The Epistemological Ruminations of an Arts-Based Yellow Canine

OR: A Yellow Dog Goes to College:

What's up everybody? The Food Guy and I just got back from a really fun week in the mountains. Food Guy had to go to a writing workshop for a week, and he worked it out so that I could go too. One of the Food Guy's professors was running this workshop at Amicalola Falls in North Georgia. I think it just made good sense for me to be able to go. I spend so much time hanging out while Food Guy is reading all of his books and writing his papers that I think they really need to give me a PhD too when the Food Guy graduates. Now, maybe they will since I've been to college. What do y'all think? 

Amicalola is a really cool place. I think everyone should go there if they get the chance. There's a lot of really cool places to see there, and so much good stuff to smell.  Check out this really cool spot along the creek:

Now, y'all know that I'm a smart dog and all that, but I learned lots of new words this week. Greg, one of our friends who stayed with us in the cabin, is a pretty smart guy. He knows all kinds of big words. So, he helped me learn some new ones. We spent lots of time sitting around the cabin and I got some good tutoring.

 Greg told me that I was an Arts-based, Multi-genre dog who didn't just have thoughts. He said I had "epistemological ruminations." He suggested the title for this post, and I thought it was a pretty good one. I was thinking Yellow Dog Goes to College was pretty good, but Greg's title sounds much, much better. I mean, I do have some pretty deep thoughts. Most dogs do, really. We have lots and lots of time to sit around and think about stuff. And, lots of dogs are smart. My friend Sug is so smart. She can read anything you put in front of her. And my friend Zozo. I think she's the smartest. She's figured out how to sleep like 20 hours a day!

Anyway, it was a really fun week. The Food Guy got lots of writing done, and I helped him whenever I could. Mostly, I just sat next to him on the floor or sat on the couch next to people while they worked. It was a pretty sweet set up:  

We didn't just work though. We went for lots and lots of runs on the trails. Food Guy and I ran for a couple of hours everyday. Well, we took one day off because Food Guy just HAD to make sure he got enough work done. He can be such a geek that way. "Gotta get my work done, gotta get my work done," he says. Luckily, I told him he could call going for a run on the trail "work" if he was smart. See, all he has to do is think about what he's supposed to be writing while he's out running, and bingo: you're working! You don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure that one out. But overall, the schedule seemed pretty good to me. The people spent a lot of time drinking coffee and talking about the stuff they were writing. Then, they went to "class" every night where they helped each other with their writing projects. I mostly slept while all that was going on. I mean, a dog can only do so much thinking. I had to make sure I got plenty of sleep, so Food Guy and I could go exploring on the trails everyday. The trails at Amicalola Falls are pretty sweet. Check out some of the views we found along the way:

The trails were really good for running. Food Guy's ankle seems to have finally healed. It had been giving him some trouble for a while, so we weren't getting to run very much before we went. He was riding his bike more than running, which sucks for me because that means I have to stay home. I like watching Sportscenter and all that, but I like being out on the trail much, much more. So, I was pretty glad he was feeling better 'cause I would have hated to spend a whole week at this trail running paradise without getting some serious miles in. Even an arts-based, multi-genre yellow canine has to get his miles in. You know, you can't work ALL the time. Sometimes I just had to look at the Food Guy and say, "C'mon let's GO!"

We didn't just run and work though.  We spent some good time hanging out around the cabin. Greg brought his guitar and played us some songs everyday. Man, that guy can play the guitar. He even took the time to teach the Food Guy a few chords. 

I'm not sure how that's gonna work out. He might even get mad at me for telling y'all about the guitar thing. You know Reeve is gonna start calling him a dirty hippie if he starts playing guitar. But I think it wouldn't be too bad if the Food Guy learned to play a little music. We even had a campfire or two. We stayed up pretty late the last night hanging out and listening to Greg play guitar around the campfire. The Good Doctor (Christine) managed to secure the appropriate liquid refreshments we needed when she made a run to town on Thursday, so we celebrated finishing our work with a roaring campfire Friday night. 

Well, we're back in Athens now. We went home for the weekend and had a good time hanging out at the Lake. I got to play with Bosco, the Food Guy's brother's dog. We had big time running around in the yard by the lake. The Food Guy's dad snuck me lots of extra dog bones. I have him convinced that Food Guy never feeds me. Sshh, don't tell him that I get plenty to eat. I'm not really looking forward to next week. Food Guy will be teaching all day and then grading for the online classes at night. Not to mention he has to finish up getting his dissertation prospectus ready and all that kinds of jazz.  Ughh, I'm gonna really have to get on him about getting out of bed early, so we can go run on our trails behind our house. Not that I like getting up early. I don't. But, I'll make up for it sleeping all day while he's working. Zozo and Sug taught me that trick. Like I said, those are some smart doggies.