Late Winter Snapshots: The Week That Was

It's been one of those weeks. Despite have more than enough to keep me occupied, I've managed to do the bare minimum. Why? Who knows? Somewhere, deep down, that procrastinator inside me was reawakened and I suddenly felt very, very sleepy.  It was an odd enough week anyway; both of us getting over a cold and a different work schedule for Andy.

But here are some snapshots from what we did do this week. 

On Thursday, we trekked back to "ye olde fishing hole." The forecast said it would be calm, overcast, and warm. Instead it was sunny and warm (not going to argue with that), but so windy that our footprints drifted in within an hour. We spent some time on the shore, hiding from the wind in front of campfire, but after catching one fish on a tip-up and not having any action while jigging, we packed it up pretty early in the afternoon.

 

I may not have gotten a great amount of work done this week, but yesterday I took a field trip out to one of the local maple stands for an article I'm working on about maple syrup. While freelance writing is often a rather unglamorous profession -lots of phone interviews and worrying about illustrations - I do love when a piece involves a field trip. The maple syrup operation I visited has 18,000 taps and an intricate vacuum system (pictured above) for getting the sap to their sugar house. Each year they produced about 500 gallons of pure maple syrup. (Wowzers!) With temperatures creeping up into the 40s (and above!) this coming week, the sugar run should be upon us very soon.

This is Elsie. My parents are dogsitting her and because I'm hanging out at home this weekend to get my annual fix of the Minnesota Boys State High School tournament, I'm the dogsitting assistant. Elsie is pretty sweet, but she's none too sure how about all of us.  Hopefully she'll settle down soon and get some sleep!

In other news, I turn 27 today. Yikes, where did that year go?! 

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A Dog Story

"You didn't tell Jack's story," Andy said, looking up from reading through Thursday's post.

It's true, when I posted the picture of Jack, the little Shetland sheep dog I dogsat on and off this weekend, I just didn't have time to share Jack's dramatic little tale.

Get your hankies, folks. Here comes a dog story ala James Herriot and Greyfriars Bobby.

Jack belongs to an elderly couple who live on the other side of our lake. In the last couple years, both of Jack's owners have been dealing with some major, serious illnesses. Then, after the Mrs. had been moved into an assisted living facility, the Mr. drove into town with Jack when they were in a single vehicle accident. The vehicle rolled multiple times while Jack bounced around like a ping-pong ball inside. Eventually the vehicle wrapped itself around a rock. 

Amazingly, both Jack and his owner survived. There were lots of broken bones and bruises on both counts. Although Jack popped right out of the damaged vehicle and was walking on the side of the road when the emergency vehicles arrived, he was rushed to emergency surgery where his spleen was removed.   

That accident changed a lot of things for Jack. Once he and his owner had recovered, his owners moved to a nearby city where it's easier for them to receive care and assistance for the time being. Unfortunately, Jack couldn't come with. Jack's owners hope to return to their home in the woods some day, but until they do, one of our neighbors up here is taking care of Jack. Jack visits his owners from time to time and according to all accounts, it's those reunions when he's happiest. 

I shared my dog sitting duties this weekend with another neighbor who lives not far from Jack's owners' place. While Dogsitter 2 was at work, yet another neighbor came over to let Jack out. (Jack's kind of a community dog by this point.) Dogsitter 2 always keeps Jack on a leash when he's let out, but the neighbor just let Jack out, assuming he'd do his business and head back inside. (This is a fair assumption as Jack usually does do this.) Instead, Jack took off down the road. The neighbor called and called, but Jack would not come back.

By the time Dogsitter 2 returned, the neighbor was panicked.

"Don't worry," said Dogsitter 2. "I think I knew where he is."

Dogsitter 2 walked over to Jack's owners' house. There were little pawprints leading up the steps to the front door of the dark house where Jack had pawed at the door, hoping to be let in. The pawprints then went back down the steps and wound underneath the porch. When Dogsitter 2 peer beneath the porch, he found Jack sitting underneath the porch where his pen used to be, his tail wagging like mad, waiting.

It's been months since the accident, but puppy dogs never give up hope on their beloved owners returning.

I told you that you'd need hankies.



P.S. Remember how I felt Jack was less than thrilled with how we spent Thursday? (And for the record: slow cooker yogurt was a bust.)

Don't worry. I totally won him over on Sunday.

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