This morning I put Sir Finnegan (the puppy) on my desk top. It has an L shaped expanse that looks out over the front yard. Two different dove and squirrel proof feeders hang from a post and a tree.
I opened the
window and lo and behold he discovered there are tiny red, yellow and brown
finches flitting about. He was mesmerized. I put his big Martha Stewart Dog Bed on the
desk, the one he generally ignores. This little man prefers to cool his jets on
tile and pillowcases. No Fu-Fu cushy
things for him.
He settled in and watched the activity. A herd - or is it a quorum of quail? - entered
the yard looking for falling leftovers.
Soon the doves came in and activity stepped up. The birds in the neighborhood know that I’m sloppy
feeder filler, without a great eye for detail and there will be dropped seed in
the yard.
They flew in
singing, chucking, cooing and beeping (the quail quorum) and flew out. The little ones fed on the seed in the
feeders; the big birds pecking along from the random remnants on the
ground. Soon, our yard lizard came out
to join the fun and just sat there – he’s gotten pretty big and fat himself and
doesn’t run like the little lizards. He
did some pushups and then just waited, for what I don’t know.
Finnegan can’t
believe the bonanza of wild life right here in Tucson. I had my husband get a table to put next to
the desk, where Finnegan quickly settled into his armchair for viewing. It’s a jungle out there and the best puppy
show on earth. Finnegan’s head and eyes
were intent, swinging back and forth from the tiny flyers to the bigger Quail
on the ground. He sniffed the air;
unsure what these things are.
After about
10 minutes, he poked his little black nose up to the screen and startled the
birds. The quail ran out in a panic
beeping, but came back almost instantaneously.
The doves and finches flew off but came right back. Finnegan sat unmoving after that – he sure
didn’t want to disturb the potential food sources. He didn’t bark– which amazed me. The first time he saw my husband in a black
ball cap, he barked. He has barked at
the rubber duck in the pool, when it dared to stare at him or drift off on the
currents of the cleaning system. He
barks when he hears someone coming over – his tail wagging merrily all the
time.
As I
watched, his little mouth opened and closed in a rhythm. He moved closer to the screen again…trying to
see if he could eat whatever the things were prancing out of reach in the
beyond. He couldn’t but he enjoyed pretending
he was catching prey.
The outdoor
movie bought me fifteen quite minutes this morning…before he saw a young girl
walking across the street with two teensy toy dogs. He barked at them, looked at me and barked
again. I took him down and he went
running out of the room, I think he thought we were headed out the door to
check out the interlopers.
But, puppy
that he is, he saw my husband’s man cave door open and took the opportunity to
run in, walk on the treadmill…sniff around and inspect for available socks or
shoes he could take. The attention span
is short, but that’s okay, he keeps it interesting for us.
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