The Dragonfly Story

The Dragonfly Story

Down below the surface of a quiet pond lived a little colony of water bugs. They were a happy colony, living far away from the sun. For many months they were very busy, scurrying over the soft mud on the bottom of the pond. They did notice that every once in awhile one of their colony seemed to lose interest in going about. Clinging to the stem of a pond lily it gradually moved out of sight and was seen no more.

"Look!" said one of the water bugs to another. "one of our colony is climbing up the lily stalk. Where do you think she is going?" Up, up, up it slowly went....Even as they watched, the water bug disappeared from sight. Its friends waited and waited but it didn't return...

"That's funny!" said one water bug to another. "Wasn't she happy here?" asked a second... "Where do you suppose she went?" wondered a third.

No one had an answer. They were greatly puzzled. Finally one of the water bugs, a leader in the colony, gathered its friends together. "I have an idea". "The next one of us who climbs up the lily stalk must promise to come back and tell us where he or she went and why."

"We promise", they said solemnly.

One spring day, not long after, the very water bug who had suggested the plan found himself climbing up the lily stalk. Up, up, up, he went. Before he knew what was happening, he had broke through the surface of the water and fallen onto the broad, green lily pad above.

When he awoke, he looked about with surprise. He couldn't believe what he saw. A startling change had come to his old body. His movement revealed four silver wings and a long tail. Even as he struggled, he felt an impulse to move his wings...The warmth of the sun soon dried the moisture from the new body. He moved his wings again and suddenly found himself up above the water. He had become a dragonfly!!

Swooping and dipping in great curves, he flew through the air. He felt exhilarated in the new atmosphere. By and by the new dragonfly lighted happily on a lily pad to rest. Then it was that he chanced to look below to the bottom of the pond. Why, he was right above his old friends, the water bugs! There they were scurrying around, just as he had been doing some time before.

The dragonfly remembered the promise: "the next one of us who climbs up the lily stalk will come back and tell where he or she went and why." Without thinking, the dragonfly darted down. Suddenly he hit the surface of the water and bounced away. Now that he was a dragonfly, he could no longer go into the water...

"I can't return!" he said in dismay. "At least, I tried. But I can't keep my promise. Even if I could go back, not one of the water bugs would know me in my new body. I guess I'll just have to wait until they become dragonflies too. Then they'll understand what has happened to me, and where I went."

And the dragonfly winged off happily into its wonderful new world of sun and air.......

Thank you God, for the story of the water bugs and the dragonflies.

Please remember________who left the pond we live in...and remember me...

STICKNEY, D. (1997). Water Bugs and Dragonflies. Explaining Death To Young Children. The Pilgrim Press.

Splash Day at the Dog Park

Today was one of the bestest days, ever!!! The new city pool splash park teamed up with the dog park and they had a dog splash day now that the pool has closed down for the season. Truth be told, I didn't make it to the park during its inaugural year as a human to swim, but now that I've been there, I'm very impressed.

The lucky candidates to go with me today were Isabelle, Rizzo, and Rizzo's pup, Kentucky Lilly. Lilly, being only 8 weeks old, and one of the cutest pugs EVER, stole the show. She worked the crowd, following this person, chasing that dog, getting total strangers to ensure her every need was met. She could spot a "rescuer" from across the water park and make a beeline for him/her and give them the "help me, help me" look and they would sweep her up in arms full of cuddles. If I was following her, she barely knew I was there, but if I wanted someone to watch her while I went to do something, she was right behind me with them chasing saying "I tried to pick her up!!" Goofy puppy.

Rizzo was the first to try the water. They have a wonderful little ramp-type area. Humans weren't supposed to be in the pool with the dogs, but several were breaking the rules, so I went in to my ankles with her. She wanted so badly to be brave, but she ended up putting her front paws up on the back of the legs and slowly we waded out together, with her on my leg the whole time. She did ok, though, and kind of swam back a few strokes till she realized she could actually walk back out. Isabelle didn't go out that far, but she did get wet. When we started off for another area, Rizzo lost me in the crowd and ran out into the water searching for me. She found herself in way too deep in a circle of women and she was on her back legs pirouetting. They thought it was cute, but I knew she was panicking. As soon as I saw her go out, I started after her, so as soon as I was within ear range, I was asking people to pick her up. They did, thank goodness. She was in no real danger since she could still stand on her back legs, but she was definitely worried, and didn't really want to go back in the water after that, even though it turns out she's a fine swimmer!! She might have gotten over it if we had been able to stay out there with them for any length of time, but I was trying to be as good as possible for the sake of the health department :)

We continued on around the complex and watched the big, brave dogs. Their owners were throwing all sorts of things as the dogs fearlessly threw themselves into the deep end and gleefully retrieved whatever object it was. They would shake off so much water that it would drench Lilly - lol. She didn't care for that...

