The Dog Blog: February 2018

Sunday, February 25, 2018

A digging kind of dog

A CLEAN LADY

MORE THAN 15 YEARS AGO, Lady was a young dog. I went into the backyard and couldn't find her; for a moment, I was puzzled.

Then I saw dirt flying up out of the ground.

Lady was digging her version of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. Near the fence, she had dug a hole her width, length and height long. All I could see of Lady was her tail sticking out of the back of the hole, with dirt flying up behind her.

She was digging with her front paws and propelling the dirt out of the hole with her powerful hind legs.

I wasn't going to let her dig her way out of the yard (assuming that was her goal), but it was a struggle to get her out of there. I had to physically lift her out of the hole.

I found some rocks to fill the hole, then used a shovel and put most of the dirt back in. Then I tamped it down.

I don't know if she was upset about me stopping her work; I didn't care. I wasn't too thrilled about the dirty mess she'd made of herself, but I took her to the groomer to clean her up.

But the story didn't end here. Every time someone came to cut our grass, I reminded him about the hole. Lady's gone (Sept. 17, 2016), and the grass has long since covered the hole.

You can't tell that it was ever there. But I remember.

EMAIL: tgilli52@gmail.com TWITTER: EDITORatWORK

More entries from The Dog Blog

• Katie cried

• Growl and pull

• ... said the spider to ...

, • The Dog Diary (2015)

• The Dog Diary (2014)

• 13-plus years with my dog Lady

• OOH! OOH! The stereophonic huskies

• What Lady and Michael Jackson had in common

Blog entries by Tom Gillispie

• Resume for a writer and editor

• An editor's views on powerful writing

• Advice for be and would-be novelists

• Links to TG's stories online

• Favorite quotes

• What I do when I'm editing

Anecdotes by Tom Gillispie

• Good Samaritan

• The PRESS cap and my friend Mike

• Watching TV

• No luck with Billy Sims

• Wipeout at Death Valley

• Days with rainbows

• A desperate writer working in the dark

• Yer outta there!

EDITOR@WORK blog entries

• You really DO need an editor

• Reminders for would-be novelists

• What I do when I'm editing

• What I charge (it's a deal) and what I edit

• Slogging through the Internet

• J-school: More eyes on your stories

• J-school: Go out and learn

• Rookie mistakes for magazine writers

Blog entries from The Auto Racing Journal

• Angel in Black: Remembering Dale Earnhardt Sr.

(a book of great stories about the Intimidator)

• Then Junior Said to Jeff...

(the book of great NASCAR stories)

• My best day as a sports writer

• Jeff Gordon's milk toast to Dale Earnhardt

• Wayne Auton: A life in racing

Thursday, February 15, 2018

Crying at Covington Park

DIXIE BEFORE WE ADOPTED HER

Dixie and I went to Covington Park yesterday, and Dixie was frustrated. First, she had to wait in the car while I put cans and bottles in the recycling bin.

She probably cried the whole time she waited.

And when I finally let her out of the back of the car, I went over to the picnic area and sat down; I couldn't stand to walk her. So she kept crying.

She quit crying when a man came by and petted her for a half-minute or so. When he walked away, she started again.

It got even worse when a large group of people -- two or three adults and a bunch of children -- went into the play area. She cried and cried and cried; she wanted to get petted. I petted her, of course, but she wanted the children to come to her.

They didn't, and we went home. Finally, she quieted down on the way home.

UPDATE: We went to Covington Park again today (Feb. 21), and Dixie cried again. She tried mightily to get petted, but most of the women there ignored her. One woman and one boy petted her (she quit crying, and I was happy), and when we left the boy said, "Bye, Dixie."

Dixie couldn't respond, so I said "bye" for her.

EMAIL: tgilli52@gmail.com TWITTER: EDITORatWORK