Dog Days Can Be Easy to Take, Seriously
What a summer we have been blessed with! Here is August and no air conditioner as yet. Though the Dog Days may pounce upon us sooner or later, I think you must agree that the first month or so of summer has been most pleasant. More often than not, the summer nights have invited us to share their cooler beauty and celestial sights.
According to Jerry Wilson, science teacher and newspaper columnist from Indianapolis, the ancients sans light pollution were able to connect the dots of stars in the night sky to reveal images, including many animals. Among those constellations recorded are the dogs Canis Major and Canis Minor.
In the summer the brightest star in Canis Major, Sirius, rises and sets with the sun. During late July the highly visible "Dog Star" is so in conjunction with the sun that the Romans believed that its heat added to the sun's, thus creating hotter and more humid days. Therefore, they called the stretch of twenty days before and after this annual occurrence "dog days" after the dog star.
So here we are in the midst of such heavenly happenings and we have been spared all along. Maybe its sheer coincidence, but I am celebrating the Sirius collusion with the sun by entertaining a canine for the weekend, a seriously good and fun puppy, my daughter and son-in-law's new addition to their family.
When our own kids were growing up, we did not acquire a dog because we knew it'd be like having a fourth child and we weren't quite up to another full time commitment. However, we did upon occasion dog sit for weekends to provide our children with the experience.
While his new "mom and dad" fly to the left coast for a visit, Otis and I will be bonding further than the few times I have been down or he's be here to visit. I must admit that he is a friendly, playful, and relatively obedient people pleaser. His high energy is matched only by the intensity of his conking out between his fetching and wrestling spurts.
While scouring cyberspace for poems appropriate to puppies and dogs of star quality and hot times of fun, I discovered the following tribute to puppy procurers, doggone it!
I dedicate the poem's spirit to a long relationship between Otis and his new owners who rescued him from certain death and have granted him a stay with them for the long haul. May the humor and good times continue!
For the rest of us, whether you've ever had the pleasure of dealing with a puppy or not, you'll be able to relate, even if you have observed someone else going through the early stages of dog rearing.
Poem For A New Puppy Owner
Don't smell crotches, don't eat plants.
Don't steal food or underpants.
Don't eat my socks, don't grab my hair.
Don't rip the stuffing from that chair!
Don't eat those peas! Don't touch that bush!
Don't chew my shoes. What IS that mush?
Eat your cookies. Drink your drink,
Outta the toilet! Outta the sink!
Away from the cat box, it's for the cat!
And MUST you kiss me after that?
Yes, raising a puppy, is not for the lazy!
Though puppies are funny, they're also quite crazy.
But don't despair, though its toil and strife.
After three years, you'll get back your life!
So, let's go for "walkies", you can "do your thing"
And perhaps I'll get back my good diamond ring!
Author Unknown
Kindly send your comments and poetry to michaeljhoover@gmail.com
What a summer we have been blessed with! Here is August and no air conditioner as yet. Though the Dog Days may pounce upon us sooner or later, I think you must agree that the first month or so of summer has been most pleasant. More often than not, the summer nights have invited us to share their cooler beauty and celestial sights.
According to Jerry Wilson, science teacher and newspaper columnist from Indianapolis, the ancients sans light pollution were able to connect the dots of stars in the night sky to reveal images, including many animals. Among those constellations recorded are the dogs Canis Major and Canis Minor.
In the summer the brightest star in Canis Major, Sirius, rises and sets with the sun. During late July the highly visible "Dog Star" is so in conjunction with the sun that the Romans believed that its heat added to the sun's, thus creating hotter and more humid days. Therefore, they called the stretch of twenty days before and after this annual occurrence "dog days" after the dog star.
So here we are in the midst of such heavenly happenings and we have been spared all along. Maybe its sheer coincidence, but I am celebrating the Sirius collusion with the sun by entertaining a canine for the weekend, a seriously good and fun puppy, my daughter and son-in-law's new addition to their family.
When our own kids were growing up, we did not acquire a dog because we knew it'd be like having a fourth child and we weren't quite up to another full time commitment. However, we did upon occasion dog sit for weekends to provide our children with the experience.
While his new "mom and dad" fly to the left coast for a visit, Otis and I will be bonding further than the few times I have been down or he's be here to visit. I must admit that he is a friendly, playful, and relatively obedient people pleaser. His high energy is matched only by the intensity of his conking out between his fetching and wrestling spurts.
While scouring cyberspace for poems appropriate to puppies and dogs of star quality and hot times of fun, I discovered the following tribute to puppy procurers, doggone it!
I dedicate the poem's spirit to a long relationship between Otis and his new owners who rescued him from certain death and have granted him a stay with them for the long haul. May the humor and good times continue!
For the rest of us, whether you've ever had the pleasure of dealing with a puppy or not, you'll be able to relate, even if you have observed someone else going through the early stages of dog rearing.
Poem For A New Puppy Owner
Don't smell crotches, don't eat plants.
Don't steal food or underpants.
Don't eat my socks, don't grab my hair.
Don't rip the stuffing from that chair!
Don't eat those peas! Don't touch that bush!
Don't chew my shoes. What IS that mush?
Eat your cookies. Drink your drink,
Outta the toilet! Outta the sink!
Away from the cat box, it's for the cat!
And MUST you kiss me after that?
Yes, raising a puppy, is not for the lazy!
Though puppies are funny, they're also quite crazy.
But don't despair, though its toil and strife.
After three years, you'll get back your life!
So, let's go for "walkies", you can "do your thing"
And perhaps I'll get back my good diamond ring!
Author Unknown
Kindly send your comments and poetry to michaeljhoover@gmail.com