Strange Goings On

Last week a truck arrived with a picture of a dog on the side above some letters my mom said read "DogWatch" and a guy got out with a machine that began to dig a trench (I would have dug it if he'd let me!)  Then he put spaghetti in the trench and covered it up.  Well, my mom says it was wire and the trench and wire went all the way around the back of our property and around the garage pad too. My mom says it reminded her of when she and my dad buried seven MILES of phone line, digging a trench, twice!  But it got them a phone at the ranch at last.
    Meanwhile, back at home. The next day, along the trench, little white flags showed up.  A woman came and put them beside rocks and next to old juniper trees, all the way around the back field I really, really like.  Right now there are white flowers blooming in the desert which is what my mom calls it. After the flags were set, Caesar and I got new collars.  It was all very exciting.
    Then the lady took me around that field I just love with all the rabbits and mice and lizards and sagebrush and rabbit brush and old juniper trees, some all old with moss on them.  It's my favorite place with a million smells and whenever my mom didn't notice, that's where I'd run to and not come back for sometimes half an hour!  But this time I was on a leash with the new collar and the lady wanted me to look at the flags.  If I got too close, she said "Danger" and I stopped.  I'd never heard that word before but the tone of her voice is the same as when my mom says "NO!" when I get too close to the dinner steaming on the table top.
    But then once I did get close to the flags and I could hear a beeping.  I ignored it because on the other side of the Danger flags was a deer trail, I'm just sure.  But wow!  When I put my nose past the flag I not only heard the beep but I got zapped, like when PB the cat whacked my nose once.  Not something one ever wants to do again.
    Pretty soon both Caesar and I figured out that the Danger Flags were meant to keep us inside the field and as long as we did, we wouldn't have to worry about being zapped.  Well, why didn't they just say so?  We love that field.
      My mom's been taking me along the flags every day now and I stop plenty short of them. Caesar stops short and turns his back to them to make sure those danger flags don't zap him again either.
    My mom even took me to have my hair trimmed so I could see those flags better.  And both Caesar and I got a bath and lots of scrubbing and we look pretty cool.  So far my mom hasn't gotten a good picture of us yet she says.  Soon, we'll be able to run in that field without a leash, just like at a dog park! And we'll be right at home. Woof!  Woof!
    My dad's doing well too.  Every other day now my mom drives him someplace where he says he walks on machines like the one in our sun room and has other machines to make him stronger too. He isn't able to take me on a leash yet because I get too excited and could pull him over.  Danger, Danger, that would be!
   But he laughs now and he sits on the back deck while my mom takes me on the Flag walk and we're getting to really like this place even though it doesn't have a river running through it. Everyone has to make adjustments. He doesn't like to use his cane but he says it's there to protect him for awhile.  Just like our Danger flags!  That's just the way life is my dad says.  He's making lots of adjustments and he has danger flags too he says, they just aren't so easy to see.
    Caesar also got to go on a walk away from the flags with his little brother Simon and my mom and her friend, Simon's mom. They came to visit.  They were raising money for Habitat for Humanity and promoting my mom's book too. I stayed home with my dad but here's a link to the TV news story about their walk. Caesar got to be on television!  Next time, it'll be me.
Woof Woof to you all.
Bo  Author Inspires Sunriver Charity Walk.