The sun had hardly begun to peak over the Blue Ridge Mountains and smile down on Windy Hollow before Detriot was up making his rounds. Today was different. Well at least it was going to be. Nothing different yet.

•  Complete surveillance of the entire property-✔️
• Cat nap in the upside down crate until breakfast time ✔️
• Same insanely irritating ability of the mindless assistant (the chocolate lab-Rolo) to decide to exit the “bedroom” (a.k.a doghouse or upside down crate) at the same instant as the Head of Ranch Security and squeeze his sides into the door frame- annoyingly ✔️

 ” I can feel it in my bones-something is going to happen today. ” Detriot said as he picked up his favorite stick of wood out of the corner of the yard and carried it about 3 laps around the outside of house in the building anticipation. Rolo wasn’t into wood gathering, but not to be left out, she tucked her tail and ran with reckless abandon around the yard to celebrate too-whatever this event could be.

Then the dogs busied themselves as they prepared to wait.

The neighbor drove across his field-the dogs set up a volley of alarms, but he stayed on his side of the fence and after awhile disappeared all together. Nope, that wasn’t it.

Someone rode a bike up the road. More warning barks that were virtually ignored. Still not it.

Then it happened-unloaded at the end of the lane was the biggest yellow truck ever. The truck lumbered slowly along turning its head from side to side. A much lesser dog would have fled the scene and beat a hasty retreat to the bedroom as the smaller of the two suggested. But the Head of Security stood unwaveringly, watching the Beast move up the lane. He stalked emotionlessly across the field to where the Beast stopped and after circling it a few times, he broke the silence “Very good” he barked “welcome to Turleytown, I’ll be your job supervisor, we expect you to report to duty immediately ”

And the great Haul truck did just that. 

She effortlessly made the trip between the pond and the field emptying the pond of silt that had found its way to the pond floor years before. 

The Supervisor was all business-He and His Assistant kept a close eye on the project; kept the work area free from muskrats, mice and lots of other varmits; and occasionally jumped in with the trackhoe operator to give a few pointers.

It was from the vantage point of the trackhoe cab that Detroit saw it all real clear: The Farmer’s Daughter decided to brave the snow squalls and come take pictures of the pond progress. So she donned her father’s oversized barnboots and trudged across the road to the job site. Now, bear in mind, the pond had the water level lowered all winter, so some of the surface had crusted over and dried out. The story goes that someone (who shall remain nameless) discovered that the crust doesn’t hold much weight and sank in well past their knees. The Daughter knew this, and thought about it as she headed towards the excavator, but in an effort to save some time, she cut across the pond. The Supervisor and his workers watched with unbelieving eyes as her boots sank nearly out of sight. She’d work and work to get one boot free only to have it sink in with the next step forward. It apparently was the most comical sight ever as she wrestled first one boot and then the other from the miry clay, and finally gave up on walking and crawled acrossed the mud floor with her father’s boots in hand. (Thankfully there is no photo documentation of this event)

This story took the long route home to bring out several lessons: Extend grace- she knew she had made the wrong decision as soon as her boot started to sink, and the last thing she wanted to hear as she slunk towards shore was “what were you thinking?!” or “I told you so…” (The ear to ear grin on the face of every operator spoke volumes enough). Learn from others mistakes- no one is exempt from gravity-especially on a pond floor. And always, ALWAYS keep the ability to join others in laughing at your own mistakes.

 Humbly,

 Detroit Snappenbarker Mendoza (Supervisor)  and the muddy mess shivering on the pond bank, KH