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Bringing home Jasper!
by Charlie Leck
This afternoon, Anne and I will pick up Jasper (two year old black Labrador) and bring him to his new home. Neither of us slept very well last night and this morning we both confessed to extreme excitement and anticipation. We admitted also to feeling foolish about acting like 10 year olds, but that’s just the way it happens to be.
I am realizing that I have a quite different life ahead of me than the one I’ve so enjoyed the last couple of years. I turned 68 yesterday, and one of the privileges of being this old is the enjoyment of lots of private and quiet time. Since our last old dog wandered off to the stars, I’ ve pretty much been able to use my time just any way I wanted to. Nature’s urge to rush to the bathroom is the only demanding moments I have any more. If I felt like sitting down with a book and reading for 3 hours straight, I did it. If I wanted to watch an afternoon baseball game on TV, I did it. Or, I might choose to go hit golf balls or practice my putting. More relative to you, my readers, I had plenty of time to post my near-daily blogs.
Of course, I mustn’t forget to also admit to the freedom to take an hour nap in the afternoon if I chose to, which I did almost every day. There’s something deliriously wonderful about retirement, except, on the other hand, it also reminds one of the ever decreasing distance to the stars.
Perhaps a cyclone is coming; yet, perhaps not. It won’t be like having a puppy, now will it? I’ve given myself some good verbal tongue lashings about this coming event. The dog will require and deserves plenty of attention. One reason I’m getting it is to motivate myself to get out and do more walking. So, I’m planning on two or three thoroughly enjoyable walks down the driveway each day – the driveway being a quarter-of-a-mile long, and up and down rolling hills, out to the city street. That will be a half-mile right there. If I then turn and climb the little hillock toward the highway, I’ll push the round trip to more than a mile. Two or three times a day? That will be good for me. There are also trails we keep cut through the woods and fields for the fox hunters and I’m betting a lab would enjoy walks like those.
My point is, this critter’s main chore, to earn his keep around here, will be to get me up out of this chair at my desk and launch me out into the world again. In return he’ll get more than room and board. We want him to find this a pleasant and loving home. We want him to have fun and get plenty of the exercise he needs. We’re committed to giving him plenty of scratching, petting, pampering and playing.
Yesterday I picked up what advertises itself, on its extravagant packaging, to be the world’s best dog toy. Being a gullable sap, I asked myself, “Why not the best?” Now, we’ll wait and see.
Tomorrow, as you probably guessed, you may expect some photographs of the new member of the family.
by Charlie Leck
This afternoon, Anne and I will pick up Jasper (two year old black Labrador) and bring him to his new home. Neither of us slept very well last night and this morning we both confessed to extreme excitement and anticipation. We admitted also to feeling foolish about acting like 10 year olds, but that’s just the way it happens to be.
I am realizing that I have a quite different life ahead of me than the one I’ve so enjoyed the last couple of years. I turned 68 yesterday, and one of the privileges of being this old is the enjoyment of lots of private and quiet time. Since our last old dog wandered off to the stars, I’ ve pretty much been able to use my time just any way I wanted to. Nature’s urge to rush to the bathroom is the only demanding moments I have any more. If I felt like sitting down with a book and reading for 3 hours straight, I did it. If I wanted to watch an afternoon baseball game on TV, I did it. Or, I might choose to go hit golf balls or practice my putting. More relative to you, my readers, I had plenty of time to post my near-daily blogs.
Of course, I mustn’t forget to also admit to the freedom to take an hour nap in the afternoon if I chose to, which I did almost every day. There’s something deliriously wonderful about retirement, except, on the other hand, it also reminds one of the ever decreasing distance to the stars.
Perhaps a cyclone is coming; yet, perhaps not. It won’t be like having a puppy, now will it? I’ve given myself some good verbal tongue lashings about this coming event. The dog will require and deserves plenty of attention. One reason I’m getting it is to motivate myself to get out and do more walking. So, I’m planning on two or three thoroughly enjoyable walks down the driveway each day – the driveway being a quarter-of-a-mile long, and up and down rolling hills, out to the city street. That will be a half-mile right there. If I then turn and climb the little hillock toward the highway, I’ll push the round trip to more than a mile. Two or three times a day? That will be good for me. There are also trails we keep cut through the woods and fields for the fox hunters and I’m betting a lab would enjoy walks like those.
My point is, this critter’s main chore, to earn his keep around here, will be to get me up out of this chair at my desk and launch me out into the world again. In return he’ll get more than room and board. We want him to find this a pleasant and loving home. We want him to have fun and get plenty of the exercise he needs. We’re committed to giving him plenty of scratching, petting, pampering and playing.
Yesterday I picked up what advertises itself, on its extravagant packaging, to be the world’s best dog toy. Being a gullable sap, I asked myself, “Why not the best?” Now, we’ll wait and see.
Tomorrow, as you probably guessed, you may expect some photographs of the new member of the family.
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