I am so grateful for all of the messages I am getting thanking me for writing and urging me not to stop. I certainly will not, Maria says if I end up in any hospital, I’ll have a laptop sent in with me to blog. We are serious about this shit here.
I realize I do have work to do, even in this great shutdown, part of that work is getting people to smile, or to distract them, or to uplift them. Hard but essential work, me and the animals here are up for it.
Take today. Something is wrong with this picture. We have two big and well-bred and proud working dogs standing behind Susie, a sweet Border Leicester sheep. Now, the way it is supposed to work is this:
Sheep are supposed to run from a big hunting dog or a big working dog, or a Border Collie from champion stock in Wales. That would be Zinnia and Fate.
When Bud goes into the pasture, he goes right at the sheep, and they move quickly and without complaint. But he was inside the house.
Susie could not have been more peaceful or relaxed that she was Sunday when Zinnia, already the size of a pony, and Fate, the sheep-obsessed border collie, came into the pasture.
I wanted to shout, “hey stop staring at each other and stare at the sheep!” but they both would have just blown me off.
I thought I saw Susie yawn once, but what I did not see Susie do is get up, or move, or stop chewing her cud for a second. Susie has been around; she saw no threat or trouble there.
I will concede to being a little embarrassed by all this, but nobody was fooling anybody. Fate tried some intense stares, and Zinnia came up to sniff Susie’s butt. She never did bother to move.
If you have border collies or Labs at home, do not show them this photo. They might get the wrong idea.
I’m so glad to hear what you’re thinking about all this. It seems to me there’s a lot of news about the virus but there’s also a LOT of missing hard information, too. The CDC has always seems to be so efficient — how’d it get so gummed up over testing? I have to be careful here because I can slip into unhelpful and somewhat crazed political theorizing at the drop of a hat. not useful.
Thank God for Bud, Zin and Fate. You and Maria too. ?
Great to watch Zinnia grow up! How much bigger, we’ll see I guess. As everyone agrees, keep up the great
work you are doing Jon we all appreciate it.
Thanks Larry..I won’t quit, I promise…:)
Jon, I agree with those who comment, please don’t stop writing! You inspire, push boundaries, make me stop and think, and better yet, make me laugh out loud! Your utter transparency is a delight for those of us who don’t have your courage.
Thank you so much for sharing pictures that bring a smile to our faces! I recently had foot surgery so can’t walk my 2 dogs as I’ve always done. So my husband has taken over the walking and it brings such a smile to my face and heart to see them walking back up our driveway. Your photos do the same thing forms. Thank you for such a gift in these uncertain times!
Not just a smile but a laugh out loud. Thanks Jon
So funny! BTW, sorry to have heard earlier that you’re not going to be writing any more books. They are like mom and apple pie to me.
thanks, my blog is my book, and I get to publish it daily!