A slipping-away summer

How the time flies, even when you are NOT having fun. Though right now I am.

I am high above the Mississippi, pretending the world is mine, even the eagle that just flew below me holding a big fat fish in his talons. It reminds me of the snack I will get when I am home again, not nearly so large, but not wriggling either.

I have been in a bit of a hiatus from my creative life. Sometimes you have to attend to other things and my job as a guard dog has grown almost burdensome. For several months now, my Person and Best Friend have undertaken to expand my little house into a bigger sort of house. Day after day, crews of workers have needed to be barked at, safety-sniffed and supervised.

First the roof was torn right off of my home and one day I ran up the steps and into the open-air platform with carpenters chasing me. Many a day a carpenter would let me right out of my little yard but I stayed close by and didn't run off as I would have in my less serious days.

Now the house is mostly finished and the cats have the run of the new space but I will admit only to you I am a bit afraid of going to the new upstairs. But my solace is my new back porch and from this secret and shady place I can watch the birds alight, the chipmunks sneak and the squirrels dash over the fence. Sometimes I spring out from under the porch chair and roar at them. I even lurk here in the dark of the evening, guarding against raccoons and evil-doers.

I also have a new duty: scaring away the Cooper's hawk who is new to the world this summer and has taken up target practice in my back yard. The only good news is that his aim is bad. The bad news is he is relentless. Unless I am around.

And so my summer has gone, constantly at work and adjusting to new circumstances, taking on responsibilities. I fear I am no longer the pup I used to be.

I will ponder that more. Later. Right now I am going to chase a squirrel.