Catching Rays

There’s a silent but unmistakable race that happens each morning in our house. The course stretches 20 feet – from bedroom to family room, and the finish line is to park yourself in the spot warm sunshine on the floor. But that’s hardly the end of the story…

If Nina wins, she’ll eventually – reluctantly – get up for a drink or to eat breakfast, as Nell swoops in and flings herself down as if to put an exclamation point on her newly claimed territory. Coming in after a walk around the block begins another round of “musical beds”, where Nell might get to the warm spot first. But when the afternoon snack of peanut butter-covered rawhides are introduced, the bed-swapping madness resumes; both dogs are on their feet again, quietly stealing each other’s treats, running back to the sunshine-soaked bed or whisking their loot to distant corners of the house to be chewed in private.

As evening approaches – the last strains of sunlight finally turns deep magenta, creeping up the wall to disappear for the night – the battle ends. The girls once again have the whole house to share, and each finds a creative new spot to sprawl out on for the night. There’s nothing to compete for now, and so they both save their energy for morning.

After all, it’s just a dozen hours ’til the race begins again.