Yes! I went out this morning and sawed off some more tall leaders and woo-hoo, from inside I still have privacy and yet the sun is hitting the interior of the shrubs. A little more taking out of the big stuff and then it will be snipping off all the dead twigs that had withered from lack of sun.

I may hang a wind chime in on of the hollowed out places. Or not, depending on how the sound would or would not travel to my neighbors.

I look like a lady bun when I go out – still wearing my yellow SPAM hat don’t you know. And an old, old Banana Republic shirt from when I was in my 30’s. That would be when it was a safari themed store and was really great. Hmmm, better check on ebay for some vintage items, but they are getting rare.

I think I need to get all my little redheaded friends here outback hats. Just a thought.

I am a sucker for dog stories. I cried during Homeward Bound when Shadow was stuck in the hole, telling the others to go on. My grandkids, who had seen it before, laughed at me and I sobbed out, “What kind of people can call this entertainment?” Marley and Me – now there was another movie that left me so sad.

Since then I’ve steered away from animal stories. Ironically, there are a few sad people stories I have been following because I once wrote an article about CarePages and CaringBridge pages and while researching it, got started following  a few of the families online. There have been a lot of goodbyes. Today one of the last links from those days posted an update: “He’s gone.” He was seven.

The next email was from Amazon.com about their daily Kindle book special. It is titled, Amazing Gracie: A Dog’s Tale. I felt an obligation to click on it and read this:

Now in paperback, AMAZING GRACIE is a moving, funny, and inspirational canine rags-to-riches story. Tears will stain the pages as you read about Gracie, says USA Today. The Chicago Tribune advises, If you’re short on inspiration, read Amazing Gracie. You don’t have to be obsessed with dogs to love this story (Philadelphia Enquirer), Two paws up (Portland Oregonian), humorous yet poignant (ASPCA Animal Watch)

And this:

In a dead-end job and mourning his dog’s death, Dan Dye adopts Gracie, a deaf and partially blind Great Dane puppy. He learns to cook to help Gracie thrive, and this act of love inspires Dye and his friend Mark Beckloff to start Three Dog Bakery, the successful international pet-food chain.

A story about a deaf, partially blind dog from a breed with short a short lifespan. Oh, yeah, just what I need. But maybe I do. Sometimes I think I have learned to shut out bad things that happen to other people because I don’t want anything to open that  door to a room in my mind of remembered despair.

Seven years old. Gee, that little boy had the lifespan of a Great Dane. Obviously a coincidence – those two email notifications being one after the other. I  one-clicked my 99 cents away and, I guess, bought myself a man’s best friend’s nudge towards empathy.

From amazon.com/kindle