“Big Dog and the Didgeridoo”

For those not aware, a “didgeridoo” is a musical instrument used by the aboriginal peoples of Australia to make a deep reverberating sound.  The rich sound of the didgeridoo is used in aboriginal culture for certain ceremonial functions and is played by those skilled enough to use this instrument.  I cannot begin to describe the sound except to say it is a deep, rich and beautiful bass sound, similar to the wind blowing through a hollow log.  In fact, some of the aboriginal stories describe the instrument in just this way.

After listening to a young man play his long hollowed wooden log in just this way, I decided to buy one for myself.  I have it in my home now, hoping somehow to learn to play it.  It requires wax on the mouthpiece, and mine lost its wax in the airplane flight over, so I will need to learn how to apply a new coating of wax.  My didgeridoo was wrapped in a protective bubble wrap, which is now removed as my son, David, who is visiting wanted to see it.

I left the didgeridoo in my office, and it is about 4 foot long or more, a smaller version of the 10-12 foot long ones played by the native Australians.

Our big dog is named “Finn” and he is a Great Dane.  He is actually my daughter Hannah’s dog, and he is staying with us while she is studying to be a Vet in Sydney, Australia.   Yesterday, I came into my office and was surprised to see Big Dog eyeing my didgeridoo with great interest, apparently trying to determine how to place it in his mouth.  He has a propensity to want to chew things, and so my wife and daughter make sure he has lots of stuffed toys.  He just received a stuffed Koala bear toy about two weeks ago.  He also receives bones and other items which he chews vigorously.  But I do not wish for him to chew my didgeridoo, even if it does look like a very long bone, or chew toy.  So I have hidden it behind my computer screen, where he cannot find it easily.

Our dog’s chew toys don’t last too long, although Finn is the most gentle of the three dogs.  He likes to mouth the stuffed toys and often simply sucks on them as if he is nursing his mother.  Hannah feels he did not receive enough nursing time when a puppy, as he had to compete with seven other siblings for his mother’s attention.

I have made an incomplete list of the chew toys my wife and Hannah have given Finn, as follows:  A stuffed monkey, a snake, a goat, a sheep, a bear, a dinosaur and a koala.  There are some others I have been unable to characterize as they have been turned into stuffing only.  Petunia, the Boykin Spaniel competes with Finn for the stuffed toys and she will hold on to the toy for dear life while Finn pulls to retrieve it.  If this process is not interrupted, often what occurs is the toy splits at the weakest seam and white stuffing spills out.  On at least three occasions I have picked up a grocery bag of pieces of cotton or polyester blend stuffing.  If I am lucky enough to find the “skin” of the animal in question, I discard that, too.

The first toy, a snake was quickly shredded, so we are on snake number two.  The goat sits lonely on top of the refrigerator, since he is too cute to be eaten.  The monkey was sacrificed before Christmas, when the dogs sat alone in the den too long.  To my uncertain recollection, we have lost one more sheep and one bear before the others, but then, who can say for sure?  My recollection is fuzzy on this point, as I have tried to forget those animals who are no longer in the home, carried out to the waste bin of dead and expiring toys.

The only thing I give the three dogs, including the Corgi, who is our most sensible dog, are knuckle joints of pigs, which last a long time and serve to help clean the teeth, or at least I have been told.  They emit no white stuffing, but there are a few particles left over on the floor that need removing, which the vacuum or the broom quickly disposes.

So there you have the saga of the toys and the chewing dogs.  I care not for the loss of bones, knee joints of pigs, and loss of stuffed animals sacrificed in the name of keeping the dogs calm.  I will not, however, give up my didgeridoo! I am going to learn how to play that instrument and one day I plan to take it to our church and at the end of the service, or perhaps in the beginning I will blow my horn and declare today is a day of Jubilee of the Lord Jesus!  Since I don’t know where to find a real ram’s horn to blow, I figure this will just have to do!  I plan to blow my didgeridoo loudly and celebrate with everyone the coming of our Lord to free us and finally set us free in the long awaited Year of Jubilee!

B Wilson