Visiting Firemen
We have our own dogs, Tex and Junior. They mostly stick around; if they leave we get nuts looking
for them - making posters and calling the neighbors.
Tex, Junior, and Peety the cat
But we get a couple of regular visitors, or as Dick refers to them - "Visiting Firemen". Ralphie has
been coming by since the hay harvest last fall. He belongs to the folks just up the road and is
pretty independent. He says "hello" when he shows up, but mostly he seems to come to play with Tex
(and Junior) and to look for varmints in the woodpiles. He gets along fine with the cat, too. We don't
normally feed him, unless he's been here a few days. His owners say (and we've seen him in action) that
he seems to prefer catching fieldmice to eating crunchies from a bowl. He's half husky and half border
collie - the owners know both parents.
Ralph and Tex say hello
Our other visitor has just started showing up in the last
week. From looking on the internet and knowing the locals,
I think he's a deerhound/greyhound mix (a "longdog"), but
I'm not positive. He was very skinny - I know they should
keep their weight very low, but he was too boney. We
called the people we thought owned him - they weren't sure
if they were missing a dog or not. We fed him,
supplementing with a little olive oil and vitmins E and C,
since he had a few small wounds on him. He stays for a few
days, leaves for a day or two and shows up again. He's soooo sweet! And he smiles :-)
If his owners keep him, we'll have to find one like him I
think.
Longdog relaxing
