The Mailman and the Dog

Pardon my ranting for a minute if you will. Yesterday, while delivering the mail, a woman came home from wherever with her dog in the back of her car. I didn't really think much of it until I was down about four houses when said dog came running down the street toward me. Now I've been carrying the mail for a while now, and I've had a general distaste for dogs longer than that, and this dog was not looking for a sniff and a lick. With a slightly agressive growl and the hair standing up on the back of his neck, ol' Sparky got a shot in the face from my post office issued dog spray.
Fortunately, the spray worked perfectly. Sparky stopped what he was doing, rubbed his face a few times, and then headed for home. Most importantly, no one got bit. The thing that really chaps me about it is that it never should have happened. There is no good reason for this dog to be off it's leash. No dog should ever be allowed of it's leash to roam around the neighborhood.
Let me set something straight here. Dogs don't hate mail carriers. Dogs don't hate uniforms, blue shirts, popcorn or most other things people think their dogs hate. I'll tell you what dogs hate. Dogs hate intruders. That is their territory and they don't want anyone else on it.
I had a friend growning up named Aron. And he had a dog named Bubba. And Bubba barked at airplanes. I figured that Bubba was just another stupid dog until it occured to me that Bubba had a job to do. Bubba's job was to make sure those airplanes just kept flying by and under no circumstances do they land in his yard. Guess what? Buba had a perfect record. Never once did any of those airplanes land in his yard. As far as he knew, it was because he barked at them. So he kept barking at airplanes.
I see dogs every day that don't want intruders in their yard. So they bark at them. And when it's the mail man, we get as far as the front porch mailbox and turn around and leave. "It worked! I think I'll try it again tomorrow" said Sparky, as he glared out the window at the back of the mailman. "And tomorrow if I'm outside, maybe I'll take a bite out of him."
Dog's don't hate the mailman.
Dog's just want to protect their yard.
So people should protect their dogs. Just because I don't like dogs doesn't mean I like hitting them with the pepper spray. So do your mail man a favor, and do you dog one too. Keep your dog safely away from the mailman and everybody's happy. Especially Sparky.

On Homes And Fathers

We closed the loan on our house yesterday. It's about time huh? After living in the house for three years and constructing a major remodel (more than doubling the size of the house) for the last two, we officially bought the house from my dad. The original house was built in 1893 before Utah was a state, and it was a one bedroom, zero bathroom house with no kitchen, just a fireplace in the dining room. In later years a kitchen and bathroom and another small bedroom were added to the back. When we took ownership of the house we had two kids and the master bedroom was too small for a king size bed. So we put Grace in the master, Chris in the other bedroom, and Lori and I set up shop in the dining room. A year after we moved in we started the remodel process, and finally broke ground in November of 2006. Construction was delayed in April when I cut my finger half way off, and took some time for recovery and rehab. We did however manage to get the roof on it before winter set in again. In January I changed jobs and was kept very busy with that. We finally got carpet a month ago and immediately started moving our stuff into our new rooms. There's still a few finishing touches that I may never get to at this point but no one seems to mind. I jut can't believe it's finally done!
I need to take a moment and make sure my dad knows how important he is to me. Not only for the many uncounted hours he spent on this project, along with all the frustrations of being the General Contractor, but for all the things he's done for me. It's been almost a year since I quit working with him to go work for the post office and I miss it terribly. He taught me so much over the years we spent working together, and I would not be where I am today and the man I am without his everpresent influence. I love you Dad. Thankyou again.