Reflection On the Mind of My Dog

There are many things as humans that we take for granted. We take for granted how we perceive things, how we see ourselves and that we can reflect on our own existence at all.

The reason I bring this up is that one of our dogs got a brief grooming last night. I was playing with him a bit when my wife grabbed a grooming brush to thin out his coat a bit. Not that it mattered to our dog but this event was completely unexpected. Usually we humans can "go to" a barber or stylist to get a trim or cut. Usually, we think about doing this for sometime. I couldn't help but think about how much of our dogs life is completely at our bidding and mercy and yet they really are very "cool" about it. If my barber just appeared out of nowhere to give me cut or suddenly the noise of clippers was near my head, someone might get hurt and I might need counseling. Our dog handled it rather impressively, I thought.

How weird it might have been for him to have a pile of his hair on the floor when it was all done. We humans go to the store and see our clothes displayed in front of our eyes. At least we see the clothes off of our bodies before we wear them. No such luxury for the dog. We can look at choices and say to ourselves internally, "That shirt is 'me' " (whatever that means). The dog has it's clothes from day one. That is, until, a human comes along and strips it from them. Now, what really is them is around them and under them on the floor without a bother. Again, a very impressive thing.

Although my wonderment may seem silly, my point is that I was impressed all over again with this creature and it's character, resilience and a sentience that makes that of us human beings seem meager at times.

There is a saying that I have written about before, "I want to be the kind of person my dog thinks I am."! That would be someone he can trust in spite of it all. To be someone he can look to (and sometimes must) rely on us for food, shelter, guidance and affection with an almost uncontained enthusiasm and overall joi de vivre.

So, to revise my earlier posting "My Life As a Dog" I would say that, yes, I would like to be the kind of person my dog thinks that I am.

Wow! I can't wait to ask my wife what she thinks of me!

Well......

Rabbits, 4H and Coyotes

I went to my first 4-H meeting the other night with my wife. Actually, it wasn't my first ever just my first as an adult. There was this meeting I attended back when I was 11 (or something close to that) that comes to mind. For me then, it wasn't a "meeting" but just a bunch of kids getting together and something I had to do because I was sleeping over at a friend's house and he had to go.

This meeting was a bit different and the "kids" actually presided over the meeting. They went over some bookkeeping and details which fund had how much money. There was a swine fund, a horse fund and even a rabbit fund. The rabbit fund I found particularly endearing. It had $58.62 in it (if memory serves me correct). I thought of all the neat things I could buy with that money if I were a rabbit...probably lots of greens and carrots.

Despite the stereo type that some may have with such a rural organization, there was only one person there wearing a baseball cap with an up-turned brim and wearing a heavy, long sleeved plaid shirt. It occurred to me that since we were in the desert that wearing a plaid and long sleeved over shirt when it was about 80 degrees outside was quite odd. Well, I couldn't explain the dorky hat either.

It just occurred to me why I found the rabbit fund so endearing! Before we left for the meeting I was outside tossing the horse a couple flakes of bermuda grass and checking the water level of his two big muck buckets we have for his watering. One bucket was over half way down and there was a young jack rabbit that had drowned in there. Poor thing...probably smelled the water and jumped in and it was just too much for it to get out. I could only imagine his distress.

I tipped him out slowly onto the muck rake to hold him but let the water go by. The last thing to fall out of the bucket was a left over piece of carrot that the horse had likely missed and let drop in there. I wondered if the rabbit went for the water and the carrot.

Using the muck rake I brought him out to the nearby wash and laid him under a creosote bush, knowing that the coyotes would find him later that night.

The next day I went to the place where I laid him and there were only my footprints still, the marks of where I laid him and coyote prints.

Sunset in the Desert

There is a brief time when the sun has just set below the horizon that the mystery of the desert is revealed.

Shadows begin to wrap up the day, the colors turn to gold, lavender and hues of blue. And as if the desert's own richness is too much for time to bear, time is suspended and eternity dances between the ebb and flow of redefining colors, shapes and shadows.

To the West a final blanket of orange, red and pink is laid over the horizon covering the day softly with night.