Welcome to the Wakefield Doctrine (the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers)
Ten Things of Thankful (TToT)
n. a weekly collection of blogposts devoted, (for the nonce), to listing (and eliciting) the occasion of the state-of-being most often referred to as gratitude.
Us: imaginary writers in a virtual medium, denizens by choice, expressive by nature.
1) Una: a dog, (Chodský pes to be precise) my role model and, as the old saying* reminds us, “…animals are one of the few things that God got right.”
2) Phyllis co-alpha to Una. She, (Phyllis, not Una), was Bella’s alpha**
3) the Wakefield Doctrine
4) ** that Phyllis was alpha to Bella is no small matter and, by virtue of it being a very positive occurrence, earns a place in this list. (The BoSR/SBoR does reference the more specialized categories of gratitude e.g. vicarious gratitude.) Thing of it is, there is no way, at least that we are aware of, to get a puppy and say, “Welcome! That two-legged lifeform is your alpha, leader of the pack of which you are now a member.” It is something that the canine decides. I had the privilege of being alpha to Ola. Phyllis got to be Bella’s alpha pack member. Very cool.
5) Six Sentence Story Where the semicolons rule.
6) serial stories: ‘the Whitechapel Interlude‘ and ‘the Case of the Missing Fig Leaf‘
7) memory of cold days on a fishing boat, a way of putting the current cold spell in perspective. Most cool/memorable event? Fairly bad weather, waves breaking on the bow, turning to spray and the spray freezing in the air on its way to where we were working on deck. Like a horizontal hail storm. Stung like a dermatologist with fresh can of helium and a love-hate relationship with their patients.
8) something, something
9) …actually, the top photo? a bird flying into to it’s nest on top of the LP tank.
10) Secret Rule 1.3
* well, it should be an old saying
** a very special relationship, like with one’s children, except there is no ‘You’re not the boss of me!’ or ‘But all my friends are going to the concert! I’ll be the only not…I hate you!’ or, even, ‘Can I borrow the car….and twenty dollars?’
music vids
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About clarkscottroger
Having been spoiled by a dog that was so obedient and then having one that knew how to be obedient and actually was a good portion of the time, but knew how to show us his Alpha side really was a challenge sometimes. We loved them both.
Loved that descriptive #7, especially that last sentence.
Cute shirt with Bella’s name on it, Phyllis!
** Brought chuckles here
yeah, perfect lifeforms, them dogs is… yeah totally true (both the fishing-boat-with-salt-water-hail-stones and, unfortunately, the fun with liquid helium)
I agree with Pat, that even though each dog is different; we love them all.
Thank you.
Dogs are the best of creatures.
tru dat
I love your fishing boat stories. I get such a vivid picture when you tell them!
thanks (funny the things we remember from the past…not always the things we thought when they were actually happening)
First, was going to try to call in this past weekend but shew…life! I will *try* for this weekend. Second, where was Phyllis skating up there? VERY COOL! If that’s in your yard, I’m going to fall out of my chair from the utter awesomeness. Finally, Una, Bella, Ola…how do you decide your pet names? They’re unique and I like ’em.
That was the small pond we have (walking from the house to the tree house (as you did that time) a bit further in the same direction… a body of water sufficient to ice skate on and build a bridge over…
ah! the matter of names…
I was working part-time at a group home and one of the residents would another Ola (rather than her actual name Lenora).
Phyllis gets credit for Bella and Una. They (the names) came to her in a dream.
(Tell me you’re surprised)
lol