The Dog Days of Summer

I know that the expression of "dog days of summer" comes from the position of Sirius, the dog star, during the summer months, but we've been having more than our usual share of dogs this summer.

Like any normal farm we have a large breed dog to discourage animals like skunks and raccoons from moving into the yard, and to act as a guard dog in our absences. We have a fondness for Black Labs; the one we have now is our fourth or fifth in two decades. He is big and old but usually good tempered. Our daughter has recently got herself a small terrier pup who just wants to be friends with everybody. Our dog is not impressed and tries to stay out of Fred's way as much as possible while they are out to the farm.

We've been Fred sitting since Wednesday while Sandy attended a wedding in Saskatoon. He's a pretty high maintainence job compared to a farm dog - I don't dare let him out on his own. He'd either run off and be a coyote snack by sundown, or he'd push Chubby to justifiable puppycide. I don't want to have to explain either to his owner. She should be back to pick him up in the next hour or so and we can go back to normal around here.

Glen is off to bale greenfeed this afternoon, Mitchell headed up to the waterslides at Kenosee Lake with a bunch of friends, and I've got the place to myself. I love it when that happens. I'm trying to catch up on the laundry that has been piling up while our water system in the house has been slowly dying.

On the farm we don't pay a water and sewer bill, but that's not to say that these things come free. We have our own well, but we had to locate a source of water and pay to have it dug and installed out of our own pocket. Same goes for sewage - the whole system is installed and paid for at the owner's expense. Once it's paid for, of course, it's clear sailing - that is until something goes wrong. There is no calling up the municipal service provider and saying "Come fix it." It's go figure out what's wrong, buy what you need for repairs, and in our case, Glen does the work himself.

Our old well caved in over a year ago, and although a new one was dug and we had plenty of water, the dirt and sand that got into the system at the time has created havoc with every single aspect of our water system. Friday was the big day when Glen and Mitchell tore out everything - pressure pump, pressure tank, and hot water heater - and put all new in. It was a long, hard day, but what a difference! You don't know what a luxury it is to take a shower and have the water temperature and pressure stay the same for the whole time. Glen was teasing me that it was kind of boring, but I can live with that kind of boring.

They went the extra mile and rearranged the water system appliances and set them all up on stands so that any maintainence needed will be much easier to do. It was a huge job and took both of them all day from 9:00 in the morning to almost midnight. With the hard work and the heat of the day their goal was simple - to be able to shower before they went to bed.