Oh how you would enjoy Pele's adventures if you were here. He, too, has found the pond to be a source of great entertainment and adventure. No, he doesn't go swimming like you and Buck - he just plays around the edges in the mud - yeah - that stinky mud and he is having a ball.....
I have the distinct feeling that you would enjoy participating in his adventures in the mud too - but I think you would swim in the water to wash most of that mud off before you came bounding up to the house. Pele' doesn't do that - he just comes in all his mud covered glory and expects me to let him in the house like that. He hasn't even figured out that a dip in Bucks swimming pool gets most of it off - even though that is where I take him to rinse him off every time he comes home covered in that stinky goop. He is awful..........
I think I would have to be angry with him - if it weren't so funny to watch him leaping in the grass and jumping after all the frogs and dragon flies. The pond is so low from no rain that the exposed dirt around the edges has started to grow grass. That makes getting to the muddy parts so much easier for a smaller guy - but it also frustrates Buck when he wants to get to the water for a swim....and he isn't appreciating all the stinky mud I keep rinsing off Pele' in his swimming pool. I think I'll have to find a wash tub or something for Pele' rinsing.
The grass in the pond dirt isn't real tall but it is tall enough that all we can see is the tip of Pele's tail in it - until he attacks his real (or imaginary) prey. He does that with great energy and enthusiasm, making a huge leap from where he was to where he is going. That is when we can see his whole body above the grass. Once he lands again all we see is the grass quiver and shake then suddenly go still, as a head pops up and looks around to see if anyone saw that.
Last night he actually caught a frog by the hind leg. He didn't kill it. I am not sure if he even hurt it because he carried it a couple feet and then let it go in the water. Do you think he figured that the water was where the frog belonged - instead of in his own private playground. I don't know...... He sure likes the pond edge (where the mud is) and the shorter water grass that now grows in the exposed dirt. He seems to spend a lot of time there.
He hasn't figured out that he can go all the way around the pond yet. The dam scares him because he can hear the water going out the overflow. He plays on the house side of the pond down by the weeping willow tree (great place to play hide and seek) but seems to like the field side the best....that is why we can see him so well while he is playing. Buck waits until Pele' is happily busy in his mud playground so that he can do his BIG RUNS. They are so much more fun and he can go so much faster without the little tag-a-long.
Buck runs at full speed through the pasture, around the pond, through the timber, around the shop, past the house then across the dam, through the other timber and around the pond again - without stopping. That is his favorite route though he sometimes varies and makes a trip in to the corn. He goes in on the north end and comes out on the south end - but the rows go the other way. I hope he isn't knocking down Steve's corn! I don't think he runs in there - I think that is more of a reconnaissance mission to see who else has been around. You know - the deer and the racoons, or maybe just that darn cat.
This all seems to take place in the early evening for both of them. That must be why they are both so willing to go to their kennels at night - they are pooped from their adventures! During the day they nap alot and take short excursions together. They patrol all four corners and all sides of our property - but do not go in the road. The ditch is as close as they get to that and I am not complaining! I'd hate to have to put their training collars back on them and have to remind them to stay away from the road that way. They apparently learned that lesson quickly.
It is going to be another beautiful day outside today. I can get some garden work done and maybe even some yard work. I'll find that old wash tub and fill it full of water to rinse Pele' in and change Buck's pool water so he has clean stuff to lay in. Pele' definately needs a real bath soon because rinsing gets the mud off - but not all of the stink and he is starting to smell really bad. Maybe today.........unless he begins to have too much fun again and rinsing is all I have time for.
Who would have thought that this terrier mix fellow would find such happiness and fun in such simple things - and entertain us in the process? Terriers can be little terrors - but Pele' seems content to catch a rodent from time to time (that must be his day job) and to play in the stinky pond mud to chase ellusive (and some fantacy) creatures along the pond bank. I know I feel safer knowing that he is guarding me from all of the frogs and toads!
Starskey - come home and play with Pele'. Yes - even in the pond mud. Maybe you can teach him to swim to get some of it off. You can race Buck too. I don't think you would slow him down any by tagging along on his BIG RUNS if you go along.
Starskey - We miss you and we're still looking for you!
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