Quiet Day

Hello,

Seems like we are in for a long stretch of rainy weather. The good thing is that the temperature is way below normal for this time of the year. During the day we are barely making it to high seventies, and at night it's a comfortable sixties. The rain makes my joints moan, but the relief in the temperatures is worth it.

Frax doesn't like water except to drink, so his excursions into the back yard are limited. He much prefers snuggling up and being patted and scratched. He tolerates some TV watching, since the dog food commercials are interesting. I gift him with a 'crunchy bone' in the evening, a rolled piece of rawhide. He makes short work of it in a few minutes. We portion out pieces of the rawhide, since we know he won't just chew it-he will destroy and eat it.

Frax kleptoed a large beef bone from his dog cousins at Jack's house Saturday when we visited. He was charmed by it for an entire twenty-four hours. When he discovered it couldn't be destroyed within fifteen minutes he lost interest in it. I've never met such a strong chewer!

Frax has been a faithful helper today, snuggling up to my aching legs and providing love and warmth to my feet and legs. He really wants to help with the legs, and clambers all over them, which doesn't help...but he doesn't understand why 72lbs of dog on achy legs doesn't feel good at all! I praise him for trying to help, and that makes his delicate feelings better!

The loud racket of the cicadas started at eight o' clock tonight. You can set your watch by when they start their raucous love serenades to other cicadas! Sometimes it seems like the little house trembles with the continuous assault on the airwaves around it. Then suddenly, like a light blinking out, they taper off shortly after one in the morning, only to repeat the same process day after day throughout the summer. It seems that the big drop in temperature hasn't affected them whatsoever.

Frax is attuned to the song of the cicadas, becoming quiet, and circling 'round for sleep. When he moves, his jowly face is all soft crinkles from sleeping hard in one place. That makes for me giving him another big hug, just for being cute.

Bill works in the other room during the day and evening. It's such a comfort him being so close-by. He emerges every so often on his breaks and gives me big hugs with reassurance that my 'down day' with my legs will soon be over. He is such a blessing to me. At the end of a break he darts back in the work room, to pop out again in an hour or two for another break. The sound of the cicadas heralds the beginning of the close of his shift, and Frax and I expect him 'coming home' from work.

I fluff Bill's pillow, straighten his side of the bed for when he winds down from work to sleep. Frax's blankie is folded neatly at the end of the bed. Green of course, the Canine Assistants colors. Frax and I picked it out on our first shopping trip out in Knoxville. He loves the blankie. The edges are a bit frayed from some chewing and vigorous games of 'tug' but he loves it none the less. I fix the blankets on my side of the bed, and all is ready for when Bill is ready for sleep.

We settle down as the rain comes down like a misty curtain, surrounding our little house and seemingly drawing itself around us protectively. Frax snuggles up between the tangle of our legs, and adds his long limbs to the pile. Softly, gently, he lays his great head in the curve of my hipbone and we all drift off to sleep, the ending of a long rainy summer's day.

#quietrainyday #powerdogchewer #helpforpainfullegsbyak9