I can’t believe I let my guard down.  Worst yet, I let my neighborhood down!  Last year on a beautiful sunny day, similar to today, the unthinkable happened.  My local Department of Public Works took away the sticks and branches that had fallen over the winter and lined my road.  I was furious.  How could they feed MY branches into their wood chipper?  That day I vowed vengeance is mine, and from that point forward I would rescue every branch that fell.  At first I was dedicated to my mission.  But like most things, as time passed I may have become a bit lazy.  Ok, so I neglected my responsibility, and left it up to Asa to carry the branches home while on neighborhood patrol.  Well my laziness didn’t go unnoticed, so this week the Department of Public Works returned to teach me a lesson.

This time they didn’t take my sticks and branches away, instead they cut down my trees!  Now my road is lined with ginormous logs that I can’t possibly carry home by myself.  Even with Asa’s help, there are far too many to drag home on just our two walks a day.  As with last year, once again I was helpless to stop the events unfolding in front of my house.  I desperately barked from the window, but was drowned out by the buzz of the chainsaw, followed by the loud cracking of the trees, and the relentless grinding of the wood chipper.  But sadly they didn’t hear me.  I should have barked louder.  I should have been more vigilant carrying sticks home.  I should have done a lot of things to stop this destruction of innocent trees that crowded the road.

Worst yet, among the casualties is Smudge’s Tree!  What is Smudge’s Tree you ask?  My buddy Inky had a big brother named Smudge.  I was just a puppy when he passed away, but Smudge was the original neighborhood patrolman years ago.  In fact, he taught Lemmy the importance of keeping an eye on things.  Anyways, one day while Smudge’s Mom was taking him for a walk, our Mom happened to look out the window at just the right moment to see Smudge bite at a small sapling growing in front of our house.  As the story goes, the young tree defended itself by snapping back in Smudge’s face, he barked at it, his Mom gave his leash a yank, and they continued on their walk.  A simple act that most people would forget.  But as that tree grew big and strong it became known as “Smudge’s Tree” by my parents.  If you haven’t guessed by some of my posts, I tend to be a bit sentimental.  But never in my wildest dreams did I imagine someone would cut down that tree!  How was I going to tell Inky about the loss of this landmark…that he never knew existed?

However, just as I was feeling alone and defeated, I happened to look out and see help was on the way!  Although I let my neighbors down, they were here to help me!  Inky’s Mom and Dad were hauling the massive logs away!  In fact, they got permission to haul away the logs all along the road.  Problem solved!  Thank You Inky’s Mom and Dad for keeping our neighborhood neat and tidy!  Not to mention saving me from the monumental task of dragging these logs home.  Inky, you are one lucky dog to have parents who will bring home to you all those branches to chew!  As for me, lesson learned.  From now on I promise I will be vigilant in rescuing the fallen branches, so the maintenance workers won’t come back and teach me another lesson.  I shudder to think how they could top this one!