We’re in another holiday weekend, this one called Labor Day I hear. For a cowdog who always keeps busy, sounds like just a normal day to me.
And we have a few surprises to mark the holiday here: Some snow in the high country in August!
The nights are cooler here in the foothills too, but the days warm up enough to get this dog looking for good shade too.
A long time ago, this day was declared a national holiday, the first Monday of September, to recognize the contributions of American workers to the achievements and developments in the nation. The Labor Movement also promoted Labor Sunday, the day before, to focus on the related spiritual and educational growth. 
Back then, everyone held parades, picnics and community amusements. Nowadays, maybe there aren’t enough workers to put on an event, since it seems like people don’t want to work. A government that pays people to NOT work is a government preparing for a culture of kept and controlled people, not freedom and the independence to make your own way. 
You can trust a working dog when I say, we are all made to work – to sweat and build, to achieve, reach higher, to have a purpose and value.
We need to be able to accomplish something, add some good to the world, stand back at the end of the day to see a task done. I’ve been there to know the satisfaction of looking down a long straight fence-line, every post driven true, wire strung tight, built to keep the stock inside and safe. Now that feels good!
In this season, as long warm days are waning and nights hint of coolness, this weekend marks the unofficial end of summer. There is an urgency I feel now, to use up summer, to get a lot done. We spend a lot of time near or in water, along with cutting weeds, cleaning up brush, and getting outside jobs done all around the ranch. Really, I mostly watch these jobs from the shade.
For some, this is a big weekend for camping, and maybe big fish!
The boss makes lists of all the “outside” jobs to get done now, and the harvesting and canning continue, too.
The dehydrator is running on the porch, and sometimes there are sweet crispy treats that I get to sample. Peaches were not my favorite, but I do like beets and beans. Later there will be venison sticks and jerky; I stay close and am the official taste tester then!
The days are near perfect most of the time, warmth and sunshine making the light a precious gem to be absorbed but cannot be saved away like the jewel-colored jars the boss puts up.
The trees have not been frosted into gold yet, but the dry weather is taking away their rich green shades.
The chickens go in earlier every evening.The egg supply is waning.
Soon cattle will be gathered from the high plains and brought down to their home places.
I spend a lot of time supervising the labor – moving cows, checking on the pullets, sniffing out creek bottom activities each dawn, and generally ramrodding all the work.
This season brings a strengthening urgency, somewhere between the heat of August and the frost of October, as we wring the last pleasure from summer and prepare for winter. Out here it takes a lot to be ready, and harvest is always looking forward.
We finish projects, clean up, put things away, finishing summer with a late yard sale to clear out clutter. It is a time to balance relishing every last moment of summer, and still work like a cowdog.
So as we celebrated National Dog Day, then Rainbow Bridge Day, and now Labor Day – be sure to keep busy playing with your dog, too!
Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Matthew 11:28
