June 15th

25C Sunny
Tonights the big night for the Canucks, I hope they do it for themselves and the rest of BC. I would say Canada, but it seems there are some kooks out there who have been bad mouthing our team. Those people should review some of the replays and watch for the behind the play things that go on, sometimes in front of an official but are just ignored. However I don't want to get down in the gutter with those who dwell there so will move on.

The salmon was brining yesterday and all night so will smoke it this am. These fish came from Haida Gwai - formerly the Charlottes and there is no evidence at all of sea lice. Yet all the fish from our waters are always moderately to heavily infested. Hmm, probably no fish farms up in those northern waters.

I spoke yesterday to a nice young real estate lady, who we may have list our west coast property. Unfortunately the postal strike will hinder some exchange of papers.

I see there are four visitors this morning so here is next installment of It's a -----Life.

but this time I knew what moving meant.

DOG DAYS

 

CHAPTER 5

W

e arrived back in Lund and tied up, all our belongings were hauled a very short distance to a big building on the edge of the beach – another hotel.  We moved up onto the second floor but this time there were three rooms, my house was put out on the porch that overlooked the water, I kind of liked the location.  I could walk about and see what was going on the road down below as well as the dock where there was always something going on.  We had hardly got settled in when there was a flurry of activity and I could sense an undertone of excitement.  My three humans kept talking about the first day of school.

  This turned out to be a disappointment for me as school was somewhere John was going to be almost everyday and I wasn’t supposed to go with him.  I followed him the first couple of times, but he always brought me back, then Mom started tying me up in the morning so I couldn’t follow.  But not to be outdone, I waited until I was untied, I already knew where the school was and I just trotted up there and hung around outside until he came out.  Unfortunately there were a bunch of other kids that he played with and he had the nerve to ignore me until he returned home in the afternoon.

  Lund was a great place, Mom loved to go for walks and she would always take me with her. I knew she needed me to protect her, and the odd other dog that we encountered I let know in no uncertain terms that they were to keep their distance. One day I had the chance to show her just how necessary I was.

  John was home and Mom decided the three of us should go for a walk before Senior got home. We walked up the steep hill that ran into town, well they walked, I ran about scouting out things ahead and making sure everything was safe.  We had just got past the top of the hill and around the

corner when I encountered a strong scent, it sort of was like a cat but kind of different. I slowed down and left the road and followed the scent for just a little ways when I came almost face to face with the biggest cat I had ever seen, it was ten times as big as me! Without thinking I barked, the first time it was a bit squeaky so I deepened the pitch and went into a frenzy of barking. Well that cat jumped then turned and started to run, my motto is if they run, I’m in charge! I started after it and suddenly it jumped then climbed up into an old maple tree. I would have gone up after him but I was too short to get to the first limb so I just circled the tree and kept barking.  A few moments later Mom appeared with John right behind her. She took one look then told John to run back to the hotel and tell the men that she and her dog had treed a cougar. “Hurry, hurry.” She called.

  I wanted to tell her to back off as this big guy wasn’t looking too happy and he occasionally showed his teeth and hissed and growled, but since I couldn’t talk I just kept barking. 

  John was gone for quite a while; finally he appeared with one of the men who sat down in the big room on the bottom floor of the hotel every day. I guess that cat, cougar or whatever figured he was really outnumbered, might even have been afraid I would be hoisted up into the tree, anyway he suddenly launched himself out and over my head and Mom’s hit the ground running and was gone! I started after him but when Mom and John both called me I decided I better stay close; there could have been another one.

  Mom was kind of upset and she got after the man for taking so long, then he got after her for following a cougar into the bush. Finally they quit arguing and we went back to the road and down the hill, our walk was over for that day.

  I think it was the next year when a nice surprise happened at least it started out OK then there was a bit of a blip, but I managed to turn that around to some advantage.

  I was lying on my verandah watching the big steel boat arrive. For some reason I had been tied up otherwise I might have gone down to the wharf. I had noticed my three people had snuck out through the hall way and out the ground floor door. I was curious but I had met the boat before, it was no big deal.

  Then I spied them with someone and they were coming back my way. The person they were with looked familiar but at first I couldn’t place her (I could tell it was a lady).  They came up the stairs and a few minutes later out the front door came John followed closely by – Grandma! Wow what a surprise! I think this was when I invented my ‘welcome, I’m really happy to see you, whoopee, noise, wiggle and dance’ routine. Remember I never could master the human’s language, so all I could do was try and show my emotions and thoughts in another way.  So I invented a special noise and did a little dance that included tail wagging, wiggling my whole body and when I could get away with it jumping up when I was greeting someone I was especially pleased to see. It went over so well I started to do it quite frequently with those I loved the most.