once upon a time

i told atlas some stories last night, and it occurred to me that i hadn't told you one in a while. so ..

back in 2007, the pup and i, along with my sister helen, were on a road trip from oregon to michigan. we spent one night at bruneau dunes state park. it was august, and very hot, so we decided not to put the rain cover on the tent. the thing we didn't realize until we did this was how you could see out most of the tent without the protection of the rain cover.

it wasn't a huge tent. there was just enough room for helen and i, and some extra leg room so atlas could sleep at the foot of the tent. you know, so he could protect us. except when we went into the tent that night, atlas would not sleep by the "open" door. he walked right over us, plopped down at our heads, and would not budge.

in the middle of the night, i heard noises. little scraping noises and munching noises. i was sure it was a raccoon. the thing i should mention is that i am afraid of raccoons. don't ask me why. i think i read a story about their claws once. so there i am, wide awake, listening to and worrying about this raccoon that i was convinced was going to attack us. i just knew it.

my guard dog, meanwhile, was snoring away, totally oblivious to our danger. i decided that he had to wake up and protect me (us). i tried whispering, "atlas. atlas. atlas! you need to wake up. bark. bark! make a noise. you need to scare away the raccoon. why can't you hear it? what kind of a guard dog are you. bark! atlas! atlas!" nothing. i tried poking him. nothing.

after a couple hours of this, i realized that it was actually a bird.

Comments

[Tracy]

haha... Atlas... you're hero! ;o) Oh, that is a funny story, Elizabeth! I can just picture him plonking down and sleeping in for the long haul... LOL! Sweet boy... Happy Day ((HUGS))

[jen t]

this reminds me of the camping trip we had last summer with the bear in our site...or, perhaps, cows lowing at the neighboring field. really fierce cows.

[Relyn]

Thanks for the laugh. I needed it.

[Gayle]

Hehe!

[Helen]

hahahahaha i almost forgot about that....the part that i think you forgot to mention about the story was that there was a big group camping together on many sites there, and they were up until late in the night so it was hard to fall asleep, so helen finally falls asleep after many hours, only to be woken up later by you telling atlas to protect you from the raccoon:) (actually, i can hardly remember this, so i don't know if i said anything or not, or how i reacted)...oh boy, what does that say about my memory when i get old?

[Meredith]

Aw, that's so funny. And cute. :) Of course Atlas wouldn't let down his guard if you *really* needed him, I know.

I can understand the fear of raccoons a little bit. I have a European friend who loves them so much (might have to do with a Disney movie and some cartoonish images), and she got mad at me b/c when we first moved to the country I told her that real raccoons were really creepy and I did not like to encounter them. I accept all in the natural world -- but that doesn't mean I necessarily want to go out and hug everything, and I'd rather stay far away from the raccoons, frankly.

[elizabeth @ retinal perspectives]

@meredith: that is true! the reason i know it really wasn't a raccoon is because we have since encountered them - and i can barely get atlas off the "hunt". birds, on the other hand, he does not care about one whit.

@helen: i don't remember you saying anything. i thought you were asleep. ;)

@jen t: hehehe. cows are definitely fierce. and also look similar to bears.

[Bullwinkle]

:) Very fun story. (My dog might wake up, nudge me to go take care of it, and then go back to sleep. And if I am unconcerned, then so is she.)

p.s. The reason to be afraid of raccoons - on the east coast at least - is that most of them carry rabies. Mandatory shots (ask me how I know ...) Anyway - if you make noise, most will scamper away. (Now if Atlas made a noise, it would high-tail it out of there ...)

[Marcie]

Amazing how our minds can play tricks on us in the dark of the night. Fun memory!!!

[elizabeth @ retinal perspectives]

@bullwinkle: oooh, good to know. thank you for mentioning that. i am still bitter about the pain from the tetanus booster. ;)

[christina]

aww... this is sweet, so cute.
waving to atlas.
xo

[jaime]

lol, oh sweet Atlas, the forever off-duty guard dog. It's so much more fun to sleep than chase after racoons.
I'm glad it was only a bird!

Such a cute story.

As I wander through your posts, I can't believe how long it's been since I was here last...what is up with that??? I'm so sorry I have been such a stranger...keeping up has always been a challenge for me. But I have so thoroughly enjoyed visiting you this night.