Close to You
After Richard and I made the commitment to adopt our rescue mutt—but before we met him and brought him home—we visited a pet supply store for the first time in years. We perused aisle after aisle of brushes and beds and bones, and we pawed through piles of sweaters, toys, and collars. I tried hard
Category: Dog accessories
Fun with Roadkill
I enjoy about many things about sharing my days with Willie, and our daily walks together offer many opportunities for new experiences. Though we walk the same routes each day, these sojourns are never boring or static; we wave and wag at a few neighbors, we see many deer and wild turkeys, and one of
Category: Dog
Rainy Day Dog
After a long, dry spell during which the lawn browned, the tomatoes wilted, and the pond receded, last night the heavens opened with a drenching, purifying rain – a rain that silenced the birds who normally welcome each dawn. The metal barn roof thrummed beneath the onslaught as the gutters overflowed. I yawn and stretch
Category: Dog
Snapping Turtle!
Willie has been spending more unsupervised time in the yard than ever before. With every gap and cranny of the perimeter fencing now secured with chicken wire and zip ties, I feel confident Willie cannot escape. Unlike some other dogs we’ve known, he’s also not a digger or an “escape artist,” and seems perfectly content
Category: Dog
Something Fishy
Our pond has been frozen solid for months. Blanketed with snow for almost as long, it’s a stretch to remember how it appears in other seasons, when the dormant roses and river birch along its banks again fill with buds and blooms and birds; when the fish and frogs and turtles that somehow hibernate in
Category: Dog
His Master’s Voice
Willie didn’t make a sound for months after we first brought him home; not a whine or a growl or a bark – or even a burp. He seemed happy and healthy and showed us great affection, and we spoke to him all the time – all the usual and expected phrases such as, “Do
Category: Dog
Snow Dog
This is the second winter of Willie’s life. The last one came on quick. Born in central Louisiana, that young little rescue mutt arrived in the Hudson Valley in early November with no concept of the snow and ice and road salt to come. Willie toughed it out, as we all must. But when walking
Category: Dog
Secret Santa
Construction of a new house began early this year on a road Willie and I walk nearly every day. We’ve watched and listened from a distance as the foundation was poured, as the framing was completed, and as the roof and windows slowly appeared. “They plan to be in by Christmas,” the excavator told me
Category: Dog walking
Tough Guy
At home, with Richard and me, Willie is sweet and docile, perfectly content in our routines, including walks and playtime at regular intervals. He hardly ever makes a sound – and for few months we weren’t sure he even could. Willie sleeps a lot, he likes to cuddle beside me when I read, and he
Category: Dog
A Happy Anniversary
The electronic calendar beeps with a reminder: today’s the anniversary of “Gotcha Day,” the day one year ago when Richard and I drove to the Spring Valley/Nanuet Park & Ride to meet our new dog Willie – the dog then known only as “Bubbles.” The memory of that morning comes back to me in a
Category: Dog