Saturday morning, I was startled as I turned onto the gravel road to the Mansion and saw a bear.
That's what it looked like. A black bear cub. I stopped. Looked at it in my side mirror. Backed up. Turned to look out the driver's window of T-Hoe. There it was. Showing no fear, pawing at a spot in the dead leaves right beside the gravel. He lowered his left shoulder and rubbed along that spot on the ground. Stood up. Nosed at it. Lowered his shoulder again and pushed his body along.
I guess it was a little dog, a quarter-grown pup. He sure looked like a bear. The snout. The ears. The round body. The tail. Yeah. I'm sure it was a little dog. But there was no collar. And the tail had been docked to just the length of a little bear's tail. I saw it, because he was clenching it against his rumpus. I guess there was a draft.
Seriously. What kind of little dog looks just like a bear cub? When our black shepherd Ann and her deceased brother, Cubby, found our house as pups, they looked like tiny bear cubs. But they were itty bitty. As they grew, the bearishness faded. This little guy was about as tall as two cats stacked on top of each other, and roly-poly.
I'm sure he belonged to somebody nearby. There are a couple of german shepherds that make the rounds of our yard, but they're regular brown and black. No collar, but he was not thin. I haven't seen him since. I wish I had fumbled with my phone to get a fuzzy picture, but I was afraid a car was going to come along from either direction, and I was right in the middle of the road.
You never know what you're going to find in Hillmomba.
Wait until you see your two favorite dogs that have been missing from a 102 acre farm come across the mountain ridge looking like little dots while you are eating a fresh watermelon out of the garden with the best mother-in-law in the world as worried as I am about our fur babies. I asked her what she thought those dots were. We did not know - took a little while. Sally and Seebert! Running home! Crazy freakin' dogs had a cow's leg. Sally had one end and Seebert had the other running in tandem! Somebody had buried a cow and I can only assume they dug up the leg and carried it home. They were so proud, and we were so happy they were home. They got to keep the cow leg bone. They always amazed me how they did such teamwork.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like Hillmomba is a magical place. Perhaps this is a new animal species? Perhaps you could bring this new discovery to the scientific community? And you could even have the honor of naming the new creature? And you might become rich and famous? (And then you could retire early?)
ReplyDeleteI wonder what you would call this new species?
So, it was a bear-dog. A new breed. Al Gore has been warning us about the effects of global warming. Who knew it would mean cross breeding between bears and dogs?
ReplyDeleteknancy,
ReplyDeleteHeh, heh. I can just picture that. Ours get hold of deer legs. Out of season. Ann brought one up on the porch and whacked the support posts and walls trying to keep it away from her cronies.
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Sioux,
Thank goodness it didn't have a uni-horn. I think I will dub this new species "cursine." Because dogs are canine, and bears are ursine.
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Kathy,
If only we'd had the foresight to use his invention of the internet to seek out the effects of "global warming" on cursine creation.