9.19.15 Slowly, as we walk down the dusty road

Dante Woo and I went down to the Eagle Sanctuary for an evening stroll, eyeing the disappearing corn from the fields, revealing all the mouse burrows and Coyote prints going round the mouse burrows, and the Coyote paths through the fields and the Coyote scat. Danto stops to sniff, and I murmur "Coyote" so he pairs the word with the animal he hears calling out back down by the outwaters, and the animal that killed the bunny that sought final refuge by the shed, and the animal that strolls through the yard come winter and visits the compost near midnight in the cold cold moonless nights. He watches me and sniffs, gathers the information at the paths and glances at me again, as he learns which word for which animal.    

Bunny, Chip (munk), Mouse! Squirrel! are all part of his studies, as he grows up and wonders about things and tries hard to learn what to fear and what not to.

Slowly, as we walk down the dusty road, he is becoming accustomed to his size (80 lbs lean, not real big, but there as a Shepherd) and confidence (pretty fearful but coming along) and somehow, his place in his yard, his house, his world.

                                    

I remember Shiva Louisa at 10 really beginning to take charge of her domain here, her land, as she told off the Coyote in the distance, and marched about on rope, day and night with me by her side (her being such a great candidate for a nice bear or Coyote snack) to pee ceremonially and territorially , and then howl her mini Husky assertion to the day and the night.

And so, he too is growing up, and learning his own ways, as the sliver of moon rises clear and white in the dark blue sky, and the dappled cloud moves along the horizon, while we come back from the river once again.