No Beltone for Bowser

We love to cruise the crumbling stretches of tarmac in the forgotten rural areas. These secondary roads have potholes, loose stones, water intrusion cracks and a host of other problems consistent with their senior status. As bad as they are we figure that the people along these pitted paths consider it a fair swap to live apart from metro areas, the interstates and clustered subdivisions. What they lack in snappy fashions or municipally sponsored objets d'art, they gain in peace, quiet and self reliance.

We've learned from someone's experiment that caged rats do funny things when crowded. People are a lot like rats and are likewise odd when crowded. When you give people too little space, too much money and not enough to do, they become mutants with a human form, an imitation of life as it were. Once they amass a wealth of worthless goods they suddenly wake up, freak out and get a dog. Then, of course, they try to turn the dog into a human through which they can live vicariously. Eagerly awaiting every dog owner is chiropractic care, aroma therapy, psychiatrists, pedicures, MRIs, special music, perhaps a K-9 Summer's Eve and countless other imitations of human indulgence for the poor dog.

In the photo we've run pretty much out of road and ended up at modest little house with a clean, neat yard, but no evidence of rat people about the place. Take note of the yellow sign on the post. They have a Deaf Dog. We doubt that they took the dog up to Duke, but probably figured this out on their own. They just nailed up a sign and gave the dog a nice big area in which to enjoy the quiet. We know that such a thing is available, but with these folks there will be no Beltone for bowser. Out here people are people, dogs are dogs and rats remain rats