WTF

Spent most of the morning guarding the front porch.

As a consequence, Boss has been able to get some work in on what we have begun to think of as The Book.

Time for Bosses everywhere to be up.

Up, Boss, up.

Order

During this long, languorous Summer, I have caught up with the past episodes of House.

Pausing to reflect on the nature of all but a few human individuals, I focused on the Senate Hearings relative to confirmation of S. (not the S. ENK refers to!) and have in a brief moment or two my assessment of people confirmed. In particular, Senators S. and T. are roaring examples of self-serving idiocy.

Tried one episode of Bones, but that was a no go. Dumb de dumb dumb.

No more TV for a while.

I must restore order to the chaos.

The Tenth Cat

It is catching, is what it is.
Everyone around here all of a sudden is a writer. Not on my watch, kiddo. Up at 5:30 this morning to discover the interloper, thumbing through a pile of books. Writer your own damned books. Boss has a time of it as it is, looking for references without some cat having at it. And on top of that, the cat is--I don't know how to tell you this, but I think the cat is orthodox. Or is that Orthodox? Goddamned cat wears a black skull cap? WTF? With orthodox comes separate sets of dishes for meat and dairy meals. And that is only the beginning. Next thing you know the goddamned cat will be seeking nine others for a minyan. That's the thing with cats: takes ten of them to have a meeting. A dog can do it all on her own.

Juggling projects

I am trying to do for Boss what Boss sometimes does for C., which is to say initiating projects.

The downside of his having many projects is a shortening of time we could be out doing field work, sniffing, observing traits and tendencies of plants to express their growing and resting cycles, watching birds at work, pausing to watch the dyspeptic squirrel social interactions, flushing the occasional coyote. A dog has to work around these interruptions, constantly alert for ways to keep Boss up for his game.

P.S. Boss--we need a vacation.
Even a working vacation.

The Work Ethic

Boss is thinking, which is often a tricky business. He does better when he is working. I can, for instance, see the wisdom in Boss coming forth with book ideas for C. Such things keep C. working.

I'm working on a plan.
To get Boss working.

This is why it is a good paring, the relationship between dog and man.

They need us.

Projects

You can see Boss thinking things over, trying to put things together, diving into projects. I know what this means.

Projects can be dived into, of course. I speak from experience.

Projects dived into are not as good as projects that one is yanked into by curiosity or muscle memory.

Routine

Dogs do not approve of changes in routine.
Unless, of course, the change in routine accrues to a dog's benefit, which is to say more outings in the car with Boss, more walks with Boss, more visits to that place where Boss gets coffee and meets friends, more lamb shank bones, more things to herd, more projects taken on by Boss.
To change a routine merely for the sake of change is not negotiable.
This might give you the notion that dogs have self-interest on turbo drive. Not. Dogs are interested always in making the now as momentous as possible, as orderly as seemly, as alive with challenge and problem solving as possible. This allows the dog to step up to being a worthy companion.
Boss sometimes puts the tease on me by comparing me to Mr. S. in a book called The Remains of the Day. You want, he says, to be the best dog in the Tri-Counties area.
Why stop there, I think, but put the tease right back on him by feigning interest in something over toward the C. estate next door to where we live.
Companion, I say in between barks at the imaginary something,the best companion. Ever.