It was an expo – not my state of mind.

Yesterday, I went to volunteer for a beagle group that was showing some of their dogs for adoptions at the Wild About Animals Expo.

Held in the Agricultural Arena at Penn State – it was wall to wall children and wall to wall dirt.  And, yes, there were some animals mixed in.  A hawk, a falcon or two, a camel, a llama, goats, sheep, ponies, and the beagles.  I spent the better part of the afternoon looking after a beagle who barked, and barked, and barked.

There were two other beagles – very sweet:  one was the Jabba the Hutt of beagles and named Tinkerbell.  No way was this amorphous dog going to be flitting about like a fairy.  And Huck – her physical opposite – was a lean, little guy with bright blue eyes.

I also learned what a  Mountain Feist is… a dog.  A popular dog in Pennsylvania most often bred for squirrel hunting.  I didn’t realize that people were still hunting squirrels… is it the economy?  I do remember when I was little, my grandmother had a fur stole which she referred to as her squirrels.  The stole did have two little heads with beady eyes at the end, but they weren’t squirrels.  Why are people hunting squirrels?  Does it really require a special breed of dog?

Also, witnessed stupid human tricks performed by a guy from the K-9 division.  Not really a trick, but truly stupid, he wanders around looking at the exhibits while eating a hot dog.  So, he comes over to look at the beagles, and he is leaning over the rescue dogs with a hot dog in his mouth.  Ya think the dogs might have an issue with this?  I’m have to hold 30 pounds of hot dog induced fury and desperation back from decapitating this guy who appears to be oblivious that 1) a beagle is in a frothing frenzy and ready to kill him for a hot dog and 2) that he has a hot dog that he seems to be inhaling … look, ma, no hands!

To cap off my afternoon of mis and un adventure…. my father picked me up because I didn’t want to deal with parking and the event was five minutes’ drive from home.  We hit Snappy’s on the way home because the gas was 5 cents a gallon cheaper.  It was at Snappy’s that I was hit with one of probably many contradictions that occur at Snappy’s.  (I have to keep writing Snappy’s because it’s not that often the word comes across my vocabulary.)  Snappy’s offers fresh snuff.  The freshest in fact.  What exactly does fresh snuff mean?

While researching what qualifies as fresh snuff, I learned that snuff varies in texture, taste, and moistness.   Did you know there is fruit flavored snuff?  Would you want a fruit flavored tobacco cigarette?  And, yet we have fruit flavored snuff.  Evidently, if snuff dries out it loses its flavor, so that I assume would be the fresh reference.  Do you think Snappy’s has special convenient store humidors just for snuff?  Do you think I will return to Snappy’s to proceed with further research?

The answer, my friends, is an unequivocal NO.

But stay tuned, tomorrow I will tell you about a future research project that is on the horizon…. a little behind the holidays, but still… the world of Peeps!  Bethlehem, PA here I come!

As ever,

K. Quinn