Tuesday, June 05, 2007

The antics of dogs


No, this isn’t a post about how the people running our country are blowing it. It’s just a little story about how I escaped into a simpler, childlike state of mind evening before last.

It was dusk and after a complex work day I went down to sit on the dock and watch the evening settle. The dogs followed me, as they always do. Sam and Rory are at odds over swimming. Sam has always been afraid of water, whereas the newcomer Rory is a natural swimmer. He plunges into the lake without a thought and it infuriates Sam, who always barks and threatens as Rory tries to emerge from the water. It used to be annoying, but now I know it’s just a game for them.

This night, they found a turtle along the shore and began to harass it as dogs will do. I rescued the turtle and threw it way out into the lake. They both sprung into action and dived in after it, oblivious to the fact that it was six feet below the surface already. Their comical and futile splashing around and searching made me laugh out loud.

A little later, the second scene played out when a beaver from the nearby lodge began to swim towards the dock, in what I thought was a very nonchalant way. By this time the dogs had given up on finding the turtle and had come on to the dock to shake off their coats and get me all wet. When Rory saw the beaver, he valiantly plunged back off the side and swam after it. The beaver, who had been stealthy and slow before, did some kind of a flip with its tail and was out of there at the speed of light. Again, I laughed until my sides hurt—something I don’t do enough these days.

Spending an hour like this put me in a better mood than watching any sit-com. But then I realize you’d have had to have been there for it to sound funny.

~

1 Comments:

At 7:54 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

this reminds me of when you were a kid and got so much joy out of playing with Princess! Gail

 

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