Without saying anything, Jaxon and I sat staring at that park bench for what felt like hours. Jaxon thought it might be a Christo imitation, part of some crazy art project, but I set him straight. We go by it often enough, but we had never seen it all wrapped up like you see in the picture. It looked odd, and to us odd is frightening. When Jaxon broke the silence and asked me in a nervous tone if I thought we might run out of biscuits, I knew I had to write this post. Even little Jaxon figured it out. We’re in a new world now, something everyone calls a pandemic.
Like everyone else we’ve been cooped up for several weeks glued to our TV sets to make sure we don’t miss any big announcements. We hear that we need to keep our paws clean to prevent spreading the virus, which is hard because we like to dig in dirt as much as possible. The streets have been pretty much deserted, missing nearly all of the people who enjoyed our antics so much. If people did show up, there would be no place to sit and spend time with us, because the tables and benches are all chained up. Every day we hear on TV that the death toll pushes higher. The pain of losing Hank is still fresh in our hearts, so it’s sad to hear that a lot of people are going through this all at once.
There’s another phrase we hear on TV, and it’s “sheltering in place.” It seems to be sitting around, staring at the walls, getting more worried as the days pass. I wish I could tell everyone that we’re just not built for doing nothing, but these days no one seems to want to listen. We have to go out everyday, dig holes, smell every bush and shrub or pole that comes into view, and just generally be dogs. No dog ever approved of this sheltering in place, unless it was a place that was well stocked with biscuits.
The chains and wrapping on all of the benches sent me and Jaxon a message that things have taken a turn for the worse. Jaxon and I have never encountered a pandemic before. To be honest, Jaxon has had it pretty easy so he wouldn’t be a great source of ideas on how to get through a pandemic.
In this pandemic, Jaxon and I need reassurance that we’ll get through, that we’ll come out of this and we’ll be fine. I suppose we all need this. For our reassurance we always turned to Hank, but Hank has passed on. We have to rely on the skills he taught us. We learned so much from him. If anyone knew what to do in a global pandemic, it would be Hank.
Hank always handled these kinds of situations very well. Before I came along, he went through a really bad storm in 2012, something he called a derecho. I don’t know if a derecho is anything like a pandemic, but Hank said things were pretty bad. He said that even though things were bleak and the nights were filled with the blackest darkness, he never ran out of biscuits. He made it through to the better days that followed. Whenever the lights went out after that derecho, Hank said it reminded him of those bad days. I guess when you go through a really bad storm, you never completely forget it even if you manage to get through it. Before the derecho, Hank survived the Blizzard of 2010. Looking back at the videos, it looks like Hank and Otto actually enjoyed that blizzard. I’m sure he faced other storms and blizzards that he never told me about.
To buy myself a little time addressing Jaxon’s worry and try to call on Hank’s wisdom, I retreated to our attic. It’s hot and dusty but offers a safe, quiet place to pore over Hank’s leather journal, and just collect my thoughts. It would have been a miracle if he kept specific notes on what to do in a pandemic but no such luck. Even notes on a derecho or blizzard would have been helpful. I looked and looked, but he never gave up the step-by-step details I was looking for.
When I was just about ready to call it a night and come down from the attic, an old draft post with a title of “Stop and Build a Snowman” caught my eye. It was rough and unfinished, something he never published on this site. I am not sure how I even found it. I can’t rule out divine inspiration. Maybe Hank himself was with me in the attic, saying “Here kid, take a look at this one.”
The holiday season is upon us. Unfortunately, our “hustle and bustle” lifestyle often leaves us with little time to enjoy life’s simple pleasures. Unfortunately, there’s snow heading our way and maybe a winter storm will force all of us to spend time together and stop and build a snow man.
Even though we’re past the point where we’d see snow, I felt like I was with him, wondering how we could all build a snowman. I learned something from Hank’s message. His simple point gave me a moment of clarity, which is saying a lot because dogs can be distracted by the littlest of things. Storms come and go. During dark times, it feels like the storms will never end. Some will be big storms, and some will be so small and insignificant that we can’t write about them on our blog. We can deal with all of them together. We can do something that our hustle and bustle lives never gave us the chance to do, like having fun building a snow man. Hank got through those storms. Jaxon & I will get through this pandemic too. We’ve learned from Hank, and knowledge is power. After all, I know more than Jaxon, and even he acknowledges that I’m more powerful.
Over the years, I noticed that sometimes Hank would rest in his bed. Maybe that was his version of sheltering in place. After a very short while, he’d come charging out, all fired up. He never backed down from a challenge. Jaxon & I aren’t going to back down from this one. We see the caution all around us. At times, the caution seems more like panic. People seem to have forgotten all of the knowledge that the storms end, that they are beatable. There are a lot of people talking on TV every day about this pandemic. Maybe they’re too busy focused on TV ratings and not saying the right things. That’s leading to the panic.
None of the people talking on TV would listen to a dog, but I really think it would help. I haven’t written many blog posts and I certainly didn’t want to write one about a global pandemic. This is important to us, so I had to do it. The people on TV talk about beating this storm far off in the future. That’s not good enough. Like Hank did, resting in your bed is fine for a little bit. But just like he did, you’ve got to come charging out. It’s the charging out that gives me and the other dogs hope. So far, Jaxon and I have seen a lot of talking but not enough charging out.
Jaxon and I know that in time the benches will be unchained and unwrapped and the hustle and bustle will return. The panic will stop. Even if no one follows our advice, the people talking on TV will eventually figure it out. Hopefully, that happens without a lot of suffering. I’m sure we’ll have a few battle scars of our own to show off. You’ll probably have to give us lots of back scratches to see them because our fur is getting thick and overgrown. At least you’ll have a bench to sit on so you can take plenty of time with the rubs.
Jaxon & I will continue to go out everyday because we’re not going to let this storm beat us. When are we going to see you out there?
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