Dogs Are, Well, Great

Let’s all take a moment to stop what we are doing and remember Dr. Martin Luther King Jr as we commemorate his birthday today. If only his dream of equality and justice for all could come true for people of color everywhere. In years past, I’ve written about Dr. King and his legacy here on the blog.

“I have a dream.”
We all have dreams and we should all have the means to achieve those dreams.

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Isn’t it funny how you think you’re finished with a book, just need that final read through and self-edit before emailing it to the editor, and then…

As I said on Friday, I’d typed THE END on Brutal Season, the fourth book in the Seasons Mystery Series on Thursday. I was just going to do that final edit myself, then send my baby off today or tomorrow, but then I found a little oopsie in the narrative. Something was mentioned early in the story that was, well, forgotten, like you’d like to do to your least-favorite uncle. Thankfully, it’s not a huge lapse, and I was able to weave it in later without much of a hitch, but that did put a bit of a delay in my plans.

So, my editing continues this week, and I’ll let Slim Randles be my guest on the blog with this sweet story about Billy. The dog that lives in the wonderful world of Home Country with Doc and Steve and Herb and Windy and Dud and all the other great characters in the stories Slim writes.

Enjoy…

I don’t mind Boots. He just curls up quietly against my belly and stays put. But sleeping with Desdemona can be a bit unnerving. She snores. Sometimes she gets little bad dreams and scratches me, too. But hey, I get to come in out of the cold and sleep with Aunt Ada’s cats on her sofa, and a guy can tolerate a certain amount of cat snoring for that.

I was glad when I heard Aunt Ada puttering in the kitchen, because I knew it was time to get up. After she let me out to take care of business, she fed me, and let me tell you … that kibble was just as good this morning as it was yesterday. And then she petted me, called me her dear Billy, and let me out again to do my rounds.

Don’t let anyone tell you being the official town dog is easy. Nossirree. First, there are the kids. Me and Martin, the crossing guard, have to see them safely across the street and to school each morning. Must be band day, because I see a lot of instrument cases. Martin gets smiles from the children. I get smiles AND ear rumples, so what do you think of that!

Once those kids are safely across, the time is pretty much my own until the final bell rings in the afternoon. That would be after I get snacks at the back door of the Mule Barn and after my nap curled up against the brick wall of the drugstore downtown. You ever notice how those bricks hold the sunshine in them? Better than that white wall on the newspaper office.

This is a good day to stop by the Rest of Your Life retirement home and check on Pop Walker and Mabel Adams. Oh, I make the rounds and check on everybody, of course, but I have to admit those two are my favorites.

If today is band day at school, tomorrow will be sale day at the sale barn at the edge of town. That’s when the men bring their dogs in from the ranches to look at cows. They yell and talk funny. Not the dogs, of course. Looking forward to that.

Getting your sniffing up to date is always a good thing.

Love, Billy

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Give a great nose a helpful lift. Send a gift to the East Tennessee Bloodhound Rescue

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Check out all of Slim’s award-winning books at his Goodreads Page and in better bookstores and bunkhouses throughout the free world.

All of the posts here are from his syndicated column, Home Country that is read in hundreds of newspapers across the country. I am always happy to have him share his wit and wisdom here.

Slim Randles is a veteran newspaperman, hunting guide, cowboy and dog musher. He was a feature writer and columnist for The Anchorage Daily News for 10 years and guided hunters in the Alaska Range and the Talkeetna Mountains. A resident of New Mexico now for more than 30 years, Randles is the prize-winning author of a dozen books, and is host of two podcasts and a television program.