Hello friends!
It’s been quite a while since my person posted correspondence for me. Paws are superior to delicate human hands in many ways, but computers are designed for people, so I need to rely on his fingers.
We’ve had a rough year on the ranch since mom died last winter. My person was distant and seemed inconsolable for a while. That’s when I sat quietly and patiently beside him. That’s what friends do for one another, and he is my closest friend. I know I am his, too, because he tells me he loves me.
Life has taken a new shape now, with mom gone. My person works three days a week, and his puppy Ryan is living with us now, so he is here on most days when my person works. When they both work, Aunt Kerry comes over in the afternoon to visit me. Good thing, too, because I usually need to pee by then.
We’ve watched many sunsets together this year. Each day, the sun is a little further south as it rises and sets. Thank goodness, winter is coming. On Saturday, we saw the first snowflakes of the season. It was a brief flurry that didn’t stick, but it was like a balm to me and my person. The wood stove has been fired up a few times, and the windows are getting taped shut (or whatever it is he does that makes them not open until spring). The plow has been put on the truck, and the dreadful mower has been parked in the cabana. He’s a mowing maniac, though, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him mow again before snow cover. The outside mower does not work as good as the inside one, which sucks up all the cat hair off the floors. He drives that one around outside and it just keeps blowing the leaves from one place to another. Maybe it’s just a form of entertainment.
In Engleville, we’ve passed the season of blooms, and now we’re in the season of “BOOMS”. Those guys with their long guns are out marching around in the woods looking for things that need to be shot at. Boy do I hate loud noises. So sometimes it’s not bad when they’re far away, but when they’re right behind the house or across the road I need to run into the house. The booms I mean. I’m not afraid of flowers. I just want to be clear that I don’t run and hide from flowers.
Well, my person hastily scribbled another chapter for my book and he wants to put it on my site, but it’s not good. Not good at all. I don’t mean his writing, I mean the story. Here in Engleville, we’re thrilled that the temperatures got down to 23 degrees F, but up on the polar ice cap they’re looking at temperatures that are 30 or 40 degrees below zero, and nothing to stop the wind. While we have been on an extended hiatus, they have been trekking desperately across a thousand miles of frozen wasteland, bound for the sea for which I am named. I hope they make it soon, because everyone in the caravan is starting to wear out. Boy, am I glad it’s fiction!
I’ve heard rumors of the turkey holiday. I know it’s soon after the leaves leave. It sounds like they are planning a gathering of all the family here at the homestead. I’m very happy about that because these people really need each other this year. I’m also happy because it means a lot of turkey and also pies and maybe cookies for me. But mostly I’m glad for them.
It has been a strange year of change. But now winter is returning and maybe things can get back to normal. I’ll be glad for all of us.
Wag more, bark less.
Sasha
Sasha of The Chukchi Sea 