Finally, the “dog days” of this year’s July and August are over. Rover had a very large litter! One of my dad’s favorite sayings on that subject was when he and my two brothers and I came in from a full, sweaty, hot day of hand-pitching hay racks full of loose hay, then pulling those loads off on the air-stifled, dry, dusty hay yards with rope slings. He loved dogs and they responded to his affection. As we’d all be washing up for supper and getting ready to “kick back” a little, he’d look over at Jack, our family dog that was still laying in the shade of the big front yard cottonwood for most of the day, and say, “If that’s a dog’s life, I’m due for some of it.” Jack would just raise his head a little off the ground, thump his tail a couple of times, and go back to sleep.