Sharon's blog: Sunshine

It's been about 6 weeks since I visited the Animal Shelter and came home with a stray puppy.  My children and Ethan had been nagging me:  'Mom, you need a dog; you live alone, Nana, you need a dog.'  And so . . .

On my fifth visit to the shelter, after having seen more dogs and heard more sad stories about them than I want to see or hear again, I came home with a dog.  She was the quiet one, in the world of an animal shelter nothing is quiet - but she was. It was her eyes that did her talking; they still do.

I named her Sunshine.  I don't know why, she just looked like Sunshine to me.  She has that warm color that we see just before the sun fades at the end of a summer day; she has lighter stripes of pale gold across her shoulders and on her tummy; she glows in the sunlight, she is golden.

Anyway, Sunshine came home with me and except for 3 days two weeks ago, it has rained every single day since.  Somehow this is just not right. She's been so easy to house train, even in the rain, surprisingly so for a stray that had never walked on carpet or flooring before. I had to get down on my hands and knees and beg her to come into the house.  Once she crossed the threshold, the rest was easy.  Except for her size. They told me she wouldn't grow much more, I really didn't want a big dog, one I couldn't handle.  Six weeks ago she was a good size.

Last night when I sat on the floor and she sat down in front of me waiting to be brushed, I swear I had to look up to see her eyes.  She laughs a lot considering she is a dog of mixed heritage and she looks nothing like any particular ancestor. People ask, 'What kind of dog is she?' And my answer, 'She's just a big golden dog.'

She was laughing out loud when she looked down at me last night.  It's a good thing she's gentle and loving.  When I brought her home she weighed about 40 pounds.  I stopped weighing her when I realized I could no longer lift her.  That was about a week ago.  I figured I shouldn't be lifting anything that was near half my body weight - certainly not at my age.  That small fact doesn't seem to keep her from sprawling across my lap and most of the chair when I'm sitting in the recliner.

But this isn't about Sunshine, it's about the sun, that alien orb that I've barely seen this spring. It's about the difference that 8 months can make.  Eight months ago my world was caught, held tight, in a severe drought and now I'm considering that I might need an ark to survive. No complaints at all, just sayin' what a difference a few months can make.

The weeds are knee high in my flower beds, the daylily foliage is higher, up past my knees.  And I have an iris that has blooms on a 38" tall stalk.  It has taken awhile for the irises to start blooming, no sun and cool weather made that decision for them.  Some of them held on to buds so long I was afraid they would begin to rot.  But suddenly last week in a 30 minute burst of sunshine, they began to bloom.

The low spot that was going to hold a few vegetables and herbs is sitting quietly beneath about 2 inches of water.  The soil is too wet for planting, even between raindrops, even during those little short 5 minute bouts of sunshine.  So I am waiting, and wondering if our growing season has been cut short by the coolish rains of our spring.  Or maybe the season will extend itself and I will have tomatoes in September and October, but not even then if I can't get them planted. 

It's for sure things are not normal around my house, but the irises and columbines and azaleas and clematis are finally blooming and Sunshine is about the happiest, healthiest, heaviest and laughingest critter around here.  The roses and peonies aren't very far behind.

No, Sunshine isn't eating the blue iris above, she's learning to stop and smell the flowers, even in the rain.

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