Maggie at Smith Farm

 guest post by Maggie Mae Mushko

(a six-year-old border collie)

Today, Mommy finally took me to Smith Farm. I hadn't been to that one for a while. (For those of you who have been reading this blog for several years, you probably know that Smith Farm is where I once went missing.) Mommy was going to take just me, but Hubert pushed through the kennel gate and ran to the truck and jumped in. Beagles can be pushy like that.

At the farm, the first thing thing Hubert did was take off and sniff things. The first thing I did was get my little orange football out of the truck. I love that little football. I've had it for several years and I always keep it in the truck. I make Mommy and Daddy throw it for me.

Finally Mommy got tired of throwing my little orange football. She hid it in the truck where I couldn't reach it without chewing off the door, so I decided to go walking in the woods with the humans. Hubert and I found a patch of running cedar, which humans like to use for Christmas decorations. I don't have any use for it, though.

With the leaves gone, I could look through our woods and see a hillside on the farm next to ours where all the timber had been cut. It made me sad. A lot of critters don't have homes now. There used to be beautiful woods on that hill.

Hubert and I ran through our woods for a while. Mommy says she won't ever cut our woods. She told me that'll she never need money that badly.

I ran so much I had to stop and pant for a while. I have a very large long and beautiful tongue to pant with in case you hadn't noticed.

I got so hot running that I had to get in the creek to cool off. I ducked my head under water. Water dripped off my face when I came up for air.

After I had cooled off, I decided to investigate a hole.

Nobody was in the hole, so I decided to soak in the creek again. I love getting in the creek. This time Hubert joined me.

Then I found another hole to investigate. Again, nobody was there.

So I found another hole. There are lots of holes in our woods, but I couldn't find any creatures in any of them.

Finally, we started walking again. Here I am between where the spring branch connects to Standiford Creek. Hubert is up the hill. He found something else to sniff.

Mommy sat down on a log to rest, so I had to snap my teeth at her to tell her to get going. She knows when I snap my teeth, I am impatient. After I wuffed at her, she got up. She is very hard to train.

Finally, we started back up the hill. The truck is parked near the old cabin. I wanted to get my little orange football out of the truck and play with it some more. Did I mention it is my favorite toy?

Mommy was so slow that I had to go back and make sure she was still following us.

She was, but she is so slow. When we reached the truck, she got my ball for me and threw it for a while. I made Daddy throw it too so he wouldn't feel left out.

I really like my little orange football. And I like going to the farm where Mommy's grandparents lived.

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