Pining

When we were packing to come home from our vacation in Maine this summer, Pappy got freaky. Whenever we are packing for a trip, he gets anxious and clingy and is clearly worried about being left behind. And he's often right, just not that time. At one point while I was packing the car he dashed into the back seat, and I couldn't pry him out with a lever. Of course we weren't leaving for another three hours, but whatever.

I've always asked myself how he knows that the packing is a prelude to our leaving. It turns out he doesn't. We were packing up a bunch of stuff to take up to the neighborhood yard sale this morning, and Pappy went into panic overdrive making sure no one was going anywhere without him. He was relieved when I seemed to be hanging around after moving a few loads up the street.

We wandered up to the yard sale later to spell my wife, and Pappy started peering down the storm drain like it was a badger's den (as he often does). Then he started growling and woofing, whereupon I told him to quit barking at nothing. A neighbor announced that there was a cat down there running between two storm drain entrances, and I bent down to check. Sure enough.