It Begins With Dogs

August 27, 2019|Richard Nikoley||
There’s two of Scout because it’s what the rescue folks named him and he’s true to it.

In early March, my now former wife, Beatrice, calls and asks if I want Choncho, Nanuka, and Scout for a couple of weeks. She has some weekend trips to take and doesn’t want to burden her elderly parents.

Sure. So I drive down to SoCal, stayed for a few days, and we signed the final divorce settlement at her attorney’s office.

Then I got back up here, settled in, and the dogs got adjusted. They know the place intimately. How many dogs have a vacation home? But then there was the meantime, documented below. In the end, they were here for six weeks and I insisted she bring her parents to pick them up and stay a few days, promising I’d cook pancakes for her nearly 90-yo mom (I guess it falsifies the notion that pancakes kill you).

How wild is that? Divorced, and not only do I get along well with Beatrice, but her parents as well.

What should I do with that?
This has plagued me for 15 years. Constant erosion and a dirty driveway.
My nephew’s Kiva girl has an idea.
1. Dig the trench.
2. Cut the 100ft length of tree down to sizes.
3. Pull the sections out as Kiva supervises.
4. Prepare to roll it into place.
5. Like that. Two more sections to go, and bark stripping.
6. And that’s a wrap. Three sections from a single tree, totaling 68 feet.
Tough day. Kiva is exhausted.

I’ve had this in the quiver since mid-April. Now fired.

I just got back from my brother’s house where I returned the favor and we built one of his retaining walls this weekend. I’ll post it tomorrow.

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Free The Animal is an eclectic writing project about everything since November 2003. 23 years, 5,500 posts, 5 million words.

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2 Comments

  1. David Nikoley on September 9, 2019 at 12:58

    That was a fun weekend and thank you for the help on my wall.



    • Richard Nikoley on September 9, 2019 at 13:07

      Brother.

      There’s a post coming up about it.

      It was my coolest time in a long time and especially Doug and Han.

      Man are you lucky to live next to created family loved ones.