The dog growled as the javelina crossed the courtyard.

Normally, she would spring up alert with her nose pressed against the window. Normally, she would have paced impatiently back and forth between the window and the front door letting out a whistle that could only mean “let me at it…” She would nudge the front door handle repeatedly to get my attention if I wasn’t yet up from my computer at the dining room table. Normally, she takes her job of ‘securing the premises’ very seriously. But this morning, at 5:00 AM, she knew that it was already too hot. And so, she stayed reclined on the carpet under the fan uttering a token growl as we both watched the intruder strut out of sight on the way to the make shift watering hole under the yucca.