It has been a while since I have written about our rough-coat Jack Russell terrier, Sherlock. But here is a delightful story.
Sherlock has a loving but obstinate personality. He resists any form of traditional training, except for the command “stay” – and I think he only obeys that one because he can sense that I only say it when I am deadly serious about something (like not getting hit by a passing car or getting punted by the mailman). But, holy wow, is this dog a problem-solver.
Our pool is surrounded by royal palm and plumeria trees. This provides a lovely oasis feel to the courtyard, but my poor husband is constantly using the net to pull leaves out of the pool. Apparently, Sherlock has been studying this behavior.
It has taken several months for us to turn Sherlock into a confident swimmer. At first, we would put him in the pool with a doggie life vest. Then we taught him to ride on the flat pool floats, which he enjoys.
So we were sitting on the outdoor sofa enjoying a drink and the sunset. Sherlock got a running start and jumped onto the float, which we had left in the pool. He started using his little t-rex arms to navigate the raft around the pool, picking up leaves with his mouth. Whenever he’d get one, he would turn around and drop it in the middle of the raft and then resume paddling toward the next one. He built a triumphant pile of leaves on the raft behind him.
Our dog had spontaneously decided to clean the pool!
He kept going until he could not find any more. He was so proud of that pile.
A friend suggested that we start renting Sherlock out as the most adorable pool service ever.
Days of Sunshine 
That’s amazing ! Did you make a video ?!
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I wish I had! On a totally unrelated note, Word Press will not let me comment on your blog for some reason. I don’t know if it is a commenting through Word Press’s Reader that is the problem or if I need to make an account on your site itself now issue, but figured I would let you know in case there are others who are having the same trouble crossing over. You’ve written so much outstanding stuff lately, and I keep getting a stupid error message every time I try to respond.
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Weird. How were you able to leave this comment? What is the error message?
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Because I am responding to you on my own site. I just can’t respond to what you write on yours via WP Reader. It just says something like sorry, we have encountered an error and can’t post this. It’s strange.
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Oh, and I hope you are feeling better!
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I just made the mistake of driving to town to pick up a Rx and I got very nauseous. Had to come back empty handed. It’s like COVID has messed up my vision and driving made me carsick . Thankfully I made it back . It’s a 15 mile drive. 🤢
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That’s awful! Does it seem like a wildly different illness than anything you’ve experienced before, or just a super bad respiratory illness?
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It’s does have a lot of variability. The symptoms change over time. It feels like a sinus infection plus cough , plus other stuff.
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That’s what I have heard. I hope you get better soon – keeping you in my prayers ❤
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Wow!!! How adorable and helpful of him ❤ !!!!
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