Having learned more about the less than wholesome items that our making their way into our food, my family decided that would like to expand our little garden and plant more fruit trees so that we could know where more of our food was coming from. We even dreamed of having a few chickens so we could have fresh eggs and because we have learned that chickens play a vital role in the garden by eating insects, providing manure, etc.

But because our lot is small and our neighborhood has an HOA, the likelihood of adding more than 4 or 5 more trees and increasing our little garden by a couple of feet is about all that can be hoped for. The dream of having chickens would be a definite no as they are banned by the HOA.

Concerned by what we learned, we decided that it was time to look for a place with a little more elbow room and without an HOA. After months of looking we found a couple of wooded acres which everyone, including Happy, fell in love with.

From the moment he saw those two acres, his eyes lit up and a wide smile crossed his puppy face. Even though several months have passed and we have not yet been able to move or clear off the land his love for that small tract of land has only increased. I must admit I never thought that a dog, even a smart one like Happy, could love a place with such fervor. His attachment is so strong that I think it rivals that of his human family.

If I had not seen it with my own eyes I would have been tempted to think it an exaggeration to say that someone’s dog loved a piece of land in the same way that we do. But I was amazed how quickly Happy learned the name of the town where we brought the land and any positive mention of it would cause his eyes to glow. Several times we have grown discouraged by the delay in buying the land and reached the point that we were seriously considering selling it. You would have thought the sky was falling by the sudden fit of depression that would overcome the droopy faced pup who would sulk in a chair like his life was crashing to an end. But the moment the conversation took a positive turn he was laughing and dancing around the room like he had just won a million dollars.

Whenever we are in the area, which is not nearly as often as we would like, we like to take a detour and see what we have now nick named Happy’s favorite place on earth. And it is amazing how each time we reach a certain point where it is certain that we could only be going to the land a sleepy little pup wakes up and jumps on our laps to look with a contended smile out the window. Every so often Happy will look up at one of us with a smile as if saying thank you and then presses his head close to the heart of the person whose lap he is on and lets it linger there for a few seconds.

Some might make light of this and argue that he is listening to our heart beat or getting comfortable, but for me the timing and the way he presses tight is too much like he giving us a doggy hug of love and thanks for taking him to the lot of his dreams. The lot that I firmly believes he hopes will one day be able to share with a couple of others four footed friends and some of the chickens he was so excited to meet on his first visit to Rural King, and the little piece of land it would not surprise me to learn fills his most precious midnight dreams.