windthread

the girls fround this baby Gopher Snake.   We were cautious until deciding it was not a rattlesnake….the Sierra Nevada  Gopher Snake looking so similar,  at first glance,   the patterning,    behavior.    Size of a soba noodle.  maybe almost a foot long.  10" for sure.    and  then we saw that it was dead.   just behind its head…pierced by a cat tooth.   Why i do not love cats.   They kill and walk away.

Emrie brings these 3 leaves and says  You need to keep them.  Put them in a safe place.

Veronika,   cousin Veronika who has lived in the little Yellow House next door,  the first house that Alyssia had in Oroville,  that she still has a rent to own contract for      is moving to So Cal.   Getting a Divorce.  Found  a  new man.   Taking her two little boys but,  leaving all the cats, kittens and Minnow.   Left a note for Jeffrey in his van with the house key.   She'll be back in 2 weeks for a couple days.   The cats are just like so many neighborhood cats.   and then

there's Minnow.

a Border Collie mix.  Looks very dominant Border Collie.    She's 5.   What do i say here?.      For the first few years Veronika had her she lived in an apartment.   The Yellow House was her first yard,  a small city yard seperated from Alyssia's White House by a chain link fence.   A wall of bushes and trees.   There's a pool ladder set against that fence.   The kids and Minnow go back and forth.  When Minnow is told to stay home she does.   Only comes when invited.   Her yard has no front gate.   I've never paid much attention to her.  When i go to Alyssia's  and park out front she comes to greet me,  i pat her head,  say Hi Minnow and go along.   In the past i had Tay with me.   Veronika,  young and very lost in her Issues  generally ignored Minnow it seems.  Minnow has pretty much been just on her own.   They have had all those cats and kittens,  for a while,  ducks.  And all the roaming neighborhood chickens.   Which she ignores,  just loving her ball.   Which Alyssia said today   "She learned how to throw it for herself".     A dog that throws and catches her own ball.    Jeff is expected to take her to the SPCA for rehoming.   Alyssia's household has two dogs.   Jenny and her man have two dogs. 

Jenny has taken a few days off work to be here  to "get things done"  and they all came,  to put in the last new Rim Gate and to do two loads of fallen branches for the land fill.   Conversation.   Votes.   Try Minnow.   

As Jenny said,   it's a check in almost all the boxes.   She is not agressive with  other living beings.   She has no urge to "leave home".   She is somehow a Happy dog  with next to zero attention.   She loves kids.   Everyone,  including me,  thinks 6 acres needs a dog.  

I have never lived without a dog.   i will never have a dog like  Tay.