Life with Misty

Getting used to Misty after a dog that was like me in every way (except his wanting to eat poop) can be challenging.  For one, picture taking will never be the same, lol!  For example, Saturday night I was taking a picture of my latest 'new beer' that I was sampling to post on BeerAdvocate...

...and somebody INSISTED they be included!  Apparently, though, BA is a doggie-friendly site, and she's not alone in wanting to get attention there.   Speaking of Saturday, we have a couple of doggie-related stories to tell you about there...

Not as enthused about the follow-up beer.  Nor was I, for that matter.

Saturday, for those in the know, was the big January Day and Night Of Rain here in northern Indiana.  About 1 AM, I cracked the window, only to hear the howls of what had to have been 3 coyotes.  They sound like they gather in the nearby office park, but it's hard to tell.  So I shut the window, thinking they might get her riled up (which did NOT happen).  Then about 6:30, something did wake her up and get her growling, and even a bark, not an often thing with her.  In the gloaming I saw something, and grabbed my binoculars to confirm.

In the pouring pissing rain, a deer lay in the middle of our back yard, taking a nap.

If it was Scrappy, sleep for the morning would be cancelled, as his smeller would have activated and he would be ready for battle.  Misty, though, is 'sight and sound', and so I merely closed the blinds and she was right back to sleep.

Pictures from this morning.

Sunday we actually got a walk in (no pictures, dead battery), and among the things we saw was an amusing 'traffic jam'.


Set the scene:  Walking south down the greenway trail, the canal on our right. (Mind you, this is the old canal feeder; think, 'ditch')  up ahead on the other side of the canal was an outlet from our complex, making a small inlet.  About a foot out from it (keep in mind, a lot of water b/c of all the rain), a patch of tall grass stuck up about a foot or so out of the water.  Heading towards this, in mid-stream, a muskrat.  On the other side, coming towards us and close to the far bank, Mr and Mrs Duck.  The ducks are attempting to go between grass patch and far bank; muskrat takes a hard right at just before the patch (and thus the inlet, which was his goal).  Mr Duck gets there first, and is just clearing the patch when muskie makes his turn.  He says, no biggie, I'll just go around the patch and in.  So Mrs Duck had decided to lag behind (surprise), and as muskie cuts the corner and heads for the inlet, she's right on his butt, thinking, "He doesn't smell like my hubby..."

Luckily for all, Muskie continued on, making another hard right at the inlet and disappearing, while Mrs Duck continued on her merry way, no doubt regaling her hubby with tales of her smelly encounter.  For all of her sharp eyed-ness, Misty isn't good at motion detecting, and missed the whole thing from a dozen feet away.


And believe me, she has eyesight down pat.  She has chased cats, rabbits, even blue jays that I didn't necessarily catch until after she did.  Squirrels too, but...

OMG, an iceberg on the St Joe!  Global warming, call Greta, quick!

Misty has one big difficulty with squirrels- she doesn't grasp the concept of "he went up the tree".  Squirrel jets up the tree, she runs past it a few steps and looks around, wondering where he went.  Then a few more steps, with a "I know he went this way" look on her face.  Eventually, I fear they will catch on and start pelting her with acorns.


She did see ONE squirrel at height- and I nearly died because of it.  It was on the roof of a neighbor's shed as we were going one way.  It went the other across the roof, and the yard, Misty in hot pursuit.  My hand was firmly on her leash, which spun me partway and then crashed hand and handle square into my chest.  On the bright side, I wouldn't need the defibrillator.

Is it MY fault you're an old man?