We spent a majority of the weekend working at the new farmhouse, cleaning out all the trash we made when we more or less destroyed our bathroom last weekend and starting to throw away some of the scrap wood which was piled up in the barn. Ayla always seems to sleep for hours straight when we come back from there. I don’t know if she simply can’t sleep while we’re working or if it’s just the excitement of being there – or perhaps just the happiness of the amount of freedom she has since at home she has very little these days after all her break-outs.
As I drove home yesterday in the Defender, I was able to enjoy the first signs of fall that are now upon us. I saw our plum tree start losing its leaves a few weeks ago but since they didn’t turn fire red or burnt orange or golden yellow, I didn’t get to feel the fall effects. But again this morning as I walked with Ayla around our little town here and through the fields, I saw the grape vines here and there which are a vibrant red and the other trees which have began to turn and drop their leaves. Although it signifies cooler weather (which I’m not necessarily a fan of), fall may still be one of my favorite seasons. There really is nothing like the amazing display of color which appears and washes through forests around the world.
All of this has very little do with the dog other than the fact that she simply makes us slow down sometimes and look at life around us. The same is true with our Defender. Since the truck tops out at a speed of about 80 mph (110 km/h), you can only travel so fast on the highways and in a country like Germany where it seems everyone needs to constantly drive as fast as their car will allow (which is often around 140 mph (220 km/h)), it can be nice to have that stress about getting there as fast as you can lifted from your shoulders.
I think in many ways, Defender drivers are very much like Newfoundland owners. Here in Germany, whenever a Defender driver passes another Defender driver on the street, they wave. They don’t have to know each other in any way aside from the fact that they see each other driving a similar car. Yes, I imagine some Porsche drivers may do this (although I’ve not seen or heard of them doing this) or owners of other similar cars, but there is something special about people who will drive a truck that may not be the newest looking, may not have all the latest gadgets and probably isn’t even worth the money you have invested in. The alarm in my brand new 2005 Defender would go off every few hours when I first got the truck. And the windshield leaks every time it rains. These are minor issues and relatively easy to fix but they are simply things that every Defender driver just comes to expect from their car. And Newfoundland owners have much the same mentality. They know their dogs drool a lot, they expect them to track in dirt, they understand that they may eat their favorite shoes or couch…but despite all that, the good times that they have with their Newfie and the love they see in their eyes allows them to forget all the little “quirks” and just make the dog all that more lovable. Just as Newfies are a special breed of dogs, it takes a very special breed of person to really love them for all that they are.
