Finn McCoul

Benendoner was a Scottish giant who came over to Ulster by building the causeway. Finn McCoul the Irish giant was frightened but decided to dress up as a baby in order to frighten Benendonner - if this was the size of the barn what was the father like! - so he fled back to Scotland destroying the causeway which can now only be seen at both its ends in County Antrim in Northern Ireland and on the isle of Staffa in Fingal's cave. Incidentally Finn McCoul was also responsible for creating Lough Neagh in the middle of Ulster by picking up a clod of earth and throwing it at another giant in Scotland. He mis-aimed and it fell into the sea and became the Isle of man halfway between Ireland and England.

Or, Finn McCoul is my neighbor Walter's dog who was given the name of the immortal Irish legend. Walter is blind, and Finn is no seeing eye dog, he's just a regular mutt with bells on his neck so Walter can hear when he's walking the wrong way. I've known who Walter was for quite sometime. I've seen him drive before. He just sets his walking stick next to him on the passenger seat and sticks his head out of the window so he can hear if there are any cars or small children coming. He also was up on his roof fixing it. He said that he did fall off once but seemed to think it had nothing to do with him being completely blind. He was a Hopkins boy who married a Goucher girl. He opposes the war. Likes freckles (which is hilarious) and his dog Finn loves salt and vinegar chips. What a smart dog. When Walter fixes his car, I hear him with a screw driver tap-tapping under the hood, so he can hear where the carburetor is (or whatever it is you keep under there) And he goes about fixing one or two things himself. Also last night, I don't know if it was all the wine, but I thought Walter was a kind of hot for a sixty-some year old blind neighbor.

Last night, Mike and Eric and I played board games and drank wine. We were going to go out, but I'm poor until my paycheck comes through - so we spent the night at the bistro (which is my front porch, but with a table cloth and a candle.) We ruled at board games. I like that we all played as a team. I hope no one in the neighborhood saw me trying to do charades for "mechanical bull."