Luna in the late night, March

Luna has been on a bender. At first I thought these late night woofings at the door were all about being elderly and needing to go to the bathroom. No. It has become clear that what this is all about is a late night party that our senior citizen does not want to miss out on. There is the handsome young border collie next door, Nick, who sometimes comes to call. Then there are the two Jack Russels, Lonnie and Rossie, who are so jealous of each other that they never stop fighting, and there is Sky, the beautiful lean, sleek, young mother of seven from New Zealand who loves Luna like no other. There are the coyotes- who run and howl in the distance, at times closer, circling the farm and terrorizing the sheep. Even in the torrential downpour, Luna is called from her cushy bed in our room, rousing us to open the door and let her run. Sometimes she leaves at four, other times it is as early as midnight and she is gone all night. She is usually here when we wake in the morning, muddy and bedraggled, eyes red, blackberry briars, bits of redwood duff, willow twigs, clumps of grass, bits of sheep poo, and hounds tongue seeds stuck in her fur. She wearily drags herself into the house and loudly drops onto her bed by the refrigerator, barely able to raise her head for her arthritis medicine or breakfast. She sleeps most of the day, and by evening, is ready for more.