Ye Olde Philosopher

Ye Olde Philosopher got up this morning to bright fall sunshine. The sky seems to have taken on a crisp edge. I can’t see that it’s any less blue. It just feels like fall. Billy da Kidd seems a little pouty. He was prevented from wandering across the road by being put on his long cable. The road is too dangerous for doggie wanderings these days. Traffic has increased, and the speed of those yuppie SUV’s is criminal. I doubt they would even notice if they ran over his precious body. I tried to distract him with a game of ball, but he would have none of it. He fetched it twice and then sat down with his back to me. I know he did it just to please me, but his heart wasn’t in it.

Something else might be bothering him. I was petting cats again. In his book, this is a betrayal of our special friendship. I reassured him that although I may play with the cats at times, he is the only dog in my life. Tango, the fat cat, has the biggest mouth for a cat I have ever seen. He meows all the time. He called me to the door, and then Little Joe, the charcoal one came in just plastered with burrs. He jumped up on the bench at the back door where I keep boots, jackets, gloves, horse whips, brushes for dogs and cats, and towels at the ready for muddy paws. He rolled over and revealed a furry belly all covered in the nasty burrs that typify fall in the country. Joe is the one who crawls under things, so he seems to get the most of them. The other two are more high up sorts of fellows. Well, someone has to do the underneath work. Otherwise, the mice would take over everything. Joe is the shy one, and the most docile, but he is the one most likely to bring a mouse to the back door in spite of his diminutive size. There was no sign of Pinky Wash Chowski this morning. He is the odd one. He always needs a separate entrance and a different path to follow. He’s Billy’s special buddy. He thinks he should have been a Golden Retriever. After all, Billy lives the life he would like to live – and, he’s color-coordinated. I have pictures of him and Billy curled up together taking a nap. Pinky has his head resting on Billy’s paws. If I ever get a digital camera I will post pictures here.

I suppose I will trim the roses, and pull weeds in the front flower bed today. Also, I need to look up fence vendors. The posts for the front fence are in. I have had lots of trespassers, and the road frontage on that side is too dangerous. If the horses should decide to run through the single electric tape I have used for years, they might be killed, or worse, cause someone to be in an accident and get hurt. I am also worried about thieves and vandals. A fence won’t solve all these problems, but it will head off a lot of them. I feel hemmed in by the fence even though I can’t even see it from the house. There was always open space there before, and now it’s closed off. Another change that has me and all of the neighbors concerned is the new well that went in yesterday on the open field next one over from me. That means a new neighbor is coming. I hope they like dogs and cats and horses and quiet times.

Changes they are a coming. I think Bob Dylan wrote that – or maybe not.

glee