Moose in the Garden and Old Dogs

Having an old dog is reminding me of what it was like to have babies.  Crayola never used to want in the house at all and now she wants in and out 24 hours a day.  Because she is starting to look so old and frail it is hard not to let her in.  She has this endearing trick of rearing up against the door and then sliding down it producing a hair tingling sound exactly like fingernails on a chalkboard.  For three weeks now I've been up at some point between 3 and 5 a.m. to let her in or out or both.   This morning it was her barking that woke me up for a change.  From my bed I listened to her barks grow increasingly frantic.  You know you live in the country when you wake up to your dog barking like crazy and instead of thinking, "Someone is here!" and starting the mad scramble for your clothes, you just yawn and think, "A moose must be in the yard."  Sure enough, when I went out and looked there was a cow moose and last year's baby standing on the edge of what will be this summer's new vegetable patch.  I wonder if they're dreaming about fresh garden vegetables too . . .