All Dogs (And People) Deserve To Roll Around In the Green Grass

Jackson the Cocker Spaniel tells us to
stop and roll in the grass, and smell
the spring air.  

Here in northwestern Vermont, Thursday evening brought us perfect spring weather. The sun was out, the sky was a deep blue.

The air had the first hint of summertime warmth and a strong, steady breeze made the air invigorating, and kept the black flies to a minimum.

In other words, I had to get busy, busy, busy with the gardening, the landscaping, the yard care. Pronto.

Jackson the Cocker Spaniel would have none of that. He ordered me to go outside with him, pointed at the new green grass, and said he must lie down in it.

And stay there.

Yep. The dog told me to Sit! Stay!

I complied, but was antsy at first. But soon I watched Jackson rolling around in the grass, and then face the wind. His nose twitched in a thousand different directions at once, absorbing every scent in the gusts.

Soon, I found myself doing the same thing. Just enjoying the different fragrances that flew past me in the breeze. The musky smell of the daffodils. The organic tone of the nearby forest coming to life. The season's first sweet hint of lilac.

I felt myself truly relaxing for the first time in days during this busy season.

Jackson the Cocker Spaniel was right as always. We're lucky to have the opportunity to enjoy moments like this, so enjoy them, dammit!

Which made a video I came across yesterday all the more poignant. It was another one of those beagle rescue videos from the Beagle Freedom Project that have been circulating around the past few years.

The beagles had been kept in cages all their lives for medical and beauty product testing. The video shows the beagles experiencing sunshine and green grass for the first time in their lives.

These are the moments Jackson, me, and most of the rest of us take for granted. That the beagles in the video, at first terrified of the brightness and the soft ground, waited so long to enjoy that is disgusting.

I can arguably see the need to test medical procedures on animals, but lipstick and eye shadow? Please.

Soon, the beagles in the video come to life, and discovered what Jackson the Cocker Spaniel already knows and what Jackson had to remind me of the other day.

To have a truly productive life, you need to stop and have "unproductive" moments of springtime bliss.

That means rolling around in the grass from time to time, and literally stopping to smell the roses.

Here's the beagle video, I told you about, but warning: Kleenex alert!!

It Was Too Quiet On The Home Front

At last report, my husband Jeff was en route home from a week long business trip out of town. He'll be home later today.

Jeff and Jackson enjoy an autumn
day in Vermont last October.  

Thank GAWD!! The house has been too quiet. Worse, because of my work schedule, I had to put Jackson the Cocker Spaniel/Weather Dog in the kennel for a few days.

You'd think I'd enjoy the brief peace and quiet, but no way. Uh-uh.

When I was single, I thought it was perfect, the fact that I lived alone and didn't have to answer to anybody.

Jeff never demands to know where I am, he's easy to live with. But I do always want to check in with him when I'm going somewhere, because it's common courtesy.

And I need to coordinate schedules with him, so we don't get in each other's way.  In other words, I have to be at least minimally considerate.

This past week, I would come and go whenever and not tell anybody. Not that I was doing anything a little sketchy. Mostly, I was working. But still, I miss having to tell somebody I have to leave for work at such and such a time.

I work in a home office for a good part of my days. At home, I just barely get on a roll writing something, and it always seems just then Jackson bounces into the office needing to go outside, needing to play, needing to eat, needing for me to go to the window and help him bark at the birds flitting around out there.

This week, none of that. No Jackson wanting to play when I need to work (and I would rather be playing with him. That guy is a temptster no question)

I used to enjoy the silence, when I was single, of no other voices in the house. Now I totally miss the little noises Jeff makes. His chortle when he's laughing at a bad sitcom, or when he starts singing (quite well!) along to Josh Groban as he's working at his drafting table downstairs.

At night, he'll snore a little bit. It'll stir me awake, and I'll listen for a couple minutes before falling back asleep. His snore is strangely comforting.

This past week, no snoring.  And that made me stay awake at night, rather than get any extra sleep, because I missed the snore, missed Jeff.

Yeah, marriage changes you all right. It's a responsibility, being married. And it's a lesser, but still big and real responsibility, to have a dog.

No, I take that back.

The word is not responsibility, but love. Love is why we ache when our partner, even our dog is gone for a few days. It's why the ache is there when they're gone,  even when you know that your husband and the dog are perfectly safe and happy and will be home in a few days and everything will be back to normal.

That's my new normal.  The new normal that officially arrived on August 26, 2012, the day we got married. A new normal I didn't think I'd ever achieve. Or even want. And now I crave it more than anything.

Welcome home, Jeff and Jackson!   I missed you. I'm so glad you're back. Make some noise for me, OK?