Good Dogs

The cousins arrived, bringing an abundance of fresh produce...and two dogs, Lucky and Snoopy.  Bessie Anne is an exceptional hostess.  She greeted each canine guest politely, walked them to her favorite "spots," and graciously shared a few milk bones.  Lucky and Snoopy are really well-behaved, friendly and interested, and not boisterous.  It is I who feel like a dog and a lousy hostess.  Past experience has taught me that I cannot have visiting dogs in the house; one, because of the cats (the dogs are fine, it's the cats who freak out) and, two, because a past guest marked a spot, all canines cannot resist the urge to follow suit.  There is a dog run outside under a big oak, a doggy guest suite, and there is where Lucky and Snoopy are staying.  They come out frequently for walks and potty runs, and they're pretty satisfied with the accommodations, but I still feel bad about sending them to "the cooler."

As if Snoopy and Lucky weren't enough, after a quick trip for chips to go with the salsa verde I was making with the tomatillos Christi brought, we came back to find an old black lab in the driveway by the goat pen.  Hmmm.  Her collar tags announced her name was Faye, and there was a local phone number.  Unless a strange dog is obviously just passing (quickly) through, I contain the dog and try to locate the owner or call Animal Control.  A lost dog up here is prone to getting hit by a car or killed by coyotes...getting sent to the pokey is a preferable option.  The dog run was already occupied, and Lucky and Snoopy were very vocal in telling the interloper that there was no more room in the inn.  Bessie did her hostess thing again as we leashed Faye to the front porch and waited for her owner to arrive.  You just have to love labs...they do this bouncing with the front feet when they're happy, and Faye was very happy when the guy showed up a short while later.  Grey in the eyebrows and muzzle, she was new to the owners and the neighborhood and this old girl was just trying to "get back home."

As we were going to bed last night, Bessie Anne's sigh of satisfaction told me she'd had a good day...and I agreed.