I’ve always sort of admired those dogs that hang out in the front yard without having to be fenced in or chained up. Just the way they acknowledge you with mild interest as you walk by, then go on with their contemplation of the grass growing or the shadows of the trees moving. They are one with the house and garden; their Buddha nature is touching.
And now I have a dog like that: not a new dog, it’s still Kayla, but she has a new habit of wanting to lie out on the front grass or the porch. Bill likes to call her a hillbilly, I guess because she’s not like them city dawgs that have to be on the leash all the time. I like to leave the front door open for some fresh air, and Kayla is free to wander in and out. The trouble is that flies also tend to wander in, but they don’t wander out so easily. And I’m not sure Cosmo is as proud as I am to own a front-porch kind o’ dawg.
So yesterday Bill and I put up a screen/storm door to keep out the flies and (in a few months) the cold wind. We (mostly Bill) worked all afternoon and the thing actually works! I mean, you never know: old house, a slightly wonky door frame, an imperfect world. But the window slides down smoothly; the hydraulic closer whooshes quietly and keeps the door from slamming, and the latch clicks in with factory precision.
That didn’t change things for the dawg, however. Her circumstances may have gone upscale, but she is true to her nature, loving lots of fresh air, friendly neighbors, and flies. So when you have some time, be sure to come on by to say howdy and sit a spell. Life is good on the porch.
