Winter 2009 Applegater
APPLEGATE OUTBACK: MY OPINION
In life a little rain must fall
BY BOB FISCHER
How does the saying go? “If I didn’t have
bad luck, I wouldn’t have any luck at all!” I have
lived next to the editor of this newspaper for about
15 years now, and I have been privy to some of the
things that go on in our editor’s life.
I remember the time he, at great expense,
brought home thousands of lady bugs to munch
on the itty-bitty nasty bugs in his garden. After
release, they all flew south to my farm and covered
our place like a needlepoint patchwork quilt. Our
garden was free of what lady bugs dine on for a
couple of years.
J.D. and I had a large red-tailed hawk hanging
around between our two farms. As he was looking
for a meal, our hens always hung around me in
the fields or hid out in our barn while the raptor
dined on J.D.’s hens like little feathered Big Mac’s
with feet.
Remember the flood of 1997? Thompson
Creek cut a new path towards J.D.’s house, lapping
at his back door and flooding his barn.
Then there was the time he came over to
our house to attend an adult Easter egg hunt. He
found the only Easter egg that had been half-eaten
by a blue jay.
He said, “With a little salt and pepper, it
wasn’t too bad.”
Boogie, Bentley and Tuesday, three great dogs
in J.D.’s life, were well-mannered, well-trained and
almost human. Sometimes I think they were human.
They would open cabinets and play with the master’s
pots and pans, and when they were upset with J.D.,
they would spread food around to punish him for
some transgression.
One time, the dogs made
a mistake and accidently cracked the lid on J.D.’s
cowboy cookie jar. Little did J.D. know, the dogs
had been munching on J.D.’s favorite cookies for
over six months. One day J.D. brought home a
new 27-inch TV. He hadn’t had a TV for years. He
and Sioux wanted to be able to watch some rented
movies. He set this new beauty up and borrowed
our VCR, which had worked perfectly until he put
this rented tape into it. It ate the tape. The problem
was solved by him buying a new VCR. This home
viewing center was strategically placed at the foot
of the bed so they could relax and watch re-runs of
old John Wayne movies between their feet.
One day, J.D. came home all heated up to
watch a movie he had just rented and found the
door to his bedroom locked. None of his pooches
could be found, but J.D. said he could hear the
TV on in his bedroom. Yips, yowls and puppy
laughter could be heard coming from his bedroom.
No amount of door pounding could get Boogie,
Bentley or Tuesday to open the door. About one
hour later, the dogs came out with smiles on their
faces talking among themselves. Just another day
in the life of our editor.
NOTES:
This story was written about ten years ago when J.D.
Rogers had three dogs: Boogie, Bentley and Tuesday.
To learn more about J.D.’s dogs, check out his book:
Ramblin’ Rants and Doggie Tales.
Bob Fischer • 541-846-6218
“I think we are drawn to dogs because they are the uninhibited creatures we might
be if we weren’t certain we knew better. They fight for honor at the first challenge, make
love with no moral restraint, and they do not for all their marvelous instincts appear to
know about death. Being such wonderfully uncomplicated beings, they need us to do their
worrying.”
—George Bird Evans, Troubles with Bird Dogs