SkiCountry Winter
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Bubba’s owner grew dizzy with worry. Turned out<br />
some Boy Scouts saw him at the base of Palo<br />
Flechado Pass and took him to Philmont. Bubba<br />
was fat, so they couldn’t have thought he was starving.<br />
And he wasn’t that cute at all. And he stank,<br />
and slobbered all the time. Just an honest mistake<br />
– a good deed gone bad.<br />
Bubba ended up on a month-long tour of<br />
Colorado towns, passed around until he ended up<br />
in a pound in northern Colorado. Somehow word<br />
got back, so my buddy called the pound, saying<br />
he was coming to pick Bubba up. He described his<br />
looks, his slobbering, all his attributes.<br />
“Well, but how do I know it’s your dog” the<br />
poundkeeper asked.<br />
Months of welled up worry and anger burst out.<br />
“Look, lady. You think I’m going to drive seven<br />
hours up and seven hours back to pick up a miserable<br />
mutt like that who’s somebody else’s dog”<br />
Dogs love chasing stuff; it’s in their nature. At<br />
the ranch, dogs regularly chased horses, sheep,<br />
goats, chickens, cats, other dogs and ducks.<br />
Especially ducks. There’s something about a duck<br />
dogs can’t resist – especially my neighbor’s dog<br />
Rip.Rip had a love-hate relationship with our ducks:<br />
he loved chasing them on land (where he had the<br />
upper paw), and he hated it when they reached the<br />
pond (they ruled on water). Until the ice came. At<br />
the tail end of a severe cold snap, Rip chased the<br />
ducks to the pond, now iced over. Everyone’s seen<br />
a dog try to run on ice – legs splayed, twisting, tipping<br />
over. A duck on ice doesn’t do much better. So<br />
Rip was finally able to catch, and kill, a couple. Rip’s<br />
owner was so mad – having cussed Rip countless<br />
times for chasing ducks – he decided to teach him<br />
a lesson. He took some twine and tied a dead duck<br />
on top of poor Rip’s head. It looked hilarious but it<br />
seemed to work, the message drilled continuously<br />
into Rip’s brain. Rip didn’t chase any more ducks.<br />
He looked kind of guilty all the time for killing the<br />
ducks, especially the one tied to his head. After<br />
awhile the duck bonnet slipped to the side and it<br />
looked more like a duck tumor. When Rip would lie<br />
down, guilt turned to shame and he’d put his paws<br />
over his duck-head as if to hide from the world’s<br />
eyes. Hard to hide with a duck on your head. And<br />
hard to sleep too, I imagine, unless it made for a<br />
nice down feather pillow.<br />
Anyway… hope you bring your dogs when you<br />
visit the southern Rockies. The ducks are mostly<br />
gone, south for winter, so there won’t be any need<br />
for fancy head gear. And we can always use a few<br />
new dog tales.<br />
— Joe Haukebo, Publisher<br />
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