The morning started out so well. The boys and I took a little walk to Ian’s to put yesterday’s eggs in his fridge. Then I ate breakfast and coffee’d up before hitching up the trailer and going to get the siding down from the ridge. When I went out to the Jeep, Ghost was nowhere to be found. This is common on weekends, fairly rare on a Wednesday.
I was concerned, because while Ghost has been laid-back about the cattle he has taken extreme exception to the cattle dogs. Yesterday the slopes teemed with them during some sort of round-up, and I didn’t yet know what the situation was out there this morning. But I try, I really do, to relax to the fact that this is the desert, and the desert isn’t really supposed to be safe, and Ghost has lived here successfully since he was a round-bellied little puppy. Still LB and I went back and forth in the Jeep hauling siding, and no Ghost ever showed up, and I worried.
Then I needed to pick up Landlady’s good ladder from Ian’s, but before taking it home I needed it for a few minutes at Landlady’s barn. I had completed a new electrical branch and needed to hook it up, which hookup of course was up in the high ceiling. So into the trailer the ladder went, but first we went right past Landlady’s to check and see if Ghost had gone to visit our weekender neighbors S&L. They’re retired folks, and it wasn’t completely impossible that they had shown up in the middle of the week.
Sure enough the gate was unlocked: They were either present or in the process of being robbed. So we went up their ridge, and there they were. L said, “Yeah, [Ghost] came over an hour or so ago, all happy to see me.” He was, however, nowhere in sight. While we discussed the cattle situation, Ghost came creeping out from wherever he had hidden himself.
He was afraid I had come to collect him, and unfortunately he was right about that. L was there alone and was leaving again right away, so he wasn’t welcome to stay. And he did not want to get in the Jeep with me. He hadn’t had his L fix yet.
I finally coaxed him into the Jeep, but it was after the argument. And then we spent twenty minutes or so at Landlady’s, and just as I was getting ready to go L’s pickup went past. And Ghost did not like that at all.
Somehow all this is my fault. We went back to the Lair and Ghost came inside without too much nonsense, but he’s in his bed sulking. Later I’ll let him out and he’ll disappear for a while, going off to convince himself L really has gone. Then probably he’ll come straight back tired and thirsty and ready to forgive me till next time.
I had no idea there was so much drama involved in being a dog.
LOL. Voodoo is a drama pop star in these parts. He has the “owies, I broke’ed my paw” limp and ” i’s just a pitiful unwanted pup” look down to a science. Tell him to ‘go home’ when I am not around and the whole routine plays out until said person capitulates. And if you tell him to go he when I am around, he just limps over , sits on my feet, and looks at the person tellin’ him with the most pitiful sulk.
Just hilarious.
Well, dogs are individual. They come in all kinds. Little Bear can cause all manner of chaos with the same moronic smile; the only time he gets emotional is when I’m mad at him, and then he acts like his world has ended. But Ghost, who’s the most independent and too-cool-for-you dog I ever met, is also the world’s biggest drama queen.
You should re-post that recent pic of Ghost in his bed giving you the stink eye over some aggravation you caused him. Was that the weather you neglected to fix?
http://joelsgulch.com/the-door-into-acceptable-weather/100_4985/
That’s his “you suck” face.
In other words, Ghost is a cat reincarnated as a dog. Makes you wonder why his karma is being balance this way.