Dog Watching on a Peaceful Morning

Yesterday evening, I got to see a purple martin colony up close, from the safety and comfort of an enclosed porch of a purple martin landlord. I have never been much of a bird watcher, but I could see the beauty and sense the peace that the martins brought to the landscape as they socialized with each other, flitting about on the outside of their housing. The birds were free to come and go, and we were hemmed in by mesh that kept the insects out of the porch, and yet it felt so peaceful to just be a spectator.

Bird watching is a little like people watching -- or dog watching.  When I went out with Bow to the outer pen this morning, I realized there was a kind of similarity between that experience with the purple martins and Bow's peaceful enjoyment of the antics of the dogs out in the yard.

A window on somebody else's world is often all we need to refresh ourselves. I sometimes do that just watching butterflies flit from one milkweed flower to the next, and there are times where they seem to be congregating.

For Bow, watching the dogs at play serves a similar purpose.

When the weather is nice and all is right with the world, Bow enjoys just surveying the dogs from his perch on the bench, until his eyes grow heavy and he feels a late morning nap coming on.

Bow knows that he can afford to slumber, because if any intruder were suddenly to appear, the dogs would let him know.

So he lets his eyelids droop and his guard down, while the dogs guard the peace.