Do Crazy People Yell?

There's a lot of different types of crazy. We all have our own opinion of who they are and which is the scariest. Killers, suiciders, people who love the color purple - those are the obvious crazies.

Where I live, it's the bike trail/dog walking crazies.

I have two dogs, well behaved and very friendly. I understand that there are laws and rules but a lot of people break them - from really bad ones, to parking tickets, etc. Maybe I'm pushing my luck, but on this one trail I break the leash law as do many of my neighbors. We all know, we all co-no-leash the trail. I even see some people drive their dogs in to no-leash. It's a really nice area, quiet, and although I don't know the people or dogs by name I recognize them mostly. It's a very friendly, happy, "good morning" atmosphere that makes me feel good about our community and this town.

But sometimes I get my timing wrong. Sometimes I let my family experience the no-leash trail and I upset the balance of our tranquility.

There have been a few of these times. Once my mom graciously took my dogs down there and actually conversed with one of the scary no-leash trail men. Next time I was down there he asked me if I was married and would I like to go out. Thanks Mom...

Then there was a time I was running in the afternoon and this lady looked scared, which I understand because one of my dogs is big and can look scary. So I put the two on the leash until I passed her. She screamed at me for ages about my dogs not being leashed. Didn't matter that I put the leashes on and she appeared as a crazy lady screaming at someone about not leashing her leashed dogs... Oh No. The scariest part for me was that she tried to follow me home. I ran 3 miles and then walked an extra 2 to get away from the lady because hiding behind cars only made the stalker come closer. Crazy...

Today had to have been the craziest of them all... I've never seen her or her boyfriend/husband? on the trail before. Nor do I recognize the dogs, which I would know in a split second.

It was a cold morning and I had an early wake up call from my favorite person, so I had reason to postpone my jog by an hour or so. I'm at the last loop, seeing some people I recognize, some I don't, when I jog by this couple hunting for something in the mulch of the trail. Because their dogs are on leashes, I jumped up to the dirt trail. We all do that. If our dogs are unfriendly or if someone is leashed versus not leashed, we jump to the other trail - bike vs. dirt, it's all good.

So I jog by these people and my dogs are tailing because they hunt or whatever. I cross back over the path ahead of them and am jogging on the bike trail when I hear that woman yelling. I can't hear what she's saying, but mostly people yell at me because Jbel is too far back. What Jbel knows is that I loop back and she can rest. When I loop back the couple are on the bike trail, so I take my dogs across to the dirt trail so that I don't have to leash them.

Then the yeller cuts across infront of me...

Here I'm thinking she's just stupid, since I've never seen her on the trail and she obviously doesn't know the "understanding" about leashed dogs vs. not leashed, when she has a leashed dog. Needless to say the yeller starts yelling at me about my little dog crapping a ways down the path while I ran ahead.

OK. So if I wasn't so shocked I was wrong about my understanding of the situation, since I think I have it all figured out, I probably would have spoken to her differently. One of the truley gifted trates my friend G has - she always has an educated thing to say to people that surprise her... I admire her that trate...

But this woman was crazy yelling at me. Why did she have to yell? If she was mad at me why couldn't she just tell me and I'd try to fix it, fix the problem. I don't want people to not like me, that's for sure. I don't relate to yelling, tend to think that people who yells at people they don't know are serious crazy. In some neighborhoods people get shot for looking at someone the wrong way. Who the hell is this mulch digging, poop carrying, yeller and what is she thinking?

The only way I know how to deal with crazy/angry people is to wish them well and carry on... So I did...

I hope the guy she was with is O.K. Worried about the weeny that hid. Pretty sure I have his face ingraved in my mind for the next time my Mom walks that trail...

Tried to blog last night, but my connection was down...

Just wanted to say that CW called me back and was going to bring the kids to ride Frosty. That all worked out good. And we went to the park after. Hoping to see them again tomarrow. Life feels normal again...

My favorite person, RM, called me a bunch last night (and then again this morning early). I'm not expecting to hear from him for a week, although I hope I do... Sometimes I think I could make it easier for myself, but I'm in love with him so it carries on... We'll see how it goes...