The Joy of Work or the Work of Joy?

Is there a difference? I think there is. All you have to do is watch the way Jack works and then watch the way Rocket works.


Work may be defined as "activity involving mental or physical effort done in order to achieve a purpose or result".


If you need work done, you should call on Jack. Jack will get the work done for you in the most efficient manner. There will be no fooling around, no extra work will be done, there will be short cuts taken and you had better have a plan for the work to be done. If you do not, you will not be of much use to Jack and he will lay down down on the job. He works hard & if there is Joy at the end of the task, so be it. But it is work to him. And he doesn't do it for the Joy; he does it because it needs to be done.


Jack is all business in everything he does. If he is chasing a Frisbee, it is because it needs to be caught. If he is going for a walk, it is because he wants to get home. There is a stoic quietness to his determination to complete a task that I envy. He puts his head down and forges ahead, no matter what is in his way. I would hire Jack.


If you want to have fun while you work, you will want Rocket as your right-hand dog. You may not complete the task in a timely manner but you will certainly have a smile on your face the entire time. Rocket brings lightness to everything he does. There is a definite smile on his face & a twinkle in his eyes as he puts everything he has into everything he does. He will show you every trick he has in his head to get you to play with him. He will roll over when you want him to be still or shake paws when you want him to roll over. His entire body vibrates when you bring out a ball or he meets a stranger or sees a small dog. His tail is high & his ears are on high alert if you make a move for the door. He is always ready to go no matter if he is tired or sick or has been at a competition all day. He makes everyone around him happy. I would hire Rocket.


Jack finds work in Joy & Rocket finds Joy in work.


What about your dogs?

The Tin Can

When I was twelve years old, we lived in a mobile home in Louisiana. For those of you unfamiliar with mobile homes, ours was 14 feet wide by 70 feet long, made out of easily destructible metal. It is jacked up & set on cinder blocks. If you want to make it look pretty on the outside, you can add a "skirt" to hide the plumbing underneath.  

There were 3 small bedrooms and 1 1/2 baths, of which my room included the 1/2 bath. I was separated from the rest of my family by a living room & dining/kitchen area. In that tin can, I felt like an outsider. So I started collecting animals. 

I had a poodle named Napoleon (my mother had traded a pet skunk for him in Kentucky), numerous cats, 2 cows and several rabbits (my favorite was a big brown girl named Aurora). My brother had a boa constrictor that once got loose & was napping in his closet. My mom found him. That scream still haunts me! 

That mobile home was our home for more than 4 years. We were lucky. Our home was parked on the edge of the park so we were under the pine trees, away from the sewer pond. Others were not so lucky. In the Louisiana humidity, the smell from that pond could take the paint off your house. Up by the highway, a circus sideshow moved into an older, worn out building. My brother made friends with The Captain and started working for him, cleaning animal cages. Yes, you read right. Animal CAGES. He had 2 tigers, a number of monkeys, snakes and other creatures that I never saw. I remember one of the monkeys escaped his cage and The Captain sent my brother to find him. My brother lured him over the fence that surrounded the sewer pond with a bunch of fruit. That monkey climbed onto his back and held on for dear life. I don't think he wanted to go back. The Captain left soon after that. I'm not sure if he took all the animals with him. Every now and then, late at night, we thought we heard the monkey in the woods.


I know the burning question in each of your minds....
his name was Pepe Le Peu and he liked to eat hotdogs.

Simple Things

My life is ordinary. I get up in the morning, I go to work, I come home and do it all again in the morning. Ordinary, right? I thought so too until I started thinking of all the time in between the ordinary. 


The smell of coffee is simple. But the smell of it wakes me and starts my day.

A dog, desperate to be near me, to have me scratch his head, is magic to me. The dog is far from simple but it is a simple moment.

The neighbors have a sprinkler on every morning. Even in the deepest heat, little birds gather in the mist of it and sing like no one is watching. Simple.

Much of life has been ordinary to me for a long time. I'm not sure when I started watching and waiting for the simple things. But I am glad I did.

Let's see what tomorrow brings...