WHAT A WISE OLD DAD!!

Like most people, as I get older I realize how much I learned from my parents. My Mother is now gone and I think about her all the time. I think about my Dad, too. Here's one of many stories about my wise, old Dad:

In our LDS Ward in Chula Vista, CA was a young couple named Jimmy and Sally Allison. Jimmy was my Aaronic Priesthood advisor. Sally was also a distant relative, somehow related to us through Aunt Tina. Jimmy asked me to take care of his German shepherd, Calypsa, for a week while he and Sally went on vacation. He asked me to (1) feed, (2) water, and (3) play with her each day.

Since I wasn’t driving at the time, Dad drove me to the Allison’s house each afternoon, so I could do the chore. On the first day, after I gave Calypsa fresh water and food and played with her a little, I told Dad I was ready to go. He said, “Why don’t you pick up the newspapers that Calypsa tore up and scattered around the back yard and put it in the trash?” I complained that Jimmy hadn’t asked me to do that, but I did it anyway, to avoid a hassle with Dad.

When I finished cleaning up the newspaper and putting it in the trash I, again, said, “Okay, let’s go.” Dad said, “Why don’t you get that shovel over there and scoop up Calypsa’s huge poops that are all over the lawn? You can deposit them over in that pile of poop that they’ve started in the corner of the yard.”

I, again, told him that that JUST wasn’t in the job description. I was only told to (1) feed, (2) water, and (3) play with her. Dad said to do it anyway. So, I did it, so we could get out of there.

On the way home, since I felt kind of overworked and put out, I said (in my most smart aleck voice, I'm sure), “You know, Dad, they won’t even notice that I cleaned up the torn newspaper and the poop. It was a waste of time and they didn’t even ask me to do it.”

Dad then told me something that I’ve tried to remember and to apply to every job I’ve done as an adult. He said, “They might not notice that you DID it, but they certainly WOULD notice it, if you DIDN’T do it.”

I’ve always tried to go the extra mile in my church callings and my secular jobs, thanks to great advice from my wise, old Dad.

THE DOG ESCAPADE

What a way to start the week.

Karen woke up first and went to the kitchen. I could hear the water running in the kitchen sink, which meant she was watering the livestock…the six cats and 2 dogs. I heard her open the fridge, rattle around, and close the fridge. That meant she had rounded up two extremely cheap all “meat” wieners, which we use for doggy treats.

She went outside and a few seconds later came back in and said, “Bob, the gate is open and the dogs are gone!”

We have 2 dogs: Bear – a huge, wide, brown, old, sort of a Golden Retriever and Molly – a mid-size, black, semi-old, blind Border Collie. So, we had a decrepit dog and a blind dog out running around town.

We got dressed and started driving around the neighborhood, but we couldn’t find them. I finally took Karen home, so she could shower and get ready for work.

I kept driving in larger and larger circles, looking between houses and in fields and, as much as I hated to look, in the middle of the street.

I finally started asking walkers, with dogs, if they had seen a big, old, brown dog with a smaller black dog. The second person I asked, who was walking a yellow lab, said she had seen them and told me where she saw them.

I drove to that neighborhood and asked two other walkers if they had seen the dogs. They hadn’t, but took my cell phone number so they could call me if they spotted the dogs.

I asked the next group of ladies and one of them said that she’d seen them in her neighborhood, a block away, to the north, about 20 minutes earlier. I went there, but still not dogs.

I came back to the original spot the first lady had said she saw them, just as my cell phone started to ring. As I reached for my phone, I saw the original lady with her yellow lab, as well as the 2 ladies who had taken my phone number. One of them had her cell phone up to her ear. She was calling me to tell me that she had the dogs. The ladies were all standing around Bear and Molly.

I pulled up, opened the back door to my car, and said, “Bear. Molly. What are you doing?”

They both shot into the backseat of my car and immediately laid down. They were both panting and wet (probably from playing in yards that had sprinklers going).

I took them home, let them out of the car and watched as they ran for their water. After glugging down a huge amount of water, they dropped down on the cool cement carport and went fast asleep.

I took these photos of them, looking kind of guilty. They finally got tired of me taking photos and strolled into their doghouse, without even a thanks or a look back over their shoulders. Ingrates!!