No dipping! I say that a lot. You might think I’m referring to someone using chewing tobacco. Statistics do show that approximately 20 percent of high school boys, most commonly in rural areas, and 2 percent of high school girls use chewing tobacco habitually, and more than half began before age 13. In fact, only about half of people who are diagnosed with mouth or throat cancer will survive more than five years. But, no, that’s not what I’m referring to.
Or maybe you think I’m referring to the OCD, germ-a-phobic’s nightmare of someone who double-dips their chip into the artichoke dip at the holiday party. Nope!
Or perhaps I’m referring to the threats of double- or triple-dip recession. We had been warned that failure to pass the new tax cut compromise could cause a double-dip recession. Here is Investopedia’s definition of double-dip recession:
“When gross domestic product growth slides back to negative after a quarter or two of positive growth. A double-dip recession refers to a recession followed by a short-lived recovery, followed by another recession.
“The causes for a double-dip recession vary but often include a slowdown in the demand for goods and services because of layoffs and spending cutbacks from the previous downturn. A double-dip (or even triple-dip) is a worst-case scenario. Fear that the economy will move back into a deeper and longer recession makes recovery even more difficult.”
Actually I refer to none of the above! My intention was to write a column about Chessie, our quirky little cat. Quite frequently I have to tell her, “No dipping!” The cat dips, double dips and triple dips! She has a tendency to be curious about what we are drinking, so we have to be careful when we place our glass on the coffee table or end table in the living room. We began covering our glass with a reusable plastic lid so that if she tries to dip into it, we don’t have to dump out our beverage. We love her dearly, but we don’t wish to drink anything after it’s been dipped into by the same paws that have been digging in cat litter.
Her dipping also occurs while drinking out of her own water bowl; she often dips her paw into the dish and licks it. The other day, we watched Chessie put one paw into her dry food and flip the morsels into her water dish, stir it around and then flip the moistened dry pieces onto the floor and eat them. Then, she would splash around the water in her dish, I guess just for sport. There is hardwood floor under the cloth that the dish sits on, so I changed the water, cleaned the floor and replaced the damp cloth. Three times — she did that three times in a row! That was her upstairs food station.
Downstairs I placed her water in a larger, dog-food-sized bowl and put it in a different room, on a rug, separate from her food dish. That way she can dip and splash to her heart’s content. Paul has begun to refer to her as the little dipper. But, this dipping may just be a passing phase.
At a national level, hopefully the co-operation of passing the tax cut extension and other compromises won’t just be a passing phase and the two political parties will begin working together for the good of the people, instead of their own party. And, it would be nice if we didn’t have to tell our government officials, “No dipping!”
For more thoughts, check out my blog: themuseline.wordpress.com.
Deb Drinkwalter is a Lockport resident. Her column appears every Sunday. Contact her at d.drinkwalter@yahoo.com.
Deb Drinkwalter
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Deb Drinkwalter is a Lockport resident. Her column appears every Sunday. Contact her at d.drinkwalter@yahoo.com.
DRINKWALTER: No double-dipping for Chessie
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DRINKWALTER: No double-dipping for Chessie
No dipping! I say that a lot. You might think I’m referring to someone using chewing tobacco
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