1:52 and the storm arrives. Much sturm and drang- wind, flashes of lightening, rolling thunder, very small amount of rain.
Have closed all windows and doors, lowered shutters, and brought in beach towels.
Dog, however, is a basket case. Wish the poor thing could just knock back a shot of tequila and go to sleep, but it was not meant to be. This poor 120 lb Bernese is reduced to a quivering wreck; much heavy breathing and trembles.
Of course I can't go to sleep. Someone needs to keep her company. We inherited her from a really nice man whose wife died, and he decided to move but didn't know how to manage the dog as well. He looked around for a good home. Guess what he found?
I tried to elucidate to my dear T. that it was like adding another person to the mix, emotionally. It was also a lot of work taking care of them, which explained why I didn't want to get any more dogs. (For some reason they always ALL hate thunderstorms and find it impossible to make it through one without a paw held. I am always at the other end of the paw.) We have had dogs for all the 40 years of marriage. (AND cats) And of course they die and I am distraught and inconsolable for months. Our last dog was a Turkish Kangal. He was amazing. I still miss him and it's been five years.
There was much pooh-poohing all around and the same old arguments of "protection and safety" thrown lavishly about. Basically, T. wanted another dog. So ended the saga of our inheriting a Swiss dog bred for mountain terrains, to ironically live out her life in basically a semi tropical sea level climate.
Hmph.
Perhaps one day in the nursing home that cruelly bans pets, I'll finally sleep through a storm. Though by then, I will no doubt have too many aches and pains to sleep and will spend the night counting seconds from the lightening til the BOOM, to guess how many miles away the storm is from me, sighing and missing a dog to hold paws with.
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YeeeHaaa!
New wave of wind gusts have blown awning out! Just returned inside after battening down hatches, chasing chair cushions across yard and battling sun umbrellas. Invigorating, but sadly a bit late. Hair reflects useless attempt of man against nature. T. awakened and growled and went out into the rain to rescue the injured awning.
In the light of morning, I feel, there will be damage.
You're probably beginning to think I'm a crazy stalker but I've found reading your blog very interesting and have just noticed you have a Bernese - we had one too. Harvey lived to be 7; he died in 2003 and we think about getting another from time to time. How does yours cope with the Corfu heat? She looks like a sweety - though sadly my computer's currently up the spout (that's a technical term) and the colours are weird - must get it fixed. I had to Google Turkish Kangal - they look quite fierce! Are they like a Turkish Carabash?
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