Whoa!

I woke up bright and early this morning, got dressed, and headed to work as is my custom.  I'm almost to the plant -- turning from Riverdale Rd onto Air Industrial Park for you local folks--  when there crossing the road, I see a huge white dog. 

A big, old beautiful white dog.  It was walking slowly, with its head down, as if it were very tired.  I felt sorry for it.  My first thought was that it was a Borzoi,

however, given that I've never seen a Borzoi in real life, I couldn't be too sure.

OK, I confess, my first thought was, "I'm going to stop and get that dog and take him home with me."  But I didn't.  Thinking about, I realized it wasn't a Borzoi.  The head was the wrong shape, and its legs weren't quite long enough.

I drove on a few more moments when it hit me.  "DANG!  That was a wolf!!!!!"  A big, beautiful white wolf! 

 This is not my picture.  It's one I found by googling, but this is exactly what that animal looked like.  Mine was dirtier, skinnier, and a bit more scraggly, but it looked just like this.  In retrospect, I wish I had taken a picture of it, but at the time, I didn't want to stop. 

After I got to work, I called Supervisor Ronny over and told him what I'd seen.  He said it's possible because there are wolves in this area.  He'd never seen a white one, but that didn't mean they aren't around. 

Probably a good thing I didn't put him in my car, then, huh? 

Warrior

He's gone. Somebody shot him.

Farewell, my friend.

Warrior

I was awakened early this morning by the sound of a wolf howling right outside my back door. His name is Warrior, and he is 12 months old. Mr. McPhail is going to have him neutered soon in an attempt to keep him from getting aggressive.

I rented Snakes on a Plane this afternoon. It is almost hilarious in its ridiculousness. The only reason I mention it is because I decided Onyx needed to watch it with me. We were watching all these snakes attacking people, and suddenly Onyx turned around and bit me! He hasn't done that since he was 6 months old.

"OK, that's enough Snakes on a Plane for you," I said. "It's giving you ideas."

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An Unusual Visitor

The neighbors down the way love dogs. They have about 10 of them. People tend to dump dogs out here where we live, and the McPhails take them in. They can't help it, they say. They love dogs so much they can't stand to send them to the pound.

Their newest dog is an Alaskan Malamute/timber wolf hybrid who was given to them by Mr. McPhail's sister. I don't know how old he is, but he is absolutely gorgeous. He is huge, probably weighing in at well over 100 lbs. He looks like a wolf, but has the personality of a dog. He's just as friendly as can be.

He has taken an inexplicable shine to B's dog Artex. He follows Artex home almost every night. I finally got to meet him when he followed Cody right on into our house! He showed no sign of aggression, but I still watched him very carefully. He seemed very well mannered, even sitting on my command. (There's an old saying around these parts. "Whenever you start thinking of yourself as a person of some importance, try bossing someone else's dog around.") It took me three tries to get us into the house with him outside. He kept trying to follow us back inside. During our little dance, I grabbed the camera and managed to snap a few pictures. These are the best ones. He wouldn't stay. He kept coming to me. I finally had to get Cody to hold him so I could get these pics.


As a child, I'd always dreamed of having a pet wolf. Now I have a half wolf buddy.

Still sketching fruit. Still out of fresh, new ideas...

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