Dogs Work

It's been a hard day's night, and I've been working like a dog
It's been a hard day's night, I should be sleeping like a log
But when I get home to you I find the things that you do
Will make me feel alright – The Beatles


I find it to be quite amusing that these fine humans compared hard work to that which a dog does. It is nice to see that some humans know exactly how hard a dog really does work all day. Unlike my humans Ryan and Beth who constantly remind us how they wish they could lazy around the house all day.
I would just like to make this post in Ode to all those dogs out there that truly work hard.
So Cheers,
Cheers, to the dog who puts his own life in peril to find the lost skier under the snow
Cheers, to the dog who faithfully leads his blind human through the busy streets of New York
Cheers, to the dog who help our brave soldiers reallocate themselves after a life of service
Cheers, to the dogs that become the hands, for their humans bound to a chair with wheels
Cheers, to the dogs who are the right hand to crime fighting humans
Cheers, to the dogs who are the sunshine in the eyes of children in hospitals
Cheers, to the dogs willing to pack a backpack to festivals so their humans don’t have to
And last but not at all least, Cheers, to the dogs who get left home all day, bored out of their minds and still greet their humans with kisses when they get home, without an ounce of animosity for being left in the first place.

Old Men

“The spiritual eyesight improves as the physical eyesight declines.” - Plato

This Plato must be one of the wisest humans to have walked the earth. I have noticed lately that my sight has gone a bit foggy. My Beth says that this is called cataracts. As my view of the world has dimmed what I get out of it seems to have become brighter than ever. I seem to take more time to smell things like the new flowers that were planted in the garden. I have started to listen more. I find my ears and nose are still working just fine but I feel as though this may not be a forever thing either. I have gotten better at the game of find. Though my sister was breed for such things I have grown more patient and find things more easily than she does. I put my nose straight in the air and take a sniff. I catch the sent on the wind and go straight to the lost object.
I have also found that my coat has begun to change as well. At first Beth started calling me gray beard. My muzzle was once a nice shade of brown and now it is almost pure white. But it wasn’t until a few nights ago that Beth made a startling discovery. My eyebrows! They are going white too. My eyebrows have always caught human attention as they are so expressive and contrast so much with my black face. But the thing that made me the most disheartened of all was when Beth noticed and then said “I guess I am going to have to start calling you “Old Man River” and then proceeded to call her mom and giggle about it over the phone.
I may be going gray but I am sure no “Old Man River”. I am still young at heart. And as we can probably apply Plato’s theory to spiritual youth as well, I am as young as ever!

Photo from the Jim Warren official website: http://www.jimwarren.com/site/index.php?option=com_gallery2&Itemid=57&g2_itemId=467