Asher

Back To Normal

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Ash

Mom has been gone for nearly a week. Us mutts have been acting goofy. Jack can’t remember the feeding order, Nellie forgets when to do her business and I’m just lonesome. Tess doesn’t care cause she only wants to be with dad.

When mom comes home we’re gonna have to shape up. Jack will remember not to follow Nellie to her feeding station. Nellie will get back on her schedule. And guess what? I’m gonna pester mom to play ball with me forever.

I’m already planning on how to greet her. I’ll grab a ball on the way to the door. Before she can even say hi to dad, I’ll toss her the ball and bark real loud and crazy in her face.

She’ll smell my breath and decide I need a frozen turkey neck to clean my teeth. Mom will want to say hi to all the mutts, but I’m gonna hog her attention. If she ignores me I will most definitely swipe the phone AND the remote. I will NOT be ignored.

Eventually things will settle down. Mom will bring her stuff in the house. We’ll smell it real careful to see where she’s been. We have to keep an eye on Jack to make sure he doesn’t mark her suitcase. Oh boy, wouldn’t that be funny!

Soon life will be back to normal. Us mutts will forget we were orphans for a week. I’ll chase the goats and mix it up with Tess. Jack will snore, Tess will strut her diva self and little Nellie will walk around in circles looking for mom. Perfect!

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Tess

What About Me

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Tess

Ash is at the beach this week. It’s his fourth trip. I’ve never been to the beach. I’ve smelled the wild scent on Ash when he comes home and listened to his stories about sea monsters and rogue waves.

Ash has been on lots of road trips. He took his first trip when he was seven weeks old. Mom picked him up from his birth home in eastern Washington and drove three hundred miles back to Seattle.

Mom likes to take Ash with her because he’s no trouble. He settles down in the back of the car and goes to sleep. Ash has so much confidence. He never worries about meeting new people or staying in strange places.

I wish I was confident like Ash. I worry and dither and make a nuisance of myself. I pant and cry and pace until mom scolds me. Eventually I settle down, but the minute we stop I’m at it again.

Ash says we each have our place in this world. Some of us were born to travel, others to stay at home. When I first arrived at Asherpark I had no idea what to do.

Ash told me all I had to do was follow the house rules and I would find where I belonged. I got in lots of trouble at first. The fence wasn’t secure and I escaped a dozen times. I heard them calling for me to come back but I had to run as fast as I could. But run to what? Run where?

Mom and dad soon discovered that if they chased me down in the truck I would jump in. They started keeping a spare key in the truck so they could get to me quicker.

One thing led to another and soon I started going with my dad whenever he drove the truck. I go to the job site, on errands, to see friends. I became my dad’s best trucking buddy.

Since I never want to miss a truck ride, I keep pretty close to dad. We watch TV together. I sit next to him while he reads the paper. If he’s in the yard, so am I. We are together  constantly.

When I felt bad about Ash going to the beach without me, he reminded me of how I found my place at Asherpark. Ash said some mutts go to the beach, others stay home and watch their people. I guess that’s what Ash meant when he told me to keep on trucking. I will, Ash. I will.

 

 

 

 

Asher

The Good Life

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Ash

Sometimes life doesn’t get any better. Like when you’re at the beach with your little brother.

Me and Zag are having the best time at the beach. We’ve been racing around till we can hardly move. Yesterday we had four beach runs. We were silly with joy.

Zaggie is crazy about my mom. He wants to hang with us all the time. Last night Zag’s mom let him sleep with us. I let Zag have the bed with mom because he wanted it so bad. He jumped into bed and didn’t move all night.

This morning we got up at first light. We walked out the back door and down the path to the beach. The waves were big and noisy but it wasn’t raining. Me and Zag ran our fool heads off. On the way back to the house I spooked a big bird in the grass. Man, that was fun.

 

Zag

Zag’s mom was still in bed when we got back so my mom made us both breakfast. Kibbles and home cooked slop. Zag loves my mom’s cooking. We snarfed that up real quick and then lay down for a while.

Mom says my bark today is kinda lame. She says I didn’t put a lot of thought into it, I just rambled on about what we’ve been doing. But hey, I’m on vacation.

As soon as it stops raining so hard we’re gonna explore a new beach. How good is that?