HAYSTACKS AND A GOLD-BLUE PUPPY

It is another blue-sky day. The breeze is light and the temperature is in the upper 40's. I drive along in my Jeep Wrangler with my best buddy 'Elijah' seated near to me in the passenger seat. He is harnessed in his doggie seat and is intently watching and sniffing as he looks out through the wind glass and passenger side window. The sun is warming as it flashes through into the interior of the vehicle. The day is a marvel for mid-February. 'Eli' and I are off to a good friend's property to pick up a half-dozen or so 'square bales' of hay. The hay is stored in an old lean-to of a barn structure a ways down 'V' highway and then off onto a dirt county road. Eli is excited. I drive along and then pull off the blacktop onto the county road and make my way towards the end and to where on the left the fences are lined and the barn with the hay stored within is located. I turn my jeep and align the little wooden, green trailer I've pulled along behind and park it accordingly as to lessen the distance to where the barn's opening is and to where I will next have to load the hoisted hay bales. I step from the jeep and hurry around to the passenger side and take charge of little Eli who is very eager to join me. He is not a dog to be 'ever' left behind! So, with Eli unstrained and now fastened to his leash the two of us are off beneath the barbed-wire and faded wood fencing and onto the tract of land towards the barn. The day is a wondrous blue-sky adventure. My idea is to tether Eli to the side area nearest the barn's loft as I climb and carry the square bales across the field and over to my jeep and trailer. He complies as I tie him off and than as I hurry along taking six of the better bales and deliver them into the bed of the trailer. Eli awaits patiently as I rope the top layer of hay down. I can see him from where I stand in the dirt road. He is sniffing and stirring in the winter wheat-colored grass before the old faded gray wood of the barn. He is a delight! Then I am finished with the hay and I next rejoin Eli. We are off on a long walk up and over the back pastures of my good friend's land. It is after all an incredible day for a winter's month. Elijah and I saunter along side the barn and then make our way out across the rolling land. We can see haystacks and cattle feeders in the distance. The fencing lines and rolls away on either side of us. It is a Missouri Bluebird colored sky above. The breeze is calm and refreshing. Eli's tongue is flapping in a gleeful way. He looks back at me with that happy sparkle in his eyes. We have the whole pasture and field, for as far as a person (and dog) can see, to ourselves! It is one of those moments when you know you've made a very correct decision in life when having proclaimed two years ago that you would leave the foul air and over-crowding of the east coast and move to Missouri and the outstanding Ozarks! A person walks along with a wonderful fellow, such as his Yorkshire terrier-dog 'Elijah', and knows that, although he has made quite a few mistakes in his life and 'does' indeed have a few regrets, he also knows, without a doubt, that, at this very moment, 'all in the present is well and good'! So Eli and I hike along. We can hear the cows 'mooing' in the far distance. Birds are returning to the area from their winter's stay in the tropical south. The song of the avian wonders can be heard everywhere. The is the delightful sound of the 'country' all about. So man and puppy Yorkie roam for awhile. The pasture rolls a little and ground is a blond-dried affair. The haystacks are like huge mounds of cereal dotted across the agri-landscape. 'Sweet Missouri", I keep thinking. "And a little best friend like my 'Eli'! It does not get any better does it not? Then Eli and I make a final sweep and head back to the jeep. He is a bit tired and thirsty I can tell. I have bales of hay to deliver back to my own farm. I have animals to care for;-llamas, calves and goats. Life at this moment is good. Eli's hair tousles in the Missouri breeze. He is a gold and blue bouncing boy. We are back in the Jeep Wrangler now. We are off down the county road. We return, the two of us, to BlueCat Farm.
RSC-Elijah/Caulfield, MO.