A liturgical dog

Saying for the Day- When a dog barks at the moon, then it is religion; but when he barks at strangers, it is patriotism! ~David Starr Jordan

One of the things that I discovered when I spent the week at my son Peter’s home is that he has a liturgical dog. Since it is an English Springer Spaniel I assume that means he’s Anglican. The dog, Spanky, has a ritual all its own.
When somebody leaves the house he whines a bit and goes to the window to see where they are going. A lot of dogs do that so it isn’t unique. But Spanky’s ritual takes place when the person returns. As soon as they pass through the front doorway Spanky is there with a shoe. He senses the person coming, he finds the shoe, and then he meets them with the shoe. If you try to get the shoe he will play with you but if you don’t he will just drop it somewhere and won’t bother it till he needs a shoe for his ritual. It is not always the same shoe. Sometimes it’s a black shoe, sometimes a running shoe, sometimes a kid’s superman shoe, and even sometimes a beach sandal. But he always meets the person with a shoe.I suppose if you really wanted to you could teach a dog to meet you at the door with a shoe but I don’t think anybody ever tried. The dog is self taught and seems to get some joy out of the ritual.
He belongs to a one commandment dog denomination. Thou shall bring a shoe.

@@@@ News from Pigeon Falls-The little town in my basement where the trains still run, dragons fly, and it got a little warmer last night-Pigeon Falls is up to zero today. It did snow a little last night though. In town the joke is that Global Warming is responsible for getting Pigeon Falls up to zero.
Vicki East still hasn’t come up with a new Pigeon Falls song but she is trying. She has written lines and lines but none of them seem right.
Nancy’s husband has sent his book “ Death in the Sauna” to his publisher and is waiting for his publisher’s comments. Nancy says that she has read it and it’s a great book. One of the best mysteries that she has ever read.
Today Nancy starts serving hot soup along with her coffee and saffron buns. She is providing soup at $.50 a bowl. She says she isn’t trying to make money on the soup just giving people a chance to get warmed up in this zero weather.
They had a real problem at the Last Lutheran parsonage yesterday afternoon. The water pipes froze and broke. Water went over all the boxes in the basement that Pastor Joan had gone through but not unpacked yet. One of the boxes had some red stuff in it that dissolved and ran all over the floor. It looked like a CSI crime scene. They got a plumber there who thawed the pipes, replaced the split ones, and then wrapped them in heating tape. The basement mess is Pastor Joan’s problem.
The first of the outside snowmobilers showed up yesterday. They were thrilled with the conditions. You didn’t get to go snowmobiling in this area at this time of year ever before Pigeon Falls. One can almost believe they were praying, “ Lord don’t let them find the song”. Virginia Nelson , head of a snowmobile club in a near by town said that lots of their members will be coming in while the conditions exist. They are even willing to help with trail preparation.
Is Pigeon Falls on its way out of the big freeze? Will Tommy TW ‘ s book be a best seller? What kind of soup is Nancy selling?, Will more pipes freeze? Is Pigeon Falls on its way to becoming a winter resort all year round? How thick is the ice on the Lake of the Loons? And of course is Tommy UK really the undertaker’s kid?
******

Today's Link-I like Shiny Things- Some thoughts on pain.
Well I gfeel a lot better today. The computer is working better than the portable. I spent most of the day catching up. I read all of last week's comments. You are such nice people. I read my e-mail. There was a week's worth. I visited a little over half the links and left comments. Now I need a breathing treatment.
GBYA