The Marley Mystery, Part 1

The last time we discussed Marley was January 27, when Farmer H was dosing him with honey on grease bread for his cough.

THAT IS THE LAST TIME I SAW MARLEY!

As you may recall, Marley is the little white fluffy dog who belonged to HOS (Farmer H's Oldest Son), that we took when HOS moved to town. HOS's son, HOSS (Farmer H's Oldest Son's Son) told Farmer H on one of their Thursday night pizza outings that they had a new little house dog, but that they might take Marley back, too.

Here's Marley in his pen, when we first got him, all fluffy.



And here after a trim, and several days running wild. I can't adjust the picture size, because all my Marley files are corrupt! I had to copy them from previous posts, and they won't re-size.




Anyhoo...I didn't think too much about Marley. I asked Farmer H if he'd been giving him the honey. Farmer H said,

"I haven't seen him for a couple of days. The last time was when you saw him in the garage. I was coming home that day, and all four dogs were out in the BARn field. As I drove by in the truck, Jack jumped on Marley and started biting him. Copper Jack got in between them. He wasn't biting. It was like he was separating them. Juno stood off to the side."

"Huh. Maybe they're showing Marley his place in the pack. Copper Jack didn't used to get involved."

So...we kept an eye out for Marley. When I'd hear the dogs barking their fool heads off in the early morning hours, I figured maybe Marley was around, eating food on the porch or in his pen. He always was a wanderer. Farmer H drove the Gator up to HOS's old place several times.

"I didn't see him up there. I waited. I revved the engine. Usually, he'd come running, and follow me back. I didn't see him anywhere."

"Maybe those neighbors took him in."

"He hung out with their dogs, but they don't take them in the house. They might be feeding him if he's around."

One disturbing find, according to Farmer H, was a bunch of white fur out by the big sinkhole.

"It could be Marley's fur. Not a lot of it. Or it could be from a rabbit. I hope Jack didn't kill him."

"I think we'd have found a body if Jack killed Marley."

"Yeah. Probably."

"If he was hurt, he'd crawl back to his pen. Not go running off someplace else."

Farmer H asked around, when he talked to his cronies. One of them, living in the house where the headless body was found in the septic tank (it was for sale at that time, this guy's not a killer), said he thought he saw a little white dog over on that side of the compound. At a house where they have 3 female dogs.

"Marley could be hanging out there. He's never been fixed."

"Yeah. Maybe. Somebody could have taken him in. He's a cute little dog, if you don't mind him being hyper. And don't have a male dog he fights with. Then again, there's the case of those two gals feeding Jack down at the mailboxes. Anybody could have taken him."

Tomorrow, the saga continues.