Time

My momma’s momma had the following poem on her bulletin board. It’s now on my momma’s board:

Time is..
Too Slow for those who Wait
Too Swift for those who Fear
Too Long for those who Grieve
Too Short for those who Rejoice
But for those who Love
Time is eternity.

It’s a lovely poem and oh, so true. I had mom look on the innerwebs for topics on “time”. There are so many songs, so many poems, and so many quotes. Humans. You are obsessed with time. The right time. The wrong time. Too much time. Not enough time. Good time. Bad time. Jeepers, you average 70+ years to your lives. Us dogs? 15 if we’re really lucky. Don’t you think WE should be a bit more worried about time than you?

So what is making me think about time today? Well, it’s Wally Wallflower. Wanna know Wally’s story? Wally was pulled from a pound not too far from where we got Gracie/Company. There wasn’t a lot of “time” left for him. So after a brief stint in a boarding facility, Wally has come to stay with us. He’s really not a bad guy. His name Wally-flower came honestly. I mean, sheesh, he’s been here almost two weeks and I haven’t had to beat him up. Ah, but I digress….. Do you want to know why Wally was at the pound to begin with? His “family” (and I use that loosely), his humans, said, “We don’t have TIME for him anymore”. I still can’t get my paws around it.

We share the same 24 hours. In 24 hours his humans couldn’t find time to take care of him? To feed him? To brush him? To walk him? To LOVE him? Let’s do some basic math. Ok, work. You gotta work (some of us dogs gotta work, too). It buys “skibs”. Let’s say his humans had to work. 12 hours is being very liberal. You have to sleep. 8 hours—my momma wishes. That still leaves 4 hours. You don’t have 30 minutes in that 4 hours for a walk? 5 minutes to scoop kibble in a dish and set it on the ground? Hey, you’re sitting there watching the big loud talking screen. Skritch a guy’s ears while you watch “The Bachelor (*whine*)”. 15 minutes. That’s less than an hour. Still too busy? Ya cook dinner right? Can’t we be part of the family while dinner is being fixed and served? We like being with the pack. Gotta mow the lawn in the summer? Let us help. We’re happy to walk or run alongside you. Gotta run errands? Unless it’s beastly hot out, we’d love to come with. Then we could stop at a dog park for 20 minutes!

I know there are circumstances that cause life to change. Remember Gus? His human’s situation changed and they realized they didn’t have time either to give Gus the life he deserves. They may not have had TIME for him, but they still cared for him. He was groomed. He was vetted. He was fed. He was kept inside. They made appropriate arrangements for him to be in a good home. Nope, Wally was left outside most likely. Wally hadn’t been to the doctor. Wally’s furs were unkempt. They dumped Wally at a pound. “We don’t have time for him”. Wally had time for them…..

I’m sure you’re thinking “but I can’t let my pooch be with me while I mow. She’ll misbehave”. Want to know a secret? The more TIME you spend with your pup, the better they’ll be. How about a show of paws as to who has human children? When they were 2 years old did they understand all the rules? Could you leave them alone? Did they do exactly as you expected? Well of course not. I’m sure some of you out there think that your 21 year olds are still not trained well enough! But my point is that the more TIME you give your dog the better your dog will be.

“For those who love, time is eternity…” We dogs give you all of our time. All of it. Can you not give us just a fraction of yours? We’ll both be better for it.

Thanks for reading everyone. I wish time and happiness to reign on you today!

The Dog Days of....

Summer. You gotta be kidding me, right? Please tell me what in the world about this weather would inspire someone to think of a dog? This isn’t our weather. At least in our house, where activity is the rule and not the exception, this kind of weather stinks. How about the dog days of fall? Now there is some weather I can sink my teeth into…uh, strike that. Not allowed to sink our teeth into much. We get in trouble for that…. Ah, here I go channeling Bear again….

Bear dog used to talk about the weather. “There is no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather”. Well, with all due respect to Bear and John Ruskin, in our house we beg to differ. We beg for other things, too, like braunschweiger, a piece of steak, a cookie, but today we’re begging to differ on his feelings toward weather. It’s funny, but Bear Dog, my beloved brother, always wanted to blog about weather. It was on his to-do list but, sadly, he never got around to it. Bear was one of those guys that liked all the weather. He’d be happy to go out in the rain, in the snow, in the wind, the storms, and the heat. He always told me you can make your own fun no matter the weather. And he wanted to make fun of people who whined about the weather.

Well, y’know, I’m quite the trooper, but I guess Bear would have been making fun of me. Because, let me tell you where the line is drawn. 90 degrees with 70+% humidity. Yup. The line got drawn there. I drew it! YOU go out for a walk in a fur coat. Dare ya. Well, no, don’t….we’re not too fond of the thought that you’d be wearing someone else’s skin. But you get my drift. We’ve gone for walks in 10 below weather. Sure, our toes get cold, and we limp a little at first, but when we get running, and momma sure gets us running, we warm up. But on a day like today, we just can’t cool down. Sure we could immerse ourselves in a warm mud puddle. But sometimes, even that doesn’t work.

A friend on mom’s Facebook page (yeah, she’s allowed friends…it’s not ALL about me) asked an interesting question: “Can you get cabin fever in the summer”. We submit that you CAN. Today we couldn’t go out much. We were out in the morning (and yes, we went for a walk the previous morning) but by noon our trips were brief and even Chaudy wanted to come in. It’s no fun outside getting bit by bugs and not being able to play.

Then there is our silly mom. She’s fun to watch, actually. She takes us outside. We hunker down in the cool shade or under the bushes and WATCH her work hard in the sun. I just don’t get it. So what that the flower gardens and vegetable gardens are full of grasses and weeds? Didn’t I once see a sign that said, “A weed is but a flower unloved”. So love it and forget about it. But nooooo, mom has to look super silly in the garden in 100 degree heat. Jeez, if she’s gonna stand out there in the heat why isn’t she taking us for a walk? *whine* But I digress….again.

They say weather makes for good conversation. Look at how many postings on my Facebook page and others there are about heat, rain, storms. And I’ll bet in the middle of January we’ll find postings about cold, snow, wind. *howl* How funny is that?! But you humans just love talkin’ about the weather. You have whole TV channels dedicated to the weather. Conversations start, continue, and end with and about the weather. Decisions on living are made because of the weather. Hmmm….a little OCD are we? Me n’ my knights of the Round Bowl? Well even though I started this blog about not liking all the weather, the fact is we can’t control it so we do our best to live with it. We can control so little in our lives. And we surely know we can’t control the weather. We accept that a “dog day afternoon” is perfect for a nap. We don’t care about the weeds—heck it’s more grass for us to nibble on. And Bear’s not here anymore so we could care less if the green beans survive. We might be a bit smarter than you humans. We just get a good run in, chew a good bone, and take a long summer’s nap. Tomorrow WILL be a good day, too. Rain or shine. Hot or cold. And there WILL be weather of some sort or fashion. Now if you want to talk ‘bout ‘dopting a dog or other more pertinent issues let me know. I LOVE talking about that kind of thing. The weather? Well, just don’t go naming it after me….*ARWOOOO*

Hope you survive the heat. And thanks for reading everybody. I grant cooler weather and happiness to Reign on your parade!