Shiloh’s Excellent Adventure VII
At Kerba’s Kabin
By Shiloh Kerba
Sunrise
On Maturity and
Cottage Life.
September 28, 2024, marked the end of a second lap around
the sun. It has been a remarkable journey; I've grown in so many ways. I am no
longer the little puppy who is out of control. I am now a much more mature dog,
but who is still out of control.
I have developed a public persona. People from all over the
globe follow my excellent adventures. People from far and wide reach out for
updates. If I must say so myself, I do make a compelling case for people to
follow me. People from Greece, Australia, numerous states and provinces have
commented on how cute I am.
Dad was at a Tartan Terrors show in Pennsylvania, and one of
the people in the audience asked how I was doing. Another time, Dad was at a
funeral when a total stranger told him just how funny and sophisticated my
writing has become.
As I’ve gotten older, more of my adventures need to be
shared so I can appease the insatiable appetite of my followers. My vocabulary
is becoming more sophisticated, surpassing a two-year-old’s mastery of the
English language. You, see? I have even been using words from other languages
at just the right time to maximize the reader’s pleasure. This shows a much
more nuanced ability to reach out.
Dog’s
Age in years
Most people think that a dog year is equal to seven human
years. I have discovered a new way to explain the different ages of a Labrador
Retriever. If you remember that, your life will be way easier, and it will
explain everything:
·
The puppy stage is from
birth to one year in human years – “Puppy stage”
·
One to three-year-old in
human years – “Puppy stage”
·
Three- to five-year-old in
human years – “Puppy stage”
·
Five to ten years old –
“Puppy stage”
·
After ten years of age –
“Puppy stage”
Shinrin-yoku,
Forest Bathing
The Japanese Ministry of Agriculture,
Forestry, and Fisheries conducted several studies during the 1980s. It is
proven to reduce stress hormone production, improve feelings of happiness, and
free up creativity. It also lowers heart rate and blood pressure, boosts the
immune system, and accelerates recovery from illness.
In Dad’s case, he tries to disguise his photo outings as
forest bathing. Worse yet, he even says. I'm going out to take Shiloh for a
walk. That's why I need to keep him on a leash.
When I use the short leash, it's a walk. When I give him the
long leash, he can take the camera and take pictures. He is sneaky these days.
He is using the camera on the phone to take photos. He thinks that by not using
the big camera, he is fooling me into thinking he’s not out to take pictures. I
know otherwise. I’m including some of his phone pictures as evidence.
At times, to make him feel truly independent, we go
leash-free. That's a challenging time; I need to be constantly aware of his
location.
What happens at the
cottage stays at the cottage.
Under the guise of making an exploratory trip, Dad invited
his friends Bill Green and Bob Pope. Ostensibly, they were going to go around
the cottage looking to make a list of potential projects. What started as a
small list grew. The fact is, it grew immensely by the end of the four-day
analysis. Different tasks, both small and large, were identified. I’m exhausted
after just a glance at the list.
There is a silver lining to the endless list. It means Dad will
have to go to the cottage many more times. I'll let you know what that means to
me. Mom and Dad know that I love the cottage. The guilt of going to the cottage
without me is unfathomable. As a result, each cottage trip must include little
old “Moi”.
Life at the cottage - at the risk of my
telling all. In one word, it’s a “Blast!” Generally, I go up with one or two of
Dad’s friends. They are “Putty in my hands.” They have no chance when I look at
them and give them my patented “Shiloh grovels stare.” I can get them to provide
me with food, play fetch with me, give me a much-needed tummy rub, or just
plain cuddle. They are entirely overmatched.
Let me tell you about the family cottage. It is located on
the tip of a peninsula at the end of Windy Point Road. The shape of the
peninsula is similar to Italy’s, a boot. The cottage is situated between the toes and the heel at the bottom of
the boot, featuring two bays on the back side and a lake view in front of the
large window and decks.
