D.O.P.-T. (yesterday)

My dog is Vanic. He attracts vegetation to his body, becoming increasingly encrusted with florets, pollen, and bits of seed heads as the walk progresses, plunging into shrubbery and emerging with his head twined with foliage and with bits of conifers caught in his leg-hair. At this time of year I have to check him at least once a day for clover burrs. He is an efficient pollinator and a moderately good seed-spreader (though he spreads the burrs mainly to my bed and via me to the trash can). He provides nice hair to birds lining their nests: soft, but of high tensile strength. He also has a fine set of teeth and strong muscles with which to defend me from other dogs, and a lively wish to engage with them.

D.O.P.-T.

On the way home from the bus stop this morning I encountered a small calico cat. She let my fingers just barely brush her a few times. Then when I turned into our driveway, a ginger cat with a red collar and tag was most put out to see me, fleeing through a bush to get away from me and stopping on the sidewalk to hiss at me.