I was sleeping resting my eyes one miserably hot afternoon, when the back door opened and Dad came out heading toward the machine shed.  I really didn’t think much of Dad coming out the back door and going someplace.  He is always doing something along those lines.

I was gradually letting my eyes fall back into sleep  to rest once more, when the back door opened back up again…HUH?! Did I miss something? Did Dad sneak past me and go Back Inside?!  I jerked myself awake to a sitting position. (I was sleeping on the futon in the shade, just so you know.)

Nope I didn’t miss anything!  It was Mom.  She was out of her work clothes and into her go to town jeans…I thumped my tail with joy, on the seat of the futon, then jumped down a HUGE doggy smile on my face, my back end going fifty miles an hour.

Mom bent down and gave me a kiss on my doggie nose and a nice rub down on my back…I quickly flipped over so she could give me tummy rubs.

“Not now, Boom, Dad and I are heading to town.  You guard the place while we are gone.”  With those parting words she got into her car, turned the motor on and backed up to the machine shed, where Dad was just locking up the door.

By this time I had gotten up and walked to the end of the sidewalk. Yep, Dad got in and they drove off.

Well, I guess the place is mine now, I thought to myself.

Heading toward my dog house a brown streak of something went right in front of me so fast I couldn’t even process what I was seeing.  Whatever it was went so fast I couldn’t even SMELL what was going by me.  While whatever that was t was running by my face something ran right by my backside and hit my tail as it went by.

I spun around trying to see what whipped my tail so hard. Then I spun back around…and saw “Stanley and Stewart!!!  The Squirrel brothers!

“Hey, Boomer!  Let’s play hide and seek…We will hide and you can seek!”

With that they were off in two puffs of dust, one puff per squirrel.  I gave myself two seconds to decide if I wanted to play or not.  “You bet”, I bayed and we were off!

I chased those squirrels clear over to the Butler Grain bins, past the roller and the pile of plastic pipes.  They chittered and chirped at me from several vantage points…the top of the tallest grain bin, then they scampered down to the roller and pranced all over to the top of it… (I almost got them at that point)….then they danced themselves right into the gated pipe that was in the middle of the pile of Dad’s transmission pipes he saves, in case one of the pipe in the field cracks or something.

Poking my head into the pipe I let out a volley of barks at them…LOUDS ONES!  They just stood way back in the dark of the pipe and laughed at me.

After a while I got tired of seeking, my voice was getting dim and my throat sore so I turned around and just left.

It was a good thing too.  Turning away from the pipes I could hear a car coming down the long, long lane…scampering off to bark whomever it was into the drive way, I raised my fur on my back and got a mean look on my face…let the trespassers come…I’m ready to guard the place.

I drew on all the courage of my mighty beagle self and barked up a storm! If Mom and Dad want me to guard the place, then I’m going to do it!  I gave deep ferocious barks and ran right toward the bridge, the hair on my back standing tall.

Oh!

It’s Mom and Dad.

I joyfully followed them into the carport.

Hum, I wonder if they brought me something. I ran to the driver’s side with a huge smile on my face, my tail wagging in anticipation!

Nope, just a pat on the back, a ‘good job, Boomie’, then they were in the house.

Shish!

Oh, here they are again.  That didn’t take long.  “Come on, Boomer! Let’s go.  Time to irrigate!”

Hey, now that’s more like it…Boomer … Go … Irrigate!

YES!  Works for me!

Boomer the Beagle—bestest Guard Dog irrigator in the world.