The Absolute Joy of Bowling with Dogs

                                            The Absolute Joy of Bowling with Dogs


   Maybe I'd better rephrase that before the local SPCA knocks on my door and tries to take my babies. My dogs were in no way harmed in the telling of this story. The year was 1982, and sadly the dogs in this story have gone to the rainbow bridge along with others I've loved since.


    I guess I'd better start at the beginning with this one. Some parts of this story, aren't so joyful. But oh my goodness the ending was priceless. And trust me, there weren't many joyful times in my life right then.

    I've always loved to fish. I've been fishing since I was old enough to hold my pole. I'm not good at getting then off the hook or baiting the hook or even putting a hook on the line. Okay, so I kind of suck at fishing but I still like to catch them.

   If you've read my bio you know I've been in a physically abusive relationship. Let me assure you now, I will never be in another one. I don't have a lot of happy memories of that time in my life, but this is one of them.

     Since I never let on to, let's just put it out there, The Abuser, hereafter known as TA, (which is kinder than what I normally say about him), that I loved to fish, I got to do quite a bit of it. Now that's either a good thing or a bad thing. Catching fish, good thing, no fish, bad thing. But that's not the point of this story.

   At that time, I lived somewhere in Arkansas. For only living there for four years, I have a lot of funny stories about it. I guess it comes from seeing the beauty around you regardless of the situation you find yourself trapped in.

    TA decided we needed to scope out a new fishing hole. So we loaded up the dogs and took off. By dogs, I mean my dog, Freckles a Queensland Heeler / Border Collie mix that was meaner than any snake I have ever encountered. She had one job in this life. To protect me. Always, against anyone. Including, TA. And the funny thing is, he never crossed her. I know now it was because he was a bully and had I known then what I know now, I could have brought him down myself.*

   But that's old news. Back to finding new fishing grounds, It's not hard in Arkansas or, at least, it wasn't back then. Water was everywhere. So were fish...and other things. But today was all about the fish. TA soon found what he thought would be a great new fishing hole. Yeah, not so much.
 
    Did I mention we were in Arkansas, well it rains in Arkansas. It rains in Arkansas a lot. It had been raining for a couple of days. Rain + Dirt = MUD therefore, MUD = LOL.

     TA found what he knew was a great fishing hole. And look, you could even see the fish swimming in it. He kept trying to get me to get out of the car and come look at the fish in this hole. Okay I finally got out of the car to go look at the "fish" he'd found and of course, the dogs jumped out with me.
 
     TA got so excited about the "fish" in the pond that he just had to get a better look. He slipped slid his way down the bank to the very edge of the pond with Rags right on his heels. They both stood at the edge of that pond looking at the "fish". All I saw was a long skinny thing that resembled a short, skinny funny looking snake. I know now that the things I was looking at were indeed a species of fish called an Alligator Gar.

      Well, it seems Freckles wanted to get a closer look too, so she got close to the edge and slid right down that bank and pushed both of them into the water right along with those ugly fish. She never swerved toward the gutter or slowed down, she hit them right straight on. TA couldn't get out of the water fast enough, and he couldn't even blame Freckles for pushing him in because he was the fool that wanted to get a closer look in the first place.

   Yep, Karma does, in fact, come around and sometimes you even get to watch.

til next time,

Debbie

*TA had a sweet little boy named Rags that I loved beyond measure. He died of heartworms before we were even aware there was such a thing. Years later I was able to save my rescue Beau from them when he came to me instead of being taken to the pound. Sometimes life's lessons are hard. Karma also lets us make up for past mistakes, even if they were inadvertent.