a road trip all the way to Montauk in that amount of time!
Yesterday — Thanksgiving morning — Kemba and I went over to Burying Hill Beach, as usual. One-point-three miles from the house. He sniffed out two puppies, Jax and Boots, both less than a year old. The three of them frolicked, play-bowed, nipped, and chased — for 45 minutes. And I didn’t have to drive to Hamden.
Not stupid enough for you? Remind me to tell you sometime about me, the mattress, and the phone books at the TEP house at Penn back in the day . . .
LOOK FOR A NEW BEAGLE MAN POST EVERY THURSDAY. OR PRETTY CLOSE TO THURSDAY. COULD BE WEDNESDAY. OR FRIDAY. LET’S NOT GET TOO OBSESSIVE HERE . . . 
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We STILL tell the TEP phone book story and get a laugh every time!
Aren’t puppies fun?!
Could have been worse, Hank. You could have headed for Camden.
Cute.