On the backside of the pool, where it was deeper, I tried to see if they would like to walk out onto a step where it was shallow and (for the moment) no other dogs. The adults weren't very interested, but Lilly fell into the pool. I immediately reached to drag her back out, but to my surprise, she was swimming very well. She was panicked, but she was swimming. So I held my hand over her till she got to the edge (about 4 inches and 8 puppy paddle strokes) and then lifted her out. Hoping that she would realize that she can swim and that she was ok. Well, she was pretty miffed about the whole thing. First the big dogs shaking on her, then getting her feet wet, and now her whole body??? Where was a rescuer when she needed one? Obviously this isn't what the princess had in mind.

We got to see lots and lots of other dogs. Some of our favorites were the 14-month old springer spaniel siblings, an awesome cutie scottie terrier named Duncan, a 5-month old puppy dachsund who tried really hard to keep up with everyone who ran by, a gorgeous german shepherd who enlisted me to throw his ball into the water, some beautiful golden retrievers, and many others I'm forgetting at the moment. We had a really wonderful time. The girls were totally exhausted after our 2 hour excursion and they settled into deep naps on the way home. And with all the excitement, I forgot to take pictures :( But Lilly kept me very busy with her antics and her frolicking. You just never knew which direction she was going in next. A representative from the dog park asked if she could take a pic for their web page, though. If I find it later, I'll scarf it and post it here for you all!

Ellie Mae & Jolene at the Reservoir

What beautiful days we've been having! Inspired by pictures of dogs in leaves, after work we went to the reservoir knowing there would be tons of leaves to have in pictures. Not to mention the beautiful water in the background. We searched and searched and they must do a really good job of keeping the reservoir picnic areas clean. Or maybe the wind had blown all the loose leaves into the woods. But either way, we had no luck with the leaves. The setting sun was gorgeous. Ellie Mae decided she wanted to play some fetch. Jolene kept tossing her head over her shoulder and barking at the BBQ pit on a pole. It stayed right where it was, too! She must really sound ferocious to inanimate objects.

As hard as I tried to keep them on the side of me where the sun was shining on them, not behind them, they still kept going to the other side. And the props I had with me were cute, the reservoir was gorgeous, but no.... the best shot was with their heads in the Walgreen's plastic bag. Go figure. You'll see the abandoned fuzzy rabbit toy in the background.

As a perfect end to a perfect evening, in the midst of acres of perfect grass, Jolene peed on my jacket laying on the ground. They're a litte bit too trained with the puppy pad.

Fun at the Dash N Splash

Fun at the Dash N Splash
Saturday was the local Dash N Splash. WOW!!! What a huge event! There were dogs absolutely everywhere, and so many that people can't go in the water - just the dogs. So that means I couldn't go in and coax my guys into the water, but we had fun all the same. Truth be told, that many dogs in the water sure gave it a "different" look and I probably didn't want in anyway! lol

Tanner and I gathered up Bandit, Cooter, and Fa Zhou and away we went for our adventure. The water portion was in one fenced in area that was treated like a dog park - all the dogs had to be off leash. Oh no! I wasn't sure how well mine would stick with me with all the other distractions there because this was much larger and much more full than any dog park we had ever gone to.

Wasn't worried so much about Bandit - after all, he had been working on his obedience and agility training with Tanner. He's admittedly better at it in the ring and at home than with trying to mark over all the bigger dogs' scents (and there was that cute curly haired big girl who took him on a wild chase through everyone's legs). But overall he had a blast and minded her pretty well.

Cooter stuck with me at a reasonable distance, but he certainly made the rounds. People, dogs, water, he was ready to experience everything and make friends! He's such a good boy. He only got away from me a couple of times where I couldn't see him. And at one point he somehow got to the other side of the pool where it was really deep and this cute English Bulldog was jumping off the platform. It scared me, thinking he was going to follow her without me right there to save him if need be, so I shouted his name a few times. Tony never gets to name the animals again. Yelling "COOTER" over a crowd of people certainly got me some undesireable looks.

Fa Zhou was the wild card. We've had him out socializing and he does well with other animals, and is slightly reserved around people he hasn't met, so it was a guess what he'd try to do and who he'd try to follow. A few times he followed Cooter into whatever adventures he was into. But I think he sensed my worry trying to keep track of everything so he started sticking closer to me. Fortunately, he's a lot smarter than I am. I didn't realize he was near me, and I'd spin in circles looking for him, calling him, only to find out that he was behind my legs. As I turned, he'd jump and was trying to be a good boy by being right behind me where he thought he should be. He made some friends, in particular this white boxer puppy. They would love to be best friends!

We survived the water part, then got the leashes back on and went out to the main area with the vendors. They had lots to see and do. There were many interesting vendors, and they had a silent auction table full of bags of goodies. There was a grandstand where they had fun contests - costumes, best kisser, etc., going on. They even had food for the people and an animal communicator with quite a crowd around her.

It was hot and a bit of a challenge to keep the dogs cool outside of the water area, but they had some misting fans set up that were getting some good use. The event was well-planned and it was a great way to spend the afternoon. We'll definitely plan on it next year!