It’s that time of year again, when black traceries of geese ripple across the clear blue sky and the pounding shotguns in the marsh betray the presence of urban Nimrods, bent on the pleasure of killing something they’ll make a mess of if they actually try to cook it in their condos.
Out with the dogs on the field, I first heard the calling conversation of dozens of geese flying our direction. Then they appeared in the southwest and gaining altitude with every flap of their wings they crossed directly overhead and on toward the marsh and the lake beyond that.
The geese found an altitude beyond the reach of any shotgun, and the sky-busting booms of long guns firing at targets far out of range marked their passage.
Nimrods.
Lovely. Imagery evocative of the East. Which I haven’t seen for a long time. I bet it’s even cold there?
But I’m really here to see how new puppy is doing?
Cold day, crystal blue sky, leaves starting to change colors here, frost last night that ended the beans, the tomatoes and the basil. A perfect day for a man and a Labrador retriever to work together from a duck blind.
Tessa the blue-eyed, blue merle Aussie puppy has settled in with us. She’s wriggling and tail wagging and face licking as if she’s always lived here. She runs on the field with the big dogs, and Molly is her fierce protector (from Maddy, the neighbor mutt who wouldn’t hurt a flea, but pack behavior being what is…)