A family of wild boar have been drinking from the stream. The bank on either side churned up by their hooves . Sophie is transported to a world of olfactory delights. What better way to start a day than enjoying gelatinous mud, a lengthy drink and an even lengthier rummage around in fresh boar scents ?
Just as Sophie's safely installed in the back of the car a pack of hunting dogs burst through a hedge that forms the far boundary of the cow field. They hurtle past. There must be fifteen or so of them.
I dislike the 'we own the place' arrogance of the hunters in their camouflage day-glo orange outfits ( how bizarre is it to put camouflage patterns on day- glo orange ? ) but I love their dogs. Seeing them running across the fields is a study in happiness. That 'Free at last' triumph of immersed in the moment joy that makes dogs, dogs. There are no hunters in sight and whatever the pack is chasing has long gone. One of the dogs seems to have some sort of radio transmitter attached to its collar. This is presumably a matching of technology to old country ways.
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I know what you mean about the hunting dogs. When I was in high school, I worked for a stable that was raising two young foxhounds for the local foxhunt. So many years later, but I can still remember their names, Rhett and Riley - they were very goofy but also very joyful and very free. Because they were meant for the hunting pack, they didn't need to be trained in all the usual ways, not like poor Charlie, who's currently under the oppression of learning how to "sit" and "stay", not to mention the dread of housebreaking. Still pretty joyful and free notwithstanding.
It will be interesting to hear of the thoughts of those men in dark suits regarding any discussion of the rapid activation of section 4 of the 25 amendment to the constitution.
You're lucky you and Sophie didn't get shot. In the past few weeks, hunters down around here have killed a guy chopping wood in his own yard, shot into an occupied house (missing the inhabitants; bullet lodged in the interior wall) and shot into a parked car (went through the driver's door and into the passenger seat) just as a family out for a hike was about to get in it to go home. They respect nothing.
The radio pack helps to find the dog when it goes missing post chase! Once on a road wih a high rocky side and deep valley the other side ( in the Cevennes ), a hunting dawg 'landed' on the car bonnet. It shook itself and ran off.
When we lived in Italy the hunters used to wander up through our olive grove ( we had 1200 trees) right to the front door where they would stop , chat and smoke a cigarette. It drove me insane. One day when washing the car I got peppered by pellets from the shotgun of an octogenarian and his 3 equally old mates. After that they used to come and leave a pot of hare stew on our doorstep as a thank you for not reporting them to the police. This defeated the purpose of keeping them off our land so the hares could live in peace. The ones round here are equally arrogant but are sprightly 70 somethings.
I think the Manhattanites would take the view that impeachment would only serve to fire up the electoral demographic that stormed the Capitol. The issue , they would be the first to recognize, is that there's a large swathe of the population that feels the economy doesn't work for them. How societies ( not just the US ) deal with the angry right wing will be one of defining issues of 2021. The 1% can't be seen to get all the benefits. The Netherlands election later this year will be important as a guide.
Housebreaking. The new dog rite of passage. Hope you're not getting the dreaded 3 am wake up howl.
Here they just wander around the village looking forlorn until someone comes to collect them.
Gelatinous mud and scents of wild boar sound deeply appealing to Bertie. We are wondering if Sophie was tempted to join the hunting pack.
Is Gail being over-optimistic in thinking that the apparent good news from Georgia may have a more lasting impact that yesterday's shocking scenes in the Capitol?
Inca would like to know if Sophie came across any boar poo on her rummage beside the stream? She understands that it's the truffle and caviar equivalent in the dog world!
We still miss your morning croissant rating, and Sophie's encounters with the sanitation workers, and realise just how long it is since you were able to travel to the nearby town. At the moment we are still able to get out for our morning croissant, or bacon sandwich, but it looks as though we'll soon be forced to stay at home too. The local supermarkets sell packs of pastry ready to make croissants, but it's just not the same somehow!
Angus, you're right about the 1% but I can tell you that my Trump-voting relatives don't blame the rich. They blame minorities and women for getting more than what they (white men) think is fair, and of getting ahead of them in the social hierarchy. They don't want programs that help the poor or middle class because those programs would help their "enemies," too. They have drunk the Kool-Aid that America is best at everything, and they don't accept that the U.S. has mishandled the pandemic ("France is worse"--not true, but they insist), that education is faltering (they blame minorities; their all-white Catholic schools are great so get rid of public schools), that incomes are stagnating (minorities and women are taking jobs, people don't want to work hard anymore). So they don't even see any problems, except with their own place in the pecking order. Trump played to that brilliantly, while also playing to the 1%.
I know what you mean about hunters who think they have the right to hunt or trespass on your property. A few years ago a fellow stepped out of his Safari vehicle in full Abercrombie and Fitch regalia. He insisted that he had the right to hunt on our property because he had always been given permission by the previous owner.
We don't have wild boar in this area but we are overrun with Raccoons who leave plenty of evidence behind.
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