Missing Georgie

In some ways, Georgie’s departure has been the hardest on Polly, who was his little buddy since the day she arrived here. (Well, not the very same day, because Georgie hated her guts for the first 24 hours.) They slept cuddled up in the same crate every night, even when Georgie’s incontinence made a  mess  in the crate. Polly has been barking  - first pitifully, then impatiently, then furiously— until I get up to let her out of solitary confinement in the morning. 

So I retrieved her beloved stuffed squirrel from the closet (kept safe from the plundering Dunderheads) so she would have some comfort at night. Unfortunately, pulling the squirrel out of the crate (before the Dunderheads come inside) has proven too  difficult for Mr. P. and his bad back, so I found a largish stuffed horse at Walmart  to fill the role of  bedmate. The horse is easier for Mr. P. to grab, but Polly wasn’t too sure she liked him at first. I allowed Polly into the master bedroom (usually off-limits to all dogs), sat down on the floor with her, and made the horse gallop around Polly so she would understand that it’s a plaything. Polly’s no Rhodes Scholar (bred for beauty, not brains), but she immediately grabbed the horse (which is almost as big as she is) and set about the important work of breaking his neck (over and over again), and now she’s content to share her crate with him at night. He’s not Georgie (for one thing, he doesn’t poop in the crate), but he’s company for her. On a side note, I’m not sure why a toy company thought to make a stuffed horse and how it ended up in the Union City Walmart. I have to wonder if Polly’s new horsey is a Tennessee Walking Horse, in which case he needs to start a diet and exercise program, pronto!

 

Our new neighbor, the Incredible Mr. Ed

About a month ago, one of our neighbors, a retired farmer, put a horse in the pasture that adjoins ours. I know virtually nothing about horses, but as far as I can tell, this is a brown gelding of unknown heritage. I don't know if horses are social animals, but it seems to me that this guy is lonely. He has a big pasture with trees and plantlife and hills and valleys...but no other critters

(except when our kitties and outdoor dogs venture out there).

Of course, Mr. Parker immediately started a horse friendship campaign, offering Mr. Ed a variety of treats like corn stalks, turnip greens, tomatoes, bell peppers, and other items from our garden. Mr. Ed was not impressed. A week ago, Mr. P.. declared loudly that he was NOT going to give Mr. Ed any apples, but yesterday he gave Mr. Ed a few apples with such great results that we are now feeding Mr. Ed apples several times a day.

After munching his requisite apples, Mr. Ed is willing to let us pet and admire him. He seems like a fine man to me, but Mr. P. says his hooves are split and there are other signs of neglect. Why would a horse owner put Mr. Ed out to pasture like this? Mr. Ed sure seems like a great guy to us. Of course, we can afford to feed another critter about as well as we can afford to re-build the Brooklyn Bridge. But it's pretty nice to pet Mr. Ed's fuzzy muzzle as long as you don't look too closely at the discolored teethb covered with foamy saliva and partially-chewed grass.