Fearless....well, almost!

Den of the Beastly Bear

Hi Folks!

Late again! (Tuesday's)
Whatcha gonna do?

As I got home last night I saw something that spurred a memory.

I have told you all of "Tasha the wonder dog", our Australian Shepherd of many years.

She was Fearless!!!

My Father-in-law lives "up north", which in Michigan means anywhere above the "thumb". He used to lease a portion of his property to a neighbor for the purpose of grazing their cattle.

We would take Tasha with us when we'd go up to visit.

Never having had a lick of training Tasha would take to herding those cows like a fish to water.

Not my Tasha, but you get the idea..

Now you would think, being a "city" dog, she would have been intimidated by 1500 pound cows! Not so!

From the first she saw them she ran, full speed out to where they were and proceeded to "work" the herd.

While she did fear my anger if she was "bad" she never feared me. If Kaitlin was in trouble as a little girl, she would get between us to keep her safe.

If Kathy and I were arguing, she would lay across her lap and bare her teeth if I raised my voice too much.

But like any superhero, she had her Kryptonite!

Bunnies!!!

This fearless, cow herding dog was TERRIFIED of bunnies! Soft, fuzzy, harmless little bunnies!!!

It started one day when she was a little over a year old. She went to the door to be let "out" to do her business.

It was springtime and we just had the screen door between us and the great outdoors. As I got to the door and looked out, I saw a small rabbit out by the tree in our yard.

The yard was open, and the tree was twenty yards from the door...so I figured the rabbit would have plenty of time to escape.

"Tasha look! A Bunny!!!"

She lowered herself, squeaked in anticipation...and when I opened the door she launched herself full speed!!!

Now what was going through this little bunnies head, I have no idea but it just sat there, munching away at the patch of clover beneath the tree! Unconcerned!

As Tasha got closer, the bunny turned to face her...still not the least bit afraid. Maybe too young to know that her doom approached at lightning speed!

When Tasha was within about 2 feet, the bunny launched itself about three feet...straight up in the air, doing a backflip!!!

This so startled Tasha she skidded to a halt, reversed direction and tore turf in an effort to get away from this frightening little creature!

The bunny, now feeling safe went back to munching clover.

For her part Tasha ran all the way back into the house, at the same speed at which she left...until she was behind my leg. Only to peer around me to bark her displeasure at being scared!

From that point on, for the rest of her life she refused to go out if there was a bunny in the yard.

My fearless "wonder dog"...
Laid low by a pound and a half of furry kryptonite!

Be Well!

Beastly Bear

A rare Michigan Earthquake...

Den of the Beastly Bear

Morning Folks!

Got yesterday's post out a little late, like 11pm late...things to do, people to see and all that!
If you missed it you can find it here "what fries my taters!"

Well, we woke up this morning to another 4½" of new fallen snow! I'm killing time waiting til about 9 before I fire up that beast of a snowblower. While everyone is thankful for the snow removal, no one likes being awakened early on a Sunday morning!

The other day I told you about Momma Bear having a crying jag while pregnant over dinner rolls....

What I failed to mention was her penchant for impromptu napping!

We would plan on going somewhere, I was ready fairly quickly....but you know how you gals can be!

Not that I'm complaining, we love that you put so much effort into looking good for us...but does it have to take so long???

Well, on more than one occasion (read as "more often than not) my lovely, glowing pregnant wife would go back to the bedroom to decide what exactly she was going to wear....and never come back!

When I finally got tired of waiting, and went back to check that she had not been abducted by aliens or some such. I would find her curled up on the waterbed, facing her open closet fast asleep. When I'd wake her, she'd say:

"I just laid down to think about what I wanted to wear."

I would tell her, try sitting on the bed instead of laying on it and you'll be much less likely to fall asleep.

It got to be quite a bone of contention between us as it started becoming a constant occurrence. Not that I begrudged her her naps, far from it! I encouraged her to rest often, after all her body was working hard growing our baby.

It was the timing!

If she was tired, and didn't want to go and do whatever we had planned...just say so!

I'm a big boy and am used to doing things on my own, I was, after all a truck driver and spent up to 20 hours at a time all by my self.

On one occasion, she had made plans to go shopping with her friend and neighbor Debbie! She told me what time they had planned to go, and that she was going back to get ready. 

I told her "Don't fall asleep....."

"I won't!!!" She said in her snotty voice...you know the one girls...don't claim you don't! Lol.

So...

Time passes, no wife.

A half hour, no wife.

45 minutes, no wife.

I give her 15 more minutes, no wife.

Now certain that she is back there sleeping, I devise a plan. If she hears me coming down the hall she'll pop up off the bed and claim she'd never been laying down.

So I turned to Tasha the wonder dog and said:

"You know mama's back there sleeping, we're gonna run back there and catch her!"

Yes, I talk to my dogs like people, don't judge!!!

So I jumped up off the couch and raced down the hallway to catch her in the act...well, that was the plan!

What I had not factored into the equation was that Tasha the wonder dog was an Australian Shepherd!

"Shepherd" being the operative term! For, given that she had no sheep, goats or cattle to "herd" she often tried herding us!

So as I made my dash for the hallway, Tasha ran with me...but in her excitement that Dad was running with her, she got tangled in my feet.

Tripped by my overeager shepherd, all 298 lbs. of me at full speed....fell forward...

My left shoulder hitting the open doorway of what was to be the baby's room!!! This abruptly altered my forward progress, spun me sideways and tipped me towards the opposite wall, buckling the siding and putting a 3 foot whole in the wall....slamming my right shoulder into the 2X4 stud there!!! My forward momentum completely stopped I now fell backwards on top of my twisted legs, folding them under me!!

This series of concussions to our trailer knocked things off shelves, pictures fell from the walls, car alarms sounded….children wept!!!

Kathy, awakened by what she could only assume was a rare Michigan earthquake came running out of the bedroom to find me crumpled in the hallway, arms akimbo!!!

"OH MY GOD! WHAT HAPPENED??? ARE YOU ALRIGHT?" She asked.

Wind knocked right out of me, I squeaked out a

"Don't...touch...me..."

"What?!? Are you hurt?!?" She says...no, I'm not hurt, I always run my shoulder through the wall and fall backwards twisting myself up like a pretzel!!!

"Not...sure...yet...give..me..a.minute!!!" 

I took a quick inventory with the wife and dog looking down at me, decided nothing was broken.

When my loving wife started to giggle, then to chortle, then to laugh...laugh so hard tears ran down her face. 

As I unfolded myself. 

As rolled over to get my feet under me and stand up, Tasha the wonder dog gave me the "I'm sorry" conciliatory lick to the face.

When she could breathe again, as I stiffly made my way back to the couch she asked:

"What the HELL were you doing?????"

"Trying to catch you napping..." I groaned as I flopped down. "you were, weren't you?"

"Yeah," she said....wiping her eyes, "until the earthquake!!!!"

Hope your day is better than that one was for me!!!

Be Well!

Beastly Bear