The family cottage ~ a.k.a. Kerba’s Kabin
The spot is perfect for me. I love the lake and can jump
from the dock to fetch sticks. There are oodles and oodles of sticks I can chew
on and carry around. I can let Dad walk leash-free so he can take pictures on
our walk up the hill, around the bend, and to the stop sign. Once we reach the
stop sign, we turn around and return to the cottage. Dad says it is for safety,
but I think it’s because he is lazy and doesn't want to go farther.
The laneway from the big bend to the stop sign is one of
Dad’s all-time favourite photo spots. He has often said that this stretch of
road is the prettiest he has ever photographed. Dad says it never gets old; I
say, “I’m getting old watching him take so many pictures of the same place”.
I love being at the cottage; I've seen some of the most
fantastic sunrise and sunset reflections over the year. Dad often said that
he’d seen both sunrises and sunsets everywhere he had been. He still maintains
that the ones at Oxtongue Lake are as good as, if not better! From my limited
travel experience, they're the best I have ever seen. I am sharing a bunch
below. Also, feel free to look at Dad’s other travel story, called Oxtongue
Lake and Algonquin Park.
The return and first visit of 2025
I’ve waited all year to return to the place I love. Our
cottage, well, now, it’s another part of my domain, I’m being generous by
saying ours, when it’s just another place for me to rule over.
My first dip into the water this year was a bit scary at
first; I didn’t know there were sharks in Oxtongue Lake. Dad told me not to go
too far, or the sharks would be nipping my tail. I was a bit apprehensive at
first, then Tara Nadine
went swimming with me.
I relaxed completely because I could run faster than her, so
if the sharks were coming, I was not going to lose the race out of the water.
The reason we were at the cottage in the
first place was that Mom didn’t want Tara to go swimming by herself. I was
talking to Chris, and we were unsure how Mom could help Tara if she were in
trouble. Maybe she would call 911…
We stopped only a couple of times on the way to the cottage,
fewer than the usual 5 or 6 stops. I never know why all those stops happen,
because generally, one of them wants to pick up my poop. They call it a poop
and scoop mission. I think they like it. I know Dad’s face gets distorted in
all sorts of fancy and funny contortions when he is doing his mission.
That means Mom generally goes into the stores. That’s for
two reasons: Dad has no idea what Mom wants, what quantity she needs and makes
all sorts of mistakes. Thank God for phones, every single time Dad goes
shopping with Mom’s detailed list, he has to call her from the store at least
two or three times. It’s hilarious because Mom never keeps the phone near her
or pretends that she cannot hear it. At times, he takes pictures and sends them
home from the store. I get a chuckle when mom finally sees the picture or hears
the phone. She sits there and shakes her head.
The other reason is that Dad has a rare illness; he can’t walk past the
meat counter if there is a sale. I like it when he finds those sales because he
usually buys too much, and I end up helping him eat the big steaks. I’m not
sure if you know, but Dad and I pride ourselves on being true-bred carnivores.
The other enjoyable part of the cottage is exploring and taking
my promenades (that’s what Mom and Dad call a walk when they don’t want me to
understand what they are saying). The funny thing? I know exactly what
they mean because I can understand more
French than they know. I can also spell - W.A.L.K. Also, it means walk. At the
cottage, I have all sorts of opportunities to get extra cookies.
All I have
to do is hide, and then Mom or Dad starts hyperventilating and acting weird.
They shout my name and say “cookie”. Don’t they know? I’m safe from the sharks
because I’m out of the water. I hide longer to get a bigger cookie.
We also go on Mosquito feeding sessions, which some people
consider walks. I take Dad out; he acts as my mosquito repellent. We walk until
he can’t stand the bites anymore, and we head back to the cottage.
About the author:
Shiloh is our 3-year-old Labrador Retriever. She
has been writing about the world from her perspective for just over two years.
As one can imagine, these short stories are from her perspective.
You can follow Shiloh’s Excellent Adventures in Naguib Sami
Kerba’s blog –
https://www.nkerba.com/blog/shilohs-excellent-adventures-vii
