April 30, 2013 – Tuesday

46 degrees/cloudy/calm

Pentoga Road

As is my routine, I just glanced at the weather forecast and see there is the possibility of measureable snow at various times towards week’s end. An inch here, two there. Now we’re getting into Alaska weather, although I can remember one spring north of the Arctic Circle that it was significantly warmer than this current one. Oh well, we’ll do what the farmers in Maine do when it snows… we’ll let ‘er snow.

Sargie dropped Brutus and I off five miles down the road on her way to work Monday morning. All went well until a squirrel ran in front of us.

I wrap the leather leash around my waist so he won't inch ahead while we walk and I can use both arms to aid in walking. Ninety-nine percent of the time, I forget he’s even there. For a big ol’ dawg with a muscular body, he glides along the ground effortlessly.

Brutus forgot we were attached.

Sometime, for thrills and spills, bind a 120 lb bulldog to your side at waist/knee height while jogging and have him yank sideways as hard as he can. I think we both were shocked as he suddenly remembered he had a 200 lb man attached to his collar. I broke my fall by supporting myself on his back and we lived happily ever after.

The winter’s accumulation of garbage stored in the cans in back of the woodshed have started smelling. In the summer months, we feed the scraps to the bears back in the woods, but in the winter, we place the bags in the six large barrels until spring arrives when I take them to the dump. Yesterday was dump day.

It was Brutus’s introduction to the Man Truck and he copiloted quite admirably by looking out the passenger side window. The poor pooch had to stay inside the cab while I emptied the cans. There was simply too much for a dog to explore… and roll in… to get all stinky.

Back home, I got out the high-pressure washer and attempted to clean the back deck. Brutus thought the washer was spraying for his entertainment and in the end, I had to fasten him to a quickly improvised run to keep him away. I did the same thing when I later sprayed Thomson’s Water Seal.

I also started cleaning the maple syrup equipment and hope to get it all put away today. After that came Brutus’s favorite, the four-wheeler. When I started the machine, he promptly hopped onto the homemade rack I’d constructed last fall. We rode around the yard a bit before he discovered riding an ATV isn’t about luxury, but necessity and work.

I put the snowmobile away for the summer and raked around the deck area. It’s nice to finally have to it cleaned up for the year.

Brutus’s hardest lesson on Monday came in the form of the electric deer fence and the garden. He was desperately trying to bury the last of his chew toy, a leather rawhide bone. First he dug a hole by the edge of the yard and pushed it in with his huge nose. That didn’t seem to satisfy him.

Next he attempted to dig one by the house. The mean owner who lives here nixed that attempt.

Then he made the ultimate mistake. He trotted to the garden and decided to bury it in one of the raised beds. I called and called, but there’s a reason for the old adage, “Stubborn as a bulldog.”

Just as he was crossing through the wires, I turned on the electricity. Brutus shot out of the fence faster than any speeding bullet, ran as quickly as he could towards me, and cried like a baby… literally. And he cried, and cried, and cried. … and cried, and cried…. Then cried some more.

Lord Almighty, after assuring him I’d been shocked several times and survived, giving him all sorts of oogee boo boo’s, holding his bushel basket-sized head, and doing everything but wiping his nose, I finally told him that that was enough.

I hope he learned that the garden area is off limits. He began trotting that direction again last night and I called him back. At least he listened. We’ll see how really stubborn he is. There’ll be a lot planted in the garden this year, but a doggie bone isn’t one of them.

Sargie was home early last night and we had a pleasant evening watching Dancing With the Stars. She also arrived bearing a new chew toy for our puppy. With jaws that exert around 325 lbs of pressure with each chomp, he’s goes through chew toys at the rate of one every two days. That’s not including the chunks of firewood he’s made into kindling when outside. Thankfully, he’s been well trained and realizes shoes and furniture and household items aren't an option to substitute as chew toys.

Brutus showed us a new trick. While watching television, we heard the bathroom stool lid open and close. He'd trotted in, opened the seat and lid with his huge nose, enjoyed a long, cool, bowl of water, then gently closed it all. Personally, I don't care, but NOT in Sargie's house. I was commanded that he'll unlearn that trick. 

I notice the pup has two modes of play. The first is a gentle wrestling-type. He mouths one’s hand and is careful to push, but not too much.

The second mode is a no nonsense, take off the gloves, we’re gonna-get-down-and-dirty fight until he gets too rough and we quit. He delights in gnawing on my hands and refusing to let go until commanded to do so. I grab his huge head before he can use it as a battering ram, and make growling sounds. That’s like shifting him into overdrive. We wrestle and growl, shove and push, and in the end, if I’m on my hands and knees and begin to get tired, I get up before he realizes he has the best of me. When a halt is called to the rough play, he immediately flips over onto his back, throws all fours up in the air, and begs for his belly to be rubbed.

Training is coming along really well. Yesterday, we were walking back home when several hundred yards from the house, I commanded him to stop. He immediately halted and after undoing his leash I said, “home.” Brutus stepped out by about ten feet, looked around, saw I wasn’t coming, and halted. When I started walking, he continued, never getting more than a few feet ahead, and led me into the drive and to kitchen door where he waited for his treat. I think that pup is going to have a great future.

Bringing me home

We’ll walk our five miles this morning then see what the rest of the day has in store. It appears the rush of final projects in my classes is beginning to dry up. I hope to upload the summer session material online before the weekend.

If it stays dry today, I’ll bring out the deck furniture, spray it off and get it ready for the upcoming summer. If it rains, I’ll begin to lay the flooring in the upstairs bath.

After all, a man’s work is never done.

So are the tales from Pentoga Road… 

Clean and ready for another summer