A Guard Dog is Born on the 4th

The 4th started with a bang, so to speak. At 4:45 a.m., Gregg and I were levitated out of our bed by Ray barking. I was so disoriented after being woken out of a deep sleep, that for a moment, I thought the bark came from outside. But it was so loud! But it sounded like it was coming from outside! Maybe the noise had traveled out a window downstairs and come in our window upstairs. Maybe Ray was throwing his voice like a voice thrower. Maybe I was just delirious from lack of sleep...

Gregg rolled out of bed and headed downstairs. I heard him say "Ray! Quiet!" but I could hear Ray growling and then another ear-splitting bark followed by more growls. I followed Gregg downstairs. He opened the sliding back door and Ray went out. AAAAAarrooOOOOOOO. I saw a flashing light out of the corner of my eye and saw a work truck with a cherry-picker kind of arm attached to it, idling in front of our house. "There's a truck in front of our house," I said to Gregg. He went to have a look. "It's the cable guy," said Gregg. AAAArroooooOOOOO. Ray went off again. "It's alright, Ray," I said. Ray growled one more time and went off to pee. "I'll wait for him," I said to Gregg, "Go back to bed." Gregg yawned and dragged himself back upstairs. I waited for the hound, listening to the cable guy working at the box in the front yard. There was a faint sound of some kind of electronic device, while the guy worked. What a job, I thought to myself.

I looked for my shoes, ready to take off outside at the first hint of another bark, but Ray, satisfied that we were alert to the danger of pre-dawn raids by cable technicians, had moved on to other things. He meandered around the yard sniffing, while I waited, yawing.