Happy Birthday Papa!
After loading up on groceries today I needed to stop at a number of other stores. Beeker was in his usual place in the back seat and I put all of the groceries in the trunk area. The trunk area in my Honda isn't really a trunk, but separated by the back seat. Two of the grocery items I purchased were a whole cooked chicken and a ham. Both were in the trunk area. Now, you may think you know where this is going, but you don't! When I left to go into the store, Beeks was NOT tethered. When I returned he was still in the back seat. He had not gotten in the back trunk area and no food was disturbed. So to push my luck I left him again untethered in the back seat when I went into the third store. Again nothing was amiss. So here is the question. Why does Beeker not leave the back seat in my car but does get out and become the thief in Brad's car? I have a theory. Here it is. Dogs and some other animals are highly detail oriented, or to put it another way extremely specific in their world views. They are not good at generalizations the way most people are. Being able to generalize is a higher brain function. So each encounter with their environment is specific. When Beeker was very young, and we had him just a week or so, I would take him in the car and put him in my front seat. We would go to the Vet's office or to the store and he would get sick during the ride. I learned fast to put him in the back seat. Now he doesn't get sick riding in the car. He always rides in the back seat of my car. Brad's car also but... In his mind, he has associated my front seat with getting sick and so doesn't go there. He knows where he is safe so he stays where he is comfortable. That's my theory and I'm sticking to it.
The Curious part...
As I was driving home from the store, down our lane, a diesel truck was stopped in the middle of the road. As I approached, it slowly moved on down to our circle and turned around. When approached the place where the truck was stopped, a TURKEY flew across the road in front of my car,to the other side. It was about 60 pounds, the size of Beeker. Turkeyzilla if you will. This is the second turkey I have seen in the same area, the first not as large,about 2 years ago. I was stunned. After I shook off the surprise of it, I tried to get Beeker's attention but he didn't see what was right in front of him. Silly dog. He kept looking out the side window. We will now need to name Turkeyzilla, since it's a sometimes resident.
George and Gracie Cooper's Hawk
We've been observing George and Gracie nest building in the early morning and not so much in the afternoons and evenings. In the morning they are busy coming and going with sticks and large twigs to improve their humble abode. As Brad mentioned to me, they keep working on the nest but its hard to see any improvement in it. I guess we aren't seeing it from a birds eye view. Yesterday evening as we were finishing up on the landscaping we did see one of them soaring overhead. On our walkabout this morning, Beeks and I didn't see any additional carnage so maybe the hunt doesn't happen every night, just every so often. I wonder if the turkey should be afraid? I guess since it is still wandering around after two years it must not fear hawks.
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