The Doorbell Rang...And Nothing Really Happened - May. 26, 2011

 My Aunt Ivy is the reason I love animals.

 Growing up in Dipper Harbour, Ivy and her husband Ralph would visit from the big city every Saturday.

 Every Saturday.

 They'd come down and stay at my grandmother's place and it was always something special.

 You'd think as a kid, a visiting aunt and uncle wouldn't mean much, but the both of them were incredibly special. We lost Ralph back in the mid-1980s, but Ivy remains strong to this day, turning 80 not long ago, but acting like she's 50.

 And her love of animals has never wavered.

 She would grab my dog and my cousin's dog and off they'd go into the back woods with an empty ice cream container, filling it with raspberries or strawberries or whatever was in season.

 Our dogs would run and greet them knowing full well it was adventure time.

 Well, Ivy has also been a lifesaver to us when it comes to our dogs.

 We had been away last week and are hitting the road this weekend, so Calvin and Gizmo go to Saint John to be with their favourite great aunt.

 We get nightly updates on what they did with Ivy. From Ivy, of course, not the dogs.

 Walks. Drives. Visits to others.

 Sleep all day, hang out.

 But our house is quiet. Real quiet.

 The doorbell rang last night and...nothing.

 Just a doorbell.

 No mad scramble to the door. No wild protective barking.

 Nothing.

 Just weird.

 Even in the morning, there's no jumping on the bed from the dogs, no wrestling matches in the kitchens as they start their day.

 A home without dogs is just a home.

 Sure, I moan and groan about them, but when they're not around, there's a huge difference in the Janes' household.

 Neither one was around to console me from last night's Bruin loss, either.

 Shelley is indifferent when it comes to the Bruins so I didn't have her to express my concern over the anemic powerplay. At least Calvin will look at me when I ask him why the PP is so ineffective.

 Anyway, we'll be collecting the dogs pretty soon and it will be much noisier shortly.

 Life will return to normal again.