About Fire Hydrants and An Invitation
Rocky (formerly Mr. Black) and I were meandering around our block earlier this week on a blustery fall day. I was reflecting on his return to health and his soon departure to his forever home with my son and his young family in Maryland. While Barb and I will enjoy the return to normalcy of only having five goldens underfoot, we will miss that boundless positive energy that we have enjoyed for these last extra weeks.
His curiosity is limitless. The simplest items.. an acorn, a twig, a beetle, take on the significance of life changing encounters. In trying to get around the block, detours were endless. It was then that I noticed for the first time how many fire hydrants there were on our walk. And looking more closely at each one, I realized that they were all in some way different. All red of course, but that was the only uniform detail. Some short, some tall, some bright red, others a faded pinker shade. And of course Rocky treated each one like there was a wealth of information scattered around their bases.
I always thought it would be neat to be privy to their sense of smell and how this helps them communicate. The fire hydrants probably represent our internet chat rooms where emotions of affection, happiness, anxiety, and dominance or submission are publicly displayed. We walk by these red way stations countless times, yet the messages posted beneath are below our notice or understanding. This post is somewhat tongue in cheek. Not every missive can have a life changing message written in fire across the morning sky. If you buy into the way of the dog though, the simplest activity can take on new meaning. Living in the present to its fullest, even a fire hydrant represents to their lives, hidden meanings and secret codes.
And that brings me to my real purpose of this blog. To invite other would be writers of golden stories to try their hand at composing a Guest blog. I have plenty of other stories bottled up inside me, but as our golden community grows here in Farmington, I think it would be special to have anyone with a tale or message to take a chance and send us their work. There are only three rules.. There has to be a least one photo/drawing of a golden retriever accompanying the story. The story must have a meaning that will help our readers face their daily struggle with grace, a smile or a tear. And because we are golden retriever lovers, our breed has to be the focus of the story. I will let Barb judge whether the submissions are appropriate. No age restrictions apply, so if a young golden lover wants to try a story we will give you an opportunity.. Step up and give it a try! Our website is becoming much less about selling puppies and more about learning to love and live as our goldens do.