Dog Days of Summer

A day of wandering, splashing, and plodding along. Ross and I spent the afternoon tracing the creek side trails of Montreat, letting the three cow dogs dive into the stream. Simba is the most spontaneous and fearless, submerging his entire head and body in the spring-fed waters. He found himself swept up in the current over his head tumbling under water more than once--scrambling toward the creekside sandbar like a drowned rat, only to throw himself in to do it all over again. Hanna and Chelly cautiously joined the fun with Simba, watching his escapades safely at a distance. We pulled the water-logged pups from the creek and headed home, stopped abruptly by the appearance of an enormous furry beast larger than the local brown bears that roam these mountains. As the animal approached, Hanna, Simba, and Chelly were struck dumb--not a a bark from any of them as the huge creature lumbered by. His name is Opus and his owner claims that this oversized fur ball is an Alaskan Malamut--often mistakenly reported as a bear to the local forest rangers. He is by the far the largest, fluffiest, tallest, and most impressive dog we have ever encountered. When we asked to take a picture with Opus, he turned his nose to the sky and sang a full-bodied operetta in our honor. We hurried home to tell our stories to the rest of the clan. We wrapped up our lazy dog day of summer on the Montreat baseball field, throwing frisbees with the three cow dogs and Daniel. Hanna remains the undefeated queen of speed. Neither Chelly nor bumbling Simba could catch her in a race across the ballfield. She left us all dancing in dusk--fireflies flitting across the rain-drenched grass like sparklers.