Epilogue

Well here I am again in my office. It’s February 2023, on a cold Saturday morning, -22 earlier, -17 now, and hopefully minus 12 by this afternoon. Sam is in the living room watching TV, my wife is upstairs having a nap and Miss Frieda is fast asleep in her kennel – a little bit of peace and quiet for a change in our mad little life.

I promised I would tell you about Miss Frieda. I mentioned her a bit in The Return of Rusty and in many ways she is exactly like my dog of 50 years ago, in other ways she is not. She is an individual, all on her own, a wee fireball with the ability to bite me on the knee one minute when I am not paying her proper attention, then the next sit on her haunches and lick my hand to say “Sorry!”.

Each morning Frieda and I awake about the same time, 6:30ish when the rest of the house is either snoozing or my wife has headed off to her job. This is our time, popping out the back door for a pee (Frieda) or quick puff of Amphora (me) then back into the house for breakfast.

Everything about Frieda is just a little different than you would expect! To see her is to see a small to medium rusty red dog with white paws and underbelly. And then you notice she is wearing two collars, one with her bone shaped name tag on it and the other, a larger darker one that she wears from when she gets up til she heads down for a nap. This collar is called a barking collar, meant to vibrate at the first hint of a growl. You see, for such a small dog, Miss Frieda has the loudest and most persistent bark you will ever hear! Her bark literally booms and has been known to wake people three houses away from a dead sleep, much to our chagrin. It is not that she is nasty, far from it, it is just that she is a hound, with full-bore hound voice.

Miss Frieda also has somewhat different taste buds. While most dogs are happy with a bowl of Kibble, Miss Frieda REQUIRES a teaspoon of plain yogurt in her morning dish. She literally will not eat unless she sees me with the container and spoon. Miss Frieda does love dried beef dog treats, like most dogs, but she also REALLY likes raw carrots and blueberries! Carrots are a great way to get her into her kennel for a nap and lunch time REQUIRES a few frozen blueberries in her dish!

In simpler terms Miss Frieda makes my world a much, much better place and helps me cope with the depression that comes with Covid. Hopefully Spring will come soon and I can put her on a leash and take her over to The Farm to burn off some of that Walker – Aussie Shepherd energy that comes with the territory.

When I mention depression it should be noted that I’m not normally the kind of person to be down in the dumps; usually I’m cheerleading somebody else who’s having a hard time, and I kind of like it that way. We still have another five or six months until we reach that 12 month limit I gave the doctors. Will the memories of Oyster Bay linger or subside a bit; I don’t know. Or do I want them to? I know my life is here in Ottawa for as long as it is, but a part of me will always remain barefoot on the beach at Oyster Bay.

mwLaw’23
Ottawa, Canada