It's a dog's life

I feel sorry for drivers who have to drive a school bus in the city. You miss the early-morning fog in the lowlands, you rarely, if ever, see deer crossing the road, you never learn how to tell the difference between a cow pasture and a goat pasture just by the smell, but most of all, you miss the dogs.

Ok, let me back up a bit. You're SUPPOSED to miss the dogs. Hitting one would definitely ruin your day. What I mean is, you miss seeing the dogs as they wait for "their kid" to get off the bus.

Hollywood portrays it quite well. Student has bad day; student rides bus home; Rover is waiting on the driveway; and everybody lives happily ever after. I know it sounds a bit unrealistic, but let me tell you, the other day I counted eight dogs sitting in front of eight different houses waiting for their kids to get home. Eight! And one group of little brothers and sisters had a cat waiting on the porch, but I doubt it cared about the kids -- it was just waiting for someone to open the front door so it could get back in the house.

Eight dogs! And that's not to mention the two dogs that were just sitting in their yards, watching the bus drive by, and probably thinking, "Ah, c'mon! Can't you just leave one of those kids here every now and then? I promise I'll play nice." Those dogs always look kind of sad to me. But if I don't have to stop, I don't.

Yes, I'm sure some of you city drivers pity me out here in the country, having to deal with slow-moving tractors, one-lane roads, fallen trees, skunks, feral hogs, and cows that haven't learned it ain't polite to crap on the road -- but don't. Watching a dog get all giddy because it's kid is home is well worth the price of all those other things.