Mississippi Delta Sunset with Delta Dog Gunny

Mississippi Delta Dog Gunny

By Poor William

VIDEO and PHOTO GALLERY

“Dogs are our link to paradise. They don’t know evil or jealousy or discontent. To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden, where doing nothing was not boring–it was peace.” — Mila Kundera, Czech writer

I doubt Kundera ever visited or even heard about the Mississippi Delta, but he sure understood what makes many of us love it. Fortunate enough to reside in a trailer park on the oxbow known as Moon Lake—of General Ulysses S. Grant and Tennessee Williams fame—I often take a swim or at least a boat ride in the late afternoons after checking in guests at the Clark House Residential Inn, where I ‘umbly serve as innkeeper.

Yesterday, my Cousin Whitney (Cuz) hollered at me and said she and friend Tommy (Tomcat) Walton, local dirt-mover, all-around-nice-guy and gifted artist were going for an afternoon cruise to check out the always spectacular Mississippi Delta sunset, and they were bringing Gunny, his less-than-a-year-old golden retriever. Of course I went.

The sun was fresh, the breeze enervating, the company real, and the boat ride settling to an often-restless spirit, clearing all kinds of overstimulation thoughts and mental cobwebs. This day was no exception.

We listened to killa tunes on Tomcat’s stereo, finishing the last part of the day with R.L. Burnside, The Kang of Hill Country Blues.

We cruised around an island in the middle of the lake, finding a great spot for Gunny to swim and run rampant on the shoreline.

Shortly after easing on land, Gunny was spooked by an armadillo, started chasing hoppin’ frogs, and swam his ass off until we headed to the north end of the lake to watch the sun set.

I was in about waist-deep water, walking toward a particularly red Cypress tree Cuz wanted me to photograph, all while ruminating on the possibility of an alligator easing out of the cypress knees, when what to my wonderin’ touch should I feel, but something brushing my leg underwater, at the same damn time that Gunny leaped from the shoreline between the cypress trees and knees, landing with the impact of a 500-pound bomb just feet away from me. Startled? Yeah!

After riding the lake for a bit, we all four watched the sun set, rarely speaking, except to occasionally cajole Gunny back into the boat. We did a little exploring, wadding, and finally raced a blue heron from a legal distance as we were heading toward the shore.

All in all, ‘twas another fine Mississippi Delta day on the water with Gunny, Cuz and Tomcat. Never a bad day on the water! pw

WATCH VIDEO
[youtube width=”600″ height=”375″]https://youtu.be/PrZ7vhglmn8[/youtube]