Dogs Are Dogs

All over the world.

Who? Me? Sally. Photo courtesy bleary-eyed house mate.

Today’s title is in reference to an old Paul Simon song that I think was named Cars, or Cars Are Cars. In any case, I used to insert “dogs” instead. The first line would then go, “Dogs are dogs, all over the world.” It doesn’t get any deeper than that. No hidden meanings. Just a love of dogs.

I’m taking a mental health break today because I am boiling over the more I learn about the failed assault and coup attempt on the Capitol Building. I’ll purge my gathered thoughts tomorrow. In the meantime. . .

---

I spent a portion of my night last night curled up with my dog on her dog bed. One of her many dog beds strategically placed throughout the house.

My guess is house sounds were the source of her being a nervous Nellie.

Our house ‘speaks’ far more than I ever knew. Having spent a vast majority of the last ten months cooped up inside the house I am learning it has much to say.

There are the usual sounds you expect from the many devices and appliances. The gurgling and whirring of the clothes washer. The gurgitating and regurgitating of the dish washer. The humming and buzzing of the refrigerator. The heating units going on and off in each room as they wastefully attempt to modulate each space’s temperature.

There are the typical sounds caused by outside influences like wind, rain and snowfall. We rarely get hard rains so the patter on the metal roof from rain is usually subtle. When the real rain falls it beats on the metal like a muted melodious symphony of tympanys.

We occasionally get tremendous winds because the Number One Christmas Town in America is situated in the crossroads and crosshairs of several river valleys and canyons. When that happens, doorways not hermetically sealed (which is all of them) thrum and whistle and make a racket you cannot ignore.

I’ve had more than one heavy duty, glass patio table shatter because of my forgetfulness to take down the umbrella before big winds arrived.

Snow falls without report until it builds and the temperature outside rises and then it slides with a whump and a thump, blocking all egresses unless some vigorous snow shoveling action is taken. These are the days we are receiving intermittent snow falls followed by rising temperatures and falling rains followed by intermittent and inconsistent snow slides that, like fireworks, keeps Sally on constant high alert.

And then there are - what I must assume - are house-settling creaks and groans and laments and deep breaths of an inanimate object at the mercy of natural elements around the clock. The ground beneath us, the sun, the heat, the cold, the damp, the dry.

As a dog, you cannot ball up tight enough to ward off things that bump in the night. Wandering deer and bear and coyote and - possibly - cougar, as a high-strung canine, you hear, or sense, their passing in the night and go to the door to sniff and maybe let loose your most ferocious bark, knowing, all too well, you are safe inside the house behind the door with your master grumbling in the background. But, when the noise you hear comes unexpectedly and randomly and without any kind of scent at all, it can be terrifying.

This is not Sally’s first winter ‘rodeo’.

But, for some reason, she seems a bit more frazzled by it in her eighth, possibly tenth, journey around the sun. (The paperwork from the shelter was inconclusive and contradictory about her specific age.) Both of us are getting less sleep due to her deep-seated concerns about spooky noises. A “Thunder” shirt, which a good friend gave me, has been moderately useful and has been deployed. It’s designed to be like an ongoing hug which can ease a dog’s anxieties. Since her prior master must have beaten into her not to get on furniture or beds, or trespass into kitchens, I may need to consider joining her on the floor as I did last night.

But the next time I’ll come prepared with blanket, pillow and my own dog bed.

###

In case you missed the dog video from a few columns ago, I thought it deserved a second round.

The Dogs of 2020!

River runners of a certain vintage! You might want to put this one on your Wish or Bucket list.

A Float Trip on the Upper Missouri River

Missouri Breaks National Monument, Montana - Photo: bscrittersitter.blogspot.com