What is going on with our weather? I buy a new jacket and then the sun comes out like the fires of you know where. I love the warm weather, but it has to follow the rules. This out of sync weather plays the dickens with the crops that make our valley famous. My younger son is a pest control adviser for some farmers that give their time to growing our world famous lettuce. Of course, they grow lots of other things, but the head lettuce that made our valley famous is the number one crop and is usually mentioned in a lot of movies.
I remember telling you how much we love our dogs, and I wrote that I would tell you some more tidbits about our gifts from God. He must have loved dogs as he makes them more than a family pet but more like a true member of our family. You remember I mentioned the dog that Austin named Beaujolais? This was the first dog that convinced us that they understand English and can do some truly crazy things. Beaujolais was an Australian Shepherd, but she was the runt of the litter. She didn’t grow to much more than about 10 inches high, however she could jump over our backyard fence.
That was a pain in my life as she would jump over and go cruising around the neighborhood like she owned it. I continually bought wood and made the fence higher, but it didn’t seem to bother her. I was always yelling at the boys as I thought they had left the gate open. They swore that they were conscientious about being sure that the gate was latched. Of course, I had to believe them because I was sure that she couldn’t jump over a six-foot fence. That is, until I was walking around the backyard one day and the neighbors dog started barking.
All of a sudden a black streak came running around the corner and without slowing down that streak jumped up and caught her front feet over the top board on my fence. She pulled herself up, caught her back feet on the top board and flipped right over into my neighbors yard. Gad! But that dog could surprise me. Shoot! I couldn’t even get over the fence while she didn’t even slow down.
That week I went into Salinas to the lumber store and bought a bunch of lattice boards and nailed them on top of my fence. I’m pretty sure that wasn’t legal, but I justified it by telling my bride that we had to protect our dog.
She was sure that we were going to be fined for having a fence higher than legally permitted. I just told her to not let anyone come nosing around our backyard. Actually, I told her to tell anyone curious about our fence that it was like that when we moved in. By the way, I have a new fence that is up to code. I’m glad to say nobody ever came over or gave us any grief about those high boards. Shoot! It wasn’t six months until neighbors on both sides of my house had installed higher boards. I guess the inspectors thought that the rules had been changed, and even if I was on the City Council, I never said anything about my neighbor’s fences.
I have also mentioned to you about how the boys and I would play Army in the culverts that had been dug down Fanoe Road, before they were needed. One evening we were displacing a few of these interloping heathen and had sat down under the little bridge that allowed the tractors access to the farm land to the east of Fanoe Road. Austin looked at me with concern and asked where Beaujee was. I did a head count just like I did after a firefight in Vietnam, and sure enough our scout dog was missing.
We broke camp and started calling for our scout dog when all of a sudden this ball of fur came flying over the side of the culvert and landed with a whump!
Sure enough, it was our scout dog returning to us by jumping over the edge of the culvert. It was about seven feet down from the roadway to where we were standing. We just looked at each other. We were sure that was the end of Beaujee. The boys and I just sort of looked at each other with tears in our eyes when Beaujee barked once. You want to talk about a happy crew. We all fell on him and almost fought to see who was going to hold him. He loved the thought but he wasn’t hurt in the least.
As all good soldiers, we re-grouped and returned to our headquarters. Beaujee lived a long and happy life and just didn’t wake up one morning. Wow! I’m having a hard time seeing the keys on the keyboard. My eyes are all blurry. I didn’t think it would bother me to tell you of that patrol the boys and I went on. But sure enough the memory is still so clear. Not just because of Beaujee, but because of the boys that used to let their Daddy play with them. They even allowed me to lead a couple of our patrols.
Every once in a while they will come by for another memory on my birthday or Father’s Day. The last time was when they came by and picked me up to take me over to the Golden State Theater in Monterey to see my favorite living rocker George Thorogood and the Delaware Destroyers. They paid for the T-shirts and even the cocktails that we imbibed while waiting for our sober driver, Lorraine. Guess she was afraid I would take them on another patrol.
God Bless.
