Simon vs. the Sprinkler!

Being a puppy is a very tough job. So many new things to sniff, taste, and inspect.

But there are many dangers in this large world as well...and this little puppy was confronted, face to face, with his true nemesis on a warm Tuesday afternoon when he happened upon a grassy knoll where there lived one dormant lawn sprinkler. It sat there under the midday sun, lying in wait for an unsuspecting puppy such as our wee Simon, pictured above prior to the incident.

I had accompanied little Simon to this fateful patch of green, and he had set forth with his typical follies of rolling in its volume, his face rubbing against the ticklish tips. Tongue whirligigging in his tiny mouth with glee. Simon had squirmed towards the snakish menace rather inadvertently, but it turns out I was the true instigator of the affair. I had carelessly stepped on the length of the hose with my shoe, impelling a dormant plashet of water from within to burst out of the sprinkler's ominously quiet head with a momentary splash that was over before it even had time to begin.

This negligible and insignificant expulsion of liquid turned out to be an unmistakable declaration of war!

The time for foolishness had ceased. Simon leapt to all fours and began BARKING at the dangerous sprinkler head with all of his courage and heart! No such malice will befall this puppy today. No sir! Simon barked and barked and then barked some more! Hopping back and forth ready for attack, but unsure whether this creature of the wet was ready for the furious vengeance of this furry vindicator. So, of course, I did the one and only thing that anyone in this situation would have done.

I stepped on the hose again.

That was it. Simon would have no more of this churlish insolence. He gave that sprinkler a good barking-to! Running from, then toward, then from...and then TOWARD AGAIN, brave little Simon announced his intentions to act as protector of this neighborhood from the sprinkler's cool and sudden expectorations. The willowy monster just lying there in silence before the next spritz (courtesy of Moi) would send Simon into more fantastic fits of spunk. His little tongue wagging fierce in between those high-pitched puppy yaps of his.

Eventually, Simon prevailed. The sprinkler had given up (i.e. there was no more water left trapped in the hose, no matter how much I stepped on it), and thus our gallant puppy won the day. We ventured back home, where we regaled his beloved friend Blue Fuzzy Man with tales of Simon's temerity and the sprinkler's cowardice in the face of such steadfast valiance. It truly was a marvelous day!