Peeping Raroo

Post date: May 13, 2011 2:13:49 PM

One of my small joys as of late has been coming home from work and taking my "boys" out for a walk. We have two dogs: a kind (but barky!) Sheltie named Howie and a nice (but naughty!) Pomeranian named Bernie. We've had Howie since 2003, but Bernie was a newer addition to our family this past year. We didn't plan to bring Bernie into our home, but Howie acted depressed after two of our cats died, and when we came across Bernie one day, we felt like he'd be a good friend for Howie. And, thankfully, he is. They're buddies!

When I take the fellas for our evening walk, I usually just stick close to our townhome complex, which is big enough to circle around and weave through so that the dogs can get enough exercise to appease them. It's really adorable to see the two of them walk side-by-side as they excitedly keep pace with me. But as innocent as it seems to exercise my pets, it also affords me the opportunity to be a nosey neighbor!

Now, I don't necessarily go up to any home and closely peer through their windows or anything like that, but I can't help glancing into people's houses to see what they're up to. In most cases, people are just sitting around watching television. And the TVs they have in their homes dwarf my family's moderately-sized set. People really like their televisions. I usually see the same people sitting in the same positions in the same seats as they stare at whatever is on the screen. It's a good reminder that too much TV is not really a good thing, I guess.

Usually when I'm walking the dogs during the week, our townhome complex is really quiet. But on Saturday night, people come alive. This past week was an especially entertaining walk. I took the dogs out past sundown and was able to see so many different things going on. There was a couple arguing on their front porch, a group of twentysomethings looking for two lost puppies, a birthday party in full gear, a family in the midst of moving out, a topless individual walking aimlessly around in their upper-story bedroom (Note: As I got closer I was like "Huh? Do I see boobs?" but they turned out to be man-boobs), some middle school-age boys playing Call of Duty: Black Ops, someone practicing the piano, and (as always) lots of TV viewing.

I wonder if some of the people whose homes I always pass by have started to think "There goes that weird guy with the two dogs who always looks in through our window at us." In most cases, though, I think people are too oblivious to even notice me. At least, I hope they are! At any rate, if I've learned one lesson from taking my dogs for a walk, it's this: Keep my curtains drawn as often as possible so weirdos like me can't see into my home!