Orion's New Toy
May, 2006

This morning, Hubber and I took a walk around the yard before hubber left for work. Orion always joins us for our morning stroll, and this morning he was feeling very frisky. At the end of our walk he started making "play-with-me" noises, grunting, growling, woofing and running in front of us and then darting back. Not really wanting to play "chase the puppy," I looked around for a stick or ball. I did spot an old lime I threw out the door for the crows. It was hard as a rock, having been neglected at the bottom of the fruit bowl. I picked it up and tossed it, thinking Orion would never find it in the tall grass. Find it he did, though, and he picked up his prize and started back toward us when he stopped in his tracks. He dropped that lime so fast and jumped back shaking his head, as if it had bitten him, then he batted it, pounced on it, tried to pick it up again, flung it, and ran around it. It was so funny, my stomach was hurting from laughing so hard. He was sure it was still alive, and waiting to bite him again! He played with that thing, batting, pouncing, picking up and dropping, for a good ten minutes! Finally, he figured if he gently picked it up he could carry it without it "biting" back, so he trotted with his prize to the front door, where he fully intended to bring his treasure back into the house. I had him give it to me and I placed it by the front steps, where he could (and did) grab it on the way to taking my daughter to the bus. After playing with it some more at the bus stop (by this time it was pretty soft and squishy), he finally did lose it in the grass. Someone once said dogs can't taste sour, but I can tell you, this one certainly could taste lime!