My barn coat is beyond repair now, and my boots are only waiting till mud season is over before they are retired too. The corduroy cuffs have torn almost off from being folded back all this time, the right hand floppy overlapping pocket had to be cut off when it developed a hole too big to keep the treats in it anymore, and the remaining attached strip of fabric is all frayed like cutoff jeans. I just moved the treats down to the underneath-pocket on the right hand side for a while.
There are holes where the buttons that attach the insulated liner to the sleeves rubbed and pulled over the years, and the shoulders are thin and faded from dark green to a sortof grass-in-November color. The cloth is soft and worn, and not smooth- you can see the weaving and the air between threads. I had been missing the bottom button for a while- even though I had resewn them all when they loosened- and I tried to remember what the rules for 3 button jackets were anyway- is it top to bottom: Sometimes, Always and Never? I hope so, because that’s what I was stuck with, or more accurately: sometimes, sometimes, and never.
The button holes tore too, and got longer so the buttons slipped out of them often on cold days. When I got dressed to go out with the dogs in the cold, the top button would slip out as soon as my shoulders sagged. I put a safety pin in to keep the hole short enough. It’s the Dog Jacket- no one will care if I have the top button pinned. And in fact noone did, maybe because we all walk and talk facing front and watching the dogs and only once in a while stop and face up. Probably also my dog friends know it’s just Chrystal and that’s how she is and don’t say anything. Ripped clothes for dog walking are common anyway.
I have never minded dog kisses, and greetings, and it probably hastened the wear and certainly the tear on the barn coat. All the dogs smell my treat pocket and some are nosier than others about requests from it. “Sit nice.” But it got a nice hole in it slowly, too. Some sleeve holes are from when Sage was a puppy and we still went to the Field- he’d get overwhelmed and jump up and tug my sleeve, let go, and trot beside me looking up with an eager face I thought was mischievous but I later learned was his stress face. I did learn to not only identify stress but also believe it and act to help him. “We NEED to leave…”
This week I left my mud boots and barn coat on my chair in the kitchen and went off to write or draw. When it was nearing 5 o clock, I was very involved in my work and Sage needed me. He is insistent when he needs me, and he talks “rr-ow….? rrr-ow……” and “hupf!” he is trying to speak politely. He will place a paw on my leg, or if I really let it go too long he will put up both paws and begin licking my ear. I had ideas I needed to finish and I asked him to Wait. He is a good boy and lays down and looks at me waiting for the OKAY. He can do this for several minutes, but it was dinner time and he had not eaten breakfast- he was pretty hungry and it was getting later. I just need to finish this….
He eventually got up and I heard his Prize Trot- a quick, high stepping gait- tail curled and head high, he has stolen something. I assume it is my mitten and I don’t worry because he already broke the little plastic clips off both of my mittens a long time ago. He is not really a chewy dog and will shake the mittens but not rip them. Just another minute. I hear a hard snap, and I get up to look- he has removed the two remaining buttons from my barn coat. It’s my own fault. Sage told me nicely and I didn’t pause to help him when he asked me as I usually do. Flaky artist too absorbed in work to eat, notice the time, or see what the dog wants. He looked up and I took the coat back, “It’s five o clock- no wonder. You’re hungry, I know, I’m sorry.” I took time to put my mittens and holey boots away. I hung my leather leashes and the dogs’ collars on their proper pegs and then put my beat up coat on its hook- probably not worth sewing those buttons back on. Sage watched me and sat upright but quietly. Then I made Dog Dinner and called them to do simple tricks before putting down the bowls. Aah, satisfaction.
I have had a new barn coat for over a year now, but it is “nice” and not as versatile as the old one, and so I kept wearing the old one for dog walking in the woods and fields. I didn’t mind filling the right hand overlapping pocket with soft or greasy treats, the pocket below it with my keys and a short faded orange slip lead just in case. The left hand side had my shorter half inch wide buttery leather leash, my cell phone and the baggies. My longer 3/8 lead I wear like a bandolier around my neck and one shoulder. I did not mind if muddy paws jumped up on this jacket, or if I leaned against the car or got mud and leaves on it. Now the trick is to find another field coat that’s as good for dog walkin’ in the woods. I won’t mind the treat pocket suffering from smelly treats or damp charlie bears, I wont mind the muddy paws or the wear and tear. I will feel somewhat absolved of the guilt of not listening when my new sleeves go without holes from an anxious best friend trying to tell me something, and I’ll be responsive to the first, polite communications when Brindley-Beast Boy is doing his best to tell me its Dog Time.
