HILLSPEAKING
from The Anglican Digest 

LENT A.D. 2006

LET ME tell you about Godfrey, Hillspeak's "Official Greeter."   His full name is Godfrey Daniels! (the exclamation point is part of his name), after an expression often used by W. C. Fields in his movies.   There were times, especially in his puppyhood, when Godfrey was called by his full name (including the exclamation point).   Now that he has mellowed into middle age, just Godfrey suffices.
 
Godfrey's dam was a registered border collie, but his sire was a traveler.  From all appearances, he was a German shepherd.  Godfrey has all the instincts and some of the markings of the border collie, but has the size of a German shepherd.  He tried herding the cats in his youth but soon realized the folly of it.
 
Miss Vinnie's Cottage, where I now live, has a very small kitchen and Godfrey is a fairly large dog.  Of course, his favorite place to hang out is the kitchen.  It takes some adroit footwork to avoid stepping on his nose or tail when I am preparing a meal.  He appears to be perfectly oblivious of the possibility and contentedly snoozes while I nosh.
 
Godfrey is a smart dog.  One reason, perhaps, is that he gnawed happily on my American Heritage Dictionary as a pup.  With considerable help from Patient Wife, I taught him some basic manners.  We taught him not to jump up on the furniture – beds, couches, whatever.  We taught him not to go in the Twin Barns, obviously a biased teaching since cats are allowed to enter and leave as they please.
 
I walked him, on a leash, time and again around the periphery of Grindstone Mountain so he would know the boundaries of "his" property.  We taught him that cats are extraordinary beings and that we mere mortals have to be nice to them.  We taught him to welcome visitors.  We taught him to come at the ringing of a cowbell or the notes of a silent whistle.  All of these things he learned readily and well.

One or two of them almost too well.  The Twin Barns are protected by an alarm system, primarily to alert us to fire but also to note when there is any breach of the security at the end of the day's work.  Before the Burtons (John is Tad's managing editor) moved in to the Old Residence, Patient Wife and I were often quite alone on Grindstone at night.  When the security alarm sounded I was the one who responded.  Godfrey would go with me — right up to the front door.  He told me quite plainly that he had been taught NOT to go into the Twin Barns — and he waited very patiently while I went in to see if we had a burglar or if a spider or some such had crawled across one of the motion detectors.
When I had investigated, reported to the alarm company, reset the alarm, and locked the door again, Godfrey proudly escorted me across the parking lot back to the Farm House.
 
Squirrels, chipmunks, and rabbits are anathema to him.  He chases them off or up at every sighting.  He also chases deer, but as he has mellowed I notice he only chases them as far as Hillspeak's property line. 

He has learned his lessons well.

If you come to Hillspeak, he will greet you.  If you want to walk the Silver Cloud Trail or around the grounds, he will happily and proudly escort you.  And when you leave, he will plainly tell you that he'd like to have you come again.  So would we all.



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