Tuesday, May 17, 2005

I.G.S


Early this morning as I walked my temporary canine charge Ivey, I decided to switch up the usual morning walk to Washington Square Park with a walk up to Coit Tower. I figured Ivey could have access to a whole new world of things to smell, and I could check out the view as the sun was just starting to come up.

Ivey and I marched our way up Telegraph Hill. Once we were up there, we took in the view. I should really say I took in the view, and Ivey intently smelled all the things that dogs tend to find fascinating. As we walked the sidewalk we came across a flock of pigeons feasting on leftovers from an Italian restaurant. The pigeons were picking and pecking at old Lasagna in an aluminum take out container. As they pecked at the layers of cheese, the mozzarella would get caught on their beaks and would stretch into a webby, stringy mess, catching on their feathers and wrapping around their necks. One big pigeon seemed to be a bit more adept, actually gulping down it's gullet big chunks of cheese. Seeing it consume that amount of dairy, it made me think of my mother, who tends to lament about lactose intolerance whenever she overindulges in Dairy Queen blizzards. My mother can combat her pain with medication, where this pigeon didn't have access to modern pharmecuticals. I wondered if there would be a bout of IBS for this little guy from his feast. After careful consideration I decided it would be IGS that would haunt him today(irritable gizzard syndrome). I hope it wasn't too horrid - I bet his pigeon buddies steered clear of him till it passed, or perhaps till he "passed".

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