Ernie walks me

It is five-thirty a.m.

My four-legged alarm clock – Ernie – is bed side, parked in the darkness on the floor staring at me.

When I try to ignore him – which is most mornings – he lets out a nearly imperceptible whimper. That’s audible number one.

Trying to hide is a fool’s task but I attempt it anyway. Predictably it fails.

He ups the decibels.

“Good morning, Ern,” I force an animated reply. That gets his tail wagging and he is off towards the door like a hurdler out of the starting gate.

I put on my pants, shirt, shoes and click-on his collar. A long leash is reluctantly added only because there is no daylight. Without it he might misplace me as he follows his nose down a rabbit hole.

He always decides the initial direction of the jaunt: north or south.

Whichever it is I liken being walked by Ernie to being yanked around by a twenty-five pound heavy-duty motor that randomly changes direction at will. He is a gentleman so he does politely rest and permit me to stop and marvel at the cosmos.

This morning it’s a Venus, Jupiter and Mars lineup. Yesterday the latter two were reversed. And it wouldn’t be “….stars at night are big and bright….” unless I focused on my favorite: the three diamonds of Orion’s Belt. Imagine Columbus navigating by it.

As we thrash through the remains of hayed fields dawn sneaks up on us with a treat of a bright orange creamsicle sky. That quickly melts into a skinny layer of pink marshmallows. They get gobbled up by blue sky and puffy white clouds.

Another great Texas day says hello.