There Was a Little Girl Who Had a Little Curl...

 There was a little girl who had a little curl, right in the middle of her forehead. And when she was good, she was very, very good. And when she was bad, she was horrid. That's Annie. (Although she doesn't really have a curl in the middle of her forehead. Neither did I as a child, I had curls all over my head, but my mom used to say that about me.)

Annie loves to chase things... chickens, especially, when she can sneak into the chicken yard. And goats when she's excited, which is much of the time. Most of the goats have learned to face her down. But one, in particular, is terrified of her. If I'm close when the action begins, I can squirt her with the hose while saying NO!! very loud. She stops. But I'm not always close. The goats are going to have to learn not to run from her. She doesn't want to catch them, after all. She just wants to race after them.

She also likes to escape the confines of the goat territory and come play with us, or chase chickens or cats. Johnny tore a hole in the fence with the tractor and she found it before he did. She was very interested while he repaired it and kept him company the whole time. She is a sweet pup... when she's not being a holy terror.

After fixing that hole, Johnny moved on to another place where Annie goes under the fence. She watched him fix that one, too. I wonder how long before she finds another escape route.

She found her way out to hike through the woods to the creek with Johnny and me on our first smokeless day. I didn't take any photos that day, but I did today, when she hiked with friend Mary and me. She was  attentive to Mary who was walking a safe social distance behind me and kept going back to check that she was still coming.

 

Down at the creek, Annie waded right into the water for a drink. then she spotted a leaf floating. It moved as Annie waded toward it...

So she had to catch it! And pull it proudly back to shore.

She led us onward toward the big maple, where the horses can go, too, so there are lots of interesting smells....

In the Qi Gong grove on the south side of our property, piles of bear poop and bear throw-up, all rather old, were in our path. Annie was not interested. But later, walking through the dry ash swamp, she found a place where some animal had scratched and urinated, keeping her attention for a long time... I would guess it was a coyote. Coyotes must be more interesting than bears.

 

As we went back to the barn, Annie scared up a covey of quail and took chase as they flew low and long to get away.  She doesn't seem to be interested in catching the things she chases. She just likes to chase them. Like the little girl with the curl in the middle of her forehead, sometimes Annie is very good and sometimes she is, well, not so good.