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Hammock
There is not another animal that even approaches the awesomeness of dogs. There is not another period of the year that is as yucky in the Midwest than the dog days of August.
Full disclosure, I have four dogs, Bazinga, the Great Dane; Chief, a Great Pyrenees, Banjo the mutt and Link, a wire-haired terrier. (Link has a story dying to be told.)
There is a joke I heard that sums up dogs precisely. Lock your spouse and a dog in the trunk of your car for an hour. (DO NOT ACTUALLY ATTEMPT THIS AT HOME!!) After the sixty minutes are up and you open up the trunk door, guess which one is happy to see you and going to treat you like their rescuing hero?
You are the whole center of their world. There is no to-do list for them to be thinking about while they are hanging out with you. They are not on Facebook scrolling through the latest digital gossip, checking Twitter notifications or pinning things on Pinterest. They are focused on you.
Bazinga weighing in at 150 pounds knows she is a lap dog. She wants to lay, sit, sprawl across you and lets out a heavy sigh as you scratch her behind the ear.
Chief will put his nose in the palm of your hand to remind you he is there and needs petting. The 120 pound protector of the yard likes to share the hammock and snuggle.
Banjo is a lick monster. If you venture to the Smith abode and Chief lets you out of the car, Banjo will provide you with a canine slobber shower. He is my Jonah's dog. And when Jonah is helping me with projects, Banjo loves to sneak up behind him and give him a lick on the back of the calf or small of the back.
Link is a dead-on twin for Benji. (Millennials, Google it.) He is a constant companion when you are outside and afraid of nothing including Chief. Weighing in at a svelte 20 pounds, he has put a whipping on Chief.
As these hot days of August are in full bore, the dogs are looking for shade, coolness or someway to keep comfortable. Chief digs a hole to lay his belly in the coolness of the dirt. They found the dark corner of the garage and the coolness of the concrete.
One thing is assured at my house. You cannot show up and stay in a bad mood. Our dogs change that with their devotion to the Smith and now Kaliin family.
I recently read this quote from Milo Gathema, "A dog does not care if you are rich, poor, smart or dumb. Give them your heart and they will give you theirs."
It also got me to wondering while I lay in the hammock with Chief sprawled across me, Banjo reaching his tongue through the cords and Link laying close by, DOG is GOD spelled backwards.
And God too has an unyielding love and devotion for each of us. He too loves it when he sees us. And nudges us to make sure we are focus on His world.
And he does not care if you are rich, poor, smart or dumb. Give God your heart is all He asks.
From my hammock, I don't believe it's just a coincidence that dogs can give us a glimpse of God's love for each of us. They are a great companion that He created for us. Now, if he can just do something about this humidity!!!!