We’ve lived together seven years, and I’m still just the nanny.

Ghost had a big weekend. Friday evening he vanished, and an hour later I got a call from Weekender Neighbor L. “Ghost is here, guess we’ll have him for the weekend. Okay, so LB and I batched it till Sunday morning, except Ghost didn’t come home when S&L headed out. No, because Landlady was still here. And Ghost is Landlady’s dog. So he just seamlessly transitioned over to her house, without giving Uncle Joel a thought.

It rained Saturday, and Landlady’s car couldn’t negotiate the mud. Normally this wouldn’t have been a problem, the road would be dry enough by late Sunday morning. But Scott the Road Guy really messed up one of the wash crossings. There’s a dip that holds thousands of gallons of water on top of caliche. I bashed through the pond in the Jeep ahead of Landlady’s car Sunday morning, and in the cascade of liquid mud it was clear she wasn’t going home. Tried it again Sunday evening, when there was still time for her to get home at a decent hour. If anything it was worse; the water was lower but the mud was deeper. Landlady’s going to have to stay in the desert into Monday.

Ghost thought this was great, until she announced that she didn’t want him spending Sunday night; he and Dharma make too much racket and she can’t sleep. So he had to spend last night with me, and he let it be known that he considered it unacceptable. I got up early this morning, opened the door, and he was gone like a shot. Woke Landlady up before five in the morning.

It turns out the road guy graded that messy crossing yesterday evening, so by this morning it was passable for regular cars. I checked and told Landlady so, then met D&L for our regular Monday trip to town. That meant Landlady went home while I wasn’t around.

There’s a protocol for when people need to drop Ghost off and go home. He knows the routine. All they need to do is drive to the end of my road, along the top of the ridge below which is the Secret Lair, and let him off right there. That’s his signal that the weekend’s over and it’s time to go back to the cabin. He never makes any fuss. And I’m usually there to let him in, give him a treat, and generally act as if I think he’s great.

This morning I wasn’t there.

I wasn’t there and it was thundering. Afternoon storm’s getting an early start today. LB was there, but he has no thumbs and can’t work the doorknob.

Ghost was stuck outside, alone.

I happen to know he wasn’t there long, because we passed Landlady on the county road when we were on our way back from town. But by the time I got back to the cabin you’d have thought I got caught in bed with another dog. A live boy or dead girl dog. Oh, I was derelict in my duty according to Ghost.

Well, we had to leave again right away to pick up some pallets before the storm, so he got a Jeep ride out of the deal. By the time I got them unloaded and everybody back home, I was forgiven. Sort of. I think. And now he’s taking his belated Epic Sunday Afternoon Nap.

In his Safe Space. Which is to say, the most annoying place in the Lair.

I don’t really mind. It’s kind of funny when you look at it a certain way, and I try to look at it that way. But I confess, sometimes he gets on my nerves.