Looking Back On A Busy Season (Plus A Funny Story)

  • by Tracy
  • Puppy News

Ah, another page has been turned now that we are done with that crazy time of farming—doing our best to get the timing all right in getting our hay all up between rainstorms and into the barn while it's still green, leafy and beautiful. Our garden also has a new pages of its own now that we've harvested the vegetables and fruits and processed them by canning, freezing or dehydrating.

I am now sitting by a nice warm fire and writing about my summer days with the dogs. When the days are busy and long, when the hay is all up and tucked in the barns, and the jars of brightly colored produce are neatly stacked on the shelves, I think back on how much fun it all was... the dogs were there wagging their tails loving the rides in the farm truck—cool drinks of water each time we passed the big pond—stopping, sitting and sometimes lazily drifting off to sleep under the shade of the giant maple trees—the warm breeze gently blowing over us as we had summertime mid-day dreams of adventures in cool places. Good times! Awesome days.

I love the dogs, each one as an individual. Their companionship and whimsical ways are a never ending source of joy to our family. All they ever want is to be with us and enjoy our love. They are happy dogs - they don't ask for much - but give so much to us. They guard our farm - only barking when something deserves their attention. When necessary, they will block the way between us and danger or sometimes perceived danger. I'm thinking of something in particular when I say, "perceived danger"...

One hot summer day, the UPS man pulled up with the dust billowing behind his dark brown and gold lettered truck—he's always in a hurried rush to get up our road to deliver his goods. When he arrives, he goes into the back of his truck and rummages around for the box he was bringing to us. When he finds it, he steps down the two steps with a rather large box that covered the better part of his body. I was standing on the porch ready to receive the box when Rio came between the man in the brown shorts and shirt who looked like a rather strange object with legs and arms. Rio decided this thing looked unsafe to be coming towards me so quickly so stood firm barking with warning in his vioce to the approaching object. He demanded it stop coming towards me until he could give it a thorough safety rating investigation before it came any further. The UPS man said, "Is He ok?" I smiled, "Oh Yes, he would never hurt you." So, the object proceeded towards me again with the big box. That's when Rio spread his front legs out wide, gripping the ground with his big feet and with a fierceness I have never before seen he said, "Stay Away!" I told the UPS man, "On second thought, why don't you stop and just put the box down where you are." He readily agreed and set the heavy box down in the driveway at which time Rio starting wagging his big, fluffy tail as if to say, "Oh George! I didn't know it was you buddy! You looked pretty suspicious there for a while... I'm sorry, come on up to the Porch and stay a while!"

This was a learning experience for Rio and I. I now know He would protect me with all He's got. And He learned that George, our trusty UPS man, can take on different looks on any given day, LoL.

I love this about all the dogs, their faithfulness to our relationship and their ever looking after us, not as a job, but as our friends. What more could we ask for?