Caterpillar started out the door to investigate before dark and ducked back inside the house. I took a look and saw the above. First thought: bucket of water. Second thought: No, camera. This is Jolene in black and I don't know the other dog's name. I'll call him Pucci. Jolene lives a half mile to the west of me, Pucci lives a half mile to the east. They meet at my place. Pucci has been here about a year. He recently discovered 2 bitches in heat nearby and the ground around my house has been their meeting place for doggie activities, "Let's meet at TJs, TJ won't mind."
Jolene's human said it's all right, she's getting an abortion. He was waiting til after her first heat to have her spayed. These two have been rambling too. People I know on Cleary Rd about half way to Jane Taylor Mountain, found them at their place. I figure if the dogs are rambling like that, they won't be living much longer. Rambling dogs have a way of getting into trouble and the crack of a high-powered rifle often settles the matter. Cattle farmers wary of coyotes keep a rifle in the pickup. They don't like dogs killing their calves either. To the farmers, rambling dogs are the same as coyotes, targets.
How many times have I heard TJ-won't-mind? People looking for somebody to shit on, often say, TJ won't mind. It always brings to mind a story by Isaac Bashevis Singer, Gimpel the Fool. Everybody took Gimpel for somebody they could dump their shit on. In TJ's case, middle class folks who consider themselves upper middle, tend to be the ones to take TJ for the fool. TJ does his independent thing by doing what he's going to do anyway. I don't get in their faces and threaten them to cut it out. I just stay away from them. There are plenty of people they take for fools. They'll find somebody willing to serve their whims. Middle class people aren't all that interesting anyway, plus they seclude themselves in subdivisions to watch tv behind locked doors and insure their precious things in case of theft.
My solution to theft is don't have anything thieves want. What I do have thieves might want, they'll never find. If by court order I had to live in NYC, I'd want a walkman to carry for music and a small
laptop for computer in a carrying case, leaving the apartment unlocked so thieves wouldn't have to break anything getting in. Thieves have been in my house. They've taken small change, less that $2, and nothing else, three times. Therein, I find sound spiritual counsel, be mindful of not provoking envy, greed or jealousy, lust too. I don't like to be seen as someone who has something somebody else wants. I've never wanted money, because I've not wanted my death accompanied by circling buzzards of the human variety. Don't have anything anybody else wants, is a rule of thumb I like to live by.
Sometimes I feel like an outsider because climbers take a look at me and look away. They assess right off I don't have anything they want, be it influence, money, what have you. I like to discourage climbers, let them know up front and right off I'm not in the climbing game and you'll get nowhere knowing me. Not a rung on the ladder. I feel safest on the ground. Like Joseph Campbell said, you spend your life climbing a ladder to success. At the top, you find you chose the wrong ladder. I learned soon after going out into the world on my own that I did not make good life decisions for myself. What I mean by "life" is long term. I made very, very poor long term decisions for myself. When I learned I'm no good at it, I quit doing it, preferring to live simply, short of austerity. Simple is mindful. Austerity causes reaction, like a feast after a fast.
What I love about the dogs above, they're not even humiliated. They were not the least bit embarrassed that I saw them. Both were appealing to me with their eyes to help them out. Humans take care of dogs when dogs can't take care of selves, they know that. I thought about a bucket of water, but at this moment, I don't have a bucket of water. They won't stay that way very long. It's uncomfortable, though neither one seemed terribly agonized with the situation. I had to make a short run in the car and when I returned they were separated. It's what dogs do. I hate it for them, but we humans have our issues too. It's a shame ours aren't that simple. We get all knotted up in the mind.